It is a transcript of the sermon which Billy Graham preached at the Charlotte Crusade. September 21 - 1958

Christ's Answer to the World

by: Billy Graham

Now, today I will turn to the 17th chapter of the book of Acts, beginning at verse 30. Beginning tomorrow evening I am going to ask how many have brought their Bibles. I want everybody to bring a Bible. Now, I'm not a Bibliographist [sic]. I am not asking you to worship with the Bible. I don't use the Bible as a fetish. But I believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word, and in this book we find God's message for us today. I want you to get in the habit of carrying your Bible, reading your Bible, searching the Scriptures with me.

Two words sum up what we need to understand about the gospel if we are to open up and allow it to transform our lives. Through His life, death and resurrection Jesus came to establish these things;

Relationship and Relevance

 
God's Plan For Your Life

My friend, may I ask you life's most important question? All eternity depends upon your answer to this question. Are you saved? There are just two kinds of people in the world, the saved and the lost. God loves you and wants you to be saved to spend eternity with him in Heaven. Here is God's plan for your life:

"A Thousand Faces"

I stand surrounded by the walls that once confined me
Knowing I'll be underneath them
When they crumble when they fall
With clarity my scars remind me
Ash still simmers just under my skin

Indifference smiles again
So much I hide
How is stepping back a move forward?

 My mind goes to many scriptures when I think of all the people who have never reached the point in their lives where they have asked Jesus to come into their lives.

 

Mark 12:28-31 (King James Version)

 28And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?

 29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

 30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

 31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

King James Version (KJV)

 

I could go into a long exposition on these few verses and enter many more supportive scriptures but I believe there is no need. Simply put, if we love our neighbor as ourself..and our neighbor has never come to the saving power of Jesus Christ.. and we never tell them of what Jesus can do in their lives.....I must ask.. do we truly love them?

Brother Hammer served as the chairman. The other members of the tool belt informed him that he must leave, because he was too noisy. But brother Hammer said, "If I have to leave this carpenter's shop, then brother Gimlet must go too. He's insignificant and makes a very small impression." (A gimlet is a small tool with a screw point, grooved shank, and a cross handle for boring holes).

Little brother Gimlet arose and said, "All right, but brother Screwdriver must go also. You have to turn him around and around to get anywhere with him."

Brother Screwdriver turned to the other tools in the belt and said, "If you wish, I will go, but brother Plane must leave too. All of his work is on the surface; there's no depth to what he does."