Matthew 5:21-26

Anger & Reconciliation

1. Recap v. 17-20 ->Christ fulfills the Law and establishes ALL law in Himself

• We cannot even begin to practice righteousness in the kingdom of God until we know Jesus!

2. The greater focus & judgment to those who are part of the kingdom of God

• Attitudes and actions of the heart! 
• Attitude/desire for PEACE or TURMOIL

Anger & Murder

1. Murderers are liable to judgment
2. Anger (without cause) is liable to judgment -> heart motive like murder

• anger w/o cause IS sin [Prov. 29:11, Ecc. 7:9]
• anger w/ cause IS acceptable BUT USE CAUTION [Eph. 4:26-27]
• anger w/ cause WILL/MUST produce action [Neh. 5:1-13, Jesus in temple]
• prayer
• confrontation
• anger w/o cause WILL produce other damaging sins...
• vengeance
• bitterness

The effects of anger w/o cause are clearly seen here:

1. Anger w/o cause is the heart motive similar to murder

• there is NO place for this anger in the kingdom of God

     2. Anger w/o cause WILL produce a spirit and desire for personal vengeance AND a root of bitterness

• this CAN happen w/ justified anger...it WILL happen w/ unjustified anger
• Heb. 12:15 -> seeks to strip us of the peace of God AND cause trouble

     3. Anger unchecked/uncontrolled

• Produces an INSULTING spirit (in danger of coming before the council)
• if continually left unchecked WILL produce a spirit that goes beyond regular insults and seeks to DEFAME CHARACTER (in danger of hell fire)

The solution= RECONCILIATION!

• the offense is against a brother -> RECONCILIATION MUST OCCUR OR RELEASE

1. Unresolved sin issues ARE sin and produce sin

• hatred/lack of fellowship with a brother IS sin [1 John 2:9-11]

      2. Lack of fellowship and sin in my physical interactions DO affect my relationship w/ God!

• thus the connection between ANGEr and offering SACRIFICE
• the scenario: one brother comes to worship God knowing that there is a brother who IS/HAS BEEN/FEELS OFFENDED
• leave the sacrifice and go
• first be reconciled w/ your brother THEN offer sacrifices/worship to God

RECONCILIATION -> 2 parts for 2 people (repentance and forgiveness)
1. Can ONLY occur where an offense has ACTUALLY occurred

• if there is no genuine offense then control over the "offended" person's emotions MUST be exercised AND repentance before GOD should occur

2. In the case of REAL offense

• the offender MUST seek forgiveness by the offended
• people of the kingdom of God MUST be merciful -> a generous spirit of willingness to forgive
• what does it mean to forgive?
• of the N.T. words for forgiveness they incorporate the following ideas to release as from a debt, to let go free, to show favor and kindness to, and to be gracious to
• one pastor defines it as a "commitment to pardon graciously the repentant from moral liability and to be reconciled to that person, although not all consequences are necessarily eliminated"

Aspects of forgiveness
1. A commitment -> being people of our word... committing our thoughts and actions to the task
2. To pardon graciously -> to NOT bring the matter up in a MALICIOUS WAY nor to hold against the individual

• does not mean forget

      3. The repentant: focused on later [Lk. 17:4]

• forgiveness can only be extended to the repentant (God and man)
• man releases man from liability NOT CONSEQUENCE
• when no repentance is present man releases offender to God for God's judgment and vengeance! [Rom. 12:19]
• this will keep the root of bitterness from growing

      4. MORAL LIABILITY: responsibility to repay

• the one who forgives does NOT seek to exact blood from a piece of fruit
• the forgiver is committing to be at peace EVEN IF the offender CANNOT restore everything

      5. Be reconciled: the characteristics of forgiveness

• being reconciled is where the rubber meets the road for forgiveness
• this is where we see IF we have forgiven
• this is where we primarily see the characteristics of forgiveness

Characteristics of forgiveness:

1. resisting revenge [Rom. 12:19]
2. not returning evil for evil [1 Thes. 5:15]
3. wishing the offender well [Lk. 6:28]
4. grieving at the offenders calamities [Prov. 24:17]
5. praying for their welfare [Matt 5:44]
6. being at PEACE with them [Rom. 12:18]
7. coming to their aid in distress [Exo. 23:14]

     Consequences are NOT necessarily eliminated: some actions will, some won't
Those who are UNFORGIVING or have no generous spirit to forgive RISK not knowing God in reality and facing condemnation [Matt. 18:21-35]
 6. The offender MUST seek Genuine Repentance

• if forgiveness is limited by repentance then the WRONG DOER MUST seek it
• an unwillingness to desire repentance RISKS the offender...
• being under stricter church discipline
• being an unbeliever
• repentance IS the confessing and turning from sin and turing to God, seeking reconciliation to God
• therefore, repentance b/n brothers would confessing and turning from sin and turning to a brother, seeking reconciliation from the brother
• repentance characterized [2 Cor. 7:10-11, 6-7]

Characteristics of repentance:

• grief is an UNRELIABLE characteristic and should be moved away from as an defining example

1. earnestness= urgent response
2. eagerness to clear yourself= open confession
3. indignation= true contrition/brokenness
4. fear= afraid of returning to sin -> accountability
5. longing= desire for reconciliation [2 Cor. 7:6-7]
6. zeal= no rationalization/justification (passion for truth)
7. punishment= a willingness to accept consequences

Proving something with the Bible

Often times people make random statements.  “The bible doesn’t say homosexuality is wrong!” or “If you believe in a work’s based salvation you’re going to hell!”  We see statements like this often on facebook.  They make me laugh sometimes  - people can say anything on the internet – but they also sadden the biblical teacher in me: there are a lot of people in this world who really don’t know how to think biblically.

That made me realize that it is important to explain how you prove that the bible actually says something.  Did you know that many of the truths in the bible are uncontested and very clear?  Many people say things like “it’s up to your interpretation” but this is just a cop-out: we need to look at scripture and learn how to actually prove what it’s saying.

Thus I’ll give a little example: I’ll prove that Jesus is God.

Proving that Jesus is God: Part 1

This is an important truth to consider.  People often argue that Jesus isn’t God.  I was debating people the other day who claimed that the bible never claims that Jesus is God – people made that up on their own.

So first I went to this passage: John Chapter One.

When you’re making a scriptural argument you first need to consider the context of the verse listed.  I’ve seen many people try to prove a truth based on something that one of Job’s friends said to him – this is not a good tactic to take because if you understand the book of Job properly you realize that in the end God rebukes many of the things Job’s friends say.  It doesn’t make much sense to use sources that the bible attacks itself.

The great thing about John Chapter One is that it is a complete narrative – in other words whatever is said is absolutely true because it is truth written by an apostle inspired by the Holy Spirit.  John says this:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4  In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men. 5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This verse is pretty simple, but since we’re making an argument we now have to explain what the verse says in context and how this relates to the argument we’re making.

The context of John’s first verses are simple: he is introducing his Gospel by explaining that to properly understand his book you need to understand who the main character is.  He says in the beginning was the Word.  This Word is symbolic.  It was with God and the Word was God.

Later on we read this:

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

In other words the Word is Jesus Christ.  So we can make a simple argument: Jesus is the Word; the Word is God – therefore Jesus is God..  Pretty simple, right?

Proving that Jesus is God: Part 2

One scripture is normally enough to answer simple questions, but the more scriptures you can point to the stronger your argument is.  That’s why we’re moving to part two, and taking a little peek at the first chapter of Hebrews.

Hebrews is a very interesting book because it shows the superiority of Christ.  The first chapter starts with this:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
In other words Jesus his the way that God speaks to us now.  When we truly understand that Jesus is how God communicates with us now we start to understand why John called Jesus the “Word” in John 1.  In this verse we also learn that Jesus is the Creator.  That alone could prove our argument – the bible says that God created the world, so if Jesus created the world doesn’t that say that he’s God?But our argument gets stronger as we read on:
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, 
“You are my Son,    
today I have begotten you”?

Or again, 
“I will be to him a father,    
and he shall be to me a son”?
In other words Jesus’ relationship to God the father is superior to the angels.  But we must go on to prove our point again:
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, 
“Let all God's angels worship him.”

The only one that can be worshipped is God.  If God commands the angels to worship Jesus doesn’t that declare that Jesus is God?  But let’s keep going.
7 Of the angels he says, 
“He makes his angels winds,    
and his ministers a flame of fire.”

8 But of the Son he says, 
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
But this verse ends all discussion.  The writer simply says that Jesus is God.  He explicitly states that this verse refers to Jesus.  The verse says “Your throne, O God…”  We need look no further.  The fact that we went through this section verse by verse helps explain that we’re not taking this verse out of context and we’re not twisting something to say what we want to make it say.  We simply let scripture speak for itself.
Conclusion:
Whenever we want to make an argument with scripture the most powerful argument is letting scripture speak for itself.  So I have a question for you: what other verses prove that Jesus is God?  Can you explain the context of the passage and how it makes the argument?
    the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

Waves of Success

How relentless ministry leads to success 

In the Gospel of Luke we witness an interesting lesson in ministry – attacking in waves.

We cannot forget that we are in a spiritual war, so being successful in ministry often takes a winning strategy – we can’t just “do stuff” and hope to be victorious.  When we read the Gospel of Luke closely we learn that Jesus isn’t just “doing stuff” either – he has a plan.

He starts his ministry with effective teaching.  In Luke Chapter Six we see Jesus delivering the Sermon on the Mount where he challenges the philosophies of the world and calls on men and women to think with the mind of God.  Elsewhere in scripture we learn that Jesus didn’t get up in front of people and deliver some high sounding lecture – he delivered a dynamic, attention grabbing sermon that was filled with power, authority, wit and wisdom.

Not long after the Sermon on the Mount we read this:

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him… [Luke 8:1]

Jesus ministered with the twelve at his side.  He went into the world and taught his disciples how to fight, not by lecturing them but by leading them into the enemy.  As a result they saw his ministry and his power.  They saw what it looked like to see lives changed and they saw that nothing can match the power of God.  They learned what they were placing their faith in.

In Chapter Nine we see this:

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2  and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3  And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.[a] 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6  And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. [Luke 9:1-6]

Jesus sent the twelve out into the world.  He first showed them how to minister, he showed them the power of God and then he blessed them with power and taught them how to use it.  With Jesus’ blessing they went out into the world and created such a stir that even Herod heard about their works.

Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening… [Luke 9:7a]

These men were effective.  They came back to Christ and Jesus celebrated their work.  They were able to demonstrate the power of God and teach those who knew nothing about Jesus Christ.  Yet Jesus still wasn’t done working.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2  And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4  Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11  ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. [Luke 10:1-12]

Jesus sent out the seventy-two.  He first prepared them for the ministry with a realistic portrayal of the dangers of ministry.  Men are evil.  There is this mistaken mentality in Christian circles to have some positive view of mankind, but the bible consistently portrays unregenerate men as liars, untrustworthy, hateful, selfish and wicked.  Men are not neutral creatures so it isn’t consistent for Christians to believe the bible and place faith in mankind.  We ought to learn to see men as they are.

But at the same time as Jesus introduces the correct way to view the world – with a realistic acknowledgement of who they are and who they serve – Jesus also explains the proper way to view ministry: God will sustain what he wants to prosper.  The disciples were to have faith not in men, who are evil, but in God who would prepare their way.

That’s why they didn’t take supplies – God would supply them.  That was why they didn’t take money for hotel stays – God would house them.  They had to have the faith (which can also be seen as mental toughness) to trust God to see to their ministry needs.

They also had a specific purpose: they were being sent to prepare the way for Jesus Christ.  They didn’t need to do everything, they just had to lay the groundwork for Jesus to win the battle.

When you examine how Jesus fought for success you’ll see that Jesus sent wave after wave of ministry into the enemy lines.  He started with teaching, then he went out into the world with his disciples.  Next he sent his disciples, then the seventy-two and finally follows up with a final charge led by himself.  And we can pattern our own ministry the exact same way.

We have gifted teachers and they need to be sent.  We have our faithful core and they need to follow after and we need to go out and get our seventy-two, people who are not yet in our ministry, train them, teach them and prepare them to do the work of the ministry.  Then we need to charge into the world.

The House of Prayer

The House of Prayer – Isaiah 56:1-8

This is just a short lesson on prayer.  Prayer is having a conversation with God.  We speak and make our requests to Him and He replies to us.  Sometimes He initiates the conversation, speaking into our lives through the word, others and our circumstances and other times we initiate the prayer.
The first two verses of this passage describes the heart of one who can pray.

Thus says the Lord:
The Lord is speaking to us this day.  He first demands that we “keep justice”.  What does it mean to “keep justice”?  Justice is the proper response to any action.  It is just to strengthen and commend the righteous.  It is just to condemn the wicked.  To keep justice is to find the standard that God commands and hold to it.
“And do righteousness” – this forces us to ask what are we doing for the work of the Lord?  The one who does righteousness, who can establish a spiritual resume has a right to go to the Lord in prayer.  The one who calls for God’s strength and power with no intention of using it to do God’s work is like the person who asks his employer for payment for the work he does as recreation.  Ultimately our power is granted to do God’s will.
But Isaiah also answers the question “how long?”  The one who keeps justice and does righteousness must do so until God’s salvation comes.  In other words we will do the work of God until he returns.  And if we hold it fast – meaning if we endure – we will be blessed.  Blessings belong to the one who endures.

3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
At times we presume that God won’t bless us.  The two individuals listed would be seen as unfortunate by the world.  But they shouldn’t consider themselves cursed just because the world considers them cursed.
The Eunuch is a person with no functional sexual organs.  People would look at a Eunuch and see someone who will never enjoy sexual pleasure.  But God tells the Eunuch to stop focusing on his physical limitations and focus on his spiritual blessings.

4 For thus says the Lord:
Look at how God defines the righteous:

• Those who keep his Sabbaths.
• Those that choose the things that please Him.
• Those who hold fast His covenant.

When the Eunuch is righteous he will be blessed in such a way that he will never miss what the world offers.  And what he will be given cannot be damaged, removed or ridiculed like his sexual organs were.
The foreigner is a person without a family.  His fear was that he would be isolated because he couldn’t see how anyone in Israel would accept him.  In many ways his fears echo the sentiment of many when they first look at the church and fear that no one can identify with him.

6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
The foreigner nothing to fear.  If he is defined by this:

• Joining himself to the Lord.
• Ministering to the Lord.
• Loving the Lord.
• Holding fast God’s Covenant.

He will be made to feel a part of God’s family.  He will be made joyful and he will be accepted.  God’s hand is extended not only to him but also to many others.
When we see what a “house of prayer” is in these verses we see that the church is meant to be a place where all those who are righteous feel welcome and a part of the family of God.  It is meant to be a joyful place; a house of encouragement.
What are you doing to make this house of prayer joyful or encouraging?  What can you do and pray for to make this happen?  Can you look past your circumstances and focus on the promises of God?
    to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
    and holds fast my covenant—
7  these I will bring to my holy mountain,
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
    for all peoples.”
8 The Lord God,
     who gathers the outcasts of Israel
, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
    besides those already gathered.”
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose the things that please me
    and hold fast my covenant,
5  I will give in my house and within my walls
    a monument and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that shall not be cut off.
    “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
    “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
for soon my salvation will come,
    and my righteousness be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this,
    and the son of man who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it,
    and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Abraham – Ministry the Hard Way

Abraham demonstrates how to stay faithful to God’s ministry even when the going gets tough.  Abraham didn’t always see a lot of fruit in his ministry, but he remained faithful to God, so faithful in fact that he was known as the friend of God.

Abraham shows us how ministry gets started.  How we can go from humble beginnings to prosperity if we are faithful.

The Call and the Promise:

Abraham’s ministry started with the call of God.

Now the Lord said[a] to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” [Genesis 12:1-3]

The LORD specifically called Abram.  His first order was that Abraham had to leave everything he had known and journey to a place he had never been before.  This call set the tone for Abraham’s ministry and his faithfulness.

We cannot serve God while we hold on to the things of the flesh.  Abraham was called to purposefully leave his family and friends so that God could work with him.  And Abraham did so – he took all his belongings and did as God asked.  He believed God.

The second thing we should notice is the promise: God promised Abraham success.  God promised Abraham that He would make Abraham a great nation.  When God promises us something we ought to take Him seriously.

The Focus: Immediate Gratification or Spiritual Watchfulness?

Take a look at this passage:

8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9  Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16  I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord. [Genesis 13:8-18]

Lot was focused on the immediate gratification of Sodom.  The bible notes that the men of Sodom were known to be wicked.  In other words they didn’t just start raping random men who came to the city – this was their common practice.

Lot chose Sodom – he wasn’t tricked into it.  He wanted the good land, the water, the immediate growth; but Abraham was spiritually watchful.  He noted how wicked Sodom was.  He wasn’t naïve.  When Lot took the best land Abraham turns to God for Wisdom.

In our times of Spiritual Watchfulness others may seem to sprint ahead of us.  It is very important in these times to find our wisdom and comfort in the Lord.  Abraham talks with God and then he worships.  He knows that Lot has the better land – for now – but he focuses on God’s ways and his Wisdom, not man’s.

Handing over the Ministry:

At some point we will all have to hand our ministries over to another.  Abraham eventually got old.  He had been successful and he had been faithful, but he didn’t stop working.  He began to focus on who would come after him.

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, 3 that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4  but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” [Genesis 24:1-4]

Abraham focused on the spiritual.  He didn’t want his descendants tied with the Canaanites.  The Canaanites represent the wicked, the worldly; the things of the flesh.  Abraham made sure that his descendants had nothing to do with them.

Conclusion:

There are many other things we can learn from Abraham.  Our limited time together would run out before we could mention the ability to make tough decisions (sending Hagar away), training faithful men to work beneath you (passage above), be willing to fight (rescuing Lot), recognizing those who have something to teach us (meeting Melchizedek), learning from mistakes (lying about Sarah), and how God protects from our mistakes (same incident as before), be willing to give all for God (sacrifice of Isaac) but we can learn the basics of the ministry simply by following the few points raised above.

Ultimately Abraham was successful in his ministry because he was faithful through hard times and good times.  When he was promised children he was faithful.  When he had waited over twenty years for that child he remained faithful. He believed God and he proved that he believed God throughout his life.

Do you prove that you believe God?  How do you work in the ministry?  Are you faithful enough to be counted on?  Do you thrive under pressure or wilt under it?

Real Meditation

Meditation if often said to be something that is done in eastern religions.  Buddhists and Hindu worshippers often clear their mind of all worldly thought and focus their minds on both nothing and everything at the same time.  By learning to focus their minds they learn clarity of thought, serenity and self-control.  Many people want to take the lessons of meditation from these other religions and adopt that into Christianity.

But we shouldn’t mix other philosophies with Christianity; we shouldn’t mix truth with the lie.  And the good thing is we don’t have to learn from eastern religions to discover the truth about meditation – the bible had meditation first.

It says this in Genesis 24:63 – “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening…”  Early saints used to go out into the fields and meditate.  Abraham also meditated – he would go out in the warmest part of the day and sit and be still.

But when the bible uses the term “meditate” it doesn’t mean the same thing that eastern religions mean.  In Joshua 1:8 God says this:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Let’s dissect this verse.  “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth…” this means that Joshua is commanded to speak words that come from the word of God.  He was meant to understand the teachings of God in such a way that he could explain exactly what God meant and what that meant to daily life.  The first thing we learn about meditation is that godly meditation is first understanding that every part of our lives is directly impacted by our understanding of what God wants us to do.

But in order to have the ability to speak and think as God wants us to speak and think we must first “meditate on it day and night”.  This means that the believer never stops meditating.  The believer first reads and thinks about the word of God and how it impacts his or her life and he doesn’t stop thinking like that even when he sleeps!  That’s how deep Christian meditation is.

The Christian reads and prays to get a message from God.  He believes that God wants to speak directly to him and about his life.  But this is only the first level of meditation.  In the next step the Christian takes that message and thought and expands it so that he is in touch with God every second of the day.

But meditation isn’t just some mental exercise.  We aren’t just supposed to be philosophers.  We meditate “so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it”.  The Christian’s meditation is purposeful – as we focus our thoughts and think and speak the way God would have us to do we will be more obedient and more purposeful.

Some believers struggle with discipline.  Perhaps you have an anger problem, want to lose weight or maybe you have battles with lust.  Did you know that meditation is the key to beating those sins?  The meditation absorbs the thoughts of God and those thoughts naturally do battle with the sinful thoughts that try to enslave us.

And the more we meditate the more successful we will be: “then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success”.  Meditation leads directly to success.  As we focus on God’s thoughts we take on the mind of the victorious.

There are many other benefits to godly meditation – foresight, clarity, vision, wisdom, deeper knowledge, revelation, peace, the hand of God may rest on us, deeper prayer – and you see all of these benefits as you search through God’s word.  As you meditate on the Word of the Lord you will be blessed.

Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

Studying Through Colossians: Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

One important aspect of prayer is watchfulness.  Jesus said this:

37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [Mark 14:37-38]

When Paul discussed spiritual warfare he said this:

18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saint... [Ephesians 6:18]

For the Christian prayer is watchfulness and prayer is not effective if that prayer is not watchful.

But prayer is also active; it makes us a spiritual part of every ministry we pray for.

3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

There are two important points.  First, Paul believed that prayer would move God to open doors for the work of the ministry.  In Paul’s mind prayer led to results.

Second, Paul’s message focused on clarity.  Often times we communicate God’s word thinking about complex issues but Paul focused on making God understood.

5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

This is general wisdom.  Wisdom teaches us to “redeem the time” and to be gracious with our speech.  The wise person seasons his speech – he doesn’t season so little that his words are bland and he doesn’t season so much that people spit out what he says.  He follows the path of the Preacher who –

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. [Ecclesiastes 12:9-10]

Paul moves on:

7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions— if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

Paul used a team to do ministry.  All of these men are faithful men who endured struggles and continued to develop as Christian leaders used them.

12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. 14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. 15 Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. 16 And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17 And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”

18 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Paul was committed not only to team ministry but a network of churches that worked together, gave together and prayed together.

Studying through Colossians: Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Practical Outcomes of Philosophy:

In Chapter 2 Paul discussed the dangers of an unchristian philosophy – hedonism, asceticism, spiritualism and religion – and how these things try to answer the questions of the world without God.  These types of thinking aren’t just wrong they are immoral and lead to evil and a frustrating and self-defeating existence.

Paul commanded them in the end that if they had died with Christ they ought to stop thinking of Christ in fleshly ways.  Now he instructs them on how to live now that they have been raised with Christ.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

For the Christian the death and resurrection of Christ is not just important when we first came to believe.  The Christian is not just saved once – in a way he is saved continually through following the pattern of Christ who died on this earth and rose again and ascended to heaven.

In that same way we ought to die to this world and set our minds on heavenly things.  Paul says it this way in another place:

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. [2 Corinthians 5:16]

What does it mean to see things in the flesh or set your mind on the earth?  We set our minds on the earth whenever we do not see the hand of God in all things.  The person that does not think it important to read their word and pray is not setting their minds on the things above.  The person who gives in to despair is acting as if God has not ordained victory.  The person who believes that men are generally good is acting as if God has not already spoken on this issue.

Setting your mind above incorporates an understanding of the truth that is more than superficial.  It is not just an intellectual pursuit – it is theology and it is life.  It is a pattern of thinking, acting and reacting that incorporates the truths of God.  Setting your mind on things above takes concentration, training and meditation.

In other words the only way to follow these commands is to set ourselves under the ministry of the word and prayer.  Faithful men of God have the gift to open understanding and God grants revelation and opened eyes to those he chooses.  Without the ministry of the word and prayer we would be left trying to accomplish this command on our own and it would be all to easy to try and rely on the flesh and not the spirit.  The church facilitates all of the commands of God.

When we follow the pattern of Christ we follow the pattern found in Romans 8:30 –

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
We who are called into salvation will be made righteous.  And those who are made righteous will be glorified.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Following the pattern of Christ we must put to death sin.  Many people would like to make sin a pet or imprison sin, but scripture calls for a more thorough solution.  To play with sin is to underestimate its allure and power – in some ways the one who refuses to put sin to death has already fallen prey to the allure of sin and may have already fallen into enslavement without even realizing it.

The things listed are important but Paul says something interesting – covetousness is idolatry.  Covetousness is wanting things that belong to someone else.  Idol worship is Satan’s way of stealing worship that doesn’t belong to him.

But even more implicitly covetousness is idolizing the self.  The one who no longer things ownership is important is one who has decided to make himself the Lawgiver.

No one ought to be deceived by sin.  Because of the sins listed God is bringing judgment and throwing men into hell.  Hell is a most important doctrine because it demonstrates the holy zeal of God who makes no peace with evil and is not satisfied until everything is perfect.  But the Christian is not one who goes around pointing out everyone that is going to hell – as some do and shame the church – the Christian realizes that he too was subject to the judgment of God.  Because he now understands the purpose of God he ought to put those sins away.

Part of putting sin to death is just being honest with each other.  Often times Christians will do the indefensible and attempt to hide the truth from the eyes of their brothers.  If we are really serious about putting sin to death we have to stop lying.  We have to acknowledge the devastating and the embarrassing – we have to have open hearts.  And there is no excuse for not opening our hearts because we are all one in Christ.

But Christianity is not a “do not” list.  It incorporates positive and negative actions.

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

One of the most important things we must put on is the ability to bear with each other.  Often times unity exacts its own price in small annoyances, irritations and conflicts for the more we are unified together the more our divergent opinions matter.  The Christian is primarily an part of the Church – he must first realize that he cannot serve God outside of the body of Christ and that leaving the Church is never the first solution to anything.  Then he must strive to be agreeable and a person who is possible to bear with.

We must forgive as Christ forgives.  Some interpret this wrongly as an attitude that sees sin and decides to continually think nicely of the other person.  This is not the attitude Paul is calling for.  Christ continually called out sin yet he was willing to do whatever it took to win souls to Himself.  He forgave the repentant, not just anyone who asks for an apology.

This type of forgiveness is often difficult for some to understand because they have given their minds over to the ways of the world, not Christ.  But we must come to understand that as God will only forgive those who repent we can only forgive those who repent.  Forgiveness demands judgment.

Above all this we must understand proper Christian love.  When we become loving we reach true unity.  Love leads to fulfillment – it will produce the harmony that our hearts wish for.

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The peace Paul speaks of is the true unity that can only be accomplished when men and women are united in both mind and purpose.  It incorporates an acceptance of reality because what happens is ultimately God’s will.  Rather than trying to earnestly change reality this person is trying to change themselves to be in tune with the Spirit of God.

Part of achieving peace is letting the word dwell in us and we cannot let the word dwell in unless we actively participate in the ministries of the word and praise.  The ministry of the word makes the word understandable, applicable and powerful for us in ways we could not do on our own.  The ministry of praise makes the word dwell with us in a different way.  Praise ministers directly to the heart and at the same time praise is an outpouring of the heart.  Praise trains the heart to love God.

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

When we truly put on Christ we will see changes in our personal relationships.  Paul commands wives to submit to their husbands because it is “fitting in the Lord”.  To submit means “to align oneself under” – in other words wives are to support their husbands as the leader of the home because this is the way that God made men and women.  It is “fitting”.

Husbands are to love their wives and not “be harsh with them” – this suggests a display of self-control and leadership with care.  The Husband is not a Lord over a servant, he is king to his queen.

The two commands work together to fulfill the central needs of men and women.  Men need respect and a Christian wife meets that need; women need attention and affection and the Christian husband meets that need.  Both husband and wife ought to meet the needs of the other in ways that the other will receive and ultimately enjoy.

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

The child’s main responsibility is to obey their parents – while they are still at home the parents represent the authority of God to them.  At the same time Fathers are the leaders of the home but that should not lead them to abuse their power.  Proper biblical leadership puts an emphasis on the limits of power.

22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

The bondservant was essentially a slave.  Paul reminds us that God never promises to deliver every believer from every distressing or injustice circumstance we may find ourselves in; he promises to empower us to live righteously despite our circumstances.

We may think slavery is unjust or that our workplace is unjust but that does not excuse us from obeying God.  The bondservant is to obey their masters in everything.  Paul uses the expression “not by way of eye-service” – we have to remember that obedience is not just an outward expression; it is the overflow of an obedient heart.  Just as it would be wrong for a husband to outwardly loving and inwardly bitter it would be wrong to outwardly obey while inwardly resenting authority.

Thus the believer is to work for the Lord because ultimately that is who pays him.  And Paul makes it clear that the Lord pays everyone – he pays the righteous and rewards them according to his grace and their works and he pays the wicked and punishes them according to their works.  There is no favoritism in reward or judgment.

The Master’s responsibility is to be just and fair.  The Master realizes that even if he has no earthly limit to his power he will be held into account for every use of his power.

 

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.

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.

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".

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.

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"!

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.

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.

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"!

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.

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!"

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.

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?