Another related myth is to say that the Gifts died out with the Apostles. Both statements would keep the use of Gifts of the Spirit out of Evangleism.
Isn't it funny how, when people quote the following scripture:
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Mark 16:15-16
They conveniently leave out what it goes on to say:
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mark 16:15-18
And remember - it is widely accepted that this was added after Mark wrote his Gospel - after the days of the Apostles, in other words.
I believe as follows:
1. We should specifically seek the Lord for and pray for for the baptism/filling/empowering of the Holy Spirit for ourselves and others.
2. We should seek the power of the Holy Spirit in our evangelism before we go out to preach the gospel.
3. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for use in evangelism, not just building up the church.
4. When we preach the gospel we should expect ‘signs following’ to confirm our message
Healing and other signs are an aid to evangelism because, (i) They help people to see that the Gospel is the truth, (ii) They speed up God’s judgement on those who refuse to believe, (iii) They create natural opportunities for preaching the Gospel to people who who would otherwise not listen, (iv) They point to God’s nature as a merciful, gracious God, (v) They point to the present and future Kingdom of God in which healing, deliverance and wholeness prevail.
5. Evangelism with healing and signs results in a bigger harvest of souls, that is more people are saved.
6. As well as ‘positive’ signs, such as healing and deliverance, ‘negative’ signs such as blindness, illness and death sometimes occur to those who oppose the Gospel or fail to act in the fear of the Lord.
7. Those who have a ministry of healing, deliverance and signs invariably suffer persecution, particularly from religious people.
8. There are accounts throughout church history of signs used to accompany the preaching of the gospel.
9. True gifts can and do get counterfeited and misused. Those who exercise them can become proud and fall into the Devil’s condemnation. Or they can lose their first love, compromise to avoid persecution or become hard-hearted, religious or corrupted by power.
I write as somebody who was led to the Lord by someone from a Charismatic Brethren background (yes, I know that’s something of an oxymoron). I came to Christ with a repentant heart and I was prayed for very soon afterwards to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I had a very real experience of the Holy Spirit. My Christian upbringing has mostly been in or near to Charismatic or Pentecostal believers. And believe me, in that time I have seen my share of wacky stuff, been taught some weird things, heard plenty of false prophecies and seen plenty of people in Christian ministry whose lives are in poor shape spiritually and morally.
Early on in my Christian walk, I was affected the chaotic approach to teaching among some of the Christians around me. I soon had to resolve not to listen to every bit of advice I was given, but to weigh everything up against scripture. I sought out teachers who accepted spiritual gifts and who were strong in the scriptures, like Timothy Pain, Derek Prince and David Pawson.
In my time I have often ended up at odds with people, including leaders where I have felt that there has been compromise over scriptural truth because of convenience, the fear of men, sloppy interpretation of scripture, absence of church discipline, failure to take sin seriously, pursuit of the sensational and so on. It hasn’t always made church life easy for me and I have had to conclude that in spite of all the talk of revival, church growth and evangelism, the church in the UK is mostly in a pretty dreadful state.
I can add that I have learned a huge amount in recent years from people who are either cessationists or at least do not emphasise the miraculous.
I have more to write on this, and it is turning into a long post. I want to deal later with some of the popular objections to the assertions I have just made.
See you!
McM
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Three Things that Blessed me This Summer No 3
Another really successful outreach recently to the local Asian Community. Many of these people are genuinely hungry for God's word.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Three things blessed me this summer: No 2
This one is a short post because I don't want to go into unnecessary detail and single anyone out.
More people are sharing the gospel in the open air. I am convinced of this from my own very limited observation. A tiny remnant, but the Lord uses these small numbers mightily! Let's pray as Jesus said we should.
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest."
Matthew 9:35-38
More people are sharing the gospel in the open air. I am convinced of this from my own very limited observation. A tiny remnant, but the Lord uses these small numbers mightily! Let's pray as Jesus said we should.
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest."
Matthew 9:35-38
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Three things blessed me this summer: No 1
In the scheme of things they're quite small. But I'm not a 'big' person. Like David I have to say:
LORD, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me. (Psalm 131:1)
And we should not despise the day of small things. (Zechariah 4:10)
Anyway, the first thing was that we had a successful evangelism training day at our church. We spent the morning doing the training, doing some teaching, interactive stuff and showing some WoTM materials and witnessing clips. There were eight of us - all young people, nearly all under 30. Given how hard it is to get people preaching the Gospel, this is an excellent number - ours is not a big church, the Pastor was very supportive of what we were doing and I believe this was a key reason for the good response.
We all went into the town and struck up conversations with the people there. And everyone returned with broad smiles on their faces - including me!
The church leader who took part said we must do this again.
Praise the Lord for this.
LORD, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me. (Psalm 131:1)
And we should not despise the day of small things. (Zechariah 4:10)
Anyway, the first thing was that we had a successful evangelism training day at our church. We spent the morning doing the training, doing some teaching, interactive stuff and showing some WoTM materials and witnessing clips. There were eight of us - all young people, nearly all under 30. Given how hard it is to get people preaching the Gospel, this is an excellent number - ours is not a big church, the Pastor was very supportive of what we were doing and I believe this was a key reason for the good response.
We all went into the town and struck up conversations with the people there. And everyone returned with broad smiles on their faces - including me!
The church leader who took part said we must do this again.
Praise the Lord for this.
Monday, 18 July 2011
Does Youth Ministry Work?
Please watch this. It underlines much of what I have been saying on this blog.
http://dividedthemovie.com/
Divided Trailer from NCFIC on Vimeo.
http://dividedthemovie.com/
Monday, 23 May 2011
Popular Myth Number 6: Apologetics - Debate - is the Key!
Apologetics (from Greek απολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (usually religious) through the systematic use of reason.
From Wikipedia
Well, that’s reasonable isn’t it? There are scriptures that point to this:
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
Acts 17:16-17
Well, Paul was well educated wasn’t he?
Even Peter says something similar...
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
1Peter 3:15-16
There are some great Christian apologists around who debate against leading atheists. For example, I admire Josh McDowell.
So let’s get studying! Logic, psychology, archaeology, history, debating skills.... A Levels, Degree, MA, PhD... See you in 8 years, then we’ll get going...
Not quite! Can you argue somebody into the Kingdom?
I began to have difficulty with this view when I used to listen to a weekly local radio programme some years ago which discussed religion. The presenter had a mocking tone, and he was good at making nice religious people look foolish (something that is not really difficult), yet he had no shortage of people to come on the programme to talk about their faith. I was reminded of the scripture:
Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
Matthew 7:6
The best way of explaining how I view apologetics is this. In military terms, it is hand to hand fighting. But in ancient warfare, an army would begin with the archers to fire arrows at the enemy first. Or the cannons. Then the foot soldiers went in - only after wreaking havoc on the opposition. In more modern times, the aircraft are sent in first to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure, and perhaps the tanks. Then in go the foot soldiers.
Before we start debating the gospel we need to fire in the cannon, the arrows, the missiles of God’s holy Law to devastate the enemy. Then we start the discussion. When we do that, many people don’t even get into debates. When we don’t do this, we end up spending pointless energy trying to win over minds when hearts are still hard.
When a tsunami occurred in South Asia in 2004, there was a lot of discussion in the media asking the question, “How can a God of love allow suffering?”. I got annoyed at this because nobody ever seemed to ask the question, “How can a God of holiness and righteousness bless us so much when we constantly sin against him, blaspheme his name and fail to thank him?”
The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a very lengthy article in the Times to explain why God allowed the tsunami. I couldn’t help contrasting this with the very short words of Jesus following a disaster in his day:
Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:4-5
There is a place for apologetics. But most people have a naturally hostile attitude towards the Lord and argument alone rarely wins people. We need to use the Law, and warn people concerning sin, righteousness and the judgement to come first.
From Wikipedia
Well, that’s reasonable isn’t it? There are scriptures that point to this:
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.
Acts 17:16-17
Well, Paul was well educated wasn’t he?
Even Peter says something similar...
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
1Peter 3:15-16
There are some great Christian apologists around who debate against leading atheists. For example, I admire Josh McDowell.
So let’s get studying! Logic, psychology, archaeology, history, debating skills.... A Levels, Degree, MA, PhD... See you in 8 years, then we’ll get going...
Not quite! Can you argue somebody into the Kingdom?
I began to have difficulty with this view when I used to listen to a weekly local radio programme some years ago which discussed religion. The presenter had a mocking tone, and he was good at making nice religious people look foolish (something that is not really difficult), yet he had no shortage of people to come on the programme to talk about their faith. I was reminded of the scripture:
Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
Matthew 7:6
The best way of explaining how I view apologetics is this. In military terms, it is hand to hand fighting. But in ancient warfare, an army would begin with the archers to fire arrows at the enemy first. Or the cannons. Then the foot soldiers went in - only after wreaking havoc on the opposition. In more modern times, the aircraft are sent in first to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure, and perhaps the tanks. Then in go the foot soldiers.
Before we start debating the gospel we need to fire in the cannon, the arrows, the missiles of God’s holy Law to devastate the enemy. Then we start the discussion. When we do that, many people don’t even get into debates. When we don’t do this, we end up spending pointless energy trying to win over minds when hearts are still hard.
When a tsunami occurred in South Asia in 2004, there was a lot of discussion in the media asking the question, “How can a God of love allow suffering?”. I got annoyed at this because nobody ever seemed to ask the question, “How can a God of holiness and righteousness bless us so much when we constantly sin against him, blaspheme his name and fail to thank him?”
The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a very lengthy article in the Times to explain why God allowed the tsunami. I couldn’t help contrasting this with the very short words of Jesus following a disaster in his day:
Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:4-5
There is a place for apologetics. But most people have a naturally hostile attitude towards the Lord and argument alone rarely wins people. We need to use the Law, and warn people concerning sin, righteousness and the judgement to come first.
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