Especially His: WE MUST DO BETTER

Saturday, October 12, 2019

WE MUST DO BETTER

A Biblical Alternative To The Sinner's Prayer by Paul Washer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9hd3pV2VxU

I had the opportunity to preach a sermon at the end of a year. It was a responsibility I took very seriously as starting a New Year is a wonderful time to recommit our hearts to the Lord and reconsider what our lives are to be in His care.

As I prayed and researched topics about new beginnings, it occurred to me that searching out Jesus last directions and so when I did I discovered some very powerful things:

"'And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" Matthew 28:18-20

If I had been easily content, I could have stopped there, because just those words alone should be far more than what was needed to preach from. What a marvelous topic!

In essense, our lives, unless called and gifted as an evangelist, we were to be making disciples not to be stressing over sharing the Gospel to everyone who would stand still long enough to hear the 'Four Spiritual Laws' or 'Peace With God' tracts.

Of course, it would aways be good to share these well-conceived tools, but not as we might share a bandaid and move on to the next 'wounded' heart.

The Navigators had a guideline and it is well worth considering:

"If each one won one,

and spent one year with them,

everyone in the world

would hear the Truth

in just 33 years."

Baptising them in the Word and teaching them to observe all that Jesus had commanded them. Sounds quite different from what many churches teach about getting out and 'saving' people before it's too late!

As I unpacked these verses a bit more, another question kept coming up. That was, 'What were the key teachings that Jesus had commanded of us?'

And what did I find? One set of verses in two of the Gospels:

"And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him. 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?' And He said to him,

"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.

"'The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depends the whole Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:36-40

and:

"And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognising that He had answered them well, asked Him, 'What commandment is the foremost of all?' Jesus answered:

"'The foremost is 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.

"'The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.'" Mark 12:28-31

To be continued...

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Intro Statement of Faith

Why "Especially His"? It comes from a closing statement in the WeakDay Devotions that I have been writing nearly every morning since 1999. Each day I close with this:

"Take care with love, especially His"

Although it is shared with many others around the world now, it seems each day's entry is written specifically for me and for what I am experiencing because I am, as the closing says, "especially His".

Over my lifetime I have been writing and teaching Bible-based studies and wanted a way for these teachings to reach a wider audience -- and hopefully be my legacy to a future generation. We all benefit from fellowship and good teaching and motivation that comes through prayer and reading our Bibles!

On this site you will find a variety of Bible-based and Christ-focused materials. My prayer is that they will help you grow and help you as you help others grow.

Modern-day Evangelism

Something amazing I learned as a young follower of Jesus Christ was that most of the efforts of modern day evangelism have little lasting effect, other than exposing an increasing number of people to God's Word. And as it says in Isaiah 55:11:

"So Shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

Yet, many are not ready, have hard hearts, are surrounded by influencing family or peers and they slink away into the warmth and darkness of unexpected despair.

We Need Ways

I do not minimise the value of canned methods or fancy printed tracts or little gimmicks like colourful beads strung on a leather bracelet or origami-folded coloured cards. We all need to have a way to share our faith in a way we are comfortable using.

I myself, was brought to the Cross through a tract called "Peace With God" published by the Billy Grahame Evangelistic Organisation, and I have trained in most of the methodologies for sharing my faith with another. I even wrote one that focuses on how Jesus evangelised and is based on the four Gospels.

But while being discipled under a wonderful Navigator couple (Don and Elaine Lanier) I also learned a statistic that makes so much sense. It goes like this:

"If each one of us, won one person per year to Christ, and we spent that one year discipling them in the basics, every person in the world would hear the Gospel message of Salvation in just thirty-three years."

Earmarked from the Beginning

Our lives are drawn to deciding to or not to follow Jesus from the moment we are conceived. This journey is as unique as our DNA (yes I do know about identical twins).

The journey after we come to understand the grace of the Father is furthermore unique until we die and begin eternity with our heavenly Father.

Statement of Faith

There is more to come, but want you to know just the core basics of my beliefs.

1. I believe God made man in His image and loves him and desires fellowship with him (Genesis 1:26-27, I John 4:10, John 3:16).

2. I believe there is no other way to Eternal Salvation than through knowing I am helpless against my sin nature and choice of sin. (Romans 5:6-8; 6:23).

3. There is nothing I can do to be acceptable in Heaven (Romans 3:20).

4. The only possibility is to accept the freely-offered gift of Jesus Christ paying the price for my sins by His death and resurrection. (I Corinthians 15:3-6; John 14:6).

5. I believe that the gift of Salvation is just that a gift and it is a gift by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and because this is a gift of grace, there is nothing I can do to make God love me more than He does once I accepted His salvation and there is nothing I can do to make God love me less.

6. That my salvation is not transitory according to my behaviour and that He holds me firmly in the palm of His hand (John 10:29).

7. That from the moment of Salvation, my life is a personal journey of growth that He has designed just for me (Psalm 139).

8. That the Bible is His Word to help me grow daily. II Timothy 3:16. (The translation I use for all quotes, unless otherwise specified, is The New American Standard Bible, ©The Lockman Foundation.)