Priority Number One 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9

“7and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” {NKJV}

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 {Contemporary English Version} “8 …Our Lord Jesus will punish anyone who doesn't know God and won't obey his message. 9Their punishment will be eternal destruction, and they will be kept far from the presence of our Lord and his glorious strength.” { The Message} “8 Those who refuse to know God and refuse to obey the Message will pay for what they've done. 9 Eternal exile from the presence of the Master and his splendid power is their sentence.”

Priority Number 1 What is 750,00 miles long, reaches around the earth 30 times, and grows 20 miles longer each day? Give up? The line of people who are without Christ. When William Booth signed the guest book for King Edward the 7 th he summed up his life work. “Your Majesty” he wrote “Some men’s ambition is art. Some men’s ambition is fame. Some men’s ambition is gold. My ambition is the souls of men.

Priority Number One Your pulpit may be at work; your pulpit may be on the river or at home but each of us has a pulpit—a place where we can tell people about Jesus. There are people in the world, right around us that are lost and on their way to hell and for some reason that doesn’t stir us anymore. WE HAVE LOST OUR PASSION FOR SOULS! We have forgotten that people without Jesus are lost.

Priority Number 1 God needs to restore in us a vision of the lostness of humanity and stir us up and let us know that it is not just our brother or sister who is responsible to be a witness or evangelist, it is also our responsibility.

Priority Number 1 If people are lost outside of Christ, and if faith in Jesus Christ is the only avenue of redemption, what could possibly be a higher priority than spreading the gospel as far as we can and as fast as we can, to everybody we can?

Priority Number 1 The first priority of any church should be making it hard for anyone to go to hell. You and I must believe that all humanity, every man, woman, boy and girl is lost without Jesus. If we don’t believe that then we want be very passionate about seeing people saved. There is no urgency for us if we don’t believe that people will go to hell without Jesus.

Priority Number 1 The Westminster Confession says, “But the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His Power.

Priority Number 1 Paul cried out, “Necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” {1 Corinthians 9:16}. John Knox pleaded on his knees, “Give me Scotland or I die.” Hudson Taylor, as a young man in England, cried to God, “I feel that I cannot go on living unless I do something for China.”

Priority Number 1 Robert Arthington could not go overseas, but through sacrifice, helped send others. He lived in a single room, cooked his own meals, and gave over $500,000 to missions. At the end of his life he wrote, “Gladly would I again make the floor my bed, a box my chair, another box my table, rather than that men should perish for want of the knowledge of the Savior.

Priority Number 1 William Booth: “Most Christian ministers would like to send their recruits to Bible College for five years. I would like to send our recruits to hell for five minutes. That would do more than anything else to prepare them for a lifetime of compassionate ministry.”

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