Evangelism Tips

1. Be clear about what you believe and why you believe it. Know the Scriptures and know the confessions and catechisms. The more you know about your faith, the easier it is to talk with non-Christians.

 

2. The essence of evangelism is communicating the correct information about sin and grace, simply and clearly. Talk about the law and the gospel, not about infralapsarianism and divine simplicity! That comes later!

 

3. Avoid the use of Christian jargon. Speak about real sin, real guilt, real shed blood!

 

4. Use tact and be charitable! Don't talk about reprobation with someone who has just lost an unbelieving family member. Be kind and courteous! Many non-Christians act and speak out of ignorance, not malice.

 

5. Be sensitive to someone's past--if they've had a bad experience in church, struggle with a particular sin etc., be understanding and compassionate! Non-Christians hate self-righteousness, and they have a right to do so! Do not soft-peddle the law and the guilt of sin, but make sure they understand that you are a justified sinner, not a self-righteous "know it all," who is here to correct them!

 

6. Stick with the subject--don't get side-tracked. When the conversation wanders, pull it back to center stage--the law and the gospel.

 

7. Evangelism is not about winning an argument, but leading people to Christ. Discussions may get heated and intense at time--that's okay. But the purpose of evangelism is not to show why you are right and they are wrong. It is to communicate the truth of the gospel! The message is to be the offence! Not you!

 

8. When people are apathetic about sin--use the law. When people have doubts or are skeptical--use basic apologetic arguments. When people express guilt for sin--present the gospel.

 

9. Evangelism is about leading non-Christians to Christ. Convincing Evangelicals that Reformed theology is true, falls under the heading of polemics. Don't confuse the two.

 

10. Stick with what all Christians hold in common wherever possible. Leave the internecine fighting among Christians aside when talking to non-Christians. A non-Christian will not care much about why the Lutheran view of the Lord's Super is in error, or why Baptists are wrong about infant baptism! That will come during catechesis!

 

11. Wherever possible, speak about Christianity as factually true-- "Jesus did this," "Jesus said this," "people heard and saw him," etc. Keep away from the subjective line of approach-- "it works for me."

 

12. Pray for wisdom.

 

13. Trust in the power of God the Holy Spirit working through the word! Cite texts directly from the Scriptures with attribution. Jesus says, Paul says....Not, "I think," or "it seems to me."

 

14. Don't rush things. Just because someone is not ready to trust in Christ after one encounter does not mean that effective evangelism has not taken place. Pre-evangelism is equally vital. You may plant, but someone else may have to water!

 

15. Treat people as objects of concern, not notches in your belt! Establish relationships and friendships whenever possible.

 

16. Don't forget that a prophet is without honor in his own home. The chances of you leading your own unbelieving family members [or someone close to you] to Christ are remote. Pray for someone else to come and evangelize your family!

 

17. Don't force things. If people balk, ridicule and otherwise are not interested, back off. Find another time and place. If after repeated attempts to communicate the gospel, and someone still shows an unwillingness to hear what you have to say, "shake the dust off your feet and move on to a new town!"

 

18. Be willing to get people the resources they need: be willing to provide them with a Bible, the right book to read, and certainly an invitation to attend your church or Bible study, etc.

 

19. Pray for opportunities to evangelize. Pray for your church--that God would bless the preaching of his word, that he would bring non-Christians into our midst, and that he would bless the church with growth.

 

20. You don't have to become a practical Arminian to be a faithful evangelist! A Reformed approach to evangelism simply means telling people the truth in love.

from Kim Riddlebarger 

Spurgeon Quote

 
I have my own opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel if we do not preach justification by faith without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing unchangeable eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross. — Spurgeon, Autobiography: 1, The Early Years, p. 168

Church is not a good place for patriotism

All this leads to one final point: while patriotism can be good, the church is not a good place for patriotism. 
 
We should pray for service men and women in our congregations. We should pray for the President. We should pray for the just cause to triumph over the evil one. We are not moral relativists. We do not believe just because all people are sinners and all nations are sinful that no person or no nation can be more righteous or more wicked than another. God may be on America’s side in some (not all) her endeavors.

But please think twice before putting on a Star Spangled gala in church this Sunday. I love to hear the national anthem and “God Bless America” and “My Country, Tis of Thee,” but not in church where the nations gather to worship the King of all peoples. I love to see the presentation of colors and salute our veterans, but these would be better at the Memorial Day parade or during a time of remembrance at the cemetery.

Earthly worship should reflect the on-going worship in heaven. And while there are many Americans singing glorious songs to Jesus there, they are not singing songs about the glories of America. We must hold to the traditions of the Apostles in our worship, not the traditions of American history. The church should not ask of her people what is not required in Scripture. So how can we ask the Koreans and Chinese and Mexicans and South Africans in our churches to pledge allegiance to a flag that is not theirs? Are we gathered under the banner of Christ or another banner? Is the church of Jesus Christ–our Jewish Lord and Savior–for those draped in the red, white, and blue or for those washed in the blood of the Lamb?

In some parts of the church, every hint of patriotism makes you a jingoistic idolater. You are allowed to love every country except your own. But in other parts of the church, true religion blends too comfortably into civil religion. You are allowed to worship in our services as long as you love America as much as we do. I don’t claim to have arrived at the golden mean, but I imagine many churches could stand to think more carefully about their theology of God and country.

Churches should be glad to have their members celebrate Memorial Day with gusto this Monday. We should be less sanguine about celebrating it with pomp and circumstance on Sunday.

from
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/05/26/thinking-theologically-about-memorial-day/

Children - A Glorious Inconvenience

From Pastor Mark...

Judge Not?

So, how many times have we heard that believers are not supposed to judge?  I mean, it says it right there in Matthew right?

“Judge not, that you be not judged."
Matthew 7:1 ESV

Unfortunately, that is usually all that people quote from the passage and it simply isn't enough to grasp what Jesus is teaching.  Remember that a text without context is only pretext for a proof text.  Lets look at the whole of the passage...

We are inside the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus is teaching about a great number of things.  He just finished telling people not to be anxious when he launches into this section:

Judge not, that you be not judged.  

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

So, read in context we can see that Jesus is speaking about something very particular.  He is talking about hypocrisy.  It isn't that Jesus is trying to make a blanket comment that no one can judge ever.  In fact, he goes on in verse 15 of the same chapter to say:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  You will recognize them by their fruits. 


Obviously, a person would have to observe a prophet and make judgement upon their teachings and their actions to make the JUDGEMENT if they were a false prophet or not.

Scripture clarifies itself later in when Paul writes that believers are called upon to exercise church discipline against unrepentant sinners in our midst (1 Cor 5:9-13) while affirming that we should not be hypocrites (Romans 2:1-2).

So, its not wrong to preach truth.  Proclaiming biblical truth isn't the type of judging that Jesus condemns, unless the person speaks in hypocrisy.

But, as a closing note...it is always important that we speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15).  We must remember that the world is a dynamic place made up of people who deal with real struggles, therefore our truth should be expressed with care and love.

It is possible to express truth in a loving way, although you should be expectant that many will not see the love because they so vehemently disagree with the truth that it carries.  Stay in tune with the Spirit and continue to run the race regardless of the obstacles.  Finish well, and keep those specks and logs from out of your own eyes.

Letters

 

You would be amazed by two things if you had the chance to comb through the correspondence records of a member of the US House of Representatives.  I recently had the chance to look at a sampling (about a dozen boxes) from the total collection of a few hundred boxes, all containing the letters sent to a very important former Representative.

 

Here were my observations...

 

1 - Scores and scores of letters, probably a third of what I saw, were never opened.  Staffers must have been too busy or judged from the return address that the letters were not important enough to open and read.  The ones which did get opened were the ones sent in Express mail or FedEx packets.  So much for writing your Congressman. 

 

2 - The number of crackpots and weirdos who write to government officials is massive.  I read multiple letters from absolute crazies who sent long incoherent letters to the Representative.  I am not talking about the many, many letters that contain crappy spelling and grammar, nor am I referring to the letters which are less than well thought-out.  I mean legitimately insane people sending notes to elected officials.  Really interesting stuff.

 

It brings back memories of my time as Legislative Aide to the GA Speaker Pro Tempore in 2007.  It was that experience that destroyed my dreams of working in politics.  The truth is...our country is run by lobbyists and those lobbyists are employed by big business and large non-profits.  The input that regular citizens give to elected leaders (other than the vote itself) is largely irrelevant.  Very sad.

 

But I guess that I can take comfort from some of the wacky letters I saw...they tell me that the end is near.  It will be nice to live in a government ruled by Christ on a new Earth where our ruler not only listens to us, but he loves us so much that he is willing to (and did) die for us.

Reformed Rap

I love this stuff...13 Letters from the 116 Clique is the best album...

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/special/pdf/110502spot_reformedrap.pdf

Parenting

There are already scores of books on parenting, many of them quite good. I’ve read several of them and have learned much. I really do believe in gospel-powered parenting and shepherding my child’s heart. I want conversations like this:

Me: What’s the matter son?
Child: I want that toy and he won’t give it to me!
Me: Why do you want the toy?
Child: Because it will be fun to play with.
Me: Do you think he is having fun playing with the toy right now?
Child: Yes.
Me: Would it make him sad to take the toy away?
Child: I guess so.
Me: And do you like to make your brother sad?
Child: No.
Me: You know, Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. That means loving your brother the way he would want to be loved. Since Jesus loves us so much, we have every reason to love others–even your brother. Would you like to love him by letting him play with the toy for awhile?
Child: Yes I would daddy.

I try that. Really I do. But here’s what actually happens:

Me: What’s the matter son?
Child: I want that toy and he won’t give it to me!
Me: Why do you want the toy?
Child: I don’t know.
Me: What’s going on in your heart when you desire that toy?
Child: I don’t know.
Me: Think about it son. Use your brain. Don’t you know something?
Child: I guess I just want the toy.
Me: Obviously. But why?
Child: I don’t know.
Me: Fine. [Mental note: abandon "why" questions and skip straight to leading questions.] Do you think he is having fun playing with the toy right now?
Child: No.
Me: Really?! He’s not having fun? Then why does he want that toy in the first place?
Child: Because he’s mean.
Me: Have you ever considered that maybe you are being mean by trying to rip the toy from his quivering little hands?
Child: I don’t know.
Me: What do you know?
Child: I don’t know!
Me: Nevermind. [I wonder how my brilliant child can know absolutely nothing at this moment.] Well, I think taking the toy from him will make your brother sad. Do you like to make him sad?
Child: I don’t know.
Me: [Audible sigh.]
Child: He makes me sad all the time!
Me: Well, I’m getting sad right now with your attitude! [Pause, think, what would Paul Tripp do?  Thinking . . . .thinking . . . .man, I can't stop thinking of that mustache. This isn't working. Let's just go right to the Jesus part.] You know, Jesus wants us to love each other.
Child: I don’t know.
Me: I didn’t ask you a question!
Child: [Pause.] Can I have some fruit snacks?
Me: No, you can’t have fruit snacks. We are talking about the gospel. Jesus loves us and died for us. He wants you to love your brother too.
Child: So?
Me: So give him the toy back!

Then I lunge for the toy and the child runs away. I tell him to come back here this instant and threaten to throw the toy in the trash. I recommit myself to turning down speaking engagements on parenting.

_____________________

I got this from Kevin DeYoung at:  

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/05/10/parenting-001/

Ghosts

Provocative title?

Recently, a Christian man who minsters to immigrant children in ATL was told by one of his kids that there was a ghost in their apartment.


This got me thinking about the issue of ghosts and how such a thing relates to our faith.

Something IS going on out there. I know that many things can be naturally explained and written off as psycho-somatic, but there are still many occurrences that can only be attributed to the supernatural.

I have experienced my own things:

- Watching a crucifix shake on the wall upon command at Marine Barracks Washington in 1997
- Being choked by some malevolence in my townhome around 1997 while reading a book on exorcism
- Seeing weird lights at night on the Gettysburg battlefield in 1998 with two other Marines
- Watching a cabinet door open of its own accord in the plantation where I was married, 2005
- Being deeply oppressed in bed one night, just at the moment that there was an attempted murder on my aunt in 2008

I have also had conversations with many people who have told me their own stories of ghosts and such. These are not crackpots, these are people whom I would place solid trust in.

So, I have to say that something is going on. But what?

American society tends to think of ghosts in some new age spiritual mumbo jumbo...people who can't go to the light yet because they have unfinished business here...departed loved ones looking over us...residual life energies...etc.

Of course, the real question is: what does Scripture say on the subject?

To begin with...God told his people in Deut 18:10 that they should not engage in occult practices. That says a few things to me...

- There is a supernatural world of spirits and magick that we can have interaction with
- God does not want those who love him to seek such interaction. I think this is a general principle not solely Mosaic law.

Further confirmation of the possibility of ghosts (in fact, the idea that ghosts are dead people) is found in 1 Samuel 28. Here we see God allow the ghost of Samuel come back to confront Saul thru the sorcery of the Witch of Endor...nothing to do with man-eating Teddy bears btw.

I think that this was a special case, with no other similar record in the Bible. However, I think it lends some credit to folks like my co-worker who says she saw her deceased father in her bedroom shortly after his death. She said he brought a comforting message accompanied by beautiful light in her time of distress.

The Bible is also clear that there are demons. These fallen angels have been cast to our planet with their leader, the great adversary Satan. See Revelation 12 for the backstory. We also know that they have a mission here...1 Peter 5 says that the devil is looking to devour us.

We also know that our enemy is a liar and that he is a master of deception. It seems to me that he has sold most of our nation on the lie that ghosts are interesting topics and benign lost souls. Such beliefs undercut the truth of Scripture that we are appointed only once to death and then to be judged on account of our faith. If an obsession with ghosts distracts one person from the reality of Scripture...the damage is done. Thats why I think that most ghosts (and things like UFOs) are really just demonic ploys to move our gaze from Christ to something else that "fills" the need we have for knowing that something is outside the material world.

At the end of the day, there is not enough scriptural evidence to fully explain what is going on with ghosts and hauntings. I think there is enough to say these things...

- Don't get obsessed with the occult. Watch what you ingest through media...horror movies in particular. Don't invite the entities into your life.

- Stay connected to Christ. Nothing can separate us from him if he has saved us - Romans 8. Pray, read the Word, obey his commands...that's the best defense against ghostly/ demonic incidents.

- If you do have an incident that seems like a family member is watching over you, test the spirits. Ask yourself if what they say (either audibly or thru inner voices) is in line with the Scriptures.

- If confronted with an actual apparition, command it by the power of Jesus Christ to tell you who it serves - 1 John 4. Be sure to do this only if you are truly saved lest you end up as the sons of Sceva in Acts 19.

- If you feel yourself to be under regular demonic attack through some supernatural manifestations...seek a community of believers who will hold to God's word and pray for you. Repent of your sins and look to close open doors in your life. Hold onto the promise of God's grace and mercy in such difficulties and keep praying!

In the case of the young immigrant girl who told the missionary she sees ghosts...I pray that she would be led by him into a deeper love for Christ. I pray that her family would be counted of God's flock and that they would all recognize the existence of spiritual beings and the deceits and lies of the evil one in his attempts to get our attention fixed anywhere but the truth.

I would interested in hearing other's experiences and thoughts on this topic.

My work...

So this post isn't about theology, philosophy, or any such weighty issue.  Its just a look into where I am working these days.  I work in the Federal Records Center, I have worked there for 6 years...its a place where the work is important but generally "warehouse-ish."  Like these pics...

After 4 years doing primarily manual labor, I was accepted into a Management Intern program where I spend most of my time on MS Excel instead of lifting boxes.  

Part of my intern rotations have landed me at our sister facility - the National Archives at Atlanta - in the months of April and May.  When I first got here, I was tasked with assisting in the set-up for our big Civil War symposium.  Heres some images...

Thats THE Archivist of the United States...

PBS was filming.  Check your listings the last week in May.

In subsequent weeks here at the Archives I have been looking over some of the amazing things we have in the region.  Like these...

A 1950s bit of evidence from a civil trial.  Its essentially acid cool-aid.  The company was getting sued because the drink was causing kids teeth to fall out.  The powder is still in there.

Same company made a weird food-supplement.

The patent for the Ford emblem.

Another for some drinky-drink.

Chanel # 5 ladies?

This is a hand-written order from the Supreme Court.

It was dated in 1881.  Notice the seal.

The stacks.

Hank Williams WW2 draft classification.  Its hard to see, but the official deciding if he was fit to serve marked him as unfit.  The reason..."drunkard."

Old Court books.

Maps and blueprints.

A hand-drawn map from the 1800s.

We have stuff from the late 1700s.

It looks like this.  How did people have the time to write so fancy.  No American Idol I guess.

A marriage contract from back in the day.

It was these folks getting married.

PBS came back to film some more clips about our Civil War symposium.

We have an Exhibit Shoppe

This kid was 12 when he was sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary for 1 year and 1 day.

He had done mail fraud of some type.  The letter to his friend says "Be sure not to sell my watch."

"...and there hanging by the neck until pronounced dead..."

Rosa Parks police report

Moonshiners!

"..the production of spiritous liquids...contrary to and against the peace and dignity of the United States."

Thats the exterior.

Anyway, I leave the Archives after next week and head back to the Federal Records Center.  It will be a sad departure.  

I suggest that you visit the National Archives at Atlanta in Morrow, GA if you get a chance.  Very cool stuff!