"Everyone knows someone who needs to hear the truth about the One."

“We are not responsible to God for the souls that are saved, but we are responsible for the Gospel that is preached, and for the way in which we preach it.”

~Charles H. Spurgeon 

"It is irresponsible and unproductive to try to turn someone away from a sinful lifestyle without offering the Christ-centered lifestyle to take its place."

Speak up for Christ

"The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time." 

— Carl F. H. Henry

Last night at worship, we sang as an invitation hymn "There's a Great Day Coming."  If you are not familiar with the song it progresses along the verses by placing adjectives in front of the word "day" to describe the day of Christ's return.  The day is described as "great" and "bright" and finally as a "sad" day.

Judgment will be a sad day for many who will hear the Lord say, "Depart, I never knew you."  How terrible it would be to hear those words on the Day of Judgment.  The knowledge of what was or what might have been will haunt many people throughout eternity.

Perhaps sadder still will be when those condemned perhaps turn to the Christians they knew in this life and say, "You never mentioned Him to me.  In all the times we went to dinner, at all the ballgames we attended, on all our coffee breaks at work you knew this truth and did not share it."  How will Christians respond?  How would you respond?  We won't be 5 minutes into eternity before every Christian that ever lived will wish they had prayed more for the lost, spoken more about Jesus, given more of their time, money and resources to the cause of Christ.

One day everyone will hear the Gospel, but for the majority of people it will be too late.  Let us make the most of our opportunities to speak up for Christ so that others may enjoy the great day that is soon approaching.  If we fail to speak, it maybe that Christ will have a hard time remembering knowing us as well.

What we study and who we are

One fact about me that perhaps many people don't know is that I studied primarily literature in college and not Bible.  The things that we choose to learn about whether formally or informally have a tendency to shape our views on life.  I believe that my background in literature and writing greatly impacts the way in which I think, teach, and preach.

Many men who are preparing to be preachers spend only a small amount of time in learning how to present ideas.  Most ministry students take two or three classes on the actual practice of preaching and spend much of the rest of their education in classes about the Bible text, Biblical languages, church history and church organization.  While it is certainly a benefit to learn Biblical criticism and ancient languages, these studies do not always inform a preacher's ability in the pulpit.  In my experience, it is just as needful to know how to express ideas in a meaningful way as it is to possess the ideas themselves.  One simply cannot be effective without both the knowledge of material and the method of presentation.

Fortunately, a background in literature informs both areas.  Knowledge of the Biblical text is enhanced when one understands the literary devices used by the writers of Scripture.  Also being able to compare the Bible with other literary works is valuable in seeing how human experience is universal and timeless.  In addition to aiding with knowledge, a background in literature also helps in the delivery of information.  Much of preaching is writing whether it be sermon outlines, bulletin articles, or study materials.  Having a more than basic skill level in the use of words is a great benefit to a minister.

I have often wished I had taken more text and language classes while in college, however, my extra time spent in the study of words and how to use them effectively is something I would not change.  Obviously some preachers will be heavy on the knowledge and lighter on the application and vice versa.  Hopefully we can all be used of God to draw more people to the point of a decision regarding relationship with Him.

"Sympathy is no substitute for action."

-David Livingstone

You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you.

You have to go to them sometimes.
-From Winnie the Pooh

"Someone asked will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved?
It is more a question with me whether we — who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not — can be saved." 
-Charles H. Spurgeon



Pray for study

This Thursday, Lord willing, I will be meeting with some Mormons to talk about the Scriptures.  This is my fourth or fifth meeting with LDS missionaries, but only my second with these two guys.  Our first meeting lasted over an hour and they seemed open to discussing some deeper issues.  Most of my encounters with LDS members in the past have led to mutual respect but no lasting results.  For some reason I feel that at least one of these young men may be different.

Please pray that I will have God's Spirit and God's words as I speak to these young men.  Imagine what great missionaries converted LDS members would make?!  We are slowly building up to some important questions and I hope that we will find common ground in the truth of God's word.

Thanks for all you do.

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, "You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages."

To that, Calvert replied, "We died before we came here."

Misplaced dedication

This afternoon I was busy playing around on the Internet listening to sermons and watching, to be honest, Lady GaGa videos.  I put some clothes in the laundry and went back to goofing off.  Perhaps not sinful behavior, but certainly not "redeeming the time."  I took a shower and got dressed to go to a Gospel meeting tonight.  As I left the house to run some errands, I saw them. 
White button downs with black ties and backpacks.  Mormon missionaries. 
They were knocking on the door of a neighboring house that is empty.  I called to them and they walked over.  I explained the house was abandoned and they started their prepared speech.  I explained that I would love to talk with them but I was on my way out.  They asked my name and when I said Will, one of them said, "Will?  Will Norrid?  We know about you."

I studied with some LDS missionaries about a year ago and we had some good discussions, but I didn't know I had a file at headquarters apparently.  I told these new guys that I would enjoy having them in my home and they asked a time to return.  Hopefully good will come of our meeting.

I think about how I had basically wasted (prodigalized) a whole day just wasting time while these two guys were going door-to-door in the mud to share something important to them.  I had been dedicated to wasting time while they were dedicated to teaching something I believe false.  I think both they and I had a case of misplaced dedication: I should have been using my downtime more productively (like studying or reaching out to others) while their dedicated behavior is placed in something beyond what God desires.

It is not enough to merely possess the truth we must act on it and it is not enough to act without the truth.

Preparing for Sundays

The longer I preach the more difficult it gets to prepare for a Sunday.  I would say that most of my preaching friends say the opposite is true: that the more you preach the easier it gets to prepare.  I think I have difficulty preparing these days for several reasons.

• It's been a long time since I heard someone else preach.  When you aren't hearing other people teach and preach you begin to forget how it feels to be in the audience listening to a lesson.  While I read other preachers' sermons and articles, it's not the same as a live church experience.  Also, I am not hearing new ways to present material and that can lead to being stuck in a rut style wise.
• I know more now and it is harder to know what to share and when.  I feel like through reading and prayer I know more about the Bible than I did five or ten years ago.  Just because I know it though doesn't mean I need to share all the details of every theory with the congregation.  I am having to learn that not everyone is wanting deeper study all the time.  I am trying to put most of my deeper teaching into the two Bible classes and making the sermon more general to fit the entire congregation.
• I have preached all my favorite texts more than once.  As much as I want to study the Book of Acts forever, I am having to learn to explore new, unfamiliar texts and topics.  My lessons are usually textual leading to application, but lately I have been trying some topical lessons like "Love for the Christian" and "Why I Preach Baptism."
• I sometimes doubt that my preparation matters.  This one is a hard one for me because sometimes if I prepare too much I can ruin a lesson.  Other times a passage will come to mind and I can go with it relying on past knowledge and common sense application.  It is also difficult (I think for all preachers and teacher) to know if what you are saying is making any impact.  As people leave the building and thank you for the lesson I have noticed they say about the same things whether the lesson was one of your best or not so grand at all.  I am blessed to have a few members who give an honest but kind opinion of my preaching each week.

I hope that gives a little insight into my Sunday preparations...better get back to it!

O, LORD, grant me tenderness in carrying Your message to those who have not heard.  Help me to have a heart that agonizes in prayer for lost souls.  Help me to know that in the praying the work is done.  Help me to comfort, lift up and bind up the wounds of the broken-hearted for Your glory.

Great day!

Yesterday was my first Sunday preaching in over 10 weeks.  It was great to be back in the pulpit and to once again feel like I was able to deliver a positive, thoughtful message.  I have missed being able to convey the thoughts I have been gleaning in private study to an audience.  Everyone seemed encouraged by the three messages.  Now to prepare for next week!

"The mission of the church is missions." 

-Oswald J. Smith

"'Not called!' Did you say?"

'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.'

"Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world."

 — William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

"If the Great Commission is true,

our plans are not too big; they are too small." 

- Pat Morley

The Great Commission, Part 2

We know as believers that we are called to take the message of what Christ has done for us and in us to others, but have we ever considered the reasons why?

Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is to love God with everything you have and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:38-39). If we love God, we will want to take His saving message to others. If we truly love others, we will want them to hear that message as often and as clearly as possible.

"Go ye into all the world..." is not just a message for missionaries and gospel preachers. It could be stated as "Go me into all my world..." My world of school, work or, even yes, church to share the gospel message of good news for sinners. Jesus is calling people to repent, to change their lives, but He uses our mouths to do His ministry. It is much like the old song says, "He has no hands but our hands to do His work today, He has no feet but our feet to lead men to His way..."

If we love God and we love other people, living out the Great Commission should be second nature to us as Christians. We teach people to be followers of Jesus which leads them to repentance and baptism and then we continue to teach them to go out and convert others as well.

What a privilege to be given such a charge! Let's go out and live for the Master by fulfilling His Great Commission.

The Great Commission, Part 1

Perhaps the greatest charge ever given in the pages of sacred Scripture was Christ's message to the apostles (and also likely other disciples) before ascending back into the heavens.

As Matthew records it, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you:and lo, I am with you always even until the end of the age. Amen. (Matt. 28:19-20).

Also recorded in Luke and Mark, as well as in the opening chapter of Acts, Jesus' words speak to the eternal mission of the church as well as to the eternal aim of His Heavenly Father.

The Great Commission is great because it was not a "hatched overnight" plan of Jesus. Rather, as Ephesians 3 shows, it was a divine part of the eternal purpose of God. Peter mentions this element of Christ's purpose in dying on the cross in the first gospel sermon in Acts 2 and notes in 1 Peter 1:19, 20 that Christ was "...truly foreordained before the foundation of the world..." to die, be buried and rise from the dead and that this was and is to be the message of the gospel.

With Christ as the seat of its authority and being a universal mission in scope, the Great Commission is clearly to be lived out in the day-to-day lives of believers. In fact the phrasing is not so much "Go" but rather "As you are going." This opens us as believers to the idea that wherever we find ourselves in life we are truly on the mission field. As we go from work to recreation, family to friends, we are to carry the word of Christ to all.

Check back for more on the Great Commission...