A Sense Of Urgency | Northstar Church

“You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest.” – John 4:35.

“I can’t hear you Lord,” [loud explosions all around and total chaos] “What do you want from me?” A distant cry for help… “Help me save one more.” And when he saved that one, he prayed to save one more. As Desmond Doss discovered on Hacksaw Ridge, we are surrounded by lost and wounded people all around us. It is our job as Christians to help God save one more.

Who is your one more? Who can you pull to safety? Tucked away in Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy, is a request for urgency: “…to preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out, when it is convenient and when it is not. Correct and rebuke your people when they need it, encourage them to do right, and all the time be feeding them patiently with God’s Word.” (2 Timothy 4:2 TLB)

It did not take long for Desmond Doss to find a person who needed his help. Nor did Jesus have any difficulties finding the lost. Luke 15:1 says, “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.” It should not take us long either because people far from the heart of God are everywhere around us.

How do we view those far from the heart of God? Many of the soldiers that Desmond Doss was helping were the ones who persecuted him in basic training. He could have looked at them with disdain, as an irritation, and a burden not worthy of his help. But he didn’t. He felt a personal sense of urgency and responsibility to get them out of harm’s way as quickly as possible. Luke 15:3-4 tells us about personal responsibility and the need for urgency: “So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?”

The wounded soldiers on Hacksaw Ridge needed the attention and help of Doss. They could not have gotten off that ridge without his help. The lost around us need our attention and a sense of urgency as well. They may just need an invitation, a few kind words, a testimony, or a few Bible verses to find their way home to the Savior that loves them. And when they find Jesus there is great joy. “And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” ( Luke 15:5-7)

Discussion Questions:

What does having a sense of urgency for the lost mean to you?
What can we do this week to save just one more?