Jim Wilson's Blog, page 36

Tactics in Evangelism: Concentration

 

Concentration is outnumbering the opposition. The smallest ratio of effective concentration is two to one; but even being outnumbered five to two by the opposition is much better than being outnumbered five to one. Jesus practiced this in Scripture. He did not go alone until the cross. He picked twelve. Then He picked three at the transfiguration and in the garden. Jesus sent the seventy out in pairs:

“After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go” (Lk. 10:1).

Paul and Barnabas were sent out together. Barnabas and Mark went together. Paul and Silas went together.

There were instances where Paul went alone but realized he needed help:

“The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible” (Acts 17:14–15).

“When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18:5).

 

“Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia” (2 Cor. 2:12–13).

Paul had an open door. He did not take it because he had no one with him.

“For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever” (2 Cor. 7:5–7).

It is much better to preach the gospel in pairs at least.

*Excerpted from Weapons & Tactics. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

What to Pray for Others

 

Paul's prayers, Ephesians 1:15-19, 3:14-18; Philippians 1:9-11 and Colossians 1:9-12 have made a great impression on me over the years. Notice some of the phrases:

- "His incomparably great power to us who believe."

-"that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

-''that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth and insight."

-"may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ."

- "may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work.

There are more such phrases in these prayers.

If you wonder how to pray for anyone, read these prayers of Paul to the Lord on behalf of your family, your friends, your coworkers, and your neighbors. 

Written in 1982.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Without Excuse

 

"Set forth your case, says the Lord;

bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

Let them bring them, and tell us

what is to happen.

Tell us the former things, what they are,

that we may consider them,

that we may know their outcome,

or declare to us the things to come.

Tell us what is to come hereafter,

that we may know that you are gods;

do good, or do harm,

that we may be dismayed and terrified.

Behold, you are nothing,

and your work is nought;

an abomination is he who chooses you!"

(Isaiah 41:21-24)

This is one of the many comments on idolatry in the Old Testament. Psalm 115 is another.

“Not to us, Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.

Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.

All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.
You who fear him, trust in the Lord—
he is their help and shield.

The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless his people Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,
he will bless those who fear the Lord—
small and great alike.

May the Lord cause you to flourish,
both you and your children.
May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

The highest heavens belong to the Lord,
but the earth he has given to mankind.
It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
those who go down to the place of silence;
it is we who extol the Lord,
both now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord.”

(Psalm 115)

We would like to think that idolatry is so self-evidently wrong that of course it disappeared out of this world long ago. It isn't so. Idolatry may have changed, but it still follows the pattern set down in Romans 1:20-22. “Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools." And the results are the same described in succeeding verses of Romans 1.

We as Christians must be on the offensive in the war against the encroaching powers of darkness. If you do not have a copy of my small book Principles of War, you can get one on Amazon or at ccmbooks.org.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

A Wonderful Experience

 

“And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered…. So I sent to you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God, to hear al l that you have been commanded by the Lord” (Acts 10: 27, 33).

“So on the morrow Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then by command of Festus Paul was brought in” (Acts 25: 23).

These are two different audiences gathering together to hear the gospel. There is a great difference in the makeup of the audiences. The first was a household, a family, servants, and soldiers; the second was a gathering of self-important people. The first gathering wanted to know God. The second gathering was curious. One hundred percent of the first group was converted as soon as they received the minimum of truth. To our knowledge, none of the second group responded to the Gospel.

It is wonderful to share the gospel to people who want to know it. There are many such people. Please pray with me that they will come into contact with us daily and that we will be ready to share it with them.

Written in 1981.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

The God of Glory

 

“Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of Glory appeared to our father Abraham…” (Acts 7:2).

One of the wonderful things about the Bible is that God is not described in adjectives but in characteristics of who He isand in terms of what He does. He is the God of glory; He is the God of hope and the God of peace.

Daniel described him to Nebuchadnezzar this way: “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries”

Jonah spoke of Him, “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”

God is, and God acts. In Hebrews 11:6, we read “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewardsthose who earnestly seek Him.

“Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world” (Isaiah 12:5).

Written in 1981.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

On the Offensive: Preach As You Go

 

We shouldn’t just preach when we get there—we should preach on the way.

“As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near’” (Mt. 10:7).

We often think of preaching as something that takes place at a certain location, at a certain hour, not too often, and not for too long. It also requires considerable preparation on the part of the preacher. However, this is not the kind of preaching Jesus was talking about when He gave His disciples the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19: “As you go, make disciples of all nations.” Preaching and making disciples should be a normal part of our daily life, not a special part. Nor should it be only for pastors and full-time evangelists.

“On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria . . . Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:1, 4).

Everyone except the apostles preached as they went. This was thousands of people, perhaps tens of thousands.

Christians are often intimidated by people who say, “Don’t preach to me.” Who made them the authority on what we should do? We are also intimidated by those who tell the laity that they are not “qualified” to preach. Obviously, the thousands who scattered from Jerusalem were qualified, and they were certainly not all ordained ministers.

The One who has all authority told us to preach as we go. Let us encourage one another to do this. When done with the weapon of the fullness of the Holy Spirit, this preaching is effective in the winning of souls.

*Excerpted from Weapons & Tactics. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

On the Offensive: Preach & Proclaim

 

Jesus said that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the Church. But city gates are not an offensive weapon. They are defensive, which means that the Church should be besieging them—and not the other way around.

“He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Lk. 24:46–47).

“As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near’” (Mt. 10:7).

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, and He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed” (Lk. 4:18).

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea” (Mt. 3:1).

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Mt. 4:17).

“And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Rom. 10:15).

“It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation” (Rom. 15:20).

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” (1 Cor. 1:17).

“But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23).

“Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16).

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2).

To preach is to declare, to speak with authority. It is one-way, dogmatic communication. It is not a discussion or a debate. It is a proclamation.

“Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimedthe gospel of Christ” (Rom. 15:17–19).

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant” (Col. 1:21–23).

“But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth” (2 Tim. 4:17).

According to these verses, preaching and proclaiming is the way to spread the gospel. People do not think of this kind of presentation as loving, but it needs to actually be loving. You may have heard the expression “Don’t preach to me.” It is said with an emphasis that makes “preaching” sound like unkind, condemning speech. We have come to believe that preaching is unloving, and we do not want to be considered unloving, so we are either quiet or we soften our speech so it does not sound like preaching. This softening often leaves out parts of the gospel.

I remember once when an evangelist came to see me in the 1960s. He wanted to explain to me a new concept in communicating the gospel. It was called “sharing.” This concept has since spread like wildfire. “Sharing” was meant to be inoffensive, more “loving,” more “tactful.” The difficulty is that “sharing” has taken the place of preaching. We have bought the lie that because people take offense from preaching, the preaching must therefore not be loving. This is not true.

Here is a portion of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians:

“We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to sharewith you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you” (1 Thess. 2:6–9).

In this verse, “share” is good because it includes “our lives as well.”

“For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:11–12).

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).

Paul loved and preached. It is not preaching (i.e., the method) that gives the right kind of offense; it is the content of the gospel message:

“Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the crosshas been abolished” (Gal. 5:11).

It is the cross that gives offense. It is easy to leave out the cross in “sharing.” The more we leave out, the easier it is to talk. It may be easy to talk to an unbeliever about “Jesus,” but is harder to talk about the “Lord Jesus Christ.” It is still harder to talk about sin. It is even harder to talk about 1) hell, 2) the cross, 3) the resurrection of Christ, and 4) repentance.

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11–13).

Pastors, teachers and evangelists are to teach the people to do works of service. They are not to do all of it themselves. We can divide the Christians into two groups:

1)    Those whose vocation is preaching, teaching, and other works of service.

2)    Those whose vocation is farming, business, laboring, housekeeping, or professional (attorneys, educators, physicians, etc.).

Most of the people in the first group (the ones who are trained) interact primarily with other Christians. They do not have much contact with unbelievers. They have to force themselves into contact with the rest of the world.

Most of the second group has normal, daily contact with unbelievers, but they very rarely preach the gospel because they are not taught how. Those in the first group are to teach those in the second group. The best means of teaching is example. The best way of learning is by imitating.

*Excerpted from Weapons & Tactics. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

The Free Gift

Four great events took place through four great men. The men were Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The events were the fall, the promise, the law, and the free gift of salvation.

Jesus Christ and His free gift are tied to the promise. He is the fulfillment of the promise. He sets us free from the fall and fulfills and sets us free from the law. Let us continue to study and meditate on the wonder of the free gift.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

No Ear Has Heard, No Eye Has Seen

 

Here is a thought from Isaiah 64:4-5:

 

“Since ancient times no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who acts on behalf of those who gladly wait for him.

You come to the help of those who gladly do right,

who remember your ways.”

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Spiritual War: Our Objective, part 3 of 3 - Decisive Points

 

A decisive point is a place where, if a battle were fought and won there, it would be a decisive victory, one that influences the whole war.

In the war for souls, the battles must be fought in every location on earth because our Lord Jesus Christ sent us everywhere.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19).

“He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Lk. 24:46–47).

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

However, some places in particular are decisive points, and taking them will get the message to all places faster. If we want to reach the whole, then we should know what sort of places to concentrate on. Two questions determine whether a point is decisive: 1) Is it important? 2) Is it feasible?

Here are two biblical examples. First, in Ephesus:

“Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 19:8–10).

In Thessalonica:

“You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thess. 1:6–10).

These two cities were important and feasible, and they were therefore decisive in the effect they had on Asia, Macedonia, and Achaia.

Many years ago when praying about where to minister, I knew I wanted to go to a decisive point. There was no question in my mind that taking New York City would be decisive. If it could be taken it would mean that Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Broadway, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News, and ten million people would be saved. It would shake the world. It would be the greatest revival in history. However, I did not have the resources to bring the principles of war to bear on this stronghold of Satan. In other words, New York City could have been decisive, but it was not feasible. Without feasibility, a point is not decisive.

The Lord led me to small towns with major universities. The university makes such a place important. The small town makes it feasible. These are decisive points in any given state. Every student generation moves throughout the state and even the country upon graduation, and they can carry the message of Christ with them as they go. As in Ephesus, the battle can be fought in one place and win the whole state.

*Excerpted from Weapons & Tactics. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships