Tag: Sharing the Gospel

Morning Musing: Philippians 1:14-19

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“To be sure, some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will. These preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice because I know this will lead to my salvation through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A few years ago, I listened to a podcast series called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. It’s about the former megachurch in Seattle by that name that was led by celebrity pastor Mark Driscoll. It was an enormous church that baptized hundreds of people and produced lots of great bands. Under the surface, though, years of stunningly toxic leadership became an iceberg that sunk the titanic community as fast as the famous ship. The church went from thousands of people worshipping together across fourteen campuses to closing its doors forever in a matter of months. In the aftermath of the collapse, there has been much criticism of the whole affair (including an entire podcast series!), questioning everything the church ever did. Was it all worth it? How should we think about the Gospel being proclaimed by people or in an environment that doesn’t ultimately reflect its ethos? Paul offers some challenging counsel here for us to explore.

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Turf Wars

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Roughly speaking, the job of a salesman is to convince you to buy something you don’t want or need. In truth, though, the best salesmen understand that their job is to help you discover what it is that you do need, and to then help you see that need met. In sharing the Gospel in a post-Christian context, we are surrounded by people who don’t really understand what they actually need. It is our job as followers of Jesus to help them with that. In order to do that, though, we first have to establish a relational connection with them. That means learning to operate on their turf. This all what we are talking about as we continue our teaching series, When Faith Isn’t Assumed. Let’s dive right in.

Turf Wars

There’s nothing quite like a home field advantage. Personally, with the exception of the Royals, I’m pretty accustomed to cheering for teams with incredible home field advantages.I know this season was somewhat of a disappointment, but the Chief’s Arrowhead Stadium is the loudest stadium in the NFL. Props on their dominant win last week aside, Seattle fans tried to make a counter-claim that, actually, theirs was the loudest NFL stadium a few years ago. Chiefs fans promptly demonstrated the error in Seattle’s thinking by responding with the cold, hard reality of 142.2 decibels, a Guinness World Record that, no, Arrowhead really is the loudest NFL stadium. 

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A Class of One

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Last week we started a new teaching journey exploring how we can effectively share the Gospel in a culture that is post-Christian. It all starts with a foundation of truth, but that truth points us somewhere. It points us to someone: Jesus. Today we are talking about who Jesus is and what He has done through one of the most significant passages Paul wrote on the matter. Let’s marvel together at this incredible truth.

A Class of One

It all comes back to Jesus. For all the evangelistic tips and tricks that are out there—and there are many—for all the outreach programs and methods churches buy and put into use; for all the apologetic arguments both positive and negative we could use to promote and defend the Christian faith, there is one thing that everything ultimately comes back to: Jesus. If a person is going to make a rational judgment of the Christian worldview, no matter which worldview ground is his starting place—Christian, non-Christian, post-Christian, anti-Christian, and so on and so forth—he ultimately has to decide what he is going to do with Jesus. It all comes back to Jesus. If we are going to successfully share the Gospel in a culture such as ours, we have to be able to tell people who Jesus really is…which assumes we know that ourselves. Let’s see if we can’t tackle both pieces of this particular puzzle today. 

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The Way that Seems Right

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This Sunday we kicked off a brand-new teaching series. Before Jesus departed the scene physically, He left His disciples some final marching orders. They were to make disciples everywhere they went. They were to be His witnesses locally, regionally, and internationally. They were to proclaim and advance the Gospel. The Christian faith has always been a missionary faith. In recent years in this country, though, being on mission for God has become an increasingly difficult task as our culture continues down the road of becoming post-Christian. How are we supposed to share the Gospel in a post-Christian culture where faith is no longer assumed? For the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about that very thing. This week we are starting with a topic that has to be addressed first in this effort: truth. How do we stand on the reality of truth in a culture that rejects such notions? Let’s talk about it.

The Way that Seems Right

Have you ever found yourself wishing we could go back to a simpler time in the past? You know, one where neighbors talked and actually knew each other better. Where kids could be sent out to play all day without worrying about where they were or what they were doing. Where so many marriages didn’t end in divorce. Where men were expected and allowed to be men, and women were expected and allowed to be women. One where the country wasn’t so polarized by politics; where the political left and the political right at least both loved America, and the ideas the nation stands for. Where most people went to church and you could pray and talk about the Bible in schools and in public, and the people who didn’t already believe it responded with repentance rather than persecution. 

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Morning Musing: Romans 15:20-21

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“My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation, but, as it is written, ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The last thing Jesus said before returning to the Father’s right hand was to commission His followers to proclaim the Gospel. This call wasn’t something that was only for those special few who were called to be missionaries, though, it was for all of His followers. All of us are to be involved in proclaiming the good news and making disciples. That this is happening should be a given. How it happens, however, is a much more open question. Paul here talks about how He was called to that. Let’s talk about how we might be.

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