Toughening Up

One thing that develops as we share our faith is a thickening of the skin; a resistance to outside pressures.  When hitting the streets and talking with people, my goal is to simply follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in speaking the truth in love to help people understand their sinfulness and God’s plan to save them from sin and His wrath.  Occasionally, individuals ask us to go somewhere else, move across the street, etc.  I ignorantly obeyed a couple of times, but then began to resist unless they were police.  That brought confrontation and the thicker skin.

Last Saturday evening, we had a productive time in the bar/party area of Old Town in Wichita.  It’s prom season and many couples from local high schools were out having dinner.  They were fairly open and receptive.  The Lord allowed us to have a few conversations about the Law and Gospel and everyone was happy.

Toward midnight, when the party people had made things more…. umm… interesting, it seemed the Holy Spirit was leading us to read Scripture.  We stood on a footstool on a sidewalk and began reading through Hebrews 1 & 2 as people walked by with abundant room.  Most seemed to ignore us, but they could hear what we were reading.  After only a few moments, a nearly panicked man quickly walked up and frantically said, “What are you doing?!?  What are you doing?!?  You shouldn’t be doing this!!  Don’t you know you’re not supposed to push religion on people?!?”

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

This man is not our enemy.  I hope to speak with him sometime.  We recognized this event to be what I call a demonic distraction the instant he came up to us.  The man was a pawn in a small spiritual battle.  Our true enemy, satan, didn’t want Scripture to be read in public.  satan will try to keep you from reading your Bible, too, so go read it and give him a miserable day.

My first response to the man was to ignore him and keep reading.  This may look rude in practice, but I never want to stop doing what our true enemy hates.  This is where the thick skin develops.  The man kept trying to distract us by ranting about the earth’s population, so I turned to him and told him firmly and clearly that I would keep reading.  The man immediately turned and walked away.

“Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7

Was this little spiritual skirmish fun?  Not at all!  It was a stressful few minutes.  Now I look back on it and think, wow, the Lord helped and protected us and maybe I handled the situation correctly.  Our skin is thicker and the Lord has already prepared us for the next battle.

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”  Psalm 18:2

“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love.”  1 Corinthians 16:13-14

“Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”  Ephesians 6:10-11

Thank you for reading!  May God bless you and protect you in your battles.

Myths & Misleading Phrases of Modern Christianity #4 - People will come to a church service to hear the gospel

Many Bible-believing, Jesus-following fellowships fall for the myth that evangelism can be done within their church walls.  Their intentions are good.  They truly desire for people to come to know Jesus Christ and have eternal life through Him.  They host guest speakers, concerts and other events with the hope that people will come, return for a church service and let God make them new creations in Christ.  However, with few exceptions, those who are not yet Christians will neither attend the special event nor a church service.  I’ve witnessed this during years in California, Mexico and Kansas while observing many events at a wide variety of churches.  After many hours of planning, lots of work and lots of spending, the evangelistic results of nearly every event held on church grounds have been disappointing.

There is a good reason for the disappointing results.  Those who have not yet chosen to follow Jesus Christ may offer many excuses for not attending church, but they all boil down to this simple concept:  In the same way that criminals do not like police stations, people who have not yet chosen to accept their guilt of sinning against God and His gracious offer of forgiveness do not like church services.  The Bible teaching at a Bible-believing church activates the consciences of those who attend.  Since admitting guilt before God is uncomfortable, those who have not yet placed their trust in Jesus Christ tend to stay away from church services to spare their consciences and/or pride and/or love for their sin.

So what should we do as Jesus followers who want to reach those who are headed for eternity in Hell?  Should we soften the teaching in church services so that no one is confronted with the reality of God’s coming wrath on all those who disobey Him? (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)  Watering down God’s message to make it more palatable to those who do not yet believe will lull those who are not yet Christians into a false sense of eternal security and stunt the growth of true Jesus followers who want to learn, grow and follow the Prince of peace.  Neither of these results are acceptable, so church services cannot be made “seeker sensitive” if we want people to know the Savior.

In Mark 16:15, the Lord Jesus Christ commands His followers to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  We receive a similar command to “Go…” from Him in Matthew 28:19.  If you know and follow Jesus Christ, these commands apply to you.  Since Jesus said to “Go”, we should not stay within the church building.  Staying in the “holy huddle” of fellow Christians may feel safe, but it is dangerous because it is disobedient.  It is the opposite of what Jesus commands us to do.  Are we to fellowship with other Jesus followers?  Absolutely!  Hebrews 10:25 refers to “… not forsaking our own assembling together…”.  But, if we are continually surrounded by fellow born-again Jesus followers, we tend to get comfortable and cease reaching out to those who do not yet trust in the Savior.  The mission field begins one footstep off the church’s property.  So, go to church, fellowship, get yourself prepared for the mission field and step outside in faith.  Peter could not walk on water until he got out of the boat.

So where do we go?  Jesus’ command is “to all the world” and “to all creation.”  This is exactly where the Apostle Paul and his fellow travelers went because they feared God and obeyed Him.  They feared God more than man.  God will tell us and/or lead us if He has a specific place for us to serve.  Maybe He will open opportunities to reach neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, store clerks, “friends” on the web, strangers in a city park or people in another state or another country.  He has provided Bibles, Books of John, gospel tracts and the Good Person Test (take it here) as tools.  It’s up to us to prayerfully and obediently go somewhere and use these tools to reach the lost.

Once we go into all the world, we must open our mouths.  When we research the word “preach” in Mark 16:15 (also Matthew 10:7, Luke 9:2, Acts 10:42, 2 Timothy 4:2 among many other verses), we find it is the Greek word “kerusso” which means to publicly herald the message of a king.  In the case of Christians, we have the fearful and humbling honor to publicly proclaim the message of the King of kings so that those who never darken a church’s door will hear it.  Remember, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)  Given a wise choice of location, a couple of Jesus followers who are distributing tracts, having one-to-one conversations and open air preaching the Law and Gospel can reach, in a few hours, more people than a whole city full of churches will reach on church property in a year.

The easiest ways to get the Law and Gospel out from behind the church walls are to post Bible verses on social media, leave good gospel tracts where they will be found or give them to people.  The most biblical, scary, exhilarating, humbling and foolish feeling way to publicize the Law and the Gospel is by heralding in the open air to those why may happen to hear.  Putting fish symbols on our cars and wearing snazzy Christian t-shirts are nice, but they do not get the job done like sharing a serious, loving conversation with someone about eternity and where they will spend it.

Now that it is clear what we should do to reach the lost, here comes the difficult part.  Are you scared?  Me, too.  Every time.  We must overcome the fear of man that keeps us within the church building.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  If we really love those who do not yet know Jesus Christ, the fear of man fades away.  Prayer, love for the lost, a little study and practice help us defeat the fear of man.  If we fear God more than man, we will obey Him and go into all the world and preach the gospel as He has commanded.

God has given us powerful weapons.  If you were a soldier behind enemy lines and you had no weapon with which to fight your way back to your unit, you would have good reason to be fearful.  But, God has given us (1) prayer, (2) His Law which is written on every person’s heart (Romans 2:14-15), (3) the Holy Spirit as our Helper, and (4) an ally within every person which is their conscience.  When we use God’s Law, (the Ten Commandments), to activate a person’s conscience, they will see their sinful state before God.  When they agree that they are sinful and headed for eternity in Hell, it is time to explain the gospel as God’s plan for their deliverance from His justified wrath.

“The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.” (Proverbs 29:25)  The devil loves to have Christians cowering in fear.  We must let our love for Jesus and our love for people overcome our fears.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)  We must go outside the church walls and proclaim that Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth and the life.  No one will go to the Father but through Him! (John 14:6)

          And the master said to the slave, “Go out into the highways and along the

          hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”  Luke 14:23

I hope this encourages you to go and share the most important message in the universe!  May God bless you and guide you as you go!

$419 For a Cookie???

That’s what the cookie served on the plane cost and it wasn’t even warm. But, along with it, Frontier Airlines was nice enough to throw in flights to and from Sacramento so I could visit my brothers and sisters in Christ in California’s beautiful central valley. It was a bargain!

Over the past weekend, the Lord gave me a narrow window of time to jet to Lodi, California. That’s where I lived for eleven years, came to know the Lord and was discipled through several godly men before serving on the mission field in Baja.

The purpose of the trip was to fellowship with and speak to the wonderful saints of Unto the King Fellowship about the biblical evangelism we do on the streets of Wichita. They have a strong desire to obey Jesus by preaching the gospel to every creature and they want to do it effectively and biblically; the way Jesus did.

UTKF is a small, very warm, intimate and loving, Bible-based fellowship of Jesus followers whom I have known for quite a few years. The Lord has used them greatly to support me prayerfully and financially while I served in Mexico and in the current street evangelism ministry.

During UTKF’s Sunday morning service, I walked them through the Good Person Test and explained what we say to people and what we do during our evangelism adventures. I also shared some of the pitfalls and arguments we have encountered and what we have done to overcome them. They eagerly received tracts and resources to ground themselves in and apply the biblical evangelism concept of giving the Law (the Ten Commandments) to proud people and giving grace (the Gospel message) to the humble. You can find this concept used by Jesus Himself in the account of the “rich, young ruler” in Luke 18:18-23.

The weekend was also packed with a trip through the redwoods to the coast north of San Francisco for lunch with two sisters in Christ and a couple of quick evangelism adventures Cali-style. By the way, while fishing for men in Lodi, I found the folks there to be very friendly and extremely open to the gospel – more so than in Wichita. They were eager to have a good conversation, ask questions and listen. Their respectfulness was off the charts! Lodi is much smaller than Wichita. Is this friendliness and openness a function of a smaller city or is there more to the story?

All glory to the Lord for an outstanding trip and whatever fruit He brings from it! Thank you for reading and may God bless your fishing expeditions!

Myths and Misleading Phrases of Modern Christianity #3 – “God Loves You and Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life”

The “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” phrase may be the most misleading and destructive of all phrases used in modern Christianity.  It is deceiving and makes people comfortable on their way to Hell. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)  Without a doubt, if you are a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, God loves you beyond the human mind’s ability to comprehend.  But, the other half of this misleading phrase depends on what the word “wonderful” means to you.

Before we go further, a very important note:  This phrase should NEVER be used in evangelism!  It is completely man-centered and misleads non-believers.  There is absolutely no biblical precedent for telling any non-believer “God loves you” or “Jesus loves you”.  None!  Jesus Christ, who is God, (John 10:30, Colossians 1:15-18), loves everyone, including all serial killers, rapists, despots, child molesters and worse, so much that He paid for their sins by suffering and giving His perfect life on a cross to allow them the opportunity to live in perfection forever. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19, 1 Timothy 2:5-6)  At the same time, God’s wrath abides on everyone who has not repented and obeyed the gospel. (John 3:36)  Using the “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” message will not show a person his guilt of transgressing God’s Law and his need to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  At best, it will bring a deceived, unrepentant  non-Christian into fellowship with true Christians.  It will lead people to believe they are saved from God’s wrath and Hell when they are not.

Have you read the book of Acts or Foxe’s Book of Martyrs?  Ask yourself this:  When Stephen preached to the council in Jerusalem and was stoned to death, was that God’s wonderful plan for him? (Acts 7:2-60)  What about the Apostle Paul being beaten, stoned nearly to death, shipwrecked three times and surviving in the ocean for a night and a day? (2 Corinthians 11:25)  How wonderful was it when the leaders of the reformation in Europe were burned to death at stakes for trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation rather than following the traditions of men?  Missionaries have taken the gospel to unreached places and have died of terrible diseases or have been killed by natives.  Wonderful?  Really?  What about Christians who miscarry babies, are falsely accused and punished for crimes, are paralyzed, or suffer other terrible circumstances?  The orphan whose parents are persecuted and killed probably does not see God’s plan for her life as wonderful.

To most people, a “wonderful plan” for life does not include poverty, disease or much difficulty of any kind.  Jesus said to His disciples, “In the world you have tribulation…”. (John 16:33)  This verse alone should settle the matter, but Scripture offers many more indicators of the troubles we can expect in the following passages:  Acts 5:41, Romans 8:16-17, Philippians 1:29-30, 2 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Peter 3:14, 1 Peter 4:12-13, 1 Peter 4:19 and Revelation 6:9-11.  These are a few of the verses that apply to the suffering, persecution and non-wonderful lives of Jesus’ followers.  Our hope is that the Lord is with us in the midst of the troubles we face in this fallen world.  His promise is that He is with us, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)

If you use the misleading “wonderful plan” phrase, especially when speaking with those who do not (yet) follow Jesus, please stop.  Certainly not because I ask you, but because it obviously disagrees with Scripture.  It misleads those who do not yet follow the Savior and, in a way, inoculates them against the true, biblical gospel.  Once a person is deceived into believing God is thrilled with his life and wants to unveil His plan that will be wonderful for him, he does not want to hear the truth about his sin against God and the necessity of repentance and rebirth. (Luke 13:2-5, John 3:3)  The “wonderful plan” message creates unrepentant, false converts and makes the evangelism process much more difficult for those of us who evangelize the lost the way Jesus did by lovingly showing people their sin with the Law and then sharing God’s grace when they are ready to repent of their sin. (Isaiah 57:15, Matthew 23:12, Romans 7:7, 1 Peter 5:5)

Now, all of the above being said, God certainly has a plan for each person.  It is clear from Scripture that He is active in our lives and in world events; weaving together the tapestry of His perfect plan leading to the day when His perfect will is done on earth as it is in heaven.  I’ve heard it said that we see the unsightly underside of His weaving and He is glorified by the topside of His tapestry where He sees the reality of what He is doing.  “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Ok.  This post may have stepped on some toes.  It is never my intention to offend anyone by what is written in this blog.  If anyone is offended by Scripture, that is between them and the Lord.  The purpose of this post and every post here is always to equip, edify and encourage followers of Jesus to do what He has commanded:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  (Mark 16:15)

Thank you for reading.  May the Prince of Peace give you His perfect peace through your trials! (Isaiah 26:3)

A Quick Evangelism Report

Since the Lord has continued to provide good weather during this winter, my brother in Christ and I have continued to hit the streets.  If the hotdog venders can stand a little cold, we will certainly do it to share God's law and gospel!

New Year's Eve was a highlight.  We waited until about 10:30pm to hit the streets because that's what everyone does that night.  It's all about midnight, right?  We found a line of maybe 50 people waiting to enter a club and went down the line handing them Ten Commandment coins with the gospel on the back.  Then we took the opportunity to open air preach to the crowd.  The Lord let us do this twice as the line very slowly entered the club and new partiers took their places in line.

One guy kept shouting "Jesus was a Jew", but everyone else politely listened as we walked them through a few of the Ten Commandments and shared that, if they have broken even one of the Commandments, God will find them guilty and the punishment will be eternity in hell.  After the bad news, of course we shared the Good News of how we can be forgiven if we repent from sin and trust that Jesus Christ took our punishment to save us from God's wrath.  What was the response?  Did they curse at us and throw stuff?  Nope.  Several people in the line genuinely thanked us and wished us a Happy New Year.

It was the perfect way to end 2011 and begin 2012!

Myths & Misleading Phrases of Modern Christianity #2 – “A Church Is a Hospital for Hurting People”

Like most misleading statements, there is some truth to this one.  Yes, a fellowship of born-again, Jesus-following Christians is a “hospital” of sorts.  It’s a good place to go for a person who is hurting spiritually, emotionally, physically or even financially.  A fellowship of Christians is a wonderful place to go for comfort in troubled times!  It is where one can benefit from fervent prayer and wise counsel.  As Christians, we are commanded to bear one another’s burdens because, as we do so, we fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).

The problem with calling a church a “hospital for hurting people” is that it tends to major on a minor, or at least secondary, point.  Whenever I have heard a church referred to as a “hospital”, it has been misleadingly stated as though the primary duty of a fellowship of Christians is to be a place for hurting people to receive comfort; to have their “felt needs” met.  This is a man-centered definition of what a church is and Scripture disagrees.

The Church, as defined by Scripture, is made up of all those who repent from sin and trust Jesus Christ for the salvation that He purchased with His own blood (1 Peter 1: 17-19).  Its primary reason for existing is to glorify God by obeying the commands of Jesus Christ and by being led by the Holy Spirit (Luke 6:46, Romans 8:14).  A local congregation of born-again, Jesus-following believers, as part of the universal Church, has the same reason for its existence.  The Bible’s definition of the Church is clearly God-centered.  It’s all about Him.

Jesus gave us the truth about our comfort in this world in a very direct manner.  He said, “In this world you will have trouble…” (John 16:33).  Jesus promises us trouble!  Not trouble from Him, but if we are His adopted children and if we are obeying Him, we should expect problems because we will be living contrary to this fallen world.  Jesus also demonstrated what it is to lead a troubled life by having a manger as His first crib (Luke 2:12), having no place to rest His head (Matthew 8:20), through conflicts with the scribes and Pharisees (Mark 3:6) and by being marred more than any man (Isaiah 52:14) before being crucified to pay for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:4-5).  That’s a lot of trouble for one person!  Should we expect to lead a comfortable life if the Lord Himself had so much difficulty in His earthly life?

The Apostle Paul wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that, “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12).  If we truly members of the Church, if our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:10-27), we should expect troubles and persecution.  We can also expect the Lord’s help in the midst.  Ask Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-nego about that! (Daniel 3:13-27).

One might wonder, if we do not experience trouble and persecution, maybe we aren’t living boldly enough as witnesses for Jesus Christ.  It’s even possible that, if we are leading smooth and comfortable lives, we have somehow been deceived into thinking we are Christians when we are not.  We are warned to examine ourselves to make sure we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Folks who attend a church and expect primarily to find a “hospital” where hurting people are being comforted should be encouraged to take a look at their priorities.  Who is first on their list?  Themselves or God?  Do they prefer their own comfort or do they prefer to obey and glorify the Lord?  Comfort is nice and I’ll take it when it’s available, but not at the expense of serving Jesus.  Lord, please show me the next step in obeying and glorifying You regardless of the discomfort or problems that may come.

May the Prince of Peace give you His peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7) even through the discomforts, problems and persecution He may allow into your life.  God bless you!

Myths & Misleading Phrases of Modern Christianity - There Is No Hell

If you’re reading this, rejoice!  You made it through Christmas again and the Lord has given you another day to serve Him!

A dangerous myth believed by some professing Christians and many in the public at large is that there is no Hell.  In our culture, we have been deceived into thinking of Hell as a bad word rather than a horrifying place created by God for the punishment of the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41)  Many believe that God is good and therefore He would never send anyone to eternal punishment.  Nor would He ever create such a horrible place as Hell.  The idea of Hell is not comfortable so many choose not to think about it.  They choose instead blissful ignorance.

Here’s the danger of this myth:  Believing something does not exist or choosing not to think about it does not make it go away!

How nonsensical would it be to have a law and no consequence?  It would be silly for a police officer to apprehend a bank robber just to tell him there is no punishment for robbing banks and let him go free.  If there is a law, there must be a corresponding punishment.  Otherwise, the law is senseless and useless.

God has given us His moral law, (the Ten Commandments), and He has specified the punishment for transgressing His Law.  The soul that sins, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)  The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)  If God is willing to subject the rebellious angels to the punishment of Hell, He will certainly subject rebellious people to the same. (2 Peter 2:4-9)

The Ultimate Judge of Creation has publicized His Law to all humanity by writing it on every person’s heart. (Romans 2:15)  That’s why our conscience bothers us when we lie, steal, dishonor our parents or break any of the other Commandments.  Every person, especially me, except Jesus of Nazareth, has rebelled against the God of the Bible and failed to obey His Law.  Therefore, we are all guilty of crimes against our Creator, the Ultimate Judge.

The Ultimate Judge has the power and authority to sentence us to whatever He chooses as the ultimate punishment for transgression of His Law.  According to the Bible, the just, ultimate punishment chosen for those who have rebelled against the Ultimate Judge without trusting Jesus Christ and turning from and forsaking their sins is eternal, conscious, painful, sorrowful burning in Hell (Luke 16:19-31 & Mark 9:48); a destruction that lasts for eternity. (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

As you go and share your faith in Christ, you can avoid the pitfall of failing to talk about eternal punishment in Hell by simply opening your mouth and warning someone of their sinful condition and the punishment they face.  Difficult?  Yes, but we have been commanded to do it, (Matthew 28:19-20), and the Lord will help you because it conforms to His will.

You are normal if you have difficulty saying the word Hell.  It’s like swimming against the cultural tide.  Try saying it in private.  Get used to hearing the word come out of your mouth and then it will be easier to say in public where it really counts.  Remember, Hell is not a bad word, it’s a bad place.  People must be warned of God’s wrath and His ultimate punishment of all those who fail to obey the gospel. 

So go, stand and speak to people as a herald of the King of kings and as an occupying soldier for the Lord Jesus Christ!  May God bless and guide you as you go!