Evangelism and Discipleship

 

Al was saved after a friend had shared Jesus with him and told him what Jesus had done in his life. His friend, Harry, had been trying to get Al to come to church with him for over a year. Finally, after repeated refusals by Al to attend church, Harry realized he needed to tell Al about Jesus. Harry told Al about Jesus and the work He did on the cross and why. He told Al how Jesus had saved him from drug addiction and pornography. That seemed to really get Al’s attention and when he allowed Harry to pray with him, he surrendered to Christ. But it didn’t end there. Harry took Al under his wing, as they say, and began to disciple him and help Al with his spiritual growth and sanctification. Al began to mature and grow in his faith in Jesus and began to share that good news with others.

Evangelism and discipleship are slowly fading away in the Church today. Christians in this culture are afraid to tell anyone about Jesus for fear of rejection and possibly being canceled. Most times it is just the fear of rejection or being told no. But after a time of spiritual growth, a Christian should be able to trust in God to give them the boldness to tell others about Jesus. There has to be an understanding that it is the Holy Spirit within us who gives us the boldness and the words to speak when we tell others. The word evangelism comes from the word evangelist which means to tell the good news. In this case, the good news is about Jesus. Evangelist comes from two words in the Greek. The first is eu which means well and the second is, angelos which means messenger and is also where we get the word angel from. So, an evangelist is a person who preaches or tells others about the gospel of Jesus. Evangelism is the practice of doing that. But any Christian can be an evangelist in any case when they tell someone about Jesus and what He has done for us.

I could be wrong but it just seems like it is a lost art in the Church today. Christians sometimes get too caught up in their own lives or in the world around them. They get busy with their jobs or careers, their families and other Christians and lose sight of the fact we were put here by God to tell others about Him. Someone told us, those of us who are Christians, about Jesus so we need to keep that message going. Pass it on don’t hold onto it. Let those who don’t know Him discover what He has done in our lives and how He can do the same in their life. You might know someone who is not a Christian who is miserable in their life. For whatever the reason, this person is just miserable and can’t find the answers they are seeking. Tell him/her about Jesus. Help the person understand how Jesus can change their life and always be there for him/her. That’s evangelism. You don’t have to be Billy Graham or Greg Laurie to share the gospel with an unbeliever. And don’t just invite the unbeliever to church. That is no help to him/her at all. It’s more of a way to avoid telling them about Jesus. Jesus will save them but the idea of a boring (to them) church service just turns them away. Tell them about Jesus and give them a reason to want to come to church.

Some might not be sure how to approach a person who is not saved. The first and best thing to do concerning this is to pray. Maybe it’s a friend who does not believe and you’re not sure how to tell them or how to approach them. Just ask God to create an opening or open a door allowing you to share the gospel.

Attempting to stop a person on the street and trying to tell a complete stranger can be a lot more difficult but if it is what God has put on your heart to do, then do it. I used to be in ministry at a couple of churches where we did public outreach. As my friend, Steve Feaster, always reminds us on our podcast, Discussing Christianity, we live in an entertainment driven society. So, we played off of that and did live concerts in public parks. We had three of four Christian bands come in and play. In between sets, we would give a brief message which was always Biblically based but not in a pushy way but related to issues or problems people might be dealing with in general and the answer was always found in Jesus. We were giving the public what they wanted, entertainment. There are a number of ways to reach the unsaved of this world but it starts with asking the Lord how He would have you go about it.

So, the person gets saved. Then what? Do you just leave them hanging without any help? New Christians need to be discipled. They need to be helped along as they grow in their faith. A good example for this has always been the need of a newborn baby. A baby needs to be fed, changed and loved. As the baby grows, he/she needs to be taught many things about life. They need to be disciplined. And that is where we get the word disciple from. And it simply means someone who is a learner or a follower of a teacher. But, again, it is almost like a lost art in the Church today. Allow me to explain why. Statistics show that Christians don’t read their Bible. So how can one person who doesn’t read the Bible help another person understand what the Bible says? If there is no spiritual growth in the first person, how can that person help another with their spiritual growth? So the root cause can be traced back to the fact that people who have been Christians for a length of time, should be able to help newer Christians. But they can’t because they haven’t read and studied the Bible and have had no spiritual growth and lack spiritual maturity.

The Apostle Paul had this same issue with the church in Corinth and he told them so.

Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,  for you are still controlled by your sinful nature.   1 Cor 3:1-3

The writer of Hebrews told those he was writing to they had a similar issue.

There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.  You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.   Heb 5:11-12

Those who should be helping new Christians grow need help themselves with their spiritual growth. So, there are none who grow spiritually or matures in their faith because there is no one to mentor them. Christianity is more than just fire insurance against a trip to hell. It’s doing the Lord’s work for Him while we are here on this earth. Does He need us to do that work because He can’t? No. But it’s what He wants us to do.

Telling someone about Jesus and seeing the person get saved and then helping him/her grow in their Christian maturity is a true blessing. We cheat ourselves by not taking part in this work which God has assigned us to.

After the Apostle Paul was saved, he made it his life’s work to tell others about Jesus. (Acts 20:24) I would encourage you to read the book of Acts and discover the work that Paul and the others did for Jesus. Paul traveled many, many miles to tell people who Jesus was and share the gospel with them. He suffered greatly for doing it but it never slowed him down. But down through the history of the Church there were many others who also considered nothing to be above the work of telling others about Jesus. The latter part of Hebrews 11 tells of some who were killed for doing this and Foxx’s Book of Martyrs also tells of the many who sacrificed their well being and even their lives for telling others the gospel. I know some will say that was then but this is now and things are different now. When it comes to the gospel and telling others, nothing changes. There are numerous people around the world who are dying every day for spreading the gospel message.

We live in a country where it is still relatively safe to share the gospel and help others grow spiritually. So why isn’t it happening? Don’t be afraid of being told no. And step up and help a newer Christian in their spiritual growth and maturity. Tell someone who doesn’t know and when they are saved, help them in their growth. Be a mentor and disciple a new Christian.

-Bill Petite

Thinking of Others First

We live in a world, or a country, where most people think of themselves in almost every situation before thinking of others first. Well, that’s a natural instinct which we were all born with and, in Christian circles, it’s called the sin nature. We are all born with a natural instinct to sin. People really get upset at that fact and will be easily offended by it. But it’s a fact. Think about this; I don’t believe any parent had to teach their child to say no or mine! They didn’t have to teach the child to be selfish (in most cases). They didn’t have to teach the child to be rebellious or to hate or act out. No, no parent had to teach their children any of these. They all come as a package deal as a part of the sin nature. We are all born with it and the only remedy is salvation through Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross for our sin, he paid the debt which was required by God the Father to cover that sin. When we acknowledge what Jesus did for us on that cross and ask for His forgiveness, He covers us with His righteousness.

When God sees us, He sees Jesus. Without Jesus’ righteousness, we could never stand before God because He would see us as the sinners we are and sin cannot stand in the presence of God. So, since we have such a tremendous and wonderful gift, salvation, why do we sometimes act as if we had never been saved by Jesus? The simple answer is, we still have the sin nature within us and sometimes we allow it to come to the surface and have its way. But we also have the Holy Spirit within us and He will overcome our sin nature when we allow Him to rule in our life. Ephesians chapter 5 and verses 15-20 tell us to be filled with the Spirit and refrain from sinful activities.

When we allow the Holy Spirit, or God, to rule in our lives and we have accepted His Lordship in our lives, we will then be living to please Him and the sin nature will be buried deep. Galatians 5:16-26 draws a comparison between living according to the sin nature and the Holy Spirit. It details the different activities between the two. People shake their heads and wonder how or why a person would brutally murder another. The answer is an easy one; it is the sin nature they were born with that enables them to commit such horrendous crimes. Now, the world will pass this off to mental health issues, the environment the person grew up in or bad parenting in general. These can be contributors, but it all goes back to the root cause and that is the sin nature. That’s where it all began.

But what about Christians? Can a Christian be selfish or inconsiderate? The answer is yes. When we, as Christians, fail to allow God to be Lord of our lives, we allow elements of the sin nature to take over. A Christian is a person who has been saved, their faith is in Jesus and they have the Holy Spirit within them (the Holy Spirit resides within every person at the time they are saved). But, when they fail to accept God’s lordship over their lives, it’s similar to a crack in the armor. The sin nature doesn’t need much of a crack to creep back in. I’m concentrating on this element of the sin nature because it is so prevalent in our society today. It’s all about me. Me, me, me! People are consumed with themselves and don’t have time for others (not all but I’m making my point).

A man shared with me how he was loading some lumber in his trailer which was hooked to the rear of his truck at a home improvement store. At one point, he lost his balance while stepping over the hitch between the truck and the trailer and fell and broke his leg. He said he was lying there in pain while people actually stepped over him on their way to their vehicles in the parking lot. His phone was inside the truck. He couldn’t even get anyone to get it for him. They just continued to step over him as if he was part of the equipment. Finally, someone stopped to help. That’s total and extreme selfishness. How many people stepped over him before someone was concerned enough to help? What were they thinking? I have good idea they were more concerned with themselves and where they were going next.

When a Christian is more concerned with themselves than with their Christian brother or sister in need, it is the sin nature rearing its ugly head. James drives home this point.

 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?   JAS 5:14-16

The works you do for Jesus after you are saved shows your true faith. The verses above can relate to one of those stepping over this man if they were a Christian. It would have been like them saying, “Gee, I sure hope you can get some help for that.” Paul talks about considering others before yourself in Romans 14 and again in 1 Corinthians 8-10. In both passages he reminds us to think about the other person first. You might have the right to do something or eat something or drink something but how does it affect your Christian brother or sister. I always relate it to the former alcoholic who is saved but might still struggle with that addiction. You want to go into a local club or bar because they have the best burgers in town. You’re not thinking about the booze but your Christian friend is. How could that affect his or her faith? Or what if you actually did consume a beer because you can and you don’t struggle with an addiction? How does that affect the new Christian? Do they get the impression it’s okay to drink alcohol even though they struggle with it? There are numerous scenarios which can occur but all are based on the self-centeredness of the inconsiderate Christian. It’s not a sin to go into a bar. It’s not a sin to drink a beer but this self-centered Christian just had to have that burger in that bar with his favorite beer. He/she never stopped to consider what effect it could have on the less matured or newer Christian. They could have just as easily went to Inn-N-Out Burger.

Paul and James presented these situations in a very easy way to understand, But the ultimate example is Jesus. He didn’t have to leave His throne in heaven to come as a man who suffered tremendously and died in our place to pay the price for our sin so we don’t have to suffer for eternity in hell. That’s putting it bluntly. And I need to be reminded of this just as much as anyone. Jesus put us ahead of Himself when He put Himself on the cross. I think there are many Christians who don’t realize how much Jesus suffered and the blood He lost before He was nailed to the cross. And He didn’t have to, but He did it for us and because of the love He has for us.

Allow the Holy Spirit to have control of your Christian life and put away the sin of selfishness. And put others first. Follow the example Jesus gave us. He thought of us first while knowing the pain He would suffer as a result.   

Bill Petite                                                                                                                                       

 

 

 

The American Jesus in the American Church

 

Who or what is the American Jesus? Well, there is no such thing as an American Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God and is, actually, God Himself. There is no such thing as a literal American Jesus. The American Jesus is nothing more than an imaginative figure in the minds of many people in this country who believe that God favors America over other nations of the world and that He is the provider of everything they want. I think it was around 2015 when August Rain, a Contemporary Christian band, released a song called, The American Jesus. It tells of this Jesus who is a sugar daddy and the great provider wrapped up into one. You can check out the song and its lyrics here, AUGUST RAIN - AMERICAN JESUS LYRICS (songlyrics.com)

So, what actually is The American Jesus? In many local churches in this country. Jesus is portrayed as the god who wants your life to be perfect with everything and anything you want or desire. The hyper-Charismatics will tell you to just claim it and God will give it to you. Need a new car or truck? Just tell Jesus what you want, and He will give it to you. Need more money? Because Jesus wants you to be wealthy, He will provide you with a better job with more money. Or, and this is a big one, the more you give to the church or the pastor, the more you get in return. God will bless you with a tenfold return. Give ten dollars and receive a hundred in return and so forth. But sorry, it doesn’t work that way. We don’t give to God to get anything in return. Giving is a form of worship, not a marketing scheme.

Another meaning, or indication, of the American Jesus is the idea of, “It’s all about me. I’m at the center of the universe and everything should be about me.” There is no ‘others come first’ with the American Jesus. It’s always, “I come first and I have my rights so I’m looking out for me.” I still haven’t found that passage or verse in the Bible. Those who have bought into the gospel of the American Jesus don’t understand that they should be a blessing to others because they believe they should always be blessed by others. They are first, they are at the center and they deserve whatever they want. Well, they really need to be careful with the deserve rhetoric since we were all born into sin and we all, again, all, deserve to go to hell. The only reason we won’t go is because, or if, we have received Jesus, the one and only real Jesus, as our savior. We have asked Him to forgive us and have surrendered to Him as Lord and savior of our life.

But that is the biggest problem right there. Far too many don’t want Him to be their Lord. They want Him to save them, but they don’t want anything to do with that Lordship stuff. They want to control their own lives; they want everyone to cater to them and they want to continue to live in and with the culture of this world.  Well, I have a message for them; there is nothing but speed bumps and hardships ahead. Where do they get these ideas from? When a person attends church on Sunday morning and what they hear is, “God wants you to be successful, God wants you to be the best person you can be, you can be a better person, you can be more successful.” And more of the same stuff on how it’s all about you.

The American Jesus is a fictional character these people have invented or created. He is not the Jesus of the Bible. In fact, nowhere in the Bible do we read any of these God favored, self-centered lifestyles. We read exactly the opposite.

Just last week, I read an article about a mega church pastor who was struggling over why he had to tell a 37-year-old single person why he/she couldn’t engage in sexual relations. He could understand telling that to a 16-year-old but not a 37-year-old. He’s a mega church pastor and he doesn’t know the answer to that? It’s in the Bible! I don’t know him, don’t know anything else about him but it appears he is what we call a progressive Christian or a liberal Christian. These people abide more by the worldly culture of this country than what the word of God says. Why can’t a single 37-year-old Christian, or self-proclaimed Christian, not engage in sexual relations?

So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.   1 Cor 7:8-9

Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.  EPH 5:3

In many other translations, sexual immorality is referred to as fornication. It comes from the Greek word, porneia, and where we get our word pornography. It is used in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 when Jesus talks about adultery. I could list many others verses that say basically the same or would have the same points but it is clear that the Bible tells this pastor why a 37-year-old single person can’t have sex with another person. Maybe he needs to read the Bible.

The American Jesus has been around for a long time. But I think he really burst onto the scene with the church marketing scheme. Use what works to get them in and tell them what they want to hear so they will keep coming back. I’m not anti-mega church but I do believe many never preach or teach the gospel message (as well as smaller churches). They don’t talk about the real Jesus. They promote a feel-good gospel, a God wants you rich gospel and any other gospel which has nothing to do with the gospel of Jesus. They want you to be comfortable and will tell you that God doesn’t want you to have troubles, afflictions or trials in your life. They will almost always teach the opposite of what the Bible tells us. Not all but most.

The Church in America is a type of the lukewarm church Jesus spoke of to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22 and the message wasn’t good. Other countries have sent missionaries to America so what does that tell you. Individuals have come to America to escape severe persecution but soon return after discovering the church here is not what they had experienced in their home nation. The church here, according to them, is weak and does not preach the gospel of Jesus.

The real Jesus, the Son of God, is not a feel-good Jesus, He’s not a get rich quick Jesus and He’s not a marketing Jesus along with the many other fictional images these people have of Him. Jesus warned His disciples of the persecution they would experience. Paul warns us in his writings that we will be persecuted for our faith in Jesus. Paul suffered greatly for his faith and belief in Jesus and for telling others about Him.

Jesus will provide for your need but not for your greed. Don’t buy into these lies and false teachings. Be a Berean and check the Bible against what is said in the pulpit or by any other so called Christian leader. Don’t be fooled by the feel good and Jesus wants you to be rich lies.

Read the Bible and study it. Know what it says and what God really wants for you and has for you. There’s no such thing as The American Jesus. It’s simply an idol which has been created by people.

-Bill Petite