Personal Evangelism

One of the most significant issues facing the church at large today is the virtual loss of personal evangelism. How often do you see someone bring a friend down the aisle during the invitation? In most churches this is a rare event. Even in large or dynamic churches where it occurs, it is a small percentage of the church’s attendance. In fact, statisticians who study churches use an established “industry standard” for evangelism: a church is considered evangelistic if they have 1 baptism per 20 folks in attendance.

What has happened to our definition of Christianity when we have decided it is a positive fact that 20 followers of Jesus Christ are necessary to see 1 person baptized? It is even more astounding that the large majority of churches do not reach this standard. A major reason – the decline of personal evangelism.

In my experience in church life, I have observed common excuses used in an effort to justify the failure to share the gospel. “I will get questions I do not know how to answer.” “I have never been taught how.” My personal favorite: “I will mess it up.”

The Bible is filled with examples of people who passionately shared Jesus without fear, answers, teaching, or failure. Consider the woman Jesus met at a well in Samaria. She was so amazed at who He was that she immediately went and told others about Jesus. Certainly meeting Jesus – the King of King and Lord of Lords – should be enough to motivate us to share. Just consider for a moment what happened when you met Him.

No excuses ever entered her mind. She was not embarrassed to invite folks to meet Him despite her background of a very sinful life. She was not intimidated about her lack of spiritual training. She never worried about their questions. She just shared what she what Jesus told her. Why would we ever think to share anything BUT what Jesus said?

You cannot mess up sharing Jesus. No one can ever take away or question the validity of your testimony. You point them to Jesus and He takes over and does the work. Jesus saves, not us. In fact, after hearing Jesus Himself, they explained to her they believed in Him because of what He said. He makes it work.

And amazingly enough she led people to Christ in her wonderfully redeemed, broken, baby Christian condition. The Bible states clearly, “Many in that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman…” John 4:39. The passion from a real experience with Jesus is still the best form of evangelism training. Make it a point to do 2 things this week. First, spend some time in the presence of Jesus. Second, tell someone what Jesus has done in your life. Then see what Jesus does to your church.      

What will be the legacy of your church?

Here’s an article from On Mission Magazine, Winter 2013 that I’d like to share with you written by Johnny Hunt, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga. entitled, “What will be the legacy of your church?”

“A few years ago the leadership of new Hope Church in Mableton, Ga., came to us looking for help. The once vibrant church was now struggling to grow beyond the 17 members that had stuck around through tough times. The church had a capacity to hold 250 people and 3.5 acres of land but no longer had the ability to reach its community.

The decisions New Hope had to make weren’t easy. Some of the people in the church had been baptized, discipled, married and raised their children in that church. No one wanted to see the church close its doors.

First Baptist Woodstock wanted to help. When they asked us to come alongside of them, we met with the 17 members and decided upon a complete makeover for the church. We brought in a new pastor and installed blended worship in the church. We began to tell the community about a brand new church plant that would be more culturally connected to it.

Today, six years later, Vinings Lake Church – what the church is now called – is running 600 most weekends. More important, the church is reaching its community. Young families in the community are coming to know Christ.

When those 17 people came to meet us at First Baptist Woodstock, they saw what they were doing as a part of their legacy. They gave us the land and great buildings. They joined with us in this journey. Now they’re seeing these great days of ministry with the resources they provided.

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of buildings and land could become available in the near future for kingdom work. Many buildings around North America house evangelical churches that are facing the same challenges New Hope faced.

I am excited about what the North American Mission Board is doing in church revitalization through Send North American Church Growth and Revitalization Conferences. I’m glad to be a part of it because I’ve seen the difference revitalization can make in a church and community.

Maybe you’re facing the same uncertainty in your church. You might not be ready to close the doors, but you’re not growing and impacting your community like you want – and you dream of doing so. Regardless, the questions are the same. What will your church’s legacy be?

If you’re asking yourself this question, join me at a conference near you. Visit namb.net/revitalization.”

Learning to Worship Like the Angels

Learning to Worship Like the Angels

Luke 2:8-14

Revelation 5

Why do they worship? “good news” Gospel brings hope

What is the Good News at the heart of their worship?

God’s Covenant - City of David   Root of David

Sacrifice - Savior, Christ   Lamb slain

Universal - For all   Every tribe, tongue, nation

Restoration - Peace toward men   Redeemed us to God

How do they worship?

“glory,” “multitudes”

“tens of thousands,”   “new song,” “loud voice”

They worship this way because they live this way!

Question:

If God (Hebrews 2:14-18)

•         does not give aid to angels

•         made Jesus take on humanity, be tempted as us, and die to conquer death

And angels serve God…

THEN what character should we aspire to develop?

Revitalizing to reach North America

I wanted to share with you this article from Kevin Ezell, President, NAMB entitled "Revitalizing to reach North America", Winter 2013 issue.

"We have a big job ahead of us as Southern Baptists. Maybe this is hard to believe, but there are places in North America that have no evangelical presence. There are places where Southern Baptist work is so scarce as to be non-existent. Do you think it's possible to find someone in the United States or Canada who has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? This reality is more common than you think.

This task is big, but many of our churches are not prepared. The number of  churches that have plateaued or are declining in growth is around 70 percent. That tells us these churches probably are not having much of an impact on their communities.

We lost nearly 900 churches every year. You probably could name some in your community that have become statistics, and you may have seen it coming for a long time in your own church not knowing what to do.

I firmly believe there is something we can do to reverse these trends and to see fewer and fewer churches drift toward closing their doors. Just as Send North America is a strategy for linking existing churches with church planting efforts, it's also a strategy to help existing churches that are on the brink of death re-launch with new life.

Visit namb.net/revitalization to see how we are ramping up efforts through Send North America to help reduce the number of SBC churches that close their doors every year.

By partnerting with pastor Johnny Hunt and state convention leaders, we are creating a framework that helps Southern Baptist do what they do best - join together for kingdom expansion. If we're going to see God work through us in the unreached area of North America, we first need a majority of Southen Baptist churches that can carry out the work He has called us to do.

And I truly believe this is our opportunity to see that future ministry is built on a solid foundation of healty, growing, sending, giving and going churches."

The Character of a Messenger of God

The Character of a Messenger of God - Luke 1

Gabriel shows the character of a servant of God

Gabriel vs. Satan

Gabriel

“Man of God”

“Strength of God”

Relationship with God (Ezekiel 28:14-19; Isaiah 14:12-15; Matthew 4:1-9)

“I stand in the presence of God.”

Satan

Adversary

Relationship with God

Stands against God – adversary

Gabriel

Approach to the Gospel

“I have been sent to bring you this good news”

Satan

Approach to the Gospel

Opposes the Gospel (e.g. Matt 13:18-23; 2 Cor. 4:1-6)

“And even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,…” vv. 3-4

Gabriel

Relationship to people

“Do not be afraid”

Speaks truthfully, often with a sign of truth

God loves you and you have found His favor 

Points you to Jesus

Satan

Relationship to people

A murderer – Jn 8:44; Jn 10:10

Father of Lies – Jn 8:44 “he is a liar and the father of lies”

Hinders Christians – 1 Thess 2:17-20

To KEEP you FROM Jesus - 2 Cor 4:1-6

Question:

If God (Hebrews 2:14-18)

•         does not give aid to angels

•         made Jesus take on humanity, be tempted as us, and die to conquer death

•         and Gabriel serves God,

THEN what character should we aspire to develop?

Who Are Angels

Who are angels? Luke 2:8-14 “angel of the Lord” The heavenly host

Why study angels?

•         Universal fascination with angels – Christmas, the arts, spiritualism

•         Angels = spirit world:  validates God as Creator, search for eternity

•         Too many myths, untruths: Satan transforms to angel of light - 2 Cor. 11:12-15

•         Their work surrounds us

•         They validate the priority of Jesus’ redemptive work

Angels defined

•         “An angel is a spiritual creature without a body created by God for the service of Christendom and the church.”  Martin Luther

•         Term means “messenger”

•         Created by God: Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:14

•         Made before creation: Genesis 3

•         Free will: Luke 10:18; Isaiah 14:12-15

•         Good and evil- Rev. 12: 7-12;

•         Spirit beings, but can manifest in different forms for our sake

Different types of angels

•         Cherubim: guard the holiness of God

•         Seraphim: serve in matters such as worship, purified Isaiah for service

•         Four Living Creatures: Rev. 4 describes as unique

•         Archangel: Michael –Jude 9; warrior and leader of warriors

•         Heavenly hosts – unspecified angels

Myths

•         We worship angels: Col. 2:18; Matt. 4:8-10; Rev. 19:10

•         Personal, guardians angels

•         We become angels when we die – We are the redeemed! Hebrews 1:14

•         Angel ministry

•         Worship God

•         Further God’s plan of Redemption

•         Serve the Redeemed