We have come through a cold and difficult month. Respiratory problems have plagued our house and many others. The LORD has brought us through and we rejoice in a new month that we trust will bring better health. We look forward to feeling spring temperatures and watching God renew the leaves and bring forth the flowers. It is a glorious time. 

Witnessing of the grace of Christ is our special goal for this year. We have been making preparations for a renewed “House to House” ministry. We have committed to share the gospel with our neighbors and others with whom we come into contact. We also look forward to the opportunities we get to preach in the churches. Pray for us to be faithful to the task. 

My thoughts and study have recently centered on the matter of witnessing and the particular principles used by the Lord Jesus and others. Often our methods of evangelism are based on what we have learned from those who came before us. These are either based on biblical principles or the traditions of men. Traditions are not bad if they are Bible based.

Just last week I received a message that a particular church was going out soul winning and taking their church bus. They were also taking Gogo, the clown, with them who was going to swallow a live gold fish for every person they “won” to the Lord. I am sure you can imagine Jesus telling the Twelve to go out into the deep to catch some fish to use for soul winning motivation! Such non-sense is an affront to the Kingdom of God! In addition, it puts pressure on the witness to “persuade” people to make professions of faith, to get “decisions” based on on human whims and not motivated from a sense of true repentance and faith. To borrow a phrase from the Master, “ye do ere, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” John 1 teaches us that people are born again “not by the will of man, nor by the will of the flesh, but of God.”

Here are a few principles that I challenge you to find a verse to support:

1. A person can only be saved under the ministry of a preacher, i.e. a pastor or ordained minister.

2. A person must repeat a prayer to be saved, i.e. the sinner's prayer.

3. A person can not be saved by just reading a gospel tract or Bible.

4. A person can only be saved at church.

None of these ideas is based on the Bible. They are the teachings of some men. What we need to understand is that the command to witness of Christ to the nations is given to the church as a whole. Many a person has been won by a godly mother or teacher or even strangers. Some of the best witnesses I have ever known have been laymen who had a burden for the lost. I have personally seen great work done by the Gideons International in distributing the word of God. Testimony after testimony has been given by persons hearing the gospel message through gospel tracts that shared essential passages from the scriptures. The gospel of John itself, as were the other gospels, was like a gospel tract sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Indeed the message of salvation in Christ is the central common theme of every book of the New Testament; not to mention the testimony of every book of the Old Testament.

So what are the essential elements of the gospel? Some have ventured to say that 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 gives us the bare essentials,- the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in outline form that is correct. But these divisions of the gospel message lay upon us the necessity of deeper contemplation of their truths: Why was Jesus' death necessary? What is the point of burial? Why is the resurrection necessary? These and other questions beg for answers and the answers are the very work of witnessing. To answer them we must explore the nature of sin and human depravity. We must delve into the separation that death brings. We must rejoice at the power and glory of resurrection! We must see the substitutionary work of Christ in taking on our sin, 1 Corinthians 5:21, experiencing our separation from God brought about by our sin, Isaiah 59:1,2; and overcoming sin, death and the grave, Romans 6. Oh, what a glorious privilege it is to share the gospel message! And we can rejoice with the angels of heaven “over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:7, 10. And we don't have to swallow any live gold fish! 

In addition, we have the blessed privilege of taking the gospel to our neighbors, our workplaces, our schools, into the marketplace, over the airwaves and now via the internet. Let us endeavor to take the message wherever God's creatures dwell. "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15; and by whatever means God permits. "The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it." Psalm 68:11. Let us join together to do this great work. O Magnify the LORD with me!  
 

• Caring
• Concerned
• Considerate
  
• Discrete
  
• Friendly
  
• Helpful
  
• Kind
  
• Neat
  
• Quiet
  
• Thoughtful
  

   Who wouldn't want a neighbor like that? You may think of other qualities you would prize even more. But the facts are there are times it is good to know your neighbor. Disasters have a way of bringing people together to seek aid from one another. I hope you never face a disaster but we know that they come to all people, without warning and without respect to who we are. I want to be a good neighbor and I hope you do too. You may not live next to me but any time another person is in need it is time for me to be neighborly and lend a hand. Thank you for being my neighbor.

   When it comes to life we never know what the next moment may bring our way. We love to plan and set goals and that is a good practice. We also like to accomplish things that are meaningful and fulfilling in life. These plans usually involve others in our family or friends. One thing is certain, we all need a plan for how we are going to treat our fellow man as we endeavor to prosper in this life. Jesus once said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” This simple verse falls into three natural parts. First, there is the command, “Thou shalt love...” Love is without a doubt the greatest single act of life. It is a living, giving, active thing. It is a sacrificial thing. Second, notice that this love is to be “as thyself.” It must be the same kind of love we demonstrate toward ourselves. We feed ourselves, cleanse ourselves, primp and pretty ourselves and we please ourselves. We naturally love ourselves. Third, we are to have this kind of love for “thy neighbor...” Neighbors are a good thing to have.

   Very few people will argue with the first two ideas but when Jesus quoted this Old Testament truth there was a man present who tried to justify himself in this area by asking, “Who, then, is my neighbor?” You see, most of us have no trouble loving our neighbor as long as we can define who that neighbor is! Jesus illustrated this fact by telling a story about a Samaritan man who demonstrated a neighborly attitude. Samaritans were an idolatrous, half-breed nation. They were largely despised by the Jews. In his day a Jew could consider himself a good person and still mistreat and reject a person whom he considered unacceptable. Many people feel the same way today. Jesus told the story to get the man to face his own sinful condition. He understood what we must understand. Our thoughts and actions condemn us before God. Loving our neighbor means not lying, stealing, cheating, committing adultery, killing or just hating our neighbor. All of these are commands from God that relate to our neighbors. And when we do these things our heart condemns us.

   Now, if we left our discussion right there we would be in an uncomfortable position. The breaking of God's law is sin. And the Bible makes it clear that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. Furthermore, it states that “the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. Because of our sin we stand condemned by God and worthy of the judgment of hell. Try as we may we will never escape the reality of our guilt before God. We may ignore it for now; we may drown it in activity or alcohol or drugs or sex or making money or any number of ways. But the day of judgment will come: “for it is appointed unto men, once to die, but after this, the judgment.” Someone has wisely said, “We are not really ready to live until we are prepared to die.” But thanks be to God that there is Good News!

   The Bible declares, “But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. God has provided forgiveness for our sins through the sacrifice of his own Son. It is through faith in his Son and his work for us that we can be saved from the judgment we deserve. God says, “He hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21. To satisfy the righteous demands of God's law Jesus became the sinless sacrifice, our substitute, and paid the penalty of our sin. And to the one who exercises faith in Christ he gives the gift of eternal life. “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto salvation, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation...for whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:9, 10, 13.

   Thank you for allowing me to share this message with you. I want to be a good neighbor. Whether you are a neighbor close by or if you never see me again in this life, please feel free to call on me to help in any way I can. If you appreciate this message I encourage you to read your Bible daily and believe what you read. Find a good, Bible believing church to fellowship with other Christians. Most of all trust Jesus Christ. He will never let you down.  O Magnify the LORD with me!

2 Timothy 4:5

Young Timothy was a trustworthy companion and student of the Apostle Paul. By certain statements of Paul in both letters to him it appears that while he had a good grasp of truth and doctrine he may have been a little intimidated by older people or even a little shy in public. Paul used terms like “power” and “soldier” and “hardness” in his words of encouragement to the young preacher. He expected Timothy to stand with boldness to proclaim God's word. God gave this as an example to us. Many of us may need the same boldness in the work of God.

Our text of scripture introduces us to a word that appears only three times in the New Testament, the word, “Evangelist.” Paul tells this young pastor that he should do the work of an Evangelist. But what does that mean? The word first appears in the book of Acts (21:8) and is used to define the work of a man filled with the Holy Spirit. He was one of first deacons of the church at Jerusalem. His name was Phillip. He had doubtless been instrumental in the work of caring for the widows in the early church. But as sometimes happens, God had another work for him. Phillip's work changed to that of an “Evangelist.” He apparently became so good at sharing the message that others gave him this title as an indication of God's calling on his life.

The second time the word is used it appears in a list of gifts given to the church in Ephesians 4:11. These gifts are actually persons with a special calling on their lives to serve the church. The list includes Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastors and Teachers. Our focus is now on this group of Evangelists of which Phillip became one. But we have already asked, what does that mean? Let's look at the word in the original language of the New Testament. It is a combination of two words “Good” and “Angel.” Have you seen a “Good Angel” lately? An “angel” here is a “messenger of God,” not one of those ministering spirits who are so important to the kingdom. We believe in those too. In this case this messenger of God is a “messenger of good.” Specifically, he is a messenger of the good news or a messenger of the gospel. The Evangelist is a bearer of the Gospel, the good news that salvation, blessing and deliverance are here for us. An Evangelist may be comparable to a missionary, one who plants new churches or as we often use it, one who preaches our Revival Meetings. Indeed, this word appears over sixty times in the New Testament Greek when it is translated “preach,” “preach the gospel,” “bring good tidings or glad tidings, ” and “declare.” It is certain that this word refers to the sharing of the gospel. Another Greek word translated “preach” is also used in the New Testament over sixty times that appears to be a reference to the official work of a preacher. It is a separate command to young Timothy where he is told to “Preach the word.” 2 Timothy 4:2

While being an Evangelist is a special calling on some people there is no doubt that God wants others to do “the work” of an Evangelist. Timothy is told to “do the work” of an evangelist. It was not his specific calling but he was to “do the work” because it is necessary to bring new people to faith by the preaching of the Word of God, the gospel, to those who have never heard. A pastor such as Timothy has another calling on his life but it is imperative that he do the work of an evangelist. Make no mistake about it God has used some men mightily in this work of evangelism but our point here that it remains important for each of us to be involved in doing this work too.

It is not our responsibility to invite people to church, though that is not wrong. It our job to share the good news that Jesus saves from the wrath of God. We are not to bring the world into the church but to take the good news, the gospel, out to the world. Is that not the message of the Great Commission to the church: “Go ye therefore...” Matthew 28:18-20. The message is not meant to be bottled up it is to be announced to the world. And we have the blessed privilege to be the “good angel” in the life of some person who needs Christ! God wants me to be a better witness of his grace in this new year. I would venture to say, He wants you to “do the work of an evangelist” too. O Magnify the LORD with me!