It’s Summer! More time for street preaching! Jeremiah Cry ministries is having an evangelism conference called, “Go, Stand, Speak: The Forgotten Power of the Public Proclamation of the Gospel”. This will be held August 6-8 in Brooklyn, New York. Here is all the info: http://www.jeremiahcry.com/index.php
Category Archives: Teaching
Whoever Believes Will be Saved
Random Thoughts on Disciple Making
Heard recently via pastors and teachers:
Disciple making= the whole process; bringing people to Christ and helping them grow in Christ.
Teach your disciples to reproduce and make more disciples. The goal: mature disciples that can make disciples.
Disciplemaker Lifestyle: strategically initiating relationships for the purpose of evangelism and nurturing disciplemaking.
You reproduce what you are- at the same spiritual level.
You can’t disciple someone who is not converted.
If you have to chase them down and beg them to come to church, study the Bible, pray or otherwise worship God, they probably are not converted.
Spend your time feeding the sheep that have an appetite. Jesus worked with those who wanted to grow.
Disciple someone who is already doing something and used to working.
Churches are filled with members, but few disciples.
Some church people never intend to grow spiritually.
Disciples desire to, and are willing to do whatever Jesus wants.
Two things disciples must first learn: 1. Deny self. 2. There is a price to following Jesus.
Thank God everyday for the privilege of being His and doing His kingdom work; for being a laborer.
Are we doing what Jesus did?
Bring them in, build them up and boot them out.
Besides teaching and training, God’s people need encouragement.
The Gospel is Everything- Pt.3
..even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forebearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Rom.3:22-26
That which is most important.
In his final talk on Saturday at Legacy (this 7 part video), Washer reviewed “that which is most important”: the heart of the true Gospel, which is Justification and the Atonement.
He stressed that regeneration is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, and went on to teach why the carnal methods and traditions of Decisionism, Easy-Believism, and manipulation are unbiblical and unnecessary. He deconstructed the modern methods of evangelism, even going through all the common verses (John1:12, Rom.10:9, Rev.3:20) used in tracts to get someone to “repeat this prayer after me”, teaching what the verses really mean.
Washer defined and gave examples of true conversion and exhorted the flock to PREACH like Ezekiel, delivering God’s Word to dead bones; understanding and trusting that only God can make them live. We must understand what conversion actually is.
He also mentioned how we must understand what The CHURCH really is. It is not the institution of “Evangelicalism”. It is not beautiful buildings full of people, many of whom are not converted. The church is the Bride of Christ; the sheep, who love and follow Jesus, and go on in sanctification in Him. He finished by encouraging us to go deep into the Gospel and to cultivate a close love relationship with our Lord and Savior.
The Gospel is Everything- Pt.2
He was crushed for our iniquities.. Is.53:4.. The LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief..Is.53:10 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Is.53:11
The LORD was pleased to crush Him.
Washer (in this 6 part Friday devotional video) discussed the imputation of our sin by God onto the sinless Christ who was crushed under the wrath of God, achieving our justification; our being declared righteous in Christ.
He spoke of how churches and ministers in the USA do not understand the Gospel; they are Gospel ignorant. He exhorts them to teach the knowledge of God and the Atonement, for “the Gospel is everything”.
Washer expounded on the event of the cross: the Atonement, with emphasis on the Love of God for men. He spoke of how this Atonement results in NO MORE guilt and condemnation for the justified, and that Jesus, in His great love, was willing, able and glad to take it for us.
This talk ended with a reminder of the beautiful meaning of Abraham and Isaac: how YHWH provided God’s only Son, the Lamb of God, as the sacrifice. “God, my God!, I know that You love me; You have not withheld Your Son, Your only Son from me.”
The Gospel is Everything- Pt.1
I’d like to share with you the three devotional teachings on “The Gospel” that we heard from Paul Washer at Legacy. Here are some notes and the first of five videos for the Thursday devotional (follow the videos through part 5). Highly recommended teaching for anyone in any kind of ministry, especially preaching and evangelism.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor.5:21
The Gospel is not Christianity 101: It is Everything.
He began by speaking of how the Gospel has been compromised, changed and has lost it’s power. The real Gospel is power. He “attempted to begin” to expound on this text regarding how Jesus the sinless Holy One received all the curses, condemnation, shame, rejection and wrath that we, the sons of iniquity, may be set free and given all the spiritual blessings.
At the end of this talk he exhorted leaders not to seek “ministry success” or fame but to only press hard after His presence. “Success in ministry” means nothing. Being known and celebrated in “Christianity” (or the world!) is worthless. The only thing you come to desire is His presence.
Witnessing and the Holy Spirit
Over the last few weeks I was within the hearing of some anointed Gospel street preaching (as well as Bible preaching in church) by men filled with the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no true witnessing or Gospel proclamation. I’m exhibit A of the train wreck that occurs when attempting to witness without the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is so much to this extremely important topic; it is vital to learn it and live it if we are to be useful to God as His vessels. He fills His clay pots with the Holy Spirit. Only then are they used. This gives God all the glory! We know all true believers are indwelt and sealed with the Holy Spirit. I am speaking here of the filling or empowering of the Holy Spirit for fruitful service, which comes by faith, prayer, repentance and obedience. Here are a few quotes from “The Church’s Greatest Need”, by E. Reisinger.
The Holy Spirit is the source of all spiritual witnessing and all spiritual worship; He is also the “Divine Agent of Evangelism”.
The power of the church for her external work will be proportionate with the power which dwells within herself.
Gauge the power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers and you may fairly judge their influence upon unbelievers.
We ourselves, must first drink of the living water before the rivers of living water will flow out to the unconverted.
Without the Spirit there will be no conviction. Without the Spirit there will be no conversions. Without the Spirit there will be no Spiritual growth. Without the Spirit all preaching and witnessing is in vain.
The Holy Spirit at Pentecost produced powerful evangelistic preaching.
The answer is Spirit-breathed, Christ-centered, Bible preaching in the power and unction (anointing) of the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit can bring conviction.
..if He does not so work we should search ourselves to see what it is that hinders, and whether there may not be somewhat in ourselves which vexes Him, so that He restrains His sacred energy and does not work among us as He did before. (He is referring to repentance.)
No acceptable action of the Christian life can be performed without the Holy Spirit.
The Bible makes two things very, very clear in connection with the fulness and power of the Spirit. First, prayer (Luke 11:13). Secondly, obedience (Acts 5:32).
The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods but through men. He does not anoint plans but men.
Knowledge comes by studying. Power comes by prayer and fasting.
Everything that grieves the Spirit must be put away. (He is again referring to repentance of sins.)
We will not have the power of the Holy Spirit without importunate earnest prayer (Acts 1:14 preceded Acts 2; Luke 11:9-13).
You might also like to see the post, The Power of the Holy Spirit, and listen to The Holy Spirit is the Witness, by Joseph LoSardo.
Our Prophetic Calling
There are some that think that only certain special (elite?) Christians are “anointed”. They call themselves “prophets”. These claim to have subjective, personal, authoritative “prophecies” and “words from God”. Unfortunately, many of these “prophecies” are fake and unbiblical. Does this negate true prophecy in our time?
Bob DeWaay’s Critical Issues Commentary is a newsletter of theological essays addressing unbiblical teachings and movements in the church. One issue I appreciate is The Prophetic Calling of Every Believer from July/August 2006.
In this article, DeWaay explains that under the New Covenant, every believer has the Holy Spirit and may prophesy. He teaches that prophesy is speaking the actual written Word of God, declaring Truth from scripture and proclaiming the terms of the gospel, as well as valid implications and applications of authoritative scripture. He says that every believer who accurately (biblically) proclaims the terms of the gospel, or any Biblical truth, is prophesying with the full authority of God:
“The Reformation view was that prophecy was the teaching of the Word and proclamation of the terms of the gospel. Since every believer has the Holy Spirit, every believer….can authoritatively declare the terms of entrance into the kingdom. All are anointed and all have the authoritative teachings of Christ and His apostles. Therefore they may prophesy.”
He goes on to teach that all prophesy can and must be judged by other believers regarding whether it is biblical or not, and why this judging is so important.
One function of prophesy, he teaches, is for believers to be edified, as we see in 1 Cor.14:31: For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted.
Another theme in the article is that the proclamation of the gospel to the lost is prophesy in its most important form, since it testifies about the person and work of Jesus Christ. DeWaay writes:
“Let me illustrate. If I say to someone, “According to the Law of God, everyone is a sinner and stands condemned as a law-breaker. The penalty for all law-breakers is eternity in hell. Since you, like everyone else, have broken God’s law, you stand condemned. God is perfectly just and cannot lie. God said that the soul that sins must die. But God is also loving and merciful. So God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, came into human history through the virgin birth, lived a sinless life, and shed His blood on the cross to avert God’s wrath against sin, and was bodily raised from the dead and appeared to many witnesses. If you repent of living for self, trusting self, and spurning God’s Word and put your faith in Jesus Christ, you will be saved. But if you neglect God’s offer of salvation through the finished work of Christ, you will face God’s wrath in eternity and there will be no escape.” –- I have truly prophesied in a most powerful and true way. Those words are not inspired Scripture, but they are valid implications from Scripture. They have the authority of God not because I uttered them, but because they correctly describe the certainty of the consequences of either faith or unbelief. When they are applied to a given sinner, they constitute a valid and authoritative application.”
“True prophesy comforts and strengthens faithful believers, warns straying believers, and convicts the lost of their sinful condition.”
If you are in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit. You are anointed. You may boldly declare the truth of scripture and proclaim the gospel. As His disciple, you have the authority, power and calling to prophesy.
When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me. John15:26
you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses…Acts1:8
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Rev19:10
God’s Power vs. Man’s Decision
Here’s more excellent teaching on the subject of biblical evangelism. Paul Washer at the DEEPER conference 2008 on “Regeneration vs. Decisionism”
Washer goes over modern evangelism standards such as ‘pray The Prayer’, ‘accept Christ’, ‘ask Jesus into your heart’, ‘make a decision for Christ’, and ‘raise your hand’, etc., and exhorts us to continue to faithfully preach the gospel, trusting in the power of God alone to save the lost.
Need encouragement for witnessing today? Then you must listen to this Christ exalting message about the POWER OF GOD in the gospel.
Communicating the Gospel
I think this is my current favorite Paul Washer message about the Gospel. Right on and to the point regarding communicating the gospel. Really good stuff. Here’s a few quotes.
“There’s no such thing as a motivational speaker in Jesus name. Either be a preacher or be nothing.”
“Men are changed through the communication of truth- not methodologies.”
Audio: The Gospel of our Salvation, Page 3 from Journey into the Gospel.
Witnessing Encouragement 