James Meeks
February 5, 1999
10:30 am
Message Summary
Pastor Meeks’ message answered the question, "What is the crime of the century?" Looking ahead to the year 2000, Meeks recounted such crimes as the Holocaust, various murders and Watergate. He suggests that none of these merit the title "Crime of the Century," but that the greatest crime is our own neglect to present the truth of salvation to the unsaved.
Meeks looked to II Kings to outline the story of four lepers who present an example for Christians in not withholding the message of the Gospel from unbelievers. The lepers, in a time of severe famine and distress for the people of Israel, found that the oppressors of the nation had fled and left behind their spoils. After taking some food, clothing and money for themselves, the lepers realized that they needed to go back and tell the rest of the people so they too could rejoice and be freed from their poverty. Meeks likens the situation today to that scenario, proclaiming that we as Christians need to evangelize, because we have the message that frees people from the bondage, depression and destruction of depravity. He noted some excuses that we most often give for not being a witness and dismissed them. Meeks closed by encouraging all believers to take steps forward, increasing their passion for souls.
Student Response
"If we want the world to see how big God is, we have to start doing God-sized things" was Pastor Meeks exhortation. His message was powerful. He accurately assessed the situation of the Church today and gave us all insight into what we need to be doing differently if we indeed have a desire to see people come to know Christ. I appreciated his message in its sincerity and simplicity. The focus of the message was what my responsibility is in response to the need of the unsaved and was therefore very applicable.
—Amanda J. Harris, Senior, Communications/Print Media major