Fourth Year Ministries

Let me introduce you to my friend. We’ll call him Al. Al’s a great guy. The type of person who is naturally good at just about everything. Handsome. Athletic. Great at his job. He brings positivity, excitement, and excellence to everything he does. He even professes to be a Christian. By all appearances he takes his faith seriously. He goes to church. Participates regularly in a Bible study at work. He even took a leadership position at his local church. On the surface, Al is a successful guy. He has his stuff together. But that’s only part of the story. This morning, as I was walking away from Al's desk I dropped a casual compliment. "Good luck, Al. I know you'll make this project better. Everything is better when you've worked on it." His response stopped me dead in my tracks. "I wish that were true with my kids. They just seem to be getting worse." I only know a little of Al’s family story. What I do know has me concerned. I know he...

How To Bring Men To Christ by R.A. Torrey was recommended to me recently. I'm glad that it was. A short book and quick read. Even so, it contains a lot of powerful information. Some readers will take issue with some of Torrey's theological positions. However, there is much wisdom that can be gleaned in the main thrust which is bringing people to a saving knowledge of Christ through the use of God's word under the leading of the Holy Spirit. Greatest Strengths 1. Dependence Upon God's Word and Spirit Torrey emphasizes from beginning to end the need for the effective witness to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God's word. Nothing else will be effective in bringing the lost to the living Lord and Savior. The first chapter deals with certain conditions that Torrey believes are necessary for the Christian to be effective in service and witness. The final chapter discusses the controversial topic of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Regardless...

Content is important. But it's not the only thing. Some evangelistic methods are presented as if they are the  perfect witnessing method. Some think memorizing a method and mechanically delivering the content means you have effectively witnessed. Witness throughout the New Testament demonstrates this is not accurate. There is not a cookie-cutter approach that is applied the same way every time. Content is extremely important. Without the right content our witness cannot be effective. Messing with the content of the gospel voids its power. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. (1 Corinthians 1:17) Focusing only  on content fails to recognize that we are not preaching to the air. We are preaching to persons . To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for t...

I am always looking for good resources on the gospel. I've read many books on the topic. I can recommend only a few. A trusted friend and dedicated follower of Christ recently gave me a copy of Walter Chantry's little book Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? which I had the good pleasure of reading this week. Greatest Strength This book is short. Less than one hundred pages. Just by looking at it I would have assumed that it would be unlikely to pack much of a punch. I was wrong. In most cases, a short book on the gospel will be disappointingly shallow. For many studies on a massive topic, brevity is their greatest weakness. For this particular book, I believe the length is perhaps its greatest asset. Chantry ably outlines the problems of modern gospel preaching and evangelism. Although "modern" to him meant in the late 1960's and early 1970's, the problems he outlines are still running wild today. Each problem is diagnosed scripturally an...

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...

Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17) Jesus came to fulfill the Law. Not to abolish, not to discard it, not to do away with it. To fulfill it. Paul understood this. We must also. The Apostle Paul wrote to the saints in Colossae: Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17) The dietary guidelines had a purpose. So did the festivals and Sabbaths. They were a shadow of what is to come. They pointed to the substance which belongs to Christ. These aspects of the Law were given for a purpose. They revealed in shadow what was coming in the future. They were prophetic. In fact, they still are. Christ has fulfilled much of the Law and Prophets in His first coming. Christ was born according...

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Paul's declaration in 2 Corinthians 5:17 is one of the most well-known and oft-quoted verses in Scripture. It speaks of the beautiful truth of salvation. The old things passed away. New things have come. Praise God! Much less quoted are the next verses. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation , namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20, underline added) If you are in Christ, you are a new creature. The old has passed away. The new has come. The "new" includes a...

'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." (Exodus 19:5-6) God declared His purpose in salvation after bringing the sons of Israel out of Egypt. God did this just  prior to giving them the Mosaic covenant. The purpose of salvation does not change from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The New is a continuation of the Old. God declared that He was making a people for Himself to be His own possession. He was making a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. The nation of Israel is foundational in this purpose. Gentiles in the New Covenant are grafted into this same purpose. The use of this language - a kingdom of priests, a holy nation - is used by the Apostles John, Peter, and Paul in addition to the author of Hebrews. A C...

But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." (Exodus 14:13-14) Salvation is wholly a work of God from beginning to end. The fact that you can contribute nothing to your salvation is a stumbling block to non-believers and believers alike. Pride can keep people from humbling themselves before God and receiving the gift of salvation. Those who have received salvation can begin to think they must now add something to what they have received. Both are serious errors. The Apostle Paul used the exodus and wilderness wanderings of the sons of Israel as a picture of God's work of salvation. For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in t...