Encouragement according to God is based on the all- sufficient work of Jesus. These times are no different than what the Early Christians experienced. Let me encourage you with Hebrews 10:22-24. They provide three imperatives that lead us to strong encouragement.
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (10:22). All that came before this verse is necessary for us to “draw near.” The writer of Hebrews knew that believers in his day needed this verse to assure them that their access to God is open because of Jesus our Mediator whose blood covered our sins. By faith (trust) we have this freedom. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (10:23). Our confession is also based on the unshakeable work of Jesus Christ for us. When Jesus put the disciples to a test in John 6, and some left Him, He said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well” (6:67). Peter’s reply should be our; “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (68). Is this the attitude of our hearts? “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (10:24). Any culture and any time in history has its pressures that tempt us to become ‘lazy’ about our ‘church-life’ together. We need each other for this vital activity of ‘stirring.’ The root of this word is the same as “encourage” and is a very intense form. We must be very intentional in doing this so others are lifted above things of this world and “set your minds on things that are above” (Colossians 3:2).
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In 1490, the Bible was virtually unavailable in English. William Tyndale began proclaiming the value of pure Scripture and felt deeply the need to translate it into English. He was threatened and opposed by powerful people in his day. His reply to the opposition was among the most famous in church history: "If God spares me, I will cause a boy that drives the plow to know more of the Scriptures than you do." By 1525 he had made complete copies of the New Testament that were secretly read in England. On October 6, 1536, he was betrayed and seized, tied to a stake, strangled, and burned at the age of 42.
This is one of the reasons why Lesson 1 and Lesson 6 of God's Plan for His Disciples are so important! Our goal for every believer is to be able to study the Scriptures for themselves like the Bereans in Acts 17:11; “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” If you know of anyone who has not yet developed a love for reading the Scriptures, please give us their name and address and we will send them a copy of God's Plan for His Disciples There is a natural development that takes place as we grow spiritually. As a child grows, their circle of friends they associate with also grows. As a child in the faith, their concern may focus on the salvation and spiritual condition of their own family. A point comes in their walk with the Lord when the Spirit of Jesus lifts their vision beyond what is local. They are no longer a dwarf in the things of God.
Initially Peter was speaking only to his own people, the Jews, about the gospel. It took a vision from heaven to open his eyes to the Gentiles (Acts 10:9-29). We might say that Peter was immature in his thinking and needed a ‘wakeup call’ from the Lord to think God’s thoughts. His new understanding was immediately put to the test with the visitors from Cornelius (10:30-48). It could be that we need a fresh revelation from God about how He views the heathen. The Day of Pentecost was a remarkable event. While the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-4, God also filled Jerusalem with people from many parts of the known world. These disciples were immediately equipped to share the gospel, even though Peter was the main spokesperson. This is what God planned and intended. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”” (Acts 1:8). This is God’s purpose for every Christian. All that is needed is our willingness to let Him prepare us. The opportunities are His design. The picture you see in this blog is 45 students who have completed their study of God’s Plan for His Church(GPHC)! Randy went to Nigeria to be present and encourage these brothers and sisters at this graduation and a few others. What is so special about this event? They have finished this study on their own. Now they are ready to take God’s Word throughout hard places in Nigeria to evangelize, establish, and equip others with the power and authority of Scripture. This follows the method Paul used to expand God’s work God’s way! Please be praying for these faithful men and women to be bold and without fear as the Spirit sends them out. My attention is drawn more and more to Paul’s prayers. Whenever he prays for the believers in any church he wrote to, he also reveals in his prayer the expansive heart he had for them.
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth” (Ephesians 3:17–18). NO ONE IS LEFT OUT! He wanted their faith strengthened by the knowledge that Christ was in them and through that faith they can understand divine things. Just to complete this picture, let’s look at verse 19; “and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” The thoughts Paul had for these Christians were out of this world. How often have you prayed that for someone? Imagine the impact we can have on those we might consider ‘weak’ or ‘dwarfs’ in the Church. What influence would we have on such if we made it a habit of praying like this for them and initiating conversation with a deep desire that they grow into Christ. It would help them want to become what God always intended for them. Ephesians 4:11-16 also embodies this attitude. Every spiritual gift in the body of Christ is to be used “for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain…the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” NO ONE IS LEFT OUT! Who have you left out? We live in a world where the weak, poor, and disadvantaged are looked down on and given the left- overs of time and resources. I gave the example yesterday of how a parent would give extra attention to a child that was not developing as they should. What about someone in the Church?
I remembered Paul’s attitude as he expressed it to a church that was crippled by pride, division, and moral issues. Read these verses carefully and seek the Spirit’s understanding. “On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it” (1 Corinthians 12:22–24). This is the divine attitude we must adopt! What difference would it make in our churches if we had this mind and heart toward those who do not seem to grow spiritually? Should we be like Doctor Paul and consider them “indispensable” and worthy of “greater honor”? How would this change our attitude toward spending time with such persons to know them better and discover ways to help their spiritual growth? Paul’s next comment gives added leverage to this point; “God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked” (12:24). God has placed that person with us for a reason! In the next few blogs, I want to pass on to you some challenging principles that Roland Allen presents in his book, Essential Missionary Principles, 1913.
He uses an example that most of us are familiar with who have children or been around them enough to observe their development. We watch them develop from the cradle into young men and women. If along that path we notice they are not growing to their normal height, strength, or able to run and play as other children, we would take them to a doctor to diagnose their condition. We would seek the best medical intervention at any cost. What if we have new believers among us who begin their walk with the Lord with fervent zeal and they are being discipled into strong followers of Jesus, and then we notice a sudden turn and the initial joy in the Lord has slipped away. Their habit of gathering with other Christians has been replaced with interests in what this world offers. What would you do? Would you let them ‘slip away’ or would you seek the best spiritual help for them? Come back tomorrow and we will look deeper into this question. Yesterday’s blog got me thinking about examples of faithfulness. Of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, only two are not told to “repent” (Smyrna and Philadelphia). There are some interesting contrasts and points the Lord makes of these two churches that stand out in contrast to the other churches.
Think about how the Lord looks at you, me, and our churches. What does He really see? It takes humility to accept His scrutiny, repent and change. For the last two weeks, 2 Timothy 1:6 has been part of preaching and discussion. What did Paul mean when he reminded Timothy “to fan into flame the gift of God which is in” him? Paul knew that Timothy had a “sincere faith” (5). Looking further at the context, Paul reminds him in verse 7 that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and self-control.” This might indicate that Timothy had become timid or influences at Ephesus had weakened his boldness.
From other comments made by Paul, general failure in the Church might have discouraged Timothy and this was Paul’s way of awakening his son in the faith to pay attention to his spiritual condition. In practical ways, how do we build a spiritual roaring fire in our hearts. Any fire that is left unattended will gradually die out. We must “reactivate” the flame by adding fuel. What is that?
These are only a few suggestions, and I am sure you can come up with more. The point Paul is making is that if our spiritual zeal is waning, we must actively pursue a fresh fire from the Spirit. At least eight times in the Gospels, the writers say that Jesus had “compassion” on the crowds or individuals who were suffering under our human condition caused by sin. This word includes the emotion of love and deep pity for the person. Jesus knew better than they did the condition that caused their suffering. He came to free them from the bondage they were under (Isaiah 61:1-3).
Without the Holy Spirit revealing the real condition of sin, we will look at the lost without any degree of “compassion” for them. A passion for sharing the gospel of grace with anyone who is without Christ comes from the Spirit of Christ moving us to long or yearn for their salvation. Paul had “great sorrow and unceasing anguish in [his] heart” for the Jews who were outside Christ. Roland Allen says that “if the Spirit of Christ is in the soul…[he] burst forth in compassion and desire for them.” It is only through the Spirit we can begin to grasp “For God so loved…” or “God our Savior who desires all people to be saved” (John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4). Such divine feelings must be revealed to our soul by the Spirit. Our spiritual disease is that we attempt to evangelize without the Spirit revealing divine emotions to our souls. This only comes through intimacy with the Spirit. |
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