Category: Evangelism

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Sweat.

A weightlifter plans a workout to focus on specific muscle groups. When I lifted regularly, I would often do five or more exercises to focus on just one muscle group. My goal was always to do three sets of each exercise with increasing intensity. What was the natural result of my hard work? —Sweat.

I climbed a small mountain once in Honduras in 100 degree weather so that I could play a concert for a school at the top of that hill. It was extremely difficult. What was the natural result of my hard work? — Sweat.

I’ve seen construction crews build structures. Many construction workers have physical strength that boggles my mind because they consistently lift very heavy things while building. Construction work is just that — it’s work. What is the natural result of this hard work? —Sweat.

I’ve never seen anyone with the ability to voluntarily control their sweat glands. It can’t be done. Sweat is simply the natural result of hard work. If you work hard — you’re going to sweat.

Imagine evangelism being a little more like the sweat of a Christian.

Imagine a Christian who spends lots of time asking God to touch the lives of their friends. Imagine a Christian who completely opens their life to God and offers their entire self to the work of God. Imagine a Christian who will spend time at the feet of Jesus reading His Word. Imagine a genuine and passionate Christian. What is the natural result of this hard work? — Evangelism.

Evangelism is the natural result of a genuine and passionate Christian.

A Christian that is working hard at their relationship with God is going to sweat.

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Chucking Rocks.

This past weekend was my church’s annual Conference on Global Evangelism. One missionary shared with us a video that included a testimony of an Afghanistan missionary. She said that Afghanistan is a very difficult place to share the gospel. They are not reaping a harvest. They are not even planting seeds. Its so closed to Christianity at that area, they have to go through the soil and chuck rocks before they can even plant the seeds of evangelism.

They chuck rocks.

I had never thought of that. Let me try to translate that for the United States’ culture.

Many homosexuals reject Christianity because they think all Christians believe that homosexuals will go to hell simply because they “are” homosexual (I do not believe this is necessarily true). So some homosexuals are dead set against Christianity. Before being able to plant any seeds of evangelism here — you would need to chuck some rocks.

A friend of mine recently shared with me a story of how foreign exchange students from Europe were dead set against Christianity because as children, they were taught that the Bible was filled with contradictions (which they never bothered to discuss). They were taught this in their public schools.  Before planting any seeds of evangelism to people like this, you need to chuck some rocks.

Recently I have been running into a man who isn’t ready to accept Christ . . . but he is getting closer and closer. He told me that a few months ago he would have punched me in the face simply because I told him I was a Christian. Just imagine — that’s how much he hated Christians! But he’s actually open and talking with me about Christianity and faith in God now. I’m able to plant seeds with him right now — but according to his story, there was someone else before me who had done a lot of rock chucking with him.

How To Chuck Rocks

Live your life.

Live your life around those with “rocky soil.”

Live your Christian life around those with “rocky soil.”

When the person sees your genuine and passionate Christian life, you will be chucking the rocks. That’s the most basic expression I can think of — but also the most descriptive. To live a Christian life means that we will live with purpose — God’s purpose. That general purpose is the same for every Christian: As we go into the world . . . make disciples.

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New Meaning to the Term, “Child Pornography.”

Recently I took a walk down to the park to read a book. There were several children playing in the park while I was reading, and I had tuned out all their talking and yelling — but certain words will catch your attention, you know what I mean? Here’s the conversation I heard, starting with the first statement that caught my attention (I’m approximating the ages):

3rd Grade Girl: Playboys get sperm all over their faces.

1st Grade Boy: You mean Playboy girls get sperm all over their faces.

3rd Grade Girl: Yea, Playboy girls. That’s what’s I meant. Ha ha. (All kids laughed)

5th Grade Boy: Ha Ha. My Uncle lets me look at those magazines.

… At this point I couldn’t hear anything else they said.

Some adults (caregivers of children) are really stupid. They actually let elementary children look at porn magazines. It’s a wonder they can be so stupid and still breathe. At least they are breathing — that’s more than they deserve anyhow.

Wake up, America. Wake up, Christians! I’m glad my church has children’s programs that are evangelistic — this is why. If you are a Christian and are bothered as I was (and it should bother you and it should offend you — that’s the whole point) — don’t just sit there. Do something. Combat this! You don’t fight spiritual problems with intellectual discussions. You combat spiritual problems with spiritual forces. Keep fighting, people. (Cue the Petra music…fade in slowly…).

Get on your knees and fight like a man . . .

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Reputation.

It’s important to have a good one — but you can not please everyone. You should aim to please God.

It takes years to establish, but it can be ruined in seconds.

If you spend years to develop a good reputation, your reputation will work for you.

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Prostitutes, Paths, and The Holy Spirit.

The imagery of a wedding to express the intimate relationship between God and his people is found all throughout the Bible (Rev. 19:7, Isa. 54:5-7, and Hos. 2:19). I’d like to show you one passage in particular. This is Matthew 22:1-14.

In the Bible’s imagery, God is the groom and the Church (Christians) is the bride. This husband and wife relationship should not be seen as feminine personification, but as a great description of the intimacy God wants with His church (past, present, and future).

If we truly want the Holy Spirit to move in today’s church we need to start living like it. God wants to marry a beautiful bride — not a whore! If this offends you, I’m glad — that’s kind of the point. It should offend. We say, “Holy Spirit come here and do amazing things among us” yet we don’t change our lives — we don’t clean up. God will come with great power when we have prepared for Him something better than a slutty prostitute.

God’s wants to move in our midsts. I believe God wants to blow our socks off. But we are not preparing the way for His presence.
Let’s prepare the way! Let’s put on our “wedding clothes.”

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Doing the Work of an Evangelist

In 2 Timothy 4:5, Paul tells Timothy that he needs to “do the work of an evangelist.”

I think this applies to all of us – we are all called to do the work of an evangelist.

Some people are called as evangelists – its their spiritual gift. They are great at it – God gives some people a supernatural ability to lead people to Him.

But for everyone else – we’re not off the hook. We may not be gifted as an evangelist, but we are instructed to do the work of an evangelist. That doesn’t necessarily mean we need to walk up to people we don’t know – but as we go into the world, we need to be making Christ known. All Christians are called to this – there are no exceptions.

There are different ways we can get involved in evangelism. Some of us are called to inspire others to do evangelism (I have a part of the evangelism process right now as I write this even!). Some of us may feel comfortable going door to door sharing Christ with whoever would listen. Some people are extremely uncomfortable knocking on someone’s door – but certainly they could do or say something to make Christ known while at school or work.

Personally, I don’t have a big problem sharing Christ to complete strangers. God made me bold. Maybe He made you a little more timid. That’s cool, too. But it doesn’t disqualify you from doing the work of an evangelist when the opportunity arises.

For those who attend New Hope, I want to challenge you to do the work of an evangelist this week by bringing your non-Christian friends to the Risen To Reign Series this upcoming weekend. This series will provide an opportunity for them to receive Christ — its an awesome opportunity for us to do the work of an evangelist!