Evangelism for Today: Physical Aid

Sometimes this form of the gospel goes by its more known name, "the social gospel." I figured I would try and title it as specifically as I could, because the social gospel comes packaged in many ways. Many adhere to this today, and rightly so, or so it seems. With the founding of the internet by Al Gore and the mass media that is available at our every turn, Christians can now see how badly we are being beaten in regards to loving our neighbor compared to our non-Christian competition for souls. Because of this noticeable lack of physical love for the world, many people are converting to the social gospel in trying to live out the biblical mandate to love our neighbors.

To know what I am talking about one only has to look around to see what local congregations and people are doing. It could be in the form of feeding the homeless, serving at soup kitchens, tutoring for free, supporting ministries like Living Water International or World Vision, etc. When one reads these things the first thing that will come is "What is wrong with any of these things?" The answer is, "nothing." But, I do believe that there is some positives and actually some negatives about the social gospel.

The Positives

This almost seems retarded to have to state the positives, but to be honest, there are a lot of people that call themselves Christians who never do any of these things. Instead, they hand out tracts and scream through bullhorns letting the starving people listening to them know that they are headed to hell. The problem is that if the dude yelling like an auctioneer for Satan's hellhouse doesn't feed the people in front of them, the people listening might die before they have the chance to repent.

The positive aspects of the social gospel is it does try and serve those people around them for what they need physically. So, if it is school supplies for their kids, the church buys them. If it is food to feed their families, the church supplies food. If it is new coats, then a trip to Burlington Coat Factory it is. This is good to do. It actually lives up to the billing we see in Christ's ministry as Christ continually supplied the needs of those who followed him around. He fed the 5000...twice and he healed many people. Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as we do ourselves, James and John (James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17) both tell us that if we see a brother in need and do not help them we do not have the love of God abiding in us.

The social gospel definitely allows people to see our good works to glorify our God and it is easy for the secular world to see our good works if they are providing for the physical needs of those around us. The social gospel shows those people around us that we, in actuality, care about them specifically and desire their well being and see that they are truly image bearers of God. These aren't all the good things associated with the social gospel but these hit most of the high points.

The Negative Aspects

The negative aspects of the social gospel is if it comes packaged only in the ways we see above. If the gospel is never preached, never entered into the conversation, then it is not evangelism, it is only part of evangelism. Now, there will be times we just help people for the sake of helping them. But, if that is all we ever do, aid people physically, we are not being faithful to the Christ who bought us. When Christ fed the 5000 (really around 15000), it was after he was done preaching and teaching to them. Most of the time that Christ healed people it was in the midst of him teaching and preaching salvation to them. This is the whole of Christ's ministry. He both aided physically and preached to them spiritually. This is how you love someone like yourself, if you are a Christian. Love is not merely physical.

If the social gospel is your sole way of sharing the gospel, you have to ask yourself, "What makes you different than Gandhi?" "What makes you different than any other non-Christian who shows compassion to his fellow man?" Without the Gospel, the answer is nothing. If you only aid people physically and never tell them of the glory of Christ and that the provision is not from your hands, but His, then you have missed the point of helping people physically. What good is it to keep a man from dying in this life and allowing him to die in the next? This life is temporary, but the life to come is eternal. So, you might say that you are doing the work of Christ, but without the Word being made manifest to the people through words, you are just a philanthropist, not an evangelist.

I hate to say it but you might be one of the ones that Christ mentions in Matthew 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Matthew 7:21-23

Notice the focus in this passage is what the person says they did, not what Christ did. The very next thing mentioned in Matthew is the parable of the house built on the rock. The question has to come, "Is your evangelism built on Jesus, or merely social action?" Another way to ask this is, "Would those you are helping know that you are a Christian and the gospel message or could they mistake you for just another person helping them for the sake of karma?" If you continually help people without telling them the gospel message, you are not evangelizing.

The absence of the name of Christ and the proclamation of His Gospel to those who are perishing is a very grave sin indeed. But, so it proclaiming the gospel to those who are starving without providing them with the bread that fills their stomachs.

As we see the work of Christ and his apostles, we must marry both physical and spiritual aid together to truly help those who are perishing physically and spiritually.

Is the social gospel totally wrong? No. But it is missing the central reason to do it: The message of the glory of Jesus Christ.

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I Think My Wife's a Calvinist

This is hilarious. Thanks to Ted Kluck for pointing me to Taylor's Blog.
I love when he sings, "She made me burn my NIV study Bible" and "She loves Spurgeon more than she love me"

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Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

This book comes out well before Easter to make sure that you are able to buy it, study it and then teach its truths to others as Easter comes about. The book is laid out to have 25 short teachings and thoughts on the cross of Christ. It has most theologians that you can think of in the Reformed and Calvinistic circles and then also includes at least one I know that wasn't a Calvinist (Adrian Rogers). Most of the chapters are about 3 to 4 pages which include many different angles to look at the cross. The topics range from Christ's humility in Gethsemane, silence among his accusers, our sin putting him on the cross, propitiation, forsaken by God, etc. I am not going to list every theologian and every topic, but I will say that this book is a very good one to help someone as they study further on the cross of Christ. This book is a book of quotable thoughts for any pastor.

Some of my favorites were Martin Luther, C.J. Mahaney, Tim Keller, Adrian Rogers and Augustine. Martin Luther is first up in the book, and in my opinion, it didn't get any better than Luther. I really enjoyed his chapter and found myself continually reading because of his start of the understanding of the "True Contemplation of the Cross." Here is an excerpt from Luther's chapter:

Take this to heart and doubt not that you are the one who killed Christ. Your sins certainly did, and when you see the nails driven through his hands, be sure that you are pounding, and when the thorns pierce his brow, know that they are your evil thoughts. Consider that if one thorn pierced Christ you deserve one hundred thousand.

The whole value of the meditation of the suffering of Christ lies in this, that man should come to the knowledge of himself and sink and tremble. If you are so hardened that you do not tremble, then you have reason to tremble. Pray to God that he may soften your heart and make fruitful your meditation upon the suffering of Christ, for we ourselves are incapable of proper reflection unless God instills it.

But if one does meditate rightly on the suffering of Christ for a day, an hour, or even a quarter of an hour, this we may confidently say is better than a whole year of fasting, days of psalm singing, yes, than even one hundred masses, because this reflection changes the whole man and makes him new…

Martin Luther, p. 12 (taken from Martin Luther's Easter Book)

Although there were some that stood out, there were also some where I couldn't wait to read and they seemed to fall a little flat. Not only tha, there were some that were just plain bizarre where I will either need to study further or just glaze over for the sake of the other chapters. The odd ones were John MacArthur's take on Christ's forgiveness on the cross. He believes that Christ was only asking for the forgiveness of those who would end up believing in Him and not everyone that was at the cross crucifying him. I believe he ends up making his theology read into this part of Scripture a little too much. The other two that I will have to study a little further were J.I. Packer's on Christ descending to hell and also Joseph "Skip" Ryan's chapter on Christ being thirsty. He takes this to mean that Christ was spiritually thirsty and not physically. My first take is that he is trying to stretch this text further than it allows.

Even with these three, the other 22 chapters far outweigh them to keep me from recommending this book. I would recommend this to any who would like a good understanding of the cross from a wide set of generations, convictions and theologians. Just know, that it doesn't get better than Luther's chapter, but that doesn't mean the rest of the book gets "worse." Highly Recommended
Buy the book:

Crossway

Westminster Books

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Legalists Love to Act Like God by Making Rules

“Legalists love to act like God by making rules. Legalists love rules about the rules. Legalists love rules about who gets to make the rules about the rules. Legalists love rules about who gets to enforce the rules made by the people whom the rules appointed to make the rules about the rules. Legalists really love rules about who gets to interpret the rules that rule. Legalists get perfectly euphoric when they get to enact the rules by punishing people who break the rules as interpreted by those appointed by the rules. In the end, legalsts want to rule through rules and wield their rules like weapons to divide the church body into bloddied parts.” (Mark Driscoll, Vintage Church pp. 143-144)

HT: Irish Calvinist aka erik raymond

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Acts 29 Showing Humility...Again

Being that it is Saturday, I am stealing stuff. I have jacked this from Scott Thomas on his response to more criticism of Driscoll and Mars Hill. It is interesting that the one who is showing the most humility through this are the very ones being criticized and condemned. This post was further instruction for me on how I should respond to criticism and attacks. Have a great weekend. For the original article, click here.

Let's Move On!
by Pastor Scott Thomas, Director of Acts 29 Network

I am deeply honored to serve as Director of Acts 29 Network and as a pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I am witnessing God's blessings on both organizations in a way that I have never experienced and that few people get to witness in their lifetimes. Acts 29 just completed a Boot Camp in Raleigh NC last week where we united with the esteemed author and professor Dr. Wayne Grudem, Southern Baptist Seminary President (SEBTS) Dr. Danny Akin and SEBTS professor and author Dr. Andreas Kostenberger. These men served alongside the other Acts 29 pastors who presented the gospel as strong as any place I have been. Sin and fallenness were acknowledged repeatedly, the grace of Jesus was brightly illuminated and the message of Redemption through the blood of Jesus was consistently presented.

I saw Wayne Grudem set aside his academic brilliance and respond to the Holy Spirit's leading to shepherd a pastor through an issue. Unexpected. I saw speakers humble themselves under the grace of Jesus and admit that we are blessed to proclaim His Word as dying men to dying people. I am proud of Tyler Jones, Ed Marcelle, Daniel Montgomery, Jason Roberts, John Fooshee, Justin Anderson, Chris Atwell, Elliot Grudem, Jamie Munson, Taylor Roberts, Kevin Marshall and the 30 other Acts 29 pastors who came to serve sacrificially to help men to plant and thrive on the front lines known as church planting. I saw Mark Driscoll gave a final address to us envisioning our movement reaching 300,000 people in the next 7 years. You can download it here.

I saw men pray for one another, hug one another, counsel with one another, assess one another and love one another.

And then I saw the article from the official denominational press. Sad. (I refuse to reengage your mind with a link to their site).

I have had dealings with the editors of this publication in the past. I have challenged them to report news and not biased opinions. I have challenged them to do proper research BEFORE sniping another organization that loves Jesus, believes in the inerrant Word of God and is seeking to evangelize the lost for the glory of God. I have given them my cell phone number and asked them to contact me with any issues, questions or problems because we have many of our Acts 29 pastors who are affiliated with this denomination. My phone is silent, but their vulgar reporting skills are not.

Many people have commented to them and about them and I have a list of over 20 blogs that have criticized their "sloppy journalism," as one noted author put it. But, I am calling for all of us to ignore the innocuous criticisms and get back on the front lines of presenting the gospel faithfully to those who are desperately in need of redemption. The sniping of one publication has hindered our focus on the real enemy: Sin, Satan and the effects of a fallen humanity.

A movement does not stop to address every critic. It moves on in spite of critics and in expectation of critics. I'm bored with it all and my neighbor needs Jesus.

Let's move on.

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Mark Driscoll on CNN

Mark did what he could with the time he had with D.L. I hope that he had some off camera time with him to really speak to him. The best thing that could actually come out of this would be if D.L. started to listen to Driscoll's sermons. The reason I say this is because Driscoll didn't get that much time to speak about Christ with D.L. I also am tired of Ingrid over at Slice of Skubalon. She seriously needs to put a cork in it. She is a liar and one that spreads a lot of hatred. Dave has a good challenge to her.

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Rick Warren on Criticism

There are many things that I do not agree with in regards to Rick Warren, but I believe that he hits how to respond to criticism on the head. This comes from Driscoll's book, "Vintage Church" and I found this to be quite helpful and insightful. The following is advice from Warren on what someone should do when facing criticism:

1. Turn your critics into coaches by hearing what they are saying and humbly considering if there is any truth to their criticism.

2. Never engage the critics on their terms because it only escalates the conflict and is not productive.

3. Be very careful about firing off emails or leaving voicemails and responding out of anger in a way that you will later regret.

4. Shout louder than your critics to define yourself, and do not allow them to define you.

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Where is Joaquin Phoenix?

I am putting up this video, because it is funny. That is all. Now glorify God by watching something seriously hilarious.

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How to Argue Like Jesus

This book was the first one that I have read from Crossway since being given the chance to review books for them on a regular basis. I asked for this book because of the title. I was a little skeptical on what in the world the writers were trying to convey with the title. What I found as I started to read is that the main title, "How to Argue Like Jesus" was a little misleading and the subtitle, "Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator" was a more appropriate title for the whole of the book. But, the title did its job, because I wanted to read it. I know I am not the only one who felt this way as Frank Turk described this same frustration.

The book is co-authored by a blogger, Joe Carter which gives us all hope of someday taking our writing to the real world. After getting passed the title and understanding what the book was actually about, which was communication and persuasion, I found the book to be very well done and one that I will have to re-read in the future and use as a reference to make my sermons and teachings more on point of how Christ communicated his eternal truth.

The book is set up to really show you how to communicate effectively and then drawing from the Scriptures to show you specifically how Christ used the same techniques that were put forth in writing by Aristotle. Not only did the authors show forth Christ's words but they also drew from historical events to show the speeches, etc. to bring their points home. In other words, even in writing this book the authors used the techniques presented to display the effectiveness to the reader.

The book from the very beginning shows one the basics of logic and how to employ logic in ones presentation for ideas, whether pastor, businessman or soccer coach. This book is really widespread and for that I allow the small errors in theology to go unmentioned.

The book goes from the basics in communication to the importance of the communicator and his/her life and how they engage their audience. Again, very good practical advice that will aid anyone who communicates to do in a better style. Not only does the book span the normal ideas of persuasion, but at the end of the book they present those qualities of communication that was unique to Christ that we should also take note of. Some of these were (these are only explained in half pages so that is why there is so many):

1. Always employ some sort of good news, even when reporting wholly bad news
2. Start with your audience's needs
3. Start with examples your audience will understand
4. Speak your audience's "language"
5. Never speak about your speech
6. Use Witness
7. Communicate with confidence
8. Get it right
9. Do not boast; act with humility
10. Know when to speak and when to be silent
11. Be enigmatic
12. Listen
13. Ask Questions
14. Just ask (for what you want)
15. When appropriate, stand up to authority
16. Don't bend core principles or standards to gather disciples
17. Create a sense of urgency
18. Remember that a prophet is without honor in his hometown
19. Praise those who do well; express disappointment in those who disappoint you
20. Don't Fear Division
21. Don't Cast your pearls before swine
22. Words Matter

Overall, the last part of the book and the beginning, with logical analysis of Christ's words, were my favorite. The only downfall of the book is that sometimes it seems too mechanic. This is what will happen when trying to convey Jesus as something other than our Saviour. This book is focused on communication, so very little, if anything, is presented about his true mission, which was to save sinners. Because of this, some parts of the book made it sound as though if you do "A" then "B" will happen. Which we know of many pastors who labor long, communicate well, and still have very little in the way of converts or numbers in the congregation. I know that the authors try to convey this at the beginning in one or two sentences but it is hard to shake as you read throughout the book. But, through all this, it does show how complex, and on point, even Christ's words were apart from the work of the Spirit. Just Christ's mere language and communication was nothing short of brilliant, but as we know, and the authors know, we can't stop there with Christ.

I would recommend this highly to any who would like to communicate better to their audience whatever their profession or ministry. I very much liked the book, now it will be about going back for further study on the methods of communication that they put forth. Highly Recommended

Links to Buy:

Crossway

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God Gave Wine

I first read the review of this book over at Bob Hayton's blog and really enjoyed the review and the seemingly thoroughness that Gentry seemed to put forth in the discussion. Because of that Bob and I did a book swap (he received The Reason for God from me) and what I found is exactly what I was hoping.

Kenneth Gentry is a Presbyterian, theonomist and preterist. So, while I don't agree with all his theological convictions, I was still interested in his understanding of this sometimes sensitive topic among Christians. While he doesn't drink anymore because of a medical condition, when he was able to, he only drank about 4 to 5 glasses of wine per year. The reason I say this is that Gentry's book is not put forth for him to be able to continue in a habit that wasn't breakable. This book is simply to show what the Scriptures say about wine and strong drink.

If I were to ask Dr. Gentry to outline the book how I would have desired, I don't think I would have any changes in how he specifically lays this book out. It is exactly what I was looking for.

The chapters are as follows:

1. Introductory Matters

Here, Gentry simply lays out the three main convictions on Alcohol: prohibitionists, abstentionists and the moderationist. He also tells a little about the three authors that he will be refuting throughout the rest of the book as they have been the ones to most loudly try and refute the biblical understanding of drinking and the Bible.

2. The Bible and Alcohol Abuse

Gentry makes sure, in this chapter, that he speaks out against alcoholism and drunkenness. He lays this out so that no one confuses the moderationist as one who condones drinking without regard.

3. The Old Testament and Alcohol Use

This chapter is exactly as the heading alludes to. Gentry goes through the three different terms that are used for alcohol in the OT: yayin, shekar, tirosh and 'asis. He shows how each of these are alcoholic and that none of them simply mean grape juice or some watered down wine.

4. The New Testament and Alcohol Use

This chapter flows directly from the previous one. Here Gentry speaks on the verses that use the two terms for wine in the Greek: oinos and gleukos. He then goes into showing that the Lord's Supper used alcoholic wine, that Jesus drank wine and that Paul and apostles never allude to the prohibition against wine. He spends some time on the miracle of Cana and dispels any myths regarding the "old wine" vs "new wine."

5. Alleged Negative Passages

Gentry takes head on the passages that might seem at first glance to be in the negative, but in fact are far from it. The passages that Gentry spends time on are Leviticus 10:8-11; Numbers 6:2-6; Judges 13:4; Proverbs 20:1; 21:17; 23:31-32; Isaiah 5:21-22; Jeremiah 35:6; Hosea 7:5. He takes each one of these and makes sure the reader sees the context and points to the overall understanding of them. Very good chapter.

6. Bible Teaching on Christian Liberty

After one is done reading the previous 5 chapters, one could still appeal to the fact that it isn't whether or not we can drink alcohol, but should we drink because of our culture and weaker brother. Gentry spends much of this chapter in Romans 14 breaking down the understanding of this passage and also Pauline theology of weaker brothers elsewhere. He also draws from the fact of Christ drinking and the apostles drinking for further reason why total abstention isn't the answer to this.

7. Common Objections Considered

The objections after all else is said, have almost been answered already. Here he handles the objection of the following:

The Potential Alcoholic
How Much is Too Much?
Alcohol and Health
Alcohol and the Christian Witness
Thinning Wine with Water (he destroys this notion and makes it almost laughable from a Scriptural standpoint)

Overall this book is very well done. Gentry takes the reader to almost, if not every verse that deals with wine and strong drink in the Bible. The conclusion one should come to after the reading and understanding of the Hebrew, Greek and context should be that the Christian is not to be held to a prohibition of alcohol. I personally know of some who have decided to abstain for their own reasons and that is their conviction and one that they hold for themselves and not others. But, to preach against alcohol and plead with Scripture for proof, one will come away looking quite silly. I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone wanting to know what the Bible says about alcohol and how it was used in the Scriptures. Highly Recommended

Buy from Kenneth Gentry's Site

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Evangelism for Today: Tract Bombing?

Here is yet another popular method used today in evangelism, which is tract bombing. What happens is that you choose a place to go, hand out a bunch of tracts to people, put them on park benches, next to a toilet, in condemn dispensers or in the hands of unsuspecting passer-byers. Boom...tract bombing at its best. Like most forms of evangelism, tracts have their positive and negative effects. I have used them in the past and still have some sitting in the corner of my office awaiting their next victim.

The question has to be, What place do tracts have in evangelism? Do they have a place? Are they outdated? Let's take a quick look at some positive aspects of tracts and then also some negative aspects.

Positive Aspects

The positive aspect of a tract, if it is well done, is that it presents the gospel in a compact format. In the age of visual and audio learning and entertainment, reading is lame and laborious for most. So, when trying to convey in written form what the Scriptures say about sin, Christ and salvation, it is very difficult to persuade someone to read a leather bound 1000 page book written 2000 years ago. We call it the word of God and it means much to us, but to the person making their way to Starbucks, trying to overpay for .25 cent coffee, all while drinking themselves to hell, the Bible doesn't look all that enjoyable to read.

So, a well done tract can get done in a few pages what would take a lot of reading and studying and page turning for a normal Bible study. Now, I am not saying that using the Bible is wrong or laborious, but it can seem that way for the person who doesn't know Jesus.

Tracts can also be a very good way to leave someone something to read after a good discussion on the Gospel. It can really enhance the discussion that you had with them and also can open up further discussion for later conversations. Again, this is all dependant on the tract, because there are terrible tracts out there that will only serve as comedic relief.

Negative Aspects

The negative aspects of tracts are usually how they are dispersed by the person. If we are speaking of only those tracts that are done well and present the gospel clearly, then we can move on to why "good" tracts still have negative aspects. The reason that they have these negative aspects are because of how people use them. Tracts should not be used to hand out like porn in Vegas. If you have ever been to Vegas the immigrant workers slap little porn flyers on their legs and hand the flyer to "innocent" men who don't know any better. This is almost how I have seen some people with tracts. They are just annoying people on the corner trying to sell Jesus to anyone who has a hand to take the tract.

Most people are just annoyed with this fact and end up throwing the tract away or using it as kindling later. Some will say, "well some might read it and be saved!" If that is the case, then why not just throw them away and hope that the garbage man pulls one out and reads it instead of the porn magazine that he found laying beside it? We don't evangelize for the mere fact that someone "might" turn and be saved. We have to ask ourselves, "what is the most effective way for me to share the gospel with someone?" If handing out tracts on the street corner or placing one next to the toilet in a public bathroom was the best way, then why don't major corporations figure this out and do the same? Instead the only people who do this are those businesses where the guy wears the sandwich sign showing they are going out of business. Handing out tracts on the corner is a sign of us giving up. Of Jesus going out of business. Of us being so desperate that we have no friends or those close to us to share the gospel with. Because our churches are not filled with sinners looking for Christ, we have to go and sell our "crap" on the street corner.
I think handing out tracts like this is degrading and should be stopped.

Another reason that tracts can be negative is that if someone uses it for their voice, instead of them actually using their voice. Instead of telling someone about Jesus, some will just give people that they know tracts. Tracts should be used for additional resources, not for a primary one. God said you are to be a witness for him, not a stupid tract. Imagine if a key witness got up and testified and instead of speaking, handed out to the jury a little booklet that wasn't written by them. Sound stupid? Don't make me say it. If this doesn't work in a normal court room, why should we think it should work for the most important news and testimony that one is to share? Tracts should be ancillary, not primary.

Tracts can be used in a way that glorifies God. But we shouldn't hand them out like we are handing out coupons for Burger King. Before you buy a tract, think about how you are going to use them and for who you are going to use them for. Let me give you a little advice as well. If they have a picture of the flames of hell on the front, go ahead and start your fire with them. Probably not a good start to tell someone about the Gospel and then hand them a tract that says, "You are going to hell, have a nice day!"

Do I hate tracts? No, but I believe most use them contrary to how we should be using them. We shouldn't order tracts and then hand them out to get our list checked off by the end of the day. Order them to aid you in your presentation of the gospel. Also, the longer they stay in the corner of your room should be an indictment on how often you aren't speaking about Jesus to others.

Do tracts work? Yes, but someone can also use a pencil to kill someone. The idea is to use the tool that will aid you in the best possible way for the realization of your goal. Tracts are not the best answer in the quest of turning people from death to life...you are.

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Hey Dads...You Gotta See This

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Missions in Iraq

I wanted to give an update from one of my missionary friends that has gone to Iraq numerous times to share the gospel and also to equip pastors there for the sake of Christ. He has told me of the prayer meetings with guards at both the front and back doors. Praying while guns are under the table and chairs "just in case." Honestly, the stories he has would be quite funny and entertaining if they weren't true. But the fact is, they are true and they are very serious and the lives at stake in Iraq are very real. I have asked him if I could put up his latest update so that my readers would see what is happening and also so that you could be praying for him. He said that would be fine, but I cannot put in any names or dates so that his mission will not be compromised. This sounds like him being overly cautious, but to be honest this is not so, I have heard the stories and he has told me some other facts in regards to his mission and we just have to be very careful with how much can be said over the internet.

I hope this update is helpful and also encouraging to see what is happening in some of the most dangerous areas of our world. I will be taking his name out of update and replace it with "JD" for John Doe. I hope this is a helpful reminder of God's work:

The time ministering in IRAQ was a great reminder of our AWESOME GOD'S FAITHFULNESS. God's work is advancing on many fronts. God's hand is not limited and people are being saved, growing in their faith and establishing churches. Yes, the enemy is at work, as well, but this is to be expected. JD travelled there in late January with another teacher from our former mission. It was a positive and productive experience. Here are some highlights we are able to share:

We spent time doing intensive teaching and training with 9 church leaders and workers. They completed the course and took the exam.

Most of those in the class have come to faith in Christ the last 3 years!

We met with numerous NGO leaders learning how their ministries are going and how we can encourage them.

We had meetings with various pastors to hear of their ministries and pray with them. This was an encouraging time.

JD spoke in a church in Dohuk area. It has grown from about 14 when he last attended to around 28 to 30 that night. It was encouraging to hear the testimonies of two people. One shared how he had come to faith in Christ in the last two years. He is now living in Aleppo, Syria. Another shared how he had been able to share his faith with someone from work.

We saw numerous students from past classes taught and were encouraged to see they are involved in full time service in the local churches.

We heard reports that many are coming to faith in Christ. Even in Iran many are accepting Christ, coming across the border to be baptized by some who have been trained by the mission and returning to start house churches.

We travelled across the country and met a government official to encourage greater religious freedom in the country.

JD was to go to Kirkuk but was unable to follow the plan due to security concerns. We are hoping to go there on the next trip.

The region is very stable at the moment. Pray this will continue as new policies are taken by the US government. There are many security forces out but no significant problems in the area where we work.

JD has been asked to go back in... (can't put date, but it is in the near future) Possibly Jane Doe, his wife, will go with him. We have been told it would be very helpful to the women if she could come as well. Pray with us about this possibility.

We praise God for the financial provision for this last trip. One church took this on as their project. Pray for the needed funds for the future. We have made a 3 year commitment to train a group if God should provide and the door stays open. The goal is that they have consistent teachers who get to know them, mentor them and help the churches in that region. We are able to do this from (their home mission, again cannot give details on where this is).

JD was able to spend considerable time with the Pastor who had been put in prison last year. Thank you for praying for him and his wife. They are both doing better and seeing God's hand in their situation. Their church is going well. He was able to be a good witness while in prison. It is quite a story of God's power, grace and help to them.

If you would like to send money to this ministry please contact me privately and I will put you in contact with how to support them. Please be praying for this ministry and this family. They have been invited to live in Iraq, but feel that the timing isn't right for the time being. So, be praying also for their future with this decision. They are such an encouragement to me and my family and their love of the glory of Christ to be shared to all nations at all times.

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So, You Want to Know How to NOT Preach?

It has been a while where I have listened to a sermon and just thought, "what?" I have never heard of Kerry Shook, but his most recent message, that you can watch here, he takes the account in Genesis and twists it so badly to talk about God creating a clean slate in your life.

Please, everyone that is learning to preach, or wants to know how to exegete the word of God, go and watch this sermon and do just the opposite. It is astonishing to watch and listen this guy take Genesis 1 and just make stuff up. I hope that his other sermons aren't as poorly prepared as this one is. Seriously brutal.

We need to make sure that we ask, everytime we sit down to study for preaching, "What does this passage say?" Not, "What do I want it to say?" But, what is the message that God is trying to convey to his New Testament church.

I have heard some pretty odd things preached in regards to Genesis 1, but this one is quite weird.

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Evangelism for Today: The Way of the Master?

This is a post within a greater series called, "Evangelism for Today." I want to go through the major ways in which Christians evangelize today and look to the positive and negative aspects of each and then in the end, try and show a balanced way to show the love of Christ through the spoken and living Gospel.

What I want to do with this post is consider those evangelism techniques that involve scripting. I will focus in on The Way of the Master since I have seen many of the materials used, bought many of the materials used and participated in much of what they stand for.

There are other scripting techniques for sure, and they would probably have some of the same positives and negative aspects to them as well.

The Way of the Master, and techniques like it, gives the person a set of parameters to stay within as they teach the gospel to another. They have an almost definitive beginning and definitive end, whereas the one who is evangelizing has ways to ask questions to make sure that the listener gets to the “end” of the conversation. Usually these techniques have loose scripts to follow along with a visual to catch the eye of the listener as a conversation starter.

The Positive Aspects

The things that I like about this technique is that it gives those that aren’t sure how to converse about the gospel a way to engage those around them. Most of the time people aren’t sure how to engage or how to answer questions that some might pose if they start to evangelize. The way that these techniques are designed is to make sure you keep the listener on topic, so that you direct the conversation.

The Way of the Master presents the law well and gives the answer to our sin with the presentation of part of the Gospel. Not only that, they have a lot of ways to engage others to get the conversation started so that you are just running up to someone and saying, “How is your day, well…you’re going to hell.” Although it almost says this, it doesn’t quite go that far.

I do believe that these aspects of presentation is very faithful to making sure that those who don’t know their sin, will be clear on what the bible says about the law, hell and the gospel. For this, I am greatly encouraged by this method of sharing the Gospel.

The Negative Aspects

The parts I have a problem with in these methods is that the one who is being evangelized is ignored. The Way of the Master actually teaches its students to not answer the questions that are posed by the listener, but to get them back on track as far as the script is concerned. So, if you are presenting the gospel and they ask a question about the Crusades, you quickly defer and get the listener back to the method you are using. So, before the “conversation” is even started, the goal is presentation, not really the care for the individual. Jesus never did this. He cared for the listener and answered their questions, because he loved the person he was speaking to.

The Way of the Master would say that you are showing the greatest love to the individual because you are sharing the gospel with them. But, if you already have your answers ready, before the questions are asked, that is showing a huge lack of sentivity to the person you are speaking to.

"If one gives answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame" (Proverbs 18:13)

I think Proverbs speaks directly against this method in this way. We are to listen to those we are speaking to, not bringing a pre scripted design that makes sure that the listener doesn’t drive the presentation. I would ask, “Shouldn’t we know the gospel so well that we allow the listener to ask their questions and we show that we care that we answer them with a gospel centered answer?” Ignoring or carelessly answering their questions will just show them what they already thought, “The Christian doesn’t really care about me, they just care about pushing their gospel on me.”

The other part of this scripting that really bothers me is the fact that you don’t get to know the person you are speaking to at all. You just assume that they need to know that they have broken the law of God. But, what if they already know this? Further contempt of their sin will not be helpful and can actually be further damage done that isn’t needed. The person might need the encouragement of the gospel more than they need to know that they are a sinner. Whether we think it or not, some people already know that they are dreadful sinners and believe that there is no out, but that they are destined for hell. We must know our hearers and not take them for granted. Scripting does not allow for this and sometimes completely ignores the actual person we are talking to.

I am not sure about the other scripts provided, but The Way of the Master, that I have heard, doesn’t make the resurrection of Christ a center part of the presentation. This is why I said that the Way of the Master presents part of the Gospel. If we look at the presentation that Paul gives in 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection is the very center of the Gospel, not just an aberration. Without the resurrection, we are said to be a people to be pitied and have no hope.

So, although scripting seems like a very sufficient way to present the gospel, I believe it leaves out a very intricate part: the one being evangelized. It seems like they just become a sidebar in the conversation. I don’t doubt that those who do the Way of the Master, or Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, have the best intentions, but I just believe that there are some glaring issues with this method as a whole. I believe we need to know more about those who we speak the gospel to by way of asking them questions and then just listenint to them. To many times I personally, and have seen personally, that evangelizing becomes a numbers game where those that are being evangelized become a number with no name and no soul.

Scripting definitely needs to listen more and speak less. Be ready to answer the questions of those that are being spoken to instead of being ready to ask your next question.

So, although there are some good aspects of scripting, or with the Way of the Master, I don’t believe it is an end all, and believe it actually has some very big holes that can’t go unnoticed.

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Facing Tyson

I have to be honest, I picked up this book for one reason: Ted Kluck told me to. Okay, well that was the start, then I learned of the 5 books that Kluck has written that this was his favorite and I, like every other kid in the 80s, loved to watch the craziness that was named Mike Tyson. I was pretty interested in reading this book as it was a book about an icon of my growing up and it was done by a Christian author. And when I say Christian author, I mean an actual Christian, not one looking for a niche market.

Mike Tyson, for me growing up, was this almost unreal demi god, like a Zeus or something, because I was a poor white kid in Oklahoma. Putting it simple, I was a poor PK and we could barely afford bread, much less $50 for pay per view. So, I would try and tag along anytime I could to watch the craziness of Tyson and the thirty or so seconds that he boxed before he nearly killed the poor schmuck that was in the ring with him.

I am honestly not a huge boxing fan, but was a huge Tyson fan. Well, as huge as I could be without taking my eyes off of the Boz and the Sooners. Needless to say, I was really excited to read about these opponents of Tyson and the stories they would tell about the man that beat their face in.

The book is old school. Ted Kluck does something that is just not seen these days. He flew and drove around the nation to try, as much as possible, to meet these boxers where they currently live and work. He really tried to get into their lives as they are now lived. So much so, that at times Kluck's wife and kid came along for the ride.

But, the best story by far is when he was riding with a crazy Pinklon Thomas. Thomas' wife was in the front seat and Kluck and Pinklon's daughters in the back seat. There is an hilarious exchange as Kluck spouts off some hip hop lyrics, as the radio is blaring, while arguments are exchanged with Thomas and his daughters all while Thomas speeds through traffic and yelling at other drivers. Whatever Kluck could do for an interview, I guess. Because of this, it was hilarious and made the book a whole lot better because of his hands on approach to interviewing these boxers.

The book is set up with 15 interviews of boxers that faced Tyson. The interviews were for the purpose of seeing what these guys were up to now and then any information that they would like to share about Tyson and their fight. It didn't seem like Kluck had anything in particular he wanted from the fighter about Tyson, just any information that they would like to share. I am guessing that this loose approach (which wasn't bad) was partly because it was hard getting retired boxers to give out their stories about Tyson for free. Most still looking to make cash, not off of their skills, but through the man that gave them their name...Tyson. I can't imagine the frustration that Kluck ran against. He does share some of it in his book with no-shows, runarounds and just plain craziness from some of these boxers. This book will seriously make you laugh out loud with what these boxers do. aka Mitch "the blood" Green

Overall, the interviews were very well done and very real. Kluck truly let these guys just talk about what they wanted to. I truly liked the fact that if the guys wanted to talk about Christ, he let them. Marvis Frazier was one of these guys. He continued to go on and on about his relationship with Christ and the cause of the gospel. Most authors would have left this part out of the book, but Kluck allowed Frazier to speak, as he did with the rest of his interviewees.

I think that Kluck hits the heart of what he was trying to find with this book: Stories from those who fought Tyson and what they thought of the man and the boxer. Some still talked smack, but most were honest about Tyson's skills and, believe it or not, the goodness and thoughtfulness of Tyson. Overall, if you are a fan of Tyson, or boxing in general, pick up the book. I think you will enjoy the realness of the sport behind the cameras, plus you can laugh as you picture Kluck flying around the nation hoping to catch up to guys who wouldn't be on time to their own mom's funeral. Highly Recommended.

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5 Things That Aren't Evangelism

I think I am going to start calling Saturday's, "Stealing on Saturday's". It seems I really like to steal stuff on Saturdays, and this one is no different. I stole this from Desiring God. Here are some notes from Dever's message, which I am not sure I completely agree with. Because next week I am going to start posting on Evangelism for Today, I thought this would be a good lead in for discussion. What are your thoughts?

5 Things We Can Mistake for Evangelism

1) Imposition

We mistakenly take evangelism to be manipulation. But that's what the world says. In truth, we're not trying to impose our beliefs on anybody. Biblically, we can't impose our beliefs on anybody. Force and coercion cannot finally bring about the change that God demands. You can't expand Christianity by the sword. Evangelism is not some sort of intellectual imposition.
To believe that something is true and to share that with others is not coercion. We don't impose when we evangelize. We freely offer it to all and do not, cannot, force it on anybody.

2) Personal Testimony

A personal testimony is a wonderful thing. The Bible is full of examples of it, and we should testify to the wonderful experience of receiving God's mercy.

But consider John 9 and the man born blind. He gives his testimony but doesn't even know who Jesus is. His words glorify God, but they don't present the gospel. This is not evangelism.

Unless you're explicit about Jesus Christ and the cross then it is not the gospel.

3) Social Action / Public Involvement

Mercy ministries display God's kindness, and they are good and appropriate for the Christian to do. But such actions are not evangelism. They may commend the gospel to others, but only if someone has told them the gospel. They need to have the gospel added to them. Helping others or doing our jobs well, whatever they are, in and of themselves are not evangelism.

4) Apologetics

Apologetics are valuable, but they have their own set of dangers. You can get bogged down in talking about purely intellectual or peripheral matters and never get to the gospel.

It's fine for us to talk with unbelieving friends about questions that they have, but our attempts to try and answer them without setting the gospel as the foundation does no good. Jesus must set the agenda for evangelism.

5) The Results of Evangelism

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

2 Corinthians 2:15

Note that the same ministry has two different effects. It's like the parable of the soil: same seed, different results.

We cannot finally judge the correctness of what we do by the immediate response that we get. The need for numbers puts an unnecessary stress on pastors and misunderstands the way that God saves.

We must practice our ministries realizing that some of us will be like Adoniram Judson or William Carey, who had no converts until after seven years of faithful gospel ministry. It's a fact that most people don't believe the gospel the first time they hear it.

Don't let the gospel that you preach be molded by what it is that gets an immediate response. Preach the gospel, trying to persuade--pleading for your hearers to believe--but knowing that you cannot convert a person. And then let God do with it what he will. He alone can call the dead to life. The gospel is powerful, and God is committed to using us to spread this good news.

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Question Answered: How do you know you are predestined?

Conner asked a question that I thought I would open up for anyone else to answer as well. I don't want it to get lost in the comments section, since the post that he comments on is from a post that I did a couple of years ago. Here is Conner's comment:

My name is Conner and i will be attending west coast baptist college this fall where i will be learning homiletics from Dr. Goetsch. so i guess i am what you call an "IFB." and there are many questions that i would like to ask you. first of all, seeing as you are a calvinist, what makes you think that you are one of the predestined ones that will be going to heaven?

This is a great question. I really like the honestly put forth and the challenge that sometimes catches Calvinists off guard.

Here is my answer in a nutshell. I would ask that anybody else that wants to comment, please do so.

Here is my answer:

Conner.

Good question. And you can ask any question that you would like.

As far as how I know that I am predestined?

I know that I am one of the elect because of the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

Calvin said it very eloquently:

Jesus is the mirror of your election

Although, I believe in duty faith, it is all about Christ, not about me or my works. Although out of my faith, works will come because I love him. But my assurance of election is all based on Christ and what he has done, not based on what I have done.

Because let's be honest. The more and more we look to ourselves the more we see our sin.

This is what happened to Isaiah in Isaiah 6. He saw the Christ and fell to the ground saying, "I am undone."

So, the way I am assured of salvation is because of the work of Christ.

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Can God Be Trusted?

I received this book from InterVarsity Press and really had no background to the book or it's author. The full title is "Can God Be Trusted?: Faith and the Challenge of Evil." This was one of the few times where I had no idea what theological convictions were of the author as he wrote. After reading the book, I am still left confused for the most part on his theological convictions on quite a few important orthodoxies.

The author, John Stackhouse, breaks the book down in two parts:

Part I: Problems (This is where evil is discussed)

Part II: Responses

I went back and forth with this book as I read it as to whether or not I would recommend it to anyone. Let me hit some of the strong points in the book and then I will hit some of the weak points.

Some of the strong parts of the book is that Stackhouse does a good job in defining and describing faith. One can tell that he has read some Schaeffer (or at least Schaeffer's sources) on this point, because his thoughts on faith remind me much of what I have read from Schaeffer on faith. Stackhouse does a good job of showing that faith is not a leap, but one that is based on at least some, if not quite a bit of, knowledge of the thing or person one puts faith in.

Stackhouse also does a good job of speaking to those whom the book is probably offered, which is the non-Christian. He speaks to them in their terms, gives respect to other religions where respect is due, and also is very open and honest about the struggles within Christendom. Within this, he also asks some very good questions to those who are non-Christians within the understanding of evil. He actually switches the question at one point to say if we think we can ask, "Why is there so much evil?" we have to also ask the question, "Why is there so much good?" I really enjoyed his discussion on that topic. He does open up some further questions for the skeptic, or the searcher, that they (actually all of us) need to ask at some point to come to an understanding of what we believe and why.

Those are the good points.

As a Christian, there was much to be alarmed at. I really don't know what theological convictions John Stackhouse has at this point. His answer to evil was quite troubling. He said that the reason there is evil was pointed to the fact of free will in all men. At one point saying that God "took a risk when creating humans with free will." This is a big stumbling block for me and this book. I am not sure how a sovereign God, who knows all things can take risks. His basic answer to why there is evil, is simply because of free will. He uses, somewhat, Alvin Plantinga's Free Will Defense to answer the question how God could be good, all powerful and still have evil exist. Free will in this book is taken as mere fact, with no Scriptural proof at all. The only time that predestination is mentioned is when speaking of the theologies of Calvin and Luther, as though it was their theology that wasn't found in the Bible. This mention lasts only 2 pages. What Stackhouse overlooks is the fact that predestination is mentioned in the Bible where the idea of moral free will is never mentioned apart from Adam and Eve. He continues this thought with the angels in heaven having free will and that is why they fell, and that while in heaven we will all have free will but will only choose good because of all the good before us. The question comes, "Does this mean we can fall like the angels did because of our free will?" The answer has to be yes in Stackhouse's system. Which is completely false. Quite the conundrum, especially when trying to defend that God is all powerful and evil can exist. I am not saying this makes the answer easy, but at least it is biblical.

The above is the one that really had me perplexed and one that made me question the book as a whole, but then it continued in other areas. Stackhouse would sometimes open up a can of worms without defending them but would just say, "a lot of Christians (or theists) believe..." and then leave it. He did this with the following things:

The doctrine of hell being annihilation

Whether the Old Testament should be taken as literally true. At one point saying he is just being candid and then adding, "Doesn't this all sound unbelievable, like a fairy story for kids rather than a serious explanation of reality for adults?"

The Idea of macroevolution being true

He doesn't defend Original Sin, but says that it has been debated historically

It was hard to hear him open up these topics without really commenting on them. He just would say something about them and move on (besides original sin, which he went on to describe a sort of middle ground), leaving the reader confused of why he would mention it in the first place. What then happens is one wonders what Stackhouse's actual convictions are in these areas.

Beyond those things, the things that had me concerned were his positive affirmations. Those were as follows:

His belief that the Protoevangelium (Genesis 3:15) was not really a pronouncement of the gospel, or meant to be understood spiritually at all, but should be taken as simply a curse on the snake. He says that "later interpreters have seen all of this as having to do with spiritual warfare between Satan and humanity, but the text itself is enigmatic. "

He also states that he believes that although the Gospel writers agree on the whole and overarching understanding of who Christ was, that they sometimes vary and contradict each other in some details. Through this we can see that Stackhouse must not believe in the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture.

As an added frustration, there are times when Stackhouse seems to defend, or at least acknowledge in part, that Christians, Contemporary Jews and Muslims all worship the same God. This seems to be a case to bring parties into agreement when there are too many lines of separation to do so.

Overall, this book will frustrate many, as it did myself. Just when you think it is getting good, he throws some odd curve ball into the mix that confuses things. I just can't get passed the bad to see the good in recommending this book to people. Although the description of faith and the resurrection are well done, the discussion of God's risk with free will, annihilation, OT kid stories, original sin, macroevolution, the Protoevangelium and the infallibility and inerrancy of God's word puts too much junk into the discussion. I cannot in my right mind recommend this book for reading. There is too much other good reading on the subjects at hand to have to wade through the bad theology in this book to get to the traditional and correct orthodoxy. Not Recommended.
Buy from:

InterVarsity Press

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Latest Books Received

I have received some books in the mail that I will be reading within the next month if all goes well. Some I have ordered for personal reading, some I received from Crossway to review. Currently, I am reading "Can God Be Trusted?" and I have to say I have not been too impressed so far with this reading. Below you will find my list of books (in no particular order) I will be reading. Let me know if you have any thoughts on any of the books or if there are any you would like moved to the top of my list to read, because it interests you.

God Gave Wine: What the Bible Says About Alcohol, Gentry, Kenneth L.

Facing Tyson, Kluck, Ted (Ted's Blog and co-author of Why We're Not Emergent)

The Red Letters: The Sayings and Teachings of Jesus, Beals, Timothy J. (Editor)

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, Guthrie, Nancy (Editor)

What Does the Bible Say about That? Larsen, Carolyn

How to Argue like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator, Carter, Joe & Coleman, John

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Evangelism for Today: Part I

I have been around the church for my whole life. My dad was a lay pastor for the SBC all around southern Oklahoma until I was 12 years old. Then we moved up to Seattle where my dad, again, was called to be a lay pastor. I have done so many different kinds of evangelism it is close to ridiculous and very overwhelming. I also own an investment firm and have been an investment advisor for the past 10 years. It is easy to see the crossover in marketing my business and marketing Jesus. I know that sounds weird and crass, but it is true. The way some of us evangelize is simply by marketing Christ, hoping our clientele will buy Jesus instead of Mohammad or Gandhi. The saying in my business is that whether you do seminars, direct mailers, cold calling, etc. they are all equally ineffective, so just pick one and put all your might into it.

Sometimes I feel like this with evangelism. We are fighting a fight that seems impossible, and truly is without the Holy Spirit. We see the battle and it looks like we are losing, our evangelism, like marketing, seems to all be equally ineffective. The issue here though, is that evangelism and marketing are not equals. We cannot just look at results and deem one to be better than another. Although I know a lot of people do this within Christendom, this is not a godly way to go about ensuring the faithful proclamation of God's gospel.

Now, do we simply throw out looking at numbers of conversion altogether and ignore it? I would say no. But, my point is that numbers cannot be our end all to what makes a faithful proclamation.

What me must do is be faithful in our contextualization of the Gospel message to those around us. We must balance our culture with how we proclaim. Will this change the message? Not with a faithful proclamation. We have to know that although we might change how we tell the message, the message itself is still the same. We are sinners in need of a Saviour who came, lived among us, died for us and rose for us so that he might bring us to God. How to get this across to some might prove to be a difficult one and one that requires some thought by the one delivering the message. The problem today is less thought is going on and more and more people are just buying into other's marketing techniques without looking at the culture Christ has called them. Just because it works in Florida, doesn't mean that it will work in Seattle, or in Nampula, Mozambique.

How I tell the gospel to one of my 60 year old clients is going to be very different than how I tell the gospel to one of my buddies who hangs out with me watching football and smoking stogies. Notice the way I tell them is different, but not the actual message. The way that I go about telling the message to someone who is homeless and starving will also be quite different. I would say that if you are telling/showing the gospel in the same way to each of these groups, you are being careless with your gospel proclamation.

What I want to explore in the next few posts is in what ways people are currently sharing the Gospel and then give you my conclusion on some ways that are faithful to the word of God in how the message is presented.

I will be upfront. I have been involved in a lot of different ways in sharing. I have gone door to door, I have handed out tracts, gone to and participated in tent revivals, I have done The Way of the Master Method, I have fed the homeless, I have done some missions work and I have also done the "smile and hope they notice I am a Christian" method. I am hoping to get some discussion while we go through these different methods and try to show a good biblical understanding of what it means to be a faithful minister of the Gospel of Christ.

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Some Reasons Non Christians Laugh at Us

Here is just a list of reasons why people laugh at us as Christians. Not an exhaustive list by any means, but still...

Slice of Laodicea. Do I really need to explain why this site has gone ironically humorous without knowing it?

If you need further explanation, just go to Campi's site, he has joined the march against sanity

I don't think the video needs any explanation (HT: Clay Staggs)

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Happiness Found on House?

I don't usually write these kinds of posts, at least I don't think I do. But, last night I was watching House (one of my favorite shows) and found some commentary very interesting. Let me set up this episode for you. A famous cancer research doctor gets sick and is admitted to the hospital. The doctors find out that she has actually quit her career to learn how to cook from a very famous chef. The doctors at the hospital are floored because this doctor was only 8 to 10 years away from curing a specific kind of cancer. They couldn't believe it and asked her "why?" She said that the reason was because she realized that she hadn't lived with happiness yet. She quit because she didn't want to die never being happy.

This was an interesting thought as you see the episode unfold and listen to this doctor who started spouting off lines like she was a fortune cookie. You can watch the episode here when available. It is called "Greater Good".

The odd thing that was put forth in the episode is that this doctor was finding happiness in merely switching jobs. Her career is what defined not only her life, but defined whether or not she was happy or not. I know a lot of people like their jobs and such, but I have to say that I have never woken up from sleep and stated, "I can't wait to go to my happy place today!" And I consider my job one that I enjoy as much as anyone could as far as a job goes. But, I don't define my happiness in it.

The first time I heard about functional saviours was in David Wells' book "Above All Earthy Pow'rs." He speaks in the book about all of us having our functional hells and functional saviours. For this woman in this episode of House, her hell became her job and so another job, that she seemingly loved, would become her functional saviour. The question then comes, "What happens when the new job becomes her hell again?"

Many of us have functional hells within our lives. Whether it is a dead end job, family sickness, money problems, weight issues, etc. We think if we could only find a way out of these hells, we would have a better life, a more fulfilled and happy life. The problem is that all these are finite and are not the answer to life's most basic problem stated in Ecclesiastes 3:11. Solomon tells us that God has put eternity into every man's heart. So, what we stupid humans try to do is solve this eternal longing with finite things that pass away. We are happy for a little while when we get the new car, new job, lose weight, get a new cell phone, etc. But, then these things get old and they are no longer exciting. We need something new, something to fulfill this eternity in our heart. I honestly believe this is why the divorce rate is so high. People try to fulfill this longing with a new spouse and want something new, instead of someone that God has given to us to bring us sustaining happiness.

We are always going to be searching for this functional saviour, this happiness in things if we do not turn our lives over to Christ. We will continually be disappointed, continually lose our happiness if we turn to this life for our hope and for our desires to be fulfilled. What one notices is that for our joy to be full, for our life to be filled with the eternal desire we must have something, or better put, Someone who is eternal to fulfill our eternal want. Logic would tell us that if we have an eternal desire it could only be fulfilled with an eternal thing, or in our case, an eternal Person.

Almost hidden away in the Psalms is the answer:

You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Psalm 16:11

God is the answer to our eternal want. This is why we find in 1 Peter 3:18 that Christ died for us to bring us to God. He didn't die to give us temporal things, but the Eternal One. Anything short of the Eternal One as our gift of salvation would leave us way short. This theme of our joy being made full is continued into the New Testament when our Bridegroom came. John the Baptist said his joy was full by just hearing the voice of Christ. Peter says that those who haven't seen Christ are still filled with "joy inexpressible and full of glory" because salvation has come to them.

God is our joy. If God is our focus, if He is our goal, if He is our life, if God is our gift, then our joy cannot be stolen. But, the second our eyes go away from God and onto things of this world, our joy can be snatched.

We started with Solomon, now let's end with Solomon. He tells us that God has put eternity into every man's heart and after Solomon tried to fill that hole with everything in this life, this is what his conclusion is:

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

The question comes: What are you filling your heart with? Christ or the world?

I know this was just a TV show, but television is usually a great depiction of our current culture. Our current culture is still seeking what the ancients sought: happiness. The sad thing is that they believe that this can be found in this world, when in actuality it can only be found when we have the promise of being in the presence of our God.

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Christian Mission in the Modern World

It's been a while since I have read John Stott, but this was definitely a book that will make me read more of him. This book is a necessity for anyone that considers themself a missiologist or is wanting a deeper look into what it means for us Christians to be in the world. Stott hammers away in only 190 pages so much depth that any review will leave the subject at hand wanting in a desperate way. It is still hard to believe that this was first written in 1975 as he hits some people today straight between the eyes with his theological and practical conclusions (myself included).

Stott hits on five subjects and really pinpoints them further for great discussion.

The Five Subjects that he hits are:

1. Mission

Stott breaks down the two movements that are most abused, which are evangelism only ministries and social action only ministries. After breaking down why neither of these are correct, he blends the two to show the biblical aspect of how these two need to work together, not separate.

2. Evangelism

Stott lays out what must be considered in evangelism. He shows the priority, the meaning and then unpacks what must be included while presenting the gospel according to Christ and the apostles.

3. Dialogue

In this chapter, Stott again shows the two extremes in dialogue. One where the dialogue is so open that you can't tell that a Christian is in the conversation and the other being where the Christian believes that no dialogue should be had with other religions. Stott shows a balanced view to this and gives great examples how this can work and has worked.

4. Salvation

Stott works to find the biblical answer to what this term means in the Scriptures. He works through what salvation truly is and the areas of difference within this. Some of these would be salvation from political oppression, salvation of sickness and poverty, etc. Then Stott answers the question of salvation theologically and shows why salvation is more than just what we see, but is really the salvation of what we don't see. Namely, salvation from God's wrath in regards to hell.

5. Conversion

In this chapter Stott gives a precedence for conversion to the Christian faith. He fights against the universalists and also those who believe that there is no need to be converted to Christianity because Christ can be found in other religions as well. After this defense, Stott then shows what one is converted to when converted to Christianity.

This book is so well rounded and Stott unpacks the extremes in each case above to even the heretical. He then gives the biblical reasons to balance the extremes or to deny the heretical and comes to conclusions. The arguments are very well thought out and linear so that the reader can follow very easily and understand the concepts and defenses put forth by Stott. I would urge any pastor or missionary to pick up this book. This book is something that would have helped the start of my study on the church's mission before going to deeper studies that I have already looked at. I would hope that people that are in the emergent circles (Rob Bell, Tony Jones, Brian McLaren, etc) and also in the IFB circles would pick up this book to see their errors in the thought of Christian mission. Overall, this "introduction" is a great balanced approach to our mission as Christians as we work, minister, educate and evangelize the world as we know it today. Whether one is abroad or in their own back yard, this book lays a great foundation so that one sees their errors of extremism in any of the above named topics. Highly Recommended.

Buy at:

InterVarsity Press

Westminster Books

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