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For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. --2 Timothy 4:6 The apostle Paul wrote the words of today’s verses while in prison and awaiting his execution. With clarity and strength of character Paul communicates that he is about to die, saying, "the time of my departure has come." Did you notice that word “departure?” This is a very interesting word. In the original Greek it has several meanings, one of which describes when a prisoner is being set free from prison. So Paul is saying to his beloved friends, as well as to you and me, “I’m about to be set free from the prison of this life!” He’s looking forward with anticipation to being set free from the restraints of this world, being in the presence of the Lord, and receiving a crown of righteousness. You see, Paul could look forward to heaven and to seeing Christ Jesus with anticipation. He had the confidence that comes from having loved and served the Lord with joy. One day you’re going to depart this world and meet Christ Jesus face to face. Do you look forward to that moment with joy and confidence? Well, you can! Give Jesus your all today and never look back! Serve with the confidence that comes from knowing Christ is with you! And tell others about his love, his grace, and his saving power. GIVE JESUS YOUR ALL TODAY AND NEVER LOOK BACK!

The Necessity of Evangelism

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria.”
John 4:1–4

In Bible times, Jewish people would go to great lengths to avoid going through Samaria. There was considerable tension between the Jews and the Samaritans, tracing back to the time of the Babylonian captivity. Jesus used a Samaritan in His famous parable to answer the lawyer’s question of who his neighbor was to highlight the actions of a despised person in a situation where others had not done as they should. Yet when Jesus was returning to His home near Galilee, He was compelled to go through Samaria by the reality that there were people in Sychar who needed to hear that the Messiah had come.
When the Bible uses the expression “must needs go” it is a strong statement—a declaration of necessity. This was not a preference or a whim. Instead, Jesus was responding to God’s commission on His life. He had to go there and tell first the woman He met at the well and then the entire town the good news. Jesus was driven by the urgency of reaching people, and before He returned to Heaven He commanded us to take up that mission and make it our priority.
The church today has many good and helpful programs, and I’m thankful for them. But if we are not careful we can lose sight of the vital importance of evangelism. Nothing can substitute for it. Nothing can be allowed to crowd it out or diminish it. Jesus said, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16).
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

We must be diligent about reaching the lost with the gospel before it is too late.