Pray, Meet People, Tell Them About Christ

I just heard a sermon today from a man who is passionate about missions. He has been in Albania since the country rid itself of communist rule and has been faithfully and prayerfully spreading the gospel of the grace of God. He preached from John 4 encouraging us as believers to be passionate about missions. John 4 is a passage that is used a lot in missions conferences across America. It is the story of the meeting that Christ had with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The portion we all know so well is at the close of that account when Christ tells his disciples that "the fields are white for harvest" (vs. 35) indicating that the time was upon them that they should be fervently sharing the gospel. However, this was not the focus of the sermon we heard today. The speaker chose to focus on vs.31-34. When Christ, passing through Samaria with his disciples, chose to sit and rest by Jacob's well his disciples went down into the city to buy food. While they were gone, Christ had his encounter with the Samaritan woman. It was just as the disciples were returning that Christ had ended his conversation with the woman and she went back to the city. The disciples then brought the food that they had purchased to Christ and entreated him to eat. At that point Christ told them that he had food that they did not know of and that food was "to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work." The main point of the message today was focussed on this phrase. Is our passion to do the will of God? Is our passion to accomplish his work? This was the attitude of Christ. He was so passionate about doing the will of his father that he considered it to be his food. The preacher today encouraged us to build that passion within us so that we are not dutifully driven into missions, but rather passionately driven into missions.

This is not at all to imply that everyone is called into foreign missions. The speaker defined missions as "doing globally what all Christians should be doing locally." Simply put, it is praying, meeting people, and telling them about Christ (the title of the post). May we all have the same passion that Christ had in doing the will of the father.

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Simply saying "Merry Christmas" is NOT Evangelism

First I would like to point out what evangelism is not. (1) It is NOT merely putting a sign on the front of your yard that reads “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.”  (2) It is NOT responding to the cashier at the store with “Merry Christmas” when she greets you with “Happy Holidays.” (3) It is NOT putting on a campaign to remove the “X-mas” signs from Main Street.

                While each of these activities has their own purpose and may do some good in getting the message of Christ across, we cannot stop at this point. Concerning the first point above, there are many people who display a sign saying “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” with no knowledge of what Christmas is all about. They like the slogan because they are slightly convicted by the greed and obsession with presents that is so prevalent during the Christmas season and feel that it is more pious to think of a cute little baby rather than Santa. But while they promote the babe in the manger they have no real understanding about who that baby is. Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season, but we cannot stop at simply reminding people of that fact.  Concerning the second point, there are still many unregenerate people who use the term “Merry Christmas.” There are many reasons for using it, not the least of which is simply tradition. “That’s the way we said it when I was a kid,” the old-timer would say. Yes, it is good to keep the word “Christ” in our greeting, but going around saying “Merry Christmas” is not a statement that we are a Christian. The same thing applies to the third point. Simply because you seek to keep Christ in Christmas does not give the world around you the complete message of what the birth of Christ really means.

                So, how do we evangelize this Christmas season? Quite honestly, the methods don’t change from any other time of year. We are still supposed to live a life that is worthy of the calling to which we have been called (Eph. 4:1) which is to be “holy and blameless before him (God)” (Eph. 1:4). We are also to continue to verbally share the love of Christ (Matt. 28:19).

                My point is, don’t stop at saying “Merry Christmas.” That is not evangelism. It may be making a statement of some sort, but it is not evangelism. By all means say “Merry Christmas,” but follow through with that and tell people what Christmas is really all about.  That is, tell them about the Christ-child that was born in Bethlehem and tell them why he was born. He was born to take away the sins of the world.

How to Spend the Day with God - Richard Baxter (Puritan writer)

http://www.theologynetwork.org/theology-of-everything/starting-out/how-to-spend-the-day-with-god.htm

These are some good thoughts on how to practically spend your day with God.

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Let No One Deceive You - I John 3:7-10

"Little Children, let no one deceive you! The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning....Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. This is how God's children - and the Devil's children - are made evident." I John 3: 7-10

This passage of Scripture is crucial for the believer to understand. There are some within the realm of "Fundamentalism" who disregard this passage as having nothing to do with the believer or how the believer can have assurance of his salvation. I John 5:13 tells us that these words were written "so that you (believers) may know that you have eternal life." Could it be more clear?

The point is that the life of the true believer will not be characterized by a life that lives out practical atheism. One can profess to have accepted Christ and then go out and live their life as if nothing ever happened to them, but their life lived in sin only indicates that there was never a true conversion. One cannot be truely saved and live as if God had no control of their lives. When God saves a person He radically changes them so that they live a righteous life. That is not to say that they will never sin, but that their lives will not be characterized by sin. The true Christian will grow in Christ and God will complete the work that was begun.

The truth we must remember is that if our life has not been changed by the Gospel, then we need to go back and reevaluate our conversion. Do not be deceived; if we have not been transformed by the Word to live a righteous life then we have not truly been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

The Wrath of God

Isaiah 53:10, "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief;"


An aspect of the death of Christ that I do not consider quite enough is the fact that the wrath of God was displayed throughout the crucifiction. Often when I think of Christ's death I think of the love of God, the mercy of God, and the grace of God. All of these are great and awesome aspects of Christ's death, but that is not the complete picture. God is a holy God and any sin, no matter how small, is an offense to him. As a holy God he must judge sin appropriately. Therefore, when man sinned the wrath of God had to be poured out on sinful beings. His wrath had to be satisfied. That was the purpose of Christ's death. To stand in our place and to take the punishment of our sin while the wrath of God was poured out on Christ. Christ absorbed the wrath of God that was owed to you and to me. Through the death of Christ God's wrath has been justly satisfied. It is because of this truth of God's wrath that causes his love, mercy and grace to be all the more special and meaningful to me. That wrath was to be mine, but it was the will of God the Father to pour out his wrath on his own son, sparing me of that punishment that would have brought me death.