Seeds of Evangelism

We've been talking about witness as a part of the gospel, and over the last few weeks, we've been talking about what it means to be a false witness, and also what it means to be a false leader. Let's go positive, and talk about what it means to be a good witness. Let's talk about successful evangelism.

So, how many people have YOU led to Christ? Does anyone have a number? Has anyone led one person to Christ? I was asked that on a survey once. How many people have I led to Christ? And the answers were “between 1 and 10, 10-30, 30-100, over 100”? Really? Is that what makes an evangelist? Let's see, I led that person to Christ, but I'm not with him. I guess I should call that person up and see if they are still with Christ, because if not, then that wouldn't be a successful “lead.” Do you see how ridiculous this is? We cannot put a quantity on evangelism.

If we look at John 4:36-38: “The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.” There is no single person leading someone to Christ. This is not notch-on-the-belt stuff. This is a team of people working on bringing people to Christ. Well, we may say, let's assemble a team of evangelists, and one can be the sower, and another can water, and another reap, and another can store in barns, and another can package, and another can set prices, and another can take to the grocery store, and another can buy, and another can eat.

This isn't team evangelism, either. This is “God is doing the evangelism” evangelism. Jesus is trying to dispel the myth that we are the ones who do this. We are tools in God's utility belt, nothing more. We don't know who sowed seed, or which seeds were the ones that took, or which seeds were the one that fully grew up. God doesn't want us to say, “I led someone to Christ,” or even, “Jim and I led someone to Christ.” God wants to fall on our knees and say “Wow! Lord, look what you DID! I never could have done that!”

Our Acts passage dramatizes this point clearly. Did Philip know where to go? No. God sent an angel to tell him where to go. Why was the eunuch reading Isaiah? Did Philip put the scroll in his hands? No. Where did he get the scroll from? Someone else. Do we know that person was? No. How did that other person get the scroll in the eunuch's hands? Did he just say, “read this?” No. A third person must have planted a seed somehow motivating the eunuch to get the scroll. There's probably eight-sixteen people in the line of evangelists between that unbelieving eunuch and Philip. Do they know each other? No. This was an Ethiopian. He had no reason to be reading Isaiah, and he wasn't a Jew. He may have converted in Ethiopia, but that would have been done by yet another person in his home country. Isaiah hadn't been written at the time of Solomon, so the Queen of Sheba certainly didn't have a copy.

How did Philip know to go over to the chariot? The spirit told him. Did Philip take the eunuch through the book of Isaiah line by line? No. He only interpreted the one line the eunuch was already reading. And then he was able to preach the whole gospel from there. Philip didn't need to manipulate anything. He didn't need to say, “Isaiah is a good book, but you really need to be reading Deuteronomy. Go find Deuteronomy and then let's set up a coffee date. I'll meet you at Front Porch Cafe at 9:30am sharp!”

All Philip had to do was know that the scriptures are about Jesus. He knew this, because that's how God works in us. We are able to see Jesus throughout scripture. We look at the world—at life—through Jesus tinted lenses. God got the scripture into the eunuch's hands through many people. God got the right interpretation into Philip's mind through the Holy Spirit. Then all God had to do was get the eunuch and Philip together. Everything just happened. As the phrase goes, “it just worked itself out.” What happens after the eunuch is baptized? Philip is whisked away. No time to get the eunuch in an Alpha program or find the right home church for him. Nope, God doesn't want Philip to screw anything up. Your job is over! On your way, now!

God does everything. We are his resources. The best metaphor for this is in our gospel reading. “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” We are members of Christ's body, and we can do nothing of or by ourselves. We allow ourselves to be used by the vine. We are grafted onto the vine. The lifeblood of the vine flows into the branch. Christ's lifeblood is in us. We bear fruit, not because we are trying very hard, but because we have the fruit-bearing lifeblood in us. I bear fruit and the fruit falls to the ground and bursts open and the seeds inside help God's kingdom grow. You bear fruit and your fruit falls to the ground and bursts open and the seeds inside help God's kingdom grow. Together the seeds from our fruit interact in a way that God wants. The Father is the vinegrower. He is the only one who sees how the seeds of the fruit are going to interact to grow his kingdom. But if we aren't bearing fruit, we get pruned. We have to willingly submit to the vine so that Christ's lifeblood is running in our veins. Otherwise we are useless, and we get cut off.

When Paul lists all those witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15, it's not just to say, “look at all these witnesses!” It's also to say, “look at the different kinds of witnesses!” Someone might read about the risen Christ appearing to James and think, “Wow! That's the brother of Jesus, who didn't believe during Christ's entire earthly ministry, and then, when he witnesses the risen Christ, he believes! That's enough for me, I'm a believer!” And the seed gets planted. But another person may say, “James doesn't do it for me. I'm a believer because of the 500 witnesses! That is the power of mass witness!” Each of us will get a different seed out of different things in scripture, history and relationship, and as these seeds build up, as the witness becomes overwhelming, we all reach the same goal—a relationship with the risen Christ. He is the one constant in evangelism. He is the destination. He is the goal. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, and today, and forever. No matter what seeds of evangelism get us there, he is waiting at the end of the line.

Donate a Bicycle to His Dream Center

If you have a bicycle, even a damaged one, that you would like to donate to His Dream Center, we will accept it.  Rev. David Daniels and his team will fix the bike and lend it to an international student to get around the OBX over the summer.  Call me or just bring a bike by His Dream Center (205 E Baltic, Nags Head) if you have one to donate.

Hired Hands

Last week we talked about what it means to be an unbelieving witness. As part of the gospel, we are all called to be witnesses to the risen Christ, and it is possible to be a false witness. As believers in an unbelieving culture, our unbelief grows the more time we swim in the culture, and when we witness the glory of God in the world, our immediate reaction is to think of that glory as being man's, or of being part of a philosophical or religious system that is not Christian. By immersing ourselves in scripture, the writings of the saints, and prayer we quench that unbelief in us.

Chapter Ten of the Gospel of John is quite interesting, because Christ makes three analogies to himself. He refers to himself as the shepherd of the sheepfold, who calls the sheep by name and they know his voice. Then, he refers to himself as the gate itself, through which the sheep pass into the sheepfold. No one can get into the sheepfold except through him. He then refers to himself, in the passage we read today (John 10:11-18) as the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. These are powerful images of Christ, but I want to focus on the three alternatives he gives to the gatekeeper, the gate, and the shepherd. I especially want to focus on the last one, because it is another example of unbelieving witness.

First, Jesus is the shepherd as opposed to a . . . stranger. The shepherd calls the sheep by name and they follow him, because they know his voice. As followers of Christ, we hear his voice and follow him, and we can tell his voice from that of a stranger. A stranger's voice, we wouldn't recognize, and we would not follow. When we encounter alien faiths and philosophies, as Christians, we find something wrong with them, something amiss, and we don't follow the sound. When Christ finds us, his lost sheep, he gives us his word, so that we can understand what his voice sounds like, and we can tell his voice from a stranger's voice.

Jesus is also the gate itself. No one can get to the Father except through him. This is opposed to . . . thieves and bandits. We have advanced from stranger to thief. The sheep do not listen to thieves either, but whereas a stranger does not cause the sheep harm when it refuses to follow, a thief comes after the sheep to kill and destroy. The sheepfold is everlasting life, and so we obtain that through the gate himself.

Finally, we have our passage today. Jesus is the GOOD shepherd, as opposed to the hired hand. Now a hired hand does not seem worse than a thief who wants to destroy the sheep, does he? Well, actually he is worse. Whereas the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, the hired hand will . . . sacrifice his sheep to spare his own life. When he sees the wolf coming, he runs away. He is only a hired hand, he does not own the sheep, like the good shepherd does, and so he has nothing invested in the sheep.

Think of all the hired hands we have in the world. The president. Congress. Our governors and rulers. They will not lay down their lives for us. They will run away and sacrifice us to the wolves. Only Christ will lay down his life—and he HAS laid down his life—for us. We mentioned those world leaders, but here I am. I'm a hired hand, too, and my job is to lead you to the good shepherd, but many times we preachers are tempted is to run away and leave everyone to the wolves.

The reason we have such conflict in the churches, denominational and non-denominational splits, schism, and strife, is because they are run by hired hands, who are not leading the sheep to the good shepherd, or they are pretending to be good shepherds themselves, but they lie. We can take a lesson from Israel if we look at Ezekiel 34:

Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.

Leading the sheep astray, running away when the wolf comes, scattering them and leaving them for the wild animals, that is worse than being a thief or a robber. At least the thief has the identity of a thief. The hired hand is supposed to be the helper of the good shepherd, but he turns out to be a self-serving scoundrel PRETENDING to be a helper. The deceit makes the hired hand the worst of the lot. We see this all throughout scripture. Look at Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;” The ungodly are strangers, the sinners are thieves, and scornful are false leaders.

So this week the problem is not unbelieving witness but unbelieving helpers. The unbelieving hired hand who runs away when the danger comes and sacrifices all the sheep to the wolves. What is the solution? If we study this whole passage of scripture we find that Christ gives us the answer. It's another “I Am” statement beyond gatekeeper, gate, and shepherd. After Jesus tells the Pharisees these three analogies, the Pharisees respond in verse 19:

Again the Jews were divided because of these words. Many of them were saying, ‘He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?’ Others were saying, ‘These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’ What is this about opening the eyes of the blind? Well Chapter 10 of John is the second half of Chapter 9, where Jesus opens the eyes of a man born blind. Because this is the Gospel of John, each miracle Jesus performs is a visual illustration of an I Am statement Jesus makes about himself. In this case, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” Look at John 8:12:

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.'” The next chapter, Jesus demonstrates this in a miraculous way by giving someone WHO WAS BORN BLIND sight. We have been walking in darkness from the beginning of our lives, and Jesus is the only way, we can have light.

Is this the solution? That Jesus is the light of the world? In a way, it is. When we look at the words of Jesus, he opens our eyes. When we read scripture, it opens the eyes of the heart. How do we tell a hired hand who wants to lead you to the good shepherd as opposed to a hired hand who wants to lead you astray and run away when the wolves get ya? To answer that, you know this book inside and out, and you know that Jesus is the light of the world. You know that God's word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths. You know from the first letter of John how to test the spirits:

1 John 4:2: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Jesus Christ, the messiah, the anointed one of God, has come in the flesh. Who do the pharisees say that Jesus is? Do they say that he is the Christ, the messiah,the anointed one of God? Back to John 10. The Jews were divided. Many said that he has a demon, but others were saying not. The ones who said he had a demon were hired hands who would lead people away from Christ. The others probably became Christians.

Jesus asks Peter, who do you say that I am? Peter responds as a hired hand who will lead people to the good shepherd. You are the messiah, the holy son of God. Jesus is the light of the world. God's word is a lamp unto our feet. Know this. Blessed is the man, who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord—today we have the complete word of God at out fingers, so we can read: but his delight is in the Word of the Lord, and in his Word he meditates day and night.

Unbelieving Witness

We have been talking about how witnessing is an important part of the gospel, as important as who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for the world. It is the engine that propels the message around the world. We, as the church, are important to the gospel, because we are Christ's representatives on earth, and we are witnesses to his glory.

But it is possible to be a false witness, even as a Christian. Our readings this morning are full of examples of this false witness. This type of witness is fueled by unbelief. In Mark 9, a father comes to Jesus to ask for healing for his son. Jesus tells him that all things can be done for he who believes. The father responds, “I believe! Help my unbelief!” We are each a combination of belief and unbelief, and when we are swimming in the world's tides, the unbelief rises and becomes more dominant. When we immerse ourselves in scripture and prayer, the belief rises.

So, in or gospel passage, we have disciples setting eyes on the risen Christ and thinking he is a GHOST. Unbelief. In our Acts passage, Peter heals the paralytic, and the witnesses all are astonished and confused. Peter must a magician, or he himself is a god. Peter has to give a mini sermon to them on the spot to explain that it is not he who has the power but their own God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that did it. All you have to do is call on the name of Jesus Christ, his son, you know, the author of life, the one you killed. Unbelief.

Last year we had a woman here suffering from bone cancer who has chronic headaches. We all laid hands on her. The bone cancer didn't go away, but the headaches left entirely. Praise God! Right? No, we tried to figure out who laid hands on her neck that day, so we could give that person the glory. Unbelief, and yet we are a congregation of believers!

Whenever Cathi has a migraine, I'll pray over her. An hour later, I'll ask her if she took Advil. She'll shake her head at me and say, “your prayer did it.” God did it, and here I am, full of unbelief, thinking man-made drugs are the only solution.

Christ gives us solutions to this problem we have—the combination of belief and unbelief. Christ himself teaches us how to shrink that seed of unbelief and water and nurture the belief. Looking at the gospel passage again, we see that the disciples are freaked out, because they think Jesus is a ghost. This is their unbelief. Here is what Jesus instructs:

1. Follow the evidence. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” They examine the physical evidence. Then Jesus eats a fish in their presence. Ghosts don't eat. We follow the evidence and accept where it leads. The best evidence is eyewitness testimony, which is, as we have said, an integral part of the gospel. Reading church history, reading biographies of the saints, reading current world events from a Christian perspective is a way to get large doses of miraculous events throughout history to the present.

One of the most inspiring books is “A Life of Prayer” by George Muller, where he documents all of the prayers the Lord answered of his, sometimes to the exact request. His life was a test of God's strength. He never asked men for money or food for his large orphanage. He only asked God, and it paid off. There is another book called “The Wonders of Prayer” which also documents all of the amazing things God has done for mankind over the centuries, outside the Bible.

Then there's the Bible. The second instruction of Jesus from our gospel passage is “search the scriptures.” He said to the disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He shares the gospel and then tells them that they are witnesses to these things.” Witnesses just by studying scripture? Yes. As Christians we have the Holy Spirit with us, opening our minds to understand the scriptures.

Now, someone who does not have the Holy Spirit who tries to read this book will find that it is all white noise. We have the Holy Spirit, and so we have understanding of this, but if we don't read it, we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to unlock it for us. Meditating on these words allows the Holy Spirit to reveal things that were previously hidden about Jesus.

The door is open. We just have to walk through. Follow the evidence and search the scriptures and you will find that Jesus is God and Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. We are witnesses to these facts. That is the gospel. Follow the evidence. Search the scriptures. Believe.

Food Pantry Basket to Be Filled

Inside the entryway for His Dream Center we will be putting a large basket to be filled for the Food Pantry. Here is a list of the things that the pantry needs more of. Feel free to bring a few things each week and place them in the basket for the needy on the Outer Banks:

Coffee, Tea, Crackers, Muffin Mix, Sugar (2#), Gravy, Flour (2#), Mayo (16oz), Oil (1qt), Hamburger Helper, Cake Mix, Jello/Pudding, Frosting

Food Lion is an affordable place to pick these items up. When you are out shopping, pick up an extra item or two for the Food Pantry. We will have the basket waiting.