Jesus is the Word of God
321 isn't the simplest gospel presentation in the world.
And it doesn't seek to meet unbelievers where they're at.
Nor does it try to reason from common ground and bring people in stages to the gospel.
It also majors on such 'advanced truths' as Trinity and union with Christ.
So why do evangelism this way?
If you want to run 321 the evangelistic course, go here.
I'm off to Falmouth for a few days of mission. Please pray for the above events. I'm then going to a houseparty in Wales, so I might not be blogging for the next week.
Don't forget to share the Halloween video.
Chow for now.
If you read Exodus backwards, the Israelites run from torrential bread-storms to seek work in Egypt #BackwardsBible
If you read Ruth backwards, Boaz divorces&repatriates his asylum-seeking wife after finding another man's shoe #BackwardsBible
If you read Genesis 25-27 backwards, Isaac blesses his cross dressing son who becomes a successful caterer #BackwardsBible
If you read 1 Samuel 17 backwards, David, just one day from retirement, sees the daddy of all zombies and quits #BackwardsBible
If you read Isaiah 6 backwards, the prophet hurls a seraph at the altar after hearing his job description #BackwardsBible
If you read Luke 5 backwards, Jesus encourages his friends to pursue many and varied career paths #BackwardsBible
If you read Matthew 17 backwards, Peter chokes a fish to death having come up short for the temple tax #BackwardsBible
If you read Acts 5 backwards, a wealthy couple leave a substantial legacy to the church #BackwardsBible
If you read Acts 8 backwards, Philip gets blown through a chariot. An Ethiopian is bemused #BackwardsBible
If you read John 2 backwards, Jesus tidies a temple and ruins a wedding #BackwardsBible
If you read Acts 2 backwards, Peter appears drunk in town having driven away 95% of the church #BackwardsBible
If you read Genesis 2 backwards, Adam faints at the sight of a naked lady. He sends away all the animals and dies alone :( #BackwardsBible
New Ruling: There are only 2 possible exits from a #BackwardsBible scene. 1) A moonwalk, 2) reverse pregnancy. 2) is strictly forbidden
If you read John 6-8 backwards, Jesus throws a woman to the mob, steals everyone's lunch then moon-walks on water #BackwardsBible
If you read Gen 3 backwards, the LORD drags Adam&Eve into the garden, gives them a stern dressing down, exits, moonwalking #BackwardsBible
My favourites from others...
Sudden and unexplained arrival of herd of sea-pigs prompts man's insanity. (by @IsaacPain)
Christian missionary renounces his faith and begins to persecute believers after being knocked over by Jesus #BackwardsBible (by @DaveTrigg)
Jesus tells a man to sit down before sending him away to fix a hole in the roof. #backwardsbible (by @DaveTrigg)
Pursued by a star, some wise men spend 2 years fleeing from a new born baby. #backwardsbible (by @DaveTrigg)
An injured man is dumped in the road by a Samaritan and then some other men come and give him money. #BackwardsBible (by@richardwardman)
After getting mistaken for a gardener Jesus goes to hide in a cave and has an angel cover it with a large stone. #BackwardsBible (by @DZRishmawy)
How about the time Jesus rubbed mud on someone's eyes and made him blind? (by @petekillingley)
#ClichedBible "I was born reddy" (Esau; Gen 25:25)
#ClichedBible "Totes Amaze Bowls" (Rev16) and "Dead Enosh" (Gen5:11)
#ClichedBible "That's how I roll" (Ezekiel 1:19)
#ClichedBible "I'll sleep when I'm dead" (1Thes4:13)
#ClichedBible "Aw, hell no" (Matt16:20)
#ClichedBible "Shut up and kiss me" (Psalm 2:12)
#ClichedBible "It's all good" (Gen1:31). "It's all goo'd" (Lev13:10)
A Decent Shepherd mends the fences. What kind of Shepherd DIES 4 sheep? Jesus. And He rises 2 know u & give u life 2 the full #EnjoyYourDay
Our sorrows are not senseless. They are seeds. (Ps126:5) A jubilant harvest is coming, far exceeding the tears that we sow. #EnjoyYourDay
There are no hidden catches, no secret levels. God is completely given 2u in Jesus (John3:35f). If u have Jesus u have it all #EnjoyYourDay
To those worried about making The Right Decision.... Remember, even if you choose perfectly, you're still forgiven.
No need to atone for the past. Nothing to prove in the future. #EnjoyYourDay
Those who protest their innocence loudest, feel their guilt keenest. Those who own their guilt quickest, know their justification best.
Radiohead's frontman tends to dominate. As a rule of thom
Let's play #NameThatHashtag... William Webb Ellis. Strip Pokemon. Pheasant for Grouse... ??
#GameChanger
#NameThatHashtag My sieve's better than yours
Holier than thou
#NameThatHashtag Superabundance of a herb. 80s pop classic. Repeatedly.
#Thyme after thyme
He is completely open to you (Jn15:15). He is completely given to you (Jn15:13). What a Friend we have in Jesus. #EnjoyYourDay
St Pancras: A guy in the shop wanted to impress the French salesman. "Bonjour" he said. "Oh u speak French?" "Oui, un petit pois"
In case you missed it acronyms are rife on Twitter
ICYMI see previous tweet
IOW ISTM OK. And by OK I mean Over Kill
If you really believed in finding your identity IN JESUS, you wouldn't talk so much about FINDING YOUR IDENTITY in Jesus.
God is not hidden behind Jesus. In Jesus - with arms outstretched to the world - He is revealed in radiant glory. #EnjoyYourDay
There is a Mediator with God. He's fully accepted by God and 100% on our side - the Man Christ Jesus. #1Tim2 #EnjoyYourDay
#Lev17 Jesus says: "My Life is in the blood and I have given it to you to make atonement." He holds nothing back. #EnjoyYourDay
#Ps116 "Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has been good to you." Count the ways and #enjoyyourday
"All authority in heaven&earth" does not lie with fate, chance or distant powers. It lies in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus #EnjoyYourDay
Remember: Spring Forwards, Autumn't you put the clock back an hour?
Jeremy Irons, but Ben Folds.
— James Martin (@Pundamentalism) October 19, 2013
Judging by the follow thru, definitely a leggy “@edlever: Ladies & Gentlemen, this is how you go bowling. pic.twitter.com/SxRSN5H5d1”
— Glen Scrivener (@glenscrivener) October 21, 2013
Feel free to play our Halloween video in church and/or to share on social media.
For the thinking behind this presentation read this or listen here.
For an all-age song to teach about light triumphing over darkness, here's Jesus Our Risen Sun.
And for the trick or treaters knocking on your door, why not hand out these cards with the video details on them:
Here's the PDF - Print off (in colour is best) - each A4 sheet makes 8 calling cards.
A snapshot of heaven - a father's love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QjIpxScTZA
And here's why the motto "Don't you listen to what anyone says, you get out there and sing girlfriend" can be very, very bad advice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaguNeopUss
And to restore your faith in actual talent - Ohio State Marching Band do their tribute to Michael Jackson...
Finally, a classic by Jack Handey: Lowering My Standards. More from Jack Handey here.
How does porn impact a young girl who discovers her father's stash? Michelle VanLoon writes about it in My Father The Porn Addict. This sentence struck me more than any other:
Porn taught me that the single most important thing to grown-ups was this mysterious world of fantasy, pain, and animalistic impulses too powerful to ignore.
Porn peddles a lie that becomes "the single most important thing" for those who buy into it. Actually it peddles many lies, but here's a prominent one: Porn tells us that love, respect and mutual honour are window dressing. Behind closed doors it's "fantasy, pain and animalistic impulses."
Loving commitment and kindness are like mating calls. The real business is mating. People might talk about relationships and fidelity, actually it's about glands and groans. On the surface it's love and trust, underneath it's power and gratification. And that's what's basic, primal, bubbling away.
To believe the lie is to feed it, to participate in it, to grow connected to it and then to see the world through its lens. Porn sacramentally reinforces the worshipper in that creed and the cycle spirals down.
When a Christian is embroiled in this other religion, what happens when they are told to 'clean up their private world'? It will likely be heard as the demand to 'put a lid on what's real.' Renouncing porn will be like agreeing to deny the truth, simply because the truth is too dangerous or shameful or powerful to acknowledge or indulge. And so the determined porn-denier will commit to living in the unreality of kindness, mutual service and self-control. All the while power and gratification throb away in heart and mind.
Combatting the lie will take more than a resolve to label pornography as 'harmful' or 'bad.' We need to know that it's also 'untrue.' And why is it untrue? Let's cut to the chase: God is as He is towards us. God is not different 'behind closed doors.' He does not display sacrificial love as window dressing. The Lamb is at the centre of the throne (Revelation 7:17). Push through to the deepest depths of God and you will find a faithful marital love that gives itself for the other. His gracious gospel offers are not mating calls to woo us while back at home He's all about power and gratification. No! He is love 'all the way down.'
Not every god will help you to conquer porn. There are many gods who are power and gratification pure and simple. And there are many Christian doctrines of God that offer a split-personality God - sacrificial in public, selfish in private.
But just imagine... what if, actually, the primeval passions that determine us are intimate, committed, self-denying deferrals to the other? What if it's respect and mutual love that are really bubbling away underneath? What if it's serving the other that drives this world, not using. What if giving and not getting is ultimate?
And I don't just mean, Let's escape mystically into some godly sphere where that love stuff is true. I don't mean, Let's affirm these religious truths (all the while knowing that 'the real world aint like that.') No, let's fling wide those doors that we're always closing because we imagine that darkness rules the roost. Let's declare that Jesus really is Lord. This really is Christ's universe. Light really is this world's driving force, not darkness. And all that other stuff is parasitic, corrupted, ugly, unnatural, ephemeral and passing away.
The lie of pornography will be unmasked and the bedrooms of Christians, both single and married, will be revolutionized when we see God aright. Behind closed doors there's not a throbbing, coercive power too dangerous to name. The primal urge is not grunting but grace.
On The Evangelists' Podcast we're in a series looking at 321
ONE...
Here we ask...
Why speak of union with Christ in evangelism? Isn't that a truth for discipleship?
What happens when we don't have a category for 'oneness with Jesus'?
How does union with Christ help the evangelist?
How should we go about explaining it in evangelism?
If you could describe God with one word, what would it be?
If you could attach any adjective to the word God, how would you characterize God?
Maybe loving? Maybe powerful? Maybe holy?
Martin Luther once said that if he had only one adjective, he might choose “SPEAKING”. God is “The Speaking God.” Does that surprise you?...
“Christ is completely wrapped in the Scriptures, just as the babe is wrapped in swaddling clothes. Preaching is the manger in which he lies and is apprehended, and from which we take our food.” -- Luther's Sermon on Luke 2
“Even if Christ were given for us and crucified a thousand times it would all be vain if the Word of God were absent and were not distributed and given to me with the bidding, this is for you, take what is yours.” (LW 40, 213)
I believe a return to Luther's theology of the Word might be the most powerful catalyst for change our churches could experience. Luther would have us proclaim Christ with a confidence and liberty which would be utterly transformative.
I ran these seminars for the Staff Team of UCCF Wales. I discuss issues like...
Luther's three-fold understanding of God's Word
The Ministry of the Keys
The Real Presence of Jesus in Proclamation
Law-Gospel preaching
Christ-focused proclamation
I also recommended this paper by David Lotz as preparatory reading
