THIRTY ONE DAYS OF BIBLE TRUTHS - DAY 17 (J.J.S.E)

BIBLE VERSE: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ( Jesus speaks in Acts 1:8)

TRUTH: J.J.S.E. - JERUSALEM, JUDEA, SAMARIA, END OF THE EARTH.
This is not an exercise in geography from the Lord and Master Himself, Jesus Christ. This is the final command from the Savior as He gets ready to ascend into Heaven, not just to the assembled disciples and followers left gaping up at the amazing sight of the Ascension, but to us for all generations, until He returns. Most Christians in recent decades in the west would rather write a check to some missionary cause or the church than "step out of the boat" and even tell their most trusted neighbor, co-worker or friend about Jesus or how to find true peace, hope and joy that last. We hide our Faith.  

Jesus is calling us to something really simple here. Check this:
"JERUSALEM" - anywhere immediately outside your door: neighbors; the store; office; down the street; the homeless mission; your unsaved family member.
"JUDEA" - your own community (through working with like-minded witnessing Christians); village; town; city or state.
"SAMARIA" - your own country- construction missions to less fortunate states (due to natural disaster or poverty) or your own province or island in Caribbean or Central America where local churches do not have the resources to even fix a leaky roof. But tell the Truth about Jesus and forgiveness with the good works.
"END OF THE EARTH" - overseas missions. This is becoming more and more critical; dangerous and even expensive. Persecution is up, support is down. But the Fruit of Evangelism under that persecution is amazing. Recent stats reveal that almost 84% of the entire world has heard the gospel and/or has a bible in their language! This is bringing us closer to the Return of Christ! Be one of those J.J.S.E Christians!

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A REAL BUCKET LIST

LIST OF BIBLE PRAYER METHODS

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)

A significant number of people in the west (and presumably anywhere) have something called a “bucket list”. The term even made the Webster’s dictionary and literally means “a list of things one wishes to do before dying (or “kick the bucket”). There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of that unless it consumes your thinking, planning, family and walk with Jesus. To tell you the truth, the ultimate bucket list top item is – Eternity with Jesus Christ. That is one thrill that never expires, unlike the passing pleasures of parachuting or parasailing or purple Porches.  Most of our brethren in other lands are unable to seek (and find) that kind of excitement as almost every waking moment is consumed with attempting to breathe and get one step ahead of their persecutors, or even a morsel to eat.While there is nothing wrong with wishing you could drive a fast red Corvette or a scale half the front-range of the Rockies, most people may never get around to that sort of thing. 

What Christ is actually calling His followers/disciples and those who are on life’s journey with Him,  is something more rewarding, permanent, helpful and fruitful that these things. This mission of excellence, peace, joy and contentment can only be found through communication – with our Heavenly Father. The Apostle Paul knew how to live as Christ taught us in the greatest sermon ever given – the Sermon On The Mount.  While we must certainly plan, save and prepare for the future, may we never lose sight of today. Today – now – is where we currently live. As the old saying goes “wherever you go – there you are”.

Philippi was a Roman city founded by Philip – father of Alexander the Great and like most of the ancient world, was full of idolatry and worldly conduct – not unlike the wealthy nations today’s world.  Like everywhere else, the brand new Christian church was under some form of persecution and for the most part, met in private homes. In most of the current persecuted church, meetings to glorify King Jesus and fellowship in His Mighty Name, are still done in homes and basements. The Apostle loved these Philippians and one can feel this love and heart for his (and our) brethren in the opening verses of Philippians 1. The opening greetings are always ignored by most preachers and/or bible readers. However, they tell us a lot about the kind of relationship the God-inspired author has with those, to whom, he writes.

Look at what Paul says here in essence, in love and with a kind heart – even as he writes this Scripture to the brethren in Philippi:
-    I think of you and give thanks to God (verse 3). When we think of others in our families, fellowships and far away countries, our immediate task is to pray for them as the Lord brings them to mind. We pray for them by thanking the Father for their faithfulness to the Gospel and the Truth. We pray for them by thanking the Lord as well for their perseverance and standing strong in the face of fire. We pray for the Father for a special dispensation of Grace, Mercy and Compassion to get through their next few hours, days and weeks ahead.

-     You are always in my prayers (verse 4a). As we pray for all the things mentioned above, we never cease praying …or as Paul says in Thessalonians 5 “pray without ceasing”.

-     I intercede enthusiastically and with great joy (verse 4b). It takes a special man to pray with passion and joy for others while in a Roman prison. Therefore, it should be a special privilege for us, with the freedom to worship and practice Christianity, to press in and lift up someone else with a smile in our eyes and a praise in our hearts.

-   For your fellowship in the Gospel from Day One (verse 5). There is a reason the Lord said in His Word that His people should not neglect the “fellowship of the saints”. In a world, where podcasts, live streaming and just plain laziness have removed the urgency AND necessity of getting dressed to walk into a church building to praise God with fellow believers. Hebrews 10:25 tells us to not forsake “our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near”.

Hebrews 10:25 mentioned “the Day drawing near”. Philippians 1:6 brings the encouragement in anticipation of that “Day”!  Verse 6 gives us the best evidence of fruits of a real “bucket list” – He says “Being confident of this very thing that He Who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the Day of Jesus Christ”. That Day is coming closer with each breath, Within 50 years, each of us will be standing with or before Jesus, either through the natural process of passing from this life to the next, or via the Rapture and Return of Jesus Christ.  

Therefore, draw near to these facts in this REAL "Bucket List":
1. Be full of Faith and fellowship with, because of and having Faith (con- with, fide – faith: confident).
2. This very thing – the certainty of your salvation and maturity into a joyful saint is underwritten by the Precious Blood of Jesus. This is your ironclad guarantee.
3. He (Jesus) started, authored, perfected and executed this amazing divine plan and He never goes back on His Word and His promises. What He says, He does.  We can never lose our salvation unless we never had it to begin with. So rest in this Truth regardless of circumstances and rely on this with supreme confidence.
4. The Author of Life will complete His Master Plan….until He comes. This includes our sanctification built on obedience and submission, buttressed by the discipline of prayer and supplication.
5. Be prepared, because even though certain events have to occur before the Return of Jesus Christ (as noted in Revelation 19:11-16), our Day of Jesus Christ could occur at any time, since no one knows the day or hour when He shall call us home. So then, let us be fully assured of the solid payment forward we have made by investing Biblical truth in the life (or lives) of another and may we always be fully confident of our future home with our Lord and Savior, Who once told us, that He will never leave or forsake us.

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NOT SOME FANCY WORLD LEADER!

PART ONE - THE MODEL OF THE CHIEF SHEPHERD

Whenever a world leader gets ready to travel, the protocols and advance teams  are a thing to behold.  For instance Queen of England travels with massive luggage, four different outfits per day; her press/publicity people; doctors; nurses; special dietary counsel  and  a whole lot more!

Whenever a modern US president travels either to a foreign trip or a fundraiser in Hollywood, the modus operandi is the same – forty limousines; fighter jets; C-130 transport planes; support staff etc etc. Both of these two highest profile world leaders’ travel costs their countries run sometimes into the 10’s of millions of dollars, depending on the length and distance of the travel.

When the Creator of all of this; the Creator of Life; the Creator of the Universe and galaxies outside of our own; the Ancient of Eternal Days….when He decided to come to the earth; coming off the Throne of Heaven, He had no sanitized hospital room; no heated blanket and no doctor or midlife to deliver Him. 

The real Commander in Chief of the Universe, the Lord of Hosts and Heaven’s Armies which cannot be defeated was not born into a religious family; a wealthy family or a famous family. The King of Heaven was not even revealed to the religious leaders of Jerusalem but rejects and outcasts whom those self-righteous priests did not even allow to come into the House of the Lord (the Temple). 

Jesus Christ, the Owner of All those Titles and He Who will overrule and judge kings, presidents, chief justices and all mankind with an iron rod, revealed Himself to create a new paradigm! This paradigm involved outcasts, the Shepherds of Bethlehem becoming under-shepherds to the Chief Shepherd!

(CLICK HERE TO READ THE REVELATION OF THE SHEPHERDS OF BETHLEHEM AS THE FIRST PASTORS).

This could only make sense in the Awesome Mind of God! Why the Shepherds and not the Religious Temple trained Priest? Well, go back to Isaiah 53:  …”All we like sheep have gone astray”.  As smart as we think we are, we are dumb, single minded (with our heads down, instead of looking up) sheep in need of a shepherd. As we see from my previous post on the Shepherds of Bethlehem, these men were a different breed. 

The characteristics of a Judean shepherd were not very flattering.  The corrupt priests in the Temple in Jerusalem actually considered these shepherds dishonest; untrustworthy; unclean and just plain disgusting (and a lot, not all, were not nice people). They had to be kept out of the city, even though they provided all the lambs for the Temple Sacrifice, because of uncleanliness, under the Law of Moses. 

The Lord looked at these shepherds from the Gospels and saw people like you and I – unclean (yes) but with potential. These hardworking shepherds had to be on point 24/7/365. 

Sheep did not take Sunday morning off for coffee and donuts before singing three and out hymns, with an okay sermon and two pastoral prayers. Sheep were constantly getting stuck in the brush; falling down into creeks; getting attacked by wolves; or even stolen from their herds by renegades or robbers. If you look at the description of what these hard-working men had to do, you can almost say things are not much different in the church today!

These were  and are the qualities Jesus, One Third of the Triune God, looks at when choosing an under-shepherd to represent Him - The Chief Shepherd. These are the qualities of a man (and pastors are supposed to be men, in order to obey the Scriptures) who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and get in the trenches to help rescue the flock. In a sense these are the qualities of a man who is supposed to look like the King of All Eternity Who lowered Himself to be born in a dirty cold cave over 2000 years ago.

So what happened....at least in the West, where the Gospel was sent out to first, via Paul, Peter and John? How did the still in force concept of the "Poimenes" of Bethlehem (Shepherd-Pastor) become more celebrity... more CEO of a church... more manager of an uninspiring Sunday morning service which is meeting almost no one's Spiritual needs....more of an insulated form of royalty, not much different from those same priests which the Lord wanted nothing to do with on that cold Shepherd's field.

What happened to cause Chief Shepherd Jesus Christ's own under-shepherds to be viewed in a favorable light by less and less people each year?

NEXT: WHY ONLY 47% OF AMERICANS TRUST THE CLERGY/PASTORATE

DO MOST CHRISTIANS "STINK AT EVANGELISM"?

Controversial (and popular) preacher Mark Driscoll is in another, well controversy! While others (including me) have criticized him for his "potty" mouth in the past, he is one of us Reformed Theology guys and well sought after in speaking circles. So, it is created a stir when the following headline screamed forth from the Christian Post last week after Mark made a video (link here to story): Mark Driscoll: 'Most Christians Stink at Evangelism'

So, "Is Mark Driscoll, the well known pastor/author/national conference speaker, correct? The answer is a resounding YES! The truth is Jesus gave us the Acts 1:8 challenge, just before He ascended into heaven and said: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth".

Let's look at what Jesus said for a second: 

- "You shall have power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you"...the qualifier "when" specifically implies that ONLY when the Spirit of God confirms a person's salvation by abiding in him/her, that the Power of God is placed inside EACH believer for the advancement of the Kingdom with "Dunamis" or dynamic power. This is the word from which we get "dynamite"!

- "You shall be My witnesses" ....the word for witness is the same word from which we get the English word Martyr! Witnesses in the original Greek is "martyres". Jesus is not saying we are all going to be killed or imprisoned for our Faith in Christ, as our brothers and sisters are in islamic countries or China. What He is implying though, is we do have to die to ourselves and walk the Walk that He did, so others will want to follow Him. 

- "...in Jerusalem, in all Judea....to the remotest part (or the ends) of the earth"  This is the one Christians are having some big trouble with - so they ignore it! That's it! The church and its pewsitters simply ignore the Acts 1:8 challenge! Here the LORD, right before He goes back Home to Heaven, lays out the Evangelism Strategy for us before He returns for the Second and Last time.

Here is the Strategy:

*** Jerusalem: Jesus said this from the hills outside Jerusalem where He was crucified and rose from the Grave and ascended into Heaven. Hence Jerusalem for us, is EVERYTHING outside the door of our own homes!

***Judea and Samaria: This was the land of ancient Israel. For us, this is the entire country of the United States or wherever you live - Canada, South Africa (or Russian, Lithuania, the Far East etc according to the demographics of the readers of this blog for the past few years).

***The Ends of the Earth: This is foreign missions. Notice, I did NOT say the missions field, because too many uninformed Christians think they are not part of any missions outside the door of the church, after the service is over at 11:30am....and "that is what we pay missionaries for!!!"

Here is the "Skinny":

- Too many modern church programs are geared mainly towards self-help; overviews of "this or that" book of the Bible or some apologetics class. Hence, the few who show up to these classes or sessions, view them as all they need to so-called "grow" as a Christian. Once they leave the premises to "beat the Baptists to Bob Evans Restaurant", that's all the Jesus they need for the week!

- Too many preachers, from churches of any size, are afraid to preach the True Truth - the Gospel of Repentance; the Coming Wrath and the need for making things Right with God. 

- Too many preachers say all a person has to do be saved is to "Trust" that his/her sins are forgiven and that's it! No Godly sorrow. No Repentance. No confession. No crying out for forgiveness. No understanding of the NEED for a Savior...."all you have to do IS TRUST"! 

Now, Trust is a good thing! It literally means the "full reliability and confidence" in your belief! As far as Salvation is concerned, Trust comes second to what's more important - Repentance! If a person's sins ARE NOT forgiven, they will not be allowed into Heaven, period! You can "Trust" all you want! I will expound more on this, later this week.

- Too many preachers also exhort us to "tell someone" about Jesus or just "tell them Jesus loves them"....and that will get them saved! Has any of this ever gotten anybody truly saved?! Is this even in the Bible?! The answers are NO, no and then, no.

Here is the "Stink":

Mark Driscoll is right - we DO stink at Evangelism! In the over eight years I have been involved in street evangelism, I can count on one hand or maybe two hands, the number of times I have seen either a local pastor and/or his church, doing anything to reach the lost of this city. You can extrapolate this to any city close to you.  There seems to be no passion for the lost; no urgency to see them saved or even help meet their needs on a consistent basis. There may be a food drive or two around Christmas and Thanksgiving, but those are good works, not evangelism. We are supposed to be already doing those things. It is easier for these lazy Christians to write a check for $5, $20 or even $100 and more for someone going to an exotic place abroad (where "they need Jesus") than to do something RIGHT HERE IN TOWN, like volunteer two hours at a soup kitchen or at the Mission with some tracts, seasoned with true love!

More and more, as people get more and more comfortable in their airconditioned sanctuaries and pews, waiting to be served. These same people go to work the next day and return to their routines without fail....with Jesus as an afterthought. Occasionally, if a co-worker dies or gets in an accident or develops a horrible illness, and a churchgoer is identified as a christian, there is a 30% chance that the majority non-believing group at the office or factory will come by and even ask if prayer may help.

Here is the chance to finally address, WITH LOVE, the person's need for the Jesus Who heals - not just body, but soul - but what do most Christians do? They promise to keep that person in their "thoughts and prayers" and then proceed to never pray for them or worse, then call their pastor or somebody else to pray for what they, themselves promised that person! Most non-believers know immediately whether we are the real deal or not! We can't fool the devil nor those who walk in his world.  But we are making him not worry a thing about us because most Christian do not even walk out their faith, far less try to share/live/walk the Gospel of Jesus where they spend most of their waking and energetic offices - where they work.  Beware of this -  others WILL use the guise of sharing a Christ we don't recognize from Scripture, and hence from the Father, via left - wing politics. Be aware of this during the political season - Social Gospel is not about Jesus or getting someone saved to go to Heaven. It is about taking verses from the Sermon on the Mount out of context, in order to promote this or that secular political policy! Also, many non-Christian religions have become more expert at Evangelism than us, because we left the doors wide open for them. More Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses and even moslems are doing more to reach the lost (and make they more lost) while we sit and have potlucks and talk about exegesis and systematic theology or golf!

Here is the Summation:

Since inside the church is the same as the mission field as outside the sanctuary, we can pray to Almighty God that He raises up His Evangelist from the comfortable we live in. The entire  city and region near you and I are becoming more and more lost daily. The field and the opportunity just outside our doors. Let's take it and run with it and make our King proud, that He chose us to represent Him! Amen!

Please Watch This Video! It will fire up all future (and current) evangelists!