Monday, September 29, 2008

"We Are Going After The Lost"


"If you call me and I come to Oregon, we are going after the lost."

Wake up!
-- Pastor-elect for Salem First Baptist Church



How can I bear this happiness? The LORD has answered your prayers, and, mine. This man sees the lost of this world, like I do! Here is a paraphrase of the things Pastor Mark said, along with my responses interjected to each thought.

He said that we can't just keep doing church for our own pleasure. It isn't enough to have expository preaching in the pulpit; if that's all we have our doors will still close. We need to get to know the culture and speak the language of the lost around us. Praise God! This church could be on its last generation, unless we're willing to be a little uncomfortable and change our priorities. What does it take to make a church grow, you ask? Babies. Babies. They're not all that great. You have to change diapers, you have to watch tv shows that they want to watch.... When you got married you once had a lot of freedom to do the kinds of things you like to do. But once you committed yourself to the responsibility of being a parent, you gave up a lot of freedom so that you could do things with the children. It's the same with the church.

The kinds of people coming to faith in Christ, today, are not the same kinds of people that came to Christ a generation ago. The people of today receiving salvation, are broken. Broken, like you don't want to know all the things they've been through in their life. We expect that when they accept Christ their lifestyle will shortly turn around, but that's just not practical many times. They might go on having multiple abortions, or sleeping with every guy that comes their way.

Praise God for this message!! Thank you!!

Discipleship today is labor-intensive. These new Christians need help all the time. Expect to get a phone call at 3 AM, or four calls in one day as they face their temptations and need encouragement to not stray. How can we expect them to be put together? She can't act like a mature woman because she has no idea what that looks like. Men have no idea what it means to be a father. They will slowly learn it by prayer and patience and faith in God.

Wake up! Wake up! God has been listening and He is ready to bless you and I. He was listening all along, wasn't He?

The pastor-elect said the culture of today is marked by some clear trends:

1 -- they resent and are suspicious of authority

2 -- they don't believe in absolute truth

So just using scripture is not going to win them.

Praise God for this message!

On average it takes about six months of someone coming to church, hearing about Jesus and experiencing love in relationships, before they will --believe-- and receive the gospel. In fact there is a church in Ogden, Utah where the LDS people are coming. For them, give it an additional two months - eight months on average - of them attending. NOT being called out. Not being noticed, or preached to. Just being there and experiencing it, is how they will be prepared to put their faith in Jesus.

Praise God! Wake up, wake up, God is coming near to the broken hearted, the downtrodden, the forsaken. I love you LORD, for doing this in my sight, in the days of MY life!!

He said it isn't enough to win people by having a friendly church. Friendly churches? They're a dime-a-dozen. What the world is hungry for, is a true friend. There is a difference between being friends and being friendly; a world of difference.

What do you do to save the prostitutes in the inner city? You go out there and you go get 'em. You don't need a build a program; you, go!

Yes, Oh, LORD! Send me, with your grace! I believe in You in this way.

Recalibrating Myself

What have I been trying to say, I don't know?!? but this person, he just said it for me. He is my advocate. I went up and I told him; I said to him, "You? You are my advocate. You said everything that is important to me. Thank you."

All the people in my world? Family. Neighbors. Other religions. Even "carnal" evangelicals. This is what I've been trying to say all along. Free grace theology read Galatians and Romans to me in the way I needed verification. The gospel should be presented as a true gift of God through faith alone.  That was the biggest thing, till now - this is bigger. Why?

Because I think I would rather live my life without being understood or alone according to truth, before, before I would let my church be comfortable turning away from the people I long to see know Christ. I would rather forsake the satisfaction of enjoying my own kind, from even affiliating myself as evangelical, before I would promote another moment of pain and disillusion for those kinds of people who only need a little more effort than what we think they're worth. Too those in the church have frequently dismissed that suggestion for being radical. We, evangelical Christianity and I, we were at odds with each other.

I don't want to choose, God, I always have thought to myself. If I have to choose between those whom You love and the ones who I feel comfortable around, I'll spend the rest of my days with the lost, no regrets.

Doctrine such as the gospel affects who? Mostly it affects me. But everyday I face a world that needs Christ. This is why I felt so little familiarity with evangelical Christianity for this long. Because my friends, my family, my neighbors were alienated by this old (scripture only/first) method of discipleship. And I didn't even have the words to say this, until this week.

Now I know. I will stand up, ready to serve, and bear the infallible scriptures with pride, but now with sanctioned temperance.  It is finally best to share the gospel while expending equal effort toward love and presence.  The Spirit wants to engage hearts, whole persons, whole lives.

LORD, you have found me and knitted me back into the fold!

14 comments:

Sanctification said...

I know the LORD loves like this....

Somewhere along the way I saw the character Arwen in the movies "The Lord of the Rings", and it felt familiar. Her people told her not to hope.

She forsook the eternal life of her people. But in the end, doubt did not overtake her to death.

The LORD's love triumphs through the darkest of circumstances.

Anonymous said...

michele

o how it brought a smile to my face to read your post. how faithful is the One who loves us! how beautifully your prayers have been answered.

i am thankful to see you dwelling upon Love. i am thankful that He continues to draw you up and show you of Himself. o to know Him more.

i was saddened as i read some other blogs this morning. bulls in china shops.

why do certain people demand 'yes or no'? it seems they do not see how to have communication unless we start on their 'yes or no' playing field.

when Jeshua spoke and drew unto Himself....did He demand 'yes or no'? when Paul, the apostles, all who shared of Him, spoke...did they demand 'yes or no'?

the mystery does not consist of yes and no

perhaps it hurts because this has been a long time tactic of duluth and the men he has trained....yes or no, yes or no until only human fear responds.

when i think of my dear children and dear friends who are lost...the idea of forcing yes or no makes me into a tyrant and a terrorist.

when i think of forcing that same answer upon my beloved brothers and sisters on our sanctifying journey..what grief

mystery is not in a yes or no box

i am praying for understanding hearts...eyes that can see..ears that become unplugged

last night at dinner my husband asked "How many zeroes are in a trillion?" One son answered immediately "12", another answered none. One saw the numerical figure, one saw the word. and the discussion went on wonderfully

thank you michele for your desires for the discussion to go on wonderfully

A

Sanctification said...

Anonymous,

I need you! I don't have very much comradry. Thank you for showing me that I'm not crazy! What is going to happen at my church is unbelievable. I can't wait!

It seems to me that those who use the scriptures like this have forgotten about free will.

God so honors human choice, that He will indeed follow through on His word that those who choose hell will not somehow be spared against their will. Choice does matter to Him, and beyond those quiet reminders He will not intervene, plead, cajole, hound, persecute. Compulsion is not a part of His scheme to save mankind.

He treats us as responsible for our own lives and for our own stewardship. This very task, being sacred to every individual, is many times the very thing that works repentance.

Everybody fears standing before the LORD. But no one wants to be obligated to men.

I'm so glad you see some of these things. Tell me more of what you see....

Thank you, thank you for talking to me.

God bless you, I pray for you too!
Michele

Anonymous said...

michele, isn't our Father good? so very much more than good? beyond what we can comprehend in His love for us?

He knows what you need, He knows what I need, He brings His children together.

I have been thinking about "believe on the name" I have been thinking of this for some time.

I am saddened to read "As long as crossless gospel advocates include the name “Jesus” as a necessary part of the content of faith for salvation today, they cannot argue that the required content of faith has not changed."

I am not only saddened, I am incredulous.

How dare the Name be put in quotes as if it is not all in all, as if He is not all in all.

Jesus.....Jeshua....Joshua.....
JEHOVAH IS SALVATION! JEHOVAH IS SLAVATION! Jesus Christ....Jehovah is Salvation,Messiah, Annointed One, Redeemer....o how the name causes me to soar, to worship.

He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, the Beginning and the end, the alpha and Omega......Jehovah Elohim....it brings me to tears to think of the magnitude of the Name . o the beauty, o the impossibility of ever comprehending the depths, the heighths, the length, the breadth while we walk this groaning world.

and yet

He loves us with such tenderness and delight that He allows us to know more and more of Him.

the Name....I want to shout it out.....JESUS CHRIST......JEHOVAH IS SALVATION, REDEEMER....

Existing One True God who is the mystery of salvation and the anointed One, the Messiah

so much there

so simple at the beginning

believe

so deeply complex as we walk on

what a gift for salvation

what a gift for sanctification

thank you for letting me share with you dear sister

be encouraged

A

Sanctification said...

Oh, A,

I am encouraged thanks to you. I just realized this today, I noticed that a lot of my own language is de-spiritualized. I've been weeding it out intentionally so that I can build trust with a lot of other people in my life who don't approve of my religion.

I'm out of practice, and your post is almost like poetry, to me. I am blessed to read it. I know I can't even come close, and it makes me sad, but -happy- of you. You inspire me.

I see how important it is to love God with everything I am and everything I say.

He has done something so great in my sight. It will not go to waste, though I have to say I regret so deeply, how I turned my back on Him.



Do you show your wonders to the dead?

Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?

Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in destruction?

Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

ps 88:10-12


Where there is the smallest seed of faith, there is hope for His children. He is redeeming from those things which appear to be of no solution at all. Refresh us LORD....

Aletheia said...

michele,

the One True Poet woos (sp?) us with His still small voice.....all His words are poetry....His Word ,His Logos Zoe, is poetry,beauty, grace.

Psalm 88, the sons of Korah...they who were commanded to bring their incense before the Lord and Jehovah Himself declared "Seperate from them! I will consume them!" and those not of Korah pleaded with the Lord for the sons of Korah and He in His wonderful mercy spared them.....

except for Dathan and Abiram....for the earth opened and swallowed them and all that was theirs.

"i am reckoned among those who go down to the pit"
"You have put me in the lowest pit"

"my acquaintances are in darkness"

O Lord incline your ear to our prayer
O Lord, the God of our salvation

michele, He is and will be the solution for all things

michele, He is refreshing us

Amen! Refresh us O Lord...

A

Sanctification said...

A,

Again, though you quote the psalms you speak yourself as a psalm....

It is so wonderful to get to know you. Maybe you're getting more comfortable with the internet, or maybe better yet you are becoming more and more accustomed to the freedom Paul has called us to?

"For in Christ Jesus [nothing] ...avails anything, but faith working through love." gal 5:6

No small feat! Not many believers get here at any time in their life! How incredibly sad.... Keep on preaching grace alone by the liberty exhibited in your life....

With prayer, M

Aletheia said...

michele,

I am thinking of feet bathed with perfume....how our Father has given us such an incredible gift in the word written down and as we speak and share these words of beautiful scripture...they are to be as perfume to the one hearing...an amazing aroma that soothes.

when did we lose our way and become convinced that these same words should be fierce and cutting alone?

is it because we misapply the picture of the sword?

is it because in our very small understanding we can grasp the sword but let the perfume slip through our fingers?

just some musings....not directed at any one person

i see how dearly you love scripture, and that draws me to you

i too, dear sister, breath and inhale this word and Word.

Dearest Father, Gracious One, Everlasting

teach us what it means to take the gift of Your word and hold it gently as an alabaster and firmly as a machaira....with Your hand leading the dance.

rejoice, o rejoice

A

Aletheia said...

Michele, dear sister

God has placed you firmly on my heart. know that i am here for you my friend.

you talked of de-spiritualized language...i understand completely. There are those who label such language as: mystical, emotional and so on. with them I speak a different dialect.

you understand..what it means to try and translate...you have spoken of this and it is accurate.

i was reminded of it again last night at a school workshop with #3 son..we were to find a complementary angle. Math is not my language....in my world I only knew complementary to be defined as perhaps "of the same"...and so I chose the wrong angle. In the language of numbers , complementary means "side by side to =" my children teach me so much :)

big sigh....communication, language, translation

am I speaking/writing His language? are they listening/reading His language?

am I speaking what He desires me to?

michele, if it is not too painful..will you tell me what you mean here: "He has done something so great in my sight. It will not go to waste, though I have to say I regret so deeply, how I turned my back on Him."

thank you for saying this:"Keep on preaching grace alone by the liberty exhibited in your life"

I have never seen myself in this light..and i like it..o to preach more of grace and to exhibit Him more and more

A

Sanctification said...

A,

You said:
"know that i am here for you my friend."

I receive that friendship and I think I may grow accustomed to it. :D

You said:
[The scriptures] are to be as perfume to the one hearing...an amazing aroma that soothes.

Out of everyone I know including myself, you are the only one who has been involved in this community who has not made a critical comment, yet you spur me just the same. I wish I had the quality of grace as you. One day I hope to.

We are all ambassadors of Christ. This is the detail the scripture gives:

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 cor 5:16-21

I note:
-Not counting men's sins against them.

-The message of reconciliation.

-God makes an appeal for reconciliation through the way we live our lives.

M

Aletheia said...

I am blessed by the scripture you share and immediately brought to:

Oh, the depth of the riches
both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are His judgements
and unfathomable His ways!

For
Who has known the mind of Jehovah or
Who has become His counselor?

Or
Who has first given to Him that it might be paid back again?

For
from Him and
through Him and
to Him

are all things.

To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

and then begins Chapter 12 with that beautiful word: Therefore

I look forward this morning to meditating upon the 'message of reconciliation"

Transform us O our Father and thank you for the incredible gift of Your One and Only Begotten Son...who has given unto us so much, including His mind. How can we possibly fathom this?

and now I am reminded of a favorite by Emily D...and meaning no disrespect to her choice, I often interpose mind for brain

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain
With ease—and You—beside—

The Brain is deeper than the sea—
For—hold them—Blue to Blue—
The one the other will absorb—
As Sponges—Buckets—do—

The Brain is just the weight of God—
For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—
And they will differ—if they do—
As Syllable from Sound—

again oh the riches He has given us

the mind of Christ...truly it is only Christ who can preach the message of reconciliation

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us

A

Sanctification said...

A,

You asked:
michele, if it is not too painful..will you tell me what you mean here:

I grimace thinking about it. No, I can't even if I wanted to, which mostly I don't. Believe me, I had a couple pastors working on it with me, and they too couldn't come up with an answer for... what I was going through. Though one did eventually suggest to me that there is such a thing as the "dark night of the soul," if you've ever heard of that before. A time where God seems particularly absent. This went on for about two years. Then I finally resolved to move forward in spite of it all. I said to my pastor, "preach!" and he did on Abraham. What I got out of that single lesson was this: "Get up and go to the land I will show you," means to get up and go, by faith. I prayed and acknowledged that I needed to walk by faith, to live by faith. The epitome of everything I had been fighting when things got dark and confusing.

It was like a week or two later that I took a course at Radmacher's seminary. Course I don't think too seriously of my involvement in free grace, either socially or even scripturally, in terms of God's aid to my soul. Though I cannot help but notice that since I began walking by faith again my whole life has uncommonly improved. It's very difficult to explain. I suppose you could say that He has given me much delight. And so immediately and undeservingly. I am suddenly finding myself in the center of his will. He's using me for things I have always had passion for. I don't understand it, honestly it makes no sense humanly speaking. Meanwhile, I try and play catch-up with my spiritual devotions that have been long forsaken. Bible reading, prayer, and so on. I am out of practice, but how can I not but be drawn so convincingly again to these things in view of all He is doing on my behalf?? So I find this true: It is God's kindness that leads me to repentance.

I know He loves me.

M

Sanctification said...

A,

Thank you for reminding me of my own beliefs. Like I said, I am out of sync.

Do you know the glory that comes to the one in recess? I do. Your glory is greater than mine, dear one.

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

luke 22:24-27

I love the LORD in His reversal of worldly orders!! The dark is light to Him, the depths are near to Him. The coming sinner is crowned with a robe and a ring.

Many women in our world today take the glory for their femininity, for themselves. But our glory was not meant for us; it was meant as the manifestation of our unseen Spiritual Head: the LORD who is our authority, life, and source for everything good.

Do you remember what they said about John the Baptist?

I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

luke 7:28

John was the greatest because he was graciously given the ministry of preparing the people for the coming of the Great Reconciler. And how was he the least? Because, I believe, at that pinnacle point of his own maximum following, he surrendered all his power glory and honor to an unknown man just beginning his ministry: Jesus Christ. "I must decrease, as He increase." He emptied himself of his own account of all his righteousness, and spent it on the good reputation and exaltation of the One he served.

In the same way, my dear unseen sister, your glory is greater than mine. I may be more vocal and more seen, but your work (among other things) of encouraging me is more precious to Him than my own.

Thank you for seeing me and supporting me. The honor for anything I might have a hand in accomplishing belongs more to you than myself.

M

Aletheia said...

m,

a long day at work and a long weekend traveling.

"dark night of the soul", I know that expression well "La noche oscura del alma" st John of the Cross

I know that many believers go through these times, including myself...and if we allow it to, it refines us

I am delighted He has given you much delight. thank you for answering my question.

it is difficult to respond to your comments on glory...because they hit right at where I need His refining most...pride. I have recently been discussing rewards with my Dearly Beloved...it is a subject I would like to learn more about.

"Thank you for seeing me and supporting me"

you are more than welcome. thank you for receiving the encouragement.

He is our rest
He is the Light

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