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Have you ever had someone, Pastor, Deacon, official, friend or even an enemy tell you that they did not agree with or approve of you telling people about Jesus?  I guess they assumed that per their message you would simply agree with them and say, “Ok, I’ll quit.”

Did anyone ever tell Jesus to quit?

Here’s a couple of examples:

Matthew 12:46-47, “While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.”

And:

Matthew 12:24, “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

And:

Luke 13:10-14, “And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

What was Jesus’ responses? Did Jesus quit?

To the first challenge He said: Matthew 12:48-50, “But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said,“Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

To the second He said: Matthew 12:25-30, “And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

The best verse is 30, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”

The last challenge Jesus says: Luke 13:15-17, “But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

Clearly Jesus never quit in the face of opposition and neither should you. Regardless of who told Him to stop, or that He was wrong, etc. Jesus never quit. He was on a mission.  A mission to preach and teach the Kingdom of God and to go to the cross.

Praise God Jesus Christ never quit.  

In the ministry world George Mueller is often cited as the way to support yourself as a full-time missionary or even the means of funding a mission trip.

The story goes that Mr. Mueller never asked anyone for anything for his orphanages.  All he needed was brought to him.  That’s about as far as the story normally is quoted and understood.

First, George Mueller is not in the Bible.  For Saints who look to the Bible as their only source for faith and practice it’s important to go to the source to see what is a Biblical means for in this case supporting Christian mission work.

Second, if you are going to use George Mueller as an example, frankly he is more often is used as an excuse for not doing something than for doing it, you should learn more about his story.   For instance he was a well known Brethren preacher and his sister wrote letters to wealthy people throughout England asking for their aid.  He was not an isolated man ministering to orphans.  People knew him and therefore knew what he needed in his work.

Third, if you take the theology of the typical George Mueller reference to its logical end then here’s what you have: we as human beings are born into the world and simply stand still as God clothes us, feeds us, educates us, and provides all the items needed for this life.

This is a theology of passivity. Of God serving us instead of us serving Him.  Is God passive? Does He teach us passivity?  Was our Lord Jesus passive?  Did He wait in the hills of Galilee or Jerusalem waiting on people to come to Him? Is His Great Commission a passive command? The question is not whether George Muller’s way works or not but why are you passive [if you are].  Why seek to justify your passivity?

If you say you are an evangelist you should eagerly ask other Saints to support your mission financially. Why? A couple of reasons: your faith should be such that you would do it, you should be at ease talking to people and it’s another opportunity to evangelize.

The blood of the Lamb is too precious to sit idly by and find ways to reject action and responsibility. Start praying, start asking and preach more often, in more places to more people for our great God’s glory.

 

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

As God spoke to Adam and Eve our first parents His message was clear: have lots of children and subdue or rule the Earth on which I’ve placed you.

In other words God did not say live your own secluded life, hide from the Earth, the seas, the forests, etc. and have no children.  He gave a mandate of life not death.  Conquering not retreat.

Jesus reiterated this command in the Great Commission in Matthew Chapter 28 verses 18-20, “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Does either command sound like our job is to retreat?  To be born to live and die insolation? To allow the forces of the world, Spiritual and material, to overpower us?

If The Lord says go and subdue, to be fruitful and multiply then why do you retreat?  Why are you not fruitful?  Where does the idea come from that you are to live your life in your singleness or even to be married yet not be possessed with having children and lots of them?  Has God declared the end of all things?  Of course these ideas are from Satan who preaches and leads people into retreat and death. To do exactly the opposite of why the Lord declares.

Who are you going to listen to today?  The Word of the Lord?  Or the spirit of Anti-Christ?

 

 

Sports fans often ask, “What’s wrong with football, etc?”

On the surface it’s a fair question. After all it’s ‘just a game’. Many men played football at various levels. It’s kind of an All American experience so it seems normal.

Let’s first address the question.  What’s wrong with football.  The real question which is applied to all aspects of our life is how do you determine if, in this case, football is wrong.

The Apostle Paul discusses this in Romans Chapter 6.  He says, in the midst of his discussion of Christians being dead to sin and alive to God, in verse 13, : “and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ”

What does this mean? Well Paul is saying what he has said before and that is ‘you reap what you sow’ [Galatians 6:7].  If you sow to the flesh you will reap the flesh which means if you sow carnal behavior into your old man you will reap carnal behavior [Galatians 6:8].

In other words if you stimulate your flesh, your outer man, your sensual nature that’s what you will reap.  Since man is by nature idolatrous he will begin to worship, or to a lesser extent, become addicted to what he submits himself to.

Here’s how you can tell if you are becoming idolatrous.  If, in the case with football, you were not able to attend the game, watch it or even know the score would you be at peace with that? If not you are becoming idolatrous.

So what Paul is encouraging us to do, since we are now dead, in this case to idolatry, is to submit ourselves to righteous acts.  Paul also said in Galatians 6:8, “…if you sow to the Spirit you will reap eternal life.”  So what would a righteous act be?  These would include Bible study, prayer, engagement in Gospel ministry work, serving at your local church, fellowshipping with your family, loving your spouse, providing for your family, etc.

Again, using football as an example, we have only discussed the surface part of the sport much less the other sins involved with the game these days which include drunkenness, lust and essentially submitting yourself to being discipled by your particular team.

Here’s the point: there is no neutral ground in the Christian life: you are either submitting yourself to righteousness or unrighteousness.  So ask yourself: what are you doing at the game [or with any activity]? Submitting yourself to righteousness or unrighteousness?

 

 

Fundraising is a very simple and repetitive process.  They key to it is your communication with the people you are inviting to partner with you financially (Phil 1:5; Luke 8:3).  Remember, the key is your communication with the people. The key is not your mission or you or even what you are doing but your communication with people.

Let me try to explain: in ministry your primary skill is communication.  When you preach you must be a clear communicator; when you disciple someone you must be a clear communicator; when you write you must be a clear communicator.

Regardless of a pastor or theologian’s theology their influence is magnified by their ability to communicate.  Look around, the most notable preachers of our day are recognized as good communicators.

So when you communicate to a prospective ministry partner make sure you are communicating clearly to them.  This means you tell them about the people you are seeking to reach with the Gospel.  You tell them how you reach them and the results.  That’s it.

Who, how and response.  Communicating with prospective partners does not entail a long theological or emotional treatise but a specific plan of action and follow up.

One final point, ministry is not about you.  You are the means of another soul hearing the Gospel.  Yes there are a few significants steps you must do to be a fruitful messenger, like prayer and knowledge of the Bible, but you are still a messenger.

This means you are not the point of your ministry.  The souls who hear the Gospel are the point and purpose of your ministry.

So when you communicate with a potential ministry partner you want to tell them about the souls who hear the Gospel, their response and your follow up.

Watch this video from the guys at Ask, Thank, Report and Repeat and let their message sink into your understanding.  While the video on the surface is about thanking partners the more important message is the communication with the partner they describe.