Beautiful Feet

Many stumbling blocks exist for people coming to Christ.

One of them is the idea that God's grace is unable to save some because they are too sinful.

This stumbling block can exist in the mind of the person being confronted with the gospel. They may believe the words of the preacher couldn't possibly apply to them.

Not with their background. Not if you knew the whole story.

Maybe for others. Not for me.

This is false. God's grace is more amazing than we can fathom. It is the responsibility of Christians to declare the height, breadth, width, and depth of God's redeeming love in Christ. God is both able and willing to save all who will turn to Christ.

Another stumbling block may exist in the mind of the preacher. This occurs when the Christian restricts their preaching from certain people because of their own bias. This is why Jesus taught about the Good Samaritan. God's glorious gospel and offer of salvation should be freely offered to all.

Even those who persecute us. Even people who hate us. Even people we look down on or who make us uncomfortable, angry, or vote differently than we do.

Thanks be to God the Scriptures are clear:

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, 'WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek [Gentile or non-Jew]; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for 'WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.' (Romans 10:9-13)

Who is it that can be saved from the wrath to come according to Scripture? The Scripture tells us that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

What is it that results in righteousness? Believing in your heart that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead.

What results in salvation? Confessing this amazing truth with your mouth. The Word declares that the same Lord is Lord of all, and whoever will call on Him shall not be disappointed.

Hallelujah!

A question for those of us who have believed: How is it that you came to know the truth? Was it by some special revelation? Doubtful. Someone declared the gospel to you so that, by the grace of God, you could turn to Christ and trust fully in Him. You had the opportunity to receive Christ because someone cared enough to tell you.

Scripture continues:

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!'" (Romans 10:14-15)

Jesus has commissioned His followers to go (see Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; and Acts 1:8). If you are a follower of Jesus, you have been sent. Will you obey this commission? Will you proclaim His excellencies and His gospel as you go? Will your feet be considered beautiful?

If you will preach, they will hear. If they hear, they can believe. If they believe, they will confess He is Lord and call on Him. And if they call on Him, they will be saved. This will all be to the praise of God's glorious grace.

Lord, I pray that my feet would be called beautiful by You as I try to be faithful in bringing Your good news to those who are far from You and perishing under Your just and holy wrath. Father, glorify Your Name by redeeming a people to Yourself from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people! For Your Name's sake, amen.

Comments

Smoking Hookah

Q: This week a young Christian talked with me about the practice of smoking Hookah. They attend a church [which] is reaching out to the many Indian and Muslims in the surrounding areas. Their church also have several ministries that support missions in India and Arab countries. As they spoke with me they said that many of their Christian friends are smoking the Hookah. They said that they have been told that certain types of Hookah smoking involve no tobacco but are simply flavored water, other types of Hookah smoking do include tobacco but in a ‘more pure’ form than that of cigarettes that have additives. The Christians that they know of who partake in smoking Hookah do not feel that there is anything sinful in this practice and believe that it is just a part of certain cultures as a way to relax and socialize. Apparently during certain celebrations some of these culture groups get together as a family and include smoking the Hookah together as part of the festivities. These Chris

Prayer vs. Petition

Q: What's the difference between prayer and petition? Phil 4:6 for example. A: An excellent word study question! When attempting to study words from the text it is necessary to analyze the word being studied in the original language (in this case Greek) as attempting to look up the words in English will often produce erroneous results. For example, in English the word petition has within its range of meanings things that are certainly not within the scope of meanings for the Greek word (i.e. “a sheet that is signed to demonstrate agreement with some principle or desire for some social action to be taken” is part of the range of “petition” but not of the Greek deesis from which “petition” is translated). The word most commonly translated as “prayer” in our English Bibles is proseuche , which appears 36 times in the New Testament (NT) in one form or another (for the purposes of this study, we are only examining the usage of these words as nouns – the verbal forms will not be

The Church Isn't A Business

I used to be a salesman. I sold a lot of different stuff. I worked retail. I did door-to-door. In all my various jobs my function was essentially the same. I was the link between company and customer. Successful companies know their customer demographics. Many sales meetings revolve around numbers. Persons are treated as statistics. The customer becomes a set of numbers, preferences, and habits. Really successful companies cater their goods and services to a target demographic. It's all about the consumer experience. I remember when I began in pastoral ministry. People assured me that my experience as a salesman would be beneficial. They said there was a lot of overlap between pastors and salespeople. That may be true in our experience. But is it true of what we read in Scripture? When I open my Bible and read about Christ's church I see a beautiful design that is very different from a business. Night and day different. When Jesus walked the earth He rebuked those who

The "Jesus Loves You" Problem

Q: I've encountered a lot of teaching and Christians who believe that saying, "Jesus loves you!" is a valid form of evangelism. Do you disagree with this? If so, why? It seems like a loving way to reach out and to encourage those who are not believers. A: What a great question! There are certainly a lot of materials and teachings that encourage Christians to use the phrase, "Jesus loves you" as an outreach and evangelistic tool. Much of this teaching that I've encountered emphasizes following the lead of the Holy Spirit. It claims that the Holy Spirit will often lead Christians to say this to non-believers to encourage them and try and lead them to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Fourth Year Ministries does not teach or endorse this as a valid evangelism strategy. That's not because we don't want it to be valid! Truth be told, we would love for this to be a good practice for Christians. It would certainly open some more doors for us. I

10 Things An Evangelist Is Not

You've probably heard the term Evangelist before. Most people have. The term most likely brings something to mind. Sometimes positive. Often negative. Does your idea match what other people think of when they hear the term evangelist? More importantly, do any of these ideas match what the Bible tells us an evangelist is ? The truth is that most of the popular ideas about what an evangelist is and does are based on the culture, not the Bible. This is a problem. The cultural idea of an evangelist is so popular that it is beginning to be used by companies. If you go to popular job sites and put the term evangelist into the search bar you will find many non-church jobs looking for evangelists. Many of these positions include the duties of spreading knowledge about a particular company, product, service, or idea. The Bible tells us that Jesus gave some Evangelists for His church. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as

Fourth Year Ministries

Search This Blog