These have been selling like Hot cakes in American Evangelicalism! Many Christians in American evangelicalism are either caught up in the "prosperity gospel" or the latest craze of the "seeker sensitive" movement and are not being taught the full council of God's word.
Watch this video of these people who hear the gospel for the first time and go ecstatic to find out that Jesus Christ died on the cross and His blood will save His elect from their sins
No cool band with "skinny jeans". No strobe lights and electric guitars. Just the gospel of Jesus Christ! They celebrated for over two hours straight!!! Oh that we would fall in love with the gospel and that we would see that it is more than enough.
Have you ever heard the phrase "God has a wonderful plan for your life"? Do you think it's biblical? Before you answer, consider this -- What would you say if you were able to preach to 1,000 people in Tower One of the World Trade Center, the day before it collapsed and killed them? Would you say that God had a "wonderful plan" for their lives? How could you say that when their lives are going to end the next day in the most horrible of ways? This episode not only exposes this popular yet unbiblical presentation, it shows how it actually limits the Gospel to a certain segment of the world, and how it has the potential to fill the Church with false converts.
Great video explaining some of the verses that is used by many to not allow non-Christians into their home. This video explains that we are to take advantage of the opportunity God has given us to share our faith. We do not even have to leave our home, they come to us!
This is why theology matter because if one does not know how to defend their faith they really are muzzled and can not speak truth because they do not know how to defend things like the doctrine of the Trinity, deity of Jesus, etc. We are to love God with out minds and need to study to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15). My family came out of Mormonism because our Sovereign God sent a co-worker to share the faith and it was what eventually led us out from the kingdom of the cults to the kingdom of Christ.
The reason a sinner responds to the Gospel determines whether or not he continues in his faith. This is a vital teaching. Multitudes are being inoculated to the true Gospel, because of a lack of understanding when it comes to this principle.
To think that one should come to Christ because it will make him happy is to miss the whole point of the Gospel. If we are telling people to come to Christ because it will make them happy then we do not understand the gospel. Man comes to Christ to be reconciled to a Holy God because we have sinned against him. If this is not how we present the Gospel then we are not presenting the true gospel and this is why the church is filled with false converts. Instead of embracing Jesus as their Lord and Master they have simply added Jesus to their list of things that they hope will bring them happiness. One must abandon all else and see themselves as blind, wretched, and naked and unless they throw themselves on the cross, God's wrath abides on them. Not a popular message but it is the most loving thing we can do.
Acts 17:31 "Because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
(1 John 2:15-17 ESV) "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
These are verses that should be memorized and repeated DAILY! Man is depraved and wicked and do not have a problem at all making idols for ourselves:
"Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols." John Calvin
Verse 15 says "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
The world hates truth, hates righteousness and hates God. When Adam sinned he ushered death and the fall into the world (Romans 5:12). We have talked before about the doctrine of total depravity and that all men by nature are children of wrath (Ephesians 2) and are hostile towards God (Romans 7).
Because of this the natural man does not receive the spiritual truths that Christians hold precious
(1 Corinthians 2:14). Because God has regenerated us we now have a love for the things of God.
Sadly there are many wolves in sheep's clothing that actually encourage their members to desire the things of the world. They believe Jesus died to make you financially wealthy and healthy. This is commonly known as "Word of Faith" theology and it is blasphemous and an enemy of the Gospel. (Please follow this link for more info on this theology (http://www.equip.org/category/word-faith-movement/)
Verse 16 "For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world"
Regenerate man has God the Holy Spirit in Him guiding him and directing him and the unregenerate man can not help but walk out the desires of the flesh
(Galatians 5:17-21 ESV) For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
We see the eyes and desires of the flesh love those things God hates. This is why one can not love the things of the world, because they are completly opposed to the things of God
James 4:4 says to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. Being a Christian means you are giving up all material gains and wants to follow the Master. It means that the most precious possession you have is Jesus Christ, NOT worldly possessions.
(Matthew 10:34-39 ESV) “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Verse 17 "And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
The world, the universe, everything is decaying. Everything you own now will one day be in the dump and junk. How foolish to love and make idols out of possessions and created things rather than the Creator who made you.
Possessions can not save you. One day we will all stand before Christ, and when asked why they should be allowed in Heaven their pocket book and possessions can not save them. The call to follow Jesus is to lose your life for His sake and not be a slave to selfish sinful desires.
This can be overcome through the power of God the Holy Spirit dwelling in us and when He does we see the fruits of the Spirit rather than those of the flesh.
(Galatians 5:22-25 ESV) "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit."
To overcome the love of worldly things we must live a life that is dominated by the Holy Spirit. We must be saturated in His word and obedient to His word. I know this is a struggle and I struggle everyday to not feed my sinful desires and I do fail. But when we do, we repent and yield to the Spirit of God.
Think on these truths friends. We all struggle with these issues friends and it is part of the sanctification process. God has not left us helpless but has left us the Holy Spirit whom in-dwells us.
I love the method of "Way of The Master". We must confront sinners with the need for God's grace. We MUST give the bad news to the lost before giving the good news of salvation.
As I have been teaching through the book of Mark on Wednesday nights and going through the essentials of the faith on Sunday the topic of why did Jesus die on the cross and how to share our faith comes up.
I have some thoughts on this and would love some feedback.
Many times when we share the gospel with people we want to go right to the good news that "God has a wonderful plan for your life". I think it is VERY important to note that we need to give people the "bad news" before rushing to the good news.
What is the bad news? That man has sinned and because of our sin we need to be reconciled to God and if we are not then we will face the wrath of God for eternity. Sadly I think we have focused so much on God's love we fail to understand God's wrath. We need to be balanced in our view of God and realize God is Holy.
The reason Jesus came was not to give us an example (Though He is an example) and neither did he come to give us a life of wealth, health and prosperity. Jesus came to reconcile fallen sinful man to himself. When we evangelize, to skip right to the good news of the gospel and telling them to come to Jesus for any other reason then that they are sinners and need to repent and submit to Jesus Christ is or will face His eternal wrath is to miss the primary purpose of the gospel.
I think we are scared to give the full picture of who God is for fear of scaring people off so often times we "De-fang" God and do not talk about His wrath and Holiness. I often times myself when talking to others about Christ catch myself wanting to avoid talking about sin and how bad it really is. I constantly have to remind myself that salvation is of the Lord and it is not for me to try and make the message more palatable so it goes down easier.
As I have been going through the book of Mark you see Jesus is hated and chapter 6 tells us the people took offense at him. Are His slaves better than the Master?
Jesus said if they hate me they will hate us (John 15:8) and that his message is an offense (Mark 6)
PLEASE do not misunderstand what I am saying. I am NOT saying that we do not love people. I am NOT saying that we be rude and offend people just to offend them.
I am saying that if we really love people we tell them the truth even if they do not want to hear it. If they are offended at the message then that is between them and God but our duty is to share the truth of God's word and trust his word and the Holy Spirit to do the rest.
God is love but he is also just and Holy
Acts 17:30 "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
We are to love people and that's why when we give the gospel message we tell them the truth as to why they need to come to Christ.
Ray Comfort gives the example of a man in a plane and during the flight a employee told him if he put the parachute on it would improve his flight. He put it on and it was uncomfortable and poking him. Then other passengers started laughing at him and in anger he threw it off because the lady told him the parachute would improve his flight and instead he was uncomfortable and laughed at.
What if she would have came to the man and said the plane is out of gas and we will be in real danger soon so put the parachute on. Now he does not care if it is uncomfortable or poking him because he knows without it he will die. The fact others are laughing at him does not matter to him and he clings tight to the parachute because it will save his life. He did not put it on to "improve" his flight but rather to save his life.
One does not come to Christ for a life of care free living and no troubles. If that's how we present the gospel then as soon as troubles come then they think Christianity has failed them. However when they come for the correct reason which is that man has been separated from God and needs to be reconciled, when bad things happen he is not swayed because he did not come to Christ for a care free life but rather to be reconciled to God through His son.
I know my grammar stinks but I wanted to share my thoughts on this. Feel free to share your thoughts. God Bless
Also I am not saying I am better than anyone else or saying I am not sinful etc..... And I certainly do not want to come off as arrogant or harsh.
I am the biggest sinner I know and I above all need God's grace!
Ray comfort does a great job explaining that because we have sinned against God and when we stand before Him on the day of Judgement we will have to give an account of our lives. Sadly many today in America want to rush to tell the person they are evangelizing the good news of the gospel. Sadly though the "good" news of the gospel will not make sense unless we tell them the bad news first.
We need to explain there was a literal Adam and a literal Eve with a real fall. Because of man's sin (Romans 5:12) we need a Savior who can reconcile us back to God (2 Corinthians 5:18).
Remember next time you share your faith with the lost that promising people that if they come to Jesus that their problems will go away, you are not telling them why they need to come to Jesus. The reason man must turn from sin is to flee the wrath of God.
(2 Peter 3:7) But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin."
"He made him who knew no sin to be sin for our behalf so that we may become the righteousness of God"
Jesus Christ who knew no sin was made sin in the sense that all the sin of mankind was laid upon Jesus at the cross.
When we repent of our sin (Turn away from sin) and embrace Jesus as Lord and master of our lives believing that God raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 10:9-11) then Christs righteousness is laid to our account and he see's the righteousness of Christ on the cross.
We have all broken Gods laws (Romans 3:23) and the payment for our sins is death (Spiritual and physical Romans 6:23)
But God offers us forgivness of our sins and offers us a way to ecscape by repenting and turning from our sin and embracing Jesus as Lord and Master.
As an analogy imagine you were in court and had broken a law that would cost 5,000 dollars or 5 years in jail. You do not have the money and are being taken to jail when suddenly someone stands up and pays your fine.
Because the debat has been paid you are free to go. We have all sinned and all stand guilty before the God of the universe but We are told for those who truly repent of their sin and confess that Jesus was raised physically from the dead (Romans 10:9-11) then when you do that your debt has been paid and now you are no longer a child of wrath (Ephesians 2) and are now a child of God (John 3). 1 John 2 tells us one way to know if we are truly sons of God is by our obedience to his word and our love for him. We are told when we do sin that if we confess it and turn from it that Christ will forgive us.
We will all die one day and stand before the judge of the universe and so this Easter I pleasd with you that if you do not know Christ as Lord and Master then flee from sin and Run to the cross.
Anyone wanting more information can feel free to email me.
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
The atonement of Christ is one of the most magnificent parts of Christian theology, and Anselm’s work is one of the most famous works dealing with it. The satisfaction theory gets to the heart of the atonement.
From the series: Foundations: An Overview of Systematic Theology www.ligonier.org
Outspoken Atheist Christopher Hitchens in a interview on 60 minutes earlier this year. Battling stage 4 cancer Hitchens does not have much time left. I would ask Christians to pray for him, that he would see his need to repent and trust Christ as Lord and master.
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