Imbalance overlooked seriously!

 

“Why should some hear the Gospel many times over when others have not heard it even once?” Does this question disturb us? This has haunted me often and its glaring truth breaks my heart. Randy Alcorn Founder & Director of Eternal Perspective Ministries in his finding states, "the Church budgets irrespective of where it is located, often designate less than 10 percent of their income to missions. And what’s called “missions” often includes our own country or community.”.  If we all believe the Church is the only hope for the dying world, why then is our energy spent in preserving the members inside the four walls of the Churches than broadening the horizon? It can be observed, today’s Church has become salt and light to itself and not to the world as it was called to be, which left to itself becomes artificial light and self-preservation? The concern highlighted in the book of Hosea is about Israel profiting itself, “Israel is a lush vine; it yields fruit to itself…”. It is a warning that we should refrain from being "self-useful".

Do you know what is the central message in most of the Churches today? Week after week sermons from the pulpit emphasizes on taking care of the family, raising children, enhance family bonding, love their spouses, love their pastors and attend Churches regularly. Where is the message that talks about going out, obedience and engagement to the Great commission? Matthew 19:27, Peter on behalf of the other disciples says, “See we have left everything and followed you…”. The point to note here is that it was a response to the call of Jesus. It was not just a call, “Follow me”, but little more than that.  If you notice in Matthew 16:24-25 Jesus said, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.”. And it comes with a warning in verse 25 “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.”. Following which, Jesus confirms the reward for leaving everything and following Jesus in verse 29, “And everyone who has left houses or brother or sisters or father or mother or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred-time ore and will inherit eternal life.”. Though all the disciples are believed to have taken care of their families well, but we don’t get to read what they did with their families and their loved ones but we are definitely apprised about their commitment to leave everything and take the Gospel throughout the world. Thank God! Thomas came to India in 52 AD and spent twenty years spreading the good news before he died in 72 AD.

We are bombarded time and again that when we come to Christ, He will bless us manifold, everything will be fine and we will start climbing the ladder of success. Sorry to break your bubble! this is not what Jesus said at all.

Some of Christ’s disciples must leave behind their money and possessions to go reach the thousands of unreached people groups of the world. Some of His disciples must stay where they are, reaching out to those around them and living lifestyles that allow them not only to pray for others but also to give generously, to send and support them, and more importantly to share the Gospel in their work spaces and in their community.

We are called to obey His mission. What does it mean? Paul explains Christ mandate beautifully in 1 Corinthians 15:3 “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that was buried that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.”. That means we have no right to keep what we have received. This is the format of the Gospel work. But unfortunately, we are never burdened for the sins of not giving out what we have received. We only want to repeat hearing and repeat teaching about the love of Christ. Let us not forget the central verse of the Bible in John 3:16 “For God so loved that he gave his only begotten son…”. Love resulted to give His son. Let me close with the question again, “Why should some hear the Gospel many times over when others have not heard it even once?”

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Lifestyle Evangelism!

 

Times are such that I cannot but emphasize on Evangelism and our response to the edicts of Christ, i.e., our obedience to Great Commission and Great commandment. It's  imperative that we show our fervor and aggressiveness in taking the Gospel to the world like never before. The world is in such turmoil with the pandemic and it's new variants threatening globally. Though the world leaders are trying out best solutions, the challenges outnumber. Extreme and erratic weather conditions, political unrests, Bio wars are some challenges. In all of these should the priority of the Churches alter? Absolutely not. The focus of the Churches and every Christian should remain the same, i.e., reaching out to the people dying without Christ, more precisely 49 people per minute.

It's an encouraging fact that Churches and Christian Organizations are demonstrating the Love of Christ in action by meeting the physical needs of the poor; thereby, fulfilling the demands of Great Commandment which says, “Love your neighbors as yourselves.” Mark 12:29. But the question remains as to what extent the Gospel is shared with the same enthusiasm? I fully believe social intervention does open doors to present Christ to people, but are the Christians prepared to present it effectively? Krish Dhanam underscores on obeying to His mandate, “If you practice Great Commission and share about Christ you are an irritant, and if you practice Great Commandment and talk about the love of Christ you are interesting, but if you do both Great Commission and Great Commandment together you are irresistible.”.

A lifestyle of Evangelism is when you are not just seen as a believer or a Pastor but one who is able to share His faith in a convincing way that wins a soul for Christ. Many are just a little better than a good Christian but failing to present the Savior to the world. It is observed, many Christians who claim to be His disciples are blissfully ignorant. They try to proclaim a heaven they can’t prove while here on earth. Lee Strobel states, “I’m all for lifestyle evangelism, but I’m also in favor of intentionality, where we seek out opportunities for spiritual conversations and are equipped to explain the gospel and why we believe it”.

Each one of us are under the obligation to present the Gospel. It makes heaven rejoice. The alarming fact is that mathematical calculations of big number does not bring glory to God but on a contrary invites His indignation on us. Luke 15:7 says, “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.”. Intentional sharing of the Gospel takes time and energy in relationship building to induce honest commitment. It is doubtlessly the work of the Holy Spirit, but there are umpteen components that comprises Gospel sharing. This has been addressed in one of my previous blogs, which you can check HERE. It's appalling to observe that big organizations and Churches fall into the temptation of brandishing huge numbers of Gospel shared and people making commitment to Christ assuming heaven will be impressed, disappointingly cheating themselves.

 It is good to note how the Gospel numbers were calculated in the Bible. It was done with stunning accuracy. For example, in the case of people who were fed with seven loaves and few small fish, Matthew records four thousand men ate, besides women and children (Matthew 15:34-37). If it were to be us, we would have calculated big numbers hoping to bring glory to God. Numbers keep exchanged, duplicated, over calculated but heaven is still waiting to rejoice over one sinner making an honest confession and committing to follow Jesus. While Churches and organizations are looking for number of decisions made, Jesus is looking for disciples. We need revival. Let me close with the words of Leonard Ravenhill, "There’s no blueprint to revival. But there’s one thing that’s always there and it’s what the Apostle Paul said: “My little children, for whom I travail in birth.” For what? That you become Evangelists? That you become Missionaries? No! He says: “that CHRIST may be formed in you”!" And after Christ is formed in a person he /she cannot contain himself/herself.

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Evangelism Model!

 

In my previous blog “Evangelism model all are looking for!”, was intended to ignite the spirit of Christendom to bring conviction in our personal responsibility in reaching out to the non-Christians. True understanding of who Christ and His salvation plan, leads to true commitment followed by the obedience to the Great Commission. One cannot choose to know God and not make Him known. Let me emphasize, the primary purpose of every human being is knowing God. Jesus in His prayer to His Father expressed these lines, “and this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”. John 17:3 NKJV. Paul soon adopts it and makes it his personal goal, “my goal is to know Him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being confirmed to his death.”. Philippians 3:10.When you truly desire to know God and making it your primary goal, it doesn't just become the end destination but creates a deep urge to make the Savior known to this sinful world.

Nothing is more urgent or important in this critical time than giving people hope in Christ and present it through the Gospel to those living in midst of sin and darkness. Evangelism is all about presenting the Gospel, the good news. But how Christendom is understanding it and how people are actually engaging in the Gospel work is a matter of discussion. Let me reiterate all that is inclusive in the Gospel considering this verse from 1 Thessalonians 1:5   “because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit.”

On the basis of the verse given above, let me list key factors that includes Gospel according to Paul:

1. Gospel (good news) in Word: “Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe  the good news.”. Mark 1:14-15. The Gospel message is informing people of God’s love, which was demonstrated on the Cross of Calvary and calling them for repentance from  their sin and accept Him as Lord and Savior of their life.

2.   Gospel in Power: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved."1 Corinthians 1:18 CSB. The Gospel is full of power and has a capacity to break the hearts of people and transform them. The carrier of the Gospel unless truly transformed, filled with the Mission and anointing, may not be able to present the Gospel successfully.

3. Gospel in the Holy Spirit: Acts 1:8 says it all, “But you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”. This promise is actually fulfilled in Acts 2 in the day of Pentecost. Unfortunately, people hold on to one particular theology of either talking only about the day of Pentecost or talk about the gift of speaking in tongues. But then the outcome of the Holy Spirit, which is the sharing of the Gospel and message of repentance is ignored or in most cases completely. Peter presented the Gospel with the power of Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), as a result three thousand people were added to them.

4.   Gospel is presenting oneself for the benefit of others: Paul in his book in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 says, “We cared so much for you that we are pleased to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”. Paul ensures that he is not only available for those who are hearing the Gospel from him but offer his life for the sake of Gospel. Today, we just have time for one encounter and expect everything to happen on its own. How much are we able to dedicate ourselves for the sake of the Gospel and for the benefit of people’s soul?

I would like to end my assertion with two powerful quotes, F. Lincicome states, “God never intended His Church to be a refrigerator in which to preserve perishable piety. He intended it to be an incubator in which to hatch out converts.” And the challenge from Leonard RavenHill, “Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patient die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you DAMNED?"

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Looking for an Effective Evangelism Model?

 

The shift on evangelism initiatives in recent times has taken a giant leap. Last 15 years and so, I have always emphasized much on Holistic approach (Spiritual, Physical, Socio-emotional & Cognitive) not merely implicating holism on NGO’s and social projects but also in the functions of the Church. The pattern of the early church is a classic example of a holistic model, where vibrant evangelism and structural social interventions were integrated in the heart of the Church (fellowship of believers). But sadly, in the past, many Churches did not manage the perfect blend of evangelism and social interventions, though they had financial stability and in some cases inflow of foreign funds.

What is amazing to know today is after the pandemic the social intervention and evangelism drive has become, the priority for Churches and Christian Organizations. If it had been our top priority years before the pandemic, our national Christian census would have looked very different than what we see today. But hold on! Has all the social interventions and evangelism drives been intensified to ensure Gospel is shared and commitments made? Let me leave it to God, for He is the best judge of that. There are already many organizations, which solely exist for Gospel work and there are new Christian organizations, trainers, and experts who claim to have a model for evangelism. Strategies are made, numbers are derived, reports are created but at the end of the day the question we need to ask is how many were actually led to Christ and how has that impacted the Church growth?

Evangelism Model is not necessarily like one of the social models that can be completely replicated. It may or may not work at all. Why is that? Let me quote some examples from the Bible. If you look at the story of Samaritan woman whose encounter with Jesus had her life transformed and revolutionised. She rushed to apprise people of her encounter with God (John 4). The story of Apostle Paul was another revolutionary story. After he had a dramatic encounter with God (Acts 9), history was created. He swept the nations with the Gospel. Very soon, we see, he was able to create a leadership team and ministry partners who shouldered him in the Gospel work. Then in (Acts 8:1-4) we notice severe persecution broke out against the Churches in Jerusalem, all were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria, but that was not the end of the story. These people proved they were not simply a bunch of cowards. Verse 4 says, “So those who were scattered went on their way preaching the word.”. Did they have a model? Did all undergo a seminar on how to present Gospel? Of course not. But the driving force was their transformation after their encounter with God. The moment they experienced the gift of salvation they became revolutionaries. People who met daily in house fellowships, praying, and igniting each other were soon seen doing the work of an evangelist in adverse circumstances. Their priorities were connected with Christ's mandate - the Great Commission. This did not stop them while they were even on the run. For these people, presenting Gospel was more important than trying to protect their lives. Strategies emerged from crisis and models of its own were developed. People just adopted and moved forward.

My question is how could someone after experiencing salvation, not be revolutionised? Why is that they just become mere good standing believers and members of the Church, just about fulfilling its obligations but failing to be a witness and lead at least one person (a minimum number) to Christ, in their entire life? For that matter, sadly, many pastors of the Churches are also becoming managers of the Churches ensuring all their members remain with them all their lives. I am not saying it is wrong but how is the Great Commission becoming the Mandate of the Church? A prepared messenger leads many to Christ and impacts more life than through his prepared messages. Unfortunately, many are just satisfied by the noise of activities and evangelistic programs but failing to seriously make disciples. Let’s be careful that we do not treat evangelism and discipleship as mere terms.

If a long-standing Christian has not led one person to Christ all his life then what he/she needs is not motivation and Evangelism Model to wake the person up, but an intense dialogue to know his/her true identity in Christ and teachings to help the congregation member know what is his/her role as Christians. Evangelism is a life-style. One should be convinced of this transformed life and know how his/her career is entwined with the Purpose and Christ's mandate.

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Has your congregation graduated yet?

  

My previous blog pointed out the need to address a bigger crisis than Covid-19. Follow the link HERE  in case you missed the blog.  Death is inevitable. The Bible says on Hebrew 9:27, “And as it is appointed for men to die once...”. We don’t have control over the time of our death. We may assume that our lives are extended because of our good health practices, good diet and so on. But we are inevitably closer to our expiry date. It can be Covid today or something else tomorrow as the reason for our death. As much as each day new lives are born, there are equally a large number of people who die every 24 hours. The big question remains, how are we going to ensure that the people we influence find Christ in their lives before they die?

Psalmist writes in 19:1-2, “the heavens declare the glory of God. and the expanse proclaims the work of the hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.”. When creation is explicit about the existence God and His sovereignty, aren't catastrophes, raging pandemics, disasters causing turbulence in the universe screaming something very important to the entire human race and most importantly to the so-called Christians? The plan of redemption for the entire human race was accomplished by Christ our Savior and then before His ascension He entrusted His mandate to all of us. But are we still effective carriers of the Gospel as Christ is expecting or are we just the recipients of the Gospel satisfied and settled in our spirituality, confined to the four walls of the Church? Many Christians are like Israel stated in Hosea 10:1 “Israel is a lush vine; it yields fruit for itself...”. Pandemic can become just another excuse to dismiss the importance of sharing the Gospel.

If we observe carefully, Christendom to a larger extent is complacent within the four walls of the Church and never feels the need to go out of their spiritual comfort zone and share Gospel in their sphere of influence. By and large Christians are not sensitized on the urgency of the Great Commission, which is the mandate of Christ.  How is that Christ's mandate has become dangerously irrelevant? Who is to be blamed? Is it the Pastor or Church leadership or the congregation’s psychic ability to comprehend Christ Mandate? Sadly, Churches have imprisoned their congregations for years by keeping them satisfied with Church activities and confining to Sunday service, stunting them to remain a student and never graduate at all. In another scenario, congregation members have imprisoned themselves to the four walls of the Church for too long. It is astonishing to note that majority of Church members have not led even one person to Christ in their long years of being a Christian. A disciple making church does not just exist without doing any good for the community. The Church just can’t keep saying ‘Church is the hope of the dying world’ and do nothing about it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put’s it beautifully, “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without Church confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”.

Today, we have come to a point where meeting in Church buildings itself has become a threat. Churches are not what happens online for our satisfaction. If Christians are not restless about sharing the claims of Christ to Non-Christians, then we need to seriously examine ourselves. Every individual is a Church, which means there is a space in every Christian where he/she can present gospel and include people in his/her space. If the Bible does not urge one to share Gospel, then probably, he/she is not attentive to what it says.  Dave Harvey remarks, "Everything in scripture is either preparation for the Gospel, presentation of the Gospel or participation of the Gospel.".

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URGENT- Address the Bigger crisis!

 

The entire nation and the world is so much hit by the pandemic that the crisis is cumulating in every form with newer challenges each day. A new strain has been detected this Wednesday, which is 15 times more virulent. In my last blog, I addressed on the sovereignty of God looking at God’s judgement. In case you missed reading it, you may do so HERE. The death figure worldwide is crossing the limits, which includes many Pastors, leaders and Christians. How are we going to reconcile things?  

Tom Ellie, President of Oasis World Ministries presents statistics to awaken the spirits of Christendom. It is believed, each day around the globe 158, 857 people die. This includes approximately 66, 000 who have never had access to the Gospel, i.e. 2, 750 people per hour and 49 people per minute going to their graves without hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ! These numbers don’t even count those who heard the Gospel in their lifetimes but died without knowing Him.

Are we doing anything about it besides just praying and doing very little to impact those figures? The gift of Salvation is a “limited-time offer”! None of us know our last time on this earth. Yet, it is easy to be lulled into complacency, believing we have plenty of time to share our faith. We can easily slip into the "no-urgency" mode, which is alarming.

Missional has become the big buzz word in the last 15 years. Shane Pruitt, Director for the North American Mission Board comments, ‘Mission and Evangelism is becoming like a junk door, everything we don’t use we put it in the junk box.’. The exclusive evangelistic organizations existing to reach out to Non-Christians world in colleges, personal evangelism, etc., are the only ones sharing the Gospel. But is every Christian and the member of the Church equipped enough to share the Gospel and win souls? This is a serious question Churches should be asking often and find out how it can break the barriers.

Church operation is not the work of Evangelism. Today, Christians are smugly satisfied attending only the weekly Sunday Church service and trying to be good Christians at home and nothing beyond that. Most of the Christians are ill equipped to share their testimony or talk about Christ to Non-Christians. Hanging banners with statistics, flyers, evangelism and quotes is not evangelism. There are many leaders who give big discourses on evangelism but how many people they brought to Christ in their lifetime is still a question mark.  This is the hard truth. Everything is about conducting programs, fancy reports, presenting statistics and drawing out information on PowerPoints culminating to big programs and then things fizzle out. Funds flow and programs are active and all are elated being part of a big program. Again, the question remains is the actual evangelism happening at the ground level?

With Corona finding a strong ground, all are focusing to mitigate Corona challenges and busy reaching out to people's needs. The big crisis is to know that every day countless number of people are dying without knowing Christ is insignificant to even bother us, to be more specific, to know 49 people are dying without knowing Christ every minute. We need goers. In my experience and even many have commented that long time Christians becoming stagnant and standstill is the status quo. They are just managing their Church-going activities and busy in programs, sometimes attend training on evangelism, discipleship seminars and probably hear lots of comforting sermons and are satisfied with it.

John’s ministry was bang on! The first sentence was “Repent because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”. Matthew 3:2. Jesus’ ministry started echoing the same words right from the start was “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.”. Matthew 4:17. Peter after tarrying and infilling of the Holy Spirit echoes the same message in the beginning of his ministry in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized, each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…”. The way to salvation and eternal life was the priority, unlike today the message has diluted to God will bless you, keep you safe, protect you, give you all that you need and you will never die. Where is the message for sinners and unbelievers today? Think about it! In Proverbs 11:30 says, “… And he who wins soul is wise.”. What excites heaven is to see one believer repenting and finding eternal life. Luke reminds in Luke 15:7 “I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.”. Can we address the bigger crisis seriously?

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Strange message in these strange times!

 

This is not a research study on the Covid19 virus. My interest is to trigger the consciousness in each one of us as to "Where is God in a coronavirus infected world?". The pandemic has been perplexing and unsettling, making us clueless as to how to cope with it. In a time of crisis like this, hope is what we are looking for.

Coronavirus is confronting us all with the problem of pain and suffering, which are life’s greatest challenges today. But I would like to slightly shift our focus towards God’s judgement and sovereignty. Plague and pestilences in the Bible were usually connected to God’s wrath and judgement. In Deuteronomy 28 and other passages plagues were the consequences of forsaking the Lord. Let’s note that plagues in the Bible are represented as divine judgements of God. During this season, leaders, pastors and Christians have varied views in regard to this pandemic. Some believe Corona is a fake news, while some credit it to Satan, some asserted God cannot bring this on Christians as we are praying, but surprisingly most of  Christendom has failed to acknowledge that it could be the judgement of the Lord. Why is that?

Let's analyze few incidents of plague from the Bible and people's response to this major crisis. They are as follows:

1. The 10 Plagues in the city of Egypt: We are all aware of the ten plagues God brought against Pharaoh and Egypt to demonstrate His power against the enemies of Israel. Consequently, the people were reminded when it says in Deuteronomy 26:8, “The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong arm, terrifying power and with signs and wonders.”.

2. Outbreak of Plague in Israel tent (Numbers 25). It is said in verse 9, “but those who died in the plague numbered twenty four thousand.”. If we read the whole chapter, we understand that the Israel fell to the charms of Moabite women and was prostituting itself with them. They sacrificed to their gods. It is said in Verse 3 that Israel aligned itself with the Baal of Peor. The leaders were held responsible by Moses who were later executed in broad daylight.

3.Outbreaks of tumors when Philistines, captured the ark of the Lord (1Samuel 5). Israel was defeated but the Philistines, the people of Ashdod suffered miserably. It is said in 1 Samuel 5:9, “After they have moved it the Lord’s hand was against the city of Gath, causing great Panic. He afflicted the people of the city from the youngest to the oldest, with an outbreak of tumors.”.

4. God sent a three-day plague to wipe out 70,000 men after king David sinned by numbering the people of Israel (2 Samuel 24:10-17).

5. God sent several judgements against the nations of Judah including a plague, when he sent king Nebuchadnezzar to sack Jerusalem (Jeremiah 21:7, 24:10, 29:17).

6. The plagues described in the Book of Revelation including those sent by the two witnesses (Revelation 11:6) and the seven final plagues sent by God (Revelation 15:1).

So the learning could be that Biblical plagues can be categorized into two. First is God’s judgement against sins of His own people and the second category against unbelievers when they enslave and oppress His people. 

Having said this, it's clear that God is in a pruning process too, gauging our faith and trust in Him. There is an incident that talks about King Hezekiah's rule and dependency on God. When Sennacherib of Assyria entered Judah and laid siege to the fortified cities to break into them, Hezekiah was able to demonstrate His faith on Him. But at one point the second part of the verse in 2 Chronicles 32:21 says, ".... God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart.”. May we all demonstrate our reliance and be an example in this time.

It is time in Christendom to analyze and confess our personal and corporate failures to obey God and trust Him implicitly. It is a wake-up call to return with obedience to the mission of God. It is time we stop satisfying ourselves and people with endless spiritual activities and start pleasing God (1 Thessalonians 2:4). Let us strive to find God’s purpose in our lives. Let us apply this verse to our existence in these trying times, "and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14 CSB .

Let us go and reach out to the Non-Christians and build their broken lives. May God be merciful to us as we cling unto Him and plead for His mercies. Needless to say, be aggressively involved in taking the good news to heal the nation and world at large.

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