Acts 26:11 “And I punished them [Saints] often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”
Paul, before he was saved, gives light as to the reason why he so vehemently persecuted the church. In his own words, “I persecuted them that they might blaspheme.” I think this is an important concept for us to focus on as we look to serve the Lord and fulfill all that He has called us to do. Primarily because persecution has not ceased, nor will it until the return of Christ and our response to it will determine whether or not it actually accomplishes the purpose of the persecutor. Secondly, as we seek to understand the work of God in calling us to boldness, are we prepared for and equipped to deal with persecution in a God honoring, and God glorifying way?
Persecution or the fear of persecution still exists today. It was promised to exist by Christ Himself when he said, “If the world hated me, it will hate you also.” Persecution will come in many different forms, and at many different times. There is nothing that says WHEN and HOW frequent persecution will occur in our lives; we just know that it will. The problem then is: have we strengthened ourselves BEFORE the time comes? The concept is whether or not we have begun to blaspheme the name of God or the power of God in our lives. First have we actually reviled or blasphemed the name of God and His power as persecution arises, or even in the face of possible persecution? Are we so afraid to stand for what is right that we shrink back from speaking the truth of Christ? Have we lost our confidence in the power and work of God in the lives of all believers that when faced with the opportunity to speak the good news we don’t simply because we are afraid of the consequences…the possibility of persecution? Have we actually spoken out against God in the extreme circumstances where we are being persecuted and verbally blasphemed Him? Paul makes it clear that he used to persecute them with that goal to “make them blaspheme.” The truth of the matter is that we, who are of faith, have no reason to shrink back in fear, we have no reason to remain silent in shame, and we have no reason to act cowardly in the midst of a perverse generation. Rather on the contrary, God encourages us through the Scriptures that we have no need to be shameful when we are following His word, that we have received grace and power to live lives of godliness, and righteousness in the midst of the present age. In Hebrews it says it like this, “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.” We have no need to shrink back, we have faith, and power and authority bestowed on us by the maker of heaven and earth. This is also why the Psalmist can say, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Christ teaches the same lesson when He teaches us not to fear the one who can merely harm the body, but fear the one who can send both body and soul to hell. So what are we afraid of? Why are we silent? This generation needs to hear, understand and see the power and victory that the blood of Christ and grace of God working in us sounds like and looks like!
Second, we need to be equipped and strengthened for the day of persecution, but more importantly for the Day of Christ. Throughout scripture we are encouraged to equip ourselves, to mature, to grow, to be effective, and fruitful. Wisdom teaches that we ought to be prepared BEFORE the time of difficulty comes. We are told to walk worthy of our calling. We are encouraged to live and approve of what is excellent so that we may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. Maturing and growing will allow us to know how to better handle persecution as it arises. It will make us able to give reason for the hope that is in us. It will give us the opportunity to show that God truly is good to His saints and that He does continue to care and watch over us.
All this being said, it is fitting when Peter encourages the believers to grow in grace. Be prepared. Continue to be reformed and remade into a people that are after the heart and life of those who walk worthy of their calling. Do not fear, do not shrink back, and do not remain silent in the midst of a perverse generation that will potentially persecute you. Be aware why persecution comes and continue to strengthen yourselves in the Lord. Speak the good news, be ready in season and out of season and continue to be equipped, maturing, and abounding in the grace and goodness of God. For we are not like those who shrink back to destruction, but those who have faith to the preservation of the soul.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Motives of Evangelism- Conclusion
Part 4- Love of obedience to God
The reason why obedience to God is the final aspect of our motives for evangelism is not because it is the last important but rather because it is often times stressed beyond the other three. Obedience to God is key and it is what shows a clear distinction between those who are serving the world with its desires and those who are serving God. However, at worst we seek to serve God simply for obedience sake, at best we are working through and for Him out of love for the sacrifice of our Savior on the cross. Ritualism is not the goal of evangelism, and evangelism ought not be elevated to a doctrine as and end in itself, it is an all encompassing obedience. It is obedience from a heart of worship, form a desire to see Gods name glorified, from a desire to grow, and a desire to see other people lifting up the name of God and Jesus.
The key passage that shows evangelism as a command comes form Matthew 28:18-19 where it states, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. GO therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…’” There is no question as to the meaning of the command, or to the calling to which we as believers have been called. However, some encouragement along the way as we seek to have a motive of obedience to God in the realm of evangelism is as follows.
First, Christ has been given all authority to command and expect our obedience, in the same way He has given us authority to speak and to live in obedience. This is a powerful concept if viewed in the means that God has or us. We have authority in this given world as sons and heirs of the kingdom of God to instruct and teach people about their savior Jesus Christ. We have authority to speak forth truth that does not change with cultural movements and is not bound by cultural view points. We have the authority and the competence to instruct people away form worthless and dead idols and works into a vibrant and living relationship with their Savior, and that is something worth being obedient to! We are sons not slaves and therefore it is not sinful to use the authority God has given us, or even to speak with the authority that God has given us when we take the gospel out. Two individuals who we see in the scripture using God’s authority rightly are Peter and Paul.
Peter in the instance with Simon the magician realizes the wickedness of his [Simon’s] desire to buy the power of God and says this, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you…” This kind of reaction can only be accomplished by obedience to God and the speaking by the authority and truth that He has given.
Paul is another example of the authority of God when he speaks to Elymas. Paul had been preaching to the proconsul but Elymas was poisoning the ear of the proconsul. Paul’s response is this, “But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” One cannot speak and give an intent glare such as Paul without the authority and power of God behind them. This is not, however, to say that every time we enter into evangelism that we must speak as forcefully as Paul; rather it is to show the authority by which we are able to speak. We are sons of the maker of the universe, we have all authority to speak the truth of our Father and Creator God to all people, and God is pleased when we do!
Second, we are able to do the commands of God. This may not at the outset seem to be an encouragement. But for those who are serving God’s purpose and will it is. 1 John 5:3 states, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” There is a unique aspect to Christian service in which we enjoy and love doing the commands of God. At times it may seem difficult and our flesh may seek to hinder our serving Him but those are the times when we come to God all the more fervently in prayer seeking a right heart and mind towards obedience to Him. Our desire is to accomplish ALL that God has commanded and calls, so that we might walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called. We seek to accomplish His will and work in every aspect of our lives, which is precisely why we cannot make evangelism an end in itself, as if once we are evangelizing our obedience to God is complete. It is not, for obedience to God is seen in doing all that is right and pure and true and continuing steadfastly in His grace and power. Evangelism is just one more opportunity for Christians to walk in obedience to Him, and for that we ought to be thankful! For the Christian to think God’s thoughts, live God’s actions, and pursue holiness and godliness in the grace of God, we MUST incorporate into our lives some types of speaking of the Gospel of God. We must seek to align our motives and desires to God’s and in so doing complete and fulfill ALL that He has called us to. Be encouraged, and continue to pray that God might work in you a heart to be obedient to Him in seeking His glory, in seeking individuals faithfully serving Him, in seeking growth and effectiveness in every area of our lives, and in living obediently for Him. As we do this, we will have more of a heart for people and for the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The reason why obedience to God is the final aspect of our motives for evangelism is not because it is the last important but rather because it is often times stressed beyond the other three. Obedience to God is key and it is what shows a clear distinction between those who are serving the world with its desires and those who are serving God. However, at worst we seek to serve God simply for obedience sake, at best we are working through and for Him out of love for the sacrifice of our Savior on the cross. Ritualism is not the goal of evangelism, and evangelism ought not be elevated to a doctrine as and end in itself, it is an all encompassing obedience. It is obedience from a heart of worship, form a desire to see Gods name glorified, from a desire to grow, and a desire to see other people lifting up the name of God and Jesus.
The key passage that shows evangelism as a command comes form Matthew 28:18-19 where it states, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. GO therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…’” There is no question as to the meaning of the command, or to the calling to which we as believers have been called. However, some encouragement along the way as we seek to have a motive of obedience to God in the realm of evangelism is as follows.
First, Christ has been given all authority to command and expect our obedience, in the same way He has given us authority to speak and to live in obedience. This is a powerful concept if viewed in the means that God has or us. We have authority in this given world as sons and heirs of the kingdom of God to instruct and teach people about their savior Jesus Christ. We have authority to speak forth truth that does not change with cultural movements and is not bound by cultural view points. We have the authority and the competence to instruct people away form worthless and dead idols and works into a vibrant and living relationship with their Savior, and that is something worth being obedient to! We are sons not slaves and therefore it is not sinful to use the authority God has given us, or even to speak with the authority that God has given us when we take the gospel out. Two individuals who we see in the scripture using God’s authority rightly are Peter and Paul.
Peter in the instance with Simon the magician realizes the wickedness of his [Simon’s] desire to buy the power of God and says this, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you…” This kind of reaction can only be accomplished by obedience to God and the speaking by the authority and truth that He has given.
Paul is another example of the authority of God when he speaks to Elymas. Paul had been preaching to the proconsul but Elymas was poisoning the ear of the proconsul. Paul’s response is this, “But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” One cannot speak and give an intent glare such as Paul without the authority and power of God behind them. This is not, however, to say that every time we enter into evangelism that we must speak as forcefully as Paul; rather it is to show the authority by which we are able to speak. We are sons of the maker of the universe, we have all authority to speak the truth of our Father and Creator God to all people, and God is pleased when we do!
Second, we are able to do the commands of God. This may not at the outset seem to be an encouragement. But for those who are serving God’s purpose and will it is. 1 John 5:3 states, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” There is a unique aspect to Christian service in which we enjoy and love doing the commands of God. At times it may seem difficult and our flesh may seek to hinder our serving Him but those are the times when we come to God all the more fervently in prayer seeking a right heart and mind towards obedience to Him. Our desire is to accomplish ALL that God has commanded and calls, so that we might walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called. We seek to accomplish His will and work in every aspect of our lives, which is precisely why we cannot make evangelism an end in itself, as if once we are evangelizing our obedience to God is complete. It is not, for obedience to God is seen in doing all that is right and pure and true and continuing steadfastly in His grace and power. Evangelism is just one more opportunity for Christians to walk in obedience to Him, and for that we ought to be thankful! For the Christian to think God’s thoughts, live God’s actions, and pursue holiness and godliness in the grace of God, we MUST incorporate into our lives some types of speaking of the Gospel of God. We must seek to align our motives and desires to God’s and in so doing complete and fulfill ALL that He has called us to. Be encouraged, and continue to pray that God might work in you a heart to be obedient to Him in seeking His glory, in seeking individuals faithfully serving Him, in seeking growth and effectiveness in every area of our lives, and in living obediently for Him. As we do this, we will have more of a heart for people and for the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Motives for Evangelism- Part 3
Part 3- Love for being effective and growing
Continuing the discussion about the motives of evangelism we need to continue to keep in mind that Christians love the glory of God and that we are seeking to love people the way that God does. The third motive for our consideration is the love to grow and be effective in the work of God.
Colossians 1:28 shows this well when it states, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
We speak and proclaim the truth of Christ to all people. To those who are saved we speak the truth of God and teach them the mystery of the gospel and how it applies to every aspect of life. We encourage deeper growth and obedience to the word and work of God in the life of the Christian. We desire to see people serving the Lord and walking worthy of the calling to which we are called. This is an important concept for we speak and proclaim the truth of God’s word to ALL people we come in contact with, even with those who ARE believers. There is no reason that when we come in contact with individuals who are believers that we cannot encourage and teach the truth even to them.
The second group of individuals that we seek to speak to is those whom we proclaim the truth of Christ to and WARN. We warn those who claim salvation yet are not walking in the truth and power of Gods word, in the victorious Christian life that Christ’s death and resurrection has made possible for us, in the grace of God and the Righteousness placed on us in Christ. We warn those who are unbelievers of the impending judgment of God on their souls, in their being deserving of hell fire and of their being completely under the wrath of God.
Either way however there is a desire to be effective and to speak the way that God would have us to speak. We are motivated by the opportunity to speak the truth and to grow in our ability to speak the truth! Paul puts it best in 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 where it states, “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” Paul had a vision for doing effective work, so when the opportunity presented itself he knew that remaining in Ephesus would produce in him growth, would produce growth in the kingdom and would be effective and according to the calling of God in his life. This is the passion of Paul, doing the work of God in every way that God has called and at every opportunity. It is something that Christians LOVE, the work of God and effective ministry!
The benefits or ways that we are able to grow and effective is through a deeper appreciation for 4 key things. The first is a deeper appreciation for the Sovereignty of God. We are able to accept and see the work of God and the truthfulness in God when he says that His wrath rests upon those who have seared their conscience and will not bear with the truth. We are able to appreciate His great mercy towards us since we too were once that way as well. The mercy of God leads us into the second thing which we are able to grow in appreciation for and that is the grace of God and his love for his chosen ones. Just as in Ephesians it states that we have been chosen before the foundation of the earth, seeing the work of God in the lives of those whom He is calling to Himself is always one that will amazing and create awe in our lives! We are able to see His divine hand working in the lives of those whom He has chosen, and we are able to appreciate that He has chosen us as well.
The third thing that we are able to appreciate within the concept of our being effective and growing in maturity in God is that we are able to enter into His work. The truth of the matter is that God does not need any of us to accomplish His purposes but He has graciously chosen us and given us the task of doing His work. This is an amazing and weighty responsibility. We are able to do the work of God in two key ways. The first is through prayer to God on behalf of others, we are able to seek His intervention in their lives, we are able to pray that He would work in their lives and open the truth of Jesus Christ to them, and empower them to believe in Him. We are also able to speak the truth of the Gospel. In Romans 10:11-15 it speaks of the gospel needing to be spoken, for how will people hear the truth if there is no one to speak it, and it ends with this phrase, “how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.” So the appreciation and ability to be effective in our speaking and praying are two huge ways that we are able to grow in the work of God, and it is continually a privilege to be allowed to do so.
The final way in we are able to grow in our appreciation for the work of God is that we are able to grow in a deeper awe for the work and sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Of all the other things that are able to be taken awe in, we ought to continue to awed and amazed by the work of Christ on the cross continually. As we continue to speak the gospel and seek motivation for the speaking of the gospel, we cannot move away from the cross and the pain and punishment Christ suffered on it. The goal would be to be able to continually speak as Peter does when he states in 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ form the dead…” to be able to continually burst into praise as Peter does only comes as we grow in greater and greater appreciation for the Work of Christ, we seek to have an AWE for the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that will lead us into instant praise…”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
Continuing the discussion about the motives of evangelism we need to continue to keep in mind that Christians love the glory of God and that we are seeking to love people the way that God does. The third motive for our consideration is the love to grow and be effective in the work of God.
Colossians 1:28 shows this well when it states, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
We speak and proclaim the truth of Christ to all people. To those who are saved we speak the truth of God and teach them the mystery of the gospel and how it applies to every aspect of life. We encourage deeper growth and obedience to the word and work of God in the life of the Christian. We desire to see people serving the Lord and walking worthy of the calling to which we are called. This is an important concept for we speak and proclaim the truth of God’s word to ALL people we come in contact with, even with those who ARE believers. There is no reason that when we come in contact with individuals who are believers that we cannot encourage and teach the truth even to them.
The second group of individuals that we seek to speak to is those whom we proclaim the truth of Christ to and WARN. We warn those who claim salvation yet are not walking in the truth and power of Gods word, in the victorious Christian life that Christ’s death and resurrection has made possible for us, in the grace of God and the Righteousness placed on us in Christ. We warn those who are unbelievers of the impending judgment of God on their souls, in their being deserving of hell fire and of their being completely under the wrath of God.
Either way however there is a desire to be effective and to speak the way that God would have us to speak. We are motivated by the opportunity to speak the truth and to grow in our ability to speak the truth! Paul puts it best in 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 where it states, “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” Paul had a vision for doing effective work, so when the opportunity presented itself he knew that remaining in Ephesus would produce in him growth, would produce growth in the kingdom and would be effective and according to the calling of God in his life. This is the passion of Paul, doing the work of God in every way that God has called and at every opportunity. It is something that Christians LOVE, the work of God and effective ministry!
The benefits or ways that we are able to grow and effective is through a deeper appreciation for 4 key things. The first is a deeper appreciation for the Sovereignty of God. We are able to accept and see the work of God and the truthfulness in God when he says that His wrath rests upon those who have seared their conscience and will not bear with the truth. We are able to appreciate His great mercy towards us since we too were once that way as well. The mercy of God leads us into the second thing which we are able to grow in appreciation for and that is the grace of God and his love for his chosen ones. Just as in Ephesians it states that we have been chosen before the foundation of the earth, seeing the work of God in the lives of those whom He is calling to Himself is always one that will amazing and create awe in our lives! We are able to see His divine hand working in the lives of those whom He has chosen, and we are able to appreciate that He has chosen us as well.
The third thing that we are able to appreciate within the concept of our being effective and growing in maturity in God is that we are able to enter into His work. The truth of the matter is that God does not need any of us to accomplish His purposes but He has graciously chosen us and given us the task of doing His work. This is an amazing and weighty responsibility. We are able to do the work of God in two key ways. The first is through prayer to God on behalf of others, we are able to seek His intervention in their lives, we are able to pray that He would work in their lives and open the truth of Jesus Christ to them, and empower them to believe in Him. We are also able to speak the truth of the Gospel. In Romans 10:11-15 it speaks of the gospel needing to be spoken, for how will people hear the truth if there is no one to speak it, and it ends with this phrase, “how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.” So the appreciation and ability to be effective in our speaking and praying are two huge ways that we are able to grow in the work of God, and it is continually a privilege to be allowed to do so.
The final way in we are able to grow in our appreciation for the work of God is that we are able to grow in a deeper awe for the work and sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Of all the other things that are able to be taken awe in, we ought to continue to awed and amazed by the work of Christ on the cross continually. As we continue to speak the gospel and seek motivation for the speaking of the gospel, we cannot move away from the cross and the pain and punishment Christ suffered on it. The goal would be to be able to continually speak as Peter does when he states in 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ form the dead…” to be able to continually burst into praise as Peter does only comes as we grow in greater and greater appreciation for the Work of Christ, we seek to have an AWE for the sacrifice of Christ on the cross that will lead us into instant praise…”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
Friday, June 18, 2010
Motives for Evangelism- Part 2
Part 2- Love seeing individuals devoted to faithful service to God!
The individual who seeks to share the gospel from the right motives MUST begin to adopt a vision for people the way that God would envision those who are believers. God desires for His people to be faithfully committed and serving Him in all areas of their lives. We see devotion from new believers as a tell tale sign of the work of God in their lives and are able to rejoice as we see their devotion to the things of God. The question when it comes to our motives is whether or not we truly rejoice at the addition of individuals into faithful service.
In Acts 2:40-42 states, “And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they [the souls that were added] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
We see in this passage the exhortation brought about by Peter’s teaching, resulting in the salvation of soul and the immediate inclusion of these new individuals into faithful service to God. They devoted themselves, there was a drive and a desire to accomplish God’s purpose and the place the God ordained for that to occur is within the local church! We see the same truth bearing witness of itself in the great commission passage in Matthew 28:19, where it states to “make disciples.” The sharing of our faith is not an end in itself. We share our faith because we love to glorify God and we love to see people faithfully serving Him. The faithful service of individuals gives glory to God in ways that we cannot do purely as an individual.
An interesting place that we see the desire for people shining forth is in the prayer of Paul for the Thessalonians. In 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 it states, “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered form wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. Bu the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you in against the evil one…” The interesting thing about this passage is NOT its evangelistic overtones. Instead it shows the heart of the man of God for PEOPLE. Paul begins the passage seeking their prayer for him and ends the passage praying for them. It is as if Paul cannot help but continue to turn his attention to the work of God in other people’s lives, as well as their faithful service. The question that must continue to arise within each of us is where does the work of God that I am specifically called to accomplish include the people God is seeking to work in?
In regards once again to evangelism we see this. That the gospel is for people and people alone. The gospel is NOT for animals or for the earth, or even for the heavenly beings. It is purely for people. This is why it is so profound to consider the passage, “What is man that you are mindful of him.” We really don’t know. But we do know this, God IS mindful of us, He does bestow on us His steadfast love and mercy, and He continues to work in the lives of believers as well as those who previously hated God. The gospel is for people, therefore if our motives for sharing the gospel is not for the seeing of people entering into faithful service to God, then we have missed the mark to a large
What does this concept begin to require of us? It requires a changing of our focus and whom we interact with. We must begin to leave our Christian bubbles, where everyone we know in that bubble knows Christ. We must lose the satisfaction and justification we have given ourselves in thinking that we have reached the entirety of our “Co-worker Bubble” (those individuals who we work with), and our “Family Bubble” (extended and immediate family) with the gospel of Christ. We must in a sense seek our new turf, seek our new battle grounds in which victory will ensue. We must seek to spread the outpost of heaven on this earth, and see more lands and more people serving God, than those that are directly interacting with us daily. Do we have eyes to see the bigger picture of God’s work in those outside of our “bubbles?” Do we have a heart to see people serving God faithfully in the local church? If this is the case and we are seeking the glorification of God in the process then we are well on our way to having the right motives for our evangelism!
The individual who seeks to share the gospel from the right motives MUST begin to adopt a vision for people the way that God would envision those who are believers. God desires for His people to be faithfully committed and serving Him in all areas of their lives. We see devotion from new believers as a tell tale sign of the work of God in their lives and are able to rejoice as we see their devotion to the things of God. The question when it comes to our motives is whether or not we truly rejoice at the addition of individuals into faithful service.
In Acts 2:40-42 states, “And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they [the souls that were added] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
We see in this passage the exhortation brought about by Peter’s teaching, resulting in the salvation of soul and the immediate inclusion of these new individuals into faithful service to God. They devoted themselves, there was a drive and a desire to accomplish God’s purpose and the place the God ordained for that to occur is within the local church! We see the same truth bearing witness of itself in the great commission passage in Matthew 28:19, where it states to “make disciples.” The sharing of our faith is not an end in itself. We share our faith because we love to glorify God and we love to see people faithfully serving Him. The faithful service of individuals gives glory to God in ways that we cannot do purely as an individual.
An interesting place that we see the desire for people shining forth is in the prayer of Paul for the Thessalonians. In 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 it states, “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered form wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. Bu the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you in against the evil one…” The interesting thing about this passage is NOT its evangelistic overtones. Instead it shows the heart of the man of God for PEOPLE. Paul begins the passage seeking their prayer for him and ends the passage praying for them. It is as if Paul cannot help but continue to turn his attention to the work of God in other people’s lives, as well as their faithful service. The question that must continue to arise within each of us is where does the work of God that I am specifically called to accomplish include the people God is seeking to work in?
In regards once again to evangelism we see this. That the gospel is for people and people alone. The gospel is NOT for animals or for the earth, or even for the heavenly beings. It is purely for people. This is why it is so profound to consider the passage, “What is man that you are mindful of him.” We really don’t know. But we do know this, God IS mindful of us, He does bestow on us His steadfast love and mercy, and He continues to work in the lives of believers as well as those who previously hated God. The gospel is for people, therefore if our motives for sharing the gospel is not for the seeing of people entering into faithful service to God, then we have missed the mark to a large
What does this concept begin to require of us? It requires a changing of our focus and whom we interact with. We must begin to leave our Christian bubbles, where everyone we know in that bubble knows Christ. We must lose the satisfaction and justification we have given ourselves in thinking that we have reached the entirety of our “Co-worker Bubble” (those individuals who we work with), and our “Family Bubble” (extended and immediate family) with the gospel of Christ. We must in a sense seek our new turf, seek our new battle grounds in which victory will ensue. We must seek to spread the outpost of heaven on this earth, and see more lands and more people serving God, than those that are directly interacting with us daily. Do we have eyes to see the bigger picture of God’s work in those outside of our “bubbles?” Do we have a heart to see people serving God faithfully in the local church? If this is the case and we are seeking the glorification of God in the process then we are well on our way to having the right motives for our evangelism!
Motives for Evangelism- Introduction/ Part 1
This is in a sense a prequel to the series entitled the Methods of Evangelism. I say prequel for the reason that our motives will either drive or hinder our right service to God in the various ways that we are seeking to work for Him. Our Methods, if based on poor or incorrect motives will make our work unfruitful or ineffective and we will not be accomplishing the work that God has called and commanded us to!
The first motive for our evangelistic efforts ought to be the love for the glorification of God. This was written about previously and is worth the time it takes to read it, you can access the webpage at the bottom of this post. As we embark on the motivations we have for the work of evangelism there will be 4 key categories, the first has been discussed, the Love for the Glory of God. The second category is that the believer loves seeing individuals devoted to faithful service to God! The third is that believers love being effective and growing, and the final one is that believers love obedience to God.
All four of these if characterized in our motives will make our methods fruitful in some way. The first is the love for the glorification of God. A brief synopsis of that is this, that we love hearing the name of God glorified on the lips of those whom God has and is working in. We love to hear his truth proclaimed by believer and unbeliever alike, which is why Paul can say whether out of pretense or truth the name of Christ is still preached. We love hearing people use God’s name in its proper context, and we love hearing the truth of the message of Christ being spoken continually.
Love for the glorification of God (Part 1)
http://sweetcommunionbaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2010/06/do-we-love-glory-of-god.html
The first motive for our evangelistic efforts ought to be the love for the glorification of God. This was written about previously and is worth the time it takes to read it, you can access the webpage at the bottom of this post. As we embark on the motivations we have for the work of evangelism there will be 4 key categories, the first has been discussed, the Love for the Glory of God. The second category is that the believer loves seeing individuals devoted to faithful service to God! The third is that believers love being effective and growing, and the final one is that believers love obedience to God.
All four of these if characterized in our motives will make our methods fruitful in some way. The first is the love for the glorification of God. A brief synopsis of that is this, that we love hearing the name of God glorified on the lips of those whom God has and is working in. We love to hear his truth proclaimed by believer and unbeliever alike, which is why Paul can say whether out of pretense or truth the name of Christ is still preached. We love hearing people use God’s name in its proper context, and we love hearing the truth of the message of Christ being spoken continually.
Love for the glorification of God (Part 1)
http://sweetcommunionbaptistchurch.blogspot.com/2010/06/do-we-love-glory-of-god.html
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Revelation or Education- How God reveals Truth
Yesterday was discussed the concept that we do in fact still receive revelation from God today. We see it through the active teaching done by the Holy Spirit which is indwelling us, through the word being in our hearts and in our minds. The second question that was not answered yesterday was HOW or in what ways do we receive revelation from God. It is important, however, to stress once again before we move on the fact that God's revelation to us today NEVER supersedes what we know to be Biblical truth, and will NOT contradict what is revealed in His word already.
We MUST understand that the primary means of revelation from God has been and always will be His spoken and inspired word. The Bible with all of its “stories” and accounts of all that occurred is continually referred to and mentioned as God’s inspired word. Therefore as we seek God’s revelation of truth in our lives we must continue to start where He would have us to start and that is daily in the Scriptures, reading His word, seeking it and thirsting for it. As the Psalmist states, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” This should be the way that we seek God’s revelation to us in the Scriptures. He has spoken and He has revealed all that we need to know in order to serve and follow Him. All that we need for Him to speak to us and through us is originated and contained in the Scriptures. This continues to validate and encourage our study of Christ and His words as well, since He is the Word, all that He did and sought after was according to God’s revelation. We cannot claim to pursue the mind and thoughts of God without actually reading what He has given us already. God is seeking to build upon the foundation of truth that we have, but if we are not working and understanding the foundation how can we continue to claim that we desire to have more revelation of God’s word? What this means is that those seeking and thirsting for God will continue to seek and read the Bible…it is a necessity if we desire God the way we ought.
Another means by which God continues to reveal Himself is through the faithful teaching and preaching of Gods word. This does not mean that every individual will have the gift or opportunity to teach. But the faithful teaching and preaching of God’s word is to be done by those whom God has gifted in that manner, whether by firm Bible teachers or by Pastors on Sunday mornings. We seek to hear what God is speaking to us through them. God has gifted them to teach for the benefit of the church, for the building up of the body of Christ in love, and for the maturing of the saints. They do not teach purely for their own benefit, God is using them for the encouraging and revealing of His truth to the people of God. This is why Paul gives the exhortation to Timothy to “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” The teaching is for the benefit of those who hear
A third way in which the revelation of God is made known is by the words of those faithfully serving God. In Psalms 101 the writer asks for those who are blameless to minister to him. Do we have the same desire? Do we have the desire to hear what God has spoken or is speaking to those who are faithfully serving Him? God reveals truth to us in many ways and one way that we see continually occurring is through other people, other saints who are faithful in the first two instances as well! A good example of this is Apollos, “He [Apollos] began to speak bolding in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” We see the speaking of truth and revelation of God’s word to others by those who were serving faithfully. Apollos later goes on to refute the Jews in public and to continue to show through the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. We see the revelation of God’s word having the same impact that it had in the lives of Peter, John, and Stephen mentioned yesterday. This powerful truth which cannot be denied, the type of knowledge and understanding that only God can give is now actively working in another.
The question that each of us must continue to wrestle with is, am I seeking and willing to serve and understand the truth of God’s word. Those who seek after the truth will find it and will continue in it, for they hear God’s calling and direction and they follow it. They will walk in the way of God, they will ponder the way of blamelessness, they will not search after worthless things, and they will be open to the guidance of God by the work of the Holy Spirit. Are we thirsting and panting for the word of God and His revelation of truth in our lives? Are we continuing to sacrifice cherished sin in order to walk more closely with God, in order to seek Him more purely? Can we say as the Psalmist does in Psalm 69:3, “I am weary with my crying out, my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.” Seek to have a heart that is open to the direction and guidance of God.
By no means is this the only way that God reveals truth to us. He can use any of His creation to make known His character, truth, and the work done through Christ, even if He must speak to us through a donkey as He did with Balaam. These three however are the key ways we see God having chosen to reveal truth to us.
We MUST understand that the primary means of revelation from God has been and always will be His spoken and inspired word. The Bible with all of its “stories” and accounts of all that occurred is continually referred to and mentioned as God’s inspired word. Therefore as we seek God’s revelation of truth in our lives we must continue to start where He would have us to start and that is daily in the Scriptures, reading His word, seeking it and thirsting for it. As the Psalmist states, “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” This should be the way that we seek God’s revelation to us in the Scriptures. He has spoken and He has revealed all that we need to know in order to serve and follow Him. All that we need for Him to speak to us and through us is originated and contained in the Scriptures. This continues to validate and encourage our study of Christ and His words as well, since He is the Word, all that He did and sought after was according to God’s revelation. We cannot claim to pursue the mind and thoughts of God without actually reading what He has given us already. God is seeking to build upon the foundation of truth that we have, but if we are not working and understanding the foundation how can we continue to claim that we desire to have more revelation of God’s word? What this means is that those seeking and thirsting for God will continue to seek and read the Bible…it is a necessity if we desire God the way we ought.
Another means by which God continues to reveal Himself is through the faithful teaching and preaching of Gods word. This does not mean that every individual will have the gift or opportunity to teach. But the faithful teaching and preaching of God’s word is to be done by those whom God has gifted in that manner, whether by firm Bible teachers or by Pastors on Sunday mornings. We seek to hear what God is speaking to us through them. God has gifted them to teach for the benefit of the church, for the building up of the body of Christ in love, and for the maturing of the saints. They do not teach purely for their own benefit, God is using them for the encouraging and revealing of His truth to the people of God. This is why Paul gives the exhortation to Timothy to “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” The teaching is for the benefit of those who hear
A third way in which the revelation of God is made known is by the words of those faithfully serving God. In Psalms 101 the writer asks for those who are blameless to minister to him. Do we have the same desire? Do we have the desire to hear what God has spoken or is speaking to those who are faithfully serving Him? God reveals truth to us in many ways and one way that we see continually occurring is through other people, other saints who are faithful in the first two instances as well! A good example of this is Apollos, “He [Apollos] began to speak bolding in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” We see the speaking of truth and revelation of God’s word to others by those who were serving faithfully. Apollos later goes on to refute the Jews in public and to continue to show through the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. We see the revelation of God’s word having the same impact that it had in the lives of Peter, John, and Stephen mentioned yesterday. This powerful truth which cannot be denied, the type of knowledge and understanding that only God can give is now actively working in another.
The question that each of us must continue to wrestle with is, am I seeking and willing to serve and understand the truth of God’s word. Those who seek after the truth will find it and will continue in it, for they hear God’s calling and direction and they follow it. They will walk in the way of God, they will ponder the way of blamelessness, they will not search after worthless things, and they will be open to the guidance of God by the work of the Holy Spirit. Are we thirsting and panting for the word of God and His revelation of truth in our lives? Are we continuing to sacrifice cherished sin in order to walk more closely with God, in order to seek Him more purely? Can we say as the Psalmist does in Psalm 69:3, “I am weary with my crying out, my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.” Seek to have a heart that is open to the direction and guidance of God.
By no means is this the only way that God reveals truth to us. He can use any of His creation to make known His character, truth, and the work done through Christ, even if He must speak to us through a donkey as He did with Balaam. These three however are the key ways we see God having chosen to reveal truth to us.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Revelation or education?
John 7:15, “The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man [Jesus] has learning, when he has never studied?”
The concept of divine revelation compared to education is one that deserves a small amount of defining. By revelation we are referring to that knowledge, understanding or wisdom that is directly inspired by, and given by God; it is not a type of knowledge that can be gained by constant study, it is purely a gift given the individual from the Almighty Creator and Holder of all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Education on the other hand is that bit of knowledge with can be gained by memorization, study of books, articles, etc… It is what our minds are purely able to comprehend in the most base sense, it is the “wisdom of the world” if you will, yet it lacks that direct influencing of God. We do understand however that all knowledge and ability comes from God’s gracious hand, however revelation is that special knowledge that God gives to people.
Examples of this are seen throughout the scriptures. We see the individual text above where the Jews marvel at Christ and see how He is able to teach despite not receiving any “earthly” education. They could not comprehend his ability due to their lack of faith, how could He teach when he has never learned? Jesus answer is key, He states, “ My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.” He teaches the direct knowledge of God…this is divine revelation.
The apostles received the same kind of questioning in Acts 4:13 where it states, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” The interesting aspect is that they knew they were uneducated, yet they spoke and taught with boldness. Only by the knowledge imparted by God were they able to accomplish this task.
Another disciple who we see the same example is Stephen in Acts 6:6-10 states, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” Once again we see a supernatural empowering, and a supernatural understanding that regular worldly knowledge and understanding cannot combat… This is revelation from God!
The important question then arises as to whether God still reveals truth to us today? Do we have the ability to receive revelation from God and in what ways do we receive it? These are both valid and important questions. The first, however, I would answer YES God does still give revelation today. And the second aside from a brief discussion with be elaborated on at a different time.
God does still give revelation today. We see the chief examples being those listed above where the Apostles and Disciples had a supernatural understanding which was able to supersede any of the thinkers of their day. But looking at various other passages we are able to see the same truth for believers TODAY. Back in John 6 it states, “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’” Jesus is stating both the truth of His earthly ministry, the Truth of Gods revelation as well as the truth of the Holy Spirit indwelling us! In 1 John it says this about the Spirit, “ But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge…But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointed teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” And again in Hebrews 10: 15-16, “An the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds.” We see that the New Testament believer as well as the believer living in the 20th century STILL receives revelation from God. Knowing that we are able to receive revelation from God we therefore ought to seek and ask for it more and more. It is an important caution however, to not seek a “new” truth at the expense of what is actually truth, sometimes revelation is simply understanding a previous truth in a slightly different and more meaningful way!
Finally we see in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, “ Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is form God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant…” We have been made competent, individuals who are able to think and reason and understand the ministry of Jesus Christ, of all that He has done and given and of all that He brings as far as hope and excitement for the future! The question is, are we seeking God’s revelation or are we purely seeking an education? Do we desire the truth of God or a truth that fits our own perception or desires? Are we willing to sacrifice sin in our lives in order to pursue more closely the revelation from God or do we desire to remain in our sin and ignorance? The concept of divine revelation is a truthful one, but are we willing to seek and thirst for it and find it resting solely in the person of Christ?
The concept of divine revelation compared to education is one that deserves a small amount of defining. By revelation we are referring to that knowledge, understanding or wisdom that is directly inspired by, and given by God; it is not a type of knowledge that can be gained by constant study, it is purely a gift given the individual from the Almighty Creator and Holder of all knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Education on the other hand is that bit of knowledge with can be gained by memorization, study of books, articles, etc… It is what our minds are purely able to comprehend in the most base sense, it is the “wisdom of the world” if you will, yet it lacks that direct influencing of God. We do understand however that all knowledge and ability comes from God’s gracious hand, however revelation is that special knowledge that God gives to people.
Examples of this are seen throughout the scriptures. We see the individual text above where the Jews marvel at Christ and see how He is able to teach despite not receiving any “earthly” education. They could not comprehend his ability due to their lack of faith, how could He teach when he has never learned? Jesus answer is key, He states, “ My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.” He teaches the direct knowledge of God…this is divine revelation.
The apostles received the same kind of questioning in Acts 4:13 where it states, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” The interesting aspect is that they knew they were uneducated, yet they spoke and taught with boldness. Only by the knowledge imparted by God were they able to accomplish this task.
Another disciple who we see the same example is Stephen in Acts 6:6-10 states, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.” Once again we see a supernatural empowering, and a supernatural understanding that regular worldly knowledge and understanding cannot combat… This is revelation from God!
The important question then arises as to whether God still reveals truth to us today? Do we have the ability to receive revelation from God and in what ways do we receive it? These are both valid and important questions. The first, however, I would answer YES God does still give revelation today. And the second aside from a brief discussion with be elaborated on at a different time.
God does still give revelation today. We see the chief examples being those listed above where the Apostles and Disciples had a supernatural understanding which was able to supersede any of the thinkers of their day. But looking at various other passages we are able to see the same truth for believers TODAY. Back in John 6 it states, “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’” Jesus is stating both the truth of His earthly ministry, the Truth of Gods revelation as well as the truth of the Holy Spirit indwelling us! In 1 John it says this about the Spirit, “ But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge…But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointed teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” And again in Hebrews 10: 15-16, “An the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds.” We see that the New Testament believer as well as the believer living in the 20th century STILL receives revelation from God. Knowing that we are able to receive revelation from God we therefore ought to seek and ask for it more and more. It is an important caution however, to not seek a “new” truth at the expense of what is actually truth, sometimes revelation is simply understanding a previous truth in a slightly different and more meaningful way!
Finally we see in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, “ Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is form God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant…” We have been made competent, individuals who are able to think and reason and understand the ministry of Jesus Christ, of all that He has done and given and of all that He brings as far as hope and excitement for the future! The question is, are we seeking God’s revelation or are we purely seeking an education? Do we desire the truth of God or a truth that fits our own perception or desires? Are we willing to sacrifice sin in our lives in order to pursue more closely the revelation from God or do we desire to remain in our sin and ignorance? The concept of divine revelation is a truthful one, but are we willing to seek and thirst for it and find it resting solely in the person of Christ?
Friday, June 11, 2010
Do we love the Glory of God?
Psalm 96:7-8, “Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord Glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into His courts.”
Ascribing glory to the Lord is really this umbrella type concept which Christians seek to implement in all that they do. As Christians we work for the glory of God, we seek to praise the glory of God, we seek to accomplish His purposes to His glory, and we seek to see His name glorified among others. However, if left at purely that often the concept of the glory of God will be come a cliché phrase, a “wise saying”, a “right word”, but have not true depth of meaning.
The question do we love the glory of God will lead into a short discussion on The Motives of Evangelism from the Evangelism conference last week. However, the first concept that we seek is to understand what is meant by a love for the glory of God. I propose this, we love to hear the name of God praised and worshiped, spoken and trusted, loved and adored not only in our lives but in the lives of those who are recently saved, or who we witness God’s amazing work of salvation in their lives at that moment. The love the glory of God is to love hearing His name spoken and worshiped! This truly is an amazing concept when we look at it in light of various daily activities.
In evangelism we see this worked out in the hearing of people who at one point were haters of God and men begin to praise God for pulling them out of darkness and into the light. We love to hear God’s name glorified, and we ascribe all the glory that we have in this life to Him for he truly is the only one who makes it possible to live a life worthy of Him. After all it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. So when we hear the unbeliever praise God because God has performed a work in their lives, we also praise God with them… For the love of the glory of God requires our loving hearing His name praised!
Jesus put it like this when he was speaking of His [Jesus’] teaching in John 7, “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him (this would be God sending Jesus) is true, and in him there is no falsehood.” We see the mind of Christ in this moment; He seeks glory being given to God. He seeks God receiving all the praise and honor in what He does, which brings more light even to the concept of His being crucified. He died for our sins…this is true, but he also died to show in one fell swoop the great glory and majesty of the God who created the universe and all that is in it, and the God who is still actively working in His creation to this day.
The same can be true in our daily lives. We truly can work for the glory of God at our jobs, at our marriages, at being parents, at serving the purpose of God in this generation. The question is where our mind is and where is our love. 1 John puts it like this, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.” What do we love? Do we love hearing God’s name praised among unbelievers? Or do we love hearing about our own work ethic and our own name spoken of? Do we seek and love the glory of God in our lives or do we love the glory of self?
Paul puts this concept best in Philippians when he says, “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will…What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” Paul could say that he rejoiced in the name of Christ being preached even if it was done out of rivalry and envy…why? Because he loved hearing the name of Christ and the gospel of Christ going forth, whether people are preaching it for the right or the wrong reasons the gospel will ALWAYS give glory to God and will place focus on the work of Christ. This is a love for the glory of God! It rejoices in the praise and the speaking of God’s Holy name and work continually! So lets continue to ascribe glory to God, lets seek His name being praised!
Ascribing glory to the Lord is really this umbrella type concept which Christians seek to implement in all that they do. As Christians we work for the glory of God, we seek to praise the glory of God, we seek to accomplish His purposes to His glory, and we seek to see His name glorified among others. However, if left at purely that often the concept of the glory of God will be come a cliché phrase, a “wise saying”, a “right word”, but have not true depth of meaning.
The question do we love the glory of God will lead into a short discussion on The Motives of Evangelism from the Evangelism conference last week. However, the first concept that we seek is to understand what is meant by a love for the glory of God. I propose this, we love to hear the name of God praised and worshiped, spoken and trusted, loved and adored not only in our lives but in the lives of those who are recently saved, or who we witness God’s amazing work of salvation in their lives at that moment. The love the glory of God is to love hearing His name spoken and worshiped! This truly is an amazing concept when we look at it in light of various daily activities.
In evangelism we see this worked out in the hearing of people who at one point were haters of God and men begin to praise God for pulling them out of darkness and into the light. We love to hear God’s name glorified, and we ascribe all the glory that we have in this life to Him for he truly is the only one who makes it possible to live a life worthy of Him. After all it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. So when we hear the unbeliever praise God because God has performed a work in their lives, we also praise God with them… For the love of the glory of God requires our loving hearing His name praised!
Jesus put it like this when he was speaking of His [Jesus’] teaching in John 7, “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him (this would be God sending Jesus) is true, and in him there is no falsehood.” We see the mind of Christ in this moment; He seeks glory being given to God. He seeks God receiving all the praise and honor in what He does, which brings more light even to the concept of His being crucified. He died for our sins…this is true, but he also died to show in one fell swoop the great glory and majesty of the God who created the universe and all that is in it, and the God who is still actively working in His creation to this day.
The same can be true in our daily lives. We truly can work for the glory of God at our jobs, at our marriages, at being parents, at serving the purpose of God in this generation. The question is where our mind is and where is our love. 1 John puts it like this, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him.” What do we love? Do we love hearing God’s name praised among unbelievers? Or do we love hearing about our own work ethic and our own name spoken of? Do we seek and love the glory of God in our lives or do we love the glory of self?
Paul puts this concept best in Philippians when he says, “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will…What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” Paul could say that he rejoiced in the name of Christ being preached even if it was done out of rivalry and envy…why? Because he loved hearing the name of Christ and the gospel of Christ going forth, whether people are preaching it for the right or the wrong reasons the gospel will ALWAYS give glory to God and will place focus on the work of Christ. This is a love for the glory of God! It rejoices in the praise and the speaking of God’s Holy name and work continually! So lets continue to ascribe glory to God, lets seek His name being praised!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Methods of Evangelism: Conclusion
One of the best methods of delivering the gospel is the tried and true methods of preaching and teaching. There really is no substitute for gifted men empowered by the Holy Spirit speaking the word of God. The reason church service is organized around the sermon is because this is the most effective way to deliver the message of deliverance - preaching isn't just a focus of the church it is the primary focus of the local church.
Acts records the early history of the church and its not an accident that after the Holy Spirit filled the believers on Pentecost that Peter immediately spoke the word of God. Preaching was the method used to start the revival we see in Acts and preaching is still the path to spiritual reformation.
Paul says this:
"For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"
How can they hear without someone preaching? This is what Paul means by the "foolishness of preaching" - when regular men like you and me preach the word of God the Holy Spirit can empower our words and bring souls to Christ.
Its a truly amazing thing, something we just can't take for granted, but you may be thinking "this is great and all but what does this have to with me? I'm not a preacher." But even if you're not a preacher or teacher you can still be a part of this method of evangelism.
Preachers need three things: an audience, an opportunity, and wiling and able souls to teach the truths of God one on one. It doesn't matter how good a preacher someone is if they don't have anyone listening. The reason Peter was so effective is more than just his great teaching, the reason he could actually have an effect was because there were thousands of people listening. What we need is people who are willing to get their friends, coworkers and family and bring them in to hear a great message. What we need are people to recruit.
Preachers need opportunities, they need occasions to speak at, they need to know when there is a gathering, they need to be asked to speak at funerals, weddings, graduations, and ceremonies of all kinds. The preacher only knows so many people but as a congregation we can find so much more opportunities than any one preacher can ever find. As a congregation we can take the gifted man and change a city.
Preachers also need those people willing to search for those tender hearts after the message is done, people willing to lead souls to Christ. The preacher is just one man, but with a team of dedicated workers behind him he can help lead many souls to salvation.
Peter alone couldn't have lead three thousand souls to salvation and we see that when we read Acts chapter two. First there were 120 people filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in a variety of tongues. They were so excited about the word of God that a multitude formed around them and after the sermon:
"And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Look at all the plurals in that passage, look at all the groups of people doing something for the glory of God - this is what is necessary for an effective sermon. If the pastor preaches the best sermon ever preached and no one leads people to become effective workers in the church that great opportunity is lost, but when the Preacher and people work as one, when they unite great things happen.
Now we've gone through many of the methods of evangelism and I trust its been edifying and I hoped its opened your mind to the truth, but don't let my words limit what you think is possible. Let's keep praying that God would make us supernaturally empowered to do His will. Let's pray big prayers and trust that He will work through us.
Acts records the early history of the church and its not an accident that after the Holy Spirit filled the believers on Pentecost that Peter immediately spoke the word of God. Preaching was the method used to start the revival we see in Acts and preaching is still the path to spiritual reformation.
Paul says this:
"For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"
How can they hear without someone preaching? This is what Paul means by the "foolishness of preaching" - when regular men like you and me preach the word of God the Holy Spirit can empower our words and bring souls to Christ.
Its a truly amazing thing, something we just can't take for granted, but you may be thinking "this is great and all but what does this have to with me? I'm not a preacher." But even if you're not a preacher or teacher you can still be a part of this method of evangelism.
Preachers need three things: an audience, an opportunity, and wiling and able souls to teach the truths of God one on one. It doesn't matter how good a preacher someone is if they don't have anyone listening. The reason Peter was so effective is more than just his great teaching, the reason he could actually have an effect was because there were thousands of people listening. What we need is people who are willing to get their friends, coworkers and family and bring them in to hear a great message. What we need are people to recruit.
Preachers need opportunities, they need occasions to speak at, they need to know when there is a gathering, they need to be asked to speak at funerals, weddings, graduations, and ceremonies of all kinds. The preacher only knows so many people but as a congregation we can find so much more opportunities than any one preacher can ever find. As a congregation we can take the gifted man and change a city.
Preachers also need those people willing to search for those tender hearts after the message is done, people willing to lead souls to Christ. The preacher is just one man, but with a team of dedicated workers behind him he can help lead many souls to salvation.
Peter alone couldn't have lead three thousand souls to salvation and we see that when we read Acts chapter two. First there were 120 people filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in a variety of tongues. They were so excited about the word of God that a multitude formed around them and after the sermon:
"And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Look at all the plurals in that passage, look at all the groups of people doing something for the glory of God - this is what is necessary for an effective sermon. If the pastor preaches the best sermon ever preached and no one leads people to become effective workers in the church that great opportunity is lost, but when the Preacher and people work as one, when they unite great things happen.
Now we've gone through many of the methods of evangelism and I trust its been edifying and I hoped its opened your mind to the truth, but don't let my words limit what you think is possible. Let's keep praying that God would make us supernaturally empowered to do His will. Let's pray big prayers and trust that He will work through us.
Methods of Evangelism: Part 7
Evangelism has many forms and methods but one type of evangelism has to do more with consistency then any one method we use to get God's word out. I'll call it constant witness.
In Acts 14 we read this:
"Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country,and there they continued to preach the gospel."
Paul and his team went to the synagogue and they spoke so powerfully many people believed, but there was a portion of the people that were stubborn and opposed Paul. They didn't allow Paul to be as effective as he wanted to be. We don't see Paul respond with another sermon, though he may have, and we don't see Paul rushing to debate them, what we see is Paul remaining there "for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord".
Sometimes the best witness is consistency. The world changes what it thinks from day to day - opinion polls go up and down, people vote for republicans one year and democrats the next, people love a president and hate that same president within the same term of office - but the truths of God stay the same.
Consistency is the best sign of a believer. Many people have emotional confessions, many people can speak eloquently, but there's something about that quiet perseverance that makes living for the Lord for a number of years something that continues to amaze everyone who sees it. Its almost like consistency is exerting a constant godly pressure that says "no matter what's going on in my life, whether I'm happy or sad, rich or poor I'm going to serve the Lord".
One reason why consistency is so powerful is because it reflects the nature of God. God said "I am the Lord, I do not change", Jesus said "before Abraham I AM" meaning that he had always been and would continue to be himself. God is consistent in his goodness and his love and the scriptures preach that point because so many people trust in things that are fickle.
In the ancient world people trusted in gods that had mood swings. If you worshipped Diana and she was angry you might have bad things happen to you and if she was happy she might bless the work of your hands. Today people trust in fate, the stock market, their love life, political figures, or ideologies, but all these things change. As their thoughts continue to sway with the winds of the times they look to the Christian and see that steady consistent walk - and they can't help but see that something is different about that Christian.
So as Christians let's live a life that stays on the path that God has placed us on. Let's champion the church, let's take pride of our church and the Pastors that preach God's word boldly. People won't always react positively but our consistency will show them that there are only two choices: God and this changing world. Let's let our perseverance, our constant presence be a witness in these fickle times.
In Acts 14 we read this:
"Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country,and there they continued to preach the gospel."
Paul and his team went to the synagogue and they spoke so powerfully many people believed, but there was a portion of the people that were stubborn and opposed Paul. They didn't allow Paul to be as effective as he wanted to be. We don't see Paul respond with another sermon, though he may have, and we don't see Paul rushing to debate them, what we see is Paul remaining there "for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord".
Sometimes the best witness is consistency. The world changes what it thinks from day to day - opinion polls go up and down, people vote for republicans one year and democrats the next, people love a president and hate that same president within the same term of office - but the truths of God stay the same.
Consistency is the best sign of a believer. Many people have emotional confessions, many people can speak eloquently, but there's something about that quiet perseverance that makes living for the Lord for a number of years something that continues to amaze everyone who sees it. Its almost like consistency is exerting a constant godly pressure that says "no matter what's going on in my life, whether I'm happy or sad, rich or poor I'm going to serve the Lord".
One reason why consistency is so powerful is because it reflects the nature of God. God said "I am the Lord, I do not change", Jesus said "before Abraham I AM" meaning that he had always been and would continue to be himself. God is consistent in his goodness and his love and the scriptures preach that point because so many people trust in things that are fickle.
In the ancient world people trusted in gods that had mood swings. If you worshipped Diana and she was angry you might have bad things happen to you and if she was happy she might bless the work of your hands. Today people trust in fate, the stock market, their love life, political figures, or ideologies, but all these things change. As their thoughts continue to sway with the winds of the times they look to the Christian and see that steady consistent walk - and they can't help but see that something is different about that Christian.
So as Christians let's live a life that stays on the path that God has placed us on. Let's champion the church, let's take pride of our church and the Pastors that preach God's word boldly. People won't always react positively but our consistency will show them that there are only two choices: God and this changing world. Let's let our perseverance, our constant presence be a witness in these fickle times.
Methods of Evangelism: Part 6
One of the methods of evangelism we haven't touched on yet is one of the more difficult ones to use, and that is debate. Debate can easily go in the wrong direction, it can often lead to more animosity than learning, but when used correctly there is no better way to prove the superiority of Christ.
For the Christian debate is simply reasoning with the scriptures. God's word can be felt and it can be emotional but the best way to understand scripture is to actually reason with it, to question it and search for the answers within it. When God said "Come let us reason together" in Isaiah 1:18, he was imploring his people to come to him for the forgiveness of sin, but he was also showing the world that he is a reasonable and logical God.
In the first five books of the bible God gives his people a law, in the prophets we see God often debating and reasoning with his people (e.g. Ezekiel chapters 18 and 32) and in the New Testament we see God calling everything to be done "decently and in order". God is a logical God and the Christian debater simply uses one of God's qualities and uses that to declare God's truths.
Knowing that God is such an orderly God helps us use the scripture effectively. We can assure ourselves that the Bible is a logical book. We can be confident that everything in the bible makes sense and every question we have has an answer. God wants us to use our reason to understand his word and apply that to the world around us.
The Christian debater is motivated by this reason, and he has a burning desire for the truth. He takes the words of Jude to heart:"...contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." There are times when it is necessary not just to proclaim the truth but to prove why the lie is indeed a lie; the time may come to "expose the unfruitful works of darkness" by carefully revealing the dangers of unbelief and showing the excellence of scripture.
And that's really what debating is - we can't do it effectively without replacing our words with God's words and our thoughts with God's thoughts. Jesus said: "The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood" meaning that the one who speaks from his own resources, his own mind, his own truths and morality is speaking for the benefit of his own glory. But the person who takes on God's thoughts, God's truths, and speaks the words God gives him to speak is seeking the glory of God.
To debate effectively we have to recognize this: God's word is infinitely more powerful than our words. There is no weapon like the holy scripture, it divides soul and spirit, it opens the hearts and minds, it speaks directly to the heart, and obeying it leads to salvation and a relationship with the God of the Universe. For the debater scripture isn't just the best tool, its the only tool worth having. Every single point we make has to be based in scripture and backed up by scripture.
And when we keep our thoughts firmly fixed on the scripture we'll focus on what the bible focuses on: the person of Jesus Christ. When Paul(Saul) was first learning the faith it says "Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ." The entire point of his debating was proving that Jesus was Christ.
Paul was aggressive, he would go right to the synagogue, the place where the Jews he knew would disagree with him would go to worship, and once there he would "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints". Some people didn't appreciate his honesty, they didn't like the light Paul brought into their darkness but Paul wasn't intimidated by their displeasure, he was motivated to save souls.
So lets be like Paul and study the scriptures until we can prove that Jesus is the Christ. Let's be like Stephen so that when the enemy brings those that would try to stop us from delivering the word of God it can be said of us that "they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking".
For the Christian debate is simply reasoning with the scriptures. God's word can be felt and it can be emotional but the best way to understand scripture is to actually reason with it, to question it and search for the answers within it. When God said "Come let us reason together" in Isaiah 1:18, he was imploring his people to come to him for the forgiveness of sin, but he was also showing the world that he is a reasonable and logical God.
In the first five books of the bible God gives his people a law, in the prophets we see God often debating and reasoning with his people (e.g. Ezekiel chapters 18 and 32) and in the New Testament we see God calling everything to be done "decently and in order". God is a logical God and the Christian debater simply uses one of God's qualities and uses that to declare God's truths.
Knowing that God is such an orderly God helps us use the scripture effectively. We can assure ourselves that the Bible is a logical book. We can be confident that everything in the bible makes sense and every question we have has an answer. God wants us to use our reason to understand his word and apply that to the world around us.
The Christian debater is motivated by this reason, and he has a burning desire for the truth. He takes the words of Jude to heart:"...contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." There are times when it is necessary not just to proclaim the truth but to prove why the lie is indeed a lie; the time may come to "expose the unfruitful works of darkness" by carefully revealing the dangers of unbelief and showing the excellence of scripture.
And that's really what debating is - we can't do it effectively without replacing our words with God's words and our thoughts with God's thoughts. Jesus said: "The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood" meaning that the one who speaks from his own resources, his own mind, his own truths and morality is speaking for the benefit of his own glory. But the person who takes on God's thoughts, God's truths, and speaks the words God gives him to speak is seeking the glory of God.
To debate effectively we have to recognize this: God's word is infinitely more powerful than our words. There is no weapon like the holy scripture, it divides soul and spirit, it opens the hearts and minds, it speaks directly to the heart, and obeying it leads to salvation and a relationship with the God of the Universe. For the debater scripture isn't just the best tool, its the only tool worth having. Every single point we make has to be based in scripture and backed up by scripture.
And when we keep our thoughts firmly fixed on the scripture we'll focus on what the bible focuses on: the person of Jesus Christ. When Paul(Saul) was first learning the faith it says "Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ." The entire point of his debating was proving that Jesus was Christ.
Paul was aggressive, he would go right to the synagogue, the place where the Jews he knew would disagree with him would go to worship, and once there he would "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints". Some people didn't appreciate his honesty, they didn't like the light Paul brought into their darkness but Paul wasn't intimidated by their displeasure, he was motivated to save souls.
So lets be like Paul and study the scriptures until we can prove that Jesus is the Christ. Let's be like Stephen so that when the enemy brings those that would try to stop us from delivering the word of God it can be said of us that "they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking".
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Methods of Evangelism: Part 5
One way to get God's word out is the Bible study, small groups dedicated to studying and teaching God's word in a practical way. Look at Acts chapter 2:
"And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Peter had just taught an awesome sermon and many people had come to a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, but the believers don't stop there.
"And awe came upon every soul" - These believers really understood the power of God and they treated the things of God with the reverence they were due. Awe wasn't just an unthinking response, it was a choice that showed their hearts. The Pharisees had seen many miracles but they felt no awe, in the Gospel of John we see that even the people fed by the miraculous bread were only waiting for Jesus to produce another miracle, but these people saw the God of the universe moving among them, they saw souls being saved. They saw God work - they couldn't help but feel a sense of awe.
That sense of awe fed everything else that was done, because you don't feel a sense of awe about something unless you take it seriously. These people stopped living where they lived and moved in together. They stopped counting on their possessions and they sold what they had to help their fellow saints, people they may not have even known for more than a few days. These people were serious about what they were doing, they had the same attitude we must have if we want to have an effective bible study that turns souls towards Christ and the church.
Bible studies allow people to question what they hear, they allow real dialogue and discussion - often times bible study is the place where the seeds of growth are actually sown. People hear the word powerfully delivered by the pastor and elders of the church, but afterwards they have questions: do these people really believe this? Do they live this or do they just talk it? What do these things mean? How am I to live this way?
Answering these questions is the essence of ministry. When saints join together to simply enjoy the extra fellowship of studying the word the unbeliever not only gets to hear the truth of God's word, he gets to see the communion of the saints. He gets to see that love that separates the saved from the unsaved. He gets to see what unity means up close.
Paul says:
"There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
And the more the unbeliever sees this scripture lived out before them, the more they see the word of God inhabiting our lives the more effective our witness will be.
So let's encourage bible study, let's make that extra effort to meet and take time out of our day to study the scriptures. Let's be wherever God's word is taught and let's bring our friends along with us. With God's blessing they will see the power of the word at work in our lives and they'll see what the love of Christ really means.
"And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Peter had just taught an awesome sermon and many people had come to a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, but the believers don't stop there.
"And awe came upon every soul" - These believers really understood the power of God and they treated the things of God with the reverence they were due. Awe wasn't just an unthinking response, it was a choice that showed their hearts. The Pharisees had seen many miracles but they felt no awe, in the Gospel of John we see that even the people fed by the miraculous bread were only waiting for Jesus to produce another miracle, but these people saw the God of the universe moving among them, they saw souls being saved. They saw God work - they couldn't help but feel a sense of awe.
That sense of awe fed everything else that was done, because you don't feel a sense of awe about something unless you take it seriously. These people stopped living where they lived and moved in together. They stopped counting on their possessions and they sold what they had to help their fellow saints, people they may not have even known for more than a few days. These people were serious about what they were doing, they had the same attitude we must have if we want to have an effective bible study that turns souls towards Christ and the church.
Bible studies allow people to question what they hear, they allow real dialogue and discussion - often times bible study is the place where the seeds of growth are actually sown. People hear the word powerfully delivered by the pastor and elders of the church, but afterwards they have questions: do these people really believe this? Do they live this or do they just talk it? What do these things mean? How am I to live this way?
Answering these questions is the essence of ministry. When saints join together to simply enjoy the extra fellowship of studying the word the unbeliever not only gets to hear the truth of God's word, he gets to see the communion of the saints. He gets to see that love that separates the saved from the unsaved. He gets to see what unity means up close.
Paul says:
"There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
And the more the unbeliever sees this scripture lived out before them, the more they see the word of God inhabiting our lives the more effective our witness will be.
So let's encourage bible study, let's make that extra effort to meet and take time out of our day to study the scriptures. Let's be wherever God's word is taught and let's bring our friends along with us. With God's blessing they will see the power of the word at work in our lives and they'll see what the love of Christ really means.
Methods of Evangelism: Part 4
One method of evangelism we can't overlook is door to door evangelism. This going into the neighborhood is a method Jesus used with his disciples. In Luke chapter nine we read:
"And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere."
The first thing Jesus does is call his disciples together and grant them power. One thing I know about the church is that it is the "called out ones", called out of the world and called to be part of the church. When we received salvation we didn't just get deliverance, we received power from the God of the Universe, the power to serve.
The second thing Jesus does is remind the disciples to walk with faith: they didn't have elaborate preparations and they weren't trusting in their own ingenuity, they were trusting in one thing, one truth: God provides for his own.
The third thing they had was a simple message. The gospel message is simple, but it is powerful, it simply says "Christ died for the remission of sins" and implores people to turn to Christ and repent from their sins - this is the entirety of the message. There are so may things we could talk about, so many topics the Bible covers, but the central issue is the person of Christ.
And the last thing they had was an acceptance of denial - they were prepared for a negative response. When we witness, when we speak the truth we won't always get a favorable response because what we say may shed light to people that choose to live in darkness. What we say is a testimony against a sinful lifestyle; what we say is a call to holiness that no one can obey unless the power of God empowers him to do so.
So let's commit to going out and preaching the word house to house, neighborhood by neighborhood. Let's commit to saying "thus saith the Lord"!
"And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, "Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere."
The first thing Jesus does is call his disciples together and grant them power. One thing I know about the church is that it is the "called out ones", called out of the world and called to be part of the church. When we received salvation we didn't just get deliverance, we received power from the God of the Universe, the power to serve.
The second thing Jesus does is remind the disciples to walk with faith: they didn't have elaborate preparations and they weren't trusting in their own ingenuity, they were trusting in one thing, one truth: God provides for his own.
The third thing they had was a simple message. The gospel message is simple, but it is powerful, it simply says "Christ died for the remission of sins" and implores people to turn to Christ and repent from their sins - this is the entirety of the message. There are so may things we could talk about, so many topics the Bible covers, but the central issue is the person of Christ.
And the last thing they had was an acceptance of denial - they were prepared for a negative response. When we witness, when we speak the truth we won't always get a favorable response because what we say may shed light to people that choose to live in darkness. What we say is a testimony against a sinful lifestyle; what we say is a call to holiness that no one can obey unless the power of God empowers him to do so.
So let's commit to going out and preaching the word house to house, neighborhood by neighborhood. Let's commit to saying "thus saith the Lord"!
Methods of Evangelism: Part 3
One of the most practical forms of evangelism is what I'll call "person-to-person", it is how we share the truth of God with another person. It limits the discussion to us, them, and God.
Scripture is rich with the examples of this but the I really want to focus on one and that is the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian. It is a beautiful account because it teaches us everything we need to learn about witnessing face to face, person to person.
The passage in Acts 8 starts with this:
"Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place."
Whenever we want to witness to another person the first thing we need is spiritual guidance. Now we won't all be as blessed as Phillip and have an angel speaking with us but I do want to say this: we shouldn't be surprised if God does send a divine message to us.
Many times when you read scripture when every you see an angel appear the phrase that always seems to follow is "and they were afraid", but Phillip wasn't afraid. He had faith that God was going to lead him wherever he went, so when God sent an angel you almost get the sense that Phillip just nodded and thought to himself "I asked for direction and God sent it" - this is some real faith!
You can tell faith by our expectations. Do you really expect God to guide you? Then don't be too surprised when he does so. Here we see Phillip wasn't surprised, he expected God to lead him. That's why this is the very next phrase:
"And he rose and went."
Its one thing to look to God for direction but it can sometimes be difficult to take that divine answer for what it is. We can sometimes question God in such a way that we actually question his divine sanity, but Phillip doesn't do that. His faith is that God knows best. So when God says "Go out on a desert road and don't worry about supplies" Phillip doesn't say another word. After all he already asked for direction, now he has it. All he has to do now is obey.
The next thing we have to pray for is opportunity. God leads us many places but there are times when people have their hearts closed to the word of God. Other times we just don't feel like we've caught a good moment to say what God has given us to say. Phillip was granted a God given opportunity and he took it:
"And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah."
God led Phillip right to a man who was searching scriptures related directly to Jesus. This divine leading is what opens doors for us. Everyone who God will save will have that moment of divine meeting, almost like when Paul was racing to Damascus, where God will meet that person where they are, blind them with His greatness, and lead them where he wants them to be. These meetings aren't by accident, these are planned in heaven.
James says "you do not have because you do not ask". That opportunity, that open door or open heart is something that we must ask for. We know God has given us a clear message, we know that he has given us people to speak to but what we need is open hearts ready to receive his word.
Now when Phillip found his opportunity the scripture says this:
"he told him the good news about Jesus"
This is the part that is always harder than it seems, because at that time there will be a distraction, a rabbit trail, an off topic question - if something can occur that can take the focus off of Jesus Christ it will. Why? Because we know the enemy is real. Even when Jesus spoke to the Samritan woman we find that in the middle of God explaining who he is she asks a question about which mountain they should serve on. These things will happen but what we need is a laser like focus on the central focus of scripture: Jesus Christ.
Don't let yourself be shaken or distracted. Don't let the conversation move - let the deciding point of the conversation be Jesus Christ. Some people will decline and that is fine, but some have hearts that are tender and ready to receive the word. They don't know what it really means to be alive, they don't know that God is calling them out of the world and into the citizenship of heaven. It is for those that we must focus and keep our eyes on Jesus.
The account in Acts 8 gives us a wonderful picture of what person to person evangelism really is because in the end our evangelism is really a reflection of our faith in God. Do you believe that God can guide us to the lost? Do you believe that God can open hearts? Then let's trust Him to empower us to speak to whomever he leads us.
Scripture is rich with the examples of this but the I really want to focus on one and that is the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian. It is a beautiful account because it teaches us everything we need to learn about witnessing face to face, person to person.
The passage in Acts 8 starts with this:
"Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is a desert place."
Whenever we want to witness to another person the first thing we need is spiritual guidance. Now we won't all be as blessed as Phillip and have an angel speaking with us but I do want to say this: we shouldn't be surprised if God does send a divine message to us.
Many times when you read scripture when every you see an angel appear the phrase that always seems to follow is "and they were afraid", but Phillip wasn't afraid. He had faith that God was going to lead him wherever he went, so when God sent an angel you almost get the sense that Phillip just nodded and thought to himself "I asked for direction and God sent it" - this is some real faith!
You can tell faith by our expectations. Do you really expect God to guide you? Then don't be too surprised when he does so. Here we see Phillip wasn't surprised, he expected God to lead him. That's why this is the very next phrase:
"And he rose and went."
Its one thing to look to God for direction but it can sometimes be difficult to take that divine answer for what it is. We can sometimes question God in such a way that we actually question his divine sanity, but Phillip doesn't do that. His faith is that God knows best. So when God says "Go out on a desert road and don't worry about supplies" Phillip doesn't say another word. After all he already asked for direction, now he has it. All he has to do now is obey.
The next thing we have to pray for is opportunity. God leads us many places but there are times when people have their hearts closed to the word of God. Other times we just don't feel like we've caught a good moment to say what God has given us to say. Phillip was granted a God given opportunity and he took it:
"And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah."
God led Phillip right to a man who was searching scriptures related directly to Jesus. This divine leading is what opens doors for us. Everyone who God will save will have that moment of divine meeting, almost like when Paul was racing to Damascus, where God will meet that person where they are, blind them with His greatness, and lead them where he wants them to be. These meetings aren't by accident, these are planned in heaven.
James says "you do not have because you do not ask". That opportunity, that open door or open heart is something that we must ask for. We know God has given us a clear message, we know that he has given us people to speak to but what we need is open hearts ready to receive his word.
Now when Phillip found his opportunity the scripture says this:
"he told him the good news about Jesus"
This is the part that is always harder than it seems, because at that time there will be a distraction, a rabbit trail, an off topic question - if something can occur that can take the focus off of Jesus Christ it will. Why? Because we know the enemy is real. Even when Jesus spoke to the Samritan woman we find that in the middle of God explaining who he is she asks a question about which mountain they should serve on. These things will happen but what we need is a laser like focus on the central focus of scripture: Jesus Christ.
Don't let yourself be shaken or distracted. Don't let the conversation move - let the deciding point of the conversation be Jesus Christ. Some people will decline and that is fine, but some have hearts that are tender and ready to receive the word. They don't know what it really means to be alive, they don't know that God is calling them out of the world and into the citizenship of heaven. It is for those that we must focus and keep our eyes on Jesus.
The account in Acts 8 gives us a wonderful picture of what person to person evangelism really is because in the end our evangelism is really a reflection of our faith in God. Do you believe that God can guide us to the lost? Do you believe that God can open hearts? Then let's trust Him to empower us to speak to whomever he leads us.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Methods of Evangelism: Part 2
The second form of evangelism is another we didn't have the time to touch on in our seminar, and that is praise. Praise is acknowledging who God really is and celebrating his attributes, and when we celebrate his attributes we affect the minds of those around us.
The psalmist says this:
I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
And it is said in Psalm 67:
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations on earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
For the Psalmists (because many people wrote the Psalms) praise was more than just an internal reflection or a show of exuberance, it was something so sweet it was meant to be written, stored, and shared. To them praise was much more than just a segment in a service, to them praise was the expression of the chaned heart.
One thing special about praise is just the way it is done: one way of looking at praise is seeing praise as using the arts to glorify God. When the Israelites moved the Ark of the Covenant David danced before it, when the Temple was built choirs sang and when Christ was born Angels broke into chorus. Praise is the way Christians live; praise is how we'll enjoy heaven.
Praise is more than just something we do when we're happy - Jesus quoted a Psalm on the cross and many of the Psalms were written during hardship. Praise isn't just happiness, it is the way people who have the God living in the universe express their heart to the Lord of heaven.
When we praise we must praise what is true, we must praise with intensity, and we must praise with the right heart. Jesus said the father was looking for those to worship him "in spirit and in truth". When David danced he danced "with all his might"; in another place he says his praise "will awake the dawn". And David says that if he meditated on evil in his heart God would not hear him.
When we praise God in this way we can expect God to bless and touch hearts. When we praise like this others will see what God means to us. When we praise like this we can say:
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
The psalmist says this:
I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
And it is said in Psalm 67:
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations on earth. Selah
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
For the Psalmists (because many people wrote the Psalms) praise was more than just an internal reflection or a show of exuberance, it was something so sweet it was meant to be written, stored, and shared. To them praise was much more than just a segment in a service, to them praise was the expression of the chaned heart.
One thing special about praise is just the way it is done: one way of looking at praise is seeing praise as using the arts to glorify God. When the Israelites moved the Ark of the Covenant David danced before it, when the Temple was built choirs sang and when Christ was born Angels broke into chorus. Praise is the way Christians live; praise is how we'll enjoy heaven.
Praise is more than just something we do when we're happy - Jesus quoted a Psalm on the cross and many of the Psalms were written during hardship. Praise isn't just happiness, it is the way people who have the God living in the universe express their heart to the Lord of heaven.
When we praise we must praise what is true, we must praise with intensity, and we must praise with the right heart. Jesus said the father was looking for those to worship him "in spirit and in truth". When David danced he danced "with all his might"; in another place he says his praise "will awake the dawn". And David says that if he meditated on evil in his heart God would not hear him.
When we praise God in this way we can expect God to bless and touch hearts. When we praise like this others will see what God means to us. When we praise like this we can say:
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Methods of Evangelism: Part 1
The first method of evangelism we'll focus on is one we didn't get a chance to focus on during our evangelism kickoff, and that's public prayer. Did you know that public prayer is a method of evangelism? Paul wrote this to Timothy:
"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— "
One of the first things he charged Timothy, a beginning pastor with was prayer. Now you may look at that verse and say "that passage doesn't say anything about saving souls", and you would be right. This verse alone doesn't say that and prayer isn't just a method of evangelism. Prayer is an act of faith and communication with God, but let's read on...
"for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth".
And later on it says this:
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing."
The question we ought to ask ourselves is this: why do the men have to lift up their hands to pray?
Lifting up our hands doesn't mean we're any more holy than anyone else, and it doesn't increase the odds of our prayers being answered but it does accomplish this: it lets people know that these people are praying.
I've said this before but prayer is an act of faith. When we pray before others, when we demonstrate the faith we have in our Lord Jesus Christ and the power he has to answer our prayers in a way that impacts others. Our God is a refuge, our God is a good father who gives good things to his children, our God hears our prayers.
The psalmist says this:
"Help me, O LORD my God;
save me in accordance with your love.
Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, O LORD, have done it."
Look at that second verse "Let them know that it is your hand..." - we want the unbeliever to know that God acts, we want them to see the power of God so that they fall on their knees and worship the true and living God. We want them to see a God we trust for our salvation because He delivers every time. He never fails.
So how do we do this? How can we use public prayer to reach the lost? Well we must first get saints willing to lift up holy hands, saints willing to pray out loud, and then we need to go to a public place and pray big prayers, prayers full of faith. Don't go before the unbelievers and limit God before you've even asked him, go before the throne of grace boldly.
Elijah was confronted with the wicked and he had an opportunity to pray before them, but Elijah wasn't satisfied with that. He told the evil king to bring 450 prophets of Baal to compete against him. Then Elijah proposed a contest: whichever God answered his people's prayer with fire was the real God. The prophets of Baal prayed their best, and they cut themselves until they bled, but their god didn't answer. Then Elijah had them pour water all around his sacrifice and prayed this:
"At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." "
God answered him with fire and the people saw the power of God and a revival began in Israel.
Do you want to see people saved? Do you want to see souls led to Christ? Let's be Elijah's and pray that bold prayer before the unbelievers, let us say "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God"!
"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— "
One of the first things he charged Timothy, a beginning pastor with was prayer. Now you may look at that verse and say "that passage doesn't say anything about saving souls", and you would be right. This verse alone doesn't say that and prayer isn't just a method of evangelism. Prayer is an act of faith and communication with God, but let's read on...
"for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth".
And later on it says this:
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing."
The question we ought to ask ourselves is this: why do the men have to lift up their hands to pray?
Lifting up our hands doesn't mean we're any more holy than anyone else, and it doesn't increase the odds of our prayers being answered but it does accomplish this: it lets people know that these people are praying.
I've said this before but prayer is an act of faith. When we pray before others, when we demonstrate the faith we have in our Lord Jesus Christ and the power he has to answer our prayers in a way that impacts others. Our God is a refuge, our God is a good father who gives good things to his children, our God hears our prayers.
The psalmist says this:
"Help me, O LORD my God;
save me in accordance with your love.
Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, O LORD, have done it."
Look at that second verse "Let them know that it is your hand..." - we want the unbeliever to know that God acts, we want them to see the power of God so that they fall on their knees and worship the true and living God. We want them to see a God we trust for our salvation because He delivers every time. He never fails.
So how do we do this? How can we use public prayer to reach the lost? Well we must first get saints willing to lift up holy hands, saints willing to pray out loud, and then we need to go to a public place and pray big prayers, prayers full of faith. Don't go before the unbelievers and limit God before you've even asked him, go before the throne of grace boldly.
Elijah was confronted with the wicked and he had an opportunity to pray before them, but Elijah wasn't satisfied with that. He told the evil king to bring 450 prophets of Baal to compete against him. Then Elijah proposed a contest: whichever God answered his people's prayer with fire was the real God. The prophets of Baal prayed their best, and they cut themselves until they bled, but their god didn't answer. Then Elijah had them pour water all around his sacrifice and prayed this:
"At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." "
God answered him with fire and the people saw the power of God and a revival began in Israel.
Do you want to see people saved? Do you want to see souls led to Christ? Let's be Elijah's and pray that bold prayer before the unbelievers, let us say "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God"!
Methods of Evangelism: Introduction
For those of you who missed our evangelism kickoff (and shame on you!) and for those of you who did make it I'm going to be posting a more detailed discussion on the methods of evangelism. Often times when we speak we only have a limited time to engage an audience, but writing allows us to post something you can digest on your own time and at your own pace.
The purpose of this is to first of all reveil God's word to God's people. God's word is so powerful that the only thing that can limit it is our own faith. When we really trust God, when we realy understand what God wants us to understand we will truly be empowered to serve. What we need is much more than human power, what we need is the divine power to be effective, the power to command the spiritually dead to rise up, the power to speak the words that change hearts, minds, and lives.
And it doesn't have to be done in just one way. Evangelism is simply the way we reach souls for Christ, but often times we limit evangelism to person to person witnessing and door to door church outreach. These are part of evangelism but they are only some of the ways God wants His word to reach the world through us.
So we're not going to limit what God can do, we're going to use our creativity and our minds to search the scripture and see how God has called us to minister. Do you want to see souls rescued from sin? Do you want to see lives changed and added to the church? Then let's commit to putting our might into evangelism.
The purpose of this is to first of all reveil God's word to God's people. God's word is so powerful that the only thing that can limit it is our own faith. When we really trust God, when we realy understand what God wants us to understand we will truly be empowered to serve. What we need is much more than human power, what we need is the divine power to be effective, the power to command the spiritually dead to rise up, the power to speak the words that change hearts, minds, and lives.
And it doesn't have to be done in just one way. Evangelism is simply the way we reach souls for Christ, but often times we limit evangelism to person to person witnessing and door to door church outreach. These are part of evangelism but they are only some of the ways God wants His word to reach the world through us.
So we're not going to limit what God can do, we're going to use our creativity and our minds to search the scripture and see how God has called us to minister. Do you want to see souls rescued from sin? Do you want to see lives changed and added to the church? Then let's commit to putting our might into evangelism.
Monday, June 7, 2010
If you love good HATE evil
I was reading the Psalms and I read this verse:
"For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods."
The reference excited me because this is part of a praise song we sing often. It is important that we worship the God who is, the God who rules all the earth, and that we allow nothing to approach His sanctuary in our minds. But then I read the next verse:
"O you who love the LORD, hate evil!"
This is when I realized the truth of hatred.
In the world hatred is something a person throws at anything that really gets in their way. The scripture says that we were once "haters of men" and at the same time we were also "lovers of ourselves". These two phrases mean the exact same thing: because we loved ourselves so much we hated anything that troubled us. Our focus was completely "me-centered"; in our daily planning we were atheists.
The reason our hatred was wrong was because its focus was wrong, just like the reason our love was counted against us was because it was focused on the wrong object. Because we worshiped our own desires we had an uncontrollable urge, something the bible calls lust, to fulfill those desires. Anything that got in our way was hated, but the Christian is different.
The Christian worships God; his love is directed at God and the things of God. We have come to love what is good, but we must recognize the importance of hating evil.
"O you who love the LORD, hate evil!"
This isn't a statement of fact, this verse doesn't assume that everyone who loves God will hate evil. What it is saying is a lesson, a lesson in a single phrase: if you love God learn to hate evil.
The battle with sin is an intense one, one in which we gain many victories and suffer some defeats. In this war sin never relents, it never hides, it never stops advancing. We cannot make peace with this enemy, we can not negotioate or have an "understanding" with it - the only way to live victoriously is to defeat it.
To win against sin we need the proper attitude for victory. Do you have a struggle with a particular sin? Does it seem as if Satan is constantly trying to hammer you in one particular area? Then learn to hate that sin, detest that sin. Learn to see that sin as God sees it. When we do this we begin to walk the path of righteousness.
So let's join the psalmist in his praise, let's see sin for the destructive force that it is.
"O you who love the LORD, hate evil!"
"For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods."
The reference excited me because this is part of a praise song we sing often. It is important that we worship the God who is, the God who rules all the earth, and that we allow nothing to approach His sanctuary in our minds. But then I read the next verse:
"O you who love the LORD, hate evil!"
This is when I realized the truth of hatred.
In the world hatred is something a person throws at anything that really gets in their way. The scripture says that we were once "haters of men" and at the same time we were also "lovers of ourselves". These two phrases mean the exact same thing: because we loved ourselves so much we hated anything that troubled us. Our focus was completely "me-centered"; in our daily planning we were atheists.
The reason our hatred was wrong was because its focus was wrong, just like the reason our love was counted against us was because it was focused on the wrong object. Because we worshiped our own desires we had an uncontrollable urge, something the bible calls lust, to fulfill those desires. Anything that got in our way was hated, but the Christian is different.
The Christian worships God; his love is directed at God and the things of God. We have come to love what is good, but we must recognize the importance of hating evil.
"O you who love the LORD, hate evil!"
This isn't a statement of fact, this verse doesn't assume that everyone who loves God will hate evil. What it is saying is a lesson, a lesson in a single phrase: if you love God learn to hate evil.
The battle with sin is an intense one, one in which we gain many victories and suffer some defeats. In this war sin never relents, it never hides, it never stops advancing. We cannot make peace with this enemy, we can not negotioate or have an "understanding" with it - the only way to live victoriously is to defeat it.
To win against sin we need the proper attitude for victory. Do you have a struggle with a particular sin? Does it seem as if Satan is constantly trying to hammer you in one particular area? Then learn to hate that sin, detest that sin. Learn to see that sin as God sees it. When we do this we begin to walk the path of righteousness.
So let's join the psalmist in his praise, let's see sin for the destructive force that it is.
"O you who love the LORD, hate evil!"
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
A doorkeeper in the house of God
Psalm 84:10 “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
The concept of serving God rather than the world is one that runs its course through the entirety of scripture. Of chief concern through all of this is true belief in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In John 6 the people ask Jesus what they must do in order to be doing the works of God; his response is “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So before we start the concept of serving God we need to maintain our belief in Christ and our continued devotion to Him. We must continue to be sustained by him and to walk with Him. We see those who believed in God battling worldly desires and temptations from the time of Lot (who we know was saved only by what the New Testament tells us, not his individual life since he stayed in Sodom and Gamorrah) to David who struggled with having too many wives and his sin with Bathsheba. We see people like Rahab who was previously a prostitute, and Jonah who disobeyed the voice of God. We see individuals who overcame their worldly desires and continued in the grace of God for His glory, such as Abraham, Joseph, Samuel, Nathan, Paul, Barnabas; they were wholly devoted to the work of the Lord.
Psalm 84 focuses on the truth that it is better to be in the house of God than anywhere else, it is better to be in the presence of God than among the people who do not serve God. That’s why initially at verse 1-2 it states, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” To know and understand that beauty and majesty of the courts of the Lord is one that can only come through continual meditation and focus on God and His goodness. A focus through prayer and obedience to His word and seeking to understand and think His thoughts and words towards the various situations we find ourselves in. As we continue to draw near to the presence of God we are able to repeat after the Psalmist, “How lovely is your dwelling place…my soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.” As we seek the presence of God in our daily living we will more and more realize the strength and power, the grace and love of God and that will drive us to pursue and desire Him even more. We will see how in verse 4-5 that those who seek after God are blessed, those who receive their strength from God are blessed and it will produce in us praise and glorification of the Most High God, the only living and glorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It will cause us to worship and praise His Son Jesus Christ, to follow Him alone and to serve the purposes of God in our everyday life.
When we come to the end of the psalm we see the initial phrase, “…I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” This is not a plea for mediocrity or for low standards for our lives, but rather a remarkable truth. The lowest position of service in the presence of God is far better and greater than ever dwelling in the tents of wickedness. Those who have experienced the grace of God can continually raise their Amen to this as we see where God has taken us from, how He has answered our prayers continually, how He has done good to us, and taken us out of darkness, malice, discontentment, depression, anger, and every sin that seeks to ensnare us. He has brought freedom and life, power and grace, love to His saints, as well as, faith for Him and His Son, and we are continually thankful. We see that it truly is better to serve the lowest position in His courts and house than to serve the highest position among the wicked living according to their desires and the desires of the flesh. This is exactly why Paul can say that we should walk by the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. This is why we seek to put off the old man enslaved to wickedness and evil desires and to put on the new man renewed in the power and image of Jesus Christ, saved, sustained, and promised a life hereafter in His courts for all eternity.
As we seek to continue in our daily walk with God, let us make this our prayer, that we might dwell in Gods presence, that we might be in tune with His leading us by His Spirit that we might remain in His courts and walk in His ways. This is not a mystical concept where we simply do not know how to grasp; we know it is by prayer, obedience to His word and work, a willingness to listen to His word. Let it be our prayer to serve God in whatever capacity He desires, for to serve even as lowly a position as a doorkeeper is far better than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Let us have the mind of the apostles as they responded to Jesus difficult teaching and the leaving of many disciples. Jesus says, “Do you want to go away as well?” Peter responds, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” To whom shall we go, where can we possibly desire to be as believers outside of the presence and the will of God.
The concept of serving God rather than the world is one that runs its course through the entirety of scripture. Of chief concern through all of this is true belief in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. In John 6 the people ask Jesus what they must do in order to be doing the works of God; his response is “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So before we start the concept of serving God we need to maintain our belief in Christ and our continued devotion to Him. We must continue to be sustained by him and to walk with Him. We see those who believed in God battling worldly desires and temptations from the time of Lot (who we know was saved only by what the New Testament tells us, not his individual life since he stayed in Sodom and Gamorrah) to David who struggled with having too many wives and his sin with Bathsheba. We see people like Rahab who was previously a prostitute, and Jonah who disobeyed the voice of God. We see individuals who overcame their worldly desires and continued in the grace of God for His glory, such as Abraham, Joseph, Samuel, Nathan, Paul, Barnabas; they were wholly devoted to the work of the Lord.
Psalm 84 focuses on the truth that it is better to be in the house of God than anywhere else, it is better to be in the presence of God than among the people who do not serve God. That’s why initially at verse 1-2 it states, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” To know and understand that beauty and majesty of the courts of the Lord is one that can only come through continual meditation and focus on God and His goodness. A focus through prayer and obedience to His word and seeking to understand and think His thoughts and words towards the various situations we find ourselves in. As we continue to draw near to the presence of God we are able to repeat after the Psalmist, “How lovely is your dwelling place…my soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.” As we seek the presence of God in our daily living we will more and more realize the strength and power, the grace and love of God and that will drive us to pursue and desire Him even more. We will see how in verse 4-5 that those who seek after God are blessed, those who receive their strength from God are blessed and it will produce in us praise and glorification of the Most High God, the only living and glorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It will cause us to worship and praise His Son Jesus Christ, to follow Him alone and to serve the purposes of God in our everyday life.
When we come to the end of the psalm we see the initial phrase, “…I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” This is not a plea for mediocrity or for low standards for our lives, but rather a remarkable truth. The lowest position of service in the presence of God is far better and greater than ever dwelling in the tents of wickedness. Those who have experienced the grace of God can continually raise their Amen to this as we see where God has taken us from, how He has answered our prayers continually, how He has done good to us, and taken us out of darkness, malice, discontentment, depression, anger, and every sin that seeks to ensnare us. He has brought freedom and life, power and grace, love to His saints, as well as, faith for Him and His Son, and we are continually thankful. We see that it truly is better to serve the lowest position in His courts and house than to serve the highest position among the wicked living according to their desires and the desires of the flesh. This is exactly why Paul can say that we should walk by the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of the flesh. This is why we seek to put off the old man enslaved to wickedness and evil desires and to put on the new man renewed in the power and image of Jesus Christ, saved, sustained, and promised a life hereafter in His courts for all eternity.
As we seek to continue in our daily walk with God, let us make this our prayer, that we might dwell in Gods presence, that we might be in tune with His leading us by His Spirit that we might remain in His courts and walk in His ways. This is not a mystical concept where we simply do not know how to grasp; we know it is by prayer, obedience to His word and work, a willingness to listen to His word. Let it be our prayer to serve God in whatever capacity He desires, for to serve even as lowly a position as a doorkeeper is far better than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Let us have the mind of the apostles as they responded to Jesus difficult teaching and the leaving of many disciples. Jesus says, “Do you want to go away as well?” Peter responds, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” To whom shall we go, where can we possibly desire to be as believers outside of the presence and the will of God.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Entering into the Work of God
Acts 10:7-8,20 “When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa…[The Holy Spirit said…] Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I [The Holy Spirit] have sent them.”
It is an amazing concept to think that we can enter into the actual work of God. To see God as Sovereign and actively working in His creation daily is awe inspiring in itself. To see His providence for His saints, His protecting and healing hands, His encouraging and strengthening through difficulties and His comforting us when we are downtrodden is grand and wonderful in itself, but to think that we are actually able to be a part of this work is truly amazing. That He would use us as people who are fallen and imperfect to bring about His mighty and wonderful plans is one that will astound and dumbfound us continually.
It is interesting to see in the work of God in speaking to Cornelius and to Paul in order to bring about His great purposes. Cornelius is seen as a man who is devout, who prayed continually, who feared God and served people, however he had not been presented with the truth of Jesus Christ and salvation through Him alone. Peter is also a man who knows God, who serves Him faithfully. Both are found to be in prayer and both are shown the action they ought to take. Cornelius is to send for Peter and Peter is to go to Cornelius. Out of a prayerful obedience they both act in accord with the will of God. One sends, the other accompanies and an entire household of people is saved in the process. We see this chiefly in the way that the Holy Spirit explains to Peter that HE has sent the messengers, even though they were sent by the hand of Cornelius. Cornelius is simply instructed to send, but the Holy Spirit takes the credit for it being part of His working. Through prayer and guidance by the Spirit and faithfulness to the work of God, His purposes and will is accomplished.
We can also see this in the person of Jesus Christ. Although He was God he is also the means by which God has ordained to bring about all of His purposes in salvation, in work to God, in relationship with God, in worship and honor of God as the Living and True God of the world. Christ submitted Himself to the will of God and devotes His time on earth to accomplishing God’s purposes exactly as He is directed. We also see Jesus being devoted to God in prayer and spending quality time speaking with His Father and seeking Him and His direction!
A third example of this is seen in the person of David. Although we do not see always the ways that God used him specifically we do have some insight to what he did and how he accomplished and entered into the will and work of God. In Acts 13 Paul in giving his “word of encouragement” to the people says this about David, “And when He removed him [Saul], he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.(v. 22)’” and then in verse 36 he states “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep…” The language here is interesting, to see that he served the purpose of God. He did the work of God, he was able to fit into the will of God for what God had purposed him to do.
To see that it is God who works in us to will and to do for His good pleasure, but also that in our doing what He desires we are fitting into His sovereign work and will is one that should inspire and drive us to understand more and more what He desires, where He is leading, how He is guiding, and how to better follow Him. Are we devoting ourselves to prayer so that we might better understand what He desires and where He is leading? Are we willing and available to accomplish His purposes and be instruments to be used for His purposes? Can it be said of us that we are serving the purpose of God to our generation? I suppose we can never know until we begin to learn and be lead into what His divine purposes are.
It is an amazing concept to think that we can enter into the actual work of God. To see God as Sovereign and actively working in His creation daily is awe inspiring in itself. To see His providence for His saints, His protecting and healing hands, His encouraging and strengthening through difficulties and His comforting us when we are downtrodden is grand and wonderful in itself, but to think that we are actually able to be a part of this work is truly amazing. That He would use us as people who are fallen and imperfect to bring about His mighty and wonderful plans is one that will astound and dumbfound us continually.
It is interesting to see in the work of God in speaking to Cornelius and to Paul in order to bring about His great purposes. Cornelius is seen as a man who is devout, who prayed continually, who feared God and served people, however he had not been presented with the truth of Jesus Christ and salvation through Him alone. Peter is also a man who knows God, who serves Him faithfully. Both are found to be in prayer and both are shown the action they ought to take. Cornelius is to send for Peter and Peter is to go to Cornelius. Out of a prayerful obedience they both act in accord with the will of God. One sends, the other accompanies and an entire household of people is saved in the process. We see this chiefly in the way that the Holy Spirit explains to Peter that HE has sent the messengers, even though they were sent by the hand of Cornelius. Cornelius is simply instructed to send, but the Holy Spirit takes the credit for it being part of His working. Through prayer and guidance by the Spirit and faithfulness to the work of God, His purposes and will is accomplished.
We can also see this in the person of Jesus Christ. Although He was God he is also the means by which God has ordained to bring about all of His purposes in salvation, in work to God, in relationship with God, in worship and honor of God as the Living and True God of the world. Christ submitted Himself to the will of God and devotes His time on earth to accomplishing God’s purposes exactly as He is directed. We also see Jesus being devoted to God in prayer and spending quality time speaking with His Father and seeking Him and His direction!
A third example of this is seen in the person of David. Although we do not see always the ways that God used him specifically we do have some insight to what he did and how he accomplished and entered into the will and work of God. In Acts 13 Paul in giving his “word of encouragement” to the people says this about David, “And when He removed him [Saul], he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.(v. 22)’” and then in verse 36 he states “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep…” The language here is interesting, to see that he served the purpose of God. He did the work of God, he was able to fit into the will of God for what God had purposed him to do.
To see that it is God who works in us to will and to do for His good pleasure, but also that in our doing what He desires we are fitting into His sovereign work and will is one that should inspire and drive us to understand more and more what He desires, where He is leading, how He is guiding, and how to better follow Him. Are we devoting ourselves to prayer so that we might better understand what He desires and where He is leading? Are we willing and available to accomplish His purposes and be instruments to be used for His purposes? Can it be said of us that we are serving the purpose of God to our generation? I suppose we can never know until we begin to learn and be lead into what His divine purposes are.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Real Joy, Real Fun
The world often pretends it has a monopoly on joy. They plan the biggest celebrations, they talk the loudest about their weekends, but they don't really understand what real fun is.
God is a God of joy. When He created Adam and Eve He immediately gave them a Sabbath, when He rescued Israel the people danced and sang for joy:
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them:
"Sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea." [Ex. 15:20-21]
When He established Israel He commanded them to celebrate:
So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. [Lev. 23:39]
When God gave us the Holy Spirit He also gave us the Spirit of Joy:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. [Gal: 5:22-23]
Sometimes we as Christians can become mechanical in our faith. We may find ourselves reading the Word of God because we feel guilty if we don't, or we may go to church because we have the habit of going, or we sing the praise songs because we have to sing, but this kind of faith is not truly pleasing to God.
God is a God of Joy and heaven is His home; He doesn't just enjoy praise He commands it; He doesn't just give us rest and celebrations He commanded His people to observe them. When we become mechanical in our faith we need to step back and truly reflect on what God has done for us. We need to remember the power over sin and death itself, we need to remember that we have that power abiding in us, and we need to get up and celebrate.
Celebration is pure praise, it is a reflection of joy that everyone can see. We Christians often look for situations to take advantage of to spread the Word of God but sometimes we forget that in the fun of a celebration all of the world's stereotypes begins to crumble.
During my grandparent's fiftieth wedding celebration people of all ages, all races, and all backgrounds danced, ate good food, and laughed. We enjoyed that day and that joy gave a little glimpse of what heaven would be like. When we celebrated that great event we spoke to this truth: heaven is our home.
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands" [Rev. 7:9]
One day we will enter those gates and join that great multitude that no one can count, a multitude that has no dominant race, no dominant culture, and we will celebrate like we've never done before, but we don't have to wait until then to start celebrating.
So when we get a chance to celebrate let's enjoy that time with all our might. Let's praise God and show the world what true joy looks like. Let's show the world what true fun is.
God is a God of joy. When He created Adam and Eve He immediately gave them a Sabbath, when He rescued Israel the people danced and sang for joy:
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them:
"Sing to the LORD,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea." [Ex. 15:20-21]
When He established Israel He commanded them to celebrate:
So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. [Lev. 23:39]
When God gave us the Holy Spirit He also gave us the Spirit of Joy:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. [Gal: 5:22-23]
Sometimes we as Christians can become mechanical in our faith. We may find ourselves reading the Word of God because we feel guilty if we don't, or we may go to church because we have the habit of going, or we sing the praise songs because we have to sing, but this kind of faith is not truly pleasing to God.
God is a God of Joy and heaven is His home; He doesn't just enjoy praise He commands it; He doesn't just give us rest and celebrations He commanded His people to observe them. When we become mechanical in our faith we need to step back and truly reflect on what God has done for us. We need to remember the power over sin and death itself, we need to remember that we have that power abiding in us, and we need to get up and celebrate.
Celebration is pure praise, it is a reflection of joy that everyone can see. We Christians often look for situations to take advantage of to spread the Word of God but sometimes we forget that in the fun of a celebration all of the world's stereotypes begins to crumble.
During my grandparent's fiftieth wedding celebration people of all ages, all races, and all backgrounds danced, ate good food, and laughed. We enjoyed that day and that joy gave a little glimpse of what heaven would be like. When we celebrated that great event we spoke to this truth: heaven is our home.
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands" [Rev. 7:9]
One day we will enter those gates and join that great multitude that no one can count, a multitude that has no dominant race, no dominant culture, and we will celebrate like we've never done before, but we don't have to wait until then to start celebrating.
So when we get a chance to celebrate let's enjoy that time with all our might. Let's praise God and show the world what true joy looks like. Let's show the world what true fun is.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Celebration
Psalm 84:1-2,12 “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy the living God… O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!
Being the time of year for commencements of all different types I find it fitting to focus on the concept of the idea of celebration. This weekend was marked with several different occasions in which to celebrate, from individuals making small milestones with graduation from college and looking forward to where God is directing their future, to the anniversary of two individuals celebrating 50 long years of marriage and how God has continued to sustain and keep their marriage for this time in order to allow them to be a testimony to His grace and work in their lives, to the celebration of a woman’s life as she nears the end of a battle with cancer. All these opportunities give us the ability to both praise God and consider: What are we doing with the life we have been given, how are we continuing to serve God through all of the ups and down in our lives?
As I sat at a high school graduation and looked on as 54 individuals received their diplomas and are being turned out into the “real” world if you will, it was remarked by one of the speakers that, although corny, “On a tomb stone it is not the date at the beginning that matters most or the date at the end that matters most but the dash in between.” Another author put it this way, “if we view eternity as a line, our lives are like a dot on that line.” As I looked at two individuals who have lived full and lengthy lives together as they celebrated their anniversary of 50 years and as I talked with a woman who is dying of cancer this truth could not have been more apparent. We see individuals live their lives for or against the will of God and that dot is defined by a love for God and a desire to serve Him or a disobedience and hatred (whether apparent or not) towards God. It really is true that it matters how we live our lives in relation to God that matters. We see this mentioned continually within Paul’s prayers for others as he prays, “that they would walk in a manner worthy of their calling.”
Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently spoke in his commencement address about the “eschatology of the Christian mission.” All that is is a fancy way of speaking about the end of the Christian mission. He spoke about how the work of the Lord is not one that is ever completed while on this earth. How many people have lived and died and have that “dash” to account for the work they have done on the earth. We know the final completion of the work of God IS coming and WILL be summed up in the coming of the Lord and the end of the age…but until then we are a people called out to live lives that bring glory and honor and praise to God. We as Christians are not given the luxury of neglecting our calling or disregarding the work God has gifted us to complete. The work is at times difficult and brings ridicule and misunderstanding but perseverance in the grace and work of God will always be a rewarding and gratifying one. As we continue to enter into the work of God we continue to be a part of His will and work. As we continue can it be said of us that our soul longs and faints for the courts and the presence of God?
As we come to various times of celebration and joy we see this continual truth held within Psalm 84…How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! To dwell in and continue in the presence of God is one that is to be pursued and sought after in all of the various areas and times of our lives. We seek to remain with and walk with God, to commune with him in prayer and to walk in obedience, grace and righteousness that comes through Christ. As the psalmist says ‘at Your right hand is fullness of joy and at Your right hand are pleasures forever more’. Seek to walk and dwell in the courts of the Lord, place your trust in Him; for as Psalms 84 says… “Blessed is the man who puts his trust in the Lord.”
Being the time of year for commencements of all different types I find it fitting to focus on the concept of the idea of celebration. This weekend was marked with several different occasions in which to celebrate, from individuals making small milestones with graduation from college and looking forward to where God is directing their future, to the anniversary of two individuals celebrating 50 long years of marriage and how God has continued to sustain and keep their marriage for this time in order to allow them to be a testimony to His grace and work in their lives, to the celebration of a woman’s life as she nears the end of a battle with cancer. All these opportunities give us the ability to both praise God and consider: What are we doing with the life we have been given, how are we continuing to serve God through all of the ups and down in our lives?
As I sat at a high school graduation and looked on as 54 individuals received their diplomas and are being turned out into the “real” world if you will, it was remarked by one of the speakers that, although corny, “On a tomb stone it is not the date at the beginning that matters most or the date at the end that matters most but the dash in between.” Another author put it this way, “if we view eternity as a line, our lives are like a dot on that line.” As I looked at two individuals who have lived full and lengthy lives together as they celebrated their anniversary of 50 years and as I talked with a woman who is dying of cancer this truth could not have been more apparent. We see individuals live their lives for or against the will of God and that dot is defined by a love for God and a desire to serve Him or a disobedience and hatred (whether apparent or not) towards God. It really is true that it matters how we live our lives in relation to God that matters. We see this mentioned continually within Paul’s prayers for others as he prays, “that they would walk in a manner worthy of their calling.”
Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, recently spoke in his commencement address about the “eschatology of the Christian mission.” All that is is a fancy way of speaking about the end of the Christian mission. He spoke about how the work of the Lord is not one that is ever completed while on this earth. How many people have lived and died and have that “dash” to account for the work they have done on the earth. We know the final completion of the work of God IS coming and WILL be summed up in the coming of the Lord and the end of the age…but until then we are a people called out to live lives that bring glory and honor and praise to God. We as Christians are not given the luxury of neglecting our calling or disregarding the work God has gifted us to complete. The work is at times difficult and brings ridicule and misunderstanding but perseverance in the grace and work of God will always be a rewarding and gratifying one. As we continue to enter into the work of God we continue to be a part of His will and work. As we continue can it be said of us that our soul longs and faints for the courts and the presence of God?
As we come to various times of celebration and joy we see this continual truth held within Psalm 84…How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! To dwell in and continue in the presence of God is one that is to be pursued and sought after in all of the various areas and times of our lives. We seek to remain with and walk with God, to commune with him in prayer and to walk in obedience, grace and righteousness that comes through Christ. As the psalmist says ‘at Your right hand is fullness of joy and at Your right hand are pleasures forever more’. Seek to walk and dwell in the courts of the Lord, place your trust in Him; for as Psalms 84 says… “Blessed is the man who puts his trust in the Lord.”
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Fifty Years
Today my grandfather and grandmother celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Its such an amazing accomplishment but the event got me thinking: what allows two people to stay with each other for fifty years?
I'm not sure I know all the answers to that question, so I'd like to see if we can get some of our commenters to answer that question: what allows two people to stay together for fifty years?
Fifty years is a long time, but that time length should grant us a measure of wisdom. Fifty years of life, the good and the bad. Fifty years of raising children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Fifty years on this earth - these are blessings from God that teach us something.
We all need to make sure that we do what it takes to build those long lasting relationships. We have to aim for that deep abiding love that reaches that fifty year mark and keeps on growing. We have to have that patience that we want others to have with us and we have to exhibit an attitude that people would love to be around for fifty years.
These are all tall tasks but I think it just makes us praise God all the more. In the end we know there's only one power that can make a relationship so rich and fulfilling for so long. God loved us in the eternity past, He knows what it takes to establish and grow a meaningful relationship. Let's not make relationships that last for a moment, let's strive to create relationships that last for a lifetime.
What do you think?
I'm not sure I know all the answers to that question, so I'd like to see if we can get some of our commenters to answer that question: what allows two people to stay together for fifty years?
Fifty years is a long time, but that time length should grant us a measure of wisdom. Fifty years of life, the good and the bad. Fifty years of raising children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Fifty years on this earth - these are blessings from God that teach us something.
We all need to make sure that we do what it takes to build those long lasting relationships. We have to aim for that deep abiding love that reaches that fifty year mark and keeps on growing. We have to have that patience that we want others to have with us and we have to exhibit an attitude that people would love to be around for fifty years.
These are all tall tasks but I think it just makes us praise God all the more. In the end we know there's only one power that can make a relationship so rich and fulfilling for so long. God loved us in the eternity past, He knows what it takes to establish and grow a meaningful relationship. Let's not make relationships that last for a moment, let's strive to create relationships that last for a lifetime.
What do you think?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Discernment
Psalm 37:37 “Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.”
Discernment, the ability to distinguish good from evil or even wise and unwise actions, is one that is a difficult practice as well as a much needed practice especially in this current age of the Christian Church. In a time where the validity of the message of Christ is challenged over every major form of communication, from T.V., to newspaper, to Movie the Christian Gospel and the Christian worldview are constantly under attack. With Christians desiring to live godly our wise and unwise decisions are continually being weighed upon, and discernment is a MUST for our continual walk with God.
Hebrews mentions important truths when it comes to Discernment, in verse 14 of chapter 5 it states, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” We see a few key truths in this section. The first is that discernment comes both to the mature and those who PRACTICE it. The maturing process of a believer involves the conforming of our minds to the Word of God as well as our actions; for maturing to be accomplished we must continue to add to our faith that which will produce works glorifying to God. As we discern more and more what is excellent and praiseworthy we also need to grow in the applying and living out of that truth. The practicing of discernment is seen in the recognizing and acting on our understanding of what is evil. Romans 12:9 states, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” This is the practicing of our discernment. Seeing and understanding what actions, thoughts and desires are evil and which are good. Once we know what they are the practice comes in DOING and SPEAKING that which is in accord with godliness and Gods commands and desires.
Distinguishing good and evil is also applicable in the sense of wise and unwise actions. Discernment seeks to establish a framework from which to analyze all decisions that we make. We seek to have our discernment trained so that when situations arise that may not be directly spoken of in the Scriptures we can still make informed godly decisions. Wise and unwise decisions are rarely spoken about due to the influence of legalism in our churches, for legalism seeks to destroy wise decision making as well as discernment as well as seeking to establish a new rule and order which will take away all questions of good and evil, right and wrong, wise and unwise. So as the church seeks a direction out of legalism, our old frame of mind must be trained in discernment! Wisdom is also influenced by our faith in our actions. Romans says also that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin, in the circumstance of doing things which are not directly prohibited in the scriptures. Are the decisions that we are making in line with the Scriptural commands, in line with the Wisdom of God and the Direction of the Holy Spirit, or are we seeking our own methods, thoughts, and desires separate from God…Discernment will only help in these situations, not hinder.
A Biblical example of discernment can be seen in the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Peter was able to discern, although more acutely than most people, the hearts, motives, and truth of the situation when they brought to him the offering from their sale of land. He was able to see that they sought to lie, not only to the Apostles and the other believers but also to the Holy Spirit. Peter was able to see directly what was good and what was evil, to discern the thoughts and intentions of their hearts. He was not only able to discern that they were not upright and blameless but he was willing to call it out for the what the truth was also. We as Christians ought to seek more of this type of speaking truth in our churches and lives for then we will continue to sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron.
Are we willing to label what is good and right and pure as opposed to what is bad, and evil and perverted. Are we willing to as Psalms 37:37 states to “Mark the blameless and behold the upright.” We must be able to discern who is upright and blameless in order to “mark” them and walk with them. Discernment is a must in our society today, are we willing to mature to use it, or do we prefer the easier route of not searching and seeking the direction of God? Begin to discern the world around you and you will undoubtedly be surprised at just how much Christ, the Christian Faith, and the Christian Worldview are truly under attack.
Discernment, the ability to distinguish good from evil or even wise and unwise actions, is one that is a difficult practice as well as a much needed practice especially in this current age of the Christian Church. In a time where the validity of the message of Christ is challenged over every major form of communication, from T.V., to newspaper, to Movie the Christian Gospel and the Christian worldview are constantly under attack. With Christians desiring to live godly our wise and unwise decisions are continually being weighed upon, and discernment is a MUST for our continual walk with God.
Hebrews mentions important truths when it comes to Discernment, in verse 14 of chapter 5 it states, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” We see a few key truths in this section. The first is that discernment comes both to the mature and those who PRACTICE it. The maturing process of a believer involves the conforming of our minds to the Word of God as well as our actions; for maturing to be accomplished we must continue to add to our faith that which will produce works glorifying to God. As we discern more and more what is excellent and praiseworthy we also need to grow in the applying and living out of that truth. The practicing of discernment is seen in the recognizing and acting on our understanding of what is evil. Romans 12:9 states, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” This is the practicing of our discernment. Seeing and understanding what actions, thoughts and desires are evil and which are good. Once we know what they are the practice comes in DOING and SPEAKING that which is in accord with godliness and Gods commands and desires.
Distinguishing good and evil is also applicable in the sense of wise and unwise actions. Discernment seeks to establish a framework from which to analyze all decisions that we make. We seek to have our discernment trained so that when situations arise that may not be directly spoken of in the Scriptures we can still make informed godly decisions. Wise and unwise decisions are rarely spoken about due to the influence of legalism in our churches, for legalism seeks to destroy wise decision making as well as discernment as well as seeking to establish a new rule and order which will take away all questions of good and evil, right and wrong, wise and unwise. So as the church seeks a direction out of legalism, our old frame of mind must be trained in discernment! Wisdom is also influenced by our faith in our actions. Romans says also that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin, in the circumstance of doing things which are not directly prohibited in the scriptures. Are the decisions that we are making in line with the Scriptural commands, in line with the Wisdom of God and the Direction of the Holy Spirit, or are we seeking our own methods, thoughts, and desires separate from God…Discernment will only help in these situations, not hinder.
A Biblical example of discernment can be seen in the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Peter was able to discern, although more acutely than most people, the hearts, motives, and truth of the situation when they brought to him the offering from their sale of land. He was able to see that they sought to lie, not only to the Apostles and the other believers but also to the Holy Spirit. Peter was able to see directly what was good and what was evil, to discern the thoughts and intentions of their hearts. He was not only able to discern that they were not upright and blameless but he was willing to call it out for the what the truth was also. We as Christians ought to seek more of this type of speaking truth in our churches and lives for then we will continue to sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron.
Are we willing to label what is good and right and pure as opposed to what is bad, and evil and perverted. Are we willing to as Psalms 37:37 states to “Mark the blameless and behold the upright.” We must be able to discern who is upright and blameless in order to “mark” them and walk with them. Discernment is a must in our society today, are we willing to mature to use it, or do we prefer the easier route of not searching and seeking the direction of God? Begin to discern the world around you and you will undoubtedly be surprised at just how much Christ, the Christian Faith, and the Christian Worldview are truly under attack.
Do you understand Grace?
Do you understand grace? Is it difficult to wrap your mind around it?
Grace is such a hard thing to understand because it is so foreign to the way humans interact on a daily basis. Biblical grace is "unmerited favor" or if we say it the way I like to explain it: "power straight from God that we don't deserve; we don't know why God gave it but we thank Him because we know we need it". Neither of those definitions fit anything we run into in our daily lives.
Consider your job: if you work hard you expect the boss to treat you kindly, if you have a poor work ethic you expect the opposite. Consider the law: you do something bad you get punished, you obey the laws and the law tends to leave you alone. Relationships tend to work the same way: if you treat your significant other right they'll treat you right; if you start fights they'll fight back.
Every human interaction is based on this concept: "get what you deserve", and we are offended if anyone's actions transgress this unwritten human law. Now I don't point out this unwritten law to criticize it because we couldn't survive in this world without it. If we simply gave our money to whoever wanted it we'd be poor. If we gave our time to whoever happened to walk past us we'd get taken advantage of. Part of wisdom is learning how to get the best return on your time, attention, money and affections, but part of being a Christian is understanding that little of that applies to God.
"While we were yet sinners Christ died for us". This isn't normal human behavior, we don't just give people things especially when their behavior offends us, but God is different. He gives grace to those who could never deserve it and His power to those who could never earn it, at the same time, however, He alone has the right and authority to judge those who are outside of His grace. He's more than any human could be; He is God.
As Christians we have to realize this point: you can't earn God's love because He gives it freely. If we sin we have to recognize that we must confess and repent but throughout that process God will still be good to us. If we do good and dedicate ourselves wholly to the work of God He will still be good to us. The reason for Him being so good to us isn't us, its Him.
So if you get confused about grace or find it hard to understand don't fret. "His ways are higher than our ways". Let's just thank God for His wonderful gifts!
Grace is such a hard thing to understand because it is so foreign to the way humans interact on a daily basis. Biblical grace is "unmerited favor" or if we say it the way I like to explain it: "power straight from God that we don't deserve; we don't know why God gave it but we thank Him because we know we need it". Neither of those definitions fit anything we run into in our daily lives.
Consider your job: if you work hard you expect the boss to treat you kindly, if you have a poor work ethic you expect the opposite. Consider the law: you do something bad you get punished, you obey the laws and the law tends to leave you alone. Relationships tend to work the same way: if you treat your significant other right they'll treat you right; if you start fights they'll fight back.
Every human interaction is based on this concept: "get what you deserve", and we are offended if anyone's actions transgress this unwritten human law. Now I don't point out this unwritten law to criticize it because we couldn't survive in this world without it. If we simply gave our money to whoever wanted it we'd be poor. If we gave our time to whoever happened to walk past us we'd get taken advantage of. Part of wisdom is learning how to get the best return on your time, attention, money and affections, but part of being a Christian is understanding that little of that applies to God.
"While we were yet sinners Christ died for us". This isn't normal human behavior, we don't just give people things especially when their behavior offends us, but God is different. He gives grace to those who could never deserve it and His power to those who could never earn it, at the same time, however, He alone has the right and authority to judge those who are outside of His grace. He's more than any human could be; He is God.
As Christians we have to realize this point: you can't earn God's love because He gives it freely. If we sin we have to recognize that we must confess and repent but throughout that process God will still be good to us. If we do good and dedicate ourselves wholly to the work of God He will still be good to us. The reason for Him being so good to us isn't us, its Him.
So if you get confused about grace or find it hard to understand don't fret. "His ways are higher than our ways". Let's just thank God for His wonderful gifts!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Son of Encouragement
Acts 4:36-37 “Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostle’s feet.”
Barnabas as a son of encouragement is an interesting and yet encouraging example to us of our ability to encourage and the necessity to encourage. The new converts in Acts 4 were all selling what they had and giving to the apostles and to others who have needs, among these people is Barnabas who also sells a field and gives the money to the apostles. Barnabas is a good example to us of what it looks like to trust God and what it looks like to encourage the brothers.
Barnabas as an individual who trusts God is probably not something that we attribute to him directly from his reference in Acts 4 but when we look at what was being done we can see that he is an individual who trusts God both to provide and to protect. Barnabas as an individual who trusts God to provide is seen in the concept that he is willing to sell of his possessions to help those in greater need than himself and to give to the apostles. It seems as though this might be a foreign concept because in our culture to sell and give of our property to the needy of the church is ok when it is “extra,” and by no means does this not include myself. We are good at giving out of the abundance of what God has given us but we have a difficult time considering selling what God has given us for the benefit of others…especially if it is NOT out of the abundance of what we have. Barnabas trusted God in the midst of selling a field he owned…he trusted God to provide for him similar to the church in 2 Corinthians 8 which gave according to their means and even beyond their means. This is not to say we must live in a destitute state but it is asking…what we are cherishing above the benefit of the believers who are in need, and are we willing to trust God to provide for ALL of our needs and to sustain us?
Barnabas also trusted in God for protection due to fact that he was willing to meet with the newly converted Saul when no one else would. Acts 9:26-27 states, “And when he [Paul] had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.” We see a different mentality that Barnabas had toward Paul than the rest of the disciples, he was willing to meet with and talk with Paul even before the church in Jerusalem believed that he was truly a convert…this is a type of trust and boldness which we rarely have to deal with. The concept that earlier the same man who was partially responsible for the death of a faithful member of their ministry [Stephen] as well as seeking to persecute and throw in prison other faithful members is now claiming salvation and seeking to join into fellowship is foreign to most of us, however, Barnabas still meets him, talks with him and then defends his claim of salvation to the other apostles.
Barnabas is an excellent example of encouraging other believers. Not only does he seek to benefit and give to the apostles whose sole work was for the proclaiming of God’s word. They received support from some of the people of God and Barnabas is seen laying his proceeds down at their feet. We see Barnabas also encouraging the other believers since he was part of the group that would sell what he had and give it to those in need. He was refreshing to the people of God and was dubbed by the apostles, the son of encouragement, almost as if his nick name was to remind people of the encouragement that he is in real life.
We can continue to look to individuals and see their unique ability to encourage people. Encouragement is necessary among the believers especially as we go through different difficulties. Seek to encourage one another, to trust God the way that Barnabas trusted Him, with both, our possessions as well as our safety and protection. We are in His care and provision continually even when it seems as though nothing good can come from the situation. Remain faithful, continue in fellowship, encourage one another to be strong in the Lord.
Barnabas as a son of encouragement is an interesting and yet encouraging example to us of our ability to encourage and the necessity to encourage. The new converts in Acts 4 were all selling what they had and giving to the apostles and to others who have needs, among these people is Barnabas who also sells a field and gives the money to the apostles. Barnabas is a good example to us of what it looks like to trust God and what it looks like to encourage the brothers.
Barnabas as an individual who trusts God is probably not something that we attribute to him directly from his reference in Acts 4 but when we look at what was being done we can see that he is an individual who trusts God both to provide and to protect. Barnabas as an individual who trusts God to provide is seen in the concept that he is willing to sell of his possessions to help those in greater need than himself and to give to the apostles. It seems as though this might be a foreign concept because in our culture to sell and give of our property to the needy of the church is ok when it is “extra,” and by no means does this not include myself. We are good at giving out of the abundance of what God has given us but we have a difficult time considering selling what God has given us for the benefit of others…especially if it is NOT out of the abundance of what we have. Barnabas trusted God in the midst of selling a field he owned…he trusted God to provide for him similar to the church in 2 Corinthians 8 which gave according to their means and even beyond their means. This is not to say we must live in a destitute state but it is asking…what we are cherishing above the benefit of the believers who are in need, and are we willing to trust God to provide for ALL of our needs and to sustain us?
Barnabas also trusted in God for protection due to fact that he was willing to meet with the newly converted Saul when no one else would. Acts 9:26-27 states, “And when he [Paul] had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.” We see a different mentality that Barnabas had toward Paul than the rest of the disciples, he was willing to meet with and talk with Paul even before the church in Jerusalem believed that he was truly a convert…this is a type of trust and boldness which we rarely have to deal with. The concept that earlier the same man who was partially responsible for the death of a faithful member of their ministry [Stephen] as well as seeking to persecute and throw in prison other faithful members is now claiming salvation and seeking to join into fellowship is foreign to most of us, however, Barnabas still meets him, talks with him and then defends his claim of salvation to the other apostles.
Barnabas is an excellent example of encouraging other believers. Not only does he seek to benefit and give to the apostles whose sole work was for the proclaiming of God’s word. They received support from some of the people of God and Barnabas is seen laying his proceeds down at their feet. We see Barnabas also encouraging the other believers since he was part of the group that would sell what he had and give it to those in need. He was refreshing to the people of God and was dubbed by the apostles, the son of encouragement, almost as if his nick name was to remind people of the encouragement that he is in real life.
We can continue to look to individuals and see their unique ability to encourage people. Encouragement is necessary among the believers especially as we go through different difficulties. Seek to encourage one another, to trust God the way that Barnabas trusted Him, with both, our possessions as well as our safety and protection. We are in His care and provision continually even when it seems as though nothing good can come from the situation. Remain faithful, continue in fellowship, encourage one another to be strong in the Lord.
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