Preachers Preach!

"The Lord has told us to go into the world and preach the gospel, we cant do it without preachers, and the first thing to do is to make them." G.S.Railton

A bit more Railton today!

Railton was known all throughout the Army as a holy man, as man to be honoured. When people heard his name they would say "He was the man with the General." Or words to that effect stating how he is a giant of the faith and was working with Booth to found The Salvation Army. He was a great preacher and everyone would love to hear him preach.

Having said that though he would often upset people or atleast surprise them. People would have him come to speak and instead he would get all the people in the corps, on the street to start preaching and tetsifying. He empowered people to be the preacher instead of himself doing it all the time.

Railtons life was guided by the Great Commission to preach the gospel, and he knew that he could he could preach well but the way to see the world saved is to teach other people to preach, to multiply efforts! He empowered people, gave people self worth, appreciated and recognised that we all have something to offer. He left behind him a legacy that we see today, The Salvation Army.

How sad is it when people take the good stuff all for themself and leave younger less Spitiually mature people behind in a cloud of dust thinking 'I could never do what you do.' It is heretical. We can all testify that Jesus died and rose again, we can all share how God is good, alive and changing my life. We need more people who recognise what God has done and is doing in peoples lives and empower them to preach the gospel. No more 'Your not ready!' But much more 'Preach! Preach!'

So, If you are struggling to be a preacher, or want encouragement to preach, or want to be challenged to preach, then come to Go For Souls 08! And learn how to preach the gospel!

Praise Evangelism

"Suppose" he would say again, "That I had thirty minutes in which to speak in my meeting, I should break it up into three short talks of ten minutes each, with plenty of sining and testimony in between." G.S.Railton

Railton was an amazing evangelist. He loved leading people to Christ from all walks of life from just about every continent. And as I read about him I find a few things that typify his evangelistic efforts. I call it "Praise Evangelism."

He would be so full of joy all the time. He would always be singing and talking to people. He would do this to one person, three, or to a big rowdy crowd. He would tell of how great God was, he would testify what God had done in his life and others life. He would get other people to testify what God was doing in their lives. He would praise God with words and song and let others hear.

But his joy was so evident that when he told people to repent and believe they did. They wanted what he had. And the message he had although may seem rough: 'repent or go to hell' the people knew he was doing it out of love and joy and not fear and hate.

In our evangelism lets not forget that Jesus didn't come to condemn but to save. In our evangelism lets praise God, lets tell people how good God is, how much He loves them, how He can chage their life if only they repent and believe!

Go For Souls Ad

Hey everyone! Check out www.goforsouls.blogspot.com! The list of speakers is up! We got Capt Steve Court, Jason Golden, Andy Harrisson (One of the Planetshakers drummers) and Pete Brookshaw!

Joe the Turk

The following is taken and reworded from here.

Joe the Turk was a mountain of man being compared in size and shape to a prize fighter. He was described as rude and obnoxious, but at the same time he is one of the Salvation Army's great evangelists. Although he didn't always follow the rules he opend heaps of corps that lead for the way for new followers to have their corps in a more conventional way.

He was a shoemaker by occupation but one day he saw some Salvationists being attacked on the streets of London, and though knowing no English, he stepped in as their bodyguard. He travelled the country and would often see these salvos being persecuted so he would join in to protect them. Gradually he learnt what they were actually doing and was converted.

Joe's shoe shop became a colorful religious center, and he constantly thought of new ways to attract attention. He would attract attention in all sorts of ways, including umbrellas with hard core Turn or burn type slogans which lighted up, (lights werent common at this time) he wore funny clothes and He would stamp "Jesus Saves" all over the place.

When the town of Macomb, Illinois, was in the grip of a crooked mayor, Joe ran him out of town and took over until the people could hold an election. In another town, he saw a mob about to lynch the corps officer and braved the crowd to put the officer safely on the train. City after city Joe would be arrested for disturbing the peace with his open air meetings but he would boast being 'jailed 57 times for Jesus!'

After 38 years of adventurous service in the ranks of the Army, he retired in 1925. He was promoted to glory in his New York hotel room in 1937. Thousands called "Joe the Turk" their spiritual father.

Thats the sort of guy I want to be like. Someone crazy about seeing the world won for Jesus and doing whatever they can to get it done! How are you stepping out to win the world for Jesus?

Free Shooters

"We only desire to form and to keep up outside every denominational circle a body as large as we can of free shooters for the express purpose of assaulting with spiritual weapons those who, like ourselves, are without the church, but who, unlike us, are still in rebellion against God,"
G.S.Railton, Heathen England

Imagine if that quote were true for today? Imagine a force of believers who didn't belong to a 'church' but were completely sold out to preaching the gospel to the lost. Imagine an Army where getting people saved was its most important goal, its mission, its purpose. Thats the sort of Army that I want to be a part of! It excites me and I could easily lay down all my days to that cause.

There is a conflict between growing churches and winning the world for Jesus. The conflict is ideological, its philosophical. The conflict has to do with priorities. It has to do with purpose. It has to do with vision.

Im not in it to grow churches, to put bums on seats, for stats, or to keep my superiors happy. Although no doubt those things will happen. But I am in it to win the world for Jesus. I literally want to see every single person on the face of this planet saved and sanctified. And to do that we can no longer stay in the church walls and pray that people will be saved, we will need to be as Railton says, "free shooters for the express purpose of assaulting with spiritual weapons those who, like ourselves, are without the church, but who, unlike us, are still in rebellion against God."

He will do it!

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. (1 Thes 5:23-24)

Hallelujah!

EVANGE LAW ISM

John Wesley said to a friend, in writing to a young evangelist, "Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace."

Why would we preach the law to people? Isn't God all about grace? Heres a few thoughts...

• Jesus always gave law to the proud, grace to the humble
• Jesus never had grace on sin, only the sinner
• We know we love God if we obey Him, so if we dont obey Him our sinfulness is revealed
• The Holy Spirit has come to lead us into truth and to convict us of our sin... Are these the same thing? Conviction is when the Holy Spirit reveals truth about our sinfulness?
• If people dont know they are sinners and destined for hell then they 'convert' what are they converting to or for? This will strongly influence what sort of disciple they are!
• If we need to repent to be saved dont we need to know what we're being saved from? Or repenting of?
• Wasn't the law just for the Old Testament? Nope, Paul says, "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." (romans 3:20)
• The psalmist says in Psalm 19:7, "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul."

So the law shows us our sin so we can repent of our sin so we can be saved!

Yesterday I blogged how we've been sexing up the gospel and selling the end result instead of the product so to speak. Selling the abs and not the ab roller... Selling the blessings and things and not the Salvation, sacrifice and repentance... So how does this all fit in with a gospel of signs and wonders, healing and deliverance?

At first this seems to not really fit. How can the gospel be a call to sacrifice and death to self at the same time as promising God heals and sets free? Is it submit and then everything will be better?

I believe healing and deliverance are signs that point towards Christ and the cross. They show us that Christ is authorative over all. That sickness, pain, death and the demonic all submit to Christ. Christ is above all. At His word sickness, pain, death and the demonic submit. There is no choice.

Once seeing and coming into contact with this authority we are faced with a question, will we submit to Christ now or on judgment day?

The sexy gospel

Ads are changing. They use to be all about the product but now they see their product by making it sexy! That’s right, that car will get you hot chicks, that Mars bar will make you a stud, that deodorant will make you irresistible. Your life will be better by these products! The gospel message has changed too. Come to Jesus for a better life. Come to Jesus for this and that. Hmmm

The call Jesus had was for Salvation. Come to Jesus to be saved from your sin. That’s why He died on the cross. He didn’t die on the cross just for a better life, rather it was for your sin. That doesn’t mean you wont have a better life, it just means that the reason you come to Jesus is for Salvation from sin.

We’re trying to sell a sexy gospel instead of the real deal. Sin, hell, judgment, repent, sacrifice, die to self is not good promotional material but wholeness, love, peace, grace are.

This is the point: The gospel is freedom from sin, we get forgiven, we get a pardon from the crimes we committed. All the other great stuff comes out of that amazing point. But to get that salvation you need to repent, you need to obey God, you need to submit to Him. But we start pitching the sex stuff and forget where that stuff comes from. We start selling the wrong thing.

People will get ‘saved’ thinking life will get better. But when the promised persecution comes, when the inevitable bad times come they will be left wondering where is God? They will think this better life stuff is crap. And they will leave.

The thing that needs to keep them is their reliance on God for their salvation. And out of that assurance of salvation they will be filled with joy and peace. Nothing else will matter. And their life will be better…

Don’t use sex to sell the gospel.

Preach it!

Do you remember what the last thing Jesus said before He zoomed up into heaven right beofre a bunch of peoples eyes? He said, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." I guess it wasn't a surprise after the countless times He had already told them. Right from the word go He was calling people to preach and lead people into a saving faith. "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." He has commanded it to every single Jesus follower.

So what about you my fellow Jesus follower? Are you preaching the gospel with your words and actions? Your actions will back up and give your words credibilty. They show people your heart. Words are needed too becasue if we dont preach they wont hear, if they dont hear they wont believe, if they dont believe they wont be saved...

"Whatever will we do" you ask? Go to Go For Souls. Go For Souls is coming up fast! Lock it in your callendar. Its for all of us who want to take the Great Commission ("The preach it to everyone command!") seriously. Its practical, fun and easy. We're focussing on taking the opportunities God has already given us (like friends and family) and also creating opportunities to share! (like on the streets!) Come and see that sharing Jesus with people is actually a privilige and is fun! After all God commanded it...

I'm Back

I'm back. I have spent time away from the world of blogging and I am back with a vengance. Not really, but I am back. I may not have chisled abs like the Terminator (yet) but I am back.

Someone else once said they were going to come back. He said that over 2000 years ago and we're still waiting... He will be back and we will have absolutely no idea when it will be. It will come like a thief in the night.

One night while we were asleep a thief came and stole my dads wallet. We had no idea. That's what its going to look like. No idea.

So, althought this post is borderline cheesey with the whole Termonator thing, I am back and I will try to post something up 3 or 4 times a week. But we will see how the blog bug gets me!