"What are you so Afraid of?"

Today im going to be talking about a subject that is very near and dear to my heart.  no we aint going to be talking about fear, even though thats what the title may represent.  this is one of my longer messages so please read to the end.  there is a personal testimony that goes along with this that makes me cry each time i think about it.  now lets look at the great commission.  matthew 28:16-20 saids "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."  Now the main part im going to be looking at in this section is verse 19 where Jesus saids "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations".  Well in order for us to go to all nations, we have to know what all nations means.  While i was in college at Troy University, watch out Gator fans the Trojans are coming this year, God laid on my heart to do a small little survey.  He wanted me to find 50 Christians i didnt know.  That was very difficult for me to do.  i was a member of the third largest baptist church in town and about 30% of our members attended Troy.  I was apart of every Christian organization Troy had to offer at that time: the BCM, The Wesley, Campus Crusade for Christ, the PCM, we had one called Crossroads for the non denom people, iwe had one for the Church of Christ, i was a part of every single one, even if i didnt agree with what was they believed in i was still apart of it.  so finding 10 Christians was going to be tough, finding 50 was going to be almost impossible.  It took me about a month and a half, but i found 50 Christians on campus i didnt know.  what God wanted me to do was ask them one very simple question.  What did Jesus mean when he told us to go and teach all nations?  33 out of the 50, for those who aint math majors thats 66% of the people i asked told me that Jesus was telling us to pack up everything we own, go ro a different country and share the gospel.  now if the 66% of the people i asked are right, then there are about 40 million Christians in the US who are out of God's will.  Now i doubt people like Sarah, Kelly, Laura, Leigh, Revelation 21, and a few others ive met here are out of the eill of God so something is wrong with that idea.  This is whats it is.  some people are called to go to a different country and share the gospel.  im not.  now before i get into the heart of the message, im going to break down what all nations really means.  now of course it does mean a different country.  it also means a different state.  i called the great state of alabama hove for about 14 and a half years of my lide.  im only 25 by the way so i dont want to make myself sound old.  God called me to leave my comfort zone, a place i knew, a place i loved, a place i called home for over half my life, and first go to asheville north carolina and then to greeneville tennessee to share the gospel.  maybe somebody reading this might be called to a different state.  all nations also means a different part of the state.  i had a friend i went to church with who lived in luverne alabama her entire life.  when she graduated college at troy, where else, God called her to leave luverne and go to the largest and most dangerous city in alabama, birmingham, to start a ministery and to share the gospel.  is that you? im going to mention the rest very quickly and then get into the heart of the message.  after the different part of the state, we have  a different part of the town, across the street, or even next door.  but there is a group we tend to forget.  we tend to overlook. we thing they already know.  here is my favorite excuse, they know we are Christians so why cant they ask us.  this group im talking about is the people we come in contact with every single day.  The cashier at the gas station where we buy our mountain dews and candy bars every day,  our favorite cashier at wal mart, our favorite waiter/waitress at out favorite resturant, a co worker, somebody you went or is currently going to school with, a loved one, your parents, your kids, i could go on and on and on and on.  now im going to post lyrics to a song by casting crowns that was on theyre first cd.  its called here i go again.  youtube it, go to www.playlist.com and find it, go to www.imeem.com and find it.  you should be able to find a of the song on the internet somewhere. 

Father, hear my prayer
I need the perfect words
Words that he will hear
And know they're straight from You
I don't know what to say
I only know it hurts
To see my only friend slowly fade away

Bridge:

So maybe this time
I'll speak the words of life
With Your fire in my eyes
But that old familiar fear
is tearin' at my words
What am I so afraid of?

Chorus:

'Cause here I go again
Talkin' 'bout the rain
And mullin' over things
that won't live past today
And as I dance around the truth
Time is not his friend
This might be my last chance
to tell him that You love Him

But here I go again
Here I go again

Lord, You love him so
You gave Your only Son
If he will just believe
He will never die
But how then will he know
What he has never heard?
Lord he has never seen mirrored in my life

Bridge and chorus:

But here I go again
Here I go, here I go

Bridge and chorus:

This might be my last chance
To tell him that You love him
This might be my last chance
To tell him that You love him

You love him, You love him
What am I so afraid
What am I so afraid
What am I so afraid of?
How then will he know
What he has never heard?

Now what im going to do is break down this song line by line and basically explain the song.  now in this song we see a very desperate young man.  we see how desperate the young man is by the first line of the song.  he saids Father hear my prayer.  yall how many time do we say that.  back when most of us were in high school, we forgot to study for a test, it gets put on our desk and it looks chinese, we are all guilty and we said Lord i forgot to study for this test, hear my prayer and help me get an a.  or guys, we have the really cute girl, back when i was in school we called them hot babes, that really aint Christian like but i had to throw that in, and we really really like this girl.  we have it marked on out calendar, on this date im going to ask her out.  the night before we get ready to, we pray and say father hear my prayer and make the girl say yes.  adults i aint leaving us out.  we need a raise, especially with the way the economy is, we need money.  we get the nerves to go up to the boss, the head man, and say dude i need a raise.  before we do though, we pray Father hear my prayer and give me this raise.  now guys am i saying that there is anything wrong with asking God for things like this, absolutely not.  but we see in the next line of the song, this young man askes God for something so much more.  he saids give me the perfect words, words that he will here and know they are straight from you.  how many times do we do that.  not enough thats for sure. now it the second half of the song the young man is nervous, hes hurt, and hes scared.. he saids i don't know what to say i only know it hurts to see my only friend slowly fade away.  his only friend is falling away from God.  how many friends do we have that are like the friend of this guy in this song.  now ill get to the bridge and the chorus in just a little bit, but lets get to the next verse.  its saids Lord You love him so that You gave Your only on that if he would just believe he would never die.  now i shouldnt have to spend a lot of time on that.  sounds like John 3:16 to me.  and if yall are like me, yall heard John 3:16 your whole life, there is nothing left i can say about that.  but its the next part i want to look at.  it saids but how then will he know what he has never heard.  Romans 10 13 and 14 saids "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?  now what paul is saying in this verse and what mark hall is saying in the song is how can somebody come to Jesus Christ if we do tell them.  and to close the verse the song goes Lord he has never seen mirrored in my life.  what does that mean.  you may be the only Jesus this would will ever see, let that light shine. 

now its time to get personal.  its time for james to cry a little bit while he types.  my jr year in high school i met a girl who quickly became my best friend.  her name was callie parker.  we talked about everything, and i mean everything.  we both were having serious issues with our dads, we talked about those, we both enjoyed the same kind of music so when we heard a song come on country radio, we would see each other the next day and talk about the song, i played every sport my school had to offer, so after games she would ask me how we did, did we win, she was a tweetie fanatic, we talked about that.  she made a mistake and got pregnant our senior year, ive never learned so much about a pregnant woman and the mood swings that have than what i did with callie.  after she got pregnant, all her friends kicked her to the curb and i was the only one left standing to take her hand and walk with her through those stages. now lets get back to the song.  ill get to the bridge in just a minute, but the beginning of the chorus saids, here i go again talking about the rain and mulling over things that wont live past today.  callie and i had a ton of conversations in the first year and and 10 months of our friendship, but we never talked about God, Jesus, the Bible, church, salvation, nothing.  we talked about the rain, it was here today but gone tomorrow, and we focused on those things during our entire friendship.  then it came time for the biggest week of our high school lives, graduation.  during exam week we had special privelages that most students didnt get to enjoy cause we were seniors.  one was after we took our final text, we could leave, go anywhere but leave campus and spend time with our friends for one of the last few times we would be able to at luverne high school.  callie and i took great advantage of that and we talked about the past, we talked about the present, we talked about the near future, and talked about where we saw each other 10-15 years down the road.  but yall during the week of finals, i never mentioned God, Jesus, salvation, or any of the like to her.  then it came time for the week of graduation.  every morning before pratice, we met at the local hardees and had breakfast, it was just me and her.  we talked for 45 minutes at hardees and then went to the school for pratice, road around afterwards for an hour and then we went home.  during the monday-thursday pratice time, never mention anything that related to God to her.  yall see a trend going here.  ok lets get back to the song, ill finish the chrous here in a little bit but lets get to the brigde.  it saids so maybe this time ill speak the words of life with Your fire in my eyes.  that thursday was graduation night.  well at about 130 i called her and asked her when she was planning on being at the school.  she didnt know but i begged her to meet me there at about 515, an hour and 15 minutes before graduation, cause i had something i wanted to talk to her about.  i told myself that that day was going to be the day i was going to share my faith with the one i called my best friend. well i show up at the school and callie was there, which was good, but there were more people there that wasnt.  all the people that kicked her to the curb cause she got pregant was there and they all made up which was a good thing.  but like the rest of the bridge goes, but that old familar fear was tearing at my words, what am i so afraid of.  ill tell you what i was afraid of.  i was afraid of her saying she wasnt interested, her going off and telling all our friends that james was a religious weirdo, that she would just laugh at me period, or worse she wouldnt be my friend anymore, so guess what, me sharing my faith with callie never happened.  and then end of the chorus goes, time is not his friend this might be my last chance to tell him that You love him But here I go again.  graduation night was my last chance to tell callie about Jesus, and i failed.  for the next 2 and a half years i didnt hear much from my best friend.  it was like after graduation, our friendship that seemed so perfect has ended.  i emailed her i dont know how many times trying to get a hold of her, never heard from her.  yall the worst thought ever came to mind that callie was dead, and she was in hell, and it was my fault.  i spent hours praying God if shes alive, give me another chance, another chance, another chance.  then one day out of the blue, i got an email from her saying that she had exciting news for me and that i needed to call her as soon as i possibly could.  i dug down in my pocket and dialed the number she gave me.  when she answered she said james, i want to tell you im one of you now.  at that point in time i had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, she was one of me now.  then she explained to me that about a month before somebody she worked with, who she didnt even know, offered to buy her lunch, and shared Jesus with her that day and she got saved.  it broke my heart cause callie told me she knew i had it, she knew i was a Christian and she wanted to hear it from me but i never had the guts to share my faith with her.  i had a burden that weighed a ton on my shoulders for 2 and a half years lifted that night.  yall since then i have not been afraid.  i havent been scared.  i share my faith with whoever i come in contact with, and if they reject me, laugh at me, or call me religious, i know they dont have to answer to me.  yall i know ill see callie running down the streets of gold when we get to heaven.  the question is can that person that God has placed in your life.  What are you so afraid of?  yall the burden of wondering is my friend going to hell cause i never mentioned Jesus to her is not a burden you want to have.  Go out and open your mouth boldly to make know the mystery of the gospel as paul saids in ephesians 6:19.  thanks for reading, i hope and pray this ministers to somebody.  but my hands hurt now. lol God bless you!!!