John K. Jenkins Sr - Reasons Why We Must Celebrate

Last Sunday morning, not just in the morning but the whole day, the fourth Sunday in November 2008 , 207 persons made decisions for the Lord. 207 made some level of a decision when the average church in America has a hundred people or less. To have 200 show up in one day is a phenomenal event. That number astonishes me because it means that God is at work in somebody's life and in people's lives. It's evidence that God is doing something. It's not, however, the 207 that got me excited; I would have been excited if it was just one. Amen! I would have been excited if it was just one. Why? Because the Bible teaches us clearly-that's what I want to talk about . This is that when one sinner comes and makes the decision for the Lord, or makes a choice that is the right choice, the Bible says that that's a great thing . I mean, that's an incredible thing; it is a wonderful thing, and the Bible says that the angels rejoice with joy in heaven.

The problem is that what is infiltrating the church is that regular churchgoers are becoming nonchalant , unmoved, and unexcited. We have, in fact, minimized and lost sight of the work that God is doing in the lives of bringing lost and broken people into the kingdom. Amen. As a matter of fact, when you come to a church like this and you see people coming forth every Sunday, it seems just a normal thing. Some folks look at the invitation time as a chance for them to get out and beat the traffic. They don't recognize that this is the decision-making time for souls to make choices for Jesus to get right with God. But for some people, it's time to beat traffic. They have so minimized this wonderful time of service of people responding that they get up and leave; they walk out. I think it's a disgrace. Tell your neighbor it's a disgrace. I don't think it's right to be walking out early today.

Such was the case in the days of Jesus . In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, Jesus is dialoguing. As a matter of fact, in chapter 15, the tax collectors and sinners had come to hear Jesus preach , while the religious crowd- the Pharisees and scribes -observed. The Pharisees were the so-called " separated ones." They felt so good about themselves because they thought they dotted every "i" and crossed every "t." They were so holy and so righteous ; they had it going on . They were the religious zealots , if we could call them that. They thought they had it all figured out, their noses high in the air. When they prayed, they said, "Thank God I'm not like those heathens over there!" That 's how they were.

Then there were the scribes who had the responsibility of copying the Scriptures. They didn't have printing presses like we do today, so there was a group of people whose main assignment was to accurately copy the Bible. They, too , thought they were special. But on a particular day, when the sinners and tax collectors had come to hear Jesus preach and teach , and Jesus actually loved on them and befriended them, the religious culture got upset. They got mad; as a matter of fact, in verse number two, it says that they were upset. They said, "This man receives sinners and eats with them!" Look, they're mad because Jesus is hanging out and showing love to unsaved people. What an unbelievable thing! How dare God show some compassion and mercy to people who are lost? You only got to say "Amen," because some of y'all have the same attitude.

In fact, the truth of the matter is that some folks have no care or concern. As a matter of fact, Jesus was so burdened by their attitude that He spent the whole fifteenth chapter talking about this dilemma by sharing three parables , right back to back-boom, boom, boom! Three parables that deal strictly with trying to help them understand the significance of lost people, people who are detached from God and have no relationship with Him. He spends the whole fifteenth chapter going parable after parable, story after story , bam , bam, bam-three bullets, right after another-trying to convey the importance of these religious people understanding the significance of winning souls to the kingdom of God.

The first story He tells is about a man who owns a hundred sheep . When he discovers that one of the sheep is lost , he leaves the ninety-nine sheep and goes searching for the one. The parable says that when he finds the one sheep-verse number six says, "And when he comes home, he finds his sheep"-verse five: "And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing." He is so happy he found the one and rejoices! In verse five and verse six, he says, "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.'" There 's a level of excitement! The guy calls all his friends; someone probably didn't even know that sheep was lost ! But he came home and called everybody, saying, "I'm so excited! I found the one sheep that was lost !" Immediately, Jesus conveys and connects this celebration of this man finding one sheep with the kingdom of God . He says, "I say to you,"-verse seven- "Y 'all see verse seven?"