Dear Jesus follower… Dear dyed in the wool church people… The message today is for you. If you don’t follow Jesus, you get a pass today! Today we walk toward the mess of the empty chair, that empty space that is beside you every Sunday. There are 300,000 people in our immediate area that might fill that space. The empty chair makes us think about those people who are not there yet. We know somebody’s going to sit in that space, and we get one shot at them when they’re here. What will they find? We are here for people who haven’t found their chair yet. In one of the more shocking moments early in the ministry of Jesus he found a man named Levi. His other name is Matthew – he wrote the first book of the New Testament. Luke 5:27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. This was a radical, life altering moment in the life of Levi. And some were not happy. 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Jesus is risking everything for these nobodies. Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Mark 10:45  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. People matter to Jesus. Levi mattered to Jesus. His friends mattered to Jesus. The empty chair matters to Jesus. And Jesus means to fill this chair with people like Levi. There’s a saying that maybe you’ve heard before; to reach people no one else is reaching we must do what no one else is doing. Matthew 16:17 For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus said that the mission of the church would be the one thing on this planet that could take on hell and everything that hell brings and not be defeated. The reason why we must be concerned about the empty chair is because of the reality of hell. Folks, our real problem is a hell problem. So, what does this mean to you? What does this empty chair mean that you will do differently?