September 8, 2010 @ 9:29 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
"I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."—1 Corinthians 9:22.
Paul's great object was not merely to instruct and to improve, but to save. Anything short of this would have disappointed him; he would have men renewed in heart, forgiven, sanctified, in fact, saved. Have our Christian labours been aimed at anything below this great point? Then let us amend our ways, for of what avail will it be at the last great day to have taught and moralized men if they appear before God unsaved? Blood-red will our skirts be if through life we have sought inferior objects, and forgotten that men needed to be saved. Paul knew the ruin of man's natural state, and did not try to educate him, but to save him; he saw men sinking to hell, and did not talk of refining them, but of saving from the wrath to come. To compass their salvation, he gave himself up with untiring zeal to telling abroad the gospel, to warning and beseeching men to be reconciled to God. His prayers were importunate and his labours incessant. To save souls was his consuming passion, his ambition, his calling. He became a servant to all men, toiling for his race, feeling a woe within him if he preached not the gospel. He laid aside his preferences to prevent prejudice; he submitted his will in things indifferent, and if men would but receive the gospel, he raised no questions about forms or ceremonies: the gospel was the one all-important business with him. If he might save some he would be content. This was the crown for which he strove, the sole and sufficient reward of all his labours and self-denials. Dear reader, have you and I lived to win souls at this noble rate? Are we possessed with the same all-absorbing desire? If not, why not? Jesus died for sinners, cannot we live for them? Where is our tenderness? Where our love to Christ, if we seek not His honour in the salvation of men? O that the Lord would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men. -C.H. Spurgeon
September 1, 2010 @ 10:05 AM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
"I have read of an old Welsh believer, who used to walk several miles every Sunday to hear an English clergyman preach, though she did not understand a word of English. She was asked why she did so. She replied, that this clergyman named the name of Christ so often in his sermons, that it did her good. She loved even the name of her Savior." J.C. Ryle, Holiness
August 30, 2010 @ 10:16 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
UPDATE: 9-2-2010
Good news. Praise the Lord. Bezeugen Tract Club has publically repented of their tract. We should all thank them for their diligence, humility and care in this matter. Here is the post on their blog: http://bezeugentractclub.org/?p=266.
Email them and encourage them for this. Christ was glorified in this we are sure.
Proverbs 27:5, "Better is open rebuke than hidden love."
August 21, 2010 @ 10:11 AM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
The Macedonian Call - Acts 16
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
I've always found this passage in Acts an interesting one because clearly we see not only the Spirit's forbidding and calling in Paul's missionary journeys, but Paul's keen awareness, sensitivity and obedience to it.
When's the last time you were pushing forward (or at least willing to) persistently with the gospel that the Holy Spirit actually forbid you to go to a certain place? When's the last time the gospel burned in your heart like a fire shut up in your bones that you had to speak it to someone but were not allowed? I find that it's the Holy Spirit that has to do the total opposite with me. He has to prick me to go rather than forbid me. This is a rebuke to my flesh and it stings, but it cures at the same time.
When's the last time you were so keenly aware of the Spirit's moving in your life you could, without argument or fleshly rationality, obey it and be satisfied? I would imagine that at this point of the church being absolutely on fire that I would rationalize that the gospel needs to go everywhere now! It probably would never enter my mind that I would actually be prevented from going somewhere to preach it. But the Spirit blows wherever it wishes.
Lord, please help your church to become more forbidden and called all at the same time and forgive us where we've been neither.
July 9, 2010 @ 10:41 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
We had a great night tonight doing evangelism in the local town I live in. Justin, Chad, Allan, Eric, Brad, his wife Cynthia, their children Kayla and Stewart joined Stephanie and I to share Christ with anyone who would listen.
God has so richly heard my prayers of bringing other Christians our way to join arm in arm to reach the lost with the gospel. I am truly thankful for these brothers and sisters. Fellowship in the gospel is true fellowship indeed. It is my prayer that God will allow this group to continue to do ministry together and grow in Christ together while reaching the lost.
I wanted to share an encounter I had tonight with one of the very first people I talked to. Although this has happened to me on just about every occasion that I've shared the gospel, I just wanted to share a few thoughts tonight. I'll try to recount as much as I can.
I walked up to a guy sitting down outside the ice cream shop at the town square. I reached out my had with a tract and said, "Hey man, I care about you. It's [the tract] got a Christian message on it." He looked at me with this look of disdain and said, "Oh, I am a Christian. I don't need that. I am a pastor at the church over there." I smiled, knowing that we live in an area of religious hypocrisy, and said, "Great. When's the last time you shared the gospel with someone." He said, "I let my life speak and I think your way is a bit heavy handed." [Mind you that all I was doing was handing tracts out. I had not preached or anything. He was the first person I talked to that night.] I could tell he was visibly angry as his countenance dropped and his face began to quiver with this mad, nervousness. I then asked him, "So, what does scripture say about how we share the gospel? What did the Apostles do? What did Jesus do? When was the last time you verbally talked to a stranger about heaven, hell, and the forgiveness of sin in Christ?" He looked at me with this blank stare and said, "Have a good day sir!" I parted ways with a cordial goodbye and that was that.
I said all of that to say this. I don't know the state of a man's soul, but it sometimes makes me wonder really hard as to why someone who professes to know Christ and have been transformed by His grace would get so shaken and angry at the gospel being shared. I just cannot figure it out.
I would submit to you that sharing the gospel is HARDER in the south and in the Bible belt in general because of the deceit of religious hypocrisy. I would imagine that I could take the scriptures to South Africa and get a more genuine audience than I could 5 minutes outside my front door. For those of you who have not experienced this, it is disheartening like no other. It is a hard thing to be witnesses in the midst of hypocrisy.
I am learning quickly who would be the first people to yell out in anger, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" It's the unregenerate little old lady sitting in the Sunday service in a dead church with a dead heart to Christ thinking she's going to heaven because she's been faithful in attendance and Bible reading and cooking meals for people. It's the young man who thinks that you can just ask Jesus into your heart and then go live like a heathen because God is love. It's the man who's grown up in church culture and knows all the right answers but is an enemy of God in his mind through wicked works. It's the pastor who is ashamed of the gospel and taunts Christians and mocks them for their sincere love for Jesus. It's just too sad.
"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with...insults...For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Cor. 12:10
June 15, 2010 @ 11:02 AM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Bummed out right now at the vast lengths many Christians will go to in explaining away their duty to share the gospel with strangers.
Hell and the utter depravity and wickedness of the human soul must not be real to them; they just must not believe the Bible. Neither must the grace they so zealously proclaim as marvelous. I can see no other reason.
Most don't share the gospel with strangers because the gospel they have isn't worth sharing.
"If we desire to do good, let us never be ashamed of walking in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ. Work hard if you will, and have the opportunity, for the souls of others. Press them to consider their ways. Compel them with holy violence to come in, to lay down their arms and to yield themselves to God. Offer them salvation, ready, free, full, immediate salvation. Press Christ and all His benefits on their acceptance. But in all your work tell the truth, and the whole truth. Be ashamed to use the vulgar arts of a recruiting sergeant. Do not speak only of the uniform, the pay and the glory; speak also of the enemies, the battle, the armor, the watching, the marching and the drill. Do not present only one side of Christianity. Do not keep back the cross of self–denial that must be carried, when you speak of the cross on which Christ died for our redemption. Explain fully what Christianity entails. Entreat men to repent and come to Christ; but bid them at the same time to count the cost."
This volume is considered the best book on the Christian life that has ever been written. We highly recommend it.
April 11, 2010 @ 9:26 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Do not believe that the common Christianity of the present age will carry anybody to heaven. It is a counterfeit and a sham. It does not make men to differ from their fellows, it pretends to faith and has none, talks about love and does not show it, brags of truth and evaporates it into thin air in its latitudinarian charity.
God give us back the real thing—stimuli, strong belief in the gospel, real faith in Jesus, real prayer to him, real spiritual power.
Then again there will be persecution, but it will only blow away the chaff and leave the pure wheat!
The world likes us better because we like the world better; it calls us friends because we doff our colors and sheathe our swords and play the craven; but if we preach and live the gospel in the old apostolic way, we shall soon have the devil roaring round the camp and the seed of the serpent hissing on all sides, but we fear not, for "the Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge."
March 20, 2010 @ 10:52 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
In vain do we seek to awaken our churches to zeal in evangelism as a separate thing. To be genuine it must flow from love to Christ. It is when a sense of personal communion with the Son of God is highest that we shall be most fit for missionary work, either ourselves or to stir up others. -Archibald Alexander
March 14, 2010 @ 7:34 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
God meant to have a speaking church: not a church that would fight with the sword—with that weapon we have nought to do—but a church that should have a sword proceeding out of its mouth, whose one weapon should be the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I should think from what I know of some preachers that when they had their Pentecost the influence put upon them in the form of tongues of flowers; but the apostolic Pentecost knew not flowers, but flames.
What fine preaching we have nowadays! What new thoughts, and poetical turns! This is not the style of the Holy Ghost. Soft and gentle is the flow of smooth speech which tells of the dignity of man, the grandeur of the century, the toning down of all punishment for sin, and the probable restoration of all lost spirits, including the arch-fiend himself. This is the Satanic ministry, subtle as the serpent, bland as his seducing words to Eve.
The Holy Ghost calls us not to this mode of speech. Fire, intensity, zeal, passion as much as you will, but as for aiming at effect by polished phrases and brilliant periods—these are fitter for those who would deceive men than for those who would tell them the message of the Most High. The style of the Holy Ghost is one which conveys the truth to the mind in the most forcible manner,—it is plain but flaming, simple but consuming. The Holy Spirit has never written a cold period throughout the whole Bible, and never did he speak by a man a lifeless word, but evermore he gives and blesses the tongue of fire.
February 22, 2010 @ 3:41 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Remember how your fathers, in times gone by, defended God's truth, and blush, ye cowards, who are afraid to maintain it!
Remember that our Bible is a blood-stained book; the blood of martyrs is on the Bible, the blood of translators and confessors. The pool of holy baptism, in which many of you have been baptized, is a blood-stained pool: full many have had to die for the vindication of that baptism which is "the answer of a good conscience toward God."
The doctrines which we preach to you are doctrines that have been baptized in blood,—swords have been drawn to slay the confessors of them; and there is not a truth which has not been sealed by them at the stake, or the block, or far away on the lofty mountains, where they have been slain by hundreds. It is but a little duty we have to discharge compared with theirs. They were called to maintain the truth when they had to die for it; you only have to maintain the truth when taunt and jeer, ignominious names and contemptuous epithets are all you have to endure for it.
What! do you expect easy lives? While some have led through seas of blood, and have fought to win the prize, are you wearied with a slight skirmish on dry land? What would you do if God should suffer persecuting days to overtake you? O craven spirits, ye would flee away, and disown your profession!
Be ye the pillar and ground of the truth. Let the blood of martyrs, let the voices of confessors, speak to you. Remember how they held fast the truth, how they preserved it, and handed it down to us from generation to generation; and by their noble example, I beseech you, be steadfast and faithful, tread valiantly and firmly in their steps, acquit yourselves like men,—like men of God, I implore you!
Shall we not have some champions, in these times, who will deal sternly with heresies for the love of the truth,—men who will stand like rocks in the center of the sea, so that, when all others shake, they stand invulnerable and invincible? Thou who art tossed about by every wind of doctrine, farewell; I own thee not till God shall give thee grace to stand firm for his truth, and not to be ashamed of him nor of his words in this evil generation.
--C.H. Spurgeon (An excerpt from "The Church of God and the Truth of God," a sermon preached at the New Park Street Chapel on Sunday morning 14 September 1856, when Spurgeon was barely 23 years old.)
January 6, 2010 @ 11:40 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Most solid and very intelligent theologians would admit that figuring out end-time events is very difficult. It personally makes Jell-O Pudding (now imagine Bill Cosby saying "pudding" in that distinct voice) out of my brain.
Here is something though that is clearly understood: Jesus Christ is returning.
2 Thessalonians 1:5 "This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might..."
I really think Christians are certain that Christ is returning. Notice that I didn't give a qualifier as to "when" Christ is returning. But if I had to stick an evangelistic urgency thermometer in the mouth of most Christians to gauge this matter I am afraid it would be ice cold. Why? You answer to God for that one.
We as Christians are called to live as if Christ would be returning at any moment. We are to live in expectance of it, at any time. This produces urgency in our lives to reach the lost, but for most I see this loose, lax, and lazy approach like we've gotten a phone call from Jesus saying that He would be back around 1:45 AM Tuesday November 4th 2025 and we've got plenty of time...why rush, eh?
If anything about end-time events in scripture is clear, the passage above is very clear.
So with that in mind, I would like to ask you a simple question.
If that "thermometer" were in your mouth, what temperature would it be?
October 29, 2009 @ 8:13 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
You think it will earn you the persona of the "super spiritual" one in your church.
You think God will somehow love you more because you are doing something that 98% of the professing Christian population doesn't do.
You think that those poor people out there are just begging for someone to come and preach the gospel to them.
You think that people are "hurting" and they just need Jesus to make things better.
Your gospel is a plea to live more moral and make better choices and follow Jesus rather than repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't think unregenerate sinners are enemies of God.
You substitute biblical gospel terminology for something more appealing to the crowd. (i.e. generalized statements about sin and not direct specific statements)
You think Jesus is someone who heals a wounded man rather than supernaturally raises a dead man.
You think God actually needs you.
You actually think you can save someone.
In contrast here are 6 reasons to evangelize
It brings glory to Christ.
Christ has commanded it and those who love Him joyfully and humbly keep his commandments.
God has not only ordained the ends of salvation sovereignly but also the means by which it comes about; namely the preaching of His gospel.
God has given you this awesome privilege of partaking in preaching His gospel. The King has made you a herald!
It keeps you humble and reminds you of the gospel of your salvation every time you share it.
You actually think that God is "OK" with you just "living your Christian life" in front of others.
October 22, 2009 @ 10:52 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
I had posted something earlier about making a cross to get the attention of the lost and see how it worked. (See that post here) Well, I made one and it worked great.
Here are some pictures of us using it.
This crowd was actually drawn over by it and we shared the gospel with them!
And of course my wife says I cannot take a serious picture.
It was a lot of fun using the cross to begin conversation about the gospel. We had lots of people walk by and make comments about it and some even stopped to talk. You can't go wrong fishin' with a cross.
September 18, 2009 @ 3:20 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise." 1 Corinthians 3:18
"We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute." 1 Corinthians 4:10
"Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Matthew 16:24
I want to challenge you with something.
Where I come from everyone knows everyone. The county that I live in is a fairly large county, but that doesn't stop you from running into familiar faces all the time. This is a blessing and a challenge. What do I mean by that?
Most people would say that they are terrified to speak to total strangers about the Gospel because they are, well, strangers. They say that they would rather take the time to build a relationship over time with someone and then speak to them. I have found this, by experience, not to be the case and it's not because I am "good" at speaking to strangers.
Talking with people I've known for a while terrifies me. Why? Because there is more to lose, in a sense. There is a greater sense of fear there. I look at this fear like a tree. The more you let it grow, the harder it is to chop it down. If it is a seedling then you can just snatch it right out of the ground with your bare hands. This fear, however, is irrational and not from God. (2 Timothy 1:7)
I have pinpointed the root of my fear. It is idolatry. Covetous idolatry of self to be exact. I value myself more than Christ. I, in whatever sense, am ashamed of the Gospel in those situations. I really hate that about myself. It frustrates me and makes me cry out to God for deliverance in this.
Have you struggled with the fear of identifying with Christ in public; in front of people you know? Do you possibly live in close quarters in a community that knows you by name like me? Do you wonder if you will ever get over this?
Here is what I propose. Let's put to death this covetous idolatry that resides in us. (Colossians 3:5)
"How?" you say.
Well, I believe that the only way to put to death the flesh is to kill it with the Spirit. Here is at least one simple way (that doesn't involve some eloquent explanation of a passage of Scripture to try and convince you to get out there and share the Gospel; otherwise you'd have done it already, right? I'm sure you've read Mark 16:15 before.)
Here's the video-
Here is how to make it-
Here is my challenge.
The next time there is some event in your hometown or nearby take the cross and simply stand there in plain sight with it and wait. Throw out the nets of the Gospel and see what Christ does. Here is one example of this in scripture.
"1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him." Luke 5:1-11
I pray that God inspire you to let down your nets and when the catch comes in, sovereignly directed by the Lord, signal us and we will run over and help you drag in the nets!
I am making a cross like the one above and I am determined to kill this covetous idolatry of fleshly self that still resides. I don't mind being a fool for Christ. I pray that you take great strides in your walk with Christ to kill the flesh and at the same time advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Send me a picture of your cross if you decide to make one.
September 17, 2009 @ 4:45 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
"He that winneth souls is wise.” —Proverbs 11:30
"He does not say that he who talks about winning souls is wise, since to lay down rules for others is a very simple thing, but to carry them out one’s self is far more difficult."
September 2, 2009 @ 2:00 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
"You may know the truth of the doctrine, but you do not know the doctrine in truth if it makes you gaze on the wrath to come without emotions of pity for immortal souls." Charles Spurgeon
I’ve had people often tell me, “Do as I say, not as I do.” I have often pondered that and I have come to the conclusion that anyone who says that has a contradiction of belief and practice. What they are truly saying is, “I know what is right, but I want to follow what my own heart says, so that justifies my actions and somehow by telling you to do what is right that also helps me justify my actions.” What a contradiction! For they preach but do not practice. Jesus said in Matthew 23:1-3, “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you—but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice.”
I also know men who are so very careful and precise in their theology as to walk as it were on eggshells with every word of their doctrine to make sure they are in line with God’s word. I am one of them. I know men who debate singular meanings of one word for hours, even using the original languages and definitions, in an attempt to get a right understanding of truly what God’s word is saying. I am one of them. I know men who exhort that the Gospel is the only means by which men can be saved and they would affirm in their heart that it is every Christians duty to preach the Gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15). I am one of them.
Here is what I don’t understand.
If you, as a Christian, care so much about right doctrine as to spend hours pouring over God’s word, over every “jot and tittle” as to make a surety of your belief as to exactly what the Gospel is in its content and you neglect intentionally and regularly going out of your way to share the Gospel with strangers, how then are you any different from a Pharisee in this aspect? I think you are straining at a gnat and swallowing the camel of disobedience. This, to me, seems to typify James 1:22-25, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” You are claiming to have seen the depravity of not only your soul but of every soul of man and yet walk away and at once forget what you and all of humanity are. This is self deception.
Jesus said in Matthew 23:23-24, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!”
I have often said that right doctrine produces right obedience. How then, might I ask, can we truly believe that men are wicked, depraved, dead in sin and living in rebellion against God and we not look at God in an almost frantic passion, wide-eyed, and say, “What now God? These men will surely perish, for they have made themselves your enemies! Spare them. Oh, God spare them! Spare them as you have spared us!” and then He turn to us and says, “Go tell them about the deliverance the may receive from my Son! That same deliverance you received by my grace alone. I will spare them.” Yet, we sit on our wide and proud theological backsides with our extra thick bifocals as to strain at every sentence to “make sure we are true to God’s word” while men and women are going to Hell. I just don’t get it. Please, someone explain to me why! Why? Why, but for any other reason as what Jesus gave, “…you have neglected weightier matters…These you ought have done, without neglecting the others.”
Make no mistake about it; you will live what you truly believe, always; nothing more and nothing less. Charles Spurgeon once said, “Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself, be sure of that!” A wise man once said, “If you do not care enough to do something about it, trust me, you do not care. You may say you care, but you do not care.”
If you neglect to tell men of the deliverance they have in Jesus Christ, yet you sit and study God’s word intensely, then stop. You, by neglecting the one, have made void the other. What good are instructions if they are not followed. But, dear believer, this is not only an instruction, but a command and a true sign of knowing the mission, purpose and heartbeat of your Savior. Are you saying that your head is resting upon the breast of Jesus, that you have an intimacy with Christ, like that disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:22), yet you cannot hear His heartbeat? Perish that thought.
Here is a sad fact. I went for 22 years as a God-hater and no one ever shared the Gospel with me.
Oh! that God would give the apathetic people sitting in the pew every Sunday, naming the name of Christ, a heart that beats with the blood of the Gospel!
August 10, 2009 @ 1:57 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
I’ve wanted to write this for a long while now, but recently a video that I saw rekindled this thought in my heart. So, I finally sat down and off-the-cuff wrote my thoughts. However scattered and jumbled, please consider the content. Know that it is from the heart. You will find the video below.
Let me preface this by saying that I am about to write about something that will probably offend some of you. Maybe this will wake some of you up to a reality that you have either forgotten or never knew in the first place.
Let me also preface this by setting your mind upon the tone and mood of my voice as I write this. It is one of low, compassionate, tear filled concern.
There is a war going on for the souls of men. Satan never takes a holiday. He never sleeps. He never tires. He never stops seeking to destroy the lives of people. Some people he simply passes by because they are so convinced that they are headed for heaven and they are so duped into believing that they are “safe” that they pose no threat to him. So he doesn’t bother. Others, he actively seeks to destroy. As Christians I think this, along with the fact that there is a literal hell and people will spend an eternity in its torments, are two of the much neglected reflections and realities of the thought life, prayer life and general lifestyle of professing Christians. What do I mean by this?
I would submit to you that most Christians are intellectually concerned about the welfare and souls of men. The problem is that most of that concern is fizzled out by a lack of heart-knowledge in the matter. They are not truly convinced in the heart (i.e. the core of who they are) that hell is real and Satan hates the souls of men. A plain evidence of this is Facebook. You say, “What! How? Facebook has nothing to do with the gospel.”
If you would allow me…can I dig around in your heart for a minute? Can I maybe shock you into thinking about something?
For those of you that have a Facebook account and profess the name of Christ, take a moment and recollect how much time in the last month you have spent worrying about telling everyone what restaurant you are eating at this afternoon, what color you are going to paint your shed, or whatever random thoughts you can come up with versus telling others about the deliverance from sin and it’s consequences through Jesus Christ. Does your time on Facebook outweigh the gospel? Remember, you will do what you believe.
Where are your priorities? Where is the reality of the concern for the souls of men in your life? How can we as Christians, who know and experience the gospel of amazing grace, who know the heart of our Lord, waste so much time with things that will not matter in eternity?
I see grown men, Christian men, with Facebook accounts who worry about their online “profiles” like a little school girl. Quit this childishness. Grow up and be a man for Christ. Jesus Christ didn’t hang on a bloody cross so you could sit around mingling with such trivial stuff. You are wasting your time and His. People are filling hell faster in your lifetime than any other! Get busy.
I would think that TV, Xbox, Playstation 3, and Wii are enough to drain away the time of a Christian to love Christ by practicing spiritual discipline, but now we have piled Facebook, MySpace and Twitter on top of that. How many feathers can you pile on your life before your light is completely smothered?
May I probe a little deeper?
Where is the evidence of the cost of following Christ in your life? Where is the dying to self and living to Christ for the advancement of the gospel in the hearts of men? Do you see the gospel as something so wonderfully precious, handed down from God to men that it burns in your heart to make it known to others? Do you consider your life of more value than another man’s salvation? Or are you just trying to get out of this thing with the least amount of scars?
How about this; every time you want to update your Facebook account, grab your bible, hop in your car and drive to the closest part of town and talk to someone about the glories of Christ. If you can’t drive, pick up the phone and call someone.
As your brother in Christ I am pleading with you. Quit the childishness. Quit it.
August 4, 2009 @ 3:42 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
1. Friendship evangelism is neither friendship nor evangelism without the verbal proclamation of the gospel.
2. If you say that you believe Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life but you refuse to tell people, then you really don't care where people will spend eternity. Why? Because you will do what you care about.
3. Might real revival happen if instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build mausoleums to warehouse the spiritually disobedient and to entertain the lost, the Church invested in indigenous missionaries, both at home and abroad? Jesus never said, "If you build it, they will come."
4. Don't worry about Satan. If you are not actively engaged in proclaiming the Law and the Gospel to lost souls and praying for those who do, you pose no real threat to him. And if the enemy does not see you as a threat, then what kind of soldier are you, really?
5. You can't be saved by a gospel you don't know. If you can't tell me biblically how I can get to heaven, then why should I believe you are going there?
6. Depraved Indifference: Being morally culpable while acting with wanton disregard for the life of another. If you refuse to share the gospel with lost souls, then you are guilty as charged.
7. Remember the same verse that says "all liars will have their part in the lake of fire" also says that the cowardly will meet the same fate. When did you last share the gospel with the lost? Can't remember? Don't want to because your scared? Then you have a problem that may be more serious than you think.
8. The true Christian understands that he is to remain in the world while not being of the world. But a false convert will sit precariously atop the fence separating two worlds and, when he thinks he is loosing his balance and he thinks he may fall, he will look to the world instead of Christ to catch him--all the while insisting his trust is in the Lord.
9. If you feed a lost person; if you give him something cool to drink; if you put a roof over his head and give him the shirt off your back, but you fail to share the gospel with him; know this. If he dies after you've lovingly served him, having never heard the gospel from your lips, he will be warmed and filled as he faces God's judgment and eternity in hell. Serve people? Yes. But please share the gospel.
10. If you live by the extra-biblical adage, "Live your life in such a way that people ask you why," yet you dress like the world, talk like the world, act like the world, and enjoy the same things that entertain the world; then what do you expect a spiritually dead and blind person to see in you? It won't be Jesus Christ. It will just be you. They won't ask what's different about you, because you look just like them.
11. If you are doing something that is extra-biblical, meaning the Bible neither commands nor condemns the activity, you must be extra-careful. To use the fact that the Bible does not specifically speak about a certain activity as justification to engage in the activity is neither wise nor safe. For when the Word of God is not your guide, you are led by nothing more than sinful, fallible flesh. So be careful.
12. Proclaiming the Law and the Gospel is not a right given to Christians by men. It is a command given to Christians by God. If you want to earn and exercise a right, go earn and exercise the right to die for Jesus Christ at the hands of the very people who insist you do not have the right to speak to them about the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
13. People like to say, "Jesus is with me wherever I go." Yet many seem to forget or ignore what they profess to believe when they sit in a theater, or in front of the television, or at the computer--entertained by profanity, blasphemy, gratuitous violence, or sexual content. Judas claimed to follow Jesus and betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver. What is your price? Will you betray Jesus to enjoy ungodly entertainment?
14. As a Christian, do you affirm the Bible's teaching that one should not seek the praises of men and that God alone is worthy of praise while, at the same time, fully expecting God to praise you when you obey Him? Then please consider what Jesus said. "So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants, we have only done what was our duty'" (Lk. 17:10).
15. One woman dances in a "gentlemen's club," in a seedy part of town. Another woman is a model and participates in "beauty" pageants on the world's stages. Both disrobe for money. Yet many Christians would say the former needs Christ while, at the same time, they prop up the latter as a Christian role model. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in that?
January 2, 2009 @ 4:38 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Recipe For A False Convert
My wife recently was gifted a Rachel Ray "30 Minute Meals" cookbook by my mom. She appreciated it and so did I. *Big Smile* We are so busy that we needed something like this to make dinner and still keep up with working for the Lord in some way or another. Quick and easy meals; can't go wrong there.
Sadly though, much (which is an understatement) of our evangelism, especially childrens evangelism, is focused upon the same concept. We have a quick and dirty evangelism that has left in its wake (in my opinion, and frankly the culture is speaking for itself) hundreds of thousands of people who have had a false religious experience who have never been born of the Spirit of God. I was one of them.
Watch this video. This is a typical Sunday morning "invitation" time in childrens church.
While watching this video if you are asking yourself or saying within yourself, "Well, how are we supposed to evangelize our children? This seems like a good method." Then I would have to say that you haven't studied scripture aright and have no clue as to what the Gospel is.
Now, I've come up with a perfect 3 minute evangelism presentation to whip up a tasty false conversion. So, about 15 years from now when I run into them on the street I can spend an hour trying to show them from scripture that they might very well be heading for hell because there is no fruit in keeping with repentance.
Here is what it takes (thought not an all inclusive list).
Ingredients:
1 part youth pastor (cool clothes optional)
1 part topical, fresh, feel good message with no biblical relevance
1 part "Asking Jesus Into Your Heart" (No repentace needed, too potent.)
Club style mood lighting
Instructions:
Mix 1 part youth pastor with 1 part feel good message. Slowly mix in mood lighting. Top it off with "Asking Jesus Into Your Heart" and let it bake for about 3 minutes.
When finished let it cool and sit in the pew and live like the devil.
Never question why the false convert tastes so bad, remember, they made a decision and that is all that matters.
Satisfied with the results. Repeat the process.
I know, I know...sarcasm. But, it is true.
Rachel Ray has a great idea with 30 minute meals, but it seems like now-a-days we can get someone to heaven in under 5 minutes. I can't even make a ham sandwich in 5 minutes!
December 9, 2008 @ 10:54 AM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
I would submit to you that the very things you are about to hear (in a very short clip) are the very things you would never hear explained by most "seeker sensative" pastors.
If you got the last email regarding an interview between the pastor and two TV news anchors and were wondering why the pastor wasn't so clear...maybe this will clear things up.
October 9, 2008 @ 12:54 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
OK, I know the movie Expelled has been out for a while but I really enjoyed the theological points RC Sproul made in the interview. I thought it was worthy of forwarding for you all to watch.
Stephanie and I are currently working through a Systematic Theology DVD set from RC Sprouls ministry. I have to tell you that I just wish I could grasp the "crumbs" falling off the theological table from this study.
September 8, 2008 @ 11:06 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet
Any Fifth Street Promenade tarot card reader would be thrilled to nail a prediction as accurately as William Booth did one hundred years ago. “I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”
Was the founder of the Salvation Army accurate?
>Is there religion without the Holy Ghost? With a red face I confess that we conservatives have veered from the zany antics of televangelism into a ditch with little recognition of the active work of the Holy Spirit.
>Is there Christianity without Christ? Have you been to an Episcopal church lately?
>Is there forgiveness without turning from sin? Ask Dallas Theological Seminary.
>Is there salvation without regeneration? Google “Carnal Christianity.”
How was General Booth able to make such an accurate prediction? He surveyed the doctrines that were under assault, and then forecasted where that errant theology would take us. What deficient theology did he see? He witnessed a forsaking of the preaching of the Law. While he did not know what the result would be named, he knew that anti-nomianism (no law, lots of grace) had to lead to what turned out to be watered down mainline Protestantism and the seeker sensitive movement.
Now that General Booth’s predictions have been fulfilled, we would do well to survey the latest threat. “Isn’t the seeker sensitive movement the latest threat?” you ask. I would suggest it is not.
The seeker sensitive movement is the result of the squishy, anti-nomianism that General Booth witnessed; it is not a new threat. Seeker Sensitive is the manifestation of bad theology. Seeker sensitive is merely a fad (a bad fad, but a fad, nonetheless), and it won’t be long before it is replaced by another fad that is the result of new bad theology. What is the bad theology of our day?
Redefined justification.
Nearly 500 years ago, God used Martin Luther to recapture the foundational doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. Every puritan who followed in his wake recognized that justification is the core doctrine of Protestantism.
How did they define it? Man=sin. God=holiness. Consequence=hell. But God chose to demonstrate His kindness by taking the punishment we deserve by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to live a sinless life and die on a cross, rise from the dead and defeat death. Therefore, if people will repent and trust the Savior, the righteousness of Jesus will be imputed (credited to our account) that we might be made the righteousness of God (see II Cor.5:21) so that God can be glorified for His kindness. That is justification.
But alas, today’s “progressive” theologians have decided we need to take a fresh, new look at our cherished corner stone. Emergent leader, Brian McLaren says he simply wants to have a conversation and re-think long-held evangelical assumptions. While he acts like he is taking us on a journey whose destination is unknown, Mr. McLaren seems to know exactly where this conversation is headed: a new definition of justification. From the article “Interview with Brian McLaren about ‘A Letter to Friends f Emergent.’”
Interviewer: I think with all the other change going on, one thing we’ve got to hold firm on is the Gospel.
McLaren: What do you mean when you say “the Gospel?
Interviewer: You know, justification by grace through faith in the finished atoning work of Christ on the cross.
McLaren: Are you sure that’s the Gospel?
Interviewer: Of course. Aren’t you?
McLaren: I’m sure that’s a facet of the Gospel, and it’s the facet that modern evangelical Protestants have assumed is the whole Gospel, the heart of the Gospel. But what’s the point of that Gospel?
Is it beneficial to question whether Christians should have Christmas trees? Sure. Is it necessary to question whether Christmas trees are green? The doctrine of justification has been long settled. To open up the doctrine for the sake of conversation screams of a hidden agenda.
While Mr. McLaren’s framing of the issue is under the guise of, “Let’s just open up the issue for discussion,” does Mr. McLaren know where he wants this conversation to go? It sure seems like it. He just seems to recognize that if he does not take a slow, meandering, deconstructionist path, he might be labeled for what he is.
“Is getting individual souls into heaven the focal point of the Gospel? I’d have to say, ‘No,’” states Mr. McLaren. Sure seems like the conversation is closed.
Mr. McLaren considers the classic understanding of penal substitution as “cosmic child abuse.” Is it any wonder that Brian thought the manager in Hotel Rwanda was a better example of love than Jesus in The Passion of the Christ?
The new bad theology is mangled justification. That means we have no further need for the Bible, Jesus or the cross. Christianity will be nothing more than a work righteous religion on the same level of Islam or Buddhism.
Christianity will no longer be about forgiveness of sins for the glory of God. The cross is no longer about satisfying the wrath of God. Faith is no longer about being in a right relationship with the Creator and inheriting eternal life.
Now, let’s put on our General Booth goggles and take a look into the future of Christianity. What will be the result of this bad theology?
Universalism.
If the emergents have their way, Jesus Christ will no longer be the exclusive way to everlasting life, nobody will go to hell and everyone will go to Heaven.
Brian McLaren offers this oxymoronic defense. “I am not embracing a traditional universalist position, but I am trying to raise the question, ‘When God created the universe, did he have two purposes in mind—one being to create some people who would forever enjoy blessing and mercy, and another to create a group who would forever suffer torment, torture, and punishment? What is our view of God? A God who plans torture? A God who has an essential, eternal quality of hatred? Is God love, or is God love and hate?’”
Straw man aside, that is like stating, “I am not saying I think everyone is going to go to heaven, I’m just saying that God is so loving He won’t send anyone to hell.”
In 1759, William Romaine presented, “The Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness Defended.” This was an effort to fend off the advances of the Catholic merit system (infused righteousness) into Protestant circles. The doctrine of justification that Luther had rescued was under assault. Here is what William Romaine begged. I have taken the liberty of replacing “Catholicism” with “Emergent”.
“A sinner made righteous by the righteousness of Christ is the doctrine upon which a church stands or falls. Upon it our church was established, and has long stood; but do we stand upon it now? Are we all champions for the protestant doctrine, or are we in general departed from it? Alas! Our enemies can tell, with triumph they tell of the increase of the emergent interest among us. And why does it increase? Whence is it that they make so many converts? Is it not because our people are not well established in the protestant doctrine? If it was taught and preached more, our churches would not be so empty as they are, nor the emergent houses so full. Many of our people know not what it is to be a protestant, and therefore they become an easy prey to the emergents, who are so busy and successful in making converts.”
Our new bad theology is redefined justification. The result can only lead to universalism. Mr. McLaren might try to obfuscate his position by saying he does not believe in “traditional universalism”, but universalism by any name (or with any adjective) is heresy. Heresy means people will go to hell.
Listen to William Romaine. “I fear this may be true; but is it not alarming, and ought it not to stir up the clergy, to try to put a stop to the spreading of the emergents? May the Lord raise up faithful and able men to defend His righteousness against them who have established a meritorious righteousness of their own, and will not submit to the righteousness of God.”
If you choke on the squishy gospel of the seeker sensitive movement, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
August 18, 2008 @ 2:04 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Inadequate Gospel = No Gospel at all...
One of the most important questions we ask professing Christians deals with how they share the Gospel. Considering that only an estimated 2% of professing American Christians share the Gospel with strangers....what exactly are they sharing? What are you sharing? Are you sharing at all? We believe that the majority of Christians in America are ignorant of key components of Gospel proclamation. (For you pastors, that means in the neighborhood of 98% of your congregation and leadership team.)
Well, in the video snippet below John MacArthur covers a popular selling book (a book that many of you might own) that has an inadequate Gospel presentation. We would assume that 99% truth is a 100% lie. He covers a book that has, for the most part, shaped the theology of man, many, many Christians. **understatement**
So what is the book...what are the components that are missing...and more importantly are you sharing the Gospel according to the guy who wrote the book?
Watch below to find out.
For more information on how to share they Gospel accurately and have all of the components, please go through our self-paced training pages.
August 15, 2008 @ 9:55 AM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Are you guilty of depraved indifference?
Depraved Indifference Law and Legal Definition
To constitute depraved indifference, the defendant's conduct must be 'so wanton, so deficient in a moral sense of concern, so lacking in regard for the life or lives of others, and so blameworthy as to warrant the same criminal liability as that which the law imposes upon a person who intentionally causes a crime. Depraved indifference focuses on the risk created by the defendant’s conduct, not the injuries actually resulting.
August 11, 2008 @ 9:48 AM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
From a teaching series on CrossTV called Does the Truth Matter Anymore? Here are a few snippets of the video. In the clips below Pastor MacArthur addresses the issue of pragmatism in ministry. If you don't know what this is or if you are wondering if your church implores pragmatic ministry, you will soon see that this modern wordly philosophy has infiltrated most of the evangelilcal church today.
Any of you involved in ministry should watch this a seriously consider what is being said.
June 15, 2008 @ 9:41 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
So, most of last month is a blur due to the simple fact of life and so many different witnessing opportunities that trying to remember exactly what happened in those encounters seems a bit hazy. This blog, however, will be about an encounter that we had on June 13, during our bi-weekly P.I.E. outreach.
Stephanie, Mark and I decided to go to Conyers Plaza for our outreach.
On Friday nights the plaza is pretty full with teens and young adults hanging out either waiting for a movie to start or waiting to be picked up by their parents. Some are coming in and going out of the stores in the plaza.
We started out by handing out some tracts to some teens standing around outside an ice cream shop. They took the tracts and walked away. We started walking down the sidewalk and I saw two girls holding hands. I noticed as they got closer one of the girls was a girl that Stephanie, my wife, had shared the Gospel with earlier this year in the exact same place. She was a self-admitted lesbian and was living in rebellion to God. I stuck out my hand with a tract in it and said, "Hey, did you get one of these?" She stuck her hand out and grabbed it. I told her it was a Gospel message and it would tell her how to go to Heaven. She would not make eye contact with us (mainly because I think she recognized us) but also because I think she was convicted about her lifestyle and that we spoke openly to her about her lifestyle and the consequences of her choices previously.
John 3:16-19 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
So we spoke to her briefly and she finally said that she was in a hurry and that she had to leave.
We continued to speak with various people for the next couple of hours, some professing Christians who couldn't tell us what God did for us so that we wouldn't have to go to Hell, others who had never heard the Gospel before.
We approached the local theatre and there were a group of young kids outside the theatre hanging out and talking. We approached them with some giant money tracts and million dollar bill tracts; something to get the conversation started. Two of the guys there recognized us from an outreach we did in September 2007 at the Rockdale County Fair. It was good to see them again. They were asking lots of questions and we got to explain the Gospel and salvation again to them; along with their friends. God is so good that he allowed us to do some follow-up with these two guys. They remembered a lot from what we had talked about at the fair, so that was encouraging.
Many times we never hear or see the people we share the Gospel with twice, unless it is in a concentrated area. Thank God the results are up to Him. All we have to do is plant and water. God gives the increase. I truly believe if our mininstry, or anyones personal evangelism for that matter, were based upon results then we would be discouraged and begin to seek alternative Gospels to produce the results we are looking for.
God is teaching us every day about faithfulness in ministry and trust in His sovereign plan.
April was full on encounters with strangers. Most of them were fairly normal conversations about the Gospel but one in particular stuck out last month. This is that one.
As I have mentioned before I try to make it a normal routine when I am heading home for lunch to check out our local public square and see if there is anyone sitting there that I can talk to. I was headed home one day and I saw an African-American lady sitting on the square with a bicycle and a portable boom-box. She had the music jammin' and she was jammin' with it. I laughed inside because I thought this was kind of strange being mid-day in such a public place.
I pull over my car and park it. I began to pray for the lady before I went to talk to her (this usually helps me take the focus off of my fears and get my focus on eternity, and I normally ask God to supernaturally intervene through me).
I walk up to her and I can tell by the look on her face that she was not 'normal.' She seemed a little mentally handicapped by her motions and her facial expressions. My heart sank, because normally with someone who is mentally handicapped you have to be very thorough and take lots of time with them for them to understand the essentials of the Gospel. I only had an hour. (What a fleshly mindset.) I repented and committed myself to God and casually said, "Hello!" as I was pulling out a Gospel tract from my shirt pocket.
She quickly turned down the radio and said hello right back to me. I sat down beside her stuck out my hand and introduced myself. She shook it and without hesitation said, "I don't have any friends." I quickly replied, "Well, I can be your friend if you want." She smiled. I gave her the tract and she asked what it was with suspicion. I told her it was a Gospel tract and that it tells you how to go to heaven. She briefly shared with me that her grandmother talked to her as a young child about the Lord. I asked her what she remembered. She ducked her head, squinted her eyes really tight, twiddled her fingers and said, "Umm, I can't remember much. All I know is people don't like me because I am slow. Churches don't want me because I am slow and I know I am slow but that's why." She proceeded to tell me about her life as a teen and how she did bad things.
My heart just broke. I was angry inside because people had rejected this woman in the past from hearing the Gospel because of a physical handicap. To me they were just sending her straight to hell by casting her out because they didn't want to associate with her. I wanted her to hear the Gospel of everlasting life. So I pressed on and tried to ignore the way my heart felt toward the people she had described to me.
I asked her did she consider herself to be a good person overall and she replied with the typical, "Yes I do." I took her through the 10 Commandments to show her specifically where she had sinned against God. She shook her head at each Commandment affirming with her conscience that these things were true. She admitted that if God gave her justice that she wouldn't be headed for Heaven but for Hell. I asked her did that concern her at all and she said that it did.
I then asked her did she know what God did for her so she wouldn't have to go to Hell. She bowed her head, squinted her eyes really tight, twiddled her fingers and said, "Lemme think...Hold on..." My heart was breaking for this woman. She was trying so hard to remember what her grandmother had told her and she just couldn't articulate the words. I said, "Remember Jesus?" She lifted her head really quick and said, "Yes, I remember now." I told her that He suffered and died on the Cross for our sin, and then he rose from the dead, defeating death, and the Bible says that if we repent (I had to explain to her this point very thoroughly) and put our trust in Jesus to save us that God will give us everlasting life and we get to go to Heaven when we die. She was excited that I told her this.
I asked her did she have a Bible at home. She said she did. I then asked her did she go to church anywhere. She said, "No, but where do you go?" I said, "Eastridge off of 142, past the old Wal-Mart." Then she said something that just wanted to make me bust out in tears.
She looked at her bicycle, patted the handlebars and said, "Do you think my bike will get me there? I live on Puckett St." (a very long bike ride for anyone to say the least). I wanted to scream; not out of anger but sheer frustration that there are people out there needing to hear the word of God, wanting to get to a church and they don't even have a way.
I wrote our church information down and encouraged her that if she wanted to come to give the church a call and tell them that she spoke with me and they will contact me to come and pick you up.
Brothers and Sisters, I wanted that day to start a Bus Ministry for our church. I was so frustrated and the only thing that calmed me down was trusting in the sovereignty of God in that situation. I learned a long time ago that I cannot save the world, I can only share with them then One who can.
I prayed with her and asked her to think about what we talked about and to please give the church a call.
That lunch break was great....because I got to share the bread of life, the fountain of living water with someone who couldn't make it to hear about either.
"Go ye therefore....." Mark 16:15
It's there for a reason.
(I wrote this off the hip so if it doesn't flow well, forgive me)
April 7, 2008 @ 9:26 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Last month was different. It was different because I got to share the Gospel with someone who most people tell, "No Thanks." or "Sorry, I am not interested." No, it wasn't a Jehovah's Witness at my front door. It was a telemarketer. What was so different about this experience was the fact that I had never shared the Gospel with a telemarketer before. Actually, it was my wife's idea.
My wife and I recently moved into our new place and with that came the telemarketing and junk mail. It seems like every time you get a new home phone number, telemarketers just pound the thing to death.
Well, the Atlanta Journal was calling me wanting me to subscribe and they had been calling here and there, leaving messages. My wife and I were home one afternoon cooking dinner and the phone rang. Stephanie checks the caller ID and says with excitement, "Oooh, Oooh, It's a telemarketer. Scott witness to them." We actually get joy from sharing the Gospel. Odd this day in age, I know. So I pick up the phone...
"Hello"
"Hello, can I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Autry"
"This is Mr. Autry"
"Hello, Mr. Autry this is Penelope with the Atlanta Journal Constitution. How are you?"
"I'm doing just fine. How about you?"
"Fine..." and then she goes into her sales pitch about the paper.
At the end of her pitch I politely tell her 'No Thanks' and ask her can I have a couple of minutes of her time because I have something I would like to share with her.
She hesitates, probably because they never get anyone asking for their time, but after a short pause says, "Sure."
So I start out with, "Well, I wanted to talk to you and ask your opinion about what you think happens after someone dies. Is there life after death? Do you think there is a Heaven and Hell?"
"Oh, yes she replies. I am a Christian."
At this point I just ignore the response because frankly I could knock on every door in my neighborhood and 98% of the people I ask would affirm that they are a Christian. I won't address that in this blog. Just know that normally when someone says that, just ignore it and keep on track with what you planned.
So I ask, "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?" I asked her this because Proverbs 20:6 says, "Most men will proclaim each his own goodness..." and Proverbs 16:2 says, "All the ways of man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits."
So this questions acts as a spiritual litmus test as to what someone truly believes about their own humanness; their own goodness. So she answers like everyone else.
So I then ask, "Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions to see if that is true?"
She says, "Sure" probably because she is still thinking that she is not necessarily a 'bad' person.
"OK, so we are going to look at the 10 Commandments to see how you do. Ready?"
"Ready" she states.
"Have you ever told a lie? That's the 9th Commandment."
"Yes."
"What does that make you?"
"A liar."
"Have you ever stolen something? That's the 8th Commandment."
"Yes"
"What does that make you?"
"A thief."
"Here's the one that gets most guys. The 7th Commandment says, 'You shall not commit adultery.' but Jesus said of that Commandment in Matthew 5:28, '...whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' Have you ever looked at someone with lust before?"
"Yes. I have."
"OK, so what does that make you?"
"An adulterer."
"Pretty tough examination Penelope. Here are the results. By your own admission, what you have admitted to me, you are a lying, thief, and an adulterer at heart. You have to face God on Judgment Day. Do you think he would find you innocent or guilty of breaking the 10 Commandments?"
She replied, "Wow, that was a tough test. I have never heard it put that way. I would be guilty."
I asked, "Do you think you would go to Heaven or Hell?"
"I would be headed for Hell" she replied.
"Does that concern you?" I asked.
"Yes it does."
I then asked her did she know what God did for her so she wouldn't have to go to Hell. She replied, "Jesus."
"That's right" I replied. "It's like this. We broke God's Law and Jesus paid our fine. Jesus lived a perfect sinless life, then suffered and died on the Cross for our sins.The Bible says if you repent of those sins, and any others you can think of, and put your faith in Jesus Christ to save us that God will grant us what we don't deserve...everlasting life."
She was thrilled that I took the time to explain clearly to her what sin was, specifically, and the clear message of the Cross. She thanked me at the end of the conversation and I thanked her for the time and told her that I would be praying for her. God was glorified in it because His Son was exalted as Savior.
Here's the deal folks. Jesus says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
I surmise, and I am not that intelligent believe me, that if you aren't then you won't.
Think about it.
Here is a document to help you give a clear Biblical Gospel presentation. Print it out and next time a telemarketer call, ask God to give you strength and have a conversation about eternity.
**If you've read this and you are questioning your salvation please contact us and we would really appreciate the time to talk to you.***
January 9, 2008 @ 1:27 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
Get this book....fast.
If you know anything about John MacArthur, you know that he is solid, Biblically solid. What I really like about his approach to what he writes is the fact that he leaves out personal opinion. He lets the Bible speak.
I couldn't even begin to explain the solid Biblical approach of this book to fight the current day apostasy.
Every Christian alive should read this book as soon as possible.
Book Description:
"Right now, Truth is under attack, and much is at stake. In a postmodern culture, Christians are caught in the crossfire of alternative Christian histories, emerging faulty texts, and a cultural push to eliminate absolute Truth altogether. As a result, many churches and Christians have been deceived. Worse still, they propagate the deception that poses itself as Truth! In The Truth War, John MacArthur reclaims the unwavering certainty of God's Truth and anchors Christians in the eternal, immovable promises found in His Word."
September 27, 2007 @ 3:02 PM EST | Category: Just Bloggin'
We have been tilling up the soil of hearts this past week at the Rockdale County Fair. We will be there until Saturday. Check the Calendar for details.
I wanted to share an encouraging story with you; A story that really brought the passage in John 4:29 to life.
We were engaging people at the Fair with a $20 question. We call it the "Good Person Test." We take a $20 bill and ask those passing by if they would like to take a test at no charge. If they pass the test, they get the $20. If they fail, they get a 10 Commandments Coin souvenir. We take them through the 10 Commandments (or Moral Law of God) and show them that in God's sight we are not good people at all.
Well, about mid-day I caught the attention of a middle aged married couple. I took them through the test, with their eyes intently gazing into mine. They began to subconsciously nod at the affirmations of guilt before God when judged according to His Holy standard. The gentleman didn't seem to blink the whole time I was there. God had truly ordained this time. I could just tell...Something was different.
We finished the conversation and they thanked me for talking with them.
(A side note: The past couple of days have been really encouraging at the fair. We have actually had people hug us and cry when sharing with them. I truly believe that it has something in part to do with the prayer we had over this outreach, but mostly, if not all to do with God preparing mens hearts to hear the Gospel of salvation.)
So I go back to the table to grab some more tracts and check out who Mark and Stephanie were talking to and the same married couple are back again; only this time with 3 other people. They looked at me and with all seriousness said, "Tell our friends what you just told us."
I was floored and so excited at the same time. John 4:29 immediately popped into my head. It was truly a new experience, but glory to God it was a blessing also.
I shared with the 3 friends also and they were soaking it in just like their friends who brought them over.
God has been so good these past couple of days. Amen!
Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him."
