The Fumble

You were nervous. You shifted your weight from one leg to the other as you began to speak.

“Uh, fellows,” you started.

We turned and looked up at you.

“I, uh, I just wanted, uh, to invite . . .”

You were way out of your comfort zone. I had no idea what you might be about to say, but I knew that it had nothing to do with work.

“I just wanted to tell you that, uh, our church is having a service tonight and, uh . . .”

”What?” I couldn’t believe it. “He’s talking church? Out here? With us?”

“I wanted to invite any of you to come along.”

Silence. Screaming silence.

****

Have you been there?

You were uncomfortable and perhaps after your fumbling attempt you thought of what a mess you made of the whole situation. You re-think and analyze what you said and did. You apologize to God for your “failure” at witnessing. You are embarrassed for presenting “church” instead of Jesus.

Wait a minute! God is sovereign and is not hampered by our humanity. God used this man’s apparent failed attempt to invite construction workers to church. Max Lucado was laying pipe that summer and was with the workmen on their lunch break. Five years later, he remembered this man and gave his life over to Christ.

Your efforts may have seemed insignificant or even like they were wasted. God sees the bigger picture, however. You don’t know what God will do. Just be available to Him.

NOTE: The above excerpt is from Max Lucado’s testimony in Chapter Seven of In the Eye of the Storm. Read the entire story online on Google Books.. Search for “Thanks for the Bread” which will take you to the chapter heading.

The Main Object of Life for C. S. Lewis

“I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.” C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Quotes from Tim Keller

We had the privilege of learning from Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Church in Manhattan, as he taught from Luke 10 at a Campus Crusade conference this past July. Tim explained some key elements of the Gospel and how we should carefully communicate God’s message. He encouraged us to go out into the world as Good Messengers and to live in this world as Good Neighbors.

QUOTES:

“Justification means that the only Person in the universe, whose opinion counts, absolutely delights in you.”

“You never are called into a new relationship with God without being radically sent out into the world to live for others. Every Christian man and woman is a man and woman in mission”.

Learn more from Tim in a video interview where he gives insights on urban ministries and also on reaching the poor.

Chuck Swindoll on Defending Our Faith

Chuck Swindoll is my “guest author” today on why we need to share our faith and how to prepare ourselves. The following is a quote from his newsletter:

“Balance is achieved in four areas. Number one: know where you stand. You cannot afford the luxury of being ignorant or ill-informed when it comes to biblical truth and faith. So educate yourself in the common areas that come under attack: the Bible, the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, and the means of salvation.”

Read the full article here.

Does Your Life Reflect Christ?

“Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian.”
- D.L. Moody

Open Their Eyes

“Tell them the good news of Christ from a heart of love and a life of service.” ~ John Piper

I am keeping this post short, again, because I know you will enjoy one of the articles from The Sower’s online newspaper. (The newspaper typically changes near the beginning of the month and has a few articles from other web sites and a story from The Sower’s archives.)

In his sermon, “I’m Sending You To Open Their Eyes,” John Piper explains the New Birth and how God wants to use us to reach people with the Gospel, including good, practical advice:

“I say to you what Jesus said to Paul in Acts 26:18: I send you to open their eyes. Don’t stop because you can’t. Of course you can’t. But the fact that you can’t make electricity or create light never stops you from flipping light switches. The fact that you can’t create fire in cylinders never stops you from turning the car key. The fact that you can’t create cell tissue never stops you from eating your meals. So don’t let the fact that you can’t cause the new birth stop you from telling the gospel. That is how people are born again—through the living and abiding word, the good news of Jesus Christ.” Read the entire sermon.

In Light of Eternity

“Mark was walking home from school one day when the boy ahead of him tripped and dropped his books, two sweaters, a baseball glove, and other odds and ends. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered items. Since they were going the same way, he helped carry some of the stuff.

“As they walked Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved baseball and history, that he was having trouble with his other subjects, and that his girlfriend had just broken up with him.

“They arrived at Bill’s house and spent the afternoon in small talk and some laughs before Mark went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together a few times, then both graduated from junior high. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years.

“Just three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.

“Bill reminded him of the day five years ago when they first met. ‘Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?’ he asked. ‘I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. I’d stored away some of my mom’s sleeping pills, and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent time together talking and laughing, it turned things around for me. You see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more; you saved my life.’

“. . . How many times have we done small acts of kindness on earth without realizing the effects? How many times have we shared Christ with someone we thought didn’t take it to heart, but years later they came to the Lord partly because of the seeds we planted? How many times have we spoken up for unborn children and seen no result, but without our knowledge someone chose not to have an abortion, and a life was saved? How many dishes have been washed and diapers changed and crying children sung to in the middle of the night, when we couldn’t see the impact of the love we showed” How many times have we prayed and not seen an answer, when God was doing something great we won’t ever know about until heaven?

“. . . Those who spend their lives reaching out to Muslims and in other ‘low fruit’ ministries should remember God says, ‘It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful,’ not successful (1 Corinthians 4:2, KJV). Of course, we want to be successful, but we can’t control the results. Those we must leave to God, reminding ourselves that one day we’ll learn of eternal results we never saw on earth.”

From In Light of Eternity by Randy Alcorn, pages 121 – 122

Do I See a Person or a Function?

From Max Lucado’s Facing Your Giants, pages137 -138

“She couldn’t do anything right…

“And I started to grumble. Not out loud, but in my thoughts. What’s the matter with service these days? … I boarded the plane feeling cocky… I took my seat knowing the flight was safe, since heaven knows, I’m essential to the work of God.

“Then I asked for the soda, the pillow… She blew the assignments, and I growled. Do you see what I was doing? Placing myself higher than the airline attendant. … Her job was to serve, and my job was to be served.

“Don’t look at me like that. Haven’t you felt a bit superior to someone? A parking lot attendant. The clerk at the grocery store. The peanut-seller at the game. The employee at the coat check. You’ve done what I did. . .

‘When I looked at the airline attendant, I didn’t see a human being; I saw a necessary commodity…”

[Then the stewardess approached Max Lucado and asked if he was the Christian author. Tears began to form in her eyes. She explained that she had received divorce papers that morning. She asked if he would pray for her.]

“I did. But both God and I knew she was not the only one needing prayer…

“Perhaps you could use a prayer too?

“…Do you still see people? Or do you see only their functions? Do you see people who need you, or do you see people beneath you?

“… Pursue humility. Humility doesn’t mean you think less of yourself but that you think of yourself less.”

You Need Prayer

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” ~ Ephesians 6: 19 – 20 (NIV)

Is someone praying regularly for you to be fearless in presenting the Gospel to the people around you?

I used to have a homemade post card with this verse on the bottom. When I dropped a note to someone that I was praying for them, this passage from Ephesians was essentially asking them to pray for me to be bold in witnessing and to have the right words to say.

Now, I have an e-vangelism team. If I witnessed to someone or knew ahead of time that I would be witnessing, I drop a quick e-mail to this faithful prayer team so they can pray for me and for specific people I’ve written or spoken to.

My prayer for you today is for God to open opportunities for you and for willingness and fearlessness to trust Him with those opportunities.

I also recommend that you read a short article, “Fatal Charades” by Ron Hutchcraft. Mr. Hutchcraft makes a very good point about the importance of speaking, and not just living out, our witness. He then suggests the prayers found in Ephesians 6: 19 – 20 and also in Colossians 4: 3 –4 that “God will open a door for us.”

I look forward to hearing how God works in your life and about the doors He opens for you to explain the Gospel to people you meet.

Heaven

“As human beings, we have a terminal disease called mortality. The current death rate is 100 percent. Unless Christ returns soon, we’re all going to die. We don’t like to think about death; yet, worldwide, 3 people die every second, 180 every minute and nearly 11,000 every hour. If the Bible is right about what happens to us after death, it means that more than 250,000 people every day go either to Heaven or Hell.”

~~~~~~~

This excerpt is from Heaven by David Alcorn (pp. xx – xxi). I actually prefer his shorter work, In Light of Eternity. I haven’t finished reading either book and don’t agree 100% with the author, but I appreciate that he has corrected my thinking about Heaven in several areas. He makes a strong case for the physical reality of Heaven and what it will be like to be there. Heaven has become a much more exciting place in my thinking already.

Mr. Alcorn makes a good observation on page 11 concerning our understanding about Heaven and how it relates to sharing our faith:

“After being forcibly evicted from Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15), the devil became bitter not only toward God, but toward mankind and toward Heaven itself, the place that was no longer his. It must be maddening for him that we’re now entitled to the home he was kicked out of. What better way for the devil and his demons to attack us than to whisper lies about the very place on which God tells us to set our hearts and minds?

“Satan need not convince us that Heaven doesn’t exist. He need only convince us that Heaven is a place of boring, unearthly existence. If we believe that lie, we’ll be robbed of our joy and anticipation, we’ll set our minds on this life and not the next, and we won’t be motivated to share our faith. Why should we share the ‘good news’ that people can spend eternity in a boring, ghostly place that even we’re not looking forward to?”

I recommend learning more about your eternal home! Ask God to help you see the truth where you might have preconceived ideas that are not supported by Scripture.