Sermon Tone Analysis

“Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; Weep o’er the erring one, Lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus the Mighty to save.

Though they are slighting Him.

Still He is waiting, Waiting the penitent child to receive; Plead with them earnestly, Plead with them gently: He will forgive if they truly believe.

Down in the human heart, Crushed by the tempter, Feelings lie buried that grace can restore; Touched by a loving hand, Wakened by kindness, Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.

Rescue the perishing, Duty demands it; Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide; Back to the narrow way Patiently win them; Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.

Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying; Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.”

Fanny Crosby, the writer of this hymn left the following account of the events which inspired her to pen this hymn

“It was written in the year 1869.

Many of my hymns were written after experiences in New York mission work.

This one was thus written.

I was addressing a large company of working men one hot summer evening, when the thought kept forcing itself on my mind that some mother’s boy must be rescued that night or not at all.

So I made a pressing plea that if there was a boy present who had wandered from his mother’s home and teaching, he should come to me at the end of the service.

A young man of eighteen came forward and said, “Did you mean me?

I promised my mother to meet her in heaven, but as I am now living that will be impossible.”

We prayed for him and he finally arose with a new light in his eyes and exclaimed in triumph, “Now I can meet my mother in heaven, for I have found God.”

A few days before, Mr. Doane had sent me a theme for a new song, “Rescue the Perishing,” based on Luke 14:23.

While I sat in the mission that evening, the line came to me “Rescue the perishing, care for the dying.”

I could think of nothing else that night.

When I arrived home, I went to work on the hymn at once, and before I retired it was ready for the melody.”

So that made me ask- what does our obedient witnessing provoke in us?

Are we being obedient to Christ’s great commission on a full time basis or are we just sometimers Christians?

We read in Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus saying…“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” We are to go and teach all peoples.

That’s what the word for nations here translates as-all peoples.

In Mark 16:15 Jesus said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Not only are we to teach everyone, but we are to go everywhere.

The great commission does not insist that we just witness to the people next door, or to only Americans, or only English speaking peoples.

Or to only bucktooth, cross-eyed, knock-kneed, stuttering blondes.

We are commanded to go everywhere for the cause of Christ.

We are commanded to teach everyone about salvation.

As I put this together I began to think.

We are to teach.

Not just tell, but to teach.

To me that means that we are not just telling someone Jesus saves, but we are telling them how, and why.

We are transferring knowledge.

We may not lead that person to Christ, but we’ve given them knowledge to make that choice.

We are to preach and to teach, and leave it to the Holy Spirit to reach.

Sadly, the Church-Christ’s Church, has become overrun with the snares of a worldly system of cares.

We have begun to loose our focus on what Jesus has commanded us to do.

We have become caught up in the worldly aspect of things.

Our focus has switched to the corporate perspective.

Run the churches like a business.

Watch your profits, maintain your buildings, supervise your staff.

Watch that bottom line, and maintain profitability.

Where is God in all that business or should I say busyness?

If the churches of this country would all put Christ first, would he not in turn bless their work so that these worries of the business class would be laid to rest?

Because of the worldly busyness of the Church, people are not seeing God in their daily lives.

They may be taught all that the Gospel teaches, but they don’t see him outside of the church building.

For many that relationship that we were commanded to share with the world is naught but a series of lectures on how to live a happy life.

Basically, church has become boring.

Now I’m not saying that we need to be jumping up and down when we meet, but we should be in an atmosphere where everyone, whether a believer or not-knows into whose presence they are bringing their worship.

I have been to many churches, such as this one, where you know whom they serve.

I have been to many other churches where I knew what they served.

That in itself is a major hindrance for church growth.

Because in those churches, nobody will stand up for the call to serve.

Nobody, can be a witness.

Nobody takes those steps to go and tell.

Everyone has heard the saying if you love someone set them free.

If it was meant to be then they will return to you.

I tell you that we are all loved by someone, and he has set us free.

He has set us free so that we may return to him those that are lost or misplaced.

When one of us goes into the world with the love and truth of Jesus, we will bring back more than we what we left with.

But sadly, few go and as a result there is little to no church growth.

The churches become emptier each Sunday until at last there is no one in attendance and all that is left of a once vibrant church is an empty shell of building waiting with boarded up windows waiting for some developer to buy it for some other purpose.

Some churches only see growth because they trade sheep.

Now it is a good thing that a person can find a new home in another church.

When a church closes there are still the needs of the individuals, that another church can take them in is a great thing-That’s Christians taking care of Christians.

When someone moves to another town or state.

It is great that they can find a church to take them in.

But what is sad is when churches trade sheep because the sheep are malnourished, or hurt, or wounded in some fashion and their local church doesn’t want to minister to them.

Sheep need to be shepherded.

No sheep should ever feel or perceive the need to shepherd themselves.

We must get back to God’s plan to reach the world.

If we look to Psalm 126:6 we can glimpse part of God’s plan to reach the world.

We read “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

The first part of God’s plan is going-“he that goeth forth”.

Going forth is probably the most difficult thing we do.

It takes us out of the place where we feel some sort of control, or some sort of confidence thru experience.

It is much easier to serve on a committee or even in an office of the church.

It is much easier to give money to send to those that have a need.

It is much easier to sit there and nit-pick and grumble about how things are being done.

It is easier to expect others to do that which God has called you to do.

It is easier to be part of a faction than to get into the action.

But, when you take those first steps to go.

When you stop putting your faith in the things you do within your church and instead put your faith in the one whose church it is.

That’s when a church takes it’s necessary steps to growth.

When a church begins to go, it begins to grow.

Most people have heard the name of Jesus, but few are taught about Jesus.

In order for people to hear your message, you need to get out of your comfort zone and get into Jesus’ comfort zone.

You can yell the name Jesus from the rooftops, but all the people down below will hear is someone yelling the name Jesus.

If you go up to them, listen to them, talk to them, share your knowledge and your faith, you will be doing that which Jesus did, and that which Jesus commanded.

The expression is to “Let go and Let God” well I can tell you that the next part of that saying needs to be Get God and get going.

The second part of God’s plan is weeping.

“Goeth forth and weepeth”.

Hmm.

We know that we have to go, but we have to weep?

Does that mean we have to go up to someone and with tears pouring down our cheeks, and a sob in our voice witness to them?

No.

But it should be a reflection of our heart.

Not a desire to share the truth, but a passion, a zeal.

The heart should have such a passion for sharing the truth of Jesus that it should scream out loud in your chest to the point where you would believe your heart to be broken if you did not share the truth of Jesus.