God’s Gifted Men

INVITATION:

I would like to invite attention this morning to the 4th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and specifically verses 11-13.  The Apostle writes

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,”  (Ephesians 4:11–13, ESV)

INTRODUCTION:

Some commentators believe that the first 16 verses of Ephesians 4 are the heart of Paul’s letter.  When I first encountered that assertion frankly I didn’t know what to think.  I wondered how that could be considering all the rich deep truths that Paul has laid before us.

For instance, Paul has shown us that those who are in Christ were chosen before the foundation of the world, and the believer has been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  The believer has been predestined for adoption to the Father.  The believer has been redeemed, the believer has been forgiven, the Father has lavished the riches of his grace on the believer.  The believer has obtained an inheritance.  That’s just chapter one.

In chapter two we who were dead in the trespasses and sins have now been made alive!  Why?  Because in His great love the Father showered us with mercy and saved us by His grace.  But that’s not all not only has he saved us he has raised us up with Christ and we have been seated in the heavenly places with Christ.  But wait there’s more, for all of eternity he has determined to show us the immeasurable riches of his grace.  [Read more…]

Welcome to this video series designed to help you learn the “Come Home” gospel presentation taken from Will Metzger’s book Tell the Truth.

Although my goal is to give you enough information to properly understand the presentation I would strongly encourage you to purchase a copy of the book for yourself.

The author is very thorough in the book and really helps the reader understand what the gospel is what is is and what it is not.  If I were rating the book it would definitely get 5 stars from me.  It’s a book that should be a part of every christian’s library.

Of course you can purchase a copy from Amazon in either print or kindle edition.  I have both and because of the charts and diagrams in the book I recommend getting the print edition.

In this first video I’d like to spend a few minutes introducing the subject of biblical evangelism.

As Christians we have the obligation and the responsibility to truthfully, accurately, and effectively communicate the biblical gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Christians have the responsibility to truthfully communicate the gospel.  If we are not careful in an effort to minimize the offense of the gospel we may leave out critical pieces of the message.

For instance we may be tempted to leave out God’s wrath towards sin and sinners. Or we may be tempted to do our best to ignore the subject of hell.

I understand why this temptation exists.  Who likes to think about hell?  But the reality is they are biblical truths and we must tell the whole truth of the gospel.

If we omit the unpleasant truths we would be guilty of presenting an incomplete gospel.  A weakened and watered down gospel that does not contain the whole truth.

First of all we have the responsibility to truthfully communicate the gospel.

Second we have the responsibility to accurately communicate the gospel.  The gospel is composed of a set of very specific facts.  It is our responsibility to get the facts right.

As Will Metzger says in the book “In order communicate the gospel we must know the content of the gospel.

The good news is Scripture clearly presents all of the facts of the gospel.  The challenge for us is to take the time and the effort to know those facts.

Finally we have the responsibility to effectively communicate the gospel.  How can we do this?

First of all we must continually seek the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Second we must invest significant time and effort in prayer.

When we recognize that apart from abiding in Christ we can do absolutely nothing our understanding of our need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to pray will become crystal clear.

To effectively communicate the gospel we must be bold.  In order to tell it truthfully we must know the gospel accurately.  Once we know it we can be effectively communicate the gospel.

Theologian Carl Henry said “A one to one approach initiated by every believer still holds the best promise of evangelizing the earth in our century.”

I know the slogan “Each one reach one” has been overused by how different would our church be, how different would your family be, how different would Berea be if we did just that?  What if each one of us would reach one?  It would produce significant change in our world.

Will Metzger writes “I am convinced that God purposes our speaking the truth in love as the means of salvation.  If all Christians learned these truths, their witness would be more God honoring and their spiritual growth enhanced as they daily re-expereince the gospel of grace.”

Did you notice what he said?  “Their witness would be more God honoring and their spiritual growth enhanced”.  Learning the gospel, learning to communicate the gospel will help you to grow spiritually!  This will be good for you and for others.

As I bring this first video to a close let me leave you with a final though from the book.  The author writes “In our world 99.9% of all Christians are not in full time ministry.  Unless everyone engages in evangelism, praying, initiating, and fervently speaking the gospel not much will happen.”

Will you take up the challenge?  I’m confident you will.

Consistent intake of the Scriptures is a key component of our spiritual growth as a disciple of Jesus.  But as we read the Bible we must guard against reading it in rote fashion.  We must learn to slow down and really read what God is saying to us.  To that end here is some wisdom from John Piper on how you and I can read the Bible for ourselves.

How to Read the Bible for Yourself| Desiring God

When John Piper sits down to read the Bible, how does he sees the things he see? Here he gives us three steps to understanding and applying every passage in God’s word. How to Read the Bible for Yourself| Desiring God

Next up is a brief article written by John MacArthur that gives some practical tips to keep in mind as your read and study God’s Word.

Elements of Productive Bible Study

By now, we can agree that God’s Word is the foundation of our spiritual growth. But how do the words on the pages of Scripture translate into greater godliness and deeper sanctification in the lives of God’s people? To help you get the most from God’s Word, I want to highlight some key elements of productive Bible study. The first one is simple—we have to read it.  Elements of Productive Bible Study: Read

Finally, if you would like to go even deeper in learning more about reading and studying the Scriptures you may want to pick up a copy of “From the Mouth of God”.  I’ve published an excerpt from the book below.

An excerpt from “From the Mouth of God” by Sinclair B. Ferguson

The cord in the story of Rahab? It was a cord. She was not saved because the cord was scarlet, or because it represented the blood of Christ, but because she placed her destiny in the hands of the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and threw in her lot with his covenant people. He is indeed the God who promised to send Christ and to bless the nations of the earth through the seed of Eve and Abraham. But had the cord been green, or even black, it would have made no difference to its ‘meaning’. But because it is scarlet, by association of ideas it has come to be understood as symbolic of the blood of Christ. Colour association is, however, an unreliable principle of interpretation.