{"id":748532,"date":"2021-06-22T02:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T07:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=748532"},"modified":"2021-07-21T05:51:18","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T10:51:18","slug":"a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billions of people around the world have little or no opportunity to hear the gospel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Millions of people in the United States, including some who themselves have never heard the Good News, are not Christ-followers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of our neighbors likely are not believers.<\/span><\/p>\n

In many cases, some of our own family members aren\u2019t Christians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lostness surrounds us, even if we don\u2019t always view people as \u201csheep without a shepherd\u201d (Matt 9:36). We may live in evangelistic apathy, but the realities of heaven and hell remain.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I think about this truth, I\u2019m reminded of a situation I found myself in several years ago. I was a rookie volunteer firefighter, excited every day to do something I had dreamed of doing for many years. On this particular day, our firefighting team responded to a small fire in a trailer by the road. Bales of hay were burning when we arrived.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our team extinguished the fire, and my job then was to probe for any other hot spots or fire remaining in the hay. As I focused intently on doing that task, I failed to recognize that a small fire had erupted at my feet. In fact, I didn\u2019t notice it until my captain said to me, \u201cUuhh . . . you\u2019re standing in fire!\u201d It seems I was so protected by my fire boots and so focused on the task that I missed the flames directly around me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I fear I might sometimes do the same with <\/span>people<\/span><\/i> around me. I preach the truth of eternal damnation, but I suspect I sometimes miss people close to me who are headed toward everlasting fire. I\u2019m so insulated in my church work and so focused on other ministry tasks that I don\u2019t always sense the flames around me.<\/span><\/p>\n

May God forgive me\u2014and compel me to evangelize!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billions of people around the world have little or no opportunity to hear the gospel. Millions of people in the United States, including some who themselves have never heard the Good News, are not Christ-followers. Some of our neighbors likely are not believers. In many cases, some of our own family members aren\u2019t Christians. Lostness…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":748534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,183,175,177,194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-748532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-communications","category-grow","category-lead","category-preaching"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lostness surrounds us, even if we don\u2019t always view people as \u201csheep without a shepherd\u201d (Matt 9:36). We may live in evangelistic apathy, but the realities of heaven and hell remain. When I think about this truth, I\u2019m reminded of a situation I found myself in several years ago.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lostness surrounds us, even if we don\u2019t always view people as \u201csheep without a shepherd\u201d (Matt 9:36). We may live in evangelistic apathy, but the realities of heaven and hell remain. When I think about this truth, I\u2019m reminded of a situation I found myself in several years ago.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-22T07:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-21T10:51:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"headline\":\"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-22T07:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-21T10:51:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/\"},\"wordCount\":317,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Communications\",\"Grow\",\"Lead\",\"Preaching\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/\",\"name\":\"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-22T07:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-21T10:51:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"description\":\"Lostness surrounds us, even if we don\u2019t always view people as \u201csheep without a shepherd\u201d (Matt 9:36). We may live in evangelistic apathy, but the realities of heaven and hell remain. When I think about this truth, I\u2019m reminded of a situation I found myself in several years ago.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Church Answers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\",\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chuck Lawless\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/clawless\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel | Church Answers","description":"Lostness surrounds us, even if we don\u2019t always view people as \u201csheep without a shepherd\u201d (Matt 9:36). We may live in evangelistic apathy, but the realities of heaven and hell remain. When I think about this truth, I\u2019m reminded of a situation I found myself in several years ago.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel | Church Answers","og_description":"Lostness surrounds us, even if we don\u2019t always view people as \u201csheep without a shepherd\u201d (Matt 9:36). We may live in evangelistic apathy, but the realities of heaven and hell remain. When I think about this truth, I\u2019m reminded of a situation I found myself in several years ago.","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2021-06-22T07:00:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-21T10:51:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Chuck Lawless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chuck Lawless","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/"},"author":{"name":"Chuck Lawless","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f"},"headline":"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel","datePublished":"2021-06-22T07:00:58+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-21T10:51:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/"},"wordCount":317,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png","articleSection":["Church Answers","Communications","Grow","Lead","Preaching"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/","name":"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png","datePublished":"2021-06-22T07:00:58+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-21T10:51:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f"},"description":"Lostness surrounds us, even if we don\u2019t always view people as \u201csheep without a shepherd\u201d (Matt 9:36). We may live in evangelistic apathy, but the realities of heaven and hell remain. When I think about this truth, I\u2019m reminded of a situation I found myself in several years ago.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Blog-Article-Picture-64.png","width":1200,"height":628},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-sermon-illustration-to-challenge-us-to-tell-the-gospel\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Sermon Illustration to Challenge Us to Tell the Gospel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/","name":"Church Answers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f","name":"Chuck Lawless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chuck Lawless"},"description":"Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/clawless\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748532"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":751769,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748532\/revisions\/751769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}