Are They A Soul Winner?

"As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." - 2 Timothy 4:5 ESV

I see a finger pointing right at me in this passage.

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." - 2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV

A teacher who teaches but doesn't evangelize isn't worth very much. You may say, 'That isn't their ministry'... perhaps but if that is so I don't need to be their student. They may be able to teach you some things but they can't teach you the things that will allow you to 'fulfill your ministry'.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." - 1 Corinthians 13:1 ESV

The internet isn't the place to find this out. Going out on the street with the person is where you will see this. Watching them greet people at the door and loving them is where you will see this. 

I often hear these quotes that sound good but I wonder... 'Is this person a soul winner or just a page turner?'... until I get that question answered I take it all 'with a grain of salt.'

I don't think any of us need two dozen teachers... just a few who win souls.

If I stop evangelizing stop listening to me. It will just be past tense and theoretical. I hope to win the nurse to Christ who is wiping the sweat off my brow on my deathbed. If that changes read someone else's posts that has that mindset.

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Sevenfold Leadership

Last night at coffee we spoke about Jesus' amazing responses to people and the uniqueness of His, 'Come follow me' leadership.

We touched on a few of the subjects that we have discussed here in this early morning blog. I am always amazed at what God does. Nothing is wasted. Not only that... God has multiple uses for things he puts in our life.

"Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow." - Isaiah 30:26 ESV

I love this passage. It is a 'finished work' passage... seven always speaks of completion... creation and the rest that took place afterwards took seven days... so many sevens in the scripture.

The moon has the night time reflection of the sun. We could say the sun is just brighter but God makes it seem like all seven days worth of light are shining at once.

"When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." - John 19:30 ESV

Jesus' whole full life was shining in this moment and it is our healing. It makes even our nights brighter.

Thank You God!

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Find Mercy

Many thoughts this morning.

One was, 'giving people assignments'...

Jesus did it here:

"And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' But when he heard it, he said, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.' " - Matthew 9:11-13 ESV

Only a disciple has a desire to, 'Go learn.'

Learning about mercy is what separates the men from the boys.

The Pharisees sought to delegitimize Jesus as a teacher but Jesus gave them the essence of what a teacher Is.

Oh God... teach me mercy... it seems I need to relearn it again and again. Each time it becomes fresh I turn away from critiquing and focus on healing. Healing Is Your focus.

I want to be very careful who I give assignments to. It can really turn people off. At the same time I want to very available to God's assignments... finding mercy is always going to be one of His top priorities.

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The Things Concerning Himself

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." - John 20:30-31 ESV

"That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." - Luke 24:13-27 ESV

Wow. Wouldn't it be awesome to hear that Bible study! It isn't recorded but if we search the scriptures and learn from people who are looking for Jesus in the scriptures I believe in time we find and hear what they heard. It isn't given to us in Luke 24 but at the same time God doesn't want to hide those truths from us either. He is just as ready to give us what He gave them.

I wonder if in Heaven all the dots will be connected and we will be shown when we heard what they heard. Hidden in some angelic archive might just be all the 'where's and 'when's of our life. We may see there that we heard some of what Cleopas heard this Sunday morning at Church... or next week at a Bible class... or 2 years from now on a foreign field.

I want to hear because I believe but the converse is also true... I believe because I hear. We need to hear. It gives us momentum and maintains a momentum.

Letters. TV. Radio and Internet are great tools but there is nothing like walking with someone as they reveal Jesus in the scriptures. There is no substitute. These disciples didn't know it was Jesus walking with them. They just saw a person willing to be part of their life who knew God. We need that.

Let's never stop looking and hearing. God has freshness for us when we are looking for Jesus in God's book.

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Hear First And See Later

"Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion." - Isaiah 8:16-18 ESV

"He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!" - Psalm 107:20-21 ESV

"And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified." - Acts 20:32 ESV

God hides His face but sends His word. Jacob was and is a deceiver. He lies to get by. He lies to others and to himself. God hides his face from Jacob and sends words.

Grace words heal. Grace word produce a place of honesty in an otherwise deceptive or foolish person that hides behind fiction and fanciful notions to survive in a harsh world.

God send His word to heal and wants to bind up that word in his disciples (learners associated with a specific teacher or teaching) so that they will become the signs and portents in their circles of influence. His disciples don't have to be perfect people. They are people that have teaching and apply that teaching. They function in humility, mercy and love. They survive hard times. They are generous. They talk about grace and do not condemn themselves... or at least not for very long because the teaching is bound to them and love constrains them.

God will hide His face from people. They will say, 'I don't see what you see.' and we can say, 'Well. I'll tell you what I heard that opened my eyes and if you listen these words of grace can heal your vision.'

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." - John 3:16-18 ESV

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Go With The Bible

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it" - 2 Timothy 3:14 ESV

'Whom' here is plural.

"and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:15-17 ESV

The Gospel of Grace is the wisdom for salvation. That truth opens the door of truth. The Bible is not just a book. It is a communication breathed out by God.

Many people have taught me many things. Men have reproved and corrected me. People have trained me. We need that. People are a doorway but it is the Bible that speaks. The Bible teaches and trains. The Bible reproves and God uses people.

An equipped person must have iron in them and then that iron can be sharpened by another person's iron. Alone anyone can get dull.

Do you have a teacher? Does that teacher empathize conforming outwardly or inward transformation? Is it grace or is it just goodness? Is it do, do and more do or has the work of salvation been done already?

Doing is replaced with a going that invites company.

'We are going to talk about what is done... come with us.'

That is the teacher I want to learn from. That is the man I purpose to be.

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Fellowship In The Gospel

The Gospel is a simple message but it is a deep message. It span the height and breadth of our human experience.

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel," - Colossians 1:1-5 ESV

When the message reaches us it is miraculous. The Apostle Paul was not indifferent to any person who embraced the message. He knew just what it was like to be blinded by God and then have his sight restored. He was blinded in communion and then his vision was restored in fellowship but the Gospel was the center piece of it all.

It is all about Jesus. God reaches past our good or bad behavior because of Jesus. We believe in what Jesus has done and the favor God has for His Son falls on us.

"which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing - as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit." - Colossians 1:6-8 ESV

The message reached them through people. One person in particular is named. Even though the experience is individually unique it is not exclusive. The Gospel is bearing fruit all over the world. The message brings increase. When Jesus is lifted up and His work on the cross is revealed all men are drawn unto Him (see John 12:32).

"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1:9-14 ESV

Paul remembered what it was like to live in the zeal of religion thinking that what he knew was right. He knew what it was like to be blinded but finally see truth and then to have God restore his sight using a person who he would have had nothing to do with months before (see Acts 9:18).

This prayer is such a powerful specific prayer. In order to 'walk worthy' we must have Gospel oriented sight restored. The Bible and fellowship (or body life). The knowledge of His will, wisdom and understanding are all Gospel centered. Fellowship is the outward expression of doctrine. It is where doctrine comes to life.

Paul knew the value of truth and time with other people who had that same inheritance. He saw people veer off into error, emotionalism and isolation and the damage it did.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them." - Hebrews 13:8-9 ESV

Sometimes I pray 'Lord bless this person.' and I'm convicted of the shallowness of my prayer. Do I just want them to be well, happy, safe and prosperous or is it deeper than that? My best times have been ones of illumination. My precious memories involve fellowship. My hallmark moments are the times when God was revealed in greater clarity.

Let's face it. It takes time to pray longer prayers for people. It takes investment for people to grow. It takes teaching for us to walk worthy. We need the light of truth to illuminate our way.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." - John 3:16-21 ESV

Verse sixteen is so simple yet so profound. It is such a short sentence but it is so much larger than we are. We don't just learn it once and walk away. Knowledge, wisdom and understanding are hidden there. Might and power flow from there. Endurance and patience with joy are possible because of the unchanging nature of the message. This seed results in thanksgiving. It is seed that we sow side by side with other people.

"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance... The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." - Proverbs 1:5, 7 ESV

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another..." - 1 John 1:7a ESV

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Fed Daily From The Hand Of Another

"And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him," - Luke 19:47 KJV

"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart," - Acts 2:46 KJV

"Give us day by day our daily bread." - Luke 11:3 KJV

People need to be taught by someone else's voice in order to grow spiritually... and it is needed daily. This is a scripturally supported and promoted truth.

"If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know." - 1 Corinthians 8:2 ESV

Yes. You can say that the primary meaning of this verse involves an understanding of pride but it also has application in freshness... doctrine can get crystallized and brittle in a fallen person's mind... over time because of the plastic nature of memory and the deceitful nature of man we give things a slant they shouldn't have. People don't do it on purpose... not in a conscious way at least... our old man needs to continually justify itself because it has no divine covering of justification.

We might argue that this makes us overly reliant on men. Whatever the downside may seem to be using human rationale the scripture still teaches this and even though men are flawed and not every day may be a teacher or preacher's finest hour... still... by consistently listening to one voice we learn to hear the voice behind the voice. We grow to be discerning hearers.

"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?'
He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.'
He said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'

He said to him a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?'
He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.'
He said to him, 'Tend my sheep.'

He said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?'
Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?'
and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.' " - John 21:15-18 ESV

Feed them because they need to eat daily. They need clean water and good food. It will not be easy. It will require a cross life for the teacher and the listener alike. Not a constant endurance of suffering like some people see the cross, that may be part of it at times, but an exchange of life and personal decisions that are made based on the reality of the finished work.

There are no self-made men. There are people who have been turned aside by a burning bush and then heard the voice of God as they stood there with their shoes off.

I need to stand before a burning bush and listen... not just for a moment or an hour but daily for a season that may just last the rest of my life... looking past the woodenness of their human nature and marveling at the fire that blazes around them.

I didn't write this to condemn anyone or set some standard that people need to strive to meet... it is simply a principle... if we want to grow this is a crucial element.

If you want big muscles eat the right things and go to the gym regularly. If you want big spiritual muscles eat the right things and exercise using what you are hearing.

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I'm not saying the ministry I am apart of is the only place to do it but if you want a place to get doctrine you can go do a search on OpenMBCS (this will work today March 2014 the month of this blog post) and get a daily dose of what has fed me for many years.

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