I believe there is a huge dilemma in our post modern American culture especially as I talk to more and more people along with what I see in the media. There is this assumption that any faith as long as you have it is a good thing. Whether it be faith in your church, god, organization, aspiration, or anything else. The atheist or agnostic may tend to disagree with me, but I will admit that they have more faith (well blind faith) than I do. To believe that nothing created everything or to say "we don't know what or where creation came from" is to deny common and in depth evidence to the claim of biblical Christianity and a Creator God. To me that takes a huge amount of blind faith to think anything otherwise could be responsible when there is no such reliable evidence. It is nothing simply more than rebellion and an excuse to justify sin.
The truth is, is that faith in the wrong direction is deadly. No one will admit that different religions are wrong anymore. There is this assumption that if you disagree with someone regarding their religion and be accepting or even embracing of it then you are being loving. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying one is to go on a witch hunt persecuting those with different beliefs. Before I get deeper into this please realize this blog is for those who call themselves Christians. Acceptance is a tricky word and please don't take it out of context when I use it in the way I did. Can I accept that someone is an atheist and converse with them, yep. Can I eat lunch with a Buddhist and be friendly and generally care for that person, of course! What I am talking about by acceptance in the above is the kind of acceptance that you accept that their religion will get them to Heaven or is okay for them as long as they are happy. You accept that you don't have a responsibility to share with them the one true way despite the repercussions on your relationship because their religion works for them. That is the acceptance which I don't think a true Christian should ever have.
If we call ourselves Christians and don't realize that Christ is the only way then examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. Jesus Christ is the ONLY way. Contrary to what other religions and sources say you have to know the Son to know the Father. That is comforting for me, but scary because there are so many out there who don't. Do you not realize this? If you do then ask yourself what are you going to do about it? Are you going to sit back and accept the fact that someone is literally on the highway to hell or are you going to share the greatest news that saved you from hell? If you have no desire to share the gospel then there is either a lack of true love for people or you yourself may not be saved. This is a huge deal.
I have written about this before, but find a good biblical gospel tract. www.livingwaters.com has great ones. If you don't feel comfortable talking to someone about the gospel you can hand one to them or put it in a place you know they will find it. You can even witness to people on the internet! Being Christians we need to go out and share the good news, biblically. It is a shame and makes me question many peoples salvation when they claim they are saved by grace, but have absolutely nothing to show for it except maybe a nice demeanor about them. Several religions have the works based outlook backwards while modern Christianity for the most part has none. Good works are the evidence of our salvation, not the means. Please, I beg of you to go share your faith because anything outside of the repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, leads to hell, an everlasting torment and punishment for sinning against a holy, loving, righteous, just God who provided a way for you through His Son.
I believe there are 4 reasons why people don't share the Gospel.
1. They are selfish.
2. They aren't confident in what they believe.
3. They don't know how.
4. They are scared.
#1 and #2 may reveal that one may not even be saved to be begin with if those are true. #3 is an excuse that can be easily overcome and #4 really ties in with #1 if you think about it. There are plenty of resources, including the best one of all, the Bible, on how to share the Gospel. If you have questions about it shoot me an e-mail and would love to talk to you and help you out.
I got off topic a little bit, but let me reiterate that all paths do not lead to Heaven. They do however lead to God...and judgment. Being a good person will not save anyone because there is not one who is good, especially me. Just having faith in anything will not save you. It doesn't matter what one believes, it matters what is true. Belief never creates genuine truth, however truth creates genuine belief. And that one truth is God's Word revealed in the 66 books of the Bible, not a church, person in power, "religious" figure, organization or any other "religion" for that matter.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7:13
The narrow road that leads to life is Jesus Christ. It's what He died for and 11 of His 12 disciples and many, many, many others are martyred today for.
God bless you and yours.
In Christ,
Joey Acker
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
His way is better
Last week I didn't get to go out and witness around the time or day I wanted. I was a little discouraged because the usual large crowd wouldn't be around and things weren't going exactly my way. Often, I forget that God's way is ALWAYS better than mine though. : )
So I arrived at my location pretty late and didn't expect to see very many people around, which I didn't, but prayed that my efforts wouldn't be fruitless. When talking to people, handing out tracts, preaching, we have to always keep in mind that it's not the size of the crowd, how many tracts we hand out, but rather who is in the crowd that God is going to use. What I mean is I could hand out thousands of tract in my life, which I have, and not ever see one person come to repentance and trust in Christ. I could preach to hundreds of people and not see one convert. Does that mean my efforts were in vain? No, because as Christians we are to share our faith regardless of the outcome. Evangelism is all about planting seeds.
I have met individuals that boast over how many people they have "lead to Christ" and list all the things they done, but in essence what matters is that we are wholeheartedly serving God and His command of the Great Commission. If you pass out one tract in your life time or share your faith with one person then God may use that and you are being obedient. Now is that an excuse not to do it again, no. I am emphasizing that we must not be discouraged when we compare our zeal to others unless we feel a godly conviction that we should be doing more for Christ.
This isn't very popular in the evangelical world, but I never pray a prayer with someone after I witness to them unless they ask because I do not want to give them false assurance that they are now saved. There is no one on this earth who can pronounce someone saved and there is no certain prayer or person who can save you except Jesus Christ. There are so many people who have been deceived because they felt that they were "saved" because they prayed a prayer or got dunked in some water. We honestly do not and will not know how many people we lead to Christ because that is a work of the Holy Spirit. Our job is to lead people to the biblical gospel by showing them their need for the Savior and the good news of what Christ did for them.
Now as I walked around I did have the pleasure of having two encounters. I talked with two girls and it was a very good conversation. I believe they understood and they were glad that we talked. The next conversation lasted over an hour with 2 guys and what appeared to be their 2 dates. We went through the good person test and they claimed they were Christians the whole time blaspheming the name of God. However, when we got done they started asking questions about Nostradamus, 2012, why God lets bad things happen, how do we really know that God exists? By the way, I LOVE answering questions because I love discussing these kind of things and if I don't know the answer I will find it for you if at all possible!
One of the individuals was a pastor's daughter, but unfortunately did not have a grasp on what salvation is. Now when I say they don't have a grasp on salvation I mean that someone who is truly a born again Christian will know the gospel and be able to tell someone how to be saved, because how then could that person be? If your salvation didn't involve repentance of sin...then there is something very wrong my friend. Repentance and trust in Christ = Belief. They are two sides of the same coin, not a work that you can do to earn it. Many have tried to say that you can have your cake and eat it too, which is EXTREMELY popular in religion. However, there is no such thing as a carnal Christian, but all who are born again continue to battle sin and grow in sanctification because of what Christ did and our love and reverence for Him. If you claim the title of Christian, but love your sin then please examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. - 2 Corinthians 13:5
Now back to the encounter! I unfortunately see this often and usually the first thing they tell me when we discuss their standing with God is that they are a pastor's daughter/son. One claimed to be "Cathelcism" (Catholic) and this one guy who kept trying to discuss politics and history with me said he was as well, but he corrected her pronunciation. I truly believe that the Lord guided the long conversation that we had because their questions were very sincere and the one girl who was Catholic told me that being in church no one ever answered these questions for her or really explained how to be saved. At first she said she went through confirmation so she thought she was saved, but didn't really understand it. The others agreed as well.
This breaks my heart, and I'm not just saying that because she was raised Catholic. I don't care if you call yourself Catholic, Baptist, or whatever. If you don't have repentance and trust in Christ alone for your salvation then you are just as lost as the rest no matter what title you go by. She genuinely wanted to know how we really stand with God, and if He even exists, and how we can be saved if He is real. I was so blessed by this encounter because they wanted some booklets on Christianity, Science in the Bible, and Salvation that I usually don't carry around with me, but I did that night.
I told them that we were talking for a reason and that I enjoyed talking with them and explained that I really did care about them. I also always try to end by reminding people that 150,000 people die everyday and we don't know when we will and to seriously consider where you will spend eternity. At the end of the conversation they all thanked me and the girl told that me that she truly believes that this would change her life. I pray with all my heart that it does. I've never talked with someone who I believed to be so sincere, but again, we just never know. I would greatly appreciate prayers for those people and that more laborers will rise to serve in the Great Commission and win souls for Christ. Maybe it's you reading this right now. If so, there are great resources at www.livingwaters.com!
Thank you and may God bless you and yours!
In Christ,
Joey Acker
www.needGod.com
So I arrived at my location pretty late and didn't expect to see very many people around, which I didn't, but prayed that my efforts wouldn't be fruitless. When talking to people, handing out tracts, preaching, we have to always keep in mind that it's not the size of the crowd, how many tracts we hand out, but rather who is in the crowd that God is going to use. What I mean is I could hand out thousands of tract in my life, which I have, and not ever see one person come to repentance and trust in Christ. I could preach to hundreds of people and not see one convert. Does that mean my efforts were in vain? No, because as Christians we are to share our faith regardless of the outcome. Evangelism is all about planting seeds.
I have met individuals that boast over how many people they have "lead to Christ" and list all the things they done, but in essence what matters is that we are wholeheartedly serving God and His command of the Great Commission. If you pass out one tract in your life time or share your faith with one person then God may use that and you are being obedient. Now is that an excuse not to do it again, no. I am emphasizing that we must not be discouraged when we compare our zeal to others unless we feel a godly conviction that we should be doing more for Christ.
This isn't very popular in the evangelical world, but I never pray a prayer with someone after I witness to them unless they ask because I do not want to give them false assurance that they are now saved. There is no one on this earth who can pronounce someone saved and there is no certain prayer or person who can save you except Jesus Christ. There are so many people who have been deceived because they felt that they were "saved" because they prayed a prayer or got dunked in some water. We honestly do not and will not know how many people we lead to Christ because that is a work of the Holy Spirit. Our job is to lead people to the biblical gospel by showing them their need for the Savior and the good news of what Christ did for them.
Now as I walked around I did have the pleasure of having two encounters. I talked with two girls and it was a very good conversation. I believe they understood and they were glad that we talked. The next conversation lasted over an hour with 2 guys and what appeared to be their 2 dates. We went through the good person test and they claimed they were Christians the whole time blaspheming the name of God. However, when we got done they started asking questions about Nostradamus, 2012, why God lets bad things happen, how do we really know that God exists? By the way, I LOVE answering questions because I love discussing these kind of things and if I don't know the answer I will find it for you if at all possible!
One of the individuals was a pastor's daughter, but unfortunately did not have a grasp on what salvation is. Now when I say they don't have a grasp on salvation I mean that someone who is truly a born again Christian will know the gospel and be able to tell someone how to be saved, because how then could that person be? If your salvation didn't involve repentance of sin...then there is something very wrong my friend. Repentance and trust in Christ = Belief. They are two sides of the same coin, not a work that you can do to earn it. Many have tried to say that you can have your cake and eat it too, which is EXTREMELY popular in religion. However, there is no such thing as a carnal Christian, but all who are born again continue to battle sin and grow in sanctification because of what Christ did and our love and reverence for Him. If you claim the title of Christian, but love your sin then please examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. - 2 Corinthians 13:5
Now back to the encounter! I unfortunately see this often and usually the first thing they tell me when we discuss their standing with God is that they are a pastor's daughter/son. One claimed to be "Cathelcism" (Catholic) and this one guy who kept trying to discuss politics and history with me said he was as well, but he corrected her pronunciation. I truly believe that the Lord guided the long conversation that we had because their questions were very sincere and the one girl who was Catholic told me that being in church no one ever answered these questions for her or really explained how to be saved. At first she said she went through confirmation so she thought she was saved, but didn't really understand it. The others agreed as well.
This breaks my heart, and I'm not just saying that because she was raised Catholic. I don't care if you call yourself Catholic, Baptist, or whatever. If you don't have repentance and trust in Christ alone for your salvation then you are just as lost as the rest no matter what title you go by. She genuinely wanted to know how we really stand with God, and if He even exists, and how we can be saved if He is real. I was so blessed by this encounter because they wanted some booklets on Christianity, Science in the Bible, and Salvation that I usually don't carry around with me, but I did that night.
I told them that we were talking for a reason and that I enjoyed talking with them and explained that I really did care about them. I also always try to end by reminding people that 150,000 people die everyday and we don't know when we will and to seriously consider where you will spend eternity. At the end of the conversation they all thanked me and the girl told that me that she truly believes that this would change her life. I pray with all my heart that it does. I've never talked with someone who I believed to be so sincere, but again, we just never know. I would greatly appreciate prayers for those people and that more laborers will rise to serve in the Great Commission and win souls for Christ. Maybe it's you reading this right now. If so, there are great resources at www.livingwaters.com!
Thank you and may God bless you and yours!
In Christ,
Joey Acker
www.needGod.com