'Missions & Evangelism' Tagged Posts (Page 2)

'Missions & Evangelism' Tagged Posts (Page 2)

Is Zeal Enough? Rethinking the Missionary Call

I’m baffled with the phenomenon that so many become missionaries with a dangerously low level of insight into Scripture coupled with extraordinary romantic zeal. A handful of verses guide them, about which most have little true understanding. Their experience of church life is limited and often built on poor models, even though their labors are to be all about planting churches, making leaders (even if they’ve never been leaders before), and setting churches in biblical order. And, sadly, they have…

Missionary or Missionary Worker?

Missionaries must have other workers, long and short term, to assist. Many of these will naturally come from among those who show promise as converts through the missionary’s efforts. Paul, though perhaps exceptional in his management skills, had 38 whose names appear as likely assistants at various times. He was always traveling and laboring with a coterie of faithful helpers. There could have been even more! Some of Paul’s workers were women (18%, according to Schnabel, p. 251), although no…

Sending Out Missionary Helpers — Could This Be You?

While reading a modern missionary’s book, I’m struck again with the phenomenon that so many become missionaries with a dangerously low level of insight into Scripture coupled with extraordinary romantic zeal. A handful of verses guide them, about which most have little true understanding. Their experience of church life is limited and often built on poor models, even though their labors are to be all about planting churches and making leaders (even if they’ve never been leaders before), and setting…

Shadows of Hell: Fear and Emptiness Before Death

This poignant note came to a faithful friend of mine who is suffering from life-threatening cancer. It concerns a woman in the nursing home who has been a “good church-goer only.” The note reads: “It is sad beyond words to watch mom’s health failing and see her fear and anxiety or detached numbness as she faces each day. She wavers back and forth. It is all sad and full of despair. There is no longing for glory, no hope of…

The Rationale for Wrath

A cartoon depicted Noah’s ark surrounded by desperate people drowning in the water, begging for help. The rains were coming down hard while Noah and his family were safe inside. On the outside of the ark was a “smiley face” with the words, “Smile, God Loves You.” Are you sure God loves everybody? John the Baptist didn’t think so. He said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not…

We Must Live With This: Anathema

“Let anyone who has no love for the Lord be accursed.” (1 Cor 16:22, NET) This verse seems to dangle there with no immediately apparent connection to what precedes it or follows. Paul placed this thought in the very last handful of sentences in the first letter to the Corinthians. He’s given the readers some final punctuated reminders to end up his long epistle. It has a strength there, even if all alone. But maybe it’s not totally alone. It’s…

A Common but Misguided Perception

It is misguided and a dangerous misconception to base God’s acceptance of you on your worthiness, or attempt to comfort others with the concept that, “underneath it all, you are actually beautiful in character, and therefore truly deserving of God’s love.” Why? 1. You aren’t, and the Bible makes that very clear. Though all people are created in the image of God, all of us are sinful, abusing our status, both by nature and behavior and are therefore deserving of…

Personal Evangelism Under New Testament Scrutiny: Becoming a Biblical Presenter

Our evangelism, on the main, begs for a complete makeover, and leaders are tirelessly inventive in the ways they are attempting to do that. They are as frantically creative as cutting edge businesses, and not at all ashamed of comparing themselves to them. You will find the Bible way down on the list of books about evangelistic strategy, even in most seminaries. This is so not only in corporate evangelism, but sadly, this is true concerning personal evangelistic methods as…

Getting John 1:12 Right: Should You Invite Jesus Into Your Heart?

Is it useful to critique any person’s or ministry’s method of evangelism? For one thing, there are not enough people calling on others to follow Christ. Should I attempt to cripple anyone’s efforts in the slightest way, even for the few who might listen to me? I hope I will not. I would rather think that I’m improving our evangelism. And it does need improving. The apparent results of the method of evangelistic appeal built upon the verse in question…

Memories of Apartheid

Years ago in what was then called a “Colored Township” in Capetown, South Africa, I wondered at the hatred that caused that circular black burn mark on the street close to the front door of the gentle believers who had opened their hearts and home to me. What causes a person to “necklace” another with a flaming tire? In those days of both Apartheid and tribal strife, nerves were strained. Many mornings in that enchanting country we awoke to read…

Listen Free to Wasted Faith

Wasted Faith Audio Book Listen to Wasted Faith by clicking “Play” on the black bar below.   You can also download the MP3 of Wasted Faith here. Right-click and choose, “Save this file.”

The Role of Timothy and Titus: Apostolic Representatives, Not Pastors

I sometimes hear respected Bible teachers refer to Timothy as the pastor of the church in Ephesus. One of my favorite expositors also refers to Titus as the pastor on the island of Crete. But were Timothy and Titus really pastors? Pastor Titus? Titus is never mentioned in Acts, but his name is found often in Paul’s letters. After Paul was released from his first Roman imprisonment (at the end of Acts, around A.D. 62), he ministered with Titus on…

The Surpassing Worth of KNOWING Christ

Most do not understand the implications and ramifications of KNOWING Christ. It has a comparative value. Notice what one like Paul will forfeit to know Christ. I’m quoting only part of the long sentence, but it conveys what I want you to see: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered…

What Did They Mean, “Believe in Christ?”

How do we explain the sudden reversals of life found in the New Testament? As Jesus spoke, or Paul or Philip or any of the other presenters in the early days of Christianity, scores of people believed. It’s the suddenness of belief that shocks you. In a moment, before a day was over, or before a few days had elapsed, so many turned from paganism or centuries-old religious traditions to Christ. The New Testament says that they “believed.” Or it…