"If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free...So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!" (John 8:31-32,36)

Be Bold

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“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask,
and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.”
(John 16:24)

When I was growing up in a Baptist church in Richmond, California, we always had a Bible study and prayer meeting on Wednesday night. When pastoring, I always had a Bible study and prayer time in the same manner. After feasting on the Word, I would name specific things we should pray for and also ask for prayer requests to be shared. We would split up into groups of two or three individuals throughout the sanctuary. That way visitors could be welcomed and everyone could share more personal requests and everyone could pray.

Today, in the vast majority of Protestant churches, prayer meetings have been abandoned. It appears that we are too busy, personally or corporately to take time to pray. What’s it like at your church? Are there good reasons why we should gather for prayer? Here are a few reasons why I think we should.

Jesus Christ has provided our access to God’s Throne of Grace. The writer of Hebrews put it this way:

“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefor draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
(Hebrews 4:15-16)

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A Kind Of Shapeless Idleness

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“And you also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
(John 15:27)

What Jesus said to His disciples in the upper room has applied to every believer regenerated by the Holy Spirit from that day until Jesus returns to take us to be with Him at His second coming. It is my studied conviction that the devolution of American culture can be traced to the apathy and fruitlessness of American believers who have failed to be ambassadors for Christ to our post-Christian culture. We are His witnesses. We have been with Him from our choice by the Triune God before the foundation of the universe to be His witnesses to our time and place in His world.

Statisticians tell us that less than five percent of professing evangelicals have ever sat with a repentant sinner to whom they have witnessed the life-saving good news of Christ’s gospel. Too few have heard in their spirit the singing of angelic beings rejoicing in the conversion of a sinner saved by God’s amazing grace in response to their witnessing on behalf of their Lord.

A gifted writer and attorney said:

“To live our lives and miss that great purpose we were designed to accomplish is truly a sin. It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to teach and so much misery we could alleviate. It seems that ambition and avarice know no boundaries. Yet life goes on with too many living in a kind of shapeless idleness. Recreation becomes the goal in life. Pubs abound, sports are perpetually proliferating, gambling consumes many, and almost any form of entertainment is pursued to fill the void created by a meaningless life. Year after year goes by in unprofitable pursuit. Young and old alike live for things that do not satisfy and ignore the very things that bring fulfillment. We are not criminals or murderers or thieves. Our sin is not so obvious. We live according to the standards of society, drifting along on this world’s ideas of living, oblivious to the consequences.”[1]

That statement was not uttered recently. It was stated in 1797 by William Wilberforce, the Christian, English attorney and graduate of Cambridge University, who died three days before he learned that Parliament would pass the law abolishing from the British Empire the dreaded slavery trade. He knew what it meant to be a witness for his Savior!

The imperative of personal evangelism has been erroneously centered in the professional clergy. From Acts 8, verses 1 through 4, we learn that it was the witness of the laity that turned the world upside down by being “scattered abroad going everywhere preaching the Word.”

The Evangelical Church in America must return to the spiritual purpose, the imperative of personal evangelism. Jesus said, “As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). Until the clergy starts preaching the Whole Counsel of God and the laity starts witnessing the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, the church will be historically noted as the “age of shapeless idleness.” We will indeed be spoken of as the “Laodicean” church of Revelation 3, the lukewarm church deserving to be spit out of the mouth of God’s stated purpose.

To Ponder:

  1. Do you believe that it is your responsibility to be a witness for Jesus Christ to those God has placed in your path of life?
  2. Does your pastor or preacher teach the imperative of personal witnessing on behalf of Christ?
  3. Have you ever knelt with an individual to hear them open their heart to God in repentance and confession, placing their trust in the work of Christ for the salvation of their life?
  4. Are you willing to take another look at the imperative or Christian witnessing?
  5. Will you ask God to place before you people who need Jesus Christ and give you the courage to “say a word for Jesus”?

To Pray:

“Father in Heaven, please forgive me for my failure to be your ambassador to my friends and neighbors…my unsaved loved ones. Please teach me to be an effective witness of your saving grace to others who desperately need you. Please teach me the joy of seeing my life be a light to those in darkness, to those lost and without hope in this dying culture. I ask this for Your glory alone and the praise of your Son’s substitutionary death on my behalf. Please, blessed Spirit of God, cleanse me of my self and use me for the glory of the Kingdom of God.”

“Give me a passion for souls, dear Lord, a passion to save the lost;
O that Thy love were by all adored, and welcomed at any cost.
Though there are dangers untold and stern confronting me in the way,
willingly still would I go, nor turn, but trust Thee for grace each day.
How will this passion for souls be mine? Lord, make Thou the answer clear;
help me to throw out the old life-line to those who are struggling near.
Jesus, I long, I long to be winning men who are lost and constantly sinning;
O may this hour be one of beginning the story of pardon to tell.”[2]

[1] William Wilberforce, Real Christianity (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1973), pp. 71-72.
[2] Herbert G. Tovey, Special Voices, No. 3 (Kansas City: Lillenas Publishing, 1914).

Sick and Angry

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“ Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.”
(Eph. 4:25-27)

Can any right thinking individual not feel sick, when they see our nation devolving in corruption and immorality? Politicians lie to get votes. Businessmen lie and cheat to make deals. Our public educational system is engulfed by secular humanism. The onslaught of Islamic militants appears to succeed in their godless jihad around the world. Our nation seems to be satisfied to forsake its opportunity to provide leadership in the world; and political apathy seems to be a cancer eating at our national foundations. But is the thing that bothers me the most?

It appears to me that the main reason why this nation is crumbling is that the Evangelical Church has surrendered in the spiritual battle and has given the devil, Satan and his minions, free reign to destroy this nation. And I place the blame squarely on the spiritual leadership in the Evangelical Church. Preachers won’t preach against the holocaust of abortion – some of their members have joined the abortion industry that has resulted in the murder of over 60 million of our unborn children. [Read more…]

Unspeakable Joy

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“You too now have sorrow; but I will see you again; and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy away from you. And in that day you will ask Me no question. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name. Until now, you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.”
(John 15:22-24)

It had been a three-year struggle following the Master. In these hours before His arrest, trial, betrayal, and crucifixion, Jesus endeavors to encourage His disciples. They were alone with Him now. It would not be long before He would be taken from them. I wonder if they understood His encouraging words. I wonder if we understand them now.

There are three things that sort of leap out to me, as I read these words. They are stark realities about which we should be enlightened and encouraged.

The reality of sorrow: Whether personally or in relation to those around us, we find ourselves perpetually in a struggle with “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” We see loved ones struggling with health issues, financial setbacks, family dysfunction, and work-related challenges. We ask ourselves, “Will life ever be free from trials and troubles?” Somehow we know the answer is NO. After all, didn’t Jesus say, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Like it or not, from waking in the morning to dropping off to sleep at night, we live in a world of personal, filial, and whole-world experiences that sometimes overwhelm us with sorrow. Christ’s disciples would soon experience this, when they observed their Master hanging on a gibbet on Golgotha. [Read more…]

Let’s Get This Straight

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“For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”
(Psalm 139:13-16)

God ordained and planned your life before He spoke the Universe into existence. He ordained the day of your conception, the day of your birth, and the day of your death. God is the author of life, the sustainer of life, and the consummator of all earthly life by His providence.

Abortion is premeditated murder. Murder is the killing of a human being with intent to kill (malice aforethought). It is condemned by God and worthy of damnation in hell. In our post-Christian culture, the murder of the unborn is subjected to the choice of the mother bearing the child. It is culturally accepted as pre-birth, partial birth, and of post birth, as seen in the damnable practice of removing a child to harvest its organs for sale. Culture willfully accepts abortion as normal solution to an unwanted pregnancy, particularly in cases of rape, incest, or the health of the mother. [Read more…]