New Foundations Blog - New Foundations International

WHY WE MUST FINISH THE TASK

12/9/2018

Why must we have an urgency in our hearts and ministries of finishing the task of reaching every people group around the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ? The answer is simple. It was always God’s plan from before the beginning of the world. He first communicated the promise to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you…and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

This promise was further revealed in amazing clarity to Paul. The idea of the Gentiles hearing and believing the gospel was not clear to even Peter. Paul declares that “the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Ephesians 3:3–6).

Notice that Paul calls this promise and idea of God a “mystery” or secret, a “plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things” (3:9). God kept much of His plan secret until the coming of the Holy Spirit so that it could be fulfilled in His power as far as the ends of the earth.

When we think that this is the wisdom of God revealed to the right people at the right time, we must be like Paul who said, “I bow my knees before the Father” (3:14). There is no other response. This will lead us to devote our lives to finishing the task.

TEARS FOR THE WORLD

12/8/2018

Forgive me for not posting yesterday. We were traveling and returned home after mid-night.

I have been deeply challenged this week as I spent time with missionaries and ministries who are focused on reaching the unengaged unreached (UUPG) and unreached (UPG) people groups of the world with the power of the gospel in the name of Jesus. While many of the discussions and presentations centered around using technology in the process, collaborating together through shared resources, my heart began thinking about the urgent need for prayer.

One hundred and twenty disciples knew how critical prayer was, even before the Holy Spirit descended on them and filled them. It was not a short prayer meeting, mostly taken up with talking about what they were going to pray for and them rushing through the list. It was a TEN DAY prayer service. What would happen in our effort to spread the gospel to the UUPG’s if we linked our hearts, minds and voices with the heart of God for the world?

The answer will only be known when we disconnect from the noise of this world and connect with the heartbeat of God for the world.

"THE PROMISE OF MY FATHER"

12/7/2018

The moment was a difficult one. After three and a half years of being with Jesus, learning from His teaching, watching His miracles and being part of His ministry, eleven men called disciples, were ushered into a season of dramatic changes. How would they manage to continue on with life and His work when their mentor was leaving? Would they be forced to do everything without Him?

“Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Wait! What is this “promise of my Father?” Just a few days before, Jesus gave these men clear and detailed instructions right after the Passover meal about “another Helper to be with you forever…the teacher…the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). He also promised them in 14:18 that “I will not leave you as orphans” or helpless or as a friendless person. The “other Helper” would be one just like Jesus, and actually better by virtue of being with them all the time and never susceptible to death.

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL! He promised that with the coming of this Helper, they would also be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). It is not human power because it comes from heaven – God’s power. By ‘clothing’ us, it will impact the whole person and all we do.

Let’s put these things together. This Helper will be just like Jesus who will never leave them as they are fulfilling the Great Commission – spreading the gospel wherever they are and wherever they go. He is the one who will also fill them with power (divine ability) to fulfill the command to “GO” with His message to all the nations.

“WAIT!” Why? Notice that Jesus commanded these eleven men to “stay in the city until you are clothed with power.” Why should they have to wait? Couldn’t Jesus just give them the power right then? NO! It is absolutely necessary that they learn and we learn the essential quality of dependence if we are going to experience God’s power working in us through the Holy Spirit.

YOU ARE A WITNESS

12/5/2018

The word “witnesses” in Luke 24:48 is a very interesting word. It is a ‘nominative verb’ which means that the person is taking on all the qualities and characteristics of someone who fully represents the message they are proclaiming. This is both challenging and exciting! It is challenging because we must examine our lives to see if we are blurring the message by the way we live, what we say and how we say it.

In another way, being a witness for Christ and His message of the gospel is very exciting. Going back to Acts 1:8, Jesus again clarifies how we will become effective witnesses for Him. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses.” Our witness is only effective if we are speaking and presenting the message of the gospel under the direction, control and power of the Holy Spirit.

The proof of this principle is clearly seen on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon those who were gathered and waiting for Him to fill them with His power (Acts 2:1-4, 4:8,31; 9:17; 13:9, 52). This becomes the normal way to witness for and about Jesus. Even though Simon believed and was baptized, he tried to buy this power with money (8:14-24) and was rightly rebuked by Peter. Any attempt to do the work of God with human means is “wicked” and must be repented of immediately.

God wants your witness pure and free from any taint of human effort that is not under the control and direction of the Holy Spirit. Will you let God purify your life today and make your witness clearly a powerful representation of Christ and His message of saving grace to a lost world?

BEGINNING HERE AND GOING THERE

12/4/2018

As we have been looking at Luke 24:45-47, we noticed that Luke records how Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” This comes before His giving instructions from the Scriptures on what the disciple’s role will be after His departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit. I cannot emphasize too much the importance of our understanding being opened and enlightened before any ministry or work for God is done!

Paul knew how important this is. He prayed for the Ephesian saints that “the eyes of [their] hearts [be] enlightened…to know what is the hope to which [they have] been called” (Ephesians 1:18). We will never be effective in proclaiming the gospel unless it has become a personal light in our souls. There is another reason why we need enlightening in our hearts. The gospel is a “mystery” that cannot be humanly understood (3:3-4, 6, 9). As it is revealed to us and in us, the Spirit will help us proclaim it to others.

Going back to our verses in Luke 24, Jesus gives the map for proclaiming the message of the gospel. They were standing in Jerusalem and He tells them that it was going to begin right there. In Acts 1:8, Jesus expands the circles of their influence from Jerusalem to “both/and Judea both/and Samaria both/and to the end of the earth.” NO PART OF THE EARTH ESCAPES THE MESSAGE!

Where do you live? That is your “Jerusalem.” From there, God wants you to be part of fulfilling the Scriptures; telling others “Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins [is] proclaimed in his name! Will you pay your part so others hear, believe and are saved?

"TO ALL NATIONS"

12/3/2018

Recent events surrounding the death of a young man, John Chau, have evoked much comment from many sources, some very critical of his passion and sacrifice. In the light of this event and the many before him who have sacrificially given their lives so those at the “ends of the earth” may hear the gospel, consider again the words of Jesus; “That repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45–47).

Jesus is clearly saying that the message of His death and resurrection provided a way for mankind to repent and receive forgiveness. He wanted this message to be “proclaimed” so that all “ethne” would hear, receive, believe and confess (Romans 10:8-17). This divine purpose and plan includes every people group from one end of the earth to the other.

John Piper once wrote of another missionary martyred in a hostile field, “The whole point of [his] life is that there is something worse than death. So, he was willing to risk his own life to rescue others from something far worse. And he could risk his own life because he knew his own risking and dying would work for him ‘an eternal weight of glory’” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

These are persons who also took seriously Hebrews 12:2; “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. Will we do the same?

REPENTANCE - A NECESSITY

12/2/2018

As we continue to look at these verses in Luke 24, there are other details that stand out as part of our mission in spreading the gospel. Most of us who are involved in mission work and preaching the gospel readily agree with God’s purpose in the suffering of Jesus and the fact that He rose again on the third day. But “repentance?”
Sadly, we are seeing a trend in some segments of Christendom where the mention of “sin” and “repentance” is being left out of messages because ‘they make people uncomfortable.’ Jesus included this important principle of repentance in His ‘eye-opening conversation.’ “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45–47).
What is “repentance?” It is the change of my mind toward my sin so that I see how violation of God’s holiness is in agreement with how God views my sin. I/we will never have a full or sufficient understanding of how our sin has required judgment, but our repentance is necessary in order to receive forgiveness from God which He freely gives through His Son Jesus.
This is the message the disciples preached and the message we must preach.

GETTING A LITTLE HELP FROM JESUS

12/1/2018

We often ponder in this ministry how the Early Church was so successful and powerful in spreading the gospel in the face of many obstacles. In this blog, I want to draw your attention to some of Jesus’ final words to the disciples who seemed discouraged with the events in Jerusalem.

“Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45–47). Let’s take a moment to unpack these verses.
1) Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” With this divine help, none of us will grasp the plan and purpose of God. Jesus had personally come alongside Cleopas and his friend, walked with them, and discovered in their conversation how they looked at the current event in Jerusalem. Understanding the Scriptures is not a human intellectual exercise of the mind. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who continues the work of Christ here on earth.

2) It is so vital to link what God is doing with Scripture, which Jesus did. We can easily twist current events through our human lens and miss the divine purpose. If we are going to shape our life and ministry so that it becomes effective and produces results for God’s glory, we must base our message of the gospel in what “is written” about Christ. It is evident that part of the Spirit’s inspiration of the New Testament writers was their 937 references to the Old Testament.

What is the purpose of having our understanding “enlightened?” We want first, our hearts to join God in what He is doing. After this encounter with Jesus, they wait in prayer in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to make them effective. Do we do this before launching into ministry?

REMOVING OBSTACLES

11/30/2018

As we read through the Gospels, we see examples of persons who had major obstacles in their lives that blinded them from seeing the benefits of following Jesus and becoming his disciple. Simon Peter was a very successful fisherman. It only took one encounter with Jesus, when they invited Him to go fishing with them, and they caught the largest number of fish which totally changed their history of fishing. The result was that “they left everything and followed Him” (Luke 5:11).

The story does not end so well with the young man who asked Jesus, “what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). After some conversation over keeping the Law of Moses, which the young man said he had done, Jesus tells him; “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow Me” (19:21).

Was the real issue the young man’s possessions? No! It was personal surrender of his life to Jesus. The “come follow Me” part was just too much, considering his “great possessions.”

If we really want to follow Jesus and be a true disciple who makes other disciples, we must be willing for the “follow Me” part of His requirement. It will be a learning process, but it begins with giving Him everything. Jesus told Peter and Andrew, “And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”” (Matthew 4:19). Becoming an effective, productive, multiplying, fruitful disciple, begins with a close walk with Jesus. You may need to remove some obstacles so you NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF HIM!

SIT DOWN AND COUNT THE COST

11/29/2018

In Luke 14:28-33, Jesus draws some comparisons between common decisions people make in every-day life and the decision to be a disciple that follows Him. Here are the human illustrations:

· Building a tower requires first sitting down and counting the cost.
· A king going to war against another king – how large an army will he need to succeed?

Then Jesus makes this profound statement: “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Notice the word “renounce” which means “giving up, setting aside everything or to part with” all my possessions. What does this really mean?

We know from many Scriptures that Jesus was not saying that possessions could not be part of the Christian’s life, but I must release my right to control them and myself to Him, my Lord and Teacher. The disciple surrenders everything he is and has to be under Jesus’ control.

William Barclay tells the story of someone talking to a great scholar about a younger man. He said, “So and so tells me that he was one of your students.” The teacher answered, “He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students.” There is a world of difference between attending lectures and being a student. It is one of the supreme handicaps of the Church. There are so many distant followers of Jesus and so few real disciples.”

We must not confuse attending church services or Bible studies with being a true disciple who has “renounced” everything for obedience to Jesus. Will you bow in surrender to His loving authority?

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