“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5).
In comparing our (human) love to this love given through the Holy Spirit, Oswald Sanders writes: “Our unaided love can never attain to the divine desire nor reach the depths of human need. But our union with Christ makes that possible. His love is being perpetually poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is for us to believe and act on that glorious fact, and it will become true not in theory only but in actual experience.” This principle is true throughout Scripture. Once we cooperate with God’s plan and act by faith on a principle, we suddenly witness the power of the Spirit working in us and confirming the truth. Why are we so often ‘loveless’ when it comes to having a deep affection and concern for what God cares about? If we try to use our human love for God’s work, we find it falls far short of what He wants us to do. Love is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and can only be put into us by Him. The only way we can receive this love is by submission to His work in us. When this takes place, our love for the lost will equal our love for Jesus.
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Paul had a deep passion for the unsaved, especially his own people. After a complete description of the gospel in Romans 1 to 8, he describes the wonderful sovereignty of God in chapter 9. Whether we are a Jew or Gentile, this truth should make us very grateful that God even considered extending His grace to us.
“For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So, then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Romans 9:15–16). It is good to remind ourselves of this truth. It also helps us understand why Paul pours out his heart regarding his unbelieving people, the Jews, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers” (9:2-3). WOW, THAT IS RADICAL! Such deep passions for others to hear the gospel of pure grace! I don’t have that kind of fervency, but I want it desperately! What would you do to see the lost saved through hearing the gospel? We have our individual “comfort zones” that we stay in. Paul was not afraid to risk everything that others might hear and believe. I want to be like Paul. Do you? I often pray for true revival in the Church. What has hindered us from the kind of fervency and passion the Holy Spirit infused in the Early Church in Acts? God put men in the Church who had clear spiritual vision because they allowed the Spirit to control everything. Paul looked for men like that. “That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church” (1 Corinthians 4:17).
"We must not spend our lives jumping from one sinking strategy to another. Instead, we must determine to be good stewards of God and His church by conforming our lives and ministries to what is written." (Paul David Washer). Why is there almost a universal attitude that we cannot experience what the Early Church witnessed? We read accounts of thousands being saved and God pushing the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome in 25 years and then struggle to reach one lost soul next door. I sat in a coffee shop waiting for my wife who had an appointment nearby. As I started to work formatting one of our books, a young man sat at my table waiting for his order. He looked miserable. I struggled for a few seconds whether my work was more important than this young man. After asking a simple question, “How are you?” we had a twenty-minute conversation about his life and the need of salvation through Jesus. What if I had felt too busy and ignored him? God’s strategy is simple BUT PERFECT. “Go, make disciples!” (Matthew 28:19). As we have been working on the final edits of our new book (God’s Plan for Young Disciples), I have been thinking about what God does through children. Like the disciples who rebuked those that brought children to Jesus, we may tend to discount the value and importance of children in the kingdom and work that God is doing. Jesus says, “do not hinder them” (Matthew 19:16).
What can a young boy of eight-years-old do? Josiah was eight “when he began to reign” over Judah. The next thing said about him should make us take note; “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left” (2 Kings 22:1-2). His thirty-one-year reign brought repentance and revival by returning to “the Book of the Law” (22:8). There was another boy the same age, Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf. He started a prayer meeting that gathered every morning. From this time of prayer, a revival in missions sprang from the Moravians who sent out 228 missionaries to ten different countries over 28 years. These eight-year-olds had spiritual fathers that influenced their minds and hearts. What are we doing to foster this degree of commitment and zeal for the Lord in the next generation? Before I get into my thoughts on this subject, take a moment and ask yourself this question: If someone wanted to know how to be completely ‘sold out’ for Jesus and make a lasting impact on others in this world, what would you tell them? Would you send them to a renowned Bible College or Seminary and tell them to get more education? Would you tell them to listen to some well-known speaker or Bible teacher?
There are two people who have made a tremendous difference in the way I see things and continue to challenge me deeply. The Apostle John had a very close relationship with the Lord, closer than Peter or any of the other disciples. An indicator of this is how he writes about Jesus in his gospel and letters. John says, “we have seen His (Jesus’) glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). How much of His glory have you seen? I have been thinking a lot about Paul’s conversion, first recorded in Acts 9. That one encounter with Jesus and the following three days without sight, food or water set in motion a life of radical obedience. No wonder he says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Radical love and obedience to Jesus never comes from us making a commitment. It results from allowing the glory of Jesus to change us. KEEP LOOKING AT HIM AND HE WILL CHANGE YOU! The Moravian Mission Movement was the first of any that came out of the Protestant church after the Reformation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. God moved the heart of Nikolaus Zinzendorf and 300 others who gathered to seek the Lord for wisdom on how to spread the gospel to the unreached of the world. During this time their unity enabled them to send out 228 missionaries to ten different countries. Here are a few principles that were the foundation of their work. · Salvation by grace through Christ’s atoning sacrifice alone. · The missionaries lived and worked among the people they evangelized. · They relied on the work of the Holy Spirit to transform men’s hearts, with loving persuasion, not by force the threat of hell fire and damnation. · It is the Holy Spirit who brings the unbeliever to repentance. · Allow indigenous churches to have their own expression of faith. · Do not replicate the sending church or measure God’s work by it. These principles follow so closely to the way the Early Church began. The Moravian movement was so successful, not only because of these biblical principles but because it was supported by 100 years of continual prayer. We should learn from their example! “Wednesday night last week, Haiti was on my mind. My thoughts were inspired by the Moravian film Firstfruits, and Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. The Moravians who sent out the first Protestant missionaries, and Paul's missionary methods in Thessalonica, provide us with a model that might just work in Haiti.
Protestant Christianity has been in Haiti for over 200 years, and at best only 15% of the population is Christian. It is a country very close to US and the church in America has sent MANY, MANY missionaries and some are still going. There has got to be a problem with such low results. As we teach in God’s Plan for His Church (pages 19-20), there are three disturbing symptoms we find in Haiti: (1) We have moved away from the way of Christ and the Apostles as presented in Scripture. (2) We have not succeeded in planting truly indigenous churches. (3) Most missions and churches in Haiti are not self-sustaining, self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating. It is easy to identify the problem. What is the solution? Consider Paul’s method in Thessalonica, one used by the Moravians. Paul clearly addressed specific issues by living among them as one of them, to be an example or model “with toil and labor, working night and day” (2 Thessalonians 3:8) to win their respect and “NOT be a burden to any” (1 Thessalonians 2:9). So much more we can learn from Paul. I feel sorry for the model that we have presented to the Haitians. I do not judge the ones who have gone there and devoted themselves, and in some cases have given their lives. But, we cannot go back to the old model. We must learn from the Scripture by taking a fresh and biblical approach to carrying the gospel of pure grace to Haiti. Like the Moravians, we need to go there and live as they live with the gospel our only tool.” (Tim) Many of us struggle with not being FAT disciples of Jesus Christ. No, we’re not talking about your weight, instead a memorable acronym that describes a follower of Jesus: Faithful, Available, and Teachable. This past week showed me a brother’s example of what it looks like to be Available at all times.
It was just a normal day for Brent and his son as they were pulling up at the neighborhood McDonald’s drive thru. But Brent spotted something unusual out of the corner of his eye, a young man behind the garbage dumpster curled up with his arms in his shirt and huddled in the corner. Immediately his mind went to the struggles of a family member who had dealt with drug abuse and he couldn’t stay put in the line any longer. He decided to get out and check on the young man since it was early January and really cold. He said, “Hey bud, are you ok?” The young man took his arms out of his shirt and said clearly, “I’m just so cold.” At that point Brent grabbed a blanket out of his car and gave it to the young man and started talking to him about his situation. Brent asked, “Do you have anywhere to go, that I could help you get to?” The young man, now known as James, said, “No, I was riding with my brother in his tractor trailer and he left me at a gas station, I have nowhere.” “Is there anything I can do for you?”, Brent asked. James responded, “Do you have a Bible? Mine was in my brother’s truck.” Brent, taken aback a bit by the request said, “Sure, I think I can help you with that, come and get in the truck and we’ll get you somewhere safe.” This simple exchange began a couple days of ministry. They got him a Bible and also drove him to the bus station. This is what it looks like to be Available. How many times do we look past opportunities on a day-by-day basis? And, I understand, not all opportunities are as obvious as the one with James. Why are we not available so much of the time? It is the subtle mindset that Christianity is with me. That Jesus came for me, died for me, rose for me. As if I were the only one in the world and He wants me, and only me. Unfortunately, that is a lie. Following Christ, and the Gospel, does not revolve around me and what I can get from Christ. In other words, Christianity does not exist on my terms. The true Gospel is the exact opposite, it is what Christ gives through me to others. It is multiplying and growing His Kingdom, not my own. It is seeing every moment in this life as an opportunity to serve another in Jesus’ name. It is Brent and Brennan’s example of being Christ to a hurting world around them. Brent shared with me recently recounting the experience how much a blessing it was for him and his son to meet James. How God had helped show them the things that really matter. And that friendship and sharing the journey of life with those that God puts in our path is precious and eternal. Read James 2:1-9. (Written by Jonathan). |
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