And, finally, my friends, it might be possible that before we could reach Mary Doe and the several thousand people whom she represents, we would have to start down the street and go from house to house and call upon every home. It could be possible that Mary would not be thrown with any member of the church, even in her association at school. Do you believe we can claim to have fully and completely met our responsibility, in preaching the gospel to the people of East Nashville, until we have gone from house to house as the apostle Paul did, and as some denominations are doing today, and taken the message to them? That is almost an unused opportunity and method of preaching the gospel to those who have not yet heard it, and yet it is a very practical and a very effective one.
I would like to climax all of this by saying that prayer should be used in our effort to carry out the great commission. If you have faithfully and diligently engaged in all of these activities mentioned, and any others of like nature that could be mentioned, then you can consistently pray to God to help you in accomplishing your purpose. That’s the reason I put prayer at the end of the list. For prayer should not be used without being accompanied by every possible effort on our part. Neither of these methods, nor any other that might be named, should be used exclusively. They should all be used, working together to help us fulfill our obligation to preach the gospel to our neighbors.
Now I had hoped to have time to talk about the other phase of the first division of our outline—preaching the gospel to other communities—but the clock on the wall says that the time is gone and so we have to close with the promise that there will be more to follow. If you’ll come back tonight, I’ll give you a mimeographed outline of the lessons which are being used both this morning and tonight.
In just a moment we’re going to sing the song that has been announced. That is our means of urging you to accept the Lord’s invitation to come to him and let him save you. If you have been guilty of committing just one sin which has not yet been forgiven, that sin must be forgiven before you can go to heaven, because no sin can enter there, and no sin can be forgiven for those who have never obeyed the gospel by faith (Acts 16:31-33), repentance (Luke 13:3), confession (Acts 16:37), and baptism (Acts 2:38). Those who have turned aside since being baptized may be forgiven if they’ll come back repenting, confessing their faults, and praying for forgiveness. The gospel invitation is yours. While we stand and sing we urge you to accept it.