Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evangelism. Show all posts

Creating Gospel Partners

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Tuesday, June 23, 2015 10:35 AM

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I wonder how many people we casually cross paths with every day. And of those people, I wonder how many of them don’t know Jesus. And of those who don’t know Jesus, I wonder what it would take for us to create a relationship with them. And of those with whom we create a relationship, I wonder how many of them we would eventually be able to tell our story of Jesus. I would like to share just a couple of thoughts this week along these lines…
Life touches life. A person’s life is best changed through another’s life touching them in a significant way. The opportunity to touch someone’s life will come through a variety of ways: crisis, joy, need, fun, business, and vacation. Those are just several ways God brings people across our paths. The key is availability; we must be willing to enter into someone’s life story. We must be prayerfully looking for God-given opportunities to get involved in people’s lives.
Tell them the story of Jesus. The reason we look for God-given opportunities is so that we can build a relational bridge that will lead us to sharing with them how Jesus changed our life. The key to this is intentionality. We must be intentional about the direction of our relationships. Those who are in Christ will naturally want others to be in Christ. Gospel centered people created gospel partners. We’ve found the secret to a joyful life, and it is for the purpose of sharing this joyful life with others that we make friends out of strangers.
We live our lives for the purpose of interjecting our life into someone else’s for the sake of the gospel. We are not haphazardly stumbling through life. We are looking for those moments when God sovereignly places someone across our path so that we can begin a great adventure with them. And this adventure will prayerfully lead them to the cross where their life will never be the same.
Grace & Peace,
Scott

GO!

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Monday, February 02, 2015 5:46 PM

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It is our first priority as a church to glorify God. God is our agenda; He is everything to us; and we are seeking to spread the knowledge of His greatness to the entire world. We believe God has given us four avenues through which we accomplish this God-exalting act:
We gather to worship God. Throughout the week we are left to worship on our own. That is good and necessary, but Sunday morning is where it all comes together. The early church consistently gathered together to honor God as a larger group. It was an expression of their oneness through Christ and their common goal of glorifying God in everything.
We grow in Christ-likeness through doing life together. All things happen in our lives so that we will become shaped into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-29). Our Sunday school groups meet for the purpose of teaching God’s Word, prayer, true fellowship (sharing our lives), seeking God’s will, and showing up for one another. We do life together because God never meant for us to do it alone.
We give of everything for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Everything we have and are belongs to God, we are just called to be faithful managers. We don’t see this stewardship as a duty, we see it as a delight of our lives. God created us to be givers, not takers.
We go to make disciples. In Matthew 28:19-20 we have the Great Commission and we need to reaffirm our commitment to this. Jesus is saying that as we are going about our daily lives we ought to be making disciples. In other words, we live intentionally where God has sovereignly placed us to make the greatest impact with the gospel. We don’t change anybody effectively; the gospel has the power to change people eternally. We do have influence, but our influence only goes so far and so deep. But armed with the life-rescuing story of the gospel, God can now use our influence to radically rescue lost sinners and send their lives in a new direction.
This is who we are. Our methods and programs will change and evolve over the years, but the bedrock of these principles will never change. To remove one of them would be to destroy our identity and hamper our vision of magnifying the Lord together.
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Praying for Laborers for God's Harvest

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Tuesday, September 23, 2014 2:41 PM

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Wow, what a blast of cool weather – I love it! I really, really, really enjoy the changing of the seasons, and this season of the year is a particular blessing to me. The cooler weather reminds me of my northern roots, it signals the ending of yard work, it stirs up all kinds of good memories, it marks harvest time...corn, combines, hunting, and the gospel. What does this have to do with the gospel? Read the words of Paul,
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6)
We wait for the harvest of souls; it is God who harvests the souls; He is the “Lord of the harvest”, but we are laborers in the harvest.
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” (Matthew 9:36-38)
Yes, God has a part for us in the reaping of those who come to Him for salvation. We don’t just sit idle, twiddling our thumbs waiting for people to “drop into Jesus.” We are part of God’s great harvest plan. We are His hands, feet and mouthpieces.
This means that we don’t force someone to come to Christ; we shouldn’t be manipulating or tricking people into professing to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. Doing that would amount to picking a crop too early and spoiling the fruit – it’s no fruit at all. We wait praying, living, listening, and speaking. We pray for God’s grace and their repentance and belief. We live consistent with the gospel we believe. We listen to their stories, sensitive to pick out how we can share the truth of the rescuing gospel. We speak the story of Jesus who is the real Hero of redemption.
I don’t see a problem with the harvest – it is still abundant; the problem I see is us – we just aren’t laboring in God’s harvest. The first step is that which Jesus asked His disciples to take: earnest prayer to God for laborers. The word for prayer is a unique word, which means prayer that cries out from a sense of need, thus “earnest prayer.”
Do you see the great harvest of souls? Do you see that few are laboring with God to bring that harvest in? I do and so therefore I am compelled to serious, heartfelt, earnest prayer to God for more workers! I hope you see the need as well.
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Doing the Gospel

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Monday, August 26, 2013 11:46 AM

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This week I want to recap the last message series. Believing the gospel is not enough; we must also be doing the gospel. Doing the gospel involves loving, listening, speaking, and living.
Love is what moves us to people. Love is the motivator behind our actions as believers. Love is the starting point for our behavior. Love causes us to do things that are supernatural. Love is essential to mission.
Before we can talk to someone about who Jesus is and what He did we need to listen to their story. Everyone has a story to tell about his or her life. We don’t listen for the sake of checking listening off the list; we genuinely and prayerfully listen to identify what our friend believes their purpose is (creation), where they think things went wrong (fall), who, or what, will rescue them (redemption), and what their ultimate hope is (restoration).
Once we know their story we can now speak God’s story as His ambassadors. As believers we also believe this pattern is God’s story as well – creation, fall, redemption and restoration. God created us to honor Him and spread His fame; however, Adam (and us as well) had a better idea: live for self and spread my own fame. The fall is where every thing went wrong. But, God provided redemption for all through His Son Jesus. Jesus is the Hero in God’s story. Jesus is the only one who can rescue us from our rebellion against God and recreate us to once again live for God’s glory. God will one day restore all things to the way He originally created it and intended it to exist. We will honor God forever; we will live in peace with one another forever; we will joyfully serve God forever – that is our ultimate hope.
With all of this we must remember that “doing the gospel” words make no sense if they are not backed up by a “doing the gospel” life. Living the gospel is essential if we want people to hear the life-transforming message of the gospel.
This series was meant to encourage all of us to begin praying that God would reveal to us who He is calling us to. What relationship(s) does God want you to begin building? God has sovereignly placed us in families, neighborhoods, jobs and gyms to be missionaries. It may take some time to build a relationship bridge to that person, but with patience and wisdom it will happen. And I would love to hear your story about how God did this.
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Why God Made Us His Own

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Tuesday, June 04, 2013 11:28 AM

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God has blessed my life tremendously. He has blessed me with a gracious relationship with Himself through the redemption He provided through His Son, Jesus Christ (back to this in a minute). He has blessed me with a wonderful family. He has blessed me with a loving church. He has blessed me with caring friends. He has blessed me with a beautiful place to live. He has blessed me with clear instructions through His Word. He has blessed me with life. He has blessed me with opportunities to serve Him. And the list goes on. In fact, most everyone reading this has been blessed in many of the same ways. Now back to redemption…
Redemption is the plan whereby God beautifully reverses the fortunes of those who are not His own. Peter put it like this,
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:10)
That is the gospel and the gospel is the great reversal. Throughout the Bible we can find different metaphors describing the reversal. Once we didn’t belong, but now we do belong; once we had no identity with God, but now we are identified with God; once we didn’t know who our father was (Satan), but now we do know that our Father is God; once we were lost, but now we are found; once we had no hope, but now we are filled with hope. Isn’t that a beautiful reversal of fortunes?
Peter shares the purpose behind this reversal in the previous verse:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (verse 9)
So God changed our lives so that we could tell others how He could do the same for them. This is at least part of why God saved us, isn’t it? Yes it is! Evangelism is not about some new program that the church needs to buy into; it’s not about a certain night when we all “go out” to knock on doors. While those may be helpful they may also become harmful. How? Because it leads the church to think that getting the gospel out into the community is something that we can check off our list of things to do for the week. It can also be dangerous because it leads Christians to practice evangelism once a week instead of making it part of our lifestyle. What about the girl you work with? What if she was to ask about your hope and joy on Friday morning but visitation was Tuesday night? I guess she’s just out of luck for four days, right? No, right then and there we can begin to share the gospel by sharing our story of how God’s marvelous grace rescued us from the darkness and placed us into His beautiful light.
Has God’s blessed you the way He’s blessed me? If so, then why don’t you thank Him and then look for an opportunity to share His blessings with others.
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Jesus Told Us to "Make Disciples"

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013 11:30 AM

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As I watched the students go through the True Love Waits Ceremony Sunday night I was blessed to witness their bold courage and excited to see what God was doing through them, and that got me thinking this morning…
Those thirteen students didn’t get on that stage by accident; they didn’t just stumble in on Sunday night and say, “Hey, I think I’ll do this purity thing tonight.” No, they got there through intentional work on their part, their parents and their church. The general principle holds true: people don’t get where they are without intentional work. Godly kids don’t raise themselves, bills don’t magically get paid by the bill paying fairy, beautiful yards take long weekends of hard work, socks don’t fold themselves, and churches don’t grow just because they’re, well, there.
Everything in life takes hard work: jobs, yards, relationships, churches and disciples. Remember what Jesus said to those first disciples? He told them to “make disciples”; He didn’t tell them to build a building and then sit back and wait for people to show up. The “Field of Dreams” philosophy of building a church is not biblical (“build it and they will come”). That is the church building strategy of the lazy person.
Some people are under the impression that building a building equals building a church. I wish it were that easy. Building a church takes hard work. We are promised that God will do His part (“upon this rock I will build my church” [Matthew 16:18]). But what about our part; what work are we supposed to do? Please read on.
We must begin by consistently praying for ourselves and others that we might impact the world for eternity right now. Pray for boldness and opportunity; pray for clarity and reception; pray for God’s Spirit to use God’s Word to birth God’s children.
This will also involve us getting the gospel into our hearts so that we can pour it out into other people’s lives. We need to be intentional about reading, studying, and hiding God’s Word in our hearts. It’s can’t be about a program or memorizing a plan. It must become about an every day relationship with the God of creation. What He puts into our hearts on any given day will be exactly what we need to give as an answer for our hope to those who ask (1 Peter 3:15).
Certainly making disciples involves intentionally building meaningful relationships where God has strategically placed us. We just need to allow God to use where He has providentially planted us in this world to reach people with the gospel.
Finally, we need a courageous boldness to share with those people how God radically changed our lives and how that same God can change theirs as well. We don’t need to have all the answers, but we do need to have all the love to share the most beautiful news we’ve ever heard.
Grace & Peace,
Scott

What We Owe

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11:25 AM

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We are where we are spiritually because of somebody else. Two facts I would like to share with you this week…
First fact, our salvation began with what God did for us. We are saved because God loved us and gave His Son to take our rightful place on the cross (Romans 5:8). We brought nothing to the game; God did it all. Our response to this elaborate display of love was faith, and the Bible is clear that we didn’t even conjure that up on our own (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Next fact, we owe our knowing about what God and Jesus did for us to someone (or “someones”) in our life. They are the ones who shared the gospel with us at some point. It was their testimony or life or words that the Holy Spirit used to convince us of our need for a Savior. These are the faithful people who loved us enough to confront us with our lost condition and tell us how God could transform us into a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The above two facts lead me to a concluding question: “Why are we content to let it stop with us?” Every Christian is called to reproduce their lives in others. Jesus put it this way: “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). We are called to make a strong commitment to the great commission. Being a witness of the gospel is not optional in the Christian life, it is an obligation.
Paul felt such a pull to this calling that he wrote about it to the Christians in Rome.
14I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Romans 1:14-15)
He expresses his pull toward evangelism by using the word “obligation” that can also be translated “debt.” If we owe somebody money we are quick to pay it back. Why do we become negligent in paying the debt of sharing the gospel with others?
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Keeping the Church Doors Open

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013 4:14 PM

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Without an active and effective witness in the world the church is dead in the water – its doors will close one day. I’m not talking about the church universal; God will always have a group of His people who will risk everything for the sake of the gospel. However, as an individual part of that church, Calvary could cease to exist one day if we shut down our witness to the community. Jesus’ words to His disciples are appropriate and applicable to us…
34…If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses him life for my sake and the gospel’ will save it. (Mark 8:34-35 ESV)
Jesus is describing a believer who is willing to give up everything, including life, instead of saving themselves for comfort or fear or convenience or whatever excuse. These are the type of people who keep the church alive and thriving; they are the ones who “keep the doors open.” Think about it – if we don’t reach people who are unsaved then eventually nobody will be left.
Friends, we have a tremendous, God-provided opportunity right in front of us. Building a building doesn’t reach a community; it just puts us providentially and strategically in a good place. If we stand back and think we’ve done a good job and now God can “bring them in” then we are missing the point of being a church. Being a church means, at least in part, being a witness. And that is where the fear comes in. Let me put our fears to rest. By saying four things.
First, the results are not up to us. As Paul pointed out to the Corinthian congregation, he planted, Apollos watered, but God harvests (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9). So breathe easy, the pressure is off. It’s all on God and He’s good at what He does. He saved us didn’t He?!
Second, and I can’t stress this enough, get into the Bible and study God’s promises. Hopeful people look hopeful and hopeless people will notice and ask why we are so hopeful. The best way I can tell you to be an effective witness is to get happy in God, and the only way we are going to get happy in God is to be saturated with His Word.
Third, build meaningful relationships. The normal way God opens a door for witnessing is through people we know. It may be somebody in your family, somebody you work with, somebody you play with (you know, shopping, golf, shooting guns, or skydiving), or somebody who lives across the street. Just figure it out.
Fourth, pray hard and long. Pray like everything depended on God, oh, yeah, everything does. Pray for yourself and others. Pray for wisdom and courage. Pray for an occasion. Let’s pray for one another and share our stories. It’ll be beautiful!
Grace & Peace,
Scott

Soul Gardening

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Wednesday, August 10, 2011 9:23 AM

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Okay, I must confess that I love the fact that the steel is going up on the new property! Progress is exciting and contagious. In my wildest dreams I never imagined we would be at this point so early in my pastoral ministry at Calvary, but God knew what He was doing. More amazing than the concrete and steel being put up on the new property is the spirit of the people at Calvary Church. You all are such a blessed people to pastor and I am thankful everyday for the honor of being called your "pastor."

In thinking about what I wanted to write to you this week I thought of at least one caution for us all: Don't get so caught up in the future of moving into a new building that we forget about ministering in the present! There is a serious danger is focusing so much attention on the move of tomorrow that we neglect what God has called us to do today. I really believe that we will lose our focus of honoring the great majesty of our God and helping the body of Christ at Calvary if all of our attention is given over to a new building. One area we must focus on is reaching new people who belong at Calvary no matter where we are meeting. We cannot afford to wait; we cannot allow the providential appointments God puts in our paths to slip past.

God has providentially and strategically placed us in our families, schools, neighborhoods, workplaces and hangouts to plant the seed of the gospel or to water that seed. And remember, it is not up to us to harvest...that is God's business.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).

The reason God orchestrates His work this way is to maximize the glory He receives when a life is radically changed through His gospel.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:7).

We need to know our place in God's "soul gardening" plan. So, let's put on the gloves, get out the seed and watering can and get into the garden!

Grace & Peace,
Scott

"Gospel Billboards"

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Wednesday, April 08, 2009 2:00 PM

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Driving along the interstate at 75 mph, or so, for over 20 hours in 7 days allows my mind to wander. Dangerous activity I know, but the girls have outgrown License Plate Bingo. So, I am left to myself for hours and my mind has a tendency to focus on the surrounding countryside. What I kept noticing on our recent trek to Florida and Charlotte, NC was billboards. Now these are either a source of inspiration or irritation. You’ll have to wait for the inspiration, right now let me share my irritation.

I kept reading “Gospel Billboards.” Some of them are thought provoking, but some of them are just downright lame. For example, I read a billboard that announced, “Repent and Believe!” I would call this Head-On Collision Evangelism, and I just don’t get it. I mean, the average lost person is going to say, “Repent? What does that mean?” And, “Believe in what?” I find that a billboard like this falls short on a couple of accounts.

First, I don’t think God intends for His precious gospel to be a head-on collision. I do believe He intends for us to have meaningful interactions with people and this takes time. Without any interaction with people and without an explanation of who Jesus is, what He did, and what separates us from Him in the first place they won’t understand the gospel.

Second, throwing these messages at people in this way desensitizes them to the real meaning of repentance and belief. It robs believers of the opportunity to sow the gospel and water the seed. This will lead the unbeliever into thinking that if they can talk this way (i.e., “I believe” or “I’ve repented”) then they must be a Christian. But we all know that just talking the talk doesn’t make a person a genuine follower of Jesus Christ.

Now I would much rather see “Gospel Billboards” than billboard advertising sleaze, booze and drugs. However, I just don’t think the average Sally and Joe who are driving like maniacs with kids in the backseat screaming at illegal decibels because they are hungry and their diapers are full are going to look at these billboards and say, “Yeah, that’s what I need to do.”

Grace & Peace,

Scott
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