ONE THING NEEDFUL

Luke 10:41, "And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: v. 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen taht good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Throughout all my life I have heard that call preached and proclaimed, 'Win souls'. I have ever been a lover of great soul winners. We hear of Spurgeon and the thousands that came to Christ through his preaching and personal soul winning. We read the work of Finney and Moody and how they preached and thousands, if not millions were brought to Christ. In each of these workers for God, they were used mightily by the Holy Spirit in their places and time to reach the masses with the Gospel and see great fruit brought into the kingdom of God. With more people in the world than ever, 7 billion, there are supposedly more lost people now than all of humanity before this generation. Possibly upwards toward 5 billion that have rejected or never heard the Gospel are living today. There is a rising thrust to promote evangelism and missions to reach the masses. Of course, this is no new call. The Lord issued the call in the Gospels. The servants of the Lord received the power at pentecost and the whole book of Acts demonstrates the power of God to win the world. What greater comment can there be than, 'Here comes these men that have turned the world upside down.!' Within the last 100 years, we have lost much ground in promoting the Gospel and seeing nations, regions, towns/cities and individuals come to Christ. Many thousands are coming in forgeign countires around the world in Africa and Asia. But there is defintiely a drought of real Christianity in Europe and North America. And as this call goes forth, it is my hope that some wandering eye and searching heart might be guided by the heavenly Spirit to stop and read these words. Any such call of man that sends men and women to evangelize and do mission work is utterly futile without that 'One thing that is needful', which is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Let us make sure that our motive and pursuit is not found in vanity or pride. Let us make sure that our motive and call is not stooped in labors of our own effort and power. There is one power, and that is found in the Lord God. He, and He alone is able to save the masses, empower the body of believers and give us the desires of our heart for a lost and dying world headed to hell. 'One thing needful' is a pursuit of man to find God and not let go. Let us look at several examples of this. 1. Genesis 32:28, 'for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.' We should know this account in the Scripture. Jacob is returning after two decades away to his home. He left with a threat from his brother, Esau, that he would kill him when his father died. Now Jacob is returning and his life and that of his family seems to hang in the balance. And as Esau is coming with 400 men, Jacob separates his family for deliverance and he is left alone. And here he wrestles with an angel of God and prevails. He found that one thing needful and as he laid hold upon God he would not let go until the blessing was given. 2. continued. . . .