Evangelism

Here is a great insight from Mark Dever on Evangelism

Mark Dever - On what Evangelism isn't.

Imposition

Probably the most common objection to evangelism today is, "Isn't it wrong to impose our beliefs on others?"

Some people don't practice evangelism because they feel they are imposing on others. And the way evangelism is often done, I can understand the confusion! But when you understand what the Bible presents as evangelism, it's really not a matter of imposing your beliefs.
It's important to understand that the message you are sharing is not merely an opinion but a fact. That's why sharing the gospel can't be called an imposition, any more than a pilot can impose his belief on all his passengers that the runway is here and not there.

Additionally, the truths of the gospel are not yours, in the sense that they uniquely pertain to you or your perspective or experience, or in the sense that you came up with them. When you evangelize, you are not merely saying, "This is how I like to think of God," or "This is how I see it." You're presenting the Christian gospel. You didn't invent it, and you have no authority to alter it.

Don't Be Ashamed. 2 Timothy 1:8-12

I've never suffered for the gospel like Paul did and like so many do today in different areas of the world. Why do they suffer? They suffer because, like Paul, they were not ashamed or detered from testifying about Jesus regardless of whether persecution was certain. What is it that gives such boldness? It is the hope that is in Jesus, the hope of life with Jesus that makes all else pale in comparison - even suffering. Let's take advantage of every opportunity and be a bold witness about Jesus. There really is a joy that comes just from sharing the good news.

2 Timothy 1:8-12
8So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, 9who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

Watch Me Love. 1 John 4:7-11

Typically when I read this passage I pay special attention to the first part of it. It explains that if we don't love then we can't know God because God is love. It's convicting. Then we're given the ultimate expample of love in Christ's atoning work for us that appeased the wrath of God against sinful man. However in this reading of the passage something else caught my attention. The passage closes by explaining no one has ever seen God. It then goes on the explain one of the reasons loving one another is so important. If we love each other with the love of Christ, God's love lives in us. While no one has ever seen God, they can see who he is by watching his followers, because God's love is made complete in them. What an amazing truth! People see God in us by the way we love one another. I hope this is an encouragement to you today as it is to me - to love people well, with the very love of Christ that dwells within us.

1 John 4:7-11
7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

propitiation - the act of accepting or absorbing punishment for wrongdoing.
manifest - to make clear or evident to the eye or the understanding.

Everything We Need

I've been studying this passage lately and it may be one of the more powerful verses in the Bible. It's complete with information on who we are, who Jesus is and the amazing work he's done in our lives. What a great encouragement that Christ lives in us! We can do whatever God calls us to do because the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead also brought us from death to life and resides in us still.

1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

God Will Have His Way.

The title to this post could be taken a number of ways. It almost requires a subtitle in order to understand which direction it's going to go. "God Will Have His Way: You're Just Going to Have to Deal With It" is one option, but that's not at all where I am.

Last Monday my wife took a pregnancy test and it was positive. Just to make sure, she took another one, and then one more. All positive. Calls were made to family and they rejoiced with us about the news. Immediately you start planning. Is it going to be another boy, or maybe a girl this time. Do we need a minivan...of course. Then there were complications. The following Monday we went in for an ultrasound and were notified that there was no life. There was conception, yes, but there was never any development. We were devastated. Everything fell apart the night before because, in our hearts, we knew. The ultrasound confirmed what we already thought to be true.

There are times in the midst of trial that it seems as though you'll never climb out of it, like you'll be in that pit forever. And some people are. Some people are still in the pit of despair that they've been wallowing around in for ten years. I realized that when you're there you basically have two options. You can keep your head up and wait for the Lord's deliverance or you can put it down and dig your pit deeper and wider, just big enough to live in. We waited. The Lord delivered.

Is there pain? Yes. Is it difficult? Yes. But we have come to this beautiful understanding that God will have his way: and that's a good thing (that's the subtitle). We've learned about a hundred lessons through all this. One is how to make sense of James 1:2-3 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. The lessons learned in that trial were sweet because they were accompanied by the grace, love and presence of our Lord.

We also learned that God will use his church to administer some of his grace, love and presence. All of a sudden Galatians 6:2 became clear to me in a new way. "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." One of our first thoughts after knowing about our loss was, "How are we going to go back and tell everyone that we told." That's when I remembered this verse. God was making a way for us to have some built in support for this difficult time. Immediately we knew people would be praying for us, encouraging us and reaching out to us simply because they knew.

Finally, I learned more than anything that God is love (1Jn 4:16). Of course I knew this before, but I experienced it in a new light last week. We could have easily become embittered toward God, angry at him for not protecting the pregnancy. If we did, we would have understood him. We would have understood his power, but not his love. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord. God will have his way and that's a good thing.

You Should Read This. James

Do you ever read the Bible and it seems like God shines a huge light right on a specific text that opens up an entire passage or book? That happened to me today. I went to James, which I've been drawn to lately, with this question: "Where does the strength come from to do all these things that James calls us to do?" James is a great book, but it's different than a lot of the New Testament in that it doesn't spend a lot of time on the Holy Spirit or even Jesus. It spends more time on what a person looks like who follows Jesus and talks about wisdom more than any other New Testament book.

This morning it was leaving me with that perplexing question, so I told myself, "Start from the beginning and surely the answer will be in there somewhere." It turns out the answer was in the first paragraph. "If any of you is lacking wisdom he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault." My definition of wisdom had hindered me from understanding the meaning of this statement. My definition of wisdom had everything to do with understanding with your head. James definition has everything to do with understanding with your feet.

Let me explain what I mean. If you truly have a God-given understanding of how to live the Christian life that doesn't just mean you will follow that with action it means you are acting it out. The wisdom of God is full of power as well. If you are not acting out your faith then you don't have faith. It's not as if the wisdom is there and it's just not making it into your every day life. The wisdom is simply not there. Wisdom that God grants is full of strength to do the thing which He has shown you is right to do.

This unlocked the book for me and so I wanted to share it with you. If you go on to read the remainder of the book it all points back to this God-given-power-packed wisdom, contrasting it with the foolishness of man. In fact many of the passages in the book have an implied "you fool!" at the end of it. I'll give you an example of what I mean. James 1:23-24 reads, "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and...goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like (you fool!)." Or how about this one. The passage demands impartiality toward rich and poor from a church that was apparently showing favoritism toward the rich. It concludes in 2:6-7 with this. "Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong? (you fools!)"

I realize this is longer than the usual post, but it's exciting information that will help you understand James as well as live the Christian life. The power for living the life we should live comes from God. Here's the good news, if your lacking that power/understanding, you can ask God and he'll give it to you. There's no specific passage today, just go anywhere in James and pick one applying this idea of the wisdom of God. Here's a link to James if you want it. Have a great day!

Watch Your Mouth. James 3:3-12

My mouth got me into a lot of trouble when I was a kid (it still does occasionally, even today). The words you speak or write can have a huge impact on your life. This is true in the way that I'm sure most of you are thinking, like if you talk back to your boss or parents you will likely not enjoy the consequences. However, it's also true in other situations where we don't normally consider our words to have as much power. Like when an acquaintance asks us to do something we know we shouldn't do. We don't always understand the power of the word "no" in that situation. We don't see the power of the words we've been speaking up to that point that has given them the impression we are something we're not. Use your words well and use them wisely. Tame that tongue of yours and make it your master. It can come in real handy.

James 3:3-12
3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.