Jim Wilson's Blog, page 38

Preach As You Go

“And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of Heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 10:7).

At least in recent Christian history, preaching is something that takes place at a certain place, at a certain hour, not too often, and not too long. It also requires much preparation by the preacher.

This, however, does not seem to be what Jesus meant when He spoke of preaching. He said it again in 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 a normal part for special people. Here is a biblical example:

“And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles… Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:1, 4).

Everyone except the apostles was preaching as they went. If “all” means “all,” this meant thousands of people, and perhaps tens of thousands. Let us encourage one another to preach as we go.

Written in 1978.

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

The One Who Sends & Comes Along

 

When Jesus sent the apostles as told in Matthew 28:19-20, it was much different from the way we send people on any kind of errand or mission. We send because we cannot or do not wish to go. The sender separates himself from the one sent. The one sent goes alone. This is with mutual agreement, for if the sender said that he would accompany the sent one, the sent one would reply with an accusative question, “Why do you send me if you are coming along? Go do it yourself.”

That is not Jesus’ way. He sent, and then He said, “Lo, I am with you always to the close of the age.” Jesus “sent,” and then He “came along.” Isn’t that wonderful?

But that is not the first instance of “sending and coming along.” Jesus said, “And He who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone” (John 6:29). The father sent the Lord Jesus, and then He came along. “He who sent me is with me.” He sent us, and now He goes along with us. How great it is to realize that no matter where we are or what our mission, He is always right there with us, helping us to fulfill His plan.

Written in 1978.

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

Book Recommendation: The Dynamic of Service

Two life-changing readings took place in my life in the fall of 1955. The first was my second reading of The Dynamic of Service . The book is a series of lectures on personal evangelism given by A. Paget Wilkes to fellow missionaries from several missions at Karuizawa, Japan, in 1920. It is the best book I have read on the subject. It is currently available on the CCM website, on Amazon, and on Audible. I encourage you to read it.

The second was reading and studying Acts 8, 9 and 10. This was brought to my attention by a missionary in Japan. The following is a piece of the teaching:

In chapter 8, take the time to see how God led Philip to the Ethiopian and the Ethiopian to Philip. In chapter 9, God led Saul of Tarsus to Ananias and Ananias to Saul. Chapter 10 tells us how God led Cornelius to Peter and Peter to Cornelius. In each of these stories the unbeliever was saved. God knew that each of them was ripe for the harvest. God led them to the harvester and the harvester to the ripe harvest. From a human point of view each of them were unlikely candidates for immediate salvation. After you study these three chapters consider the possibility that there is a ripe harvest near you. Please ask God to lead the harvest to you and you to the harvest. Do not be surprised when God answers your prayer.

"Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field'" (Matthew 9:37-38).
How To Be Free From Bitterness and other essays on Christian relationships

Book Recommendation: The Heart by Bessie Wilson

 

This book is a collection of articles written by my wife Bessie for The Hammer magazine. It was published in print in 2020 and has just been released on Audible. Here is a chapter from the book:

Set Our Hearts at Rest

What is it that helps us set our hearts at rest in His presence? The preceding verse (verse 18) establishes the context: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” The immediate context is that if we see a brother in need and we have no pity, the question is, “How can the love of God be in us?”

Years ago, just after Mother’s Day, a friend (the wife of a pastor) told me that her young daughter had defied her and gone to a public park. She was wondering how to handle this when the child returned. My friend had been folding clean laundry and was about to take it to her daughter’s room when she remembered the loving card received on Mother’s Day. She put it on top of the laundry, took it to the room and handed the card to the daughter with some remark to the effect that the card was not true, and she was returning it. It was an object lesson that words of love should be followed by action. I believe that it spoke to the child’s heart for her to see that her disobedience contradicted her words of love. (Is this why we have difficulty finding a card to express our love on special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, etc.? We know our performance has not come up to our words.)

Rereading the phrase, “whenever our hearts condemn us,” we see the necessity of examining our own hearts. When, during such self-examination, we find that our heart condemns us, two things must be considered. Does my heart condemn me because I have sinned? If so, sin must be confessed and forgiven on the basis of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” This means real guilt for a specific sin of thought, attitude or deed.

Does my heart still condemn me? Here we need to evaluate with the Lord’s help whether we are experiencing false guilt, a sort of confused, uncomfortable feeling of not making the grade and not knowing why. Perhaps verse 18 will provide some clue. Am I loving with words or tongue but failing in my actions and in truth? If my walk does not correspond to my talk, then I need to get back to evaluating by the Lord’s standard. He says we can set our hearts at rest in His presence if we check ourselves by His standard. For example, do I say I respect my husband but by my actions and words go against his wishes, denigrate him before the children or friends, act independently of his desires and undermine his authority in the family? Many of us would have to confess real guilt in this matter.

If, however, my respect for my husband is obvious to children and friends, I do not act independently, and I reinforce his authority, then my heart can be at rest in His presence. Remember God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything, so He is to be consulted as to whether, in His sight, I am loving in actions and truth.

Let’s use the same example in light of the husband’s responsibility. Husbands, do you say you love your wife but stand by idly when you see her struggle with the children, the laundry and the meals (and sometimes no money)? Do you discipline the children and teach them to honor their mother? Do you express your love and appreciations for her willingness to do without by telling her what her skills are worth in the present-day market and how much you would like to give her things of value? It does not mean giving her a gift you cannot afford, but she will find that the thought itself is a gift. The television or newspaper should not be a barricade behind which a man can hide while the “little woman” words herself into a resentment. “Cherishing your wife” as Ephesians 5:25 (KJV) says is to hold her dear by taking great care of her as a loved possession. 

Try this self-evaluation in His presence. It is a humbling experience but rich in benefits.

You can find The Heart in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formats on Amazon, Audible, and at ccmbooks.org. The audiobook is also available on the Canon+ app.

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

Principles of War: Pursuit, part 2 of 2

 

The most effective way to pursue the beaten enemy in physical war is to hit him from his unprotected flanks. If a direct pursuit is carried out, the victors run into the deadly sting of the rear guard and into many roadblocks and blown bridges, and so the retreating enemy gets away. To avoid these, the victors should travel a parallel path, outrun, and intercept the retreating enemy. To continue direct pursuit after the battle is won is to lose the retreating enemy. In order to effect an interception in the pursuit, mobility is needed. If immediate pursuit is undertaken, as many more captives as were taken in the battle can be secured.

Prior to the Megiddo battle in September 1918, Allenby promised his cavalry thirty thousand prisoners of war. His staff thought he was presumptuous. In reality he ended with fifty thousand prisoners, having reduced the Turkish Seventh and Eighth armies to a few columns.

Let us consider the “how” of spiritual pursuit. First, we must be convinced that many people are ready to receive Christ and will receive him if they are cut off and confronted with their sin and the Savior. When a man begins to run away, he is ready to be captured. This does not mean that he will not put up a last desperate struggle or will not continue to run. Thus it is important to cut off his retreat.

To outrun fleeing, convicted sinners, God-directed mobility is required. As in Gideon’s case, it might take a small, well-disciplined, courageous group to make a breakthrough in the spiritual conflict for souls. Once the breakthrough has been made and many have received Christ, many others will be convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and will begin to flee. Then we will need more than our hard core of trained men. We will need, like Gideon, all of the Christians who were not prepared for the battle but who are necessary in the pursuit. If we depend only on the core of Christians who seek to follow hard after Christ, we will win many battles, but there will be no complete rout. There will be successful evangelistic campaigns, but no awakening. If pursuit is practiced, every successful evangelistic campaign is a possible prelude to a general awakening.

If we study spiritual awakenings from Pentecost to the Welsh Revival of 1901 and the Korean revival of 1905, we notice the battle and the breakthrough centered around one man or a small group of men. This was only the start. After that, many Christians witnessed and testified of saving grace, and more people were converted. Christians got right with the Lord and entered the chase. The whole church was in the awakening. Evan Roberts was not responsible for the seventy thousand new Christians in Wales; he was only the leader. God’s revivals may start with God-picked people, but they continue only if every Christian, weak or strong, joins in the pursuit.

It is the responsibility of the leader not only to make the breakthrough in the battle with his picked men, but also to call in all of the reserves for the rout. Our greatest mobility is in the quantity of Christians who can testify of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. At that time, every Christian should testify to everyone he or she meets.

Another means of mobility in pursuit is literature distribution—booklets, tracts, books, and Scripture portions—all of them on the judgment and love of God. The literature may be offered without charge and distributed at meetings, through personal contact, or by direct mail. A corollary to this is use of the internet and/or apps to communicate the same information.

A third factor essential to effective pursuit is the manner and content of our appeal. In preaching Christ to the people just prior to the breakthrough, it is possible to be somewhat removed from one’s audience. But in pursuit, we must be clearly identified with the people. Let there be compassion and understanding in our approach.

Furthermore, an ultimatum should be used in our message, citing the judgment of God on the unrepentant. This is the only effective means that will cause a fleeing man to surrender to Christ. Judgment is the reality he cannot escape if he persists in fleeing from Christ, and therefore, it has great force in causing a fugitive to stop in his flight. Yet our warning should be given in love and joy.

The church in Thessalonica witnessed to their countrymen in the true sense of pursuit. True, they were not established Christians like those of Ephesus. They did not have two years of Bible school with Paul as the teacher. They had heard the gospel only three Sabbath days. Nevertheless, Paul writes to them a few weeks later: “For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak anything” (1 Thess. 1:8).

Will we follow their example? We must if we are to win!

*Excerpted from Principles of War. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

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

God Rejoicing Over Us

 

“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

This is one of the great verses of God’s character expressed toward us. Host of us know that He is with us, that He saves us, and that He loves us. But there are two additional expressions which cause me to wonder:

“He will take great delight in you.” That ought to help any Christian with a “poor self-image.” God delights in me greatly!

“He will rejoice over you with singing.” Most of us love to sing praises to Him with joy. Here it tells us that He also sings with joy over us.

There is grandeur, wonder, and awe portrayed in Revelation 5:11-14 where a hundred million plus angels and every creature everywhere sing “to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.” That is wonderful, but it is far more wonderful that God will sing with joy over me.

This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.

 

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

Principles of War: Pursuit, part 1 of 2

 

"Only pursuit of the beaten enemy gives the fruits of victory." —Carl von Clausewitz, Principles of War

"Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ." —Acts 5:42

In his biography of Field Marshall Viscount Allenby of Megiddo and Felixstowe, General Sir Archibald Wavell gives a very clear picture of the problems of pursuit:

“To the uninitiated, pursuit seems the easiest possible form of war. To chase a flying, presumably demoralized enemy must be a simple matter, promising much gain at the expense of some exertion and hardship, but little danger. Yet the successful or sustained pursuits of history have been few, the escapes from a lost battle many. The reasons are partly material, but mainly moral. A force retreating falls back on its depots and reinforcements; unless it is overrun, it is growing stronger all the time, and there are many expedients besides fighting by which it can gain time: bridges or roads may be blown up, defiles blocked, supplies destroyed. The pursuer soon outruns his normal resources. He may possibly be able to feed himself at the expense of his enemies or of the countryside; he is not likely to replenish his ammunition and warlike equipment in the same way. But the chief obstacle he has to overcome is psychological. The pursued has a greater incentive to haste than the pursuer, and, unless he is demoralized, a stronger urge to fight. It is only natural that the soldier who has risked his life and spent his toil in winning a battle should desire relaxation in safety as his meed of victory, and that the general and staff should feel a reaction from the strain. So that while coolness in disaster is the supreme proof of a Commander’s courage, energy in pursuit is the surest test of his strength of will. Few have carried out pursuits with such relentless determination as Allenby in 1917 and 1918” (Sir Archibald Percival Wavell, Allenby, A Study in Greatness, [New York: Oxford University Press, 1941], 217–218).

The spiritual war is not much different. If the principles of war were applied by a body of believers in any given locality, I believe there would be a great spiritual victory. The battle would be won and there would be many spiritual conversions to Jesus Christ. However, once a breakthrough for Christ is achieved, we tend to relax, as though the fight were over.

Consider Gideon’s rout of the Midianites. In Judges 7 we find that for the battle three hundred men were all that were needed to make the breakthrough. But once the battle was won and the Midianites were fleeing, Gideon called for the men he had previously sent home; three of the four tribes joined in the pursuit. He also called out the tribe of Ephriam to cut off the fleeing Midianites by seizing the fords of the Jordan. “And Gideon came to the Jordan and passed over, he and the three hundred men who were with him, faint yet pursuing” (Judg. 8:4, RSV).

The fact that 120,000 of the enemy were already slain, that Gideon had won the battle, and that he and his men were tired and hungry did not stop his pursuit. By this time, only fifteen thousand of the enemy remained:

“And Gideon went up by the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army; for the army was off its guard. And Zebah and Zalmunna fled; and he pursued them and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all of the army into a panic. Then Gideon . . . returned from the battle” (vv. 11–13, RSV).

In physical warfare, the fruits of victory are conserved by pursuing the beaten enemy. The victors cannot relax or just “follow up” the prisoners of war. The pursuit will bring many prisoners in a short time, but if it is delayed, another major battle will ensue, because the defeated enemy will have time to regroup its forces.

In spiritual warfare we must think beyond the converts made in the immediate battle. We must pursue the many non-Christians who are “fleeing” in conviction of sin, but who as yet have not surrendered to Jesus Christ. In other words, we as Christians ought to consider the principle of pursuit to be as important as follow-up of the new Christians after a spiritual breakthrough. The victory has prepared many people almost to receive Jesus Christ.

It is very important to take care of prisoners of war, but it takes a minimum of men to tend disarmed prisoners. In spiritual warfare the prisoners are the converts to Jesus Christ. They are not only disarmed, they are now on our side. It should take fewer people to follow through on the new converts than are needed to pursue the great numbers who have been defeated but who have not yet surrendered to Jesus Christ. Sometimes after a major spiritual victory, follow-up is not even attempted. Still worse is the failure to press the pursuit of those who are running away from Jesus Christ.

 

*Excerpted from Principles of War. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.

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

Wisdom & Folly

 

“'Let all who are simple come in here!' she says to those who lack judgment” (Proverbs 9:4, 16).

This quotation is taken from two different persons, Wisdom and Folly. They say it from the same place, “the highest point in the city” (9: 3, 14), and they say it to the same people, “those who lack judgment.”

Then a difference takes place. Wisdom offers food, wine, and life openly and honestly, but asks for repentance (9:5-6). Folly offers a lie: "Stolen water is sweet, food eaten in secret is delicious!" (9:17), but does not ask for repentance.

Wisdom gives life. Folly gives death. Folly offers present benefits which are called sweet and delicious, “but little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol” (9:18).

This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.

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

Your Own Stuff

 

If I purchase what I covet, I am no longer coveting my neighbor’s stuff. It is mine.

"As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. 'Good teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother."' 'Teacher,' he declared, 'all these I have kept since I was a boy.' Jesus looked at him and loved him. 'One thing you lack,' he said. 'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, 'How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, 'Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, 'Who then can be saved?' Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God'" (Mark 10:17-27).

The rich young man coveted his own money. It was keeping him from eternal life.

"Someone in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.' Jesus replied, 'Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?' Then he said to them, 'Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.' And he told them this parable: 'The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, "What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops." Then he said, "This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'" But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God'” (Luke 12:13-21).

This man was covetous. God called him a fool.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

"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).

 

Are you too attached to your own stuff?

 

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. 

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

Your Neighbor's Stuff

"

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Exodus 20:17).

Coveting often precedes purchasing, borrowing, stealing, and cheating. The success of free enterprise and capitalism is largely based upon it. God is not opposed to free enterprise or capitalism, but He is opposed to coveting.

This commandment to not covet is very close to the First and Second Commandments:

"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:3-6).

What is the connection? Look at Colossians 3:5: "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

 

Coveting is idolatry.

*Excerpted from Being Christian. To purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore. 

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