- By Evangelist John BJ Hall -
My father was a wise man. Many times I heard him say, “If God can’t use you where you are, He certainly can’t use you where you’re not.” I have found this to be true in life. If I am not willing to serve God where I am, how dare I think I will serve Him somewhere else?
Sadly many professing believers have tucked the message of hope away in a bottle of disuse. Someone else will tell them, we think. But we never open the bottle for those near to us.
After one of Dwight L. Moody's meetings, a locomotive engineer came forward and said he had decided to become a missionary to a foreign country. Moody asked him if his fireman were a Christian. "I don't know," was the reply, "I've never asked him." "Well," said Moody, "why don't you start with your fireman?"
A couple of weeks ago I shared some of the events that took place in my father and mother’s lives. Those stories remind me of where I came from. They are stories of a life well lived for the cause of Christ.
All of us have a story. Families hand down stories, and they are often repeated at festive occasions. Individuals have stories to tell, and so do congregations.
But there is a story, a message, that is more important and poignant than any other that I could share. That story, that message, is of how God looked upon us with love and sent His Only Son to die in our stead. He did this so that we could be cleansed of our sin, and made it possible for us to be in perfect fellowship with Him.
Professing Christians are commissioned to tell the story of the promised Messiah, His life, death, and resurrection. Matthew 28:16-20 (KJV) says, “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
It is vital to the hope of our world that we let the message out of the bottle. That is the starting point.
The Message
Oh, how He loves this world that He made.
So great is His love, His life He paid.
There on the cross, He hung for our sin,
He died beside the vilest of men.
Down through the years, by messengers true,
God’s Word had been spread, the whole world through.
The message of hope brought on the tree,
Made its way down to sinners like me.
Now that the love of Jesus is mine,
I find myself singing all the time.
I can’t be still as long as it’s known,
His love to millions has not been shown.
Just as He came to set my soul free,
I’ll go to the world, so they can see.
That His blood shed on that cruel cross,
Will save all who trust from endless loss.
This is the message we all must bring
So that the rest of the world can sing.
A message of hope and glory too,
Of what Jesus did for me and you.
© Copyright, 1995 by Passages Ministries. All rights reserved.
For permission to use this poem contact Passages Ministries.