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Category Archives: Evangelism
Living in Denial
“The only reason the atheist has for ‘wanting’ to believe that God doesn’t exist is that he hates him.”
Author Anonymous
The reason the atheist can only ‘want’ to believe that God doesn’t exist is that he knows otherwise. The atheist’s hatred for God is evident from his many railings, if not directly against God, against God’s people. The wise atheist is never caught railing against God, for he would look extremely foolish railing against that which he says does not exist. His wisdom is on a very short leash however, because he is given away by his railings against God’s people.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” – Romans 1:18-20
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” – Romans 8:7
The heathen rage because they desperately want to believe there is no God, however they know He exists, and He speaks of them as objects of His wrath and under condemnation for their unbelief. Men can only ‘not’ believe in Him, they cannot deny Him.
Whosoever Will May Come
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. – Rev 22:17 (KJV)
That must be one of the favorite verses of evangelical Christians. We use it a lot, with special emphasis on “whosoever”, as if anyone and everyone can or is able, to actually come to Christ. It’s a great thought, but it is it true according to what we are given in Scripture? Perhaps a separate question would be helpful here. “Just who CAN come Christ?
Who can hear? Who thirsts for Christ? Who desires Christ?
CANNOT/WILL NOT
“No one understands; no one seeks for God.” – Rom 3:11 (Those who don’t seek.)
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” – Rom 8:7 (The carnally/fleshly minded.)
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” – 2 Cor 4:3-4 (The blind man wearing a veil.)
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. – Eph 2:1-3 (The dead man – deserving only of God’s wrath.)
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:44 (The one not drawn to Christ by the Father.)
“And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” – John 6:65 (The one not granted to come by the Father)
“Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.” – John 10:25-26 (Those who are not His sheep.)
CAN/WILL
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” – Matt 7:7 (The true seeker.)
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” – John 6:37 (Those the Father gives the Son)
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:44 (The one drawn by the Father to the Son)
“And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” – John 6:65 (The one to whom it is granted by the Father.)
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” John 27-28 (His sheep.)
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved—Eph 2:4-5 (Those made alive by God)
“And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” – Acts 13:48 (Those appointed to eternal life.)
“One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” – Act 16:14 (The one whose heart has been opened to hear and receive the gospel.)
“..even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, Eph 1:4-5 (Those chosen and predestined by God for adoption.)
“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” – 2Th 2:13 (Those chosen for salvation.)
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…” – 1 Pet 1:1-2a (The elect according to the foreknowledge of God.)
Those are but a few of the passages of scripture that address the question “Who CAN come to Christ.?” They say what they say, and ought to be solid food for thought for all of us who name The Name of Christ.. Perhaps we will be more urgent in praying that God will call men and women to Christ, and that He will open hearts; enabling those to whom we witness to Come!
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Except where noted, all Scripture passages are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV)
"All you need is a personal relationship with Jesus!"
Picture this conversation between a couple of guys, perhaps friends at work, or school, during a lunch break. One is a Christian (Eager ‘Evangelist’) looking for an opportunity to share Jesus. The other guy is a known nonbeliever (Lost Soul) who has been going through some tough ‘stuff of life’ – marriage in trouble or girlfriend dumped him, having problems paying bills, maybe he even was on the wrong end of an IRS audit, whatever. The list could go on and on. The poor guy is almost in tears and the moment is ripe for our eager ‘evangelist’
Eager ‘Evangelist’: “All you really need is a personal relationship with Jesus, and everything work out OK!”
Lost Soul: “Really? I just need a personal relationship with Jesus and all my problems in life can be solved? What do you mean?”
Eager ‘Evangelist’: “Just that God loves YOU, and has a really great plan for YOUR life!”
Lost Soul: “He does? Wow!!!!!!! I love ME too!!!!!!” “I had a plan, but man, it’s totally on the skids! Are you telling me God has a better plan for my life?”
Eager ‘Evangelist’: “You’ve got it!!!!! He wants fix ALL the broken stuff, and for you to live abundantly in every area of your life!”
Lost Soul: “Way Kewl!!!! How do I get this relationship?”
Eager ‘Evangelist’: “Just repeat after me. . .”
Lost Soul: . . .repeating with sincerity the little prayer. . .
Eager ‘Evangelist’: “Congratulations! You’re SAVED!”
Well, I could have reversed the roles there, because that’s a been there done that moment. Is there truth in that? Yes, but not the whole truth of the matter. Something has been left out. I used to leave it out, and it’s left out of countless ‘gospel’ presentations every day. I might have even used the rest of the popular ‘evangelistic tool’, but the central focus was on point #1, paraphrased in the above title.
Perhaps the tool isn’t used as much these days, but the central focus of most evangelism these days is the personal relationship with Jesus that is lacking in everyone outside of Christ. While it’s true that a saving personal relationship with Jesus is lacking, is it true that everyone outside of Christ has no personal relationship, as we so readily communicate in our witnessing?
Would Jesus agree with that assessment – that those who have not believed in Him have no relationship with Him? Let’s see.
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” – John 3:18
We love to share a verse a couple of verses before this one, as well as those after, but how we love to omit this one in our presentations! If we know that Jesus is the judge, and I hope we all do, since that’s what the Bible tells us, everyone outside of Christ because of unbelief (everybody who does not believe), has a very personal relationship with Jesus
So much for Jesus’ opinion of personal relationships, what did the great Apostle Paul have to say of the matter?
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” – Eph 2:1-3 (Emphasis mine)
If you missed what Paul told the Ephesian Christians, he told them that before they were the recipients of God’s saving grace through faith in Christ, they were by nature objects of God’s wrath, like the rest of mankind. I don’t think it can be any clearer than that, my friend.
To this old guy, it seems evident that every everyone, absolutely every person of the planet, lives within the framework of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – we either live under ‘wrath’ or under ‘grace’.
Think about it and evaluate your ‘evangelism’. I’ve had to evaluate mine.
What about my friends?
That’s a question all believers face at some point, and it comes in many forms:
- “Now that I believe in Christ, will I lose my friends, some of whom think Christianity is a joke?”
- “Will I make new friends if I lose the old ones?
- “Should I tell my friends about what just happened to me?
- “How do I tell my friends I now believe in Christ as my Savior?”
- “What will my friends think of me?”
- “Do I have to walk away from my ‘worldly’ friends? Will they dump me?
And the list goes on. . .
The founder of The Navigators is said to have answered the “How long should I wait before telling my friends……..” question with something like “Do you want that in minutes or seconds?”
Well. my son Dan (also and mostly known as Hauss) told me this last Father’s Day how and why he handled the situation, and probably addressed the above list and most of the other questions that could be added to the list.
Hauss had already been sharing with me over the last year or so how he had been finding out, while ‘hanging out’ with the same crowd, that he no longer felt comfortable engaging in some of the activities involved, and was even developing a distaste for what he had previously enjoyed or thought perfectly normal behavior. The changes he was experiencing were not unnoticed by his friends, and he has been sometimes asked what happened, to which he would reply “I got saved.”, after which he would talk about it. No beating around the bush there!
At some point he decided to just write a letter to everyone on his ‘close friend’ list and tell them all about it. The reason he gave me was basically that it was the right and fair thing to do. They are close friends and close friends don’t keep secrets from each other – he needed to just be up front and honest with them. There was nothing overtly ‘evangelistic’ – no motives other than honesty and integrity. What a concept!
Naturally I was pleased, but not terribly surprised, because I have listened to him share his testimony of having confronted sin, repented of it and trusting in Christ. I have no doubts concerning the genuineness of his confession of faith. What did come to mind however, was something I can’t remember ever having thought a lot about in the context of this scenario – sharing one’s faith with those who are close to us.
Hauss, with his letter, had not only answered a lot of questions faced by a ‘young’ believer, he had avoided the pain of being the one to initiate the severing of a close relationship, should that be the best course of action in the fuure. That ‘ball’ was no longer in his court! Since he had simply been open, honest, and caring, it was now on the shoulders of the receivers of the letter to respond. They would either :
- Choose to remain friends, either dismissing Hauss’ testimony as only a temporary phase, or with a genuine interest/curiosity, possibly due to an ‘awakening’ in their own hearts, or
- Sever the friendship at some point or other because they ‘couldn’t handle the truth’ presented, because they had not yet been awakened by the Holy Spirit to hear and receive the gospel message in Hauss’ testimony.
If they hung around hoping for a ‘phase, they would come to another decision point whether to stick around any longer or just write Hauss off as a ‘lost cause’.
Interesting thing though. I don’t think for a second that Hauss has experienced much of the personal stress this whole scenario invites. He just did what came naturally. That’s just the way he is. Or should I say ‘new’ naturally!
If you are reading this and think writing a letter might not be for you, you could be right. Perhaps God will plant some other way to tell the ones, who are often the hardest to tell, about your salvation, The important thing is to face the question(s) head on, continue to read your Bible, pray about it and, like a famous commercial: “Just do it!”
God will take care of the results, whatever they me be, ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. Not only that, the peace you will find is beyond words, at least any words I have at my disposal – and I am a ‘wordy’ guy at times.
What ABOUT your friends?
The Apostle Paul Turns to the Gentiles
The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you (the Jews). Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'” And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. – Acts 13:44-48 (ESV)
13:44-45. On the next Sabbath . . . the Jews (i.e., Jewish leaders), moved by jealousy . . . talked abusively against what Paul was saying (“abusively” renders the Gr. participle blasphēmountes).
13:46. To combat this Jewish opposition Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, We had to speak the Word of God to you first. Apostolic preaching was noted for its boldness.
It was necessary that the apostles go to the Jews first for a number of reasons. First, the coming of the earthly kingdom depended on Israel’s response to the coming of Christ (cf. Matt. 23:39; Rom. 11:26). Second, only after Israel rejected the gospel could Paul devote himself to the Gentiles. Third, the message of Jesus is fundamentally Jewish in that the Old Testament, the Messiah, and the promises are all Jewish. (On “the Jew first,” cf. Acts 3:26; Rom. 1:16.)
So Paul turned to the Gentiles in Antioch. This pattern was repeated in city after city until Paul reached Rome (cf. Acts 13:50-51; 14:2-6; 17:5, 13-15; 18:6; 19:8-9). There for the final time in the book the Apostle Paul turned from Jews to Gentiles (28:23-28).
13:47. In thus turning to the Gentiles Paul and Barnabas saw an outworking of the prophecy of Isaiah 49:6, I have made you a light to the Gentiles. This Old Testament passage has at least three applications—to Israel (Isa. 49:3), to Christ (Luke 2:29-32), and to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
13:48. The Gentiles rejoiced in this turn of events and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. It is difficult to miss the doctrine of God’s election here; the words “were appointed” come from the verb tassō, a military word meaning “to arrange” or “to assign.” Luke used it here to show that God’s elective decree included Gentiles.
i.e., id est, that is
cf., confer, compare
Walvoord, John F. ; Zuck, Roy B. ; Dallas Theological Seminary: The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983-c1985, S. 2:390
What did Jesus Say About End Times?
Christians have always been curious about the End Times. It’s part of our nature to be curious about such things. Even Jesus’ closest followers asked about the end of the age:
Mat 24:3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”
Mar 13:3-4 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”
Luk 21:7 And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”
What is significant to note is the context around the disciples’ question. What is stated clearly in the Matthew account and inescapable in all three parallel accounts is that the question is asked in the context of the second coming of Christ. All of the accounts end with “then they will see the Son of Man coming”, followed by the gathering of ‘the elect’.
Mat 24:30-31 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mar 13:10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
Mar 13:26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Mar 13:32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.
Luk 21:13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness.
Luk 21:19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
Luk 21:27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
More importantly than ‘when’ are our actions and attitude. As believers we are not to speculate:
“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
We are not to be alarmed by the ‘events’ of the end times, whether they be personal persecution, drastic weather/natural phenomena, or warring nations. We are to endure by God’s power and we will be ‘gathered together’ with Christ – the ‘salvation’ spoken of in these passages.
Mat 24:6 See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Luk 21:13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness.
Luk 21:19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
We are to ‘bear witness’. Of what? the gospel:
Mar 13:10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
How can we summarize Jesus’ teachings about the end times?
- They began before the destruction of Jerusalem, which is specific to the above passages of scripture, and will end at the Second Coming of Christ.
- A lot of ‘bad stuff’ (according to us and not necessarily to God) will happen between the beginning of the end times and Christ’s coming.
- Some of that ‘bad stuff’ will happen to followers of Christ, but we are to continue to spread the gospel of Christ to ‘all nations’, meaning those in our areas of influence as well as the nations of the world.
- All of God’s elect will be gathered together with Christ – our ‘final’ redemption to God’s great Glory.
While Jesus does does provide a lot of detail concerning the ‘signs’, he forbids speculation about the ‘when’. Rather, he tells his closest followers (and us) to endure while spreading the gospel of Christ, confident of His Second Coming and the hope of our final redemption and glorification. What should the apparent escalation of ‘stuff’ we see do to our thinking and attitudes?
This old soldier thinks it should cause within us an even greater urgency to spread the gospel of Christ!
The Sovereignty of God Among the Nations
The Apostle Paul, in at the Areopagus, in Athens, spoke these words concerning the “unknown god” for whom there was a “just in case” idol:
“And he (God) made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” – Acts 17: 26-31, ESV
What an awesome testimony of God’s sovereignty over all things, especially the nations, all the nations of the earth! In these few words, Paul summarized the activity of God concerning the nations, from creation to final judgment!
Listening to the various forms of rhetoric concerning the state of our nation, one hears just about everything from the far left to the far right, and everywhere in between. I have my own opinions about things, and it is very difficult to remain silent at times and remember that God is sovereign over all the affairs of men. this is not to say that the voice of an old soldier will not be heard by way of the ballot box, but only to say that God is sovereign and all moaning and complaining will not change his divine purposes.
I am also reminded of how many times in the book of Ezekiel alone God spoke the words “Then they will know that I am the Lord!” Depending on the translation, those words, or words like them, were spoken between 25 and 30 times. God spoke them when he was blessing his people and when he punished his people, claiming divine responsibility for both the blessing and the punishment. God spoke those words over pagan nations he caused to rise up as the instrument of divine discipline, and when he caused the very nations he used as divine instruments to be themselves destroyed as his enemies.
God WILL have his way with the nations, and he WILL gather his elect, the remnant out of all the nations, chosen for Himself before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4 & Rev 5:9).
What are we, as Christians, to do in this time? What is our reason for remaining ‘among the nations”?
There is but one answer in the heart of this old soldier – the gospel of Jesus Christ! We have the great privilege of being used of God to take the gospel to all the nations – the gospel that Christ died for our sins for our justification and was raised up again, as we are raised up in Him as we yet live, and will one day be glorified with Him in the final resurrection.
Our mission – the Great Commission – has never changed.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matt 28:19-20
Perhaps this is a time when we, as individual believers and as the Bride of Christ, should ask ourselves. “How are we doing?”
Gospel Definitions from Christians in the Present – No. 1
R.C. Sproul
“There is no greater message to be heard than that which we call the Gospel. But as important as that is, it is often given to massive distortions or over simplifications. People think they’re preaching the Gospel to you when they tell you, ‘you can have a purpose to your life’, or that ‘you can have meaning to your life’, or that ‘you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.’ All of those things are true, and they’re all important, but they don’t get to the heart of the Gospel.
The Gospel is called the ‘good news’ because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings, and that problem is simply this: God is holy and He is just, and I’m not. And at the end of my life, I’m going to stand before a just and holy God, and I’ll be judged. And I’ll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness – or lack of it – or the righteousness of another.
The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well being but for His people. He has done for me what I couldn’t possibly do for myself. But not only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God.
The great misconception in our day is this: that God isn’t concerned to protect His own integrity. He’s a kind of wishy-washy deity, who just waves a wand of forgiveness over everybody. No. For God to forgive you is a very costly matter. It cost the sacrifice of His own Son. So valuable was that sacrifice that God pronounced it valuable by raising Him from the dead – so that Christ died for us, He was raised for our justification. So the Gospel is something objective. It is the message of who Jesus is and what He did.
And it also has a subjective dimension. How are the benefits of Jesus subjectively appropriated to us? How do I get it? The Bible makes it clear that we are justified not by our works, not by our efforts, not by our deeds, but by faith – and by faith alone. The only way you can receive the benefit of Christ’s life and death is by putting your trust in Him – and in Him alone. You do that, you’re declared just by God, you’re adopted into His family, you’re forgiven of all of your sins, and you have begun your pilgrimage for eternity.”
Gospel Definitions from Christians in the Past – No. 2
Jeremiah Burroughs
The gospel of Christ in general is this:
It is the good tidings that God has revealed concerning Christ.
More largely it is this:
As all mankind was lost in Adam and became the children of wrath, put under the sentence of death, God, though He left His fallen angels and has reserved them in the chains of eternal darkness, yet He has thought upon the children of men and has provided a way of atonement to reconcile them to Himself again…Namely, the second person of the Trinity takes man’s nature upon Himself, and becomes the Head of a second covenant, standing charged with sin. He answers for it by suffering what the law and divine justice required, and by making satisfaction by keeping the law perfectly, which satisfaction and righteousness He tenders up to the Father as a sweet savor of rest for the souls that are given to Him…And now this mediation of Christ is, by the appointment of the Father, preached to the children of men, of whatever nation or rank, freely offering this atonement unto sinners for atonement, requiring them to believe in Him and, upon believing, promising not only a discharge of all their former sins, but that they shall not enter into condemnation, that none of their sins or unworthiness shall ever hinder the peace of God with them, but that they shall through Him be received into the number of those who shall have the
image of God again to be renewed unto them, and they they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
C.H. Dodd
The Gospel” Summarized in 6 Parts
1. The Age of Fulfillment has dawned, the “latter days” foretold by the prophets. (Acts 3:18-26)
2. This has taken place through the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:22-31)
3. By virtue of the resurrection, Jesus has been exalted at the right hand of God as Messianic head of the new Israel. (Acts 2:32-36)
4. The Holy Spirit in the church is the sign of Christ’s present power and glory. (Acts 10:44-48)
5. The Messianic Age will reach its consummation in the return of Christ. (Acts 3:20-21)
6. An appeal is made for repentance with the offer of forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, and salvation. (Acts 2:37-41)
The Battle Cry 