Your Heart Before Your Service

     If you have your Bible, I would encourage you to turn to the book of Jude. Jude is one of the books you would probably turn to if your pastor told you to memorize an entire book of the Bible. Why? The entire book is shorter than many chapters in the Bible. If you are like me, it probably took you about five minutes to figure out where in the world Jude was because it takes up one side of a page in your 1500 page Bible.
     Despite its small size, Jude contains a huge amount of truth; truth that includes one of my favorite passages on evangelism. Look toward the end of the book (it's not far). We will look at verses 20-25.
     20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
     21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
     22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
     23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
     24 Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory,
     25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
This is a very short passage of Scripture. Most of you are probably thinking you could read through that in the time it takes for you to sneeze. Nevertheless, over the next couple of weeks, we are going to look at this passage and the truths it contains. You'll see that even these six short lines have huge practical application for the witness.
     Right now, we will start with verse 20-21; what it means and how it applies to the witness. There are four main exhortations in these two verses, and all of them lead up to the same point. We see an exhortation to build our up our faith, pray in the Holy Ghost, keep ourselves in the love of God, and look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. In application to the witness, this all leads to one conclusion: we are unable to witness effectively in and of ourselves. We must be prepared.
     Let's take a look at each of these individual principles.
     For starters, we are called to build up our faith. Taking the other statements and the rest of the Word into account, we cannot neglect time in the Bible. If we are to be effective witnesses, we must pour time into increasing our knowledge of God, seeking His face, and preparing our hearts to be used of Him. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes from the Word of God. We need to spend time in the Word so that we are able to recognize opportunities as God provides them, and so that we are able to communicate His truth clearly when the time comes.
     Second, we see the need to spend time in prayer in and with the Holy Spirit.. Romans 8:26 inseparably links the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to our prayer. The Bible is how God speaks to us; prayer is how we communicate back. John 14:13-14 reads,
     13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
     14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. (emphasis mine)
These words were spoken by our Lord. He teaches that if we pray for opportunities to glorify the Father, God will honor those prayers. Not only does prayer open doors for evangelism, the two-way communication of reading the Word and prayer is how we stay attuned to the heart of God.
     Thirdly, we are given an exhortation to keep ourselves in the love of God. Where do we see the love of God most. I would submit that we see the greatest display of God's love on the cross. Romans 5:8 says,
     8 But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
I've said it before, and I will say it again. If we are to be effective as believers in all areas of life, not just evangelism, we must constantly look to the cross. It is to be the focal point of our lives. Even in the very deep, "theological" books of the New Testament, the authors constantly return to the cross. It is the beginning, heart, and end of everything we do and are. We must constantly return to the cross and be reminded of the love of God so that we can show that love to others. We will look at that a little more in the next post.
     Lastly, we are to be looking ahead for the coming of our Lord. We are not of this world. Our Lord is not of this world (John 17:14). When this world sets its face against us, our hope is in the return of our Lord. When trials and tribulations come, our hope is in the return of our Lord. We did not trust Christ for the sole purpose of a better life on earth; our hope is in the return of our Lord. (1 Thess. 4:13-18) We live, not in light of this earh, but in light of eternity with our Lord, glorifying His name (2 Cor. 5).
     I know this has been a long post, but I hope that it has been benficial in some way. If nothing else, remember that we cannot expect or even hope to be effective witnesses without being fully attuned to the will and way of the One we serve.

My Banner Will Be Clear

      I ran across something the other day that was both a challenge and an encouragement to me. I hope it does the same for you.
     The following letter was found in the study of a young pastor in Zimbabwe, not long after he was martyred for the cause of Christ.
         

      "I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit's power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line, The decision has been made- I am a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

    I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t
    have to be first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean in His
    presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.
         My face is set, my gait fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my
    companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought compromised,
    detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or decayed. I will not flinch in the face of
    sacrifices, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or
    meander in the maze of mediocrity.
         I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached
    up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach
    till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no
    problem recognizing me...my banner will be clear."

     The passion of this young man effectively puts the apathy of many Christians in our nation to shame. He said that "the die has been cast." He recognized that, when he made the decision to follow Christ, he cast in his lot with the King of Kings. He obviously felt a desire to serve God, but we also see that he felt himself to be under an obligation to serve God.
     Look what this young pastor says at the end. "And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me...my banner will be clear." This young man made an on-purpose effort to be clearly identified with Christ. In Hebrews 11, we find what is known by many as the Hall of Faith. In verse 13, we read,
     "13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
     14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. (italics mine)"
These heroes of the faith did not keep their faith hidden. They didn't "hide their candle under a bushel." They were not afraid to be identified with the One they served. Verse 13 says that they confessed the fact that they were not of this world. Verse 14 says that they declared plainly their pilgrimage to the place to which God was calling them.
     I hope and pray that my standard, my affiliation, will be as clear.

Never Cease

     I just thought I would write a quick post and share something with you. Today is an awesome day for me, because it was exactly two years ago that I came to Christ. I was sitting in my Explorer at 0100 in the parking lot of a hotel the day before we were about to move to this base, and I committed my life to my Lord.
     As I was thinking about this, I realized how powerful it truly was to look back on my salvation. I felt almost re-energized as I replayed my conversion experience, what Christ saved me from, and everything God did over the course of my life to bring me to Him.
     That said, I have found that we never outgrow the gospel. We should never cease to be amazed by it. I was listening to a sermon last night about what it took to purchase our salvation, and I was thoroughly blown away. It doesn't get old! The only reason God could show me mercy was because He showed Christ none. And His only Son! Think about that. One Christ suffered for a few hours on the cross to purchase redemption for all of mankind; past, present, and future. How could this be? Simply because He is worth more than all of us put together. Yet God saw fit to make "Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Tell me that's not incredible.
     Think back to when you were saved. Think about where you would be had Christ not gave Himself for you. And never cease to be amazed.