YP Talk—Tim Harkins
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Good evening. Let's start by looking to the Lord for his health.
A God and Father, we thank you for this opportunity to open Thy word. We thank Thee for the resource that it is to us in our life. We just thank you for each of the young people that are here tonight, and we just pray for Thy blessing for them in their life. And so tonight as we open thy word and speak from it a little bit, we just ask that I bless them and count on me for that help. Our God and Father and the Lord Jesus precious name we pray, Amen.
Well, first of all, I'd just like to thank each one of you guys for coming to the conference, umm, at Marvel as I stand here and look at the number of young people that are here.
And it's an encouragement to my heart and.
You know, I see a lot of energy and a lot of potential when I look at this room full of young people, and I was just like tonight to.
Bring before you a Commission that the Apostle Paul gave to early believers.
But the hope that I can challenge you to channel some of that energy and potential to a Commission that he gave many years ago. So turn with me to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
I'm just going to read one verse to start with here in Second Corinthians chapter 5.
In verse 20.
Now then.
We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech by us.
In the reading meetings we've had Luke 12 before us and.
Several times in the course of the reading meetings, the focus has been.
Directed at the reality of the fact that we are living in the last days of the day of grace. We are at the close of this this sensation. We are at the end of this age. All around us we can see signs of things lining up. So it will take us into take this world into.
The great tribulation followed by the coming of the Lord at His appearing with us to establish His Kingdom as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And so.
That makes the Commission that the Apostle Paul gave to the Corinthians so many years ago all that much more imperative for us today.
There is an absolute necessity at the end of the dispensation of the Day of grace to present the gospel message in our little corner of the world. And every single one of us has this responsibility, every single one of us. We're gonna look at a couple of more verses here as we go on, but if we.
Turn back to chapter 4 and uh.
Actually chapter 5 and justice back in verse 11, it says knowing thou, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
Some of you here may know and some may not, but.
My occupation is as a firefighter and I come into contact with people every day that have demonstrated through their actions.
An absolute absence of hope.
An absolute absence of health. They have made decisions in their life that have catastrophic consequences and it's all based on the fact that they, as they see things from their perspective, they have no hope.
You know in Second Corinthians chapter 4 it says in verse six, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Listen to this next phrase.
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But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
What's that treasure? It's Christ within us.
And I would just like to challenge each one of you that as you go from this conference, that you take extremely seriously this Commission that the Apostle Paul gave to every believer to be an ambassador for Christ, to take the hope that is in us to a lost.
World and to present them with the only hope of humanity through the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, an ambassador in the times of Scripture was different than the ambassadors that we see today, but there is a resemblance. And So what an ambassador does today is we'll just use the United States as an example.
They're commissioned by the government of the United States, the president of the United States. He actually.
Hand chooses the ambassadors and he sends them to a foreign country to represent US interests in that country. That's the responsibility of an ambassador today.
In the, in the biblical times, there were more a messenger, you know, today if we send a, an ambassador to Libya or to some other country, even the worst places out there, the ambassadors generally live pretty well.
They live in a mansion and they interact with the political systems of that country and they seek to, umm, to provide us perspective to that country.
In the Old Testament times, in the times of Scripture, the ambassadors were sent to deliver a message from the king to another king, usually.
And how would it be if, let's say, uh.
The President of the United States were to choose an ambassador to go to.
Brazil and, uh, the ambassador from the United States gets on an airplane and they fly down to Brazil and they're met there by several diplomats from the Brazilian government and they've shown to the US consulate and they have some quarters that they are provided with to stay and they just find themselves.
In this beautiful place and, uh.
They look around them and say, you know what, Brazil is just a ginormous country, and there's no way that I can have any impact on the things that are going on in this country. I can't represent US interests as one person in this country. And they just seek to enjoy the opportunity to travel Brazil via US funding.
It would be completely out of place and you might say, well.
Umm.
I'm not an evangelist.
I don't have the gift of evangelism. We heard a gifted evangelist tonight.
But you know what? If you don't find yourself in that place, that makes two of us.
There's Neuromox, but that doesn't change anything. And 1St and Second Timothy chapter 4. Umm, let's just read real briefly in Second Timothy chapter one.
Second Timothy, chapter one and verse six. It says, Wherefore I put thee in remembrance.
But thou strip the gift of God, which is in me, by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear.
But of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power.
Of God and then if we turn to chapter 4.
Umm, verse 5.
It says, But watch thou in all things endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. You know, I don't know for sure because I don't think we have it particularly identified in Scripture, but I have my doubts that Timothy's personal spiritual gift was that of an evangelist.
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We heard it during the reading meetings that he had a tendency towards being timid, maybe what we would call shy. It is not overt and yet the expectation to Timothy even in that.
Was to do the work of an evangelist.
And you know this isn't just about.
Men.
You know, the woman that was at the well went back to the village in Samaria and said come see a man that showed me all things that ever I did.
And you know there isn't.
It's not reality to think.
That a gifted gospel preacher is going to have the capacity to reach every single person.
In this world. But the Lord has commissioned you and me as ambassadors for Christ to in our small corner of the world, represent Him and His interest and to present a message of hope to this world.
The thing that made this extremely real to me and.
And we've talked about this in our reading meetings in Luke chapter 12 about the fear of men and, uh.
That I think characterizes probably each and every one of us. And like our brother Bill mentioned in his address today, umm, it's probably the number one hindrance from you and I completing this ministry. But it's one of the primary missions of Christians in the world today is to be an ambassador for Christ. And what it says there in Second Timothy chapter one, that he has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power.
And of love. And of a sound mind.
That goes for the gospel and you know.
Umm, to try and put this in a little bit of perspective, some here, I've already heard this story that have been to the Brooks Memorial Camp. But I worked with a man named Eric and he was not a nice man. As a matter of fact, from the very moment that I hired on with the fire department there in Kenowa, I recognized the fact that this guy was a complete jerk.
And he intimidated everybody that he came into contact with.
And he scared me.
And I interacted with him on multiple occasions at work and I recognized that.
He was not saved, he did not know the Lord as Savior, and I recognized a distinct need, and I felt the Lord pressing me to talk to him.
About the Gospel.
But it did not.
Because I was intimidated. I've had man.
And when he was 40 years old.
On the 4th of July, he responded to a fire.
And he died of a heart attack.
Find fire.
And tonight, Earth is in a lost eternity.
In great parts.
To that sales in this Commission.
To be an ambassador for Christ to a man that desperately need it. The Lord Jesus is safe.
And I would just say to you.
And any fear?
Of reprisal from MID for presenting them with the gospel does not hold a candle.
To what it feel like.
They passed into eternity and you didn't take the opportunity to speak to them when you had a chance.
Uh, still and talking about ambassadors, there's a specific man.
That I have, umm, considered.
Recently that has really struck me as an example of an ambassador for Christ, the man that we all know. Well turn with me to John chapter one, and I'd like to list briefly and a couple of the attributes that we see in this ambassador surprise.
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John chapter one and verse 6.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of delight, that all men through him might believe.
Verse 15.
John bare witness of him. Let's go back to verse 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bear witness of him and cries, saying, This is he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me.
And of isfullness have all we received in grace for grace for the law.
Was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Down to verse 19.
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not, but confessed I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then art thou, Elias? And he saith, I am not.
Art thou that prophet? And he answered no.
Then said they unto him, Who art thou?
That we may give an answer to them that sent us. But saith Thou of thyself. And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as saith the prophet Isaiah.
Uh, and then, uh, just turn real briefly to John, Chapter 10.
John chapter 10 and verse 41.
The many resorted unto him, and said, That is presented to the Lord Jesus, And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle.
But all things that John spake of this man were true.
That is a remarkable commendation of John.
John did no miracle, but all things that he spake of this man were true.
You know, as an ambassador, umm, there's three things that I think we can take from John the Baptist in his life.
And apply them to ourselves as ambassadors for Christ. The first thing is that we carry the Spirit of Christ. What do I mean by that?
I mean that well, I'm going to read a verse and Colossians chapter 4 to illustrate what I mean by that.
Colossians chapter 4 and verse 6.
It says let your speech be always with grace.
Seasoned with salt, that you may know how ye ought to answer every man.
It's important.
As Bill said in his address today.
That we walk circumspectly before this world because.
Actions speak much louder than words.
We can preach the gospel with our mouths and walk in a way that's inconsistent with the position that we have, and it will have absolutely no effect and will actually cause.
God to be blasting.
And so let's be careful that when we address people.
In this Commission that we do so with the Spirit of Christ, but we do so with words that are always gracious and that they are seasoned with salt.
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And uh, but we walk like it talks about an Ephesians chapter 6 having on the breastplate of righteousness with our loins good about with truth.
And our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
It's important that we have those things characterize us in our life in order for us to be effective in that responsibility. And Nobel told the story about handing the Gospel tract to one of his coworkers.
And remember the thing that he said about that, that the man took the Gospel tract from him because he respected the manner of life that Bill had exhibited.
That is critical.
And if there's failure in that in your life or mine, confess it.
And move forward.
So that you can be used to the Lord in this way. The second thing and a very, very important, if we look at back at John chapter one, how did John respond to these Pharisees? He responded with the word of God.
And you know, Scripture tells us that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
And it says that the word of God is powerful.
It's quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. You know, anything you could have, We could be the best orator and we could be the most eloquent speaker and we could have some tremendous philosophies and we could have some great stories and some great examples and none of that.
Is as effective as proper application of the Word of God.
Nothing is used by the Spirit of God to convict a soul like the Word of God.
And you know, in my younger years, I used to strive with men about the gospel.
Looking back on a machine, it's ridiculous. I used to have arguments, so I tried to like philosophize with these people to try and bring them to the recognition of where they needed to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Do you know what would have been far better for me? To just quote John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth to him.
Should not perish, but have everlasting life.
There is power in just that single verse that I'm sure every single one of you know by heart.
Far more effective.
The last thing that I just wanted to bring out was the fact that John didn't put any emphasis on himself and all the emphasis was on Christ.
John did no miracles but.
But all things that he speaks of this man were true. There was no life shone on him. It was awe on Christ and that was powerful. Many men resorted to him based on that.
And and Colossians chapter 4 again.
Umm.
But it says there.
Is let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer of a man.
You know, that season with salt. Alright, I've thought about that recently and.
Umm, I think it's Matthew 5 that it. Let's turn to that real quick and.
Yeah, Matthew, Chapter 5.
And verse 13 it says, Ye are the salt of the earth, But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and be trodden under the foot of men. Dior the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, but put it under a bushel or on a Candlestick, and it give us light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven, that they might see your good works, and glorify not you, but your Father, which is in heaven. That's what it's talking about when it talks about.
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The salt of the earth.
When we take and eat a piece of corn and we put salt on a piece of Onyx pouring on the cob and we eat that, we don't sit there and talk about how good the salt tastes. We talk about how good the corn tastes, but it's because of the salt. And so that's the whole thing, the focus.
Is not on us. The focus is on Christ, and there's so much in this world today that tries to take away from that.
And the emphasis becomes on the person, even in Christianity, and there is a loss in moral power and weight on the harvest.
John did no miracle, but all things that he spake of this man were true.
I'm just going to close by reading the rest of what we have there in Second Corinthians chapter 5.
Let's start with verse 14.
For the love of Christ constraineth us.
Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh?
Yet though he has known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know ye Him no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation to it, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
Not imputing their trespasses under them. And have committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech by us. We pray in Christ's death be reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The Commission that the apostle Paul gave these Corinthians then is far more important now.
Because as we said earlier, we're at the close of the age. Knowing now, therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
I work with some men. I work with a crew of.
I work with a crew of uh.
Seven other guys, and of that seven guys, five of them know the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
I love all of them.
Deeply.
Two of those men are a significant burden to my soul.
But you know what? Because of air.
I have had the opportunity and the Lord has opened the door on numbers of occasions for me to give the gospel to those men, and I feel on at least one of the occasions the Spirit of God convicted one of the men named Tony.
And he's working in Tony's soul.
And it's hard to be patient. It is. I want to just grab him by the shoulders and shake him and ask him what think ye of Christ, Because I want him to come to know the Lord Jesus before it's too late.
But that's not the Spirit of Christ. We can commit that to the Lord. The apostle Paul says that he planted and Apollo's watered, but God gave it to increase. And so I was just close with this that if you do your part.
And shining as a little light in your corner of the world, whether it's in high school, the Community College, the university, or your workplace, the Lord can use you.
With tremendous power, even without being a gifted evangelist, if we go out and we take this Commission seriously and we go forth and do the work of an evangelist, the Lord can use each one of us.
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To bring souls to himself.
You know, Billy Graham recently went home to be with the Lord and he was a remarkable man that reached millions of people in his life.
We're not in a day.
How much that is common. We're in a day that requires individual faithfulness and our little small corner of the world.
And that's where the Lord works in power.
Just commend ourselves.
Our God and Father, we just thank Thee.
For thy word we thank Thee that Thou hast reconciled us to God. We thank You for this treasure that we bear in earthen vessels, and we just pray our God that Thou will help us to present the hope that is in US.
To this lost world, this world that suffers tremendously, groans and travails because of its lack of hope, Lord help us to shine His lights where we are, to be at hope in whatever way we can. In fulfilling this Commission of being ambassadors for Christ. We ask for thy blessing on each of these young people. The Lord Jesus precious name we pray, Amen.