|
If You Can't Find a Good Church--Start One And they,
continuing daily with one accord in the temple,
and breaking bread
from house to house,
did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
{47}
Praising God, and having favour with all the people.
And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be
saved.
Acts 2:46-47 (KJV)
1 Ki 19:13-15a (KJV)
And it was so, when Elijah
heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle,
and went out, and stood in the
entering in of the cave.
And, behold, there came a
voice unto him, and said,
What doest thou here, Elijah?
{14} And he said, I have
been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts:
because the children of
Israel have forsaken thy covenant,
thrown down thine altars, and
slain thy prophets with the sword;
and I, even I only, am
left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
{15} And the LORD said unto
him...
{18} Yet I have left me seven thousand in
Israel,
all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal,
and every mouth which hath not kissed
him.
Dear Friends in
Christ,
Do you ever feel like Elijah, like you
were the only Christian in your workplace or at your school, or you
just relocated to a new city for the sake of your job, and you just can't
find a Church where Christ is honored and the Bible preached accurately and with
conviction?
Well, just as in the admonition that God
gave to Elijah above, God has lots of people in your town or dead church or
even your apartment building who love Jesus and who have not "bowed the
knee to Baal" as it were. The problem is that you are separated from them and
don't know about each other. Or there are those who would accept Christ if
somebody told them about Him. Either way, there are those who God the Holy
Spirit is working on and calling to Jesus all the time in every place. As Jesus
said,
John 4:35 (KJV)
Say not ye, There are yet
four months, and then cometh harvest?
behold, I say unto you,
Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields;
for they are white, already to
harvest.
In other words, don't say, "The time is
short until the Rapture, so I'll just sit around and wait for Jesus to come
back". NO, NO, NO!!! Instead, Jesus is saying, "Look around you at all the
christian tv and radio evangelistic programs, church services, Christian related
websites, newspaper ads, tracts, evangelistic crusades and street and campus
evangelism efforts that God has already provided to get the Gospel out. The seed
has been planted, people are ready to be discipled! Can God count on you to
help bring in the Harvest???"
Over the years, I have found myself in
just such situations...starting a new life with a new job in a new area, not
knowing anyone in the area, far away from our beloved home church, isolated,
un-used, needing the fellowship of other Christians. What do you do? How do you
start? After many situations like this, God eventually gave me a little set of
things to pray for to start a new ministry in a new area. They are:
"O Lord, I ask you to give
me,
A MISSION-a call to be sent
out
A MINISTRY-those you want me to be sent
to
A METHOD-how exactly you want me to
carry your ministry out
A MESSAGE- either initial evangelism or
discpiling existing Christians
THE MOTIVATION- the driving push to get
me committed to the work."
So let's take a closer look
at...
THE MISSION- the call to be sent out. We
already have this call to all christians in Jesus' words:
Mat 28:18-20 (KJV)
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth.
{19} Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
{20} Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway,
even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The call has already been sent out. The problem is, you
need to ask Christ to make this call specific to YOU! Jesus wants YOU
(fill in your name) to go.
Well, maybe you don't feel adequate to lead a crusade or
a stand-up Bible talk. Well then, GET ADEQUATE! Read and study your Bible
with serious diligence and intent. Use a concordance or Bible software and start
putting together verses that explain to a person how to get saved and how to
grow in the Christian life. You learn first, then you pass it on to them. Pray
like crazy, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and guide you into the truth
that He wants you to present. Get books, tracts, tapes, whatever you can find on
how to lead someone to Christ or what things are necessary to teach them so that
they can lead others to Christ and carry on the process.
And remember, the goal is to create an ON-GOING
ministry, as is so carefully stated in these words by the Apostle Paul,
2 Tim 2:2
(KJV)
And the things that thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses,
the same commit thou to faithful
men,
who shall be able to teach others
also.
You may want to pray and ask God that you could find just
ONE person that you can study these things together with. You don't need a room
full of people. Jesus said ,
Mat 18:19-20 (KJV)
Again I say unto you,
That if two of you shall agree on
earth as touching any thing that they shall ask,
it shall be done for them of my
Father which is in heaven.
{20} For where two or three
are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of
them.
Be prepared to START SMALL. Remember Jesus called
one disciple, than he called his brother, then another, and another, and so on.
And for 3 years He concentrated on just 12 men...teaching them about His
Father and about the Christian life. And like scattering a few seeds in a
garden, small and almost unobservable, the garden grew until about 5000 were
harvested in one day when the time was right. And the harvest continues all over
the world to this day. Will you be part of it?
John 4:36-38 (KJV)
And he that reapeth receiveth
wages,
and gathereth fruit unto life
eternal:
that both he that soweth and he
that reapeth may rejoice together.
{37} And herein is that
saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
{38} I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour:
other men laboured,
and ye are entered into their
labours.
In Christ..................brother bob........<>< 1 Pet 4:7-11 (KJV)
But the end of all things
is at hand:
be ye therefore sober, and
watch unto prayer.
{8} And above all
things have fervent charity among yourselves:
for charity shall cover
the multitude of sins.
{9} Use hospitality
one to another without grudging.
{10} As every man
hath received the gift,
even so
minister the same one to another,
as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God.
{11} If any man
speak, let him speak as the oracles of God;
if any man minister,
let him do it as of the ability which God giveth:
that God in all
things may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to whom be praise and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
How is it then, brethren? when ye come
together,
every one of you hath a psalm, hath a
doctrine, hath a tongue,
hath a revelation, hath an
interpretation.
Let all things be done unto
edifying{mutual up-building}. 1 Cor 14:26 (KJV)
Now God gives us many kinds of special
abilities,
but it is the same Holy Spirit who is
the source of them all.
{5} There are different kinds of
service to God,
but it is the same Lord we are
serving.
{6} There are many ways in
which God works in our lives,
but it is the same God who does the
work in and through all of us who are his.
{7} The Holy Spirit displays
God's power through each of us
as a means of helping the entire
church.
{8} To one person the Spirit
gives the ability to give wise advice;
someone else may be especially good at
studying and teaching,
and this is his gift from the same
Spirit.
{9} He gives special faith to
another,
and to someone else the power to heal
the sick.
{10} He gives power for doing
miracles to some,
and to others power to prophesy
and preach.
He gives someone else the power to know
whether evil spirits
are speaking through those who claim to
be giving God's messages--
or whether it is really the Spirit of
God who is speaking.
Still another person is able to speak
in languages he never learned;
and others, who do not know the
language either,
are given power to understand what he
is saying.
{11} It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives
all these gifts and powers,
deciding which each one of us should
have.
{12} Our bodies have many parts,
but the many parts make up only one
body when they are all put together.
So it is with the "body" of Christ.
{13} Each of us is a part of the
one body of Christ.
Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,
some are slaves, and some are free.
But the Holy Spirit has fitted us all
together into one body.
We have been baptized into Christ's
body by the one Spirit,
and have all been given that same Holy
Spirit. 1 Cor 12:4-13 (TLB)
IXTHEUS CHRISTIAN
DEVOTIONALS
ALWAYS FREE OF
CHARGE
(but
not necessarily free of COST)
feel free to redistribute
these materials to whomever you want...
be careful to observe
copyright information where appropriate...
for questions, comments,
help or suggestions, or subscriptions,
contact us at
Ask for a copy of my
evangelistic presentation,
"The God Who Is Really There" from...
to unsubscribe
from these devotionals,
type the word "cancel" in the subject line of the message.
and send a "reply to
author" from your email
software. God Bless
You.....brother bob.......<>< This message scanned for viruses by CoreComm
For more information, please visit our home page http://www.nazerene.com
SPONSORED LINKS
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
|
- [nazerene] *If You Can't Find a Good Church--St... Brother Bob...<><
- [nazerene] *If You Can't Find a Good Churc... Brother Bob...<><
