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| I was in
my hotel in New Jersey. It was Sunday morning and I was getting dressed.
In a couple of hours I would be preaching at the morning service at the
Abundant Life Christian Center. I was the guest speaker for the weekend.
I had held a special one day training seminar the previous day for the whole
family, including youth and children's pastors. The main emphasis of my
ministry is how to turn religious church-wise kids, into on-fire radicals,
with a sense of destiny and purpose. As I was dressing, I had the TV switched
on. A program was being aired. It was a discussion on prayer in the public
schools. There was a woman from the ACLU, a man from Family Ministries,
a Jewish attorney, and a man speaking for religious rights. A number of
things were discussed and argued about. Violence in the schools, persecution
of Christians, not favoring one religion over another, the bible shouldn't
be taught in schools as a history book, but only taught in a seminary, creationism
shouldn't be taught as science, but as a theory, and the need for some kind
of moral code to teach the children. The program ended with the Jewish attorney
saying that the public school was not the place to practice or speak about
religion. He said, "That's why we have homes, churches and synagogues, to
teach religion to our children." He concluded the program by saying that
"religion is a personal and private thing." I was amazed that an educated
attorney could be so ignorant. From that final stupid statement he made,
I came to three conclusions:-
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| Private Religion | 1) Although religion (or, more accurately one's religious faith) is a personal thing, it is definitely not a private thing. From a Christian perspective Jesus did not say, "Go into all the world and keep your faith to yourself." He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature...." The gospel, or good news, is something to talk about, to share to a dying and needy world. What is the gospel? God's message of love and forgiveness. How can anyone in their right mind say that the message of love and forgiveness is a private thing - a message to keep quiet about and not to share with anyone else. If something is not worth giving away, then it's not worth keeping. In our sick and politically correct society, saying things like "God loves you." or "Jesus loves you" may offend some people. That's why Christians are told to shut up and keep their faith to themselves. |
| A
Negative Control
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2) Many years ago my church was run by a group of elders, of which I was one. We had what was known as multiple, equal leadership. Looking back now, it was a farce, because there is no such thing as equal leadership. Even though you may officially have equal leadership, the elder with the strongest personality will rule. Our unofficial ruling elder, had a secular job as an actor. He held an official position in RADA which was a communist union. His argument was that as everybody was equal, no one should take authority. If I preached with too much anointing, I was having a strong affect on the church members, so he would advise me to tone it down. He did not want people depending upon me. When God called and anointed me to start an outreach meeting to the youth, it became successful. Our unofficial presiding elder then said that all the elders should take it in turns to run the youth ministry. He did not seem concerned that the other elders were not gifted in that way, nor had that kind of anointing. It finally dawned on me that this elder was leading us all. How? By not allowing anyone to lead. It was his negative control which eventually brought the downfall of the church. Our liberal, communistic minded, society, has fallen into the same trap. "We are all equal and have equal rights. Do not offend anyone, Be tolerant of other opinions." Yet, as we attempt to please one group, we offend other groups. It is impossible to have a society where no one is offended. Our bending over backwards to please everyone will never work. So why should the message that Christians bring of love and forgiveness offend anyone? After all, we do not act like the radical Muslims in the Sudan. Millions of Christians have been slaughtered, raped, and forced into slavery, because they would not become Muslims. We believe in freedom of religion in this country, yet we have become so anxious to please the minority religious and ethnic groups, that we often penalize the majority. There is an interesting story about Mrs. Thatcher the ex- prime minister of Great Britain. She was approached by the representatives of the Muslim faith asking for the same rights enjoyed by the Christian churches. The request went something like this. "Every Sunday the church bells ring out across the cities calling people to come to services. We would like to have our call to prayer three times a day to be put out on the public loud- speakers in the same cities." Her answer was rich. "When I hear the church bells ringing over the cities in Iran and Iraq, you may have your call to prayer." Mrs. Thatcher restored Christian teaching in the public schools in Great Britain. She believed that Britain was built upon the Judea/ Christian faith and principles. She said, "Although we allow freedom of expression and worship of other faiths, we are not going stop teaching the Christian faith in our public schools, because we might offend the nonbelievers, or other religious groups." |
| Repentance | Why should the message of love and forgiveness offend people? After all, isn't that what most people are looking for? Sure! So why did Jesus say that offenses would come, and Paul talk about the offense of the cross? Because of one thing - the need to repent. For that is the message of the New Testament. John the Baptist preached the message of repentance. "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'"(Mat.3:1-2). "And he went into all the region around Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."( Luke 3:3). People must have thought he had lost his head preaching such a radical message, well King Herod made sure that he did. Jesus also preached the message of repentance. "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Mat.4:17). The religious leaders finally crucified Him. Peter preached the message of repentance. "Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'" (Acts.2:38). Not only Peter, but ten of the other Apostles died an untimely death at the hands of their opponents. Out of the original twelve Apostles, John was the only one who lived to an old age and he was banished to an island. Oh sure, we all want love and forgiveness, but it only comes after repentance. If the message of love and forgiveness offends some people, how will they cope with repentance. "If you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?" (Jer.12:5) N.K.J. Brownsville Assembly of God church produced a program called "Miracle at Pensacola" on National Television. It was aired between a popular sleaze program and an amoral sitcom. The TV station told Brownsville that they would receive about 1,500 phone calls from the listeners. After the program was aired they received more that 50,000 calls. The phone lines were jammed People were calling in weeping, asking prayer for forgiveness. Whole families were kneeling in front of their TV getting right with God. How come? Steve Hill preached a message called "I HAVE SINNED." He started with the letter "I". Not you, we, them, or society, but "I." Acknowledging "I" becomes very personal, " he said. Then he went on to say, "I HAVE - not, I might have, I possibly did, or I could have, but "I HAVE." He finished with, "I HAVE SINNED"- not I made a mistake, I made an error, I messed up, I made a poor judgment, or I must have made a "boo boo." But, "I HAVE SINNED." Only when we do that are we repenting and only when we repent can we receive love and forgiveness. This message of repentance, which is the gospel, is offensive to many. Try to change it and it won't work. Try to compromise it and it won't work. Only the truth sets people free. Only the true gospel will work. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." (Rom.1:16). |
| Witnessing or Preaching the Gospel | Numbers of our church youth who attend the public school system are not witnessing or preaching the gospel. Why not? You can't preach what you haven't experienced. You can't share with authority that which you do not know. To the worldly kids, Christian youngsters should be like Billy Graham. They should be the experts in their field. To be nervous or scared about witnessing means you don't know or are not convinced about your subject. Young people will talk with great authority about the things they are interested in. Sports, music, the latest movies. They will know all about the lives of their favorite sport, rock and movie heroes. They will talk with confidence about those things, but when it comes to spiritual things they clam up. Probably the greatest danger the church is suffering with today, is producing a generation of church-wise, religious children and youth, who have never truly repented and experienced true love and forgiveness from God personally. These kids have just enough religion to be either dangerous or useless. The answer for the churches that have these youngsters is revival. An exceptional move of God. Although many of us know this to be true, it is sad state of affairs when we have to rely on exceptional moves of God for our youth to become true Christians. That Sunday morning in the church at New Jersey I called the teenagers up at the beginning of my message. I asked them, "What was the message that John the Baptist preached? What was the message that Jesus preached? What was the message that Peter preached?" No one answered. Out of about 40 or 50 teenagers, none gave me an answer. Later I was told that it wasn't that they didn't know, it was they didn't connect the answer to the question. What's the good of Christian education if it cannot be applied? ". . .For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2.Cor.3:6). It's one thing to be given a sword, but it's another thing to learn how to use it. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God is given to our children and teens, but to take that sword, the Word of God and use it skillfully, they need the anointing of His Holy Spirit. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witness to Me. . . ." (Acts.1:8). The next two things are so important. 1) Bringing our youngsters into an experience of a mighty baptism of fire. 2) Seriously disciplining them so they become productive mature bold Christians. "And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him" (Lk.2:40). The twelve year old boy, Jesus, was strong in spirit and filled with wisdom, because he was God's Son. A true Son of God should have the same qualities. Being strong in spirit is knowing God, rather than knowing about God. Christian education can teach our kids to know about God, but it is unable to teach them to know God. You cannot teach and disciple a youngster to serve God, if they haven't experienced true salvation and Pentecostal fire. |
| Discipleship |
When I first became a Christian, I was immediately put into a discipleship program. I read the New Testament through three times in about four months. I was taught the Christian basics and learned many bible verses for dealing with temptations and answering questions from non-Christians. I witnessed to my friends and people I met. If I couldn't answer all their questions, I would take them to my mentor and let him answer them. After observing how skillfully he dealt with the inquirers and brought them to a place of accepting Christ, I felt confident. I learned very soon to do the same thing. When I went among the people of the world, I felt like a stranger, a person from another planet. I had answers which they didn't. I had such a tremendous advantage over non-Christians that I felt sorry for them. When I witnessed to them, I was not intimated. After all, I had sat where they had sat, I had been where they had been, I knew where they where coming from. I already knew their point of view. Their problem was that they hadn't experienced what I was now experiencing. I had seen both sides, but they could only see from their side. I had this unfair advantage over them. When I witnessed to them, most were persuaded to accept Christ. All this happened through good training and I wasn't even filled with the Spirit. Can we see that raising our children in church and giving them a Christian education, doesn't turn them into true disciples of Christ? We must endeavor to see them brought to true repentance and a true salvation experience. We must disciple them to be productive, godly, bold soul winners. We must be willing to train them to serve the Lord unreservedly, having a desire to grow in His ways with a burden to win the lost into the kingdom. We cannot put this off, we must act now. Copyright Feb. 2000 David Walters |
Last modified 3/08/00
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