Praying for Benin

We all need to be in prayer for the people of West Africa, specifically, Benin. There has been a lot of catastrophic flooding all over the country. Thousands have been left homeless and there food source is scarce. There is government aid that is trying to help, but at the moment it is only reaching about 3% of the affected people. Please be in prayer for the people of Benin and of West Africa. Pray that the pastor's and Christians in the area would be about spreading the Gospel during this tragic time. Pray also about how God could use you to help!
     Here are some articles about these recent events:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Media-Room/News-Stories/2010/Flooding-in-Benin-and-West-Africa-/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/thousands-made-homeless-by-flooding-in-benin-2119109.html

Superhero Night!

    This is going to be a great time! Come out to the youth wing at 6:00pm on Wednesday night November 3rd. Be dressed as a superhero and be prepared to fight the forces of evil!

Judges

     I am reading through Judges right now and it amazes me how the men during this time in history were very misguided. It is almost like they didn't want to step up and confidently follow God. Barak was told by God to go and defeat the Canaanites (Judges 4), but he would not leave unless the prophetess Deborah would go with him. He wanted security in something he could see. He wouldn't trust God's Words unless she went with him into battle.

Jdg 4:8 Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go."
Jdg 4:9 And she said, "I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.

     Ultimately, the victory was given to someone else. Someone that didn't have anything to do with their campaign.

     Then there is Gideon (Judges 6 -7). The Lord tells him to take victory over the Midianites, but he stalls several times before taking action on what God told him to do. After a test where the Lord burns up an offering Gideon makes he says this:

Jdg 6:22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face."

But that still wasn't enough. He goes out and asks God again for re-assurance in Judges 6:36. This is where he lays out the fleece before God and asks for several more signs. 

Jdg 6:36

Then Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said,

Jdg 6:37

behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.

     He was not acting in faith on what God wanted him to accomplish. Even after God humors him and does what he asks over the next few days of tests Gideon is still unsure! God had given him specific instructions about how to defeat the Midianites and even told him he would not be harmed. All of those tests were done and God proved Himself every time. But still he was afraid to do the will of God.

Jdg 7:9 That same night the LORD said to him, "Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.
Jdg 7:10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant."

Judges 7:11 (In the second half of the verse) "Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp."

     Gideon does eventually step up, but it took a long time to get him there! When he trusts in what God said, victory is given over to him and the Israelites.

     How much more could God have used these men if they just had faith that He would do what He says? How much more could God use you if you stepped up to what He is telling you to do? Don't make God drag you through following Him. His will is always accomplished. Are you going to be an effective tool in His hand, or one that constantly falls apart under the pressure of the Lord's work?

     Why is it that so many Christians fall into this same exact situation? I will follow you Lord! All the way to the ends of the earth! Then God says, ok, here is where I want you to go, or this is what I want you to do. Then we back up and say, "Ummm, are you sure about that? Can we talk about this for a few months? Show me a sign that you want me to witness to that person. Give me some specific evidence to back up what you are saying..." How long do you think God puts up with that? We need to rise up and start believing what God says as Truth and start following Him with an attitude of complete obedience. I don't want to miss out on being used by God, how about you?

Clarity 10-6-10 “What’s up with Evangelism?”

Main questions from last week:

What is the purpose of the church? To send people out.

Who’s job is it to evangelize? Every Christian is called to Evangelize.

What is the point of evangelism? To glorify God and lift Him up.

Do I need some kind of specialized training to be able to share my faith? No! Acts 4 (They were uneducated men)

Scripture Reference: John 4:1-38 (Jesus speaking to the woman at the well)

Questions for tonight:

·         What is successful evangelism? Opening your mouth and letting the Gospel out.

·         What do we need to do to be effective for the spreading of the Gospel?

o   To not wait for opportunities to arise, but to create them and be active in bringing it up.

o   To be in the Word of God so that there is a difference to talk about! It is the Word of God that convicts people, not our reasoning. It is the Word of God that is sharper than a two edge sword. We need to know it!

·         What style of evangelism fits you? There are no styles. There is simply the Gospel.

What is successful evangelism?

Was Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well a successful time of evangelism? Why? Is it only successful when the person you are witnessing to comes to Christ? No. It is successful when you are opening your mouth and telling others about Him. If it was our business to make sure people were saved I would not be able to sleep at night! We would have to get our words just right, our sales pitch would have to be perfect! If we screw it up that person is doomed to hell for it. No, this is not the way that God operates. It is our job to be His mouthpiece for evangelism. He uses us to get His message to people, then He uses His Word and His Spirit to draw those people to Himself. We cannot save people. Only God can save people.

What do we need to do to be effective for the spreading of the Gospel?

We can’t wait for opportunities:

How did Jesus approach the woman at the well? He didn’t wait around for her to ask about Him and how she could receive eternal life did He? Nope. We have to look to Jesus as our example in everything, even evangelism. We can’t wait for opportunities to present themselves. We should be active in creating opportunities for the Gospel. The woman at the well didn’t even know the Gospel existed!

How did Jesus bring it up? Did He have a tract? Did He start off with telling her that she was a sinner? He simply asked for a drink and looked for opportunities to bring the Gospel into their conversation. He created the opportunity.

Jesus pointed to her need (John 4:10). She was there for water, but Jesus went even deeper to point to a spiritual need for living water. That is what sparks her interest. (Vs. 11) You don’t have anything to draw with. Where do you get this living water?

Show “Bringing Jesus up in Conversations”

·         What did Bryan say about talking to people about your faith? You can’t just start off by saying, “You are going to Hell!”

·         You have to listen to them, show that you care

·         Then just share with them how Jesus has impacted your life and how He could impact theirs.

What Style of Evangelism Fits You?

What kind of evangelism was it that Jesus used? Relational evangelism. Ever heard the saying, “People won’t care about what you say, until they know you care.”? It is all about relationships. We do not listen to people we don’t know, or don’t respect. Jesus started a conversation with this woman, showed his concern for her needs, then He provided above and beyond what she expected.

Have you ever heard of “Lifestyle Evangelism”? What is it? Just building friendships and when they ask you about the difference in your life you tell them about Christ? We have to realize that lifestyle evangelism is effective… to a point. However, a person’s lifestyle cannot convey the Gospel. They will just think, “Oh, what a nice guy/gal. They sure have a difference in their life.” There are plenty of “good” people out there. There lots of teenagers that do say no to drugs. There are some out there that do not get into the party scene. You can be different and not make a difference if you keep your mouth shut! Our goal should not be only “lifestyle” evangelism, or only some other kind of evangelism. It should be following Christ so closely that even when we are not talking about Him people will ask about the difference in our life. 

Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

            This verse could really be taken as the “Lifestyle evangelism” key verse. But that is why we need the entire Bible in its context to understand how to evangelize. How effective do you think the disciples, or even Jesus would have been if they only focused on lifestyle evangelism? They would have been seen as really nice guys. But if the Word of God never came out of their mouth, they would have not made an impact beyond being nice to people.

            Here is what I really want you to focus on. We are here to plant seeds. It is not always the right time to harvest them. Evangelism is about telling people who God is and how He has changed your life. You can do that just by telling people what God did in your life today. Something as simple as, “Wow, God has just blessed me with a peaceful, joyful heart today.” The more you talk about Him, the easier and less awkward it is to tell people about the Gospel.

The Gospel is the central piece to evangelism. If you are not communicating it, you are not being faithful to what God has called you to. How can we be more effective in accomplishing the great commission? We have to have more purpose behind what we do and say! Guys, is it really effective to just hand someone a tract and walk away? Is it even effective to just walk up to someone and talk them through a tract cold turkey? What part of cold turkey sounds good? We need to show people that we care about them and their needs. We need to be concerned about their lives and get Jesus out in front as the answer to their issues. By following Jesus’ example of evangelism we will be able to have meaningful conversations about what God has done and about how they can join us and be changed as well.

In Review:

·         What is successful evangelism? Opening your mouth and letting the Gospel out.

·         What do we need to do to be effective for the spreading of the Gospel?

o   To not wait for opportunities to arise, but to create them and be active in bringing it up.

o   To be in the Word of God so that there is a difference to talk about! It is the Word of God that convicts people, not our reasoning. It is the Word of God that is sharper than a two edge sword. We need to know it!

·         What style of evangelism fits you? There are no styles. There is simply the Gospel.

“Ignite” 10-3-10 “Who Are You Running From?”

                What do you guys think about this video? Tyler was raised in a Christian home. He lived on the mission field! His parents were following God and telling others about Christ, but their very own son didn’t catch on to the importance of the message. He came back to America and got his “freedom” to do whatever he wanted.

Jhn 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

                Here is the funny thing about our view on freedom; it is completely stuck in the mud. Since we are sinful people, we think that being free to sin is actual freedom. We think that it is freedom to be able to get into drugs, or pornography and not have any consequences. Right? No way! It is a trap. You don’t become free in any way. You get stuck and you are almost forced to continue on that road.

                Have you ever heard of the saying, “Don’t get into a fight with a tar baby?”. Basically, if you punch a tar baby, you get tar all over you. Pretty soon after starting that fight you are so covered up that you cannot escape. That is what sin does. It says, check me out! I look really good and will make you feel so free! But once you start down that road, you will get stuck deeper that you ever wanted to go and find out that you have no escape, but to look to Jesus.

                Tyler didn’t stay into drugs the entire time though. He found a way out by turning to Christ. The freedom he was chasing after turned into a trap and fortunately for him he recognized it. Jesus rescued him from that situation. He probably has some deep scars from that time of running from God, but the important thing is that he is now free.

                True freedom is not about how much sin you can get away with. It is about having the power to stay away from sin. Jesus said that He came to give us life and to give it more abundantly. Think about it. What is easier, to do the right thing and stand up for truth? Or to go with the flow where no one will care? Freedom comes with trusting Christ. Freedom comes when you are not trapped in drugs, or porn, or gossip, or ……

                There is a dangerous thing in this world that not many people know about. They miss it completely, but don’t even realize it. It is almost like we are blinded to it for some reason. It’s called indecision. We think we have forever before we have to serve God. We decide that we can live today for us and, well, maybe tomorrow we will ask God for forgiveness and start living for Him. But I want to have fun now. That is the same trap that Tyler fell into. What did that leave him with? A lot of damaged brain cells, lost time spent in a drug induced stupor, anger and a meaninglessness to his life. What happened when he got out of that and turned to Christ? He found meaning. He had joy. He had purpose. He started to experience life more abundantly.

                The decision to follow God is not something that will happen on its own. It doesn’t matter if your parents are Christians and follow God. It hast to be your own decision. We do not have all the time in the world to make that decision either. When you feel that God is calling you, you better not waste any time! We are not promised tomorrow. We are not even promised tonight.

Judas Iscariot – He knew the truth, he sat with it, talked with it day in and out and still missed it by a long shot. He betrayed it because he never allowed God to really change him. This story did not turn out like Tyler’s. That is the thing. We are not all going to have a good ending.

Jhn 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

                We cannot find life, or meaning, or freedom outside of Christ. Everything else falls away. No one can come to the Father but through Christ. That is why He paid our debt on the cross! We are found righteous in Him if we follow after Jesus. We can have a life of abundance. But it is a choice. What are you running from? A life of freedom and abundance in Christ? Or are you running to meaninglessness outside of God?