Fourth Year Ministries

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4) (If you missed Part 1, you can read it here .) The Apostle Paul quoted a verse from Psalm 69 before making his comment in Romans 15:4. When he speaks of whatever was written before he means what we have recorded in the Old Testament. He simply called them the Scriptures. God inspired the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament. Paul said they were written for the instruction of New Testament believers. Through perseverance and encouragement in the Scriptures we can have hope. The Old Testament is not supposed to be ignored by Christians. As we apply this to our task of lifting up the Son, that in and through Christ our Father may be glorified, we encounter a word of caution. It is easy to agree on the surface that the church ought to talk about Jesus. That's a given. But are we aware that not ev...

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." (John 3:14-15) There is a difference between outreach and evangelism. Outreach can take many different forms. It can be service. It can be advertising. Outreach can (and should) contain evangelism. But it doesn't always. Sometimes Christians fall into the trap of preaching ourselves. Preaching our churches. Preaching our favorite doctrines, moral battles, pressing burdens, or our pet programs. To be sure, there is a time and a place for all of that. But Christians must also remember the counsel of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles: For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5) We do not preach ourselves. We preach Christ Jesus as Lord . We present ourselves as servants of others for Jesus' sake. Our service to them c...