Weeping for the Lost!

The Estranged Souls!

As you may have noticed recently, nations worldwide are rapidly descending into a whirlpool of evil, wickedness, iniquity, and rebellion.

The midnight hour of the end of this Age of Grace is fast approaching and the time to finish the work to be done for the Kingdom of God grows shorter as each day, week, month, and year passes by.

   And to think, multitudes of people are lost within these nations and our local communities

while few in the church sow in tears for the unsaved.

Nor do they (the critical mass) – those who sit in the pews) leave their habitations of worship and go and find these estranged souls separated from their Creator and introduce them to the Savior.

Little Weeping!

There seems to be little weeping for these disoriented and abandoned peoples of the world, and those in our communities of Christians who are well tucked into their places of comfort and convenience absorbed in their vocations, self-pleasures, secular pursuits, family interests, religious activities, and comfortable church settings.

I hear excuses like, “Oh, that is not my ministry,” or “Oh, I am not called to do that,” or “Oh, I do not have time for that.” Once I heard a deacon say that he could not make a meeting to discuss a plan on how to reach the lost because his favorite NFL teams was playing and he would have to miss the meeting. God help us!

People may go to church, sing or play an instrument on the worship team, teach Sunday school, raise their hands during worship time, be an usher in the church, even preach to the people, or do any number of things but few obey to heed what Christ commanded,

“You did not choose Me

 but

I chose you,

 and

appointed you

 that

you would go

 and

 bear fruit,

 and that your fruit

 would remain,

 so that whatever you ask

of the Father in My name

 He may give to you.

    (John 15:15)

Hungry for Souls!!

Could it be any clearer and defined for the mission of each saint of God?  But when it comes to those who are perishing daily outside the church door or those hurting and lonely in the church, the Lord does not hear the sounds of crying, the wailing of the soul, the shedding of tears, nor does He see those of His coming to the altar asking Him for the visitation of fire to cleanse their heart and their vessel of self-centeredness and the self-life so they can “go” and capture the lost which is bearing spiritual fruit for the Lord.

The church who is not hungry for souls is in serious need of revival.  If there is no “fire” in the heart of believers for the lost, then there is no fire in the church corporately.  And this sees to be the case for most modern churches.

Many ask why their prayers remain unanswered. Christ responds:

“First,

go and bear fruit,

fruit that remains,

and

then come

and

ask me for what you

desire

and

 I will give it to you.”

Jesus says, “FIRST - GO” My friend, the fruit to bear are those who are in the fields white with harvest waiting on you to come and show them the path to Christ. The Psalmist says, 

Those who

 sow in tears 

shall

reap  

                joyful shouting

                 (Psalm 126:5)

Where are the Weeping Ones!

While sitting in a church service not long ago, the Lord again spoke to me loud and clear and said,

“Where are the weeping ones,

the ones I have been calling

over and over

to begin to hurt and ache

and

lay down their self-interests.

 Where are the ones to take up

My interests for those

 I died for and who are

 just waiting to hear

about My Son and have

My Word sowed into their lives.

Where is the joyful shouting over

just one lost person

 coming into the kingdom?

I hear and see your worship,

but I do not see the shouting

and

 joy over the lost finding new life

and

joining with you

in celebration over their

new birth experience.

The lost awaits your going.

Will you go for Me?

Will you sacrifice for Me?

Will you suffer for Me

as I suffered for you?

Again, I remind you,

I said,

“Go into all the world

and share the good news.”

Will you lay aside yourself

and

let me fill you with My Spirit

so you can do just that –

“Go, weep, sow, and

                                          then rejoice with shouts of joy.

My dear friend, where there is no “weeping,” there is no “going,” ”where there is no “going” there is no “sowing,” when there is no “sowing,” there is no “shouting,” and when there is no “shouting” there is an absence of the “joy” and the “presence” of the Lord in the congregation of the righteous.

When was the last time you witnessed the rush of the righteous to the church altar crying out for souls of men, women, and children and seeing the power and presence of God come with such force that people literally fell on their faces or out of their chairs because the heart of God was touched with the bleeding hearts of men and women weeping for the lost and the forgotten.

When was the last time you heard or experienced joyful shouting in your corporate worship for just one soul being saved?  Oh, I do not mean praise and singing which is normal during worship time.  No, I mean JOYFUL SHOUTING FOR JUST ONE SOUL SAVED DURING THE WEEK? 

The Scripture declares:

Rejoice greatly…..Shout in triumph…..

(Zephaniah 3:14)

The Shouting of Joy Factor!

Every lost person brought into the kingdom is a victory for King Jesus and should generate a victory shout.  If there are no shouts, there are no victories. It is the through the shouting of victory that God comes and dwells among us for He says:

Let them shout for joy and rejoice…

(Psalms 35:27)

God has ascended with a

shout…

(Psalm 47:5)

My lips will

shout 

for joy

when I sing praises to you….

 (Psalm 71:23)

Let us

shout 

joyfully to Him with psalms. 

(Psalm 95:2)

The sounds of

joyful shouting 

and

salvation

[deliverance and hearing]

is in the tents

 of the righteous.

 (Psalm 118:15)

He brought forth

His people with joy,

His chosen ones

with a

joyful shout. 

(Psalm 105:43)

Perhaps if there was more shouting in the tents of the righteous for souls being saved and for the greatness of God and His love for us and the lost, we would witness greater healings and deliverances for those in bondages to sicknesses, illnesses, and demonic oppressions and attacks.

The Psalmist further declares,

He who goes to and fro weeping,

caring his bag of seed,

shall indeed come

 again with

 a shout

 of joy, bringing his

 sheaves with him. 

(Psalm 126:6)

Notice the first step in coming to a place of shouting with joy in the heart is “GOING” – going where? Going into the fields (neighborhood, community, city, state, nation, and world) white with harvest to secure souls waiting to receive the living Word from the living Christ within the believer.

Notice the second step is “WEEPING” before and as you go, weeping for the down and out, the crushed, the bruised, the forsaken, the hurting, and the dying who are all LOST without the Christ of the cross.

Notice the third step is “CARRYING” the Word of God which is the seed to plant in the lives of the lost.  You, my friend, are also the seed for you plant yourself in the lives of those Christ takes you to to love and to witness for Him.

Notice the fourth step is SHOUTS OF JOY for the seed planted and the seed harvested which is God’s Word and God’s fire taken to the unsaved which causes you to rejoice which brings you to the next step.

Notice the fifth step is BRINGING HIS SHEAVES WITH HIM meaning the souls you capture through the power of the Holy Spirit, you bring into the barn of eternal life and all of heaven joins in the shouting of joy over one lost sinner coming to His Savior.  If heaven shouts and rejoices, shouldn’t the Church also shout and rejoice?

The Lost and Hurting Sheep!

Jesus said that when a man loses one sheep, he goes looking for that sheep leaving the other ninety-nine in the pasture.  When he finds the lost sheep, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing (Luke 15:4-5). He says,

I tell you that in the same way,

 there will be

more joy in heaven 

over one sinner who repents,

than over ninety-nine righteous persons

 who need no repentance.  (Luke 15:7)

Jesus further states:

For the Son of Man has come to

seek and to save that which was lost.

(Luke 19:10)

The Call to Go!

The mission of Christ and His Church is to seek and save the lost which becomes the mission of every born-again saint of God. 

Jesus might say to us, “Look, if the ninety-nine in the church do not want to obey and go and find the lost for Me, then I call you to go and find the one who is lost and bring him into the kingdom.  And when you do, know this,

I will be in your midst,

I will be your victorious warrior,

I will exalt over you with joy,

I will be quiet in my love for you,

I will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

(Zephaniah 3:17)

     Now saint of God, if the corporate body left the security of the building and went to find the lost and came back shouting and rejoicing and bringing the lost with them, God would explode on His people by manifesting Himself in their midst and He would shout along with those in heaven. And for those with spiritual sensitivity, they may even hear the choir of heaven singing over this lost soul being found.    

The Mission!

    Oh, church, do you see what we are missing?  If we want the presence of God and the fire of God, then search your heart and ask the Lord to grant you His compassion for the lost and then begin weeping for the lost.

      Ask Him to send you to them with the Word of God in your mouth and the power of God flowing through your hands.  And when you find them, put them on your shoulders and bring them back to the fold shouting and rejoicing for the one you found. 

          Finally, Jesus said about the man who found the lost sheep,

And when he comes home,

he calls together his friends

 and his neighbors,

saying to them,

“Rejoice with me,

for I have found my sheep

 which was lost.”

(Luke 15:6)        

Here is a paraphrase of the above,

Recognizing that people are spiritually lost and bound for hell,

 we go looking for them and when we find them, we share the love of Christ with them, invite them to confess their sins, and accept the Savior into their hearts by faith in Him.

Then we come back to the church house, call the brothers and sisters together and announces to them that this person standing beside me was once lost in the world, but now he joins us in celebration of his new birth and entrance into the kingdom of God.  Let us all shout unto the Lord for He has granted victory and snatched this sheep from the hand of the enemy.

Jesus said….

…..the field

(the lost outside the church door)

is ripe for harvest

 (those hurting, downtrodden, depressed, poor, homeless, sick, etc.)

but few are willing

(those who will sacrifice everything for the Master to move in His mission to be called a follower of Him (Luke 4:18)

 to go and gather in the

 wheat.

(those the Lord has prepared outside the church door to receive Him and find a new life in Him and a new Kingdom – the Kingdom of God).).

From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary!

God is looking for those who desire to move out of ordinary Christianity into an extraordinary agape relationship with Him as the sinner woman knelt and washed His feet with her tears of silent worship.

  She anointed His feet with an expensive perfume indicating her heart was so smitten by His presence that she gave her all to be with the Master and hear…

.

Your faith has saved you,

go (enter) into

peace

 (in freedom from all distressed that are experienced

 as the result of sin).

May we garner the revelation of this scene daily to sit at the Master’s feet, loving Him and serving Him as He would say,

  Go,

in the faith and love I have placed in you

for your love for those you are called

to harvest from the fields

of the world

 and

your care for them is your

primary mission for Me

and

pleases My Father and Me.

My Prayer!

          Father in heaven, I know you gave me this oracle to speak to my own heart and the hearts of those who read this oracle about your divine mission of going into our surroundings and boldly speaking forth Your Word and testimony in the power and demonstrations of the Holy Spirit to those who are lost. 

          Oh, Father, please put the “fire of testimony” in me to bring back into the fold the lost sheep that you so dearly love and want to see walking  under the banner, “A follower of Christ.” 

          Where I am hesitant, make me bold, where I am self-centered, make me Christ-centered, where I proud, make me humble, and where I strong, make me weak.

           Use me Jesus in all my weaknesses to show yourself the Savior of love and compassion for those you died for and came to rescue from the world, the flesh, and the devil.  In Your name, Amen.

Rich Arnold

Servant of the Lord

311 Adeladie Ave SW

Hartville, Ohio 44632

330-704-9306

richarnold4@gmail.com