Evangelism | 2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2

September 18, 2011 Service from Central Wired on Vimeo.

Reminder to Be Missional

Ed Stetzer of Lifeway Research has some great resources on church leadership. I recommend that you check out what he has to say.

It is important that we as a youth group don't get too caught up in our youth group. God intends that we are intentional with our time at school, work, with family, and with friends too! So, think missional, be missional!

Acts 19- Jesus on Our Lips

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. (Acts 19:8-10).

As I have said many times before, and will restate here, we are not promised immediate success. We are not called primarily to be successful, we are called to be faithful. Even the Apostle is disregarded. "Some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them." Do not equate faithfulness with success. It is easy to replace the worship of Jesus with the worship of numbers, or conversions, or missions trips taken, etc. If success is on the throne of your heart, that means Jesus is not.

But here is what is really pressing on my soul... We have an example of the Word of God spreading. We have an example of the effects of Jesus being on the lips of the Apostle Paul. We see in verse 8 that Paul starts in the synagogue, but then in verse 9 he moves to the lecture hall. Paul's aim: to proclaim Christ. Jesus is on his lips. He preaches about Him, he discusses Him, he is all about Him. And the result is the whole province of Asia hears the word of the Lord.

I know it is easy to say, 'yeah of course the apostle Paul talks about Jesus,' but we need to get past the elitist faith that says some are called to this and others simply attend church. Jesus has revealed Himself to you. Now it should be the passion of your heart to have the Word of Jesus on your lips. It should come out in conversation. It should be the overflow of your heart. We should constantly have that Word on our lips. It isn't stuck in the Synagogue (the Church), the word is loose on the streets. It should be talked about at the water cooler and at the lunch table.

If we will let that Word capture our hearts, and if we will have a ministry of the Word that affects every portion of our lives, then our whole province will hear the Word of the Lord. Isn't that a goal worth giving your life to? Speak the Word. Tell them about your great King!

Acts 14- Testifying to the Word of Grace

Paul and Barnabas "spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed" (vs 1). After the city was stirred up they fled to a different city... "and there they continued to preach the gospel" (vs. 7). Here we have two men captured by the grace of God. They are changed men that are in love with their savior. They are called to be proclaimers of the gospel. And, that is what they are doing wherever they go and to whomever they go to.

I know that Acts 13 teaches us about the special calling of Paul and Barnabas for frontier missions. They have a special task of helping people come to know Christ by traveling and preaching, but we all receive at least the first part of that call when we recieve Christ as savior. The elders that were left behind in chapter 13 also had the responsibility of proclaiming Christ like Paul and Barnabas. The difference was travel.

So, we should learn from Paul and Barnabas to be single minded about Christ. We need to decide to know nothing other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:2). Then our words and actions should be about Him no matter where or what is going on.

Is your life singularly focused on Christ? Is your day timer plans for the day reflecting that Christ is preeminent? Are they reflecting that Jesus is the most important thing to you? Does Jesus come up in conversation? Do you testify about His grace? The message is no less exhilarating for you today than when you were saved.... maybe even more! I need Christ to free me from bondage to sin and to liberate me today and it excites me to think that grace is mine! How can I not share it?!?! So, take a moment to refocus and set your heart your mind your being to proclaim Christ in word and deed today. Make Him known.

What is Hell Like?

Ashley was in town yesterday and we went to our usual hangout locale where we can get great coffee and great food. We were talking about the students and about youth group on Sunday. She asked a brilliant question, "do you think they understand hell?" I told her that I thought so and that I make it a point to be real honest about hell and my understanding of it. But then Ash talked about how her dad explained it to her when she was younger... it was profound and I will do my best to re hash what she said.

Every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17). That means that laughter and friendships and relationships and joy and smiling and everything that you love comes from our heavenly Father. To be in hell means to be eternally separated from Him and His good gifts. Imagine for eternity never smiling, never having a moment of joy, never experiencing the feeling of being right with God, never having someone ask you how your day is going, never being able to laugh, or even feel comfortable. Never ever for a moment experiencing any of the joys that you have come to know in your lifetime. It sounds horrible. It sounds absolutely terrible.

That is why when Jesus explains it in Luke 16 the man in hell is in torment and begs for even just a drop of water(vs. 24). And he pleads that they could warn his brothers so they too will not come to 'this place of torment' (vs. 28). 

Friends, hell is misery. It is a separation from your loving Father and everything good you have ever experienced. Think of hell often and let your knowledge of hell and your love and awareness of the Giver of all good gifts be a motivation to share the news of salvation.

Acts 10- No Social Boundaries

"I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." Acts 10:34-35

Peter sees a vision and the meaning is brought into focus when he meets the men that Cornelius sent. The vision and the message of the men comes together to make Peter say the line, "God... accepts men from every nation..." Is your gospel that comprehensive? Does the good news in your life extend beyond your comforts. We all have a comfort zone of those that we easily get along with. Whether it is like minded people, or similar back grounded people, or same gender, or same social situations. We each have a comfort zone that makes sense to us to spend time with, but the Gospel breaks down boundaries. It is extended to the Jew and the Gentile. It was extended to people in Israel 2000 years ago and it was extended to you in the U.S. It doesn't play favorites. God, in fact, is after all tribes and tongues and nations. He is after the rich and the poor, the popular and the socially quirky. He is after all peoples. 

How are you doing at extending that invitation? Do you tell the gospel to the people that aren't exactly like you? 

Acts 9- Tabitha Get Up

Isn't it cool that Peter raises a dead woman? In the story we are made aware of a disciple that dies... I am going to venture away from the text slightly to make a point about about evangelism. The text is not a story of evangelism in the sense that I will use it, but people did hear of this and believe (vs 42). 

What I want to point out is that we get this privilege too! By faith we can raise the dead. Physically, but also, in my estimation, more importantly the spiritually dead! We need to start trusting Jesus for a waking of the dead in our friends and neighbors that do not know Him. 

It is astonishing that Peter calls for Tabitha to "get up" but we with the same measure of faith need to start praying for our friends... I have friends right now that are spiritually dead. When they die it is over for them. They are seperated from God for forever. Instead of just taking it on the chin and writing off their spiritual deadness as 'the way it goes sometimes.' I need to get on my knees and beg God to give life. He can speak one Word to them, "LIVE," and they will come to life (Ezekiel 16:6). 

So, today, let us think of those we love and care for that are spiritual dead and let us bodly beg the Lord for Him to raise the dead. That is my strategy for evangelism. Trusting God to do what I can't do. Praying for the dead to be awakened to the majesty of Christ.

Acts 8- Preaching the Word Wherever

In this chapter the believers are scattered. But, wherever the believers go they preach. In fact, they preach and joy sweeps over a city (vs 8). 

For some reason in our individualistic culture we allow church to take place at church... That sentence doesn't even make sense. Church is a group not a location. But we want churchy stuff to stay at the building. So, when we scatter no body preaches. In fact we do the opposite of preach we conceal. Just the other day I was walking to a coffee shop with Ashley to read. I had my bible and J.I. Packer's Knowing God and I actually thought about turning my book around so the cover wasn't facing out.... I'm just being honest. I have a tendency even though I am a pastor to conceal my faith. 

The believers did the opposite in Chapter 8. They preached. I know that word has many connotations and not the least of which is pews, a lectern, a guy in a suit, proclaiming his notes that he has neatly tucked in his bible. That is not an accurate picture. They preached meaning they proclaimed the excellencies of Christ and the amazing grace that was displayed in the cross to rescue sinners of which I am the chief! They were so enamored by Jesus that they couldn't shut up about it.

Imagine a young boy gets a new video game and just jabbers about it nonstop. Even though the conversation might move away from the video game, when there is a moment of silence he interjects, "Oh yeah!? and when I was playing it..." The boy's mind keeps going back to the game. He can't stop talking about it. He is consumed. So it was with the early believers. I am sure conversations covered many topics but when given a moment of silence the believer's mind gravitated to the glorious gospel. 

Is Jesus a treasure to you? Do you talk about him? Do you 'preach' to your family and friends about him? That is what our evangelism should look like. An excitement that bubbles up in us and attracts others. A preaching with our lives.  

Acts 5- Be Bold

In Acts the 5 the apostles are arrested and placed in prison... then in the middle of the night an angel broke them out of jail and gave them this bizarre command to go back to where they were arrested and "tell the people the full message of this new life." (Acts 5:17-21)

First off, I just have to note that they were so bold... the result of preaching in the public square was a whooping. They got beat on and flogged and they went away rejoicing that they were counted worthy of suffering for The Name. My question for us is... are we that bold? Would we speak up even if we knew it might cost us? If you can easily answer yes, or even maybe, then ask yourself, 'have you spoken up lately?' Having a treasure like eternal life with God is something that is meant to be shared. If you had the cure to cancer and kept it for yourself I would say you are an evil and selfish person. The same is true for Christianity. You have a cure for eternity. All sickness and decease and sin cured. No more tears. No more separation from God. How can we possibly keep that to ourselves? We should boldly proclaim that everyday in everyplace no matter the cost. So be bold!

But I see a second element that concerns me about this verse... 'tell the people the full message of this new life.' What is the full message? Can you outline the full message? Do you have a working definition of saving faith? If God put you in a situation to share would you have words to articulate the Gospel? We often talk about sharing our testimony and being ready. If you do not have your testimony figured out then I think that is a good place to start. 1) explain your  pre conversion life 2) Explain your conversion experience 3) Finally, tell others what life has been like since you joined Jesus' team. Sharing your testimony is as easy as 1-2-3. But, is that enough? Acts 5 doesn't say, 'share your story.' It says share God's story. So, we need to start figuring out what God's story is. Every christian should be ready to give the Gospel. I would say memorize Romans 3:23-25 and be ready to explain it. More Christians need to think through this. The reason why sharing is so scary is because so few know what to say. Search the scriptures to find the full message and write it down so you can share it when God puts you in the town square or the temple courts or in your school or at your job or with your friends. Be ready. Be bold.

John 12- Spreading the Word

John 12:17 "Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word."

In the midst of the craziness of Lazarus' death and his being raised these people saw how marvelous Jesus is. They saw how Jesus took a hopeless situation and turned it on its head. They put their faith in Jesus because of the way that he worked and now they are spreading the word about Jesus.

This is our mantle and call. If you have been raised from the dead (Jesus took a dead heart and a lifeless spiritual body and breathed life into you) then you are a spreader of the word. How could you possibly contain what Jesus did for you? I am talking about the fact that before you knew Jesus "you were dead in your transgressions and sins... but God, in his great love for you, being rich in mercy, made you alive with Jesus. (Ephesians 2:1,4-5)" He brought you to life man! Now it is your responsibility to tell others about that.

But here is my question; who have you told? How many people have you actually told about this 'Great News?' If Jesus brought you to life then I think that is pretty big news!? Think about this... we gather our loved ones to tell them about a promotion, or a birthday, or an engagement, or retirement, or an expectancy. But what about saying this, "guys guess what... I AM ALIVE!?! I was dead but now I am alive. Jesus gave me Life!" That is news! Why wouldn't we be ambitious to spread it.

Luke 7- Wisdom is Proved Right by her Children

Last night I was telling several students how I am so blessed and have gotten to do so many cool things with my life. Jordan's response was a sarcastic, "yeah, and now your stuck here." To which I said, "it is good to be here and now I get to live through you guys. You are my glory(somewhat jokingly)." Danny said, "I am going to have a t-shirt made that says 'Cory's Glory.'" ... That would be funny but please don't do that. I will be struck down in my arrogance. Here is the concept behind this though... what you guys do with your lives shows how well I did my job as a pastor. If after high school all of the students go to college and forget their convictions and beliefs and fall away, then I suck. I did a bad job at shepherding you to respond to the voice of the King. But, on the other hand, I can live through each of you with how well you follow Christ for the rest of your lives. You are my glory. Even writing that makes me smile. It is such a funny way of thinking. But, you are my spiritual sons and daughters and my goal is to raise you in righteousness. I need to use every thing I possibly can to help you to become a mature believer and the way I do it might be different than other youth pastors. In fact some might say, "He has a demon (vs. 33)" and others might even say, "Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners' (vs. 34)."

This is a concept that I have been wrestling with lately. I feel like the trend with youth ministry is to provide a fun program to get people into the church (as if a building can save?!?). I believe this is the strategy that a pharisee from verse 30 would buy into. However, my strategy is to simply get students to Christ, to disciple them, to help them walk with Him, and to even put them in situations that will stretch their faith and prove their commitment. And, it might be frowned upon. Here is my argument though... "wisdom is proved right by all her children." This may not seem like the most logical strategy in the eyes of men, but I am OK with that because I am focused on ..."the things of God (Matthew 16: 23)." My wisdom will be shown by a small amount of students that actually live their lives for God. Some will be missionaries, some will be pastors, some will be worship leaders, and a bunch of them will actually change whole companies because of their faith. They will be passionate Christ followers and they are my glory! And to make my argument a little more pointed I firmly believe the current American youth ministry system is broke. If 80 percent of students after finishing youth ministry fall away from their "faith" (quotations added to emphasize that it is an illusion of faith), then what is the point of groveling to provide fun activities for the 80 out of 100 students that will stand at the gates and hear the words, "I never knew you?"

Here is my proposal... let's focus on discipleship and make sure that we are making passionate followers of Christ. When someone totally gets that Christ is the greatest treasure ever, they can't help but to share that with others! I have done evangelism ministry for the past 5 years and I totally see the value in it... God desires that none should perish and we need to be telling others all about Him and His benefits. But, as a ministry we are committed to making disciples and not just having a fun program. I am not the first to feel this way; check out what Oswald Chambers, a minister of Christ from the early 1900's, has to say on April 24th.
http://www.myutmost.org/04/0424.html
and if you want to read more his book is available for online viewing
http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php

Mark 2 -Not The Righteouss but the Sinners

Who will you have dinning with you at your table?

I was talking with Pastor David yesterday and his wisdom is always encouraging. What he was saying was that he loved the new chairs down in the basement and our reasoning for doing it was noble. We want a welcoming environment for new-comers. But, he said we should always be planning evangelism. The chairs are good and it is good for us to be ready for new people, now go and find them. Just like Jesus said in Matthew 28, "go and make disciples of all..." We need to be intentional on proclaiming the good news to those that are "sick." And, the wisdom of Pastor David's many years of doing ministry were showing through in his statement, "you can prepare messages, return phone calls, counsel students, prepare worship experiences, and miss out on the greatest role of being pastors... go and make disciples[evangelize]." Jesus did it. He was eating with "tax collectors and 'sinners.'" When the "religious leaders" saw this, it actually made them question Jesus' disciples, "why does he eat with them?" They can't understand why a rabbi would waste his time with those sorts of people?! And Jesus' sharp response was, "it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." As a youth group we need to be constantly asking ourselves, 'if we have the greatest message ever told, why are we not sharing it with as many other people as we can?' It should excite you to tell others about your Savior. It should be a message that you could not contain if you wanted to. Tell others. Hang with the sinners. Tell them about Jesus and invite them to come and hear the Word. We do not want to be focused on us. We want to love others as ourselves. That means that you should want your spiritually dying friends to come to church just as bad as you yourself want to come. It should break your heart when your head hits the pillow, that you have family and friends that don't know Jesus. We have to be a church that is focused on the Cross. Focused on helping others fall in love with Jesus. And, we should be intentional about who we spend all of our time with. If you are always hanging out with the righteous, who is hanging out with those that need Jesus the most?