Edward Kimball was a faithful Christian who wanted to be used by God.

He was not a pastor or missionary.

He was a simple Sunday School teacher.

One of the students in his Sunday School class was a young man who worked in a shoe store.

Kimball tried to share the Gospel with that young man; and eventually that young man became a Christian.

Later on, that young man began to preach and became one of the greatest evangelists.

His name is D. L. Moody who later founded Moody Bible Seminary

One day Moody was preaching in Chicago and among the audience was a man by name of Wilbur Chapman.

Although he was not converted on that day, he had an opportunity to talk personally with Moody.

That conversation helped Chapman to be convinced of his need of salvation.

Chapman later became an evangelist himself.

Chapman later took a young man to minister with him.

That person was a professional baseball player who wanted to be in ministry.

He was known as Billy Sunday.

Later Billy Sunday ministered in Charlotte, North Carolina where a lot of people came to know Jesus Christ. Because of his ministry, a group named Charlotte Businessmen’s Club as formed. In 1934 Charlotte Businessmen’s Club invited Billy Sunday for another crusade, but since he was not available, they invited another person named Mordecai Ham. When the crusade is about to end, a farm boy came forward to accept Jesus as his personal Savior.

His name is Billy Graham!

You see how it happened?

Kimball reached Moody who helped Chapman.

Chapman influenced Billy Sunday who ministered to businessmen and those businessmen later invited Mordecai Ham who brought Billy Graham to Jesus.

The impact does not end there.

Because of Billy Graham, millions of people all over the world came to know Christ and who knows whom they will impact.

The message of the Gospel keeps being spread around the world, and it is not by angels or supernatural beings; but by people who have been touched by the Gospel and are willing to share it with others.

Millions of them are ordinary Christians like many of us here.

Because of such Christians, the message of salvation continues to be proclaimed.

Because of such Christians numerous people come to know Jesus Christ. Because of such Christians, there is hope.

Because of such Christians, people in despair can find comfort.

Yet you have to be intentional in sharing the Gospel with others.

It rarely happens automatically.

We have to try to find ways for others to hear the Gospel.

We have to be intentional in reaching out to others.

Every one of us is a chance for other to come to know Jesus.

For some, we may be the only chance for them to know Jesus.

When we do not share the Gospel with others, people get one less chance to be saved.

Not only so.

When we do not share the Gospel with others, not only they have one less chance, we may even become a hindrance for them to come to know Jesus.

The event in Mark 2 warns us of such possibility.

The crowd was attracted to Jesus.

They wanted to see Jesus.

When they found out where Jesus was, they gathered around him to listen to Him.

Many were there to listen to his teaching.

Some were there because they wanted to be healed.

Others were curious about this young preacher from Nazareth.

Several were there to spy on Him and to find holes in His teachings.

Whatever their reason was, what we find out is that the house was crowded.

In verse 2 we are told that it was so crowded, there was no longer room, even at the door.

Full house, literally!

And the crowd became a hindrance for a paralytic man.

His caring friends brought him there.

Yet because of the crowd, he could cot come to Jesus and to be healed.

The crowd did not open a way for him.

They were there for their own reasons, and they did not have time to care for others.

As Christians, we may become a hindrance for others to come to know Jesus.

It may happen in several ways, but the end result is the same.

We cause people to lose chance to be saved.

For some it might be just one among many chances they have; for a few, it might be the only chance.

We become a hindrance; just like the crowd.

There are several possible ways for us to be a hindrance.

1. When we are too busy with our lives and forgetting that we are called to minister to others.

Most, if not all of us, live a busy life style.

I was in a meeting few days ago and I noticed one thing that really strikes me.

During a break, our group went out of the room, and begins to make a call on our cell phones.

We stood not too far from one another and talked on the phone.

We are busy people.

Often times, we are so busy that we do not have time to do what we want to do.

We want to have more time for our family, we want to have more time to do our hobby, etc; yet we do not have time because of our busyness.

We are so busy that we forget why we are still here on earth as Christians.

When Jesus’ mission on earth is done, He went back to heaven.

And we are left on earth.

He loves us, yet we are not called to go to heaven yet.

The reason we are left behind is because we are called to be His witnesses.

When Jesus was about to be taken to heaven, His disciples asked Him if it is time for them to enjoy final victory.

In Acts 1:7 Jesus told them that it is not their business to know when He will come back so that He will be with them.

Instead, their business is to be His witnesses.

He will equip them; He will make it possible for them to accomplish their duty; yet they have to do it.

We have to remember that we all are here to be Jesus’ witnesses.

It is our duty and it is the reason for our existence.

The blessings that the Lord gives us is intended to equip us and to make it possible for us to be His witnesses.

That’s why we have job, so that we can witness to our colleagues.

We are at the school, not only to learn and to gain more knowledge, but through that we can witness to others.

We can open a way for others to come to know Jesus.

It is not a coincidence that we become part of particular group of friends or activities.

We are there because the Lord wants us to become His witnesses.

Yet often we do not do it.

We focus on our job and forget about our mission.

We concentrate on our studies and forget our ultimate assignment.

We enjoy our friendships so much that we neglect to tell them who Jesus is and why we believe in Him.

And because of that, people fail to come to know Jesus.

We become a hindrance for others to come to know the Lord.

I do not mean to say that we have to preach at work, or at school and neglecting our work or school responsibilities.

I do not think that God wants all of us to quit working and start preaching.

What I am sure is that God wants us to become His witnesses wherever we are and we should not forget that.

When Zachaeus came to Jesus, he invited his friends to come to a party with Jesus.

Who are they? His fellow tax collectors.

People he is doing business with.

And they came because Zachaeus was one of them.

They listened to Jesus because their friend opens way for them.

You are the best people to reach out to your friends.

You meet them on regular basis.

You talk with them and go out with them.

They may not show any interest in spirituality; but that does not stop you from sharing the Gospel with them.

You need to open way for them to hear the Gospel message.

Until you do so, they may not have one.

2. We become a hindrance because of our failure to live a Christian lifestyle.

Our life becomes a stumbling block that causes other to reject Jesus.

People does not come to Jesus not because they have known Jesus and reject Him, but because they have seen us, and they do not like what they saw.

They see us as hypocrites.

They see us as lazy and cannot be trusted.

We cheat them in business and lie to them.

We do not do what we are assigned to do and yet we keep talking about spiritual things.

Simply said, not only they are not attracted by what they see, they do not like what they see.

No wonder if they try to avoid us.

The way we live becomes a huge stumbling block to them.

We become a hindrance.

Instead of helping and open ways for the paralyzed man to be brought to the presence of Jesus, they stood in a way.

If not for the persistence of his four friends, that man has no chance.

A man was trying to sell a bulletproof vest to a businessman.

He tried his best to convince that businessman to buy his bulletproof vest.

The man then asked him to wear his bulletproof vest.

True enough, it looks snug and light enough.

But can it really stop a bullet?

That business told the salesman that he is going to get a gun and shoot at the vest while the salesman is wearing it.

When that businessman reached for a gun, that salesman bolted.

How can we convince others to be a Christian when we do not live the way a Christian should live?

A preacher noticed that the bus driver gave him 25 cents more than what his change should be.

He was trying to give it back but because other riders kept pushing him to the rear or the bus he could not do it.

His chance came when he was about to arrive at his destination.

Before exiting the bus, he managed to come to the driver and return the excess change.

The bus driver took the change, smiled to him and told him, "I know that you are the new preacher in the church here.

I have considered coming to church to listen to you; but first of all I want to know if I can trust you!"

Can others trust us?

Do we convince them to come to know Jesus or we cause them to run away?

3. We become a hindrance when we do not care whether people are saved or not.

There are Christians who are actively worshiping God.

They spend a lot of money decorating their church.

Hiring top director for their choir and musicians.

Hiring top preacher to become their pastor so that they can listen to good and inspiring sermons.

Yet when it comes to winning the lost, they are not doing anything.

They may pray for the lost; and they are genuinely happy when people walk into their church and got saved.

Yet they do not reach out.

They like it when their church grows but they want other people doing their job.

They want the results, but they do not want the work.

Every month churches are closing all over USA because we only care for ourselves.

We have become people who measure every thing in terms of what do I get from doing this.

If we do not get anything, or the work is hard, we do not interested in doing it.

We are interested in ministry when it is convenient to us.

We find excuses and create excuses to justify what we do or don’t do.

Many times people do not come to know Jesus because we do not bother to share the Gospel with them, or we do not have the perseverance to do it.

We tried once or twice and when it does not show a result, we quit.

We want instant result and forgetting that how long it took for us to come to know Jesus.

The paralyzed man went home happy that day.

He walked home.

He was happy because Jesus has healed him; but I believe he is also happy because his four friends did not quit easily.

They cared for him enough that when the crowd hindered him from being brought to Jesus, they dig a hole on the roof.

He must be grateful to have such friends.

People who did not give up easily.

People who will not take no for an answer.

In heaven there will be a lot of people who are happy because we do not take no for an answer.

They are there because there are people who care for them and share the Gospel with them.

Do we stand in the way of people coming to Jesus, or are we helping them to come to Jesus?

It may not be easy.

We may have to rearrange our schedule.

We may have to pick them up.

We may have to lose few hours of sleep because of that.