Often I have to look at this and remind myself and why I am on this earth!!! This is my purpose!
Personal Evangelism
Image via WikipediaPersonal and Relational Evangelism should be the foundation the Christian life. In today's social world we are all users of Facebook and other social media outlets. Twitter continues to rise and is used by thousands of Christians to communicate with each other. We are so captivated by reading what others are doing, so captivated by letting others know what we are doing and even just as soon as it happens. Yet when it comes to face to face communications we lack the desire to give as many updates as we do via the cell or laptop and why is that?
Now considering there are so many people that love Facebook and other social media outlets yet have a horrible face to face ability to interact with one another, is it that we really do not want those relationships or is it that we do and we just have no idea how to do it face to face? I say the latter!
Consider the Garen of Eden. We were created to communicate! Created to have a personal relationship with each other and with God. When Adam and Even sinned what happened? We ran and hid from God. We hid ourselves from each other and only communicated from behind a bush!
Today, God walks around and ask us where we are and we hide behind ourselves or behind our computers and say, "here i am God!"
This week we will focus on some key elements that both hinder us from having those personal, face to face relationship with people, and those elements that will enable us to get past those things that hinder us!
Stay tuned...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A Facebook Posting that Sticks
A few days ago I had the opportunity to copy a post from a friends page. on Facebook. I think it pretty much speaks to itself about what is meant from it. My main point to this post is simply to convey to everything that we need to pray people! Pray and I mean pray! Here it is:
Will God Win?
God set out to prepare Elijah to be a great man of faith and prayer. To do this, He set up and obstacle course of tests. To this point in I Kings, Elijah had passed everyone, and God has met Elijah’s every need. When Elijah feared for his life, God showed him where to hide. When there was no food, God sent ravens to feed him.
When the wadi dried up, God sent Elijah to a widow in Sidon. When Elijah discovered that this poor woman had no food left to share, God provided flour and oil every day to feed them all. At this point God designed another crisis. It was the greatest test Elijah had faced thus far.
If you are at the end of the rope and you can’t see anything left to help you then you must depend on God. When you think that there is nothing left to feed you physically, emotionally or spiritually then you must understand that God operates in the extra-ordinary and not the ordinary. You may have been put at the end for a reason, at the point where you see no help or resolution. For it is as that point where you decide if God will be allowed to win or lose in your life!
God has food for you every day! You must pray! Pray and ask God to feed you. Prayer is the feet to God’s will. It sets God’s desire and power into action. I challenge you to turn off the radio, turn off the TV and computer and spend 30 minutes a day in prayer! Watch what God can do for you if you only take time to tell Him your need! It is not that He doesn’t already know your need, He does! The point is that God wants to hear you ask!
Never Take The Loop Road
“Show me your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.” Psalm 25:4
Never take the Loop Road because it will take you off the road that easier, simpler and smoother to travel on and eventually lead you back to the same destination anyway!
Near my house is a road named “Loop Road.” To be traveling on the main road and to suddenly find yourself on the loop road is as simple as a slight “Y” in the road. You almost do not have to slow down at all to even get on the Loop Road from the original road. Within a few hundred yards it curves and then begins to parallel the original road for some distance. It is not as smooth as the original road. Its curves are much more difficult to negotiate, and its hill much steeper, but eventually it brings you back out to the original road where you are faced with a decision. Do you turn left and go back in the direction you came or do you turn right and go in the same direction that you would have gone anyway had you not gotten on the Loop Road to begin with.
God has a path for you. He has a destination for you and a purpose for your life! He has never intended you to bare off on any loop roads, yet we all do from time to time. Sometimes we do not even realize that we have bared off on that road until we suddenly realize the road under us isn’t as smooth as it was before or we can’t navigate the curves as easy as we once could. We look over through the forest and see others traveling on some other road and suddenly realize something has gone horribly wrong and we are on different roads, yet traveling in the same direction.
Church Growth Could Be the Same
I cannot help but get jealous of the church in the book of Acts. At the end of chapter 2 the church seemed to be awe of everything that had happened recently and seemed to careless about anything left in their life except Jesus.
Notice what Chapter 2 verses 42-47 says, or doesn’t say. It doesn’t say that after work every day they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship. It doesn’t say they were all together and even though everyone was different they just overlooked it and fellowshipped.
It does say that they were all together and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship. It does say that they were all together and had everything in common.
Church growth and evangelism could be same today as it was 2,000 years ago. We could still see everyone excited and spreading God’s wonderful redemption message! Today we fail to COMMIT to God. God is simply something we fit into our life but not anymore important than having to pay bills or having to go visit family members or having to go to work.
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"The devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching..."Acts 2:42 |
I can tell you this…if you want to see Acts chapter 2 again in this modern world then it doesn’t start with prayer rebuking the devil to stay away from sinners, it doesn’t start great messages in the church or wonderful anointed worship services. It starts with you, the Christian. You commit to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. You simply bring into perspective the fact that there is nothing more important than the message of the Cross.
God’s glory is real, God’s power is real and we need to commit to the understanding that there is nothing more important than serving him and fellowshipping with people that we have things in common with!
Read Chapter 2 and commit to prayer. Ask God to bring back the event, feeling and movement of Acts chapter 2. The is more to come on this topic!
Should the church be marketed and branded like a business?
Here is my opinion on should we brand and market the church. We must first understand our goal with church before we can consider the answer to the question. Our goal should always be to increase the kingdom of God. It should be to duplicate that power, love and salvation of Jesus Christ. I personally think that Jesus filled the number one goal of marketing… “it should be able to be duplicated!” You can duplicate Jesus! He wants us to duplicate the examples he put forth while on this earth. Pray, seek God’s Kingdom, and love just to name a few. If we do not submit to the Holy Spirit and allow ourselves to be the hands and arms of Jesus Christ then we will never see the church grow.
So we are marketable and should be. Do you think that Jesus didn’t know the outcome of the day he fed 5,000 people with just a few fish and loaves of bread? Of course He did. He knew not everyone there would come to accept Him as savior. He knew both lost and saved people would leave that day with belly’s full. He used His ability to feed the hungry to market His message! Do you remember eating at the fish house last year? No…but we are still talking about the day that Jesus fed those people fish 2,000 years later! He could have quietly fed everyone but no he made it a big event!
Post your thoughts on this in the comments...
But should we brand ourselves along with marketing? We will talk about that tomorrow!
Is God Involved???
Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Have you ever taken the question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” and put your specific topic into that question? “Is it too hard for the Lord to provide money for my bills?” “Is it too hard for the Lord to fix my marriage?”
If you had been Abraham and you had that faith that you have today…would you really have bothered to even let it cross your mind to say, “Lord, I will return and Sarah will have a son.” Most people wouldn’t because their faith wouldn’t be stronger than the physical possibilities they see. You would have seen an old lady and the circumstances and said, “ no way.”
Do you know we serve a God that has created every single thing we see, every single person that has ever walked on this earth, He knew. He knows every person that will ever be born, knows how many stars hang in space and yet we place Him in a box of possibilities and we limit him to what we think He can and can’t do. Shame on us!
You are the child of a King, now act like it! Your “daddy” can do anything, anytime and anyway He wants! All you have to do is ask and then have it done! Make it a priority this week to live in the possibility and not what you see!
Church growth would never take place if we only believed in the things that we see. To walk into a church meeting and see only a handful present is sometimes discouraging but not with God. God wants us to become evangelist because His plans are not ours and His desire is to have churches larger than anything we have ever saw, Christians in less financial problems than non-believers, Christians with stronger marriages than anyone in the world! Church growth and evangelism can never be carried out in the physical sense, but must always be carried out in the spiritual realm! –Go make “daddy” proud!
How Not to Be a Cuckoo
You ability to reach people with evangelism, and your ability to perform church growth is simple...don't become like a cuckoo bird! You have to feed yourself good quality "spiritual food." Once you feed yourself that food then you will be able to carry out the functions of church builder and evangelist. Here is what I mean...
The cuckoo is a common bird in England. The first sign of spring is that bird's call. The cuckoo never builds its own nest. When it feels an egg coming on, it finds another nest with eggs and no parent bird. The cuckoo lands, hurriedly lays its egg, and takes off again. That's all the cuckoo does in terms of parenting. (We have a lot of cuckoos in our society today!)
The thrush, whose nest has now been invaded, comes back, circles, and comes into the wind to land. Not being very good at arithmetic, it can't imagine why it immediately begins to list to starboard. It gets to work hatching the eggs. Four little thrushes and one large cuckoo eventually hatch. The cuckoo is two or three times the size of the thrushes.
Mrs. Thrush, having hatched the five little birds, goes off early in the morning to get the worm. She comes back, circles the nest to see four petite thrush mouths and one cavernous cuckoo mouth. Who gets the worm? The cuckoo.
Guess what happens. The cuckoo gets bigger and bigger; the little thrushes get smaller and smaller.
To find a baby cuckoo in a nest, simply walk along a hedge row until you find little dead thrushes. The cuckoo throws them out one at a time. Here's an adult thrush feeding a baby cuckoo that is three times as big as the thrush.
And the moral of the story is this: you have two natures in one nest and the nature you go on feeding will grow, and the nature you go on starving will diminish. If there's going to be anything resembling that which God has in mind for us, it is going to come not through an annual attempt at the spirit of Christmas but a perpetual recognition of the Spirit of Christ.
Romans 14:12 says that each of us will give account for the things that we have done. Make sure that what you feed your soul is acceptable to God because it would be a horrible day if we are spit out like most of us do if we were to consume milk that had gone "bad."
Live strong, study God's word even if you don't feel like it! Pray, even when you feel like you don't want to! Christianity is NOT about emotion, but it is about the facts of God's word playing out to change our life! Be tenacious and have a plan for getting where you are going in life...work the plan! Live Free!
Grow yourself and grow a church. Evangelism depends upon you and if you have grown in God's word and power then evangelism is no problem at all!
The Legacy of Failure and Success
Elijah is a stand out in Biblical history and was one of the most significant Old Testament prophets of all time. Why did God use him in such amazing ways? What was the true story of his life?
Elijah's success was based on no secrets. The reasons for his success stand out clearly from the numerous events in his life as though they were three high mountain peaks standing out against the evening sky. As the sun begins to set on this old prophet's life, we can look back and see three primary reasons God used Elijah to accomplish His purses in the world.
Elijah was a man of God's Word (I Kings 17:2-10), A Man of Prayer (James 5:17-18), and lastly, A Man of God (II Kings 1:2-10)
As a man of God, he was one of the special people who had access to God's power to work miracles. As a man of prayer, he was one the few men that saw God respond in most unusual ways. As a man of God's Word, he heard God speak to him directly on numerous occasions, revealing His specific will.
If evangelism and church growth are ever to get to number one in our church we must be about God and about prayer to God. Evangelism is based on the leading of the Holy Spirit and His power, mandated by Jesus and ordered by God's purpose for His Children.
This week ahead determine in your mind and heart that you will serve God and you will take on the role of evangelism by simply doing acts of kindness based on God's power!
The God of Certain Faithfulness
In I Kings 17 Elijah had a gigantic risk ahead of him and needed reassurance that God was still in control. For at least a year, the Lord had commanded ravens to feed him. After the stream dried up, God prepared a Gentile widow to demonstrate His continued presence and power.
The ravens had appeared with food every morning and evening. The jar and the jug held enough flour and oil for another day, and another, and another. The Lord could have provided Elijah and the widow with a barrel of flour and a keg of oil. If he had, there would have been no dramatic need to trust him every day. Elijah, like all of us, needed to learn to trust God constantly.
With church growth and evangelism opportunities we need to make sure we understand that God is concerned about all people regardless of what they look like, how old they are, or what language they speak.
If we remember that God loves everyone then our evangelism is easy to do because there isn’t anyone that we do not need to reach. God will always honor those that put others first and we need to test that principle with evangelism and our church growth. Can you imagine being that widow that was starving to death when she was faced with the test of giving Elijah her last bit of food. Most people would have said, “I hate it for you sir, but I come first!”
God delights in taking our material things, our talents and time and multiplying their effectiveness. God made a supernatural provision for the woman and her son and Elijah and fed them. There are times in our lives when we supernatural intervention for our lives and God can do it if only we believe in the faithfulness of God.
Finally, There are times when God will keep us on the edge or uncertainty until we have proven we have unending and unwavering faithfulness in God!
Tell us a time in your life when God proved that He was faithful but it sure was at the last minute of the situation.
The Disconnected Christian
Matthew 13 sure does a good job with showing how people are today. We have those that let God’s word be sown into their hearts and take root to change the field that they live in and grow amazing fruit for God’s kingdom. Also, we have people that appear to be faithful and amazing Christians but have no clue about God’s true power in their life!
“A farmer went out to sow his seed…As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.” Matthew 14:3-4
Have you ever watched the movie Home Alone 2? In the end the character catches the bad guys by throwing bird seed over their sticky covered clothing and instantly thousands of pigeons attacked them and they were brought down. Notice that the pigeons took no time to jump once the seed were thrown. In our life today a small bird may not be an enemy to bring us down, but Satan is. He knows well the power that has been placed upon you. Does Satan easily take God away from you?
In today’s time people are so shallow with their Christian walk with God that I am sure Satan is not lacking for “seed meals.” Here is a simple test: 1. If someone cuts you off in traffic do you instantly get angry and use a finger to express your anger or do you simply say, “I’ll pray for you.” 2. If a friend were to post something negative about you on the internet would you get mad and post something negative back? 3. When was the last time that you spent more than even 15 minutes in prayer? The response to these questions will determine how deep your spiritual seeds are planted!
If you have only allowed God to apply His power, Spirit and word to the outer parts of your skin then Satan can easily fly down and attack you and devour those seeds so they may never take root and grow! Study God’s word, pray and seek God and you will see that those seeds will be deep within your soul!
I assure you that God has a desire to be planted far deeper than most people allow! Not only does he want to be planted deeper, He wants to be the only seed that grows within you! He can supply all your needs so in reality do you really need to plant anything else?
“A farmer went out to sow his seed…As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.” Matthew 14:3-4
Have you ever watched the movie Home Alone 2? In the end the character catches the bad guys by throwing bird seed over their sticky covered clothing and instantly thousands of pigeons attacked them and they were brought down. Notice that the pigeons took no time to jump once the seed were thrown. In our life today a small bird may not be an enemy to bring us down, but Satan is. He knows well the power that has been placed upon you. Does Satan easily take God away from you?
In today’s time people are so shallow with their Christian walk with God that I am sure Satan is not lacking for “seed meals.” Here is a simple test: 1. If someone cuts you off in traffic do you instantly get angry and use a finger to express your anger or do you simply say, “I’ll pray for you.” 2. If a friend were to post something negative about you on the internet would you get mad and post something negative back? 3. When was the last time that you spent more than even 15 minutes in prayer? The response to these questions will determine how deep your spiritual seeds are planted!
If you have only allowed God to apply His power, Spirit and word to the outer parts of your skin then Satan can easily fly down and attack you and devour those seeds so they may never take root and grow! Study God’s word, pray and seek God and you will see that those seeds will be deep within your soul!
I assure you that God has a desire to be planted far deeper than most people allow! Not only does he want to be planted deeper, He wants to be the only seed that grows within you! He can supply all your needs so in reality do you really need to plant anything else?
The Wrath of Jesus
Isn't it easy to forget how Jesus told us that when we get saved we are to live a new lifestyle and He told us what that lifestyle should be like.
Some Christians tell new believers that once you are saved then a brand new power will instantly change your life and if it doesn't then you may not have gotten saved! What a horrible misconception of what salvation is!
Sin is the default action of all mankind.
Some Christians tell new believers that once you are saved then a brand new power will instantly change your life and if it doesn't then you may not have gotten saved! What a horrible misconception of what salvation is!
Sin is the default action of all mankind.
Letters From The Blackberry
A Desire For Friendship-
I think within the deepest parts of all man there is a strong desire to have a deep and intimate relationship with others. Even the hardest, cold-hearted person in the world can be warmed by a special touch, a warm hug or uplifting word from another person.
Starting in the Garden Of Eden, when Adam walked with God, to the modern times when we spend countless hours instant messaging and conversing with friends, we continually strive for both acceptance and praise.
I think within the deepest parts of all man there is a strong desire to have a deep and intimate relationship with others. Even the hardest, cold-hearted person in the world can be warmed by a special touch, a warm hug or uplifting word from another person.
Starting in the Garden Of Eden, when Adam walked with God, to the modern times when we spend countless hours instant messaging and conversing with friends, we continually strive for both acceptance and praise.
The Nature of Evangelism
Evangelism means “telling the good news." The “good news” that Jesus Christ has made salvation possible and available as a free gift is the best news ever to strike the human ear and heart. Evangelism involves assisting those outside of faith in Christ to move toward faith in Him. However, evangelism is not the end of the process. True evangelism is like the first leg of a relay race. Once people are won to Christ they must be “handed over” to a discipler who will help them nurture their new lives in Christ. The race is not complete until believing fellowships are planted and the body of Christ multiplies through further evangelism and discipleship. Dropping the baton after the evangelism stage is not acceptable.
Why Evangelism Is So Important!
Growing a church without evangelism is impossible! Being a Christian and not having an evangelistic attitude should be virtually impossible. As we follow Christ, observe His law and obey Him, He also desires to make us fishers of men, able to attract and win people to Himself. Only the Lord is able to make us more effective.
As we preach the Gospel, God's Holy Spirit convicts the world of guilt regarding sin, and righteousness and judgment (Jn 16:8) and brings people to life-changing faith.
As we preach the Gospel, God's Holy Spirit convicts the world of guilt regarding sin, and righteousness and judgment (Jn 16:8) and brings people to life-changing faith.
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