Head-dibs

“When I have seen you preparing for a storm, and reefing your sails to guard against it; how have I wished that you and I were as careful to avoid that storm of God's wrath, which will certainly, without repentance, quickly overtake us? When I have observed you catch at ever fair gale, how I secretly cried, O that we were as careful to know the things that belong to our peace, before they are forever hid from our eyes! And when I have taken notice, how steadily you eyed your compass in order to steer aright, how have I wished, that we as steadily eyed the word of God, which alone can preserve us from ‘making shipwreck of faith, and a good conscience!’ In short, there is scarce anything you do, which has not been a lesson of instruction to me; and, therefore, it would me ungrateful in me, did I not take this opportunity of exhorting you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be as wise in the things which concern you soul, as I have observed you to be in the affairs belonging to y...

Yesterday I fired this across your bow, “9 of every 10 people in the world are lost, outside of personal faith in Jesus Christ; 2 out of every 3 people in the world have never heard a clear explanation of the gospel; 1 out of every 3 people in the world are still in the “unreached” category, with no near neighbor to tell them the message of the gospel.” [Here's a point of discussion for you: how could children be thought of as an unreached people?] Here are 1o excellent ideas to reach the unreached from where you are (from, " Tell by the Smell - Connecting with Unreached People Locally ."): 1. Look up ethnic restaurants in your yellow pages. 2. Visit or call ethnic churches and ask about their lesser-evangelized neighbor communities. 3. Attend international festivals or other cultural events at a university. 4. Call a church that has hosted " Perspectives " in your target city. Ask to speak to the missions pastor. Tell him or her you'll pass on whatever yo...

This is World Christian Week here on the campus of Columbia International University . WCW is one week we set aside out of each year, taking a break from academics to hear the heartbeat of God for this lost and dying world. This year's keynote speaker is the Rev. Celestin Musekura. Musekura, a Rwandan, founded the African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries, or ALARM . In the face of tribal wars, ethnic conflicts, and genocide in Africa, ALARM actively promotes healing and reconciliation. We are being challenged with his personal testimony of pain and hope. Every year during WCW, the Lord brings to my remembrance the words preached by our Chancellor, Dr. George Murray on October 10, 2004: “Thomas asked, ‘How can we know the way to heaven?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Is Jesus Christ really the only way of salvation for the whole world? And if so, isn’t that rather narrow? Yes, it is. Doesn’t t...

God’s will is still a hot-pursuit item; however, I think what most people really mean when they say they are looking for God’s will is they are looking for something easy to do, yet still feel like they are accomplishing something for the Lord. You know, “what can I do to feel spiritual, but not break a sweat or bring any drastic changes to my life?” Read through the following list and see if you can name the individuals who experienced some of the hard-to-obey commands of God: This man was told to name his son “John.” This man was to anoint someone else as king while Saul still lived. This man was told to enter a Gentile’s home and preach the gospel. This man had to cross the sea . . . on foot. Who was told to leave his father’s house and move to a new land? And what about the guy who had to take a harlot for a wife? Then there was the fellow who was told to preach to his enemy. And the chap who helped a man who killed Christians? What was the name of the man who built a boat on dry l...

Here are some reports of the greatness of God! Debriefing report #1 Debriefing report #2 Debriefing report #3 Debriefing report #4 Debriefing report #5

What are you going to do with an extra day this month? Why don't you try this ! Or maybe something like this !

from my friend, Dr. John Williamson: "While preparing a Sunday School lesson, I stumbled across a remarkable verse. The psalmist wrote, " He declares his words to Jacob, His statutes and his ordinances to Israel " (Psalm 147:19). The author is encouraging his readers to sing in praise of the Lord God, and he tells us a very important truth. The source of God's Word had one and only one geographic spot of origin. He gave his word to Israel. Think of the variety of religions and religious viewpoints today, from where did they originate? Islam came out of Arabia. B'hai emerged from Iran. Mormonism is indigenous to the United States. Hinduism and Buddhism are native to India. Shinto is Japanese. Yet, where did God give his Word?"

In case you have not noticed, St. Patty's Day falls on Monday, March 17. Good Friday is the same week, Friday, March 21. Here's a couple of links to some survey-type questions to help you get the evangelistic conversations going. Get started early! St. Patrick's Day Survey Easter Survey

What follows is a strong teaching that would be worth remembering when we are about the Lord's work: ************ from Comfort Food -- Ray Comfort's Blog by Ray Comfort Who do you think is the most hated man in history? Is it the murderer of millions, Adolf Hitler, or perhaps mass murderer and terrorist Osama Bin Laden? I don’t think so. I think Jesus of Nazareth is by far the most hated person of all time. Who else can you think of whose name is used daily as a cuss word? Two thousand years after He was on this earth, even Hollywood uses it as profanity, in the name of entertainment. Why is there such a deep contempt for Jesus Christ? That is easy to answer. This is what He said of why the world hates Him: “The world cannot hate you; but me it hates, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). The world hates Jesus Christ for the same reason criminals hate the police. He accuses them of crimes against God. Despite the hatred, the Bible warns (and Scr...

We want people to love us. Books, songs, and movies are about love—we even set aside one day a year to celebrate love! A child needs love. Old people need love. We all want to be part of a group that cares for each other. But the world is full of hate. Many children and old people are not loved. Why is this? Hatred exists because we do not love God as we ought to—and because we don’t love God as we ought to, we can’t love each other as we should. But God is love. Is God first in your life? Do you love God above all else? Ray Comfort shares the following experience: “Many years ago, I purchased a T.V. for our children, but the first evening we had it, I arrived home from work and found that they didn't even bother to greet me. They were too busy watching television. I turned it off and explained to them that if they ignored me because they preferred to watch T.V. they were setting their love on the gift rather then the giver, a wrong order of affections. In the same way, if we love ...

Here is a great resources to help you jump-start a conversation: " 20 QUESTIONS Transitions you can use to turn a conversation to spiritual things ."

Bear with me as I learn to use my new tool--I CAN TAKE VIDEO NOW! Here are some vids from the other night (sorry they are so dark--they do not look that way on other players). At least you are able to get a small taste of what happens at Five Points: Report on an evangelism encounter: A Praise report!

Whether you have or not (or would ever want to), does'nt matter. I just could not wait to pass this along—I am so incredibly excited! And in the midst of all the excitement, know that Satan has already been at work to attack . . . the details there I will gladly leave out. Satan needs no press-time. I was preparing for our evangelism outing tonight and decided to swing by one of our departments here at the University to pick up more gospel tracts. As I was about to leave, one of the workers began asking questions about what we do in our evangelism team, where we go, who we talk with, etc. When the conversation touched the subject of Bibles for distribution, her eyes got large and she smiled and asked if we could really, seriously use Bibles in what we do. I replied to the affirmative. She took me down the hall into another department and from a closet produced a box of 42 New Testaments (2 in Spanish!) and said I could take them. And if that was not enough, she told me that ...

“Let us be watchful in the use of our liberty, and labor to be inoffensive in our behavior, that our example compel them not. There is a commanding force in an example, as there was in Peter (Gal. 2). Looseness of life is cruelty to ourselves and to the souls of others. Though we cannot keep those who will perish from perishing, yet if we do that which is apt of itself to destroy the souls of others their ruin in imputable to us.” Richard Sibbes, “The Smoking Flax.”

[What follows is a Chapel message I delivered (more or less) to introduce our Prayer Chapel at CIU-SSM on Friday, January 25, 2008] “ With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak .” (Eph 6:18-20) I. v. 18, “ With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints .” R.A. Torrey said that when a child of God reads these words, he must be driven to say, “I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and all my heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray.” Consider and evaluate our current working definition of prayer, “a co...

Occasionally I meet a person in ministry who voices a desire for personal and office organization, that time used in preparation for Bible teaching and preaching would be more efficient. I will suggest to you an easy-to-use filing and index system I’ve used for nearly 20 years. Consider first how many publications (both electronic and paper) are used widely by anyone who is a serious student of the Bible, Sunday School teacher, missionary, or pastor. Now and then we read a periodical, an article or have some other documents to file that contain some insight, illustration or principle or perhaps we take some sermon notes that we desire to be put away for easy retrieval. Let me show you what to do with these documents. First, you will need: 1) A file cabinet. Think 4-drawer, because over time, your files will grow. I have one two-drawer cabinet that pulls drawers out horizontally. It holds the equivalent of one traditional four-drawer cabinet. [i] This fits snugly against a wall and doe...

Walking through the mall can be an adventure because of the many kiosks, each dispensing a wide variety of products (lotions, nail-care, teeny frogs, goldfish, remote-controlled gadgets, etc) onto the world. Some kiosk attendants stand out far enough in the aisle with samples to “grab” people for their sales pitch that contact can be nearly unavoidable. But I come prepared for “malling” (do they use that term anymore?). In my fanny pack (which I sling over my shoulder) I carry any tracts that I cannot fit into my shirt pockets. I also carry business-card sized tracts in my pants pockets. I find some kiosk-attendants quite bored, so tracts are great boredom busters. Since security guards interpret what I do as “soliciting” (but it is not soliciting because I am not selling anything—tract distribution is “canvassing”) I don’t have many one-on-one conversations with attendants—they are more interested in selling, not conversing. But I’ve discovered that these bored attendants are not pa...