Monday, October 18, 2010

Evangelism at Your Dinner Table-Jesus Style


Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:16-20

Evangelism. Oh how
little time there is for us to grab some tracts, walk down the street and actually tell people about Jesus. How often the thought pervades that almost everyone knows God and there is no point in telling people about Him. The fears...how to approach, how to know all the answers, where to find the right tracts, the right words...where are they? On top of it all, the neverending deficit of...TIME. If only I had time!

I recently listened to Doug Phillips' talk about the family table. The family table is where families gather to see each other face to face, talk, share stories, laugh, and...eat (for those of you who forgot that such a practice still exists :) Most importantly, the family table is where the bond of family is formed, strengthened, and cultivated. It has been proven that families that gather as a whole family at a dinner table each day, have children who have a closer relationship to their parents and don't form unhealthy habits such as drinking and smoking. Wow! How sad, though that so many families nowadays have abandoned such a great practice that helps to strengthen the family!

Even more amazing is how this practice has been modeled for us even in Jesus' day! Jesus himself met with his disciples around a table. We notice Jesus even gathering at a table with the pharisees! During this time, with food and plenty of fellowship, Jesus accomplished much! His disciples were profiting from questions and answer sessions from their Teacher. They enjoyed the blessing of food with Jesus, as well as having His undivided attention and hearing his amazing wisdom. They learned a lot from those times!

Now imagine, this: you and I taking this idea and carrying it out into action! That's right ladies! Cook up a delicious meal, set the dinner table all fancy (light the candles if it makes it cozier) and invite your coworker, friends from college, neighbor, or even your dentist. Let your family environment be a witness to these lost souls. It doesn't take a lot of words to evangelize to those folks who SEE what a Christian family is really like. Sometimes all it takes for an unbeliever is to be in a Christian home for one or two hours! Now that is an amazing example to the world!


Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16


Tuesday, October 5, 2010

THIS HITS HOME>for many believers

"Men and women can understand the progmatic notions of: faith, can decide that they life that, can commint themselves to a religious joourney, and remain completely unchanged by the power of God....

you decided that church ought to have a place in your life, for whatever reason. The spirit of God is at work within your heart says "Come one, let's get serious." So you begin to get serious. Youve come a long and you've decided that theres a measure of pragmatism in what's being said. Afterall, it's a peace of mind, and I like peace of mind. Afterall, it gives me a sence of equilibrium in my week, and I like that. Afterall, it kind of reinforces family... and I think family is important. And it also says to me, there's purpose out there.

So embracing the validity of all of that...so you've decided, of your own volition...to commit yourself to a religious journey, and you're on it.

But here's the problem: When you started the journey, you were a dreadful swearer, and you swear just as much as you ever did. When you started the journey, you were a liar, and you lie as much as you ever did. When you began the pilgrimige your life was full of bitterness and of envy and of hate and of rebellion and of guilt, and you are still EXACT SAME AS YOU EVER WERE!

And you know it. And youre troubled by it....You have simply recognized the wisdom that is contained in a way of life, but you have never come to learn in Jesus, that way to life. So your faith.. is fatuous. It is resting on MAN's wisdom....it will help you walk the walk and talk that talk and may lead you to the very pit of hell...

That is why Paul trembled at the thought that men and women can so miss the point...as to embrace the shell, and miss the substance. And go on their journey, continually lost...."

"So that your faith may not rest on man's wisdom, but on the transforming power of the Spirit of God."

truthforlife.org Alistair Begg "Testimony of a Preacher"

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Gianna Jessen Abortion Survivor in Australia Part 2

Gianna Jessen Abortion Survivor in Australia Part 1



"And I know that I am in a government building and an beautiful one it is and I love your country as well as my own. But I know that in the age that we live in, it is not at all politically correct to say the name of Jesus Christ in places like this -to bring Him into these sorts of meetings, because His name can make people so terribly uncomfortable. But I didn't survive so I can make everyone comfortable-I survived so I can stir things up a bit and I have a great time of doing it!" -Gianna Jessen

Monday, September 13, 2010

Refuse to Let the Scene Be Familiar

The face that Moses had begged to see-was forbidden to see-was slapped bloody (Exodus 33:19-20). The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth's rebellion now twisted around his own brow...
"On your back with you!" One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier's heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner's wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier's life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do "all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier live on- he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm-the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless-the nerves perform exquisitely. "Up you go!" They lift the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day and unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being-the living excitement from our souls. The apple of his Father's eye turns brown with rot.
His Father! He must face his Father like this!
From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.
"Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped-murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten-fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk-you, who molest young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp-buying politicians, practicing exhortation, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics,, founded false religions, traded in slaves-relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?"
Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed.
The Father watches as his heart's treasure, the mirror image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah's stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.
"Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!"
But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.

From the book When God Weeps. An account of Christ's death written by Steven Estes and Joni Eareckson Tada.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Show Them God. They will go on Rejoicing.

Today we had Baptism at church and the First Preacher mentioned the following verses, the story of:

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”e 38And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

The preacher pointed out that when the angel took Philip away, Eunuch wasn't worried or saddened...he didnt search for Philip. Eunuch, who was now filled with the Spirit of God, knew he gained The One who is bigger than Philip. He gained an everlasting Love.

THe preacher was calling me to be the light rays of the Sun. To reflect God. To offer Him alone and to be able to do it in a way the person will gain that understanding of what they now really possess. That way, They too will be able to live, go on their way "REJOICING". For they have what no one can ever take away.