Sermon: Divinely Scheduled Appointments, Part 2 (Acts 8:26-40) | Oct 31, 2021
Tag Archives: evangelize
“I’m Trying to Connect You” | Bible Gleanings – Feb 13-14, 2021
“I’m Trying to Connect You”
“Hey Siri, call John.” Nowadays, that’s all you need to do to contact somebody. The artificial intelligence in your smartphone will do the work for you. You can also send a text message or e-mail in less than a minute. Technology and the internet have made present-day communication instantaneous.
But it has not always been this way, as some of you may know. Before the days of smartphones and computers, we relied on switchboards and their operators to contact people. Calling your neighbor or relative required an operator and a manual telephone switchboard. You would dial the operator and they would connect you by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. And oftentimes, especially if there was a bit of delay, the operator would say, “I am trying to connect you.” That was their purpose and mission—to connect you. And operators were indispensable and necessary for connecting you with whom you needed to speak—there was no other way.
While cellphones and laptops have eliminated the need for operators, one kind of operator will never be replaced by technological advancement: you. If you are a follower of Jesus, the Lord has commanded you to be an operator to connect people to Him. It is your glorious mission and purpose to connect people to Jesus. The Lord commissioned you with this blessed task when He said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15, KJV). He also charged you to be His witnesses and to make disciples of all nations (Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:19-20).
The word of God teaches that the only way sinners can be saved is if they “dial” Jesus: “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). People have to get connected with Jesus in order to go to heaven. As Christ Himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). There is only one way, one Circuit that will connect a person to God, as Paul said: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
And you are essential for connecting people to Christ and helping them dial Him for their eternal salvation. No person can call on the name of the Lord without an operator! You must preach the good news and publish the gospel of Christ to the unsaved or they will never call out to Jesus for redemption. That is why Paul asked, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14). Christian Operator, to whom are you saying, “I am trying to connect you”?
Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).
Whatever It Takes | Bible Gleanings – November 28-29, 2020
Whatever It Takes
Anthony Capuano, a 29-year-old swim coach and lifeguard, became a local hero as he rescued a man from drowning in his car in Newark Bay, New Jersey. According to The Jersey Journal, an elderly man attempted to pull over to answer a phone call, but accidentally pressed on both the brake and accelerator which caused him to speed into the bay. A group of bystanders screamed in fright as the flashing tail lights swiftly sank. That’s when Capuano’s instincts took over. Abandoning his own safety, he dove into the frigid water, swam fifty feet to the man’s submerged vehicle, and pulled him to safety.
Capuano was an unexpected savior, however, because as he recalled, he had to remove his own leg before swimming—his prosthetic leg. When Capuano was a teenager, he was struck by a train that cost him his leg. A paramedic team saved his life and that’s likely what motivated him to pursue the profession of saving others as a lifeguard. Capuano relinquished his own security and safety to deliver a man from death. He did everything he could to get the man to safety, although he had obvious limitations. And he was compelled to come to the rescue because he himself had been saved by the selfless effort of someone else.
What Capuano did for a man in peril is what God wants you to do for those in spiritual peril. The unsaved are drowning in a sea of guilt and sin, and their souls are in eternal danger. Sin is driving them madly down the road of spiritual destruction and they are in jeopardy of fatally immersing themselves into “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15). Only Jesus Christ the Lord can save and deliver them, but it is your Christian duty to swim out to them with the life-saving message of the gospel. You must do everything you can to win them to Christ, just like the four men who overcame every obstacle to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus (Mark 2:1-5).
As C. H. Spurgeon once preached, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”
Whatever it takes to get the unsaved to Jesus is worth it—even if you must sacrifice your comfort and security. You may have limitations, but God will use you when you give yourself to Him as a willing vessel. And remember—someone once swam out to you with the gospel. Therefore, let gratefulness for your own salvation compel you to swim out to unbelievers with the same gospel that saved you.
Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).
Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).
It Takes a Disciple to Make a Disciple (Matt. 28:16a)
The following sermon was delivered at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky on the 7th day of January 2018, during the morning service:
Brandon's Desk 