 So happy to be here Great to see such a wonderful turnout. It's wonderful to see you all here I know many of you have traveled many miles and at great expense to get here today But no one has made a greater sacrifice to be here today than yours truly. I gave up my master's tickets to be here Can you imagine? I'm just saying just saying You guys are more important to me than Augusta national can you imagine don't let it go to your head, but can you imagine that? I'm going Thursday though. Let's open our Bibles to 2nd Corinthians 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 Father again, we ask for your blessing on Not just this session, but all day today the whole conference Lord. We're here to meet with you to see what you might say to us Well, we thank you for Calvary Chapel. We thank you for the rich legacy that we've been given Lord, I pray that we would be faithful to pass it on to those who are yet to come and in the time that we have to serve you Lord may we do so faithfully and With great mercy toward those you've entrusted to us So work in our hearts now Lord as we look into this scripture in Jesus name. I ask it. Amen 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 beginning in verse 18 Paul writes to the Corinthians Now all things are of God Who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation That is that God was in Christ Reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses to them and as committed to us the word of reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for Christ as Though God were pleading through us We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us That we might become the righteousness of God in him Tory Matthews once worked for the Southern California Humane Society One day she got a frantic 911 call from a child whose pet iguana had drowned a Dog had frightened the iguana up a tree. He climbed out on a limb and had fallen into a swimming pool When officer Matthews arrived the little boy was beside the pool crying as his pet lizard lie motionless under the surface of the water She thought she jumped into the water. She swam to the iguana She lifted its lifeless body to the surface of the pool and as she did she thought well you resuscitate a person a dog Why not an iguana and So Tory locked lips with the lizard and Was able to revive the little boys pet Afterwards Tory told a reporter It was a pretty ugly animal to kiss But the last thing I wanted to do was to tell this boy his iguana had died and There are people in your world just as ugly in your eyes Just as unsavory to you as an iguana Their lifestyle and their attitude Stands for everything that you as a Christian are opposed to Extending compassion to them would be like locking lips with a slimy lizard But if the last thing Tory Matthews wanted to do was to tell a little boy his pet had died Think of what it will be like for us to have to tell God that the people he loved That the folks Jesus died to reconcile Drowned because we pastors didn't do everything we could to reach them We've been called by God to kiss some iguanas You could say kissing lizards is the ministry of reconciliation Our text tells us that on the cross God was in Christ Reconciling the world to himself, but today now God is in us pleading and imploring for people to be reconciled The same savior who hung on the cross Whose innocent shoulders felt the weight of every grimy act done in every slimy place has now sent his spirit to hang out in you and From inside you Jesus is now calling for men to be saved close your eyes, please Quiet your heart, please For if the Savior lives in you you'll hear him plead for people to be saved Jesus is no longer the lamb led to the slaughter who opened not his mouth He is the indwelling Holy Spirit who now yearns for us to open our lips and give him a voice Don't you realize? Calvary changed everything God buried the hatchet with sinners Mercy has become available to everyone Grace is now out there on the table Boys and girls. It's reconciliation time You my friend now have a vital ministry running for president or curing cancer or Sending a rocket to Mars or saving the whales all pales in comparison You can throw every ounce of strength you have You can exhaust all your creative energy on this ministry and it would justify more Nothing is as important It was Vance Havner who once said you can cut Christianity anywhere and it will bleed reconciliation We have been given the awesome task of placing the hands of lost people into the nail scarred hands of our Savior Jesus Christ We are first and foremost ministers of reconciliation Notice verse 20 makes it official Our King Jesus has appointed us to a post in his administration We are an ambassador for Christ This means wherever you go whoever you're with you are his Majesties ambassador An ambassador is a spokesman for his homeland living in a foreign land He or she represents the interests of home in the context of a different culture an Ambassador is a spokesperson for Jesus Our citizenship is in heaven, but we're serving here on this earth in a foreign land We're representing the will of our King The church is his embassy. We are his divine diplomats and Two traits make for a good ambassador first He represents only the will of his sovereign What he speaks isn't influenced by his own personal opinions Or by the prejudices of the surrounding culture He says only what his King would want him to say and The second trait of a good ambassador is that he tries to relate to the people to whom he's been sent I mean, so what if he's heard from the King if he can't make clear what the King wants to communicate to his hosts Paul says a good ambassador is pleading with men pleading means to come alongside to slip into their shoes and Ambassador is not a Herald who delivers a message and then flies home He lives among the folks to whom he's sent. He shows empathy. He is relatable in the ways that he communicates When the Saudi Arabian ambassador comes to the White House He looks and he speaks like an American Forget the head scarf in the Bedouin robes. He sports a Brooks Brothers suit The ambassador looks like a Western businessman not a nomad off a camel a Good ambassador is shrewd in this way his image is designed to encourage his listeners to buy into his ideas and Ambassador knows his audience and he deliberately appeals to its tastes and its needs and its logic This is what made Jesus the ultimate ambassador He was dispatched from his throne in heaven. He joined the human race. He came to identify and taste our plight When Jesus spoke it was only the words the father gave him to say But those words were always couched in ways that appealed to hungry hearts and that stirred up an interest in the minds of his listeners The job of an ambassador is not just to represent heaven It's more than just uttering cold matter-of-fact proclamations a Good ambassador packages the will of heaven to appeal to men Here she relates to the culture around them and makes the message clear makes it attractive and Ambassador presents the truth but in ways that increase the likelihood of its acceptance This of course was Paul's diplomatic strategy In first Corinthians 9 we're told to the Jews I became a Jew that I might win Jews to those who are without law as without law that I might win those who are without law To the week I became as weak that I might win the week I have become all things to all men that I Might by all means save some Paul bit built bridges Rather than push people away because they were different he looked for ways to identify and to form a connection While he was with his Jewish pals. He talked Torah. They ate kosher foods While he was with the Gentiles. He talked about Greek philosophy. Maybe even jawed about the Olympic games Paul wasn't deceitful, but he was flexible. He knew his audience and he tried to find common ground If needed Paul would adjust his interests to reach his audience He related culturally to reach out spiritually Realize an ambassador's job most closely parallels the job of an interpreter Obviously an interpreter has to be fluent in two languages the language of the speaker and The language of the listener If he's deficient in one language or the other the communication between the parties gets muddled and as Christians especially as pastors We too are interpreters It is our job to translate the truths of heaven into earthly vernacular and To do this job effectively. We also have to be proficient in both languages We have got to be articulate in the truths of heaven while also being fluent in the language of earth Most importantly, we need to have a firm grasp on the language of heaven How can we speak for God if we're not fluent in God's Word? Not only should we know the biblical text We should know the heart of God for his word is the revelation of his mind and his will in his heart Do we understand God's intentions? Do we see life from his perspective? Do we preach with a prophetic voice? Able to apply scripture to contemporary issues as the Holy Spirit leads We should be thoroughly biblical in our thinking and in our preaching But we also have to speak the local language I'm sure many of you have been overseas and you've talked through a translator It's a humbling experience For all of a sudden your ability to communicate is now dependent on another person And it doesn't matter how good you're preaching might be that day It will or won't hit its mark depending on the ability and fluency of the translator And this is the case with all Christian ministry Whether the teacher is knowledgeable is only part of the equation He has to be able to communicate in a way that the people he's targeting will understand I once read an excerpt from Pentecostal preacher Donald G He was describing how ill-suited some of his church members were in their efforts at witnessing He wrote this It's possible to live such an otherworldly life To get into an unearthly Abnormal condition where you may be very spiritual, but not a scrap of good as an interpreter You've gotten out of touch with men In other words fluency in the language of heaven doesn't mean that you can speak the language of earth Then she gives an example. I was attending a street meeting listening to a fine young woman give her testimony She was full of the Holy Spirit On fire for God had a real desire to win souls But she was talking to a bunch of coal miners and drunkards and saying dear ones this and dear ones that They were not dear ones by a long way And they didn't like being called dear ones You see she had lived in the sugary sweet atmosphere of Pentecostal prayer meetings and had lost contact with the world and This can happen to us Pastors can live so separated from the world that we no longer relate to its language And we end up estranged from the very folks. We're trying to reach The truth we hope to convey gets lost in translation. I've got a good illustration of what I'm talking about It's a little lengthy, but I think it's worth the effort It's an article entitled they speak with other tongues Have you ever been saved a Rather wide-eyed young fellow startled me with his question as we waited for the bus He handed me a booklet with a picture of hell on the front Sure, I replied Once when I was nine years old I was swimming off Jones Beach and a strong undertow began to drag me out to sea my uncle heard my call for help and No, no. No, he interrupted redeemed Have you ever been redeemed? Reborn, you know washed in the blood. I responded what in the world are you talking about? He looked me square in the eye Have you ever been convicted? No, I've never even been arrested. It was as if we were speaking a different language Can we have lunch sometime? He said that would be fine. He looked harmless enough to me But he was an unusual fellow and quite difficult to understand That Wednesday, I had lunch with it He was a little late, but he explained he was having some quiet time Quiet time I asked What do you mean? Well each day just before lunch. I have some quiet time in my prayer closet. He explained I Was puzzled Do you pray in a closet at work? He answered no. It's in my car a Closet in your car He changed the subject Like the first day I met him. He left me confused. This Ed is quite a unique fellow. I thought As we parted that day Ed gave me a little booklet that explained how I could have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ I read it understood it and knew it was exactly what I needed That night I surrendered my life to Jesus and was born again as the booklet stated two days later I told Ed and he was overjoyed Immediately Ed urged me Bob You need to find a good body. I was surprised at his suggestion, but it sounded like a good idea to me I took Ed's advice and comb the local health clubs for an attractive woman When I met Denise, I knew she was the one We began the date and she too became a believer Ed was so excited. He told us both that it was crucial that we get planted Sometimes it's hard to understand this guy confided to Denise. I told Ed. I wasn't quite sure what he meant by planted He replied committed. You both need to be committed now that you know Jesus Wait a minute. I protested Just because I don't know what planted means doesn't mean I'm nuts Trust in Jesus is the most sane thing I've ever done Ed's patient was patience was growing thin He continued to explain Bob and Denise. Don't you get it? You need to get plugged in No, it was pretty obvious. We didn't get it Well, I had to miss church the next Sunday, but Ed and I had breakfast on Monday morning and he filled me in on what happened God moved yesterday He said with excitement God really moved Where is he now I pleaded I Was just getting to know him now. He's gone Ed answered no, no Bob God hasn't gone anywhere. I was so relieved But Denise was at church and boy was she on fire fire Denise got burned. What happened? Is she okay? No Bob Denise is fine. You just don't understand. That was an understatement. I thought Inside Bob, can I walk in the light with you? Of course we can walk in the light. It's daytime Ed Well, it's been over two years since I was saved and convicted Now I'm planted committed plugged in and I found me a good body God is moving. I've been getting to know him and Denise and I are still on fire But I have developed one new problem It seems all my old friends just don't understand me anymore When I share with him about my redemption My being washed in the blood and then I'm following the lamb my former friends just tuned me out. I Guess they're just convicted when they see that I'm on fire Ed is the classic example of somebody who knew the language of heaven But had yet to figure out the best way to translate it into the language of earth When I read that story when I first read that story, I immediately started filtering my sermons for religious cliches and For buzzwords and only Christian insiders would know But the idea of how to relate to culture is more far-reaching and This is why it is not easy to be a good ambassador There's always attention An ambassador has to be faithful to the words of his king. He can never soften or alter the message But equally so he needs to be sensitive and empathetic to the folks. He sent to reach and This was the balance that Jesus consistently struck. This is why I'm always so amazed by him Hebrews 2 calls our Lord a faithful and merciful high priest in things pertaining to God This is what made Jesus a good interpreter. He was faithful to the truth Yet merciful to people and trust me this takes deliberate effort It is amazing the Son of God was a friend to sinners and it's this balance that makes for a great interpreter Survey the centuries of church history and note the numerous leaders who were excellent interpreters From a Jew named Peter who was dragged kicking and screaming to the house of a Roman soldier named Cornelius To open the door of salvation to Gentiles To a German monk named Luther who after risking his life contending for the once-and-for-all faith translated the Bible into the people's language and revolutionized worship by singing hymns to bar tunes all the way to Hudson Taylor a Proper Englishman who willingly adopted Oriental dress so that he could relate to the hearts of the Chinese that he had been sent to reach And we can list hundreds more people who were effective interpreters But I don't think it is exaggerating to put one of our own near the top of the list For I believe that Chuck Smith was one of the most prolific interpreters or ambassadors the Christian Church has ever seen Pastor Chuck was fluent in the language of heaven It was impressive how well Chuck knew the Bible and there was never a hint of compromise in his teaching But he was also well aware of the cultural revolution occurring in the 60s and in the 70s He spoke in ways that hippies could dig Chuck was groovy and far out and his teaching blew our minds Our pastor adopted our music and tolerated our dress Even as a balding middle-aged pastor. He wasn't stuck in his own tradition Chuck had the flexibility to adapt to the unexpected audience. God gave him Chuck was our interpreter and I wonder whose interpreter are you Are you in touch with people from outside your circle? Are you attempting to communicate or have you decided that diversity is just not your constituency? Could it be that those of us who were so anti-establishment at one point in our lives Have now become the new establishment Calvary Chapel pastors who abhorred the man-made traditions of others have now been around long enough to form traditions of our own Paul's command to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh has no statute of limitations Have any of our traditions Become other people's barriers. I Think it's a question worth asking Here's where I'm concerned for the Calvary Chapel moving forward I don't want us to lose our role as an interpreter as An ambassador for Christ above all else every Calvary Chapel should be a ministry of reconciliation It's been said the world has more winnable people than ever before But it is possible to come out of a right field empty-handed And that's what happens when the church forgets its role as an interpreter Let's double down on heaven's language deep in your grasp of the Bible develop your preaching But let's also double down on our love for people Do we speak the language? Do we care about their plight? The stakes are too high now This mission can't afford to fail Oh, I know the verse I planted a Paulus watered, but God gave the increase And I realized that ultimately the results are up to God But are we being as effective as we can possibly be? Are we being good interpreters? Again the job of an ambassador is to be fluent in two languages The language of heaven and that of earth But the proper balance isn't achieved without some calculated effort Here is where a pastor has to be intentional Surely there are churches today that have forgotten the language of heaven They have compromised God's truth to accommodate the culture They have betrayed the homeland They are no longer trumpeting all of God's truth Sadly the Bible they say they believe has become a mere afterthought it serves as a mere religious relic These pastors use the Bible, but they skate around the offensive parts They focus only on the common ground agreed on by the culture They stay on the level plateaus where there's no controversy rather than explore the peaks where the climbers get challenged You can be a hipster pastor as relevant as tomorrow's blog Preaching skinny jeans and have a cafe bar with lattes But if you don't declare the message of heaven God won't say to you well done Be careful. I got something for you, too And let me take this one step further As Calvary Chapel pastors, we have also been called to speak with an accent Not mine, but but an accent When I became a Calvary Chapel I not only agreed to speak the language of heaven but to do so with a Calvary Chapel accent And here's how I define it full of grace Full and full and overflowing with grace Dependent on and open to the power of the Holy Spirit Flavored with an expectancy of Christ's soon return Founded on an unequivocal commitment to teach the whole Bible Willing to let the scripture itself set the agenda And don't think for a second you have to compromise these distinctives to grow a church We know better. I Recall a secretary once saying of pastor Chuck's ministry It's strange that all these hippies are coming to hear the most theologically conservative pastor in town The 1960s were a time of social upheaval Yet Chuck and Kay modeled a biblical marriage Chuck was the head of his home and Kay submitted to his leadership and this carried over into the church Nothing was rigidly enforced But men felt called by God to lead and women enjoyed letting them in Calvary Chapel We got a biblical view of gender roles and Rather than being a harling Chuck was a strong pastor. He needed to be He ended up being a father figure to thousands of young people who lacked a loving leader in in their lives Yes, Chuck modeled Moses's leadership But not just his independence also his meekness and his compassion Again all this happened at a time when society was headed in the opposite direction The values pastor Chuck modeled were out of fashion culturally Yet our pastor stuck with the accent of heaven Even when it came across as backwoods is say a a southern accent pardon the rabbit trail But if you find Calvary Chapel the Calvary Chapel inflection a bit antiquated or old-fashioned for you If you're embarrassed by it, you should seriously consider giving up the name Certainly you can speak the language of heaven without the nuances of Calvary Chapel. We're not the only group doing it, right? I'll still love you. I'll still consider you my brother. Hey, I'll let you come to our conference if you can't find a better one But for the sake of your own integrity and to avoid confusing people just be who you are Usually languages morph over time Take English for example Have you ever actually read a 1611 King James Bible? You haven't because you can't The writing is indecipherable But the language of heaven never changes God's word is as sure and certain today as when first written Parts of the Old Testament may have a different application to us today than to the Hebrews of old, but it's no less beneficial God's word is essential to every culture in all generations Let's stay committed to our legacy of teaching through the Bible. Don't be ashamed of it. Get better at it The Bible is the language of our homeland When George George Schultz served as the Secretary of State He kept a large globe in his office Whenever he met a US ambassador, he would always give them a quiz He'd tell them to go over to the globe and point to their country Invariably, they would pick the nation to which they'd been sent And that would give Schultz the opportunity to give them a vital lesson in diplomacy He corrected them by pointing to America Schultz wanted his foreign ambassadors to never forget the land where they lived was not their home and Ambassadors home is the land that he represents And the same is true for an ambassador for Christ as Citizens of God's kingdom. Let's be sure we represent him. Well Well, some churches have neglected heaven's language But others have forgotten how to speak the language of earth They live in a bubble. Oh to protect what good what's good and godly they've cut themselves off from the culture around them Churches can get so ingrown they end up alienated from the very people they want to reach Here's why it's difficult to be a good ambassador for Christ. It involves maintaining this proper tension For churches like people love to go to extremes Some no longer speak the language of heaven They ignore the Bible and play movie clips on Sunday movie clips Life lessons from the movies are some other nonsense Other churches though they study the Bible verse by verse, but whether that without an eye on the culture There's no prophetic voice addressing the real issues. You see a good ambassador is fluent in both languages Like all churches challenged by today's liberalism Calvary chapels also run the risk of forsaking heaven's language But I think more so our family is in danger of forgetting how to speak to the culture around us So what if we understand accurately, but stop speaking effectively You can be articulate in God's word, but that's only part of the role of an interpreter There are still people we've yet to reach There are new generations to target We have to remain fluent in the local language 50 years is long enough to get lost in a time warp Do we revel in the glory years? Do we hold on to the ground we've gained rather than target new territory? I Think one of the reasons older pastors get tempted by the Bathsheba's is that they stop fighting battles in the spring of the year They minister as if it's autumn They start winding down rather than gearing up Like King David it's now about consolidating gains and relishing old victories rather than Risking new ventures of faith. Hey with no more goals. There's no reason for vigilance I'm sure it's justified to a degree But could all the talk we've heard lately about succession plans for Calvary Chapel pastors in some cases just be an excuse for no vision The prophet Joel doesn't say when we get older we should fade out Old men will dream dreams And dreaming a dream and is even greater than a young man seeing a vision dreams or visions on steroids The implementation of a dream takes the insights of a seasoned pastor Pastor Chuck died with his boots on I know it wasn't always pretty There's something commendable to me about enduring to the end All I'm saying is that at 27 or at 87 I want to be full of faith and vision We certainly have to speak the language of heaven. We have nothing else to offer folks We need to speak the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth But it has to be done with a sensitivity and with a connectedness I believe for some Calvary Chapel pastors, they need to re-engage the culture Has your congregation changed with the demographics of your neighborhood? Is the church you pastor growing older and younger at the same time? Rather than just sit back on the status quo, even if it's paying the bills It might be good to ask some of those questions Of course re-engaging the culture for some pastors might be as simple as just buying some pain given the sanctuary of facelift Or lose the plastic ferns man I'm so glad they didn't have ferns here Or replace the overhead projector in laminated song sheets With some computer generated graphics the prices come down by the way Or play a worship song written after 1980 I'm just saying a church's vision for connecting with a lost world can get lost in the bubble it creates for itself A Calvary Chapel stone mountain my wife has an eye for this And she has constantly prodding me to update stuff honey. We just check you need to change it again. It's gotten old And not just the facility But our approach and our strategies friends The message never changes It is a changeless gospel, but we live in a changing world I've pastored for 36 years and the older I get the stronger is the tendency to avoid change and rest on my laurels Ah, what worked before will work again But the holy spirit and kathie adams are always challenging me Remember the seven last words of a dying church We have always done it that way Please understand why this is all so important to me personally I didn't find Calvary Chapel until the late 1970s That meant that I spent the 60s in southern churches among failed interpreters While pastor chuck reached hippies in california the church leaders I knew despised the dirty hippies Young men my age were growing their hair long and wearing bell-bottom jeans But my church insisted on flat tops and peg leg pants and skinny ties We were led to believe that a starch shirt on sunday made you holier Needless to say we failed to reach young people Most of my friends thought the church was obsolete Hey the church leaders that I knew Really would have shut the doors before they let the barefoot hippies in to soil the carpet. They would have In retrospect, they didn't know the language of heaven nor could they speak the dialect of earth I have seen firsthand how well-meaning christians can confuse man-made traditions for biblical truth And if it can happen to a good baptist friends, it can happen to us The ministry of reconciliation requires that we be fluent in two languages Pastors need to be unbending. They need to have an unbending commitment to god's truth But they also need a flexibility in their methods And this is also how calvary chapel needs to stay the course We need to be who we are absolutely But we also need to adapt to the folks that we have yet to reach Make sure your church isn't an enclave of people living in the past People relishing memories of better times polishing traditions rather than seeking new wine Don't let your church's laughter and singing and even its teaching drown out the sound of the footsteps of sinners marching off to hell The great commission isn't just for young people starting new churches It's for older guys in older churches in need of fresh vision Recently I was referred to as an old wine skin I didn't take it lightly In fact, I'm now thankful for the accusation For it really caused me to think Have I been wedded to the past? Are there traditions in my ministry more important to me than reaching people? If you call me an old wine skin because I'm bound to the ageless truths of the bible Shame on you But if I'm guilty of holding on to old antiquated methods when god has a new approach in mind then shame on me In recent months, I've torn out the sanctuary carpet and I've polished the concrete I've added new speakers and I've cranked up the music volume to the chagrin of some of our older folks I bought new lights leds no less We started a new group for single adults. I've even started to tweet a little more. I wish I knew what it was But I'm doing it It's little stuff. I know but I hope it reflects a bigger attitude If it's true You can't teach old dogs new tricks Then everyone over 30 should resign Just get out of the way for a younger guy to take over But I'm an old dog Almost 60 now and I'm still teachable By the way, that's just eight. That's just eight in dog years I'm still a pup I've been a Calvary Chapel pastor for almost four decades and I'll be one until the day I die But with all my heart, I have pledged to God that whatever he wants to change or do differently in my ministry to reconcile people I'm all in To me that too is a big part of being a Calvary Chapel guy I'm determined to faithfully declare the language of heaven But I'm equally committed to doing it in ways that make me more fruitful Not more comfortable I still recall how the holy spirit my holy spirit my rushing mighty wind Blew over my life and changed everything about me I was a Baptist The closest I'd ever come to the holy spirit was singing passing on around the campfire But the holy spirit challenged my assumptions I left what was safe God jumped out of the box. I had him in God's call of my life was the call of the wild and Calvary Chapel played a huge huge part in that And I longed to stay open to fresh winds of the holy spirit Again, this isn't just a goal for younger men Don't forget Chuck broke with his traditional moorings and heeded God's call in his middle years Following Jesus takes a childlike attitude regardless of your age A Christian's posture should always be forward not backward As Paul said we pressed toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Often an ambassador walks a tightrope It's the tension that I've talked about How can I be faithful to God's truth, but still reach folks? He died to save An ambassador lives with the possibility that he might be misunderstood Jesus went as far as to go to parties thrown by tax collectors Don't think there weren't a few awkward moments where a critical eye could have misinterpreted And it's ironic, but we've begun to misinterpret our pastor Some are using his words just to make their points Chuck was faithful and merciful At times his faithfulness shined at other times you saw his mercy Yet today some guys quote Chuck's mercy-leaning statements to support their leniency Other guys quote his ring of truth comments to support their dogmatism, but both take him out of context Most of what our pastor did and said was to build bridges and to see people reconcile to God And as an ambassador for Christ We like Chuck need to simultaneously be faithful to God and also merciful to people Don't ever compromise the message of heaven We preach God's infallible word not just another opinion But also dare to preach his word in ways that connect with the people who listen Take his timeless truths and present them in timely and in powerful ways Let me close with a challenging quote If a man has a soul and he has And if that soul can be won or lost for eternity and it can Then the most important thing in the world is to bring that man to Jesus Christ. I say amen Bringing a person to Jesus is more important than pastifying an elder Or observing a decade's old church tradition Or upholding the status quo or living within your own comfort zone Or calming the big donors William Booth founder of the Salvation Army once said I'd stand on my head and play a tambourine with my feet If I thought it would help me win one soul to Jesus I hope we all feel that way Certainly the souls of men are more important than our dignity Reconciling sinners is what God is up to in the world today And he plans to get it done through you and me Let's speak for heaven But in the language of earth remember On the cross God was in Christ Reconciling the world to himself today God is in us pleading and imploring For people to be reconciled Listen here Would you close your eyes and listen here? Can you hear the Savior pleading? Father help us get out of the way Help us bury our pride Help us turn loose of our traditions And let it really be all about Jesus Lord you do your work your way We love you We'll be happy about it May we be faithful to your truth And we may we be merciful to people In Jesus name I pray