Truth in HD November 2013

8/14/2019 Truth in HD November 2013

1/18

around the neck is the breast-

plate of righteousness. Not

only does this protection of

righteousness defend us from

schemes and attacks from

evil, it reminds us of the need

to keep our hearts on track

with God. The weight of this

plate should remind us of the

responsibility we have with

the Lord.

The Levitical priests, because

God had consecrated their

tribe, were given the com-

mand to intercede for the peo-

ple of Israel. They had to be

adorned with both the ephod

and the breastplate. Both piec-

es were woven by the same

type of craftsman as the inner

curtains of the sanctuary of

God. The shoulder pieces of

the ephod were made of gold

and had a stone on each side

engraved with the names of

all the tribes of Israel. Like-

wise, the breastplate had

twelve precious stones em-

bedded into the gold with the

name of one tribe on each

stone. Therefore, the priest

wore a memorial upon their

heart. Hanging around their

necks was a reminder of the

provision and protection of

God, the source of wisdom.

The Levites were blessed with

the opportunity to adorn their

necks with the memorials of

God, not by luck, but through

their boldness to seek God

first. If we are to receive

Gods wisdom and wear it

around our necks, we must be

righteous before the Lord and

serve him over any idol

around us.

..then Moses stood in the

gate of the camp and said,

Who is on the Lords side?

Come to me. And all the sons

of Levi gathered around

him. -Exodus 32:26

Moses started down themountain, carrying in his

hands the tablets made of

stone, written on either side

the laws of God. He descend-

ed to the place where Joshua

remained, and Joshua was

alarmed. While hearing the

cries coming from within the

camp, he feared the people of

God were being attacked. As

Moses and Joshua drew closer

to the people, there stood an

idol surrounded by a multi-tude of Israelites dancing

around it. Moses threw down

the tablets, burning with an-

ger. The sacred stones lay in

fragments before an idola-

trous crowd, saturated in their

worldly pleasures. Moses

cleared the camp by throwing

down the idol and burning it

so that the people would feel

his sorrow and anger. Aaron,

having allowed such sin to

continue, faced Moses ques-

tioning. Moses cried out, ask-

ing who was for Jehovah.

Who has not forsaken their

God? Who will come forth

from this sin and serve the

Lord before any idol?

The Levites stepped forward.

Some had indulged them-

selves in the nations sin, yet

many had refrained from it

from the beginning. Moses

commanded them to take their

weapons and march through

the camp, kill the people of

Israel leading the sinful prac-

tices. In carrying out this

command, many had to kill

their own brothers, friends,

and neighbors. The obedience

of the Levites was the conse-cration of themselves to God.

They were rewarded the hon-

or of guarding and protecting

the tabernacle (Numbers 3:5).

These men of Levi stepped

forward, seeking righteous-

ness and following the wis-

dom of the Lord. The book of

Proverbs central concern is

practical wisdom for living.

Levites knew what it meant to

truly live that particular day.We read (Proverbs 1:7) that

the fear of the Lord is the

beginning of knowledge. The

essence of wisdom is a hearts

trembling before God. The

willingness of the Levities to

walk towards Moses stems

from the deep desire to make

themselves right before the

Lord. My son, do not lose

sight of them-keep sound

wisdom and discretion, and

they will be life for your soul

and adornment for your neck.

Then you will walk on your

way securely, and your foot

will not stumble.(Proverbs

3:21-23) Adorned on the

neck of every believer is the

wisdom of our Holy God.

The armor Paul tells us to

wear during battle is the nec-

essary parts of a spiritual life

with God. Strapped around

the shoulders, hanging tightly

Adornment by Josie Davisn s i d e t h i si s s u e :

The Church You

Can Believe In To-

day: Living the

Gospel Lifestyle

2

God Strong Revival 4

Being the Church:

Why Pray?

7

Self Acceptance 10

When Troubles

Come

13

The Problem of

Evangelism

15

B r i n g i n g t h e T r u t h

I n t o F o c u s

The Truth In HDN o v e m b e r 2 0 1 3o l u m e 3 I s s u e 1 1


2/18

P a g e 2

The Church You Can Believe In Today:

Living the Gospel Lifestyle by Bruce Wilson

In Ephesians chapter 3 and

verse 1 the Apostle Paul

says, For this reason I,

Paul, a prisoner for ChristJesus on behalf of you Gen-

tiles (Eph 3:1 ESV).He

calls himself a prisoner of

Christ Jesus.

He was indeed in prison in

Rome awaiting trial before

Nero. He had certain privi-

leges, i.e. house arrest, so

he was able to stay in the

house where he was living

and his friends were al-

lowed access to him. How-ever, night and day he was

chained to a Roman soldier

who was his guard and

whose duty it was to see

that Paul did not escape.

Even in those circumstanc-

es, Paul calls himself a pris-

oner of Jesus Christ. An

ordinary person would

probably have said that they

were a prisoner of the Ro-

man government. Paul was

a prisoner of the Romangovernment, but he didnt

look at it that way. He

thought of himself as a pris-

oner of Christ. He didnt

look at himself as being

imprisoned by the Roman

authorities, he thought of

himself as suffering for the

sake of Christ and having

opportunity to be a witness

for Christ and to proclaim

Christ to all those who were

around him. He was lookingat this imprisonment as a

mission field. PERSPEC-

TIVE MAKES ALL THE

DIFFERENCE IN THE

WORLD!

Paul could have looked

upon his imprisonment as

being a victim, but he

looked at it as championing

the cause of Christ! He

chose to be a champion for

Christ!

His perspective is found in

verse 7 of this same chapter

in Ephesians, and I want us

to see it in several different

versions of the Bible.

Eph. 3:7 NIV: I became a

servantof this gospel by the

gift of God's grace given me

through the working of his

power.

Eph. 3:7 CEV: God treated

me with kindness. His pow-

er worked in me, and it be-

came my job to spread the

good news.

Eph. 3:7 ESV: Of this gos-

pel I was made a ministeraccording to the gift of

God's grace, which was

given me by the working of

his power.

Eph. 3:7 GNB: I was made

a servant of the gospelby

God's special gift, which he

gave me through the work-

ing of his power.

Eph. 3:7 KJV: WhereofI

was made a minister, ac-

cording to the gift of the

grace of God given unto me

by the effectual working of

his power.

Even in the different varia-

tions of this verse, we find

that Paul understood his

role as a servant, or minis-

ter, to spread the Good

News. The word for minis-

ter in the Greek, diakonos

means; an attendant, that

is, (generally) a waiter(at

table or in other menial

duties); specifically a Chris-

tian teacherandpastor(technically a deaconor

deaconess): -deacon, min-

ister, servant. Paul knew

what his calling was and

was doing everything he

could to fulfill that call God

had on his life. The call of

God on his life made him

who he was, it defined him,

it consumed him and it was

his character. It wasnt a job

to him, it wasnt an occupa-

tion, it was him. In other

words, Paul lived the Gos-

pel life style. His circum-

stances did not detract from

Gods call on his life, nor

did it keep him from ful-

filling that call.

Just what is the Gospel life-

style? It is our conduct, our

love that God has given us

for others, and it is our love

for the lost and our desire

and our ambition to expand

the Kingdom of Godthrough the Gospel mes-

sage. It is a call from God

that is more precious after

salvation that anything we

could ever have or attain in

this life. That calling and

lifestyle should define us

also.

There are some Biblical

expectations for Christians

with regard to the Gospel

lifestyle. We are command-

ed to love the Lord with allof our heart, soul, mind and

strength. We are called to

be holy as Christ is holy.

We are empower to and

should strive to imitate Je-

sus Christ, take on His char-

acteristics and to want to be

like Him in all that we are.

T h e T r u t h I n H D


3/18

P a g e 3o l u m e 3 I s s u e 1 1

If we allow Him, He will empower

us with the ability to live that way

with the anointing and power of the

Holy Spirit. .

Speaking specifically to pastors, we

are also reminded that sheep need a

shepherd. Pay careful attention toyourselves and to all the flock, in whichthe Holy Spirit has made you overseers,

to care for the church of God, which heobtained with his own blood (Act 20:28

ESV). Godhas a plan for His church

and it is that congregations need a

shepherd/pastor. It is a great honor

and privilege to be called pastor by

our people. I remember not many

years after I began pastoring, I saw

one of the youth from my congrega-

tion at camp meeting and they were

with someone I didnt know. Whenthe young man introduced me to his

friend he said, This is my pastor.

It was very humbling to me and it

was a moment that I realized the

magnitude of what that calling was

and the expectations not only Bibli-

cally, but from the congregation I

pastored.

Pastoring, at times, is difficult, how-

ever it is such an honor that God

would call us each individually and

personally to labor for Him in this

capacity. I have been in meetingswith other ministers who did noth-

ing but whine and complain about

being pastors. I have heard pastors

complain about everything in the

ministry they do and the people they

pastor. I have heard them make dis-

paraging remarks about the sheep

that they shepherd. I know we all

have bad days and discouraging

times, myself included, but is that an

excuse to not conduct ourselves as

Christ like and to be obedient to

Gods Word? Again, PERSPEC-TIVE MAKES ALL THE DIF-

FERENCE IN THE WORLD! We

are to see others through Gods

eyes.

In the last few decades we have

been inundated with teaching about

leadership, Ive been to many of

those conferences and read many of

the leadership books by some of the

leading gurus in the circles we travel.

We have been taught about paradigm

shifts and use new words (I call the

church euphemisms) to basically do

the same things we have been doing. I

am reminded that Solomon said thereis nothing new under the sun, so do

we really have new ideas? My point is

this, now with regard to the position

of pastor. Some want to be known as

the CEO of their congregation and

they want to build empires. We are

often judged by our peers by the size

of the congregation we pastor. There

are some that have been faithful for

years and have pastored small congre-

gations and were excellent speakers

and anointed, but they will never have

a chance to be used in another capaci-ty because of their status in ministry.

There are some pastors now, who pre-

fer to be called Life Coaches and on

and on the list goes. We need to re-

member who it is we serve and whose

we are. That makes a difference in our

thinking. Again, PERSPECTIVE

MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

IN THE WORLD! We need to have

a Biblical perspective (world view)

rather than being influenced by the

world.

I am reminded that in Nehemiahs

day, when the Jews were just starting

to do some rebuilding of the temple

and the temple worship was being

reestablished and the Law was being

reintroduced, his admonition to the

Jews was that the joy of the Lord is

our strength! It indeed makes a dif-

ference when we are able to labor in

the joy of the Lord and not in defeat to

the devil!

There are several verses of Scripture I

want to leave you with that I hope willbe encouragement to pastors and lay

folks alike as we all labor for the

King.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priest-hood, a holy nation, a people for his own

possession, that you may proclaim theexcellencies of him who called you out ofdarkness into his marvelous light. Once

you were not a people, but now you areGod's people; once you had not receivedmercy, but now you have received mercy.

(1Pe 2:9-10 ESV)

For whoever would save his life will loseit, but whoever loses his life for my sake

and the gospel's will save it. (Mar 8:35ESV)

For in it the righteousness of God is re-vealed from faith for faith, as it is written,

"The righteous shall live by faith."(Rom

1:17 ESV)

Only let your manner of life be worthy ofthe gospel of Christ, so that whether Icome and see you or am absent, I may

hear of you that you are standing firm inone spirit, with one mind striving side by

side for the faith of the gospel, (Php 1:27

ESV)

Please dont misunderstand me, you

do not have to be a minister or pastor

to live the Gospel lifestyle, we are all,

as Christians called to live it, but pas-

tors, especially should desire to live

that way.

I read these quotes somewhere, I

dont remember where but they make

a great point with regard to our labor

in the Lord. To hunger to be used

and to go unused is the worst hunger

of all. And The test of a vocation is

the love of the drudgery it involves.

Will you say today like the prophet of

long ago, Here am I Lord, send me.

No matter what the assignment is, no

matter how big or how small, will

you follow the leading and call of the

Lord?


4/18

P a g e 4

God Strong Revival by Henry Scoff

Os Guinness wrote in his

book The Last Christian

on Earth, Civil religion,

consumer religion and

closed religion are ways

the enemy works to under-

mine Christianity. Another

such method is common

religion (religion shaped by

the priorities and demands

of populist opinions and

feelings.) The aim through

all of them is to ensure that

the Church is shaped rather

than shaping, reverting to

the pattern of the culturerather than renewing its

culture after the pattern of

God. Follow consumerism

through any product line

and you can easily see that

once a product has been on

the market for a while, the

seller must in some way

surpass the products origi-

nal appeal to keep it sell-

ing. Once the Churchadopted the idea of appeal-

ing to felt needs then, of

course, this became the

course it was set on, a con-

tinual effort to outdo the

last appeal made to the

public.

Guinness confronts us with

organizational development

that plays into the enemies

hands elevating man-rule,

and in doing this, then ef-

fectively dethroning the

Lord and nullifying the

Church. Guinness clearly

shows us the Churches

break-down in effective-

ness happens through sub-

verting the place of Christ.

In Isaiah 43 we are con-

fronted with a series of

statements that provide us

with encounters with the

Lord. Each of these state-

ments bring to us the same

underling question, Do

you really believe in

God?, not the god recreat-

ed within the confines of

what is suitable to not of-

fend the culture, but the

super-natural God of the

Bible. God confronts uswith some very powerful

statements in this chapter

that are either going to be

explained away as a crea-

tive literary device or they

are true and affect our be-

liefs. The first option civi-

lizes the God of the Bible

to make a culturally ac-

ceptable religion. The sec-

ond explanation is radical,

it is declaring that God is

above culture and we must

conform to Him, not the

other way.

Notice Isaiah 43:5, Fear

not, for I am with you; I

will bring your offspring

from the east, and from the

west I will gather you. I

will say to the north, give

up, and to the south, do notwithhold; bring my sons

from afar and my daughters

from the end of the earth.

Look at it this way, God

has walked into the very

center of life through this

verse and asked who will

believe and have faith

enough to stand with Me

right here?

This begs us to answer an-

other important question,

Is Jesus Christ King, or

isnt He? Standing before

Pilate as the crucifixion

approached Jesus was

asked, Are you the King

of the Jews? Jesus an-

swered Pilate, You say

that I am a King, for this

purpose I was born and for

this purpose I came into theworld to bear witness to

the truth. Like Isaiah 43,

the Lord came into the cul-

ture but not to conform to

the culture but to bring His

kingship and to transform

lives. H. M. Riggle wrote,

He came to set up and

maintain a spiritual govern-

ment, and this government

was established in and by

the truth. All who love the

truth will hear his voice

and attend to the spiritual

doctrine He preaches ( P.

4-5, Christs Triumphal

Reign).

Every time man inserts his

control in one more area of

the Church, the Churchs

power is diminished and

authority undermined. Butwhen Gods people re-

spond to His authority and

acknowledge the Lord as

King, then the blessings of

His Kingship are experi-

enced in the Church.



5/18

P a g e 5o l u m e 3 I s s u e 1 1The world has become like a news-

room, editing reality to suit the de-

sired message that will achieve the

pursued end that isn't always about

communicating truth but achieving

ratings. The world practices achiev-

ing the desired end through any andall means. We know this as the end

justifies the means. The problem

we cannot escape, though, in the

Church is that much of what the

Bible is teaching directly relates to

the means chosen to the end result.

When Ahab wanted Naboth's vine-

yard and could not obtain it, Jezebel

produced the plan of false accusa-

tion to eliminate Naboth and obtain

the vineyard, all of which drew thewrath of God and the prophet Elijah

delivering the message. For God's

people, the way is always as im-

portant as the end.

Today politicians communicate the

desired end they hope to achieve

and believe if they can communi-

cate it long enough, it will be ac-

cepted as reality. Practicing that

within the Church perverts the true

meaning and nature of Church. Wefind more and more corporate

boardroom practices taken up as the

way to run effective meetings, at-

tempting to avoid dealing with any

open discussion that might raise a

contrary voice.

Editing and shaping a message only

creates an accepted position that

people choose to call reality, but it

doesn't create truth; truth doesn't

require shaping. Truth requires be-

lieving. In verse 5 of Isaiah 43, the

Lord tells us, "Fear not, for I am

with you." Then He goes on to tell

us He will bring our offspring from

the north, south, east and west! This

is one of those moments we have to

decide, do we really believe what

the Lord is saying?

Sound bite reality is mind control

through disinformation to achieve a

desired end. In policy governance, it

creates a hierarchy that moves the

Church into a structure that becomes

a humanly organized and control-

focused religious body. I differentiate

between Church and religious body

because they differ as to who the

head of the Church really is. It was

Jesus who declared, "I will build my

Church," and that confronts us with

the current position of Christ. H. M.

Riggle pointed out, "But in a much

greater and more comprehensive

sense are these prophecies fulfilled

since Christ has risen from the dead,ascended into heaven and sent forth

the Holy Spirit as his personal repre-

sentative on earth" (P. 11, Christ's

Triumphal Reign).

C. E. Brown describes the work of

the Church as a "Spiritual Democra-

cy" and that, he states, can only exist

where men believe that all Christians

are children of God by regeneration,

or the new birth, and as such are

members of the universal priesthoodof believers (P. 127, The Apostolic

Church). Brown and others believe in

a Biblical governing model that al-

lows for the participation of the

Church. In a spiritual democracy, all

decisions aren't kept behind closed

doors and pushed up the ladder to a

man-made positional authority. We

should really understand that anyone

in leadership isn't there to get as

much done as possible without theBody's involvement, rather they are

to keep them informed and involved.

In the New Testament there

are no corporations, only the Church,

local and universal and those of a

particular district. Too often it ap-

pears we are taking our ideas from

the corporate world to attempt to fa-

cilitate our end. There has arisen a

strong desire in some circles to con-

trol all gathered assemblies to avoid

messy questions and debate. But we

are missing the great truth that de-

bate isn't evil; it's part of the assem-

bled Church and the governing factorfor debate isn't strong controlling

policy but holiness and love through

the Spirit of God.

Isaiah confronts us with a description

of the hand of God among His peo-

ple and we must decide what we re-

ally believe: in a god who fits into

the culture or the God who is counter

-culture and revives His Church and

brings seasons of refreshing from the

Spirit of God. Isaiah confronts us

with the Lord drawing the people to

Himself as He calls them out of the

four points of the compass. Every

day some new plan to accomplish

God's work comes across the inter-

net. But do we ever hear the encour-

agement to call upon God for reviv-

al?

When I look at the devastation sin

has taken on our community andthen our country, I realize that no

small plan is going to strike a blow at

this and make a real difference. We

need a real miracle. We need the

hand of God. To draw people togeth-

er without the Lord is only to create

a crowd, but to participate with Him

and call them out of darkness to

light, to walk the way of holiness, is

the only answer and that will only

happen if the Lord brings revival.

In Isaiah 43:10 we read, "You are my

witnesses, declares the Lord, and my

servant whom I have chosen, that

you may know and believe me and

understand that I am he. Before me


6/18

P a g e 6

no god was formed, nor

shall there be any after

me." God, Truth and the

Church cannot be reduced

to culturally acceptable

ideas. The fact is they are

counter culture, they are

radical. God Himself is the

radical one who broke into

culture and sent His only

Son. That discipleship

means to be a follower of

Jesus isn't debated, but to

realize that it means being

the counter-culture ambas-

sador of Jesus Christdoesn't seem to be under-

stood. The way this is ac-

complished isn't through

nice little culturally-

acceptable programs but to

realize that: Knowing Jesus

as Lord makes us transfor-

mation agents of the cul-

ture. It has to mean, at the

least, being in the world

but not of the world.

This Lord who has over-

come sin, death and the

grave would dwell in us.

What will happen through

people who are sold out to

the Lord? Don't you think it

is going to invigorate the

Church and raise up the

work of God with new vi-

tality?

What will the sanctuary

that the Lord occupies be

like? It will have to be a

cleansed sanctuary that

doesn't share control with

any little false gods. That's

what vs. 10 said, before

Him there was no god and

none after, so being our

own god isn't going to

work.

When we come to Him

with open hearts, then we

can experience His fullness

and know His victory in

our lives. But it is based on

surrender to the Lord, not

compromise with the cul-

ture. Those who surrender

will know Him and experi-

ence personal revival and

the more who seek thatkind of experience will be

used of Him to spread that

experience. Today is the

day and now is the time for

a God-Strong revival. We

need our strength in the

Lord, not man, not

manmade structure, but

The Lord Himself and then

will come Revival! When

you study Ephesians 6, it is

only the people of God

who wear the armor and so

we realize that God wants a

God-Strong people.

Old Testament or New, we

are confronted with a super

-natural God who doesnt

conform to the culture, but

brings people out of every

bondage they are experi-

encing in the culture to setthem free!

We are called to believing

faith and so we are con-

fronted with one final ques-

tion, Will we stand in Be-

lieving Faith or unbelieving

doubt that rationalizes

away the super natural God

of the Bible for a culturally

acceptable version that

doesnt offend?

The Bible tells us He is

King of Kings and Lord of

Lords. I choose Him!

Pray with me for revival!



7/18

Being the Church: Why Pray? By Kenny Seidler


Last month we looked at being puzzled,

how we all fit together. Though each of

us is different, we are one in the churchbecause of the unity we have in Christ

Jesus. We talked of how we are to be de-

voted, or committed, to the fellowship.

That commitment does not end Sunday

after service but is to be continuous as we

continue to be the Church.

Remember, Devoted is defined as,

feeling or showing great Love, commit-

ment, or loyalty. With great love they

were committed and loyal to 4 things

which we will continue to look at each

month. These 4 commitments are how

we are to Be the Church.

Acts 2:42-47 says, Andthey devoted

themselves to the apostles'teaching and

the fellowship, tothe breaking of bread

and the prayers.And awecame upon

every soul, andmany wonders and signs

were being done through the apos-

tles.And all who believed were together

andhad all things in common.Andthey

were selling their possessions and be-

longings and distributing the proceeds to

all, as any had need.And day by day,

attending the templetogether

andbreaking bread in their homes, they

received their foodwith glad and gener-

ous hearts,praising God and having fa-

vor with all the people. And the

Lordadded to their numberday by day

those whowere being saved.

They were devoted to the Apostles teach-

ing, the Fellowship, to the breaking of

bread, and to prayer. They also met regu-

larly, day by day as vs. 44 states. They

committed themselves to prayer it was

an act of will, they put their minds to it.Each of them decided in their heart to

dedicate time to pray, it was something

that they saw as necessary, and together,

with conscious and deliberate action, they

devoted themselves to being the church in

prayer.

Why would they pray together when

they could just go to off on their own

and pray? Well, first we need to under-

stand a few things about prayer. While

prayer is basically talking to God it isabout listening as well. Prayer is commu-

nication which is a two way street. Prov-

erbs 3:5tells us to trust in the Lord with

all your heart and do not lean on your

own understanding, vs. 6 goes with it,

In all your ways acknowledge Him and

He will make your paths straight.

So we are to be obedient from the heart,

trusting in His promises instead of our

own understanding of situations. We are

also toseekHis will,submitto His will,

or acknowledgeHim, depending on the

translation of the Bible that you use. This

means that we are aware of His presence

and that we are to communicate with Him

in the midst of our circumstances.

But if our understanding of communica-

tion is telling the other person what we

want from them, then we need to change

the way we communicate. If you go to

work or you are at home or you are out

with friends and you tell everyone what

you want, about all your problems, and

about what you need and you fail to listen

to any of them, how long before they quitlistening?

If Prayer is only telling God your prob-

lems and wants, then you need to change

your understanding of what prayer is be-

cause you are only getting half of it right!

God is not Santa Claus nor is He a wish

fulfilling genie that grants us our every

desire with the magic words In Jesus

name. In Jesus name says that you are

coming as His representative, you are

asking according toHiswill.

Each and every one of us is to be going to

the Lord in prayer; when Jesus taught

about prayer in Matthew 6 he did not start

out with ifyou pray but whenyou

pray. We are also commanded in Colos-

sians 4:2 to Continue steadfastly in pray-

er, being watchful in itwith thanksgiv-

ing. And in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 we are

commanded to pray without ceasing.

Praying without ceasing is not spend-

ing the day with your eyes closed,head bowed and speaking out loud. It

is having an on-going conversation

with God that does not end, it is keep-

ing the line of communication open,

and it is acknowledging God, practic-

ing His presence, knowing that He is

there at any and every given moment

to talk to.

Praying without ceasing means we

consciously and quickly turn to

Him with every thought and worry.

In Isaiah 56:6 & 7 we see that Gods

House is to be a house of prayer and

Jesus quotes this in Matthew 21:13

when He cleanses the physical temple

of the things of the world. Now Gods

temple, or His dwelling place, is in

the hearts of His people. That means

that we too are to be a house of pray-

er!

As you read through Pauls letter to

the Romans you will find that as be-

lievers, by faith, we are justified,

made righteous, and sanctified and

all of this by grace. In Romans 5 wewere told that having been justified

by faith we have peace with God in

Christ and in Christ we also, by faith,

we have obtained access to grace.

Accessing Gods underserved favor

(GRACE) requires 2 things; being in

Christ and prayer which means we

will be coming to Him in Jesus name.

Think about it, when you obtained

salvation it was through prayer,

Forby grace you have been

savedthrough faith. And this is

not

your own doing;it is the gift of

God (Eph 2:8). When you came to

Christ you prayed, in faith, asking

God for forgiveness and received

salvation, justification, Peace with

God, His righteousness, sanctifica-

tion, and access to the very Throne of

God in Christ, or in Jesus name.


8/18

P a g e 8

When we pray we no long-er have to have a priest or

other human intercessor.When Jesus died on the

cross for our sin, the veilwas torn from top to bot-tom signifying that God

had made a way into theholy of holies for us

through His Son. God theSon intercedes on our be-half; in Christ we have

access to Gods under-served favor. This is a verygood reason to pray! But it

should not be the first.

We have access to the verypower that raised Jesus

from the dead! Resurrec-tion power is ours in Christand yet the church is inef-

fective and irrelevant inmany of the communities

where God has placed us.

Many times I have heardpeople say that it just feels

like my prayers are notgoing anywhere, like they

are just bouncing off the

ceiling or that God doesnot hear my prayers.

Psalm 34 tells us that

Gods ear is attentive to the

prayers of the righteous, sohow could this be? Our

prayers are hindered, ouraccess to God and His un-

derserved favor is blockedby unrighteousness, hin-

dered because of some-

thing that is in the way. If I

cant get to you or youcant hear me because

there is a wall between ushow can you answer my

requests? It is the samewith God, only it is we that

cause the hindrance of ourown prayers.

This is where prayer

changes me. Oswald

Chambers said that It isnot so true that prayer

changes things as thatprayer changes me and Ichange things. C. S. Lew-

is said basically the samething I pray because Icant help myself. I praybecause Im helpless. I

pray because the need

flows out of me all the time-waking and sleeping. It

doesnt change God-itchanges me. It changesme because when I see that

there is something hinder-ing my relationship andcommunion with God, Iwith His underserved fa-

vor, must deal with it. Theproblem is that many seemto think we can go on as

we are and Gods gracewill cover our transgres-sions and even our deliber-

ate and willful sin.

We know that these things

separate us from God andyet many continue to walkwith the world while com-plaining that God doesnt

hear their prayers. Theyhave no fear of God, with-out which they will haveno godly wisdom. Gods

word clearly states that thebeginning of Wisdom isthe fear of God. If there is

no fear, no reverence, andno acknowledgement of

God then how can youexpect Him to answer yourprayers. James 4:7 tells usYou ask and do not re-ceive, because you

askwrongly, to spend it onyour passions.

We should be asking in

Jesus name, not in ourown, according to Gods

will and not according toour own selfish desires.We ask for money when

we have not paid for whatwe have. We ask for for-giveness while withholdingit from those around us and

we ask for things that goagainst Gods Word.

1 Peter 3:7-12 tells us thatwhen we are not under-standing with our spouses

that our prayers are hin-dered, and if we do not, asGods church, have unity

of mind, sympathy, broth-erly love, or if we repayevil for evil or insult forinsult we will not be

blessed.

These things hinder our

access to Gods under-served favor, but as theholy Spirit tells us in 1stJohn If we confess our

sins, he isfaithful and justto forgive us our sins

and

to cleanse us from allunrighteousness. And inchapter 5, that if we askaccording to His will, Hehears us.

When we find the access ofGods underserved favor

hindered, when we dontsee the blessings of God.

When the church is inef-

fective, and the land and itsleaders corrupt it is time to

seek God in Revival Per-sonal revival, as well as

congregational.The Wordof God tells us that if wereturn to Him He will re-

turn to us, that if Christianswill destroy their inde-

pendence from God and

repent thatthenHe will



9/18


bring healing to our land. We need

to right our relationship and follow

the instruction of His Word. TheChurch and our nation are in

peril, if we want to see revival it

has to begin with His church

humbled and seeking His will

and not our own.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we read if mypeople who are called by my

namehumble themselves, and prayand seek my face and turn from

their wicked ways, then I will hearfrom heaven and will forgive their

sin and heal their land. Today Hispeople are the followers of Christ,we are to humble ourselves, this

tells us that it must be an effort of

will, something we choose to do.Humble used as a verb, as it is

here, is defined by the free diction-ary.com, Google, and Noah Web-

ster as destroying the independenceor will of

At the fall it was Adam and Evesindependent and willful decision to

eat of the forbidden fruit that got usall into trouble. That independent,self-first attitude must go; we must

destroy our independence fromGod and His will and seek His face

and His presence in prayer. And wemust decide in our hearts that we

will not be of the world, turn from

our worldly and wicked desires,and returnto God, or repent. It all

comes back to the journey, in

which direction you are headed.

The journey of sanctification be-gins afresh each and every day as

any journey does. Today we mustchoose to move forward in Christ,

being the Church, repenting of the

things that have hindered our pray-ers, our relationship with Him, and

our relationships with each other.Gods instructions for revival dont

say if YOU pray, it calls on the peo-

ple of God, the church to pray in uni-

ty, to seek His will as one If Mypeople. Then he will heal our land,and our nation and remember: Youare the Church.

So to answer the question of, why

pray, when we pray we humble our-selves and acknowledge God as God,we communicate with Him, building

our relationship, we are being obedi-ent to the command to pray, and we

obtain access to Gods Undeservedfavor (GRACE), His forgiveness, His

strength, and His wisdom. Prayer isthe exercise of drawing on the under-served favor of God.

And God has given us His Spirit sothat even when we dont know what

to pray, or how to pray as we ought,the Spirit intercedes for us according

to the will of God. Throughout theNT we are told to pray in the Spirit

Romans 8:26-27 gives us a clear un-

derstanding of what this is, Likewisethe Spirit helps us in our weakness.

For

we do not know what to pray foras we ought, butthe Spirit himselfintercedes for us with groanings too

deep for words.27Andhe who

searches hearts knows what isthe

mind of the Spirit, becausethe Spir-itintercedes for the saints accordingto the will of God.

Praying in the Spirit is praying ac-

cording to the Will of God, it is

aligning our will with His to bringabout the purposes of God in the

world. This is being the Church, thepeople of God.

Church, are we ready to move for-

ward? If there was ever an answer as

to Why prayjust look around you,listen to the news, we need revival.

Are you willing to set aside the timethat is so necessary for revival, to

turn to God, not just in individual

prayer for revival, but to gather to-

gether and humble yourselves andseek His Face as His church? Areyou ready to be a house of prayer?

Only then can the Church access theGrace of God, only then will The

Church be blessed and grow, weneed to pray, to cry out to God, toseek The Lord.

Church if we do not pray, God will

not move. Do not pass up the oppor-tunity to pray as a church. Devote

yourself to prayer, together we canbe the Church!


10/18

P a g e 1 0

Self Acceptance by Blair Spencer

They sailed to the region

of the Gerasenes, which is

across the lake from Gali-

lee. When Jesus stepped

ashore, he was met by a

demon-possessed man from

the town. For a long time

this man had not worn

clothes or lived in a house,

but had lived in tombs.

When he saw Jesus, he

cried out and fell at his feet,

shouting at the top of his

voice, What do you want

with me, Jesus, Son of the

most high God? I beg you,dont torture me! For Jesus

had commanded the evil

spirit to come out of the

man. Many times it had

seized him, and though he

was chained hand and foot

and kept under guard, he

had broken his chains and

had been driven by the de-

mon into solitary places.

Jesus asked him, What is

your name? Legion hereplied, because many de-

mons had gone into him.

And they begged him re-

peatedly not to order them

into the abyss. A large herd

of pigs was feeding there on

the hillside. The demons

begged Jesus to let them go

into them, and he gave them

permission. When the de-

mons came out of the man,

they went into the pigs, and

the herd rushed down the

steep bank and into the lake

and was drowned. When

those tending the pigs saw

what had happened, they

ran off and reported this in

the town and countryside,

and the people went out to

see what had happened.

When they came to Jesus,

they found the man from

whom the demons had gone

out, sitting at Jesus feet,

dressed and in his right

mind; and they were afraid.

Those who had seen it told

the people how the demon-

possessed man had been

cured. Then all the people

of the region of the Gerase-

nes asked Jesus to leave

them, because they wereovercome with fear. So he

got into the boat and left.

The man from whom the

demons had gone out

begged to go with him, but

Jesus sent him away, say-

ing, Return home and tell

how much God has done for

you. So the man went

away and told all over town

how much Jesus had done

for him.

In verse thirty Jesus asked

the man What is your

name? That is a good

question for all of us to con-

sider sometimes, what is

your name? Im not asking

for the legal name you sign

on important documents or

the name on your drivers

license. Im asking what the

name you have for yourself

inside your head is. The

names that you call your-

self, the names we have

heard from other people

that have just stuck with us

and affect our self-image

and the acceptance of our-

selves. What is it? What is

your name? Is it Tubby? Is

it Manipulator? Is it trouble

-maker? Is it Stupid? How

about stuck up? Arrogant?

Jerk? There are all kinds of

names we carry around in-

side our heads because of

the things that we have

heard others tell us.

In this scripture, Jesus is

face to face with a man who

is overtaken with demons.

The demonic activity in his

life was so profound that all

connection, normal connec-

tion with humanity was cut

off. He was living in tombs,

naked, hurting others and

himself. This man was

chained and that didnt even

keep him. The demons in-

stead took him out into a

solitary place. Absolutely

nothing was normal in this

mans life. Jesus asked

what is your name? In-

stead of the man answeringthe demons answered. They

replied Legion because

there were so many. And in

one powerful moment Jesus

releases this man of the

demons inside him, Jesus

sent the demons away. The

man could now begin living

a somewhat normal life.

Lots of things ruin our lives

and put things into ourhead, mainly the world

around us. The world tells

us nothing but lies and

shows us false reality. Henri

Nouwan, a catholic theolo-

gian said we live in a

world filled with voices that

shout, you are no good, you

are ugly, you are worthless,T h e T r u t h I n H D


11/18

P a g e 1 1o l u m e 3 I s s u e 1 1you are despicable, you are nobody-

unless you can demonstrate the op-

posite.

Sometimes the world isnt so bad,

but a majority of the time its

against us. But its not just the world

that hurts us. Think about things

with our own families and friends

that have hurt us. Wounds we carry

around that make us think we are

worthless, unlovable, messed up,

and that we are the problem.

Wounds from our families are some-

thing we unfortunately carry around

for years and years. Let me give you

a personal example of family hurt-

ing someone and them being hurt by

it for years to come. I unfortunatelyhurt someone (well actually a good

many people but one person more

than anyone else) someone very

dear to my heart. Someone I was

supposed to protect with every

ounce of my being, love and cherish

each day of my life, instead I did the

complete opposite. I beat this person

down completely, I said unbelieva-

bly hurtful things daily, I was very

unpleasant to be around and quite

honestly I was an abuser. Duringthat time I dealt with quite a bit of

depression and instead of getting

help decided to just do it on my own

and in turn took out every bad feel-

ing and thought on this person and

others around me. During my time

of depression I quit seeking God,

and that will always remain the big-

gest mistake of my life. Thankfully

through doctors and counselors

things got under control but now

here I am, picking of the pieces of

broken relationships and trying to

mend hearts that I broke. But most

of all, trying to heal my husbands

broken heart from living 5 years

with a wife who showed no emo-

tion, kicked him when he was down,

and did everything but lift him up.

From those 5 years he will carry

around scars for years that I left on

him. Things I said and did that I can

never take back that will remain with

him. I can tell you that when I was

able to get my emotions and depres-

sion under control I began thinking

clearly again, feeling normal again,and seeking God again. But healing

takes time! What I have to do is ac-

cept the things that I did in the past

ask for forgiveness and show every

day that I am not that same person.

We need to be able to see ourselves as

we really are and not according to the

lies we have been told or the things

about us that may have been true

about us at some point, but they are

not true in the here and now becauseGod has made it different.

Henri Nouwen also stated, The world

tells you many lies about who you are

and you simply have to be realistic

enough to remind yourself of this:

Every time you feel hurt, offended or

rejected you have to dare to say to

yourself, these feelings, as strong as

they may be, are not telling me the

truth about myself. The truth even

though I cant feel it right now is that Iam the chosen child of God, precious

in Gods eyes, called the beloved and

held safe in an everlasting embrace.

Do you believe that? Do you believe

that is true about you? If you have

accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord

and Savior it is true! When you accept

Jesus Christ the old is gone and the

new has come. You turn from your

old ways and follow Jesus Christ! God

will heal and change us, but we haveto allow him!!

We need to make use of whatever help

is available. Some people who are

discouraged are discouraged because

they want God to provide a solution,

but they want God to do it a certain

way.

A good example is this story, It starts

flooding and the water is coming up

on the porch so the guy prays that

God will deliver him from this dan-

ger. And so a truck comes by that is

still able to run and the guy driving

the truck says, Hey, get in I have

room in the truck. The man says,

No, no I dont need your help. I have

prayed to God and he will deliver

me. So the water comes up higher

and a boat comes by and the guy driv-

ing the boat says, I still have room,

get in and well get you out of here.

They man on the house again says,

No, I dont need your help. God will

deliver me, I asked him. So the wa-

ter gets up to the roof and a helicopter

comes. The pilot yells down that they

will send a ladder down and they will

get the man out to safety before he

dies. The man on the roof says, No, I

dont need your help I prayed for God

to deliver me. As you probably

guess the guy dies. He gets to the

pearly gates and says, God, I prayed

for you to deliver me, why didnt

you? And God said, I tried -3

times!!!

Sometimes Gods help is going to

come with a human face. Sometimes

Gods help is going to come a certain

way but we dont want it that way

because we are too embarrassed. It

might be something you have done in

your past, something that has wound-

ed us and it is still part of why we

cant accept ourselves, why we strug-

gle in our relationship with God. It

might be because of promiscuity in

our past, an abortion, drug use, thewounds are still there. The problems

are still hurting us because we dont

want anyone to know about it. Maybe

its not a past issue and its something

current. Maybe an addiction, sexual

temptation, the way you are treating

your spouse and you want God to

help but you are certainly too embar-

rassed to let anybody know about it.


12/18

P a g e 1 2

These things always have

an answer from God but

sometimes it comes through

other believers. Sometimes

we need a counselor, a

Christian brother or sister, a

doctor. We need to receive

the help God is going to

give us through the face of

another human being. It

may not be the way we

want God to heal and help

us but He knows best and

we need to accept that!

So again, what is your

name? When Jesus first

asked the man his name the

demons replied Legion. It

had nothing to do with the

true identity of the man but

with the problem. What

about after Jesus heals him?

Do you think the man that

is now sitting at Jesus feet

still has the name Legion?

No. Because Jesus has dealt

with that and he has his realtrue identity back.

God has also dealt with me

and I can honestly say that I

feel I have my true identity

back. Do I still carry about

the things I did in my past

and the way I was? Of

course I do, but now I can

truly say and remind myself

that now that I am in the

right with Jesus Christ andfollowing him. I am:

Complete in Jesus Christ,

Forever Free,

Sanctified,

Meant for the Masters use,

One with the Lord,

On my way to heaven,

Light in the darkness,

Candle in the dark,

City on a hill,

Citizen of heaven,

Hidden with Christ in God,

Protected from the evil one,

More than a conqueror,

Born again,

Healed by his stripes,

Sheltered under his wings.

I MUST believe that and

remember that I am no

longer who I was. I am a

new creation in JesusChrist, I cant let myself be

defined by who I was and

my past.

Who are you? Are you a

follower, disciple and lover

of Jesus Christ? If not, now

is your chance to be a new

creation. Are you a follower

of Jesus but your relation-

ship with God is hindered

because you are holding onto your past or things peo-

ple have said or done? To-

day is the day to let it go.

Do not be held in the bond-

age of your past!



13/18

When Troubles Come by Bri Sherman

P a g e 1 3o l u m e 3 I s s u e 1 1

When troubles come...I tend to trav-

el a roller-coaster of emotions. I

either start with tears or anger(depends on what kind of trouble),

then I go screaming down the hill to

denial, screeching around the curve

to fear, then slowly back around to

tears or anger. And sometimes I'll

find a nice straight stretch of peace.

When troubles comeMy husband

grows a beard. Seriously. I can

always tell when he is stressed or

depressed, because he tends to not

shave as much. Troubles come and

he will curl up into a ball of stress or

sit on the couch in a heap of depres-

sion.

Occasionally, those troubles

erupt like a volcano in a rush of red

hot anger.

The point of this whole comparison

is that everyone faces trouble in a

different manner. We've all faced

some sort of trouble, trial, or tribula-

tion (however you want to phrase

it), and we probably all handle it a

little bit differently. Today, we'll

look into how God handles our trou-

bles and what our responsibility is

when troubles come.

Psalm 34:17-18

The righteous cry, and the LORD

hears

And delivers them out of all their

troubles.The LORDis near to the broken-

hearted

And saves those who are crushed in

spirit.

When troubles come...

Notice I said 'when' and not

'if.' Troubles will come. Unfortu-

nately, "There is this junk theology

floating around out there that point

to difficulties as evidence that you

must not be following Jesus. The

biblical reality is that when people

say yes to following Jesus, they are

agreeing to carry a cross, and that

will be painful at times" (Kyle Idle-

man,Not a Fan). Becoming a Chris-

tian does not mean, under any circum-stances, that all of our problems are

going to go away and we'll only have

fields of daisies and blue skies from

here on out. In fact, if that were the

case, Christianity wouldn't really be

much of a choice would it? If our

lives were that perfect, wouldn't eve-

ryone want to 'sign-up'? And

well...taking away a choice means

taking away free will. And I don't

know about you, but I don't want to be

a robot...even if I did end up with an

awesome accent like Arnold

Schwartzeneger (insert laugh

here). But free will is an entirely dif-

ferent, and profoundly more complex,

topic of discussion. Choosing Christ

means that...

When troubles come....

...The Lord will hear (vs. 17a). His

word says so! Multiple times. If you

don't believe me or need reassurance,

go check it out for yourself. There is

so much comfort in the fact that "God

never misses a single tear of the op-pressed. He sees our suffering and

knows the depth of our need..." (Beth

Moore,Praying God's Word).

...The Lord will deliver (vs. 17b). It

even says out of allof their trou-

bles!No wait a minute. Didnt I just

tell you that Christians will have trou-

bles? But doesnt it say that we will

be delivered from all of our troubles

right here in Scripture? I have to tell

you, if I read that without really dig-

ging in, it bothers me!

On the surfaceit does sound like we won't have any

troubles because God will deliver us

from all of them. In fact, the Hebrew

word can also be translated as

"rescue," "save," or "snatch

away" (Strong's H5337). All of those

images bring to mind the idea that I

won't have to deal with my trou-

bles. But we have to dig deeper.

Deliverance doesn't always mean we

will be 'snatched away.' His deliver-

ance means that He "intends to giveus what we need, not what we think

we want" (C.S. Lewis, The Problem

of Pain). He can see the whole pic-

ture, while we are focused on the tiny

space in the corner. It is important to

"never forget that God is far more

interested in our getting to know the

Deliverer than simply being deliv-

ered" (Beth Moore,Praying God's

Word). Sometimes it takes a storm

for us to learn who He really

is. Charles Spurgeon puts it this way:

"I write this with all reverence: God

Himself cannot deliver a person who

is not in trouble. Therefore, it is to

some advantage to be in distress, be-

cause God can then deliver

you. Even Jesus Christ, the Healer of

me, cannot heal a person who is not

sick. Therefore, sickness is not an

adversity for us, but rather an advan-

tageous opportunity for Christ to heal

us. The point is, my reader, your

adversity may prove your advantage

by offering occasion for the display

of divine grace" (Spurgeon on Prayer

and Spiritual Warfare).

...The Lord will be near (vs.

18a). We never have to go it

alone. Yes, we may face troubles, but

no matter what, He will be there with

us! We always, always, alwayshave

a hand to hold on to! He will surely

"save [us] from sinking under [our]

burdens" (Henry).


We have a responsibility aswell. First and foremost, in order to

be heard, we must cry out (vs.

17a). But our crying out must be

directed towards Him, "...He an-

guishes yet He waits...until the tears

that have fallen on dry ground or up-
http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H5337&t=NASBhttp://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H5337&t=NASBhttp://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc3.Ps.xxxv.htmlhttp://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc3.Ps.xxxv.htmlhttp://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc3.Ps.xxxv.htmlhttp://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=H5337&t=NASB


14/18

P a g e 1 4

on the shoulders of others

equally frail are poured

instead before His

throne. He waits -not until

the oppressed cry out-but

until we cry out to

Him. Only then will we

know the One and Only

who redeems us" (Beth

Moore,Praying God's

Word). If we are crying out

and looking for help in all

of the wrong places, the

Lord will not hear. We

must cry out to Him.

Vs. 18 notes that the Lord is

near to the brokenheart-ed. Our hearts are in-

volved. In order for the

Lord to be near, for Him to

hear us and deliver us, our

hearts must be broken. But

that may not imply what

first comes to mind. Within

the word 'broken', "the ham-

mer is necessarily implied;

in breaking to pieces the ore

first and the plating out the

metal when it has been sep-

arated from the

ore" (Clarke).

Our hearts

must go through a process

so that they are "subdued

and made obedient to God's

will and submissive to His

providence" (Wesley). The

Lord cannot help us if we

have not submitted to His

will, He cannot be near if

we have not made our

hearts available and open to

His presence!

Our spirits are much thesame (vs. 18b). 'Crushed'

holds the same idea of the

hammer. Our spirits must

be "truly humbled under the

hand of God, and the sense

of their sins" (Wesley). We

must realize that we cannot

help ourselves, in any sense

of the word. We must grab

onto the fullness of the Ho-

ly Spirit! God alone is our

refuge, our help, our deliv-

erance!

So, "Why doesGod allow us to spend so

much of life in the heat of

battle? Because He never

meant for us to sip His Spir-

it like a proper cup of

tea. He meant for us to

hold our sweating heads

over the fountain and lap up

His life with unquenchable

thirst" (Beth Moore,Pray-

ing God's Word).


And they will. Hold onto

the promises of God, cry

out to Him, and be aware of

the condition of your heart

and Spirit. Time, after

time, His word guides us in

the way that we should

go. It is so hard to remem-

ber when life knocks us

down, to turn to His

Word. But His Word is the

first place we should

run.

This is just one in-

stance ofsomany that will

lead us on the right path. It

may be straight and narrow,

but it is there...and His

word is our map!

http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34http://www.studylight.org/com/wen/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34http://www.studylight.org/com/wen/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34http://www.studylight.org/com/wen/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34http://www.studylight.org/com/wen/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34http://www.studylight.org/com/wen/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34http://www.studylight.org/com/wen/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?bk=18&ch=34


15/18

The Problem of Evangelism by Nick Wilson

P a g e 1 5o l u m e 3 I s s u e 1 1

One of the greatest challenges of the

modern church is evangelism. We

are bombarded with informationabout this topic, and are shown sta-

tistics everywhere we turn. We

study psychology and sociology in

an effort to find the most efficient

ways to reach out to the lost, and

then we share that information

through countless books and confer-

ences designed to teach us how to

apply the programs we have created.

It seems as though everything we do

is focused on outreach, yet the innu-

merable masses of Americans re-

main unsaved.

How can this be? Yearly we spend

enormous amounts of money to

reach out to these lost souls. The

church has done almost everything

imaginable (and some things that

were unimaginable until recently) to

make people feel welcome and com-

fortable with our worship. We have

removed symbols from our build-ings that represent the crucifixion of

Christ, stopped singing about His

blood, and compromised doctrinal

teaching to make people comforta-

ble, but nothing seems to change.

Even when a congregation seems to

take off and experience some type of

growth, we seldom see hearts and

lives changed through Gods Word.

It even seems, at times, like we

would rather they did not change.

We want them to look as much likethe world as possible. Were contin-

ually told that we cannot reach peo-

ple any other way. Is this really what

the Bible teaches?

I have yet to find a strategic plan-

ning conference, or a visioning

conference in the New Testament.

Scripture tells us that the early church

devoted themselves to the apostlesteaching and the fellowship, to the

breaking of bread and the prayers

(Acts 2:42). The very first thing listed

in their activity is the last in ours.

They taught doctrine. Why would they

do such a thing? How would the world

around them understand doctrine? If

we are to answer these questions we

must understand what doctrine is. The

word itself means teaching. The

doctrine we discuss in Scripture hap-

pens to be the teaching of Christ. It is

what the apostles and disciples learned

from Him. The reason doctrine was

important in their outreach is that it

was not simply knowledge, but

knowledge that changed their lives.

The difference in their lifestyle was

noticeable to the world. How many

accounts do we read about Peter or

Paul going out to find people to whom

they could testify? The vast majority

of Biblical history shows the people ofGod living their lives and taking the

opportunities that present themselves.

People were drawn to them because it

was apparent that God was working in

their lives. Incidentally, others also

persecuted them for the same reason.

One of the most humbling verses in

the entire Bible is Ephesians 5:1.

Therefore be imitators of God, as be-

loved children. Early Christians did

not minister to the lost by trying to belike them. They lived their lives as

imitators of God. Today we wont

even entertain such a thought, but

consider the outcome. They saw thou-

sands saved at one time, we are lucky

to win a few souls in a year. Whats

the difference? Its that they believed

that God wanted to establish His

character (holiness) in their hearts,

and that character drew the lost anddying to Christ. As He was lifted up

in their daily lives, men and women

were saved. They spent their time in

prayer and study of the Word so that

they could walk closer with God each

day. The results were staggering. We

tend to avoid study and prayer as if it

were some type of plague, and try to

talk people into believing as if our

faith were simply a theory to adopt.

The evangelism of the early church

lifted up Jesus Christ as He changed

lives.

I realize that many sources tell us the

world will never understand the gos-

pel if our focus is on the deep truths

of the Bible. And we should certainly

expect room for growth in every

Christian life. But we must also real-

ize that there is no program that will

make evangelism easy. The world is

blinded to Gods work, and it is theHoly Spirit working through us who

reveals God to them.And even if our

gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to

those who are perishing. In their case

the god of this world has blinded the

minds of the unbelievers, to keep them

from seeing the light of the gospel of

the glory of Christ, who is the image

of God (2 Cor. 4:3, 4).The world

cannot understand God because they

are under the influence of Satan. The

only way they will ever come to seeGod is through the lives of those who

are distinctly different from the sin-

fulness that consumes our society.

Through our studies and methods we

have made every effort to appeal to


16/18

P a g e 1 6

the intellect of the sinner,

but Scripture tells us that

this will not work. The nat-

ural person does not accept

the things of the Spirit of

God, for they are folly to

him, and he is not able to

understand them because

they are spiritually dis-

cerned (1 Cor. 2:14).

The early church spent their

time learning doctrine and

praying. We see that

throughout the book of

Acts. This was importantbecause Scripture is clearly

teaching us that our meth-

ods are not Gods means for

leading people to Christ.

His method is a holy church

that walks with Him. That

is why Peter wrote,But you

are a chosen race, a royal

priesthood, a holy nation, a

people for his own posses-

sion, that you may proclaim

the excellencies of him whocalled you out of darkness

into his marvelous light (1

Peter 2:9).What the church

proclaimed was not a slo-

gan written by secular mar-

keting consultants, but the

excellencies of God! They

told people and showed

people what God was

doing in their lives. The

reason people were drawn

to Christ was because He

was a constant presence in

their daily life. They did not

simply leave Jesus at their

worship service on Sunday

morning, but walked with

Him each day.

I know what youre think-

ing: How can I write this in

light of the Great Commis-

sion? Consider what Jesus

said, Go therefore and make

disciples of all nations

(Matt. 28:19)Did Jesus

say to go into the world

with our slick strategies and

impressive organizations?

Did He tell us to go into the

world as part of our congre-

gations most recent cam-

paign for new Christians?

Of course not! He simplytold them to go and make

disciples. Disciples are

more than those who simply

make a profession of faith.

They are followers and imi-

tators. Jesus told them to go

and make imitators of

Christ. This was done by

living a DISTINCTLY

CHRISTIAN life. They

fulfilled the command, be

holy for I am holy (Lev.11:45). God has not called

sinners to go into the world

to witness to other sinners.

He has saved us from sin

and set us apart to go into

the world and live a life that

is different from the ram-

pant sinfulness that sur-

rounds us. It is through such

lives that Jesus Christ is

lifted up and souls are

drawn to Him.

Make no mistake, I am not

discouraging evangelism.

But I am suggesting that

maybe we need to spend

some time working on our

spiritual walk before we

begin the next big evange-

lism program in the church.

Maybe we need to place

some emphasis on doctrine

and prayer. We do not lack

for instruction in talking to

the lost, but do we really

know what were talking to

them about? I was at a con-

ference a couple years ago

where we were told that the

focus of the church should

be, Making more and bet-

ter disciples with an over-

emphasis on more. As I

consider the church inAmerica I wonder if were

really ready for that. Maybe

we need to spend some time

focusing on being better

disciples or just disciples

ourselves. Im not sug-

gesting that we stop inviting

people to church, or wit-

nessing to them. But God

gave the church the specific

call to be a holy nation.

People set apart for His

work alone. Is that how we

live? There are a lot of

things happening in the

church today that did not

take place in the early

church. And they were

more successful than we are

without all of our gim-

micks. When it comes to

evangelism, maybe its time

for the church to do somesoul searching. Are we real-

ly pursuing the lost in a

Biblical way?



17/18

P a g e 1 7o l u m e 3 I s s u e 1 1

CHURCH OF GOD BIBLE INSTITUTE

A Biblical Education for Gods People Today

Flexible and AffordableA Completely ONLINE, TWO-YEAR, DIPLOMA Course of Studies

Especially forMinisterial CandidatesLeaders in the ChurchSunday School

Teachers

All who desire a solid Biblical Education and Spiritual Growth

Classes inOld and New Testament SurveyTheology - Church of God His-

toryThe Role of Leadership - Teaching Children - Pastoral Counseling

- and much more

$1300* for Entire Two-Year Course (13 classes)$100* for Individual Classes (Choose from 20 subjects)

*Does not include the cost of textbooksScholarships and Liberal Payment Plans are Available

For an online brochure and application, email the Dean of BibleInstitute Studies at: [email protected]

or Call: (423) 783-8988
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


18/18

do to aid you in

promoting doctri-

nal truth. If wecan offer some-

thing to help you

to this end please

dont hesitate to

contact us.

Some of the writ-

ers are availablefor revival meet-

ings, or other

preaching en-

gagements that

you might have.

The Truth In HD

is circulated in

an attempt to liftup the truth of

Gods Word.

Those of us who

write the articles

contained in this

paper are com-

mitted to carry-ing this truth to

wherever God

will lead us, and

offer our help in

whatever we can

We send this pa-

per each month

to carry the mes-sage of the gospel

into the world,

and our desire is

to walk through

any door God

may open as we

journey on thisearth as ambas-

sadors of His

Word.

The Truth In HD

Nick Wilson

627 Woodward Ave.

Kittanning, PA 16201

Phone: 814-490-9429

E-mail: [email protected]

-Our intent is to circulate this publication entirely

by email. If you would like to receive The Truth

In HD on a monthly basis, please email us at this

address: [email protected]

-It is our desire to discuss the truth of Scripture

openly. If you have any questions or comments,

please email us. (Only comments deemed appro-

priate will be printed.)

-PLEASE FEEL FREE to produce as many copies

of this publication as you would like. We encour-

age you to forward this by email, and give cop-

ies to your friends.

-For further discussion on doctrinal topics, please

see: www.holinessreformation.blogspot.com

Bringing the Truth Into Focus

Bringing the Truth Into Focus

Documents

Truth in HD November 2013