The Great Mission: September 25th Devotional

      

The Great Mission

September 25th Devotional

Acts 1:8

      On this day in 1949, a 30-year-old evangelist named Billy Graham stepped to the pulpit in Los Angeles.  This would be Billy Graham’s first major city-wide crusade.  A group named Christ for the greater Los Angeles area invited the aspiring preacher to come and share the Gospel for three weeks.  They encouraged the churches in the area to pray for weeks in advance of the crusade.  The crusade was originally held under a rented circus tent that held 6,000 people, but they quickly outgrew the tent.  They expanded it to house 9,000 and then countless more because of the size of the crowds.  The crusade would go on for 8 weeks, the final message being delivered on November 20^th.  It is estimated that over 350,000 people attended this crusade with over 3000 of them trusting Christ as their Savior.  Some of the people that were saved were prominent businessmen, sports stars, mob bosses, and others.  People were weeping and crying out to Jesus for salvation.  It was considered to be the greatest outreach since the times of Billy Sunday.  This crusade made Billy Graham a household name.  This young pastor who once wasn’t supposed to amount to anything became the instrument of Christ.  Billy Graham would go on to have 417 total crusades, not to mention countless other opportunities to speak at much smaller venues.  He preached in over 180 countries (some via tv only) and preached to an estimated 250 million people in his lifetime.  His longest crusade would be held in Madison Square Garden.  It lasted for 16 weeks.  His largest single audience was in Seoul Korea; an estimated 1.1 million people came to hear him preach.  Graham had spoken to every US president post-WWII except for Joe Biden (13 presidents in total).  Billy Graham remained faithful to the message of the cross until his passing in 2018.  He is considered one of the greatest if not the greatest evangelist of all time.

      Billy Graham shared Christ because of a deep spiritual burden for people’s eternity.  He loved Jesus and he loved people.  Billy always encouraged people that the greatest evangelists in the world were other Christians.  Billy was one man and would never be able to share Christ with every man, woman, and child.  He knew that each person was called by God to be ambassadors of Christ.  Jesus’ closing words before ascending into heaven in Acts 1:8 is “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”  There is not a single Christian who is exempt from sharing the message of Christ with those that surround them.  Each of us are supposed to be building relationships that lead to redemption.  You don’t have to be a Billy Graham to win people to the Lord, you simply have to be a willing servant who is burdened for your friends and neighbors.  This week intentionally pray for specific people in your life that are unsaved.