I’m speaking to several different groups in the next few weeks and in fact by the end of the month will have literally been in front of thousands of people giving my testimony for Christ. I look at it as an honor and privilege to do so and I seldom refuse unless I simply cannot work it into my schedule. The problem is that I also have a fulltime job here on the plantation resort, and I’ve been working 15-18 hour plus days for as long as I care to remember.
For some reason speaking seems to wear me out more than work, and the combo translates into – I’m getting very tired. Such was the case when I got invited at the last minute to speak at a graduation ceremony this week at a prison near my home in Florida. Some inmates have finished the necessary requirements to earn their GED high school diplomacy equivalent and they are going to have a graduation ceremony to honor that effort. Twelve inmates have completed the course, but only six will be at the ceremony.
I looked at my calendar for this week and I have several speaking engagements already scheduled, including one in Atlanta, a five hour drive away. I have a long interview scheduled with a radio talk show host on the afternoon that they wanted me to speak. I might add that I’m so far behind on so many projects that I just feel like throwing my hands up into the air and screaming sometimes.
“Egad!” I said aloud, “I just can’t do another one”, but then I wondered, “Or can I?” I returned the teacher’s call and told her that I would be delighted to speak to the fellows.
FYI – It takes just as much effort on my part to speak to six as six thousand. Some might ask, why not just skip this one, after all it is just six men. Billy Graham in his book, “Angels: God’s Secret Weapon”, mentions another book, “Though I walk Through the Valley” by Dr. Vance Havner. He tells of an old preacher who worked far into the night on a sermon for his tiny congregation. His wife wondered why he spent so much time and effort on so few. He told her she forgets just how large his audience will be. He told her, “Nothing is trivial here if heaven looks on”.
The Bible indicates that in addition to our Holy God observing our every movement, we are being watched by the angels of heaven. In Hebrews 12 it states: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”.
So I prepare my talk with that in mind. I am comforted too by knowing that if one sinner repents then the angels seated in those heavenly grandstands will rejoice and cheer them on. Luke 15:10 “I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Satan of course wants me to pass on this opportunity and will whisper all kinds of things in my ear trying to discourage me from going. I suppose if the angels of heaven rejoice, then those who were kicked out grieve, and that also provides me with some much needed encouragement to do even more. I hope every last one of those fallen angel suckers has the blues and is crying crocodile tears by the end of this week.
I hope you will join me in reaching out to the lost by sharing your testimony this week, even if it is to just one individual. Remember all of heaven will be watching and cheering you on. Imagine the roar of the crowd if someone accepts our risen Lord as their personal Savior. Their rejoicing is not just reserved for those who knock satan out of the park with a grand slam. According to Luke, a single soul is good cause for a mighty celebration…
And remember it is the lost that need our encouragement the most, and not so much those who have already found redemption. Too many religious leaders preach only to those righteous individuals in their congregations who are already saved and exert near zero effort towards reaching out to those who are lost. I wonder if the angels yawn as they have their church social hour???
Luke 15:7
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.