Jesus said in the book of Luke, “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” In the context of this scripture there had been those that had been invited by the master to come to a supper, a feast. However, they had declined the invitation. So, the master said “…go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.” It is in the “highways and hedges” that the harvest is coming in. I am very burdened about my country, the United States of America. I love my country. I am concerned about the carelessness of sinners, the coldness of the saints, and the compromise of society. I am concerned about the pathetic pulpits of churches that are filled with hirelings that have mastered the art of almost saying something. The church, as someone said, is quickly becoming a NON-PROPHET organization. I am concerned about the country clubs we have across this country with steeples on them that we call churches. Many of our churches are full of latte sipping, social drinking, compromising, half-hearted members who never weep over sin, much less over souls. I never thought I would see the day when we would be more concerned about offending people than we are about offending God. While the homosexuals are coming out of the closet, the church has run into the closet because we have not cleaned out the closet. We have over one million teenage alcoholics in our country. Out of thirty million teenagers in America, twenty-eight million do not attend church. According to MTV News, over fifteen million teenagers have some type of sexually transmitted disease. I know we need revival in America! I travel across this country every year preaching and praying for revival. I believe that we can have revival. Nothing is impossible with God! Jonah 3:9 says, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” But, I must ask this question, what about the highways and hedges? Ninety-five percent of all the preachers in the world are in the United States preaching to five percent of the population. Of course that means that there are only five percent of the preachers going out to preach to ninety-five percent of the world’s population. There is a birth every 2.8 seconds, 350 people born every hour, 247,000 every day and 90 million every year. Sixty percent of all the people who have ever lived are alive today. There are 150,000 people who die daily without Jesus Christ. If you put all the people in a line that are dying without Jesus that line would be 750,000 miles long, reach around the world thirty times and grow twenty miles every day. Who will take the Gospel to these people? Paul wrote to Timothy, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (I Timothy 2:4-6) Listen to what William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, said, "'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.” I have heard so many people say that we should not go outside of our country to preach while there are so many needs here at home. The Bible does not say go to Jerusalem then to Judea, then to Samaria, then to the uttermost part of the earth. What it says is, go to Jerusalem AND Judea AND Samaria, AND to the uttermost part of the earth. We must go here and there! Oswald J. Smith said, "No one has the right to hear the Gospel twice, while there remains someone who has never even heard it once." I have had the honor of traveling all over the world. I have now preached over fifty-five international Crusades. Our most recent Crusade was in Africa in the country of Kenya. I traveled to Kitale, Kenya to preach the “Jesus in the City Crusade” held at Kenyatta Stadium. This is a city of some 300,000 to 400,000 in population. The first night we had a dedication service for the Crusade to dedicate it to the glory of God. I was surprised to see over 5,000 people gather for a time of praise and prayer. The next night, the first night of the Crusade there were 28,000 were in attendance to hear the Gospel. The next night over 30,000 were in attendance and the third night the crowd was estimated at 40,000. The final night was a Sunday night and what we experienced was unbelievable. The crowd grew to over 60,000 and some estimated it to be closer to 80,000. At the conclusion of this four-day Crusade there were over 20,000 who signed decision cards stating that they had prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Some would question if all of these were really saved. Let me address this concern. We all know that not everyone that walks down the aisle in our churches really get saved and not everyone that comes forward in these Crusades really get saved. But, many do! And the Gospel was preached in this Crusade to an accumulative crowd of over 150,000 people. Paul stated in I Corinthians 3 that some plant, some water, but God gives the increase. However, some must go and plant, some must go and water! The next few days were spent training Pastors and church leaders. During the days after the Crusade, exciting reports begin to come in from the Pastors that were involved in the Crusade. Many of these Pastors reported that they were looking for a bigger building for their church to meet due to all the new converts from the Crusade. Recently, an e-mail was received in our office that stated since the Crusade the crime rate was down 20%! Tribes that had been in conflict are now working together to take the Gospel to their city.

Pray for Africa! Islam is very aggressive and is growing very rapidly. Not only in Africa, but in all the “highways and hedges” of the globe! We must get the Gospel to these places now! The true greatness of any church in not how many it seats but how many it sends! Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers in to the harvest! Will you pray for the millions that do not have the Gospel? Will you give sacrificially, out of your ABUBDANCE, for this global harvest? Will you GO? Is any sacrifice to great? Listen to the words of the great missionary C.T. Studd, "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him". I close with the the words of Oswald J. Smith that once again that need to be heeded by our churches here that are so self centered, "Any church that is not seriously involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission has forfeited its biblical right to exist." So, let me ask you again, “What about the highways and the hedges?”

Bill Britt is a full time evangelist. Bill is the President of Compel Outreach International and the former President of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists. He and his wife, Wendy, reside in Gallatin, Tennessee and is available for Area Wide Crusades, Church Crusades, Harvest Sundays, Bible Conferences, Student Events, as well as other speaking engagements. Bill can be reached by writing or calling:

Compel Outreach International
2100 Nashville Pike
Gallatin, Tennessee 37066

Office: 615.452.0710
Fax: 615.452.4900
bill@compeloutreach.org
www.compeloutreach.org