Our Struggle to Obey the Great Commission

It is clear that Jesus has commissioned the church to make disciples. Once when I was vacationing on the Oregon coast I attended a church’s Bible study. That week the town was hosting a presentation by Tibetan Buddhists. I figured there would be some seekers at that meeting and I was eager to engage some of them in spiritual conversation (I could easily have been among them 35 years ago.) I extended an invitation to anyone from the Bible study group to join me. A man responded by saying that he thought we should stay away. “If these people are interested in Christianity, they can come to church,” he said.

That was not Jesus’ nor the apostles’ approach to sharing the gospel. They didn’t say, “If someone shows up in your church building, make disciples of them.” They went to the people.

What makes us afraid to go out and share the gospel? I often have to fight through fear at two points when talking with a stranger about the good news of Christ. Fear first comes up when I contemplate approaching people. I don’t naturally start conversations with people I don’t know.

Secondly fear creeps up when I consider bringing Jesus, the gospel or spiritual topics into a conversation. I know that not everyone will be pleased with my efforts to talk to them about Christianity.

Truth be told, this is fear of people. It is my desire to have others’ approval, or at the very least, not wanting their disapproval. It is over-valuing  others’ opinion of me. And what overcomes that? It is caring most what God thinks and not what people think. It is doing what is pleasing to him and leaving my reputation in His hands the way Peter and John did before the Jewish leaders:

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. ²⁰ For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:18-19).

I love the way Mark Dever frames this issue: “We are called to love others. We share the gospel because we love people. And we don’t share the gospel because we don’t love people. Instead, we wrongly fear them. We don’t want to cause awkwardness. We want their respect, and after all, we figure, if we try to share the gospel with them, we’ll look foolish! And so we are quiet. We protect our pride at the cost of their souls. In the name of not wanting to look weird, we are content to be complicit in their being lost.”

I have often found that when I obey the Lord and go, God is already out there fighting parts of the battle which I cannot fight. He sets up circumstances, causing people to be at the right place at the right time. He prepares the hearts of people. When you step out of your comfort zone you step into God’s comfort zone.

 

For example, at the Albany skate park I ran into a couple of Native American guys. One claimed to have a wolf in him. He was very friendly and willing to engage as I asked him about his spiritual beliefs. His claim was that everyone has an animal force within but most people do not tap into it. I asked if I had one and he called his “spirit guide” friend over. The “spirit guide” identified my animal as a coyote. After getting permission to share my beliefs,  I explained the gospel, starting with the sinful nature within each of us. It was apparent that it was the first time this young man had heard the gospel as he was very friendly and courteous.  Clearly pondering what he had heard he thoughtfully said, “This is very different from what we believe.”

Another time an elementary school Lebanon I talked to a Linn-Benton Community College student who was happy to take my survey entitled “Are You A Good Person.”  He shared that he once lived with an Assembly of God youth pastor in Silverton and that he had given his heart to the Lord at that time. Later he stopped living the life and finally gave up on it. Nevertheless his tender heart was evident. I believe we both had a sense that God was calling him back to Himself through our encounter.

Because of these encounters and many, many  others I am convinced that speaking with strangers about the gospel is worth pursuing. Many I never would have otherwise met  have come to understand the gospel for the first time because of our conversations.

 

When I share on the street my objective is not to get people to pray a “sinner’s prayer.” I’m glad to “close the deal” if I sense that God is drawing the person to Himself. Conversion is a work of God. I see my role as sharing truth. The Holy Spirit does the work in the heart that I cannot do. Most of the time, I am simply planting seeds.

So many times I have been tempted to play it safe.  But what great opportunities would have been missed along with great blessings! If you obey the Lord in sharing your faith, you’ll be amazed at how He can use you. When it comes to sharing your faith, what is the next step that God is calling you to?

Next two weeks: “My Approach to Sharing the Gospel”

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013 

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.

 

Why Share the Gospel?

 

The Apostle Paul stated that he was unashamed of the gospel. Why? Romans 1:16 gives the answer: I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation. It is the only means God has given by which a person can have eternal life. What could be more important than that? Belief transforms a heart dominated by rebellion and selfishness into a heart that loves God and His will. Ultimately, belief changes a person’s destiny from hell to heaven. The gospel is powerful! When I am ashamed of it, it shows that I have lost sight of its transforming ability.

In the gospels Jesus is recorded as speaking of hell 33 times. Every person you see today will either spend eternity in a lovely, glorious state of eternal bliss or in a terrible state of suffering that never ends. When I see people I want to view them in this way. The gospel tells us what it is that will determine their destination.

William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, had a vision of a dark and stormy ocean full of screaming, cursing, drowning people. On a great rock was a platform where a few people were rescuing those in the water and pulling them to safety. However the vast majority on the platform were entertaining themselves, or preoccupied with things like making money, while myriads struggled in the water right before their eyes.

William Booth’s vision may seem overly dramatic but in reality it is not. We live in the midst of an emergency situation. People who do not believe the gospel are in grave danger. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:17-18).

There is a 20^th Century story about a non-believing man addressing a minister who had spoken of hell. Addressing the preacher he said, “Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!”  

Though we don’t have the power to “save” people, we have both the privilege and the obligation to share the truth of the gospel. I want to encourage you to take the risk of sharing Jesus with friends, relatives, and neighbors and possibly even strangers.

Some would say that sharing with strangers, as I have made a habit of doing in the last couple years, is ineffective. I used to believe that myself. I fully support the practice of building relationships with non-believers and thereby earning the right to speak. But hundreds of meaningful encounters with people I do not know have convinced me that talking with strangers is also appropriate.  

For example, at Willamalane Park in Springfield my friend and I spoke about the gospel with a group that included a 17 year-old boy. He followed us as we spoke to others in the park. It became clear that the Holy Spirit was doing a drawing work in his heart and we were able to lead him to Christ as we sat on a picnic bench.

Once at the Eugene Transit Station, a middle-aged man asked about a scenario in which one person had lived a good life but was not religious while another was a rapist or murderer who had come to faith. He asked, “Do you believe that the good man would be condemned but the murderer/rapist would be forgiven?” Like most humans who want to earn their way to heaven through being a good person, the concept of grace being shown to a sinner was offensive to him. He was somewhat hostile at first but eventually his attitude softened. He told us about his daughter and son-in-law who were Christians and how he admired them. By the end of our conversation, he was open to my suggestion that he read the gospel of John.  

Many Christians believe that we should simply live lives of love and integrity and only rarely speak the words of the gospel. When I was a new Christian I shared my faith with a family member. When my mother heard about it and was not impressed with what I had done. She said, in reference to my Father, who passed away when I was 14, “Your Dad never had to speak about his faith, he just lived it.”

But I ask you, Is it biblical to say: “Live it but don’t speak it”? Certainly how we live is very important. We don’t want poor behavior in our lives to cancel out the gospel message we share. But we are called to proclaim the good news. I could not begin to cite all the passages that teach or imply that we should speak the message. Here are a couple of them:

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:15-16).

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

(2 Cor. 5:17-19).

In my own life, I came to realize that just trying to “let my life speak” did not lead to many conversations about Jesus. I don’t want to come to the end of my life only to have talked to a few people about the Lord. Rather, I want to be like Paul who said: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace (Acts 20:24).

Don’t you desire that same kind of sold-out commitment to testifying to the gospel of God’s grace?

Next week: “Our Struggle to Obey the Great Commission”

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.

 

Sharing the Gospel: My Story

I am grateful to have been able to share the gospel with hundreds of people in the last two and half years at various places: fairs, skate parks, school parking lots, malls, etc.  In this series of articles I would like to share some things I’ve learned and experienced.

First, I do not consider myself as having the “gift of evangelism” nor do I consider myself a bold witness. Truthfully, for the majority of my Christian life I have been too scared to talk to people about the gospel.  I’ve been a far cry from what the Apostle Paul said about himself: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16).

Throughout the years I’ve been inspired by sermons or books to share my faith only to “wimp out” when opportunities arose. Once, when I was a new believer I, along with my classroom parents, were in charge of a booth at the annual school carnival in Pleasant Hill, Oregon (I taught elementary school at that time). I had invited my wife Char, then a girlfriend, to come out and volunteer for a couple hours at the booth. After considering this invitation, I became fearful that she was going to speak openly about her faith in Jesus given her outgoing personality. I was scared about it because I didn’t want anything to hinder my reputation. I did not want to be known as a “Jesus freak” or as religious fanatic.

I tried to break through this self-conscious fear but my nervousness often caused my witness to be indirect, awkward or forced. For years my evangelistic efforts seemed to be a complete bust. But I desperately wanted it to be different. Things began to change in 2006 during a season of revival God brought to my church. Infused with new courage I began to take risks I had not taken before. Specifically, I began to cultivate relationships with neighbors and with strangers. I met over fifty people in the neighborhood and at times I found myself boldly bringing up the gospel. It was exhilarating! But as time went on I was more successful at approaching people to start a conversation than I was at turning the conversation to spiritual things.

Months later I listened to a man’s powerful testimony. After his conversion he so excited about Jesus he was compelled to tell everyone he saw about him. His boldness inspired me.  I thought to myself: “I want to be like that. I love Jesus and he is precious to me and I want to tell people about him.” Why is this so difficult for me?

On my drive home from that presentation the diagnosis to my problem hit me. I had a “filter” in my mind that was preventing me from sharing the gospel. Picture a filter similar to one you would use with your furnace to keep dust and other particles from circulating throughout your house. My “filter” served to keep me from sharing about Jesus and the gospel. This filter had been strengthened through the years and had been built up with warnings: “Don’t be weird.” “Don’t rock the boat.” “Be cautious.” You don’t want to be thought of as a religious fanatic or a Jesus freak.”  “Don’t be rude.” “Don’t offend people.” “They may not like you if you share.”

I realized this filter had become so powerful and effective that it had to come down! My strategy would be this: I would attack this filter again and again causing it to weaken. The way I would do this would be to bring Jesus, the gospel or spiritual matters up in conversations. Eventually, I hoped the filter would become ineffective due to the holes I had poked through it as a result of my sharing. Though it has been a slow and sometimes painful process the filter is weakening.

One of the things that has spurred me on is seeing a friend of mine boldly sharing the gospel in a variety of settings. After observing him I set a goal to present the gospel to at least one person each day. It has been a wild and thrilling ride! Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of the highlights. Stay tuned.

Next week: “Why Share the Gospel”

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.

Choosing the Best

In this series of articles I’ve been addressing the question of why the outpouring of God’s Spirit in the Free Methodist Church in 2006 did not have a lasting impact on more people. Previously, I’ve I discussed how “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things” (Mark 4:19) can choke out the work of God in our lives. In this, my final blog on revival, I want to look at how to conquer that kind of worldliness.

What is the key to winning the battle against this world as it bombards us with distractions and tries to convince us to make entertainment our pursuit? It is the knowledge that in Christ, we have something far superior. Peter writes that we “are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy for we are receiving the goal of our faith, the salvation or our souls” (1 Peter 1:9).

If we have Jesus, we have the best! We need to look no further than him to find joy and satisfaction. Direct access to the Creator of the universe and the Lord of all is ours and He promises that His grace is sufficient for anything we face. No form of entertainment can match that, not ESPN, not shopping or anything else.

What has the world to offer that can compare with the streams of living water (the Holy Spirit) that flow from within those who believe? Or the fruitfulness that produces 30, 60 and 100 times what was sown in us, which is the Word of God? The best defense against the lures of this world is an understanding and appreciation of what we have in Christ.

But this world is filled with distractions that can draw us away from our first love. My wife Char and I celebrated our 25^th anniversary by taking a cruise to the Baja Peninsula. The atmosphere on the cruise was one of total self-indulgence and the pursuit of pleasure. It seemed the theme was: eat all you can, party all you can, enjoy yourself-you deserve it!

So I could wake up on the cruise and say to myself: today I am serving me. I am going to put aside the notion that I have been bought at a price by Jesus, that I belong to him and that he has a right to rule in my life. Instead, I am going to chase after happiness by doing what I want supposing that I can improve on God’s ways by living life my way.

Sometimes we kid ourselves into thinking that we need a break from God, as though serving Him is a burden that we need a respite from. We get fooled into believing that to be really rested or refreshed we need to be self-centered. But can we really improve upon the  life and peace that are a result of a mind controlled by the Spirit (Rom. 8:6).

How much better to focus our thoughts and affections on Jesus in whom we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms? (Eph. 1:3).

When my obituary is written and people stand and at my memorial service and say how they remember me, I hope that I am not remembered primarily as an Oregon Duck fan. That has no eternal value. I hope I am not remembered primarily as a person who worked out and was physically fit. Although I want to be a good steward of this body, it will pass away. I hope that I am not remembered primarily as someone who loved nature or the beach. As beautiful as nature is, it is the Creator of that nature that I want to be most obsessed with.

Wouldn’t it be better to be remembered as one who delighted in the Lord, built his life on Jesus, loved people, lived with eternity in mind and spread the gospel of grace?

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

Please watch for my new series of articles on what I’ve learned from sharing my faith beginning in early September.

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.

A Divided Heart

In the past few weeks we have been looking at the factors that influence revival, as described in Jesus’ parable of the seed and sower. Today I’d like to focus on the third type of soil described in the parable which helps explain why the season in which He revealed His glory in the church I pastored was not sustained. Jesus described it this way: “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain” (Mark 4:7). His interpretation is found in verses 18 and 19 of that same chapter. Notice the three things represented by thorns: “Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”

This is describing a heart that is worldly, divided, double-minded and distracted. We would do well to heed its warning.

Hundreds of things, which, in and of themselves are innocent, become hell’s little helpers and poison to the soul when we set our hearts on them.

Distractions of all kinds are in constant competition for the chief place in our affections. They become idols when they mean more to us than Jesus does. Yet Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

If the devil cannot have you as a non-believer, he will attempt to make it so that Jesus Christ is not the all-consuming passion of your life. He will try to keep you from having Jesus be the center of your life, the main thing. This battle for our affections may be the biggest fight of the  Christian life. It is crucial that we win this ongoing battle.

The world continually attempts to persuade us to pursue leisure and entertainment. For older Americans the message is to travel, enjoy that RV, watch television, play BINGO or Bridge. Younger people are often entertained by, and distracted from, eternal things through social media, surfing the net, texting, ipods, television and electronic games. None of these things are sinful in and of themselves, but they can lure us away from the things that are truly valuable such as loving God wholeheartedly and loving people.

I sometimes receive flyers in the mail advertising satellite TV or a cable package that includes ESPN and various sports stations. And I think to myself: I could kick back every evening and watch my favorite teams play. There are so many stations to choose from that I could always find a decent sporting even or show to be entertained by. I admit: it is tempting!

Then one day in heaven I could hear Jesus say to me: “Well done good and faithful football fan!” (Just kidding)

I encourage you to resist the bombardment from the world that is trying to persuade you to let entertainment be your god. Let’s not let the trivial take us away from the more important matters of life, the eternal priorities. Let’s not waste our lives on things that won’t ultimately matter.

Paul wrote: “Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians. 3:1-2).

When my children were young, I used to take them to a video arcade. There was a game there that illustrates the kind of battle we fight. The player held a gun that shot a laser at a screen full of circles that randomly flashed. Each circle was numbered one, two or three indicating the number of points you earned by hitting it while it was lit up. After playing a few games, I realized that when I was shooting at the one’s, I missed out on the two’s and three’s that had lit briefly up. The best strategy for getting the maximum score was to totally ignore the ones and to only concentrate on shooting twos and threes.

Being preoccupied with shooting at insignificant “one’s” is a great picture of what this world does to us with its preoccupation with entertainment and leisure. We can become so distracted that we lose our focus on the eternal. I observed this happening in some of the people who had been touched by the move of God’s Spirit.

How about you? Have you been duped by this world into concentrating on lesser things? Or is your energy being invested in those things that are eternal and significant in God’s eyes?

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.

On a Mission

For the past few weeks we have been discussing why, after a powerful move of God, would individuals, and the church as a whole, fall back? A further observation is this: It is vital to realize that God blesses us, individually and corporately, so that we can bless others. It is not for us alone.

It is wonderful and satisfying to bask in the strong presence of the Lord. As David wrote: “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

But God does not display His glory so that we can be entertained or so that we can “hoard it.” His purpose is always to advance His kingdom. Revival activity dies down when this is not the goal.

In the book of Ezekiel, God gives us a glimpse of His own heart when He says, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” (Ezekial 18:23). God’s heart is set on reaching lost people.

Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). The one thing we cannot do in heaven is join Jesus in this search and rescue mission. It will be too late then. Now is the time.

I am convinced that the Lord wants to break our hearts over the condition of the lost people-all around us who are in bondage. The sinful nature dominates them and they have accumulated a huge stockpile of sins that are not forgiven, putting them at eternal risk.

Furthermore, God wants us to be so thrilled, enthralled and captivated with Jesus and our salvation that we are eager to talk about this treasure that we have found in Him.

During our mini-revival God was asking our church to share what He was giving us but the vast majority didn’t do this and so missed out on a great blessing. I think the reason we often neglect to share is that it is scary and we don’t know how people will respond. But we need to remember that if God sends us He prepares the way and goes with us.

Here is an example: When I pastored in Springfield my friend Steve and I would often pray together on Saturday mornings. These were intense times of calling out to the Lord. One morning both of us felt a very strong urging from the Lord to get out of the church building and go share the Word. Sensing the need to obey the Holy Spirit, we didn’t feel that we could put this off until later.

Steve suggested that we go door-to-door. Though apprehensive I knew I needed to respond to the prompting of the Lord. So we went.

Christians who have gone door-to-door know that there can be a great deal of resistance. That is why we were surprised when at the second house we encountered there was a man who welcomed us right in and had us sit down in his living room.

He told us that several days earlier, he had seen me walking and praying in the neighborhood. I’m not sure how he knew I was praying, but upon rightly discerning that that is what I was doing, this man asked God to send me to his house. A few days later we were at his doorstep! God worked both ends of the equation prompting this man to pray that I would come and prompting us to go out. No wonder the man welcomed us in and was open to hear what we had to say!

That was many years ago. During the time that God poured out His Spirit in Lebanon, I felt the same kind of prompting once again to the take the message to the streets, so to speak. For years I had prayed, meditated, studied the Word and memorized Scripture. It was time to put that to use reaching out to the unsaved. Unfortunately, many people were not ready for reaching out. I am convinced that failure to join the Lord in his mission hindered a further move of God.

Copyright Ed Skipper 2013

For more information about Ed’s ministry, to listen to him speak or to contact him about speaking to your group, visit heartofrevival.net.