3) The SCRIPTURAL Argument (continued)

12On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”  13So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.  Follow him.  14Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’  15He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready.  Make preparations for us there.”  16The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover (Mark 14:12-16 NIV).

Verse 12 says that this was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  So here is how this works.  The Passover was killed on Nisan 14, on the Hebrew calendar, at sundown.  That corresponds to mid-March to mid-April on our Gregorian Calendar, which is 365 days in a year.  Each month on the Hebrew Calendar was exactly 30 days, so in other words 360 days in a year for the Jew.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread always took place from Nisan 15-21.  It was customary to refer to this whole period of time as "the Passover (season)."  It was also known as "the Days of Unleavened Bread."  Just to be safe from breaking God’s Law people usually removed all leaven from their homes a few days before the official Feast—so the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" usually started about Nisan 13.  So just after sundown (the Jewish day began at sundown not midnight so this was now Nisan 14) Jesus sat down with His twelve disciples in an upper room where they ate the Passover supper...

17When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve.  18While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”  19They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely not I?”  20“It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.  21The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him.  But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man!  It would be better for him if he had not been born.”  22While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”  23Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.  24“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25“I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14:17-25 NIV)

So what we discover is that it was the first night of the Passover season that Jesus introduced what we now refer to as the Lord’s Supper.  To thoroughly understand the connection between the Lord’s Supper of the New Testament, and the Passover of the Old Testament, we need to further examine the Passover celebration in the Old Testament.  We will do just that in our next post...

3) The SCRIPTURAL Argument

Let’s start with the passage showing the first institution of this ordinance.  Notice, in Luke 22: 14When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:14-20 NIV).  Notice, Jesus commanded His disciples to observe it (“Do this…”).  And why?  (“…in remembrance of me”).  Jesus said it was a memorial in memory of His death.  He instituted the Lord’s Supper on this tragic night--the very eve of His death on the cross.  In Matthew’s account we read: 26And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” (Matthew 26:26 NKJV).  It was “as they were eating” that He took bread and introduced this solemn ordinance which we call the Lord’s Supper, but what were they eating? The Passover!  1Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, 2“You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” 17Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” (Matthew 26:1-2, 17 NKJV).  

In 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, the Apostle Paul says, 6Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.  Paul says that Christ was our "Passover lamb", so there was a connection between what was happening in the New Testament and what had taken place in the Old Testament, so let us examine that concept further in our next post.

2) The LOGICAL Argument

Now let's move out of the realm of logic and into the realm of history.  Remember there are two New Testament ordinances that we have been given as the Church.  1) Baptism--which took the place of Old Testament circumcision.  How often did Jewish people need to be circumcised in the Old Testament?  Once in their lifetime (thank God)!  How often do we need to be baptized according to the New Testament?  Once in our lifetime!  2) Communion--which took the place of the Old Testament Passover celebration.  How often did Jewish people memorialize Passover in the Old Testament?  Once a year!  So how often should we have the "memorial service" of Communion?  Once a year!  

Let me share with you a few quotes to illustrate the connection with Passover and Communion! Dr. John O. Gooch (Ph.D in Historical Theology) wrote: “In the first century, the Lord’s Supper included not only the bread and the cup but an entire meal. As part of the meal, neighbors who had quarreled made peace again. Early Christians continued to observe the Jewish Passover. But they did not celebrate the Passover in memory of deliverance from Egypt. Instead, they fasted to commemorate the sufferings of Jesus, the true Passover Lamb” (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1993/issue37/3702.html).  Dr. Albert Henry Newman (Ph.D in Old & New Testament and the founder of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) wrote: “The departure of the church of the second and third centuries from the apostolic standard was by no means confined to the matter of baptism. The same influences soon caused the Lord's Supper to be looked upon no longer as a memorial feast in which believers partook in a purely symbolical way of the broken body and the poured-out blood of their crucified, risen, and glorified Lord, but rather as a mystic ceremony to be celebrated with elaborate ritual. This change was likewise due to pagan influences brought to bear chiefly through the Gnostic sects” (A History of Anti-Pedobaptism, Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1897, pg. 10).

I believe that the Lord's Supper, like many points of doctrine found in the New Testament, has fallen into the hands of Church tradition that has been passed down from one generation to the next without ever being considered or questioned.  Jude (the half brother of Jesus) says: "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3 NKJV).  The big question then is “What is the Lord’s Supper?” Today different church denominations take this sacred ordinance in different ways.  The Catholic Church claims that the bread and wine literally is transformed into the actual body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation).  Martin Luther believed that although the bread and wine didn't literally turn into the body and blood of Christ, that somehow mystically He was actually literally physically present among them (consubstantiation).

Living at the same time as Luther was another pastor/theologian by the name of Ulrich Zwingli. He and Luther agreed about many doctrines but never could agree on Christ's presence in the Eucharist. As a side note, the word Eucharist comes from the Greek EUCHARISTOS, which is usually rendered as “thanksgiving” in our English translations. And how often do we celebrate a “thanksgiving” in America? Once a year! Are we called to be thankful every day? YES! But we have a special celebration only once a year! Anyway, what Zwingli believed about Communion is what I believe is the biblical teaching—that the Lord’s Supper is to be a “memorial.” That we should take our cue from Scripture and not tradition! He believed that there is no special conveyance of grace or Christ’s literal or mystical presence is intended by the New Testament authors or even Jesus Himself. That being the case Zwingli believed that Communion should only be celebrated once a year.

A few years later pastor/theologian, John Calvin came along.  He studied the teachings of both of these men and he decided to take a middle of the road approach which most reformed churches have followed ever since. Calvin said that the Lord’s Supper is much more than just a “memorial.” He believed it to be a time in which we are spiritually fed and nourished and when we meet the risen Christ. Therefore, it should be frequent. To be honest, I’m not totally sure what exactly he meant by that but he obviously believed it to be mystical in some way. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion he said twice, "The Lord’s Supper should be administered at least once a week." Incidently, many churches today (like the one I grew up in) only take Communion four times a year—this tradition is nothing new.  It started when the city council in Geneva, Switzerland refused to let John Calvin administer Communion once a week and would only let him offer it four times a year, because they had been heavily influenced previously by Ulrich Zwingli! In my next post, I would like to switch gears one more time and get to the most important topic, which is what the Scripture has to say for itself on this subject. This always trumps logic and history.

1) The LOGICAL Argument

Think about this first just from a pure logic standpoint.  How often do we celebrate a "memorial"?  Memorial Day for instance?  Once a year!  Can you imagine how cheapened and routine and ritualistic it would become to celebrate Memorial Day every day of the year, or once a week, or once a month?  It wouldn't have nearly the impact on our life to do it every day as it would to do it just once a year.  Those men and women gave up their lives to give us freedom and we honor them for that!  We might think about them daily, but we don’t have a special ceremony daily, but when you do it once a year it is a BIG deal and you really look forward to it and it has special significance.  Imagine how difficult it would be to be the mayor of a town and try to have a meaningful Memorial Day celebration and actually get people truly solemn over their fallen brothers once a month or once a week.  The fact is that it would have the exact opposite effect.  As a Pastor who understands the magnitude of what Christ did for us, I feel like that mayor!

At Stagecoach Road Christian Fellowship, I have stood up front and led our congregation in Communion approximately 22 times now since I arrived in January 2009.  Never once during those times, that I can recall, do I remember seeing anyone weeping over their sin or weeping over what Christ has done for them.  When was the last time you wept while taking Communion?  Why?  Probably because it has become routine and a ritualistic for you.  Every year as I go to Memorial Day services I cry as I think about what those brave men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice have done for me, but if it was routine I know that I wouldn’t!  I have seen this very thing played out in my own life by experience. 

I grew up at a church that took Communion once a quarter and it was a special service where the whole event revolved around the sacrifice of Christ. It was usually a special time and to be honest, I thought that was how every church did it. Then I went away to Liberty University and there they only did it once a semester and it was a really really BIG deal and everyone went to that campus church service. It was always packed and it was always filled with God's presence and people were always crying and truly repenting of their sins. I can remember people even getting up out of their seat to go and make peace with other people that they had been mad at. It was a beautiful thing, and I have never seen anything like it in any church that I have been to since. I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome those experiences were in my life. These twice a year communion services were truly special and truly meaningful.  I have experienced firsthand the power of taking Communion less frequently and the impact that has upon your life, but my guess is that unfortunately most of you reading this blog have never been given that privilege.  In my next post I will give you reason number 2 for why I believe you should consider doing Communion once a year....

The Church in Corinth was really wacked out.  They had so many problems that Paul addresses throughout the letter that he wrote to them.  In chapter 11 we find that they were missing it with the Lord’s Supper.  Apparently anything goes is not acceptable when it comes to Communion and the Lord has something specific in mind.  So how often should we take Communion?  There are so many varying views on this.  Catholics say everyday.  Some churches do it every Sunday.  Some churches do it once a month.  Some churches do it once a quarter.  Some churches do it twice a year.  Some churches do it once a year.  So where does all of the confusion come from?  I believe a great deal of the confusion comes from the following two verses.  Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:25-26 (NAS), "In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes."  When examined more carefully you will notice that neither here nor in any of the other Lord's Supper passages does Jesus actually command us to take communion OFTEN like some assume.  Saying "for as often as you do it" is very different from saying "do this often!"  Another way of saying this is... "when you do it" as opposed to "as often as you do it."  And that is how the NIV actually translates these verses.  "In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:25-26 NIV). 

In part one of this blog thread, I mentioned that in my friend’s Twitter update he said that he attended a Baptist church, he just didn’t agree with everything Baptists do, especially as it related to taking Communion.  I actually am in total agreement with him over the Baptist way of doing communion, and almost all churches for that matter, but for the exact opposite reason that he mentioned.  He thinks we don’t take Communion enough—I think we take communion way TOO MUCH.  Now before you call me a heretic please hear me out on this.  I'll share my reasoning as to why I have come to believe that in the next few blog posts.....

To understand some of the personal confusion that I began to face over the doctrine of communion, you have to understand my personal history with the practice.  I grew up in an Independent Baptist church which celebrated communion once a quarter, usually during a Sunday evening worship service.  The entirety of the service always centered around the broken body and poured out blood of our Lord.  Then I left home to atttend Liberty University for bible college and while I was there, at campus church, we only celebrated communion once a semester, at a special service on a Wednesday evening.  At first, I thought this was kind of weird because I had assumed, up until that point, that everyone took communion in the same way--once a quarter on a Sunday night.  Then after college and seminary I moved to New Jersey and went on staff at another baptist church where communion was practiced on the first Sunday of every month.  At this point, I was totally confused (which isn't all that uncommon)!  Was communion supposed to happen once a month, once a quarter, once a semester or in some other frequency?  During this time of my life, I was preparing to plant a church, so I figured I should probably figure out what our new church was going to institute in regards to this ordinance that the Lord had given to us.  So I started to study, and study and study some more.  What I will share in my next few blog posts will be what I found and what I have come to believe about the practice of communion......

The third Sunday in June is America's annual day to celebrate fatherhood.  Here are some of the facts about our country's dads that you may not have known:  Did you know that the concept of Father's Day was first proposed in 1909 by Washingtonian native Sonora Dodd?  Her inspiration for the holiday was to honor her own father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran and single dad, widowed when his wife died in childbirth with their sixth child.  Did you know that Mrs. Dodd's vision did not become reality until 63 years later?  In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day.  Did you know that Americans aren't the only ones to celebrate their dads?  In the United States and over 50 other countries around the world, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June.  The first Sunday in June is when Lithuanian dads are honored; and on the second Sunday, dads in Austria and Belgium have their special day. 

Did you know that many child development experts believe the influence of a father on his children is most critical from the ages of six to 14?  Former President George W. Bush, himself a father of two, agrees.  As he wrote in the 2008 Presidential Proclamation for Father's Day, "By providing their sons and daughters with a positive example, fathers help give their children the necessary foundation they need to make wise decisions throughout their lives."  Did you know that there are 64.3 million fathers in America?  Did you know that in families where the mother works outside of the home, 14% of fathers are full-time stay-at-home dads?  Did you know that nearly a quarter of all married dads have three or more children living at home?  Did you know two-thirds of children under the age of six eat dinner with their dads every day?  Did you know that six out ten children under the age of six were praised at least three times a day by their fathers?  Did you know that one in twelve men serving in the US Army are dads?  Did you know that one in four dads who work outside the home spend less than an hour a day with their kids?  And did you know that 38% of working dads say they would take a pay cut to spend more time with their kids?

Father's for all that you do, I salute you and I'm proud to be numbered among your ranks!

(source for figures: US Census Bureau)

Last night I had the unfortunate opportunity to officiate a memorial service for a 15 week old baby that was delivered still-born.  This was a first experience of its kind for me, and I pray that it will be a last.  What do you say to a family that is grieving the loss of such an innocent little life that never got a chance to grow up to get to know mom and dad?  It was a tough service, but I believe that God ministered His grace and peace to hurting hearts.  Having gone through a miscarriage with my wife just about a year ago, I understand the pain that the couple is feeling.  It is not an easy thing to deal with.  We are lefting wondering "What happened?" and "Why did this happen?"  Unfortunately there are no easy answers, but here are a few things that I believe are true.

First, when David lost his baby boy to death he gave us some very powerful words that bring us hope that we will one day see our child again.  He said, "I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me" (2 Samuel 12:23).  David believed that he would one day see his son again even though it would not be in this lifetime.  I believe that the same is true for the Christian today.  It appears from David's words here that God ushers little children who have died into His presence where, one day, those who know Christ as Lord and Savior will be reunited with them.  While we grieve at the thought of never getting to love on our child again in this life, there is great comfort in knowing that they are being loved on by God in His eternal kingdom right now!

Second, the Bible tells us that God is going to work all things together for good for those people who love Him and called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  While it is no less easy to lose a child as a Chrisitan, we do have the comfort of knowing that nothing in this life takes God by surprise.  Although I do not believe that God orchaestrated the death of my child, that is just an unfortunate by-product of man's fall in the garden, I do believe that God allows trials and tribulations to come into our life in order to grow us in our character (James 1:2-4) and so that we may be able to minister to others down the road who are going through similar circumstances (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

Third, the Bible tells us that one day there is going to be no more sorrow and pain in this world.  In the New Heaven and New Earth all of those things will be but a distant memory.  The prophet Isaiah tells us that one day there will come a time when God will institute His Kingdom on this planet and at that point there will no longer be a case when a child lives only a few days (Isaiah 65:20).  Unfortunately that time is not yet, but it will soon come to pass in the not too distant future and we can praise God for that!

The same thing is true for our emotions.  The way we feel can hinder us from doing the will of God and bearing fruit.  Our emotions can clearly impact our actions.  Here are some examples:  If we do not feel like cleaning the house, we will not do it even if it needs to be done.  If we do not feel like being nice today, we will not be nice even though the consequences will linger beyond the day.  If we are led by our emotions, we will do or not do what we feel like doing.  But in order to bear fruit and stay in the will of God, we need to be able to separate ourselves from our feelings and do what God has called us to do in spite of ourselves.

To pull ourselves out from the circumstances, we must remind ourselves of the attributes of God.  To pull ourselves out from our emotions, we need to be in the Word of God.  We have to claim verses as promises to keep us focused on doing things that please Him, even if it does not please our emotions at the time.  It is in praying for self-control to maintain a steadfast life that brings Him glory.  Every day and every decision counts.  Choices we make today matter forever.  Keep sowing those seeds of righteousness and in time, you will reap a huge harvest!

In Bible times, people often used stones to serve as monuments in order to mark notable events.  We still continue that practice today, but a litlte bit differently.  We no longer pile up rocks and give the memorial a name, like "Bethel"--the house of God.  Instead, what we do today when someone dies is we indicate their final resting place with a tombstone.  Not only that, but when we erect a building, we oftentimes set an engraved cornerstone to commemorate the occasion, just like the one we have at SRCF.

Tombstones and cornerstones, both are large pieces of stone, granite or marble--substances likely to last for many decades, maybe even centuries.  Both pieces are polished and then engraved with names and dates.  But one indicates the end of a life, while the other marks the beginning of something that will last.  After Jesus was crucified, pronounced dead, and sealed in a tomb, many were ready to erect his tombstone and write "finished" on it.  But Peter's epistle assures us that the Rock upon which our faith was founded was a living stone, enduring and powerful.  The crucifixion did not chisel the final date in Jesus' tombstone.  Rather, His resurrection laid the cornerstone of the Christian faith, a monument that will last forever!

The book of Proverbs is full of comparisons throughout its pages. These verses declare that "little" is better with the respect of the Lord, than great treasures that produce trouble. Without God in our lives every human being is most miserable. That misery can be temporarily quenched by things in this world, but eventually that emptiness comes back, as only God can satisfy the heart of man. There are many things that money cannot buy, and there are many troubles that come with having a lot of money. The Bible teaches us that godliness, with contentment, is great gain. No matter how much we gain in this world, eventually we will leave it behind as all men do when they die. We bring nothing into the world and we carry nothing out. We are admonished to be content with what we have. Those who seek to be rich will fall into many temptations. We are to seek those spiritual things that we can take with us when we go—righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness.

6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness (1 Timothy 6:6-11 KJV).

We should note that "money" is not the root of all evil, but rather the "love of money" is the root of all evil. We all have need of money in this world. However, money to a Christian, is simply a medium of exchange that we use to take care of ourselves and our families, and to use to spread the good news of the gospel to others. Proverbs 15:17 says that it is better to have a small dinner of just herbs and vegetables, if you have true love with it; than to live with someone who is full of hate, even though they had an ox in the stall being fattened up for dinner.

“Blessed are the peacemakers”…when the term “peacemaker” is used the initial thought is of someone who keeps the peace between two opposing parties.  A “peacemaker” solves dilemmas often without the force of violence, although the threat of violence is sometimes present and to be used if necessary.  When I was growing up, I watched quite a few old western movies and shows with my dad where the sheriffs (ie. "good guys") were armed with the Colt 45 “peacemaker.”  How ironic that one of the most famous guns of the 1800’s was named the “peacemaker”.  The rationality is simply you can only have peace through strength.

When Jesus (Yeshua), the Prince of Peace (in Hebrew the “Sar Shalom”) returns again, He will usher in the Messianic age of Shalom — His strength will be on display as He rules with a “rod of iron.”  Interestingly enough, as I have studied the New Testament, the word “peacemaker” has a completely different connotation in the original languages than it does in our understanding in English.  The word peacemaker in Hebrew is actually the phrase “rod-fey shalom.”  Shalom has a much richer meaning than simply the word peace.  It can also mean completeness, prosperity, safety, contentment, health, blessing and rest.  The word “rod-fey” in Hebrew literally means to “run after” or “to chase!”  So, in Hebrew it says to “chase after shalom” — to run after God’s shalom!  And one can only find God’s shalom through our “Sar Shalom” – our Prince of Peace!  Let’s strive to reach a new level of intimacy with our Lord! Let’s run after a deeper knowledge of our Lord and in doing so, we’ll experience new levels of peace, contentment, blessing and rest! With so much work to be done, isn’t it good to know this is available to us NOW through our Sar Shalom, the Czar of Peace, Jesus Christ!

I never knew that this song by Bach that so many people use in their weddings is actually all about Christ! How awesome is that?  Jesus truly is the joy of man’s desiring. Every joy in all of man’s desiring points to the greatest Joy and the Giver of both all joys and all joy-producing gifts:  Jesus Christ!  PRAISE GOD!  Here are the words to the song as you follow along with the video above:

Jesus, joy of man’s desiring,
Holy Wisdom, Love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.

Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.

Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.

Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.

The prophet Isaiah in chapter 40 says, "See, the sovereign Lord comes with power...He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young" (Isaiah 40:10-11).  In verse 12 he begins to describe the greatness, the power and the majesty of God.  He says: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand..?" We cannot even begin to comprehend the vastness of the oceans of the world, not to mention the great inland bodies of water, and picture these waters being cupped in God's mighty hand, this same hand that holds you and me secure and safe.

Only now are scientists beginning to understand and realize the vastness of space and the distances of the heavenly bodies, distances that are beyond the comphrension of ordinary man.  In describing God's greatness Isaiah writes of God measuring the heavens "with the breath of His hand." He writes of God "holding the dust of the earth in a basket." and "weighing the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance."  In the 44th chapter of Isaiah he continues to describe God's greatness as one who stretches out the heavens like a canopy; who brings out the stars one by one and calls them each by name.  And this same God knows you and I by name and in tenderness reaches down to us individually and meets us at our point of need when we call upon Him. Isaiah says, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" (Isaiah 40:29).

A great and mighty God! A powerful and majestic God! A tender and loving God! A God who cares and loves us unconditionally.  Such wonderful truth makes my heart want to cry out....

"Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!"

• Video Illustration—President Obama impersonation by Marlin Hill (youtube)

• Over the last year or two I have seen a couple of different people try to impersonate President Obama, but that guy is by far the best that I’ve seen

• In fact, if any of us here tried to imitate President Obama, we’d fall way short of his efforts, I’m sure—but did you know that the Bible instructs all of us who are children of God to be imitators?

• As we enter into chapter 5 of Ephesians tonight, that’s exactly what Paul commands us to do—let’s read our passage together.

• Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV) – 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

• That’s a pretty tall order, isn’t it? Paul says, that as dearly loved children of God, we are to imitate our heavenly Father.

• The word translated “imitate” is the word from which we get our English word “mimic” and “mime.”

• So the picture that Paul gives us here is that we are to mimic, or imitate God in the same way that a child mimics his father.

• All of us who are parents can relate to that idea—we have watched, often in horror, as our children try to mimic us.

• Illustration—Country singer Rodney Atkins wrote a song titled “Watching You” that causes us to think about just how much our kids try to be like us. Listen to these lyrics:

Drivin’ through town just my boy and me
With a “Happy Meal” in his booster seat
Knowin’ that he couldn’t have the toy ‘til his nuggets were gone.
A green traffic light turned straight to red
I hit my brakes and mumbled under my breath.
His fries went a flyin’, and his orange drink covered his lap
Well, then my four year old said a four letter word
It started with “S” and I was concerned
So I said, “Son, now where’d you learn to talk like that?”

Chorus:
He said, I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you.
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.
We got cowboy boots and camo pants
Yeah, we’re just alike, hey, ain’t we dad
I want to do everything you do.
So I’ve been watching you.

• But the idea of us being able to imitate our heavenly Father is something that’s on a whole different level—it seems impossible for any of us to do that.

• But as I’ve looked at this passage more this week, it’s clear that Paul doesn’t expect us to imitate everything about God.

• Because He is God and we are not, there is a lot about God we could never even come close to imitating—His omniscience, His omnipotence and omnipresence are just the beginning of that list.

• But in this passage, Paul exhorts us to imitate just one characteristic of God—the way He loves—and that love is based on God’s demonstration of His love for us in His Son, Jesus

• We are to love others in the same way that Jesus loves us and gave Himself up for us.

• We shouldn’t be surprised at Paul’s command here since it was Jesus Himself that told his disciples the very same thing right before He went to the cross:

• John 13:34-35 (NIV) – 34A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

• Not only did Jesus command His followers to love each other in the same way He had loved them, but He also made it clear that their love for each other would be the measure as to whether they were truly His disciples. In his epistle, John reinforced this same principle:

• 1 John 2:6 (NIV) – 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

• If we’re going to claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, then we need to follow in His footsteps and live a life of love.

• And if we’re going to imitate God and live a life of love, then we need to take some time this evening to explore...

HOW TO LOVE OTHERS LIKE JESUS LOVED US:

• Like any other attempt to examine the nature of Jesus, we won’t be able to even scratch the surface in our attempt to deal with this topic this evening

• But we already spent a bit of time looking at one aspect of Jesus’ love the last time we looked at Ephesians 4 together—we looked at the topic of forgiveness.

• In fact, the word “therefore” in 5:1, takes us back to the previous verse where Paul commanded us to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other in the same way God has forgiven us

• So certainly forgiveness is a significant aspect of the love of Christ—we’re going to look at four additional aspects of the nature of Jesus’ love for us and discuss how we can imitate that kind of love

1) I must love others even when it COSTS ME GREATLY

• I’m not sure that we really consider all that it cost Jesus to love us—we recognize that it cost Him the ultimate, His life—but have you ever sat down and considered what else it cost Jesus to love us?

• As a start, here are just three ways that it cost Jesus to love us:

• It cost Jesus HIS GLORY

• Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV) – 5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

• We can’t even begin to imagine what this must have been like because none of us are God.

• But Jesus set aside the glory of heaven for 33 years and came here to this earth and endured scorn and shame from those He had created because he loves us so much.

• It cost Jesus PHYSICAL PAIN

• The prophet Isaiah described the pain that Jesus would suffer in order to love us:

• Isaiah 53:5 (NIV) – 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

• It cost Jesus HIS FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHER

• As bad as all those other things must have hurt Jesus, I think the greatest pain He suffered was that moment on the cross when all the sins of mankind were placed upon Him

• And as a result, His fellowship with the Father was broken and Jesus cried out:

• Matthew 27:46 (NIV) – 46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" - which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

• John wrote about how we need to love others even when it costs us greatly:

• 1 John 3:16 (NIV) – 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

• It cost Jesus His life to love us and, if necessary, we ought to be willing to pay that same price to love others.

• So I’m embarrassed to think about how many things that fall far short of giving my life have kept me from loving others in my own life.

• Far more times than I’d like to admit, I’ve failed to love others because I wasn’t willing to give up some of my time.

• Maybe it just wasn’t convenient at the time, or even more likely, I was just selfish with my time and there was something else that I wanted to do more than whatever I could have done to love them

• There have been times when I’ve failed to love others because I wasn’t willing to part with some of the financial resources that God has blessed me with.

• Some of those times, I really meant well, but just didn’t follow through, but I’m sure that other times, I’ve just been selfish.

• And what about all the times I didn’t love someone else because I was worried about what others would think.

• I was worried more about the fact that loving the unlovable might cost me my reputation than I was about loving the other person.

• If I want to imitate the love of God, then I need to love others even when it costs me greatly.

2) I must love others even when they DON’T DESERVE IT

• It seems like we’ve looked at Romans 5:8 nearly every week in our journey through Ephesians—and we’re going to look at it again tonight because it tells us a lot about the love of Jesus.

• But just to make sure we don’t just gloss over this and say, “I’ve heard this before.” We’re also going to read verse 7 along with verse 8 and I’m going to read from a paraphrase of this passage:

• Romans 5:7-8 (MSG) – 7We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. 8But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

• We very clearly see that Jesus did not love us because we were deserving of His love—there was nothing in our lives worth dying for, but Jesus did it anyway because He loves us.

• Not only that, but as we observe the life of Jesus while He was on this earth, we find that Jesus always loved those who others considered unlovable

• The poor, the diseased, the tax collectors and other social outcasts—so if we want to imitate the love of Christ, then we need to learn to love those who are unlovely.

• Here is what Jesus told His listeners about that during the Sermon on the Mount:

• Matthew 5:44-47 (NIV) – 44But I tell you: Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

• It’s pretty easy to love those who love us and treat us well, but the real test of our love is how we treat those who mistreat us or those who are different that us.

• We saw that time, when we talked about forgiveness—it’s certainly much easier to forgive those who are truly sorry and ask for forgiveness, but we’re required to forgive everyone

• Whether they deserve our forgiveness or not we must forgive them—but if we’re going to imitate the love of God, then we have to learn to love those who are hard to love and those who don’t deserve it

• As Jesus made quite clear, anyone can love those that love us—it’s not too hard to love those that are like us—that’s so simple that even the pagans can do that.

• In some respects, I struggle with this principle more when dealing with people in the church than with people outside the body.

• When I think about loving people outside the body, I don’t seem to think as much about whether the person needs my love or not.

• Since they are not yet followers of Jesus Christ, I find it much easier to “cut them some slack”—but I guess within the church, I have this expectation that people should “know better.”

• So it’s really pretty easy for me to love the people in the body who are always encouraging me and others and who are always willing to pitch in and do whatever they can do to help.

• It’s easy to love those who are faithful to minister here week after week—in other words, it’s easy to love those that live up to my expectations of how a believer should act.

• But it’s a lot harder to love Christians who are always criticizing and complaining without ever offering to be part of the solution.

• It’s really difficult to love those who work behind the scenes to undermine church leadership.

• It’s far easier to think that those who don’t measure up to my expectations of how they ought to act within the body of Christ aren’t really worthy of my love.

• But the fact is, no matter how much I’d like to think differently, I’m a pretty hard person to love, too—but God loves me anyway, even though I don’t deserve it.

• So, if I want to imitate His love, then I must love everyone, especially those who don’t deserve it.

3) I must love others with ACTIONS AND NOT JUST WORDS

• God could have just told us how much He loves us, but throughout the Scriptures, God has not only declared His love for us, He has demonstrated it through His actions.

• God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt—He provided for them in the wilderness and the, in spite of their rebellion, brought them into the Promised Land.

• He sent prophets to bring them His word and to warn them of the consequences of their behavior—but God’s ultimate act of love was one that He had planned from before the beginning…

• John 3:16 (NIV) – 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

• For God so loved that he what? [wait for response] That’s right, He gave, He took action that demonstrated His love toward us.

• Unfortunately, in our culture today, we have completely perverted the whole concept of love—nowhere is this more evident than in many of the so-called love songs

• At best, our culture defines love as an emotional attachment between two people and at its worst, it’s seen as merely a physical attraction.

• But God’s love for us goes far beyond just mere words or emotion—therefore, if we are going to imitate God’s love, then our love must transcend the world’s concept of love as John describes:

• 1 John 3:18 (NIV) – 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

• Illustration—In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote these insightful words: “The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”

• True Christian love is more than just an emotion—it is a choice that we make to put the well-being of the other person ahead of our own.

• And that takes more than just words; it requires action on our part—James drove that point home to his readers:

• James 2:15-16 (NIV) – 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

• If I want to imitate God’s love then I must be willing to take whatever action is required to meet the needs of others, regardless of my feelings for that other person.

4) I must love others with a LOVE THAT IS FREELY GIVEN

• In a sense, this is the essence of God’s love for us in Christ—that’s’ why Paul writes that “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

• There is very clearly a reference here to the Old Testament sacrifice system—as described primarily in Leviticus, God prescribed five different types of sacrifices that His people were to make to Him.

• Three of these sacrifices—the burnt offering—the grain offering—and the fellowship (or peace) offering were made as a voluntary act of worship to God.

• The other two sacrifices—the sin offering and the guilt offering—were offerings that were required whenever the people sinned.

• Except for a single exception in Leviticus 4:31, the voluntary offerings are always described as “an aroma pleasing to the Lord” and the required offerings are never described in that same way.

• So when Paul describes the death of Jesus as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God, he is reinforcing the idea that Jesus voluntarily gave up His life for us.

• That is further emphasized when Paul writes that Jesus “gave himself up for us”—this shouldn’t surprise us at all since Jesus made that same point with His own words:

• John 10:17-18 (NIV) – 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

• The greatest act of love in the history of mankind was not coerced or forced—even though the Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities condemned Jesus and nailed Him to the cross

• And this was done because of the mobs of the people who shouted “crucify him”—but Jesus willingly laid down His life.

• As He prayed in the garden shortly before those events were consummated, Jesus made it quite clear that he had the power to stop what was about to happen:

• Luke 22:42 (NIV) – 11Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.

• Jesus was committed to carrying out His Father’s plan, so He willingly submitted Himself to the will of His Father and laid down His life for all of us in the greatest act of love the world has ever known.

• Although we’ve seen that the love that imitates God is much more than just words or an emotion, that doesn’t mean that our attitude is not important when it comes to loving others in the same way

• I can do all the right things out of a sense of obligation or because that is what I am expected to do—but that doesn’t seem to be the kind of love that God has for us.

• In spite of the tremendous cost He knew he would pay, Jesus freely gave His life for us—so if we’re going to imitate His love, we need to love others in the same way.

• Because God is God, I’m certainly not capable of imitating who He is—but I can, and I must imitate the way that He loves me in the way that I love others.

Jesus followed one simple pattern, Law to the Proud, Grace to the Humble. Jesus used God's Law, the Ten Commandments to show people that they had offended God and deserved hell, but then, if they repented, He showed them what was required of them to have eternal life.  For more on this amazingly effective way to share your faith check out www.wayofthemaster.com

WHAT NOT TO WEAR AS A CHRISTIAN:

 1)  Take off LYING and put on TRUTH

²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body (Ephesians 4:25 NIV).  

2)  Take off SINFUL WRATH and put on RIGHTEOUS ANGER

²⁶“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26-27 NIV).  

3)  Take off STEALING and put on SHARING

²⁸He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need (Ephesians 4:28 NIV).

4)  Take off SHAMEFUL SPEECH and put on HOLY EDIFICATION

²⁹Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (Ephesians 4:29 NIV).  

5)  Take off HOT HEADS and put on WARM HEARTS

³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice (Ephesians 4:31 NIV).

Here Paul is collectively putting together a whole gamut of sins of temper and tongue, and he’s telling us to put them away!   That word “put away” has the sense of a word picture, some commentators believe, of a landlord putting out an undesirable tenant. 

⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips (Colossians 3:8 NIV).

¹Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind (1 Peter 2:1 NIV).

One commentator says this about verse 31—“When carnal people send fires of dissension through the assemblies of Christ, the work of years can be destroyed in moments, and the cause of Christ immeasurably hindered.”  In other words a fence on the top of a cliff is better than an ambulance at the bottom.

³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Ephesians 4:32 NIV).

¹²Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12 NIV).

¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:14-15 NIV).

That brings us to today's topic of discussion....

4) Take off SHAMEFUL SPEECH and put on HOLY EDIFICATION

Ephesians 4:29 (NIV) says, 29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  Now in Greek that phrase “unwholesome talk” often means filthy communication, suggestive stories, off-colour jokes, profanity, obscenity, vile language, etc.  But here it has an even wider meaning than that.  It means conversation and language that is worthless—talking about frivolous things, empty things, idle chatter, and profitless talk.  

In Matthew 12:34-36 (NIV) Jesus said, 34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.  We find an interesting parallel in the book of Romans.  There the Apostle Paul talks about the differences between the mouth of the unbeliever and the mouth of the believer.  You find in Romans 3 that the mouth of the unbeliever is full of cursing and bitterness, yet in chapter 10 the mouth of the Christian confesses “Christ Jesus as Lord.”  In Acts chapter 9, you have in the very first verse a picture of Paul breathing out murderous threats against Christians, but just a few verses later you see him praying in verse 11.  That is a powerful picture!  Paul goes from cursings and threatenings to praying.  That is what the power of the Holy Spirit can do in the life of a human being!  He can change the mouth from spewing forth decaying talk and conversation, to edifying and building up the church of Jesus Christ. 

There once was a fable told of a woman who drank poison in little drops.  Day-by-day, little-by-little, she allowed the poison to fill her entire body so full of poison that her very breath would wither the flowers.  That reminds me of some Christians, how about you?  They open their mouths, and it is a sepulchre of death.  That is not to be the mark of the child of God!  What’s the old saying?  If you have nothing good to say then don’t say anything at all!  Want to know something?  People think that because something’s a fact they can relay it to anybody!  If some person falls into sin, and they're telling another person about it, they think that its OK to share it with the world.  St. Augustine, a great man of God, hung a motto over his dinner table on his dining-room wall, do you know what it said?  “He who speaks evil of an absent man or woman is not welcome at this table.”  I wonder how many friends he would have in our churches today?  

Edifying, that's what we're supposed to do.  Take off shameful speech and put on holy edification.  We find that word three times in this chapter:  verse 12, verse 16, and here in verse 29.  The Greek word is OKODOMAY, which means “the act of building up.”  Our conversations should be cultivating and contributing to the growth of the body of Christ.  Paul goes on to say, in Ephesians 4:30 (NIV) – 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Notice that grieving the Holy Spirit is directly linked with false talking and empty talking.  A wise man once said, “Any fool can wreck a church, but it takes godliness to build one up.”  Isn't that right!  The scary thing is that if you hurt the bride of Christ with your words you are hurting the groom too.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to hurt Jesus’ bride and be on His bad side!  Listen to these sobering words from the Old Testament book of Isaiah:  10Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy and He Himself fought against them (Isaiah 63:10 NIV).  Do you know what that word “grieve” the Holy Spirit literally means?  To “pain” the Holy Spirit.  It means to cause sorrow to the Holy Spirit of God!  Certainly that is not something any true follower of Christ would want to do!

WHAT NOT TO WEAR AS A CHRISTIAN:

1) Take off LYING and put on TRUTH

In Ephesians 4:25 (NIV) Paul said, 25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.  We talked about this two weeks ago so let's keep moving...

2) Take off SINFUL WRATH and put on RIGHTEOUS ANGER

In Ephesians 4:26-27 (NIV) Paul also said, 26“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold.  That is what we covered last week, so here's what I want to talk about today...

3) Take off STEALING and put on SHARING 

One of my most vivid memories of my early days of life took place in first grade.  I was at school one day when one of the other students in my class brought in one of the few remaining He-Man toys that I did not own.  Of course, being only 6 years old, I just had to have it.  I saw it, I coveted it, and then I took it when nobody was looking!  A little later in the day, my friend found out that his beloved toy was missing and he told the teacher.  The teacher, knowing that I too was a big He-Man fan decided to come over and ask me if I knew what happened to the toy.  Of course, I had no idea (or at least that's what I told her)!  During recess, about an hour later, my teacher decided to take a look through my backpack and you'll never guess what she found!  OK, how did you guess?  Needless to say, she was not to happy about my lying and stealing episode, so she called my mother to inform her that I would need to stay after school for about an hour.  After everyone else went home I was given a little assignment.  I had to write on the chalk board 100 times, "I will not lie or steal."  An hour later my arm felt like it was going to fall off, but I was finally finished.  I wish I could say that this was the last time in my life that I ever stole anything, but unfortunately that just is not true!  Some people have to learn the hard way!  I guess I'm the kind of guy who has to find out for himself! 

Unfortunately I didn't have memorized our key verse for this lesson at that point in my life.  Ephesians 4:28 (NIV) says, 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.  Why does Paul need to tell Christians not to steal?  Well, most of the prisoners in Paul’s day were in prison for stealing.  When begging didn’t get them enough food they would steal!  It was a great temptation for people in their poverty to steal, and Christians were not exempt from this either.  Christians can and do steal.  Paul wouldn't be saying all of this unless that was the case. 

Isn’t it interesting that Satan was a liar from the beginning.  Satan was a murderer from the beginning.  And Satan was a thief from the beginning!  In John 10:10 (NIV) Jesus said, 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  In the New Testament, Satan turned Judas into a thief and He turned on Jesus and betrayed Him.  In the Old Testament, Satan turned Eve into a thief.  She ate the fruit of the tree that wasn’t hers to eat.  I am reminded of one of those big rules God gave us in Exodus 20:15 (KJV), where it says, 15Thou shalt not steal.

Once upon a time, there was a couple that had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were very mischievous. They were always getting into trouble, and their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons were probably involved.  The boys’ mother heard that a pastor in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her sons.  The pastor agreed, but asked to see them individually.  The 8 year old was brought in first and the pastor asked him, “Young man, where is God?”  The boy looked at him but didn’t say a word.  The pastor asked him again, “Young man, where is God?”  The boy again didn’t say a word.  The pastor asked him a third time, “Young man, I’m going to ask you one more time, where is God?”  At that the young man ran out of the room screaming, “We didn’t have anything to do with it!”  His mother who was waiting outside the pastor’s office with the 10 year old, said “Honey, what’s wrong?”  The 8 year old said, “God’s missing and the pastor thinks we stole him!”

Stealing can take on many forms.  It can come in the form of grand larceny, grand theft auto, filing for bankruptcy and never repaying your debts, not working the hours that you told your employer you worked, etc.  It can be plagiarism, downloading illegal music, or illegally copying copyrighted DVD’s.  It can be falsifying expense accounts, it can be not claiming income on your taxes!  It can come very subtly in padding out claims, borrowing and not paying back, or using your employers time for other things.  In America 16 million dollars a day goes down the drain because of shortages in department stores caused by employee theft—16 million dollars a day—that’s a lot of money!

Here is the awesome thing about the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.  He doesn’t just enable you to keep the negative of the commandment, “Do not steal.”  The Holy Spirit also enables you to do something positive in order to replace the negative.  William MacDonald once said, “Only the positive power of grace can turn a thief into a philanthropist!”  John the Baptist once said, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same” (Luke 3:11 NIV).  As Christians we are longer allowed to live a life of stealing.  We are called to a life of service and sharing with those who are in need!

WHAT NOT TO WEAR AS A CHRISTIAN:

1) Take off LYING and put on TRUTH

Last week we looked at Ephesians 4:25 (NIV) where Paul says, 25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.  Since we already talked about this verse last week let's move right into today's thought...

2) Take off SINFUL WRATH and put on RIGHTEOUS ANGER

In Ephesians 4:26 (NIV) Paul goes on to say, 26“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry...  Now this is a difficult verse to understand.  The question then is this, when is anger right, and when is anger wrong?  When is it sinful and when is it righteous?  Anger is sin when that anger is motivated by an emotion of malice, jealousy, rebellion, resentment, vindictiveness, or hatred.  Because of personal pride a person decides, with all or one of these emotions within them, to be angry with another person—and the seed is pride within their heart—that is when it is a sin.  In Matthew 5:23-25 (NIV) Jesus says, 23Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.  Why does Jesus tell us to “settle matters quickly with our adversary”?  Because the all-seeing eyes of the Savior can see into the hearts of men and women when they continually put off reconciliation.  What happens when they put it off?  It festers, and festers, and festers, and gets worse—that is why Jesus also said in Matthew 18:15 (NIV) – 15If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.  

Jesus said that when we have sinful anger with another we are to do two things—confess it to God, and confess it to our brother.  Sadly that is another New Testament practice that has gone down the tubes, and this is very serious, because Jesus Christ the Son of God, says that unholy anger is the first step of murder.  In Matthew 5:21-22 (NKJV) Jesus said, 21You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.  Hating another person is the equivalent of murder in God’s eyes.  Jesus tells us that it is Satan who is the father of lies and He was a murderer from the beginning!  Listen to John 8:44 (NIV) where Jesus said, 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Satan hates God, and he hates the people of God, and when he finds a believer where there is a spark of bitter anger he adds fuel to the fire.  Why?  Because he wants to burn down the body of Christ!  It's easy to put out a match when it's first struck, isn't it?  But once the whole building is burning down it's very very difficult.  The unconfessed sin of anger is the devil's breeding ground.

In Ephesians 4:27 (NIV) Paul goes on to say, 27and do not give the devil a foothold.  If you give the Devil an inch, he’ll become a ruler!  Let me ask you a question, does the Devil need the help of Christians?  I think he's doing a good enough job of opposing God as it is, without us.  The Greek word here for “Devil” is the word “Diabolos.”  It's a double-meaning word.  In other words it can mean "the Devil", but it can also be translated as "one who is prone to slander."  The Devil is prone to slander!  If you go through the mentions of the Devil within Scripture, particularly the book of Revelation chapter 12 vs. 10 he is described as ‘the accuser of the brethren’.  He is the slanderer of the brethren.  The one who throws things.  He throws accusations at the children of God about their sins.  The Holy Spirit is saying through Paul here in Ephesians 4—“Give no place to the slanderer!”—meaning the Devil.  Everyone that is slanderous is fond of him.

The half-brother of Jesus said this, 7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7 NIV).  Crimes of passion are to be forbidden within the body of Christ, and they must stop—there is no excuse for it, do you know why?  Because lies and sinful anger discredit the testimony of Christ.  It stumbles the unsaved and it sows discord among the brethren.  In Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV) King Solomon said, 16There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: 17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.  What is righteous anger? We are to take off sinful wrath and put on righteous anger, but what exactly does that mean?  Well, the Bible says that God gets angry.  In fact, Psalm 7 says that God gets angry with the wicked every day.  Listen to this…11God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11 NKJV). 

When God's name is at stake—when God's name is not vindicated within His church and within His creation, we are to be angry, just like He is.  That is righteous anger!  We are to be like Jesus Himself when He goes into the temple and turns over the tables of the money-changers.  We are to have the zeal of His house eating us up!  13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” 17His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’ (John 2:13-17 NIV).  Now is it always easy to know the difference between sinful wrath and righteous anger?  NO—actually sometimes it is quite hard to tell the two apart.  It's a problem for a sinner saved by grace to know when their anger is sin and when their anger is righteous.  What can start off as being anger that is righteous can end up as anger that is sin.

Aristotle, who was not a believer, once said this—“Anyone can become angry, but to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way—this is not easy.”  Thomas Boston, a Puritan pastor once said it like this—“I am determined to be angry and sin not—therefore the way I will do it is to be angry at nothing but sin!”  There’s the key.  If you want to be angry and sin not, be angry with everything that is sin!  Do you know what we need in the Church?  We need a baptism of holy anger.  We need to be angry again for righteousness sake.  Like the Psalmist, we need to love the Lord and hate evil.  We need to be like William Wilberforce, who looked at the atrocities of slavery in England and decided to stand up and do something about it.  he didn't just sit passively by and complain about it.  He took action.  We need to be angry at what makes the Lord angry.  Things like abortion, homosexuality, and euthanasia, which break the heart of God.  The Pharisees were ripping the ordinary people off in the Temple, and Jesus was angry about it!  Don't get me wrong, as Christians we are called to love everyone, but just like Jesus there are also times to be angry and sin not!

As we start off today in verse 25, remember that the context of these verses that we’re about to read is the idea that we as the Church are the body of Christ.  The question we will discuss today and for the remainder and for the next few weeks is this--"What are we supposed to wear or not wear as Christians?"  Ephesians 4:25-32 (NIV) says 25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. 29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

If you look back at verses 17-24, Paul basically told us to take off the old clothes of the old nature and put on the new clothes of the new man.  This reminds me of that show on TLC called "What Not To Wear."  My wife loves that show.  The premise is that they pick out people who dress horribly and they teach them how to dress right!  In Ephesians the Apostle Paul, like every good preacher of the word of God ought to do, takes doctrinal truth (vs. 17-24) and applies it, practically speaking, to our everyday life experience (vs. 25-32).  This is the same thing He is doing throughout the entire book.  The big picture of the book of Ephesians is that chapters 1-3 are about doctrine and chapters 4-6 are about application.  So Paul is moving from his doctrinal thesis that we all are to take and discard our old clothes, put on our new clothes, and now he tells us what those new clothes are.

To me, I think the key verse of this entire passage is verse 30, look at it again.  30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  So that is the foundation of verses 25 to 32, everything is built upon that premise—that everything we do in life ought to be something that pleases the Holy Spirit of God that resides inside of us.  Paul is saying that if we fail to do the things he lays out for us here in this passage we are going to live a life that is pleasing and not detestable to the Lord.  I think, perhaps, in practice much of the church today (especially Baptists) believes in a duality of the Godhead—what I mean by that is—two in the Godhead—God the Father and God the Son.  Oh, they adhere to the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), but in practice, in everyday life, all you hear mentioned usually is the Father and the Son.  That is a defective theology.  The problem with a defective theology is that it usually leads to a defective life.  Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians so they wouldn’t have a defective theology or a defective life!  Again, that is why the first three chapters are about believing the right things (doctrine) and the final three chapters are all about doing the right things (behavior).

The point that Paul is trying to get across is that it’s not just what you believe that’s important, but how you behave is just as important—your behavior ought to be affected by your beliefs.  James 1:22 (NIV) says 22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  James 2:26 (NIV) says 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.  How you behave comes from what you believe.  So if you say you believe something but your actions don’t substantiate that, guess what?  You’re kidding yourself, but not the Lord!  The problem that most “Christians” have is that they don’t walk in step with the Holy Spirit of God and thus are walking in the flesh and living like the old man even though they have been made new.  Here in this passage, Paul gives us the ways that we, as Christians grieve the Holy Spirit, and the ways that we please the Spirit.

WHAT NOT TO WEAR AS A CHRISTIAN:

1) Take off LYING and put on TRUTH

Ephesians 4:25 (NIV) says 25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.  What is a lie? A lie is something contrary to the truth, but we could go further and say that a lie is something contrary to the truth with the intent to deceive.  There’s intent in it.  What I mean is this—if you ask me the time at the end of church, and I said: “Well, its 11:00 AM”, because my watch had stopped, I’m not telling you a lie, I just didn’t realize my watch stopped.  But if I tell you its 11:00 AM because I don’t want you to leave and because I want to keep preaching even though I know it’s really 11:30 AM, that is a lie.  Exodus 20:16 (KJV) says 16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.  As we look through the word of God, especially in the persons of the Pharisees and the Scribes, we find that this was a commandment that was remembered in the Temple and forgotten in the street.  This is the whole point of Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus—the things that you hear in the Temple (at Church), don’t forget in the street!  He wants to help us realize today that when truth is spoken the Spirit of God works, but when lies are spoken the Devil himself works.

The word of God tells us that no lie is of the Truth.  Who is the Truth?  Jesus!  But at this moment of time in the world and even in the Church there is an epidemic of falsehood.  Just think about marketing and advertising these days.  Don’t tell Lauren but I just bought some of that TAG body spray stuff…..the results?  NOTHING!  (Just kidding....not about the results but about buying TAG body spray!)  What we’re led to believe is that anything from a new toothbrush to taking out a certain insurance plan, to drinking the right kind of beer will really improve our lives in some way.  That is falsehood.  That is not the case, and in reality we all know that, but falsehood has become the norm within society.  It is ingrained and we don’t even realize it. We’ve become de-sensitised to it!  It reminds me of the story of the baker who suspected that the farmer, who was supplying his butter, was short-changing him, and wasn't giving him the amount of butter that he was paying for. It was confirmed week after week as he weighed that big lump of butter, and he found that it was lower than the weight that it ought to have been. So he went to the police and he reported him and got him arrested! They brought him to the magistrate, and the judge for some reason just threw the whole thing out of court. It came to light why that happened. The farmer said, “Well, I don’t have scales at home. So what I do is I take a one pound loaf of bread that I buy from the baker, I put it on the other side of the scales, and it weighs it out for me!”

What is lying? It’s not just saying untruths, not just blatant black and white truths.  Do you know what it is?  It’s being doubled-tongued.  It’s saying one thing and doing another.  If you watch any old western movies like my dad used to make me watch growing up you will hear a line a lot, “White man speak with forked tongue!”  Matthew 23:28 (NIV) says 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  The word “hypocrisy” comes from the Greek word HUPOKREESIS, which means an actor that used to stand on the stage with a mask and pretend he was something that he was not.  You are a liar if you’re pretending to be something that you are not. 

What else is lying?  Putting your personal preference on a particular fact.  Sometimes we like to embellish upon the facts, and sometimes we withhold facts that we don’t want other people to know, to create a better light and aura around us of what we are and what we can do.  Sometimes we do this too, sometimes we put a little appendix on a story.  We put an emotional interpretation on the facts that goes something like this:  Someone tells you a story and then you tell it to someone else, and you add a little bit onto it, a little appendix—“Now that's what I heard, but this is what I think...”  Do you know what that is?  That's lying because you don't know whether that's a fact or not, and if you're not dealing in facts, my friends, you're dealing in lies!

What about exaggeration? That’s lying too.  If I tell you that I’ve been bench pressing 300 lbs lately but really its more like 225, that is a lie and it grieves the Holy Spirit!  The sin of lying is a very serious crime in God’s eyes.  Revelation 21:8 (NIV) says 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.  Revelation 22:14-15 (NIV) says 14Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.  The Bible says that Hell is prepared for those who love and practice lying.  That's what the word of God teaches.  Now, I don't mean if you've ever told a lie you'll automatically end up in hell.  We've all told lies.  But what that verse means is this—if your life, at this moment, is continually controlled by lying—hell is for you because you are not really indwellt by the Spirit of Truth!

For the Christian, life is to be controlled with truth, and I remind you that the first sin that was judged publicly by God Almighty in the early Church was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira.  Acts 5:1-5 (NIV) says 1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.  This is why the Apostle Paul says, take off lying and put on truth.  The Christian is not to lie.  The Christian is not to be involved in giving half truths, or embellishing, or exaggerating the truth.  Jesus said 37Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one (Matthew 5:37 NIV).  The Christian is to deal with fact.  His 'yes' is to be 'yes', his 'no' is to be 'no'.  His word must be absolutely trustworthy!  How are you doing in this area?

http://photos.livingbread.org/

The money given by SRCF helped over 80 kids receive a kit with school supplies and personal hygiene items.

God is sovereign and can choose to answer any prayer He sees fit.  But Scripture clearly indicates that God does not listen to or answer every prayer. In fact, Scripture gives at least fourteen reasons for unanswered prayer. God does not answer the prayer of those:

#1. Who have personal and selfish motives.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures (James 4:3).

#2. Who regard iniquity in their hearts.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear (Psalm 66:18).

#3. Who remain in sin.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:2).

Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him (John 9:31).

#4. Who offer unworthy service to God.

"You offer defiled food on My altar. But say, 'In what way have we defiled You?' By saying, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.' And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?" Says the Lord of hosts. "But now entreat God's favor, That He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?" Says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 1:7-9).

#5. Who forsake God.

Thus says the Lord to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins." Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence (Jeremiah 14:10-12). #6. Who reject God's call.

Because I [Wisdom] have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke.... Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me (Proverbs 1:24-25, 28).

#6. Who will not heed God's law.

One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination (Proverbs 28:9).

"But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen," says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 7:11-13).

#7. Who turn a deaf ear to the cry of the poor.

Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, Will also cry himself and not be heard. (Proverbs 21:13).

#8. Who are violent.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood (Isaiah 1:15; see also 59:2-3).

#9. Who worship idols.

Therefore thus says the Lord: "Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal. So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble." (Jeremiah 11:11-14; see also Ezekiel 8:15-18).

#10. Who have no faith.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6-7).

#11. Who are living in hypocrisy.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).

#12. Who are proud of heart.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).

#13. Who are self-righteous.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:11-14).

#14. Who mistreat God's people.

You have also given me the necks of my enemies, So that I destroyed those who hated me. They cried out, but there was none to save; Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them (Psalm 18:40-41).

You who hate good and love evil; Who strip the skin from My people, And the flesh from their bones; Who also eat the flesh of My people, Flay their skin from them, Break their bones, And chop them in pieces, Like meat for the pot, Like flesh in the caldron. Then they will cry to the Lord, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, Because they have been evil in their deeds (Micah 3:2-4).

So, does God answer the prayers of unbelievers? A strict yes or no answer is difficult without qualifying the answer in various ways. However, it is noteworthy that the above mentioned principles represent some of the key characteristics of an unbeliever. Thus we can safely say that, in general, God does not answer the prayers of an unbeliever.

So many people were totally stressed out and anxious about the future.  Well, hindsight is 20/20 and it would be easy for me to call all of those people foolish, but the reality is that I was among their number.  No, I was not hoarding gold, or food, or water, but I was certainly on edge as the clock inched it's way closer and closer to midnight.  When the ball finally dropped and Dick Clark wished me a happy New Year I knew that I could heed the words of David....

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8 NIV)

Dr. Reid starts chapter 1 with an interesting story about a new Christian named Bill who decided to visit the church located directly across the street from his college. What ensued at this very traditional and conservative church was truly amazing and had a tremendous impact on both this young college kid and the congregation alike. The remainder of this chapter deals with many examples, statistics and characteristics of the radically unchurched population in America. One of the most telling and shocking statistics that Reid presents is that 41% of the US population consider themselves to have “no religious affiliation”—these people are the ones that Reid calls the “radically unchurched.”

Chapter 2 gives an overview of how the Church can do a more effective job at penetrating the culture with the good news of the gospel. Dr. Reid points out that many Christians “evade” the culture and avoid being a witness for many different reasons. Other Christians “pervade” the culture by battling to insure that Christian values remain intact in our culture despite the fact that the majority of the people living in our culture and writing the laws of our land are no longer evangelical Christians. The third category that Reid mentions is the one that is the most biblical. It is the idea that we as Christians are called to be the incarnation of Christ in our day and age and “invade” our culture with his love and mercy. The remainder of the chapter deals with this concept. Reid says that the fuel for accomplishing this mission is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and set ablaze by prayer.

In chapter 3, Dr. Reid talks about the power that each person has to make difference in this world, whether for good or for evil. He then talks about the power that one Christian congregation has to make a positive impact in this world. The problem is that far too many Christians in the country are simply too busy to be used by God to accomplish extraordinary things. Chapter 4 deals with the ways in which the Church has to change in our nation in order to see a reversal in the course that we have been heading. In this chapter Dr. Reid gives great insight into some of the differences between the mindset of a post-modern vs. modern thinker. This subtle shift in how people view the world and view religion has major implications for how we should respond as Christians in the United States today.

Although Dr. Reid paints a grim picture of the ground we have lost in our country in chapter 4, I am glad that he concludes Part 1 of this book with a chapter on hope. Chapter 5 gives wisdom on how to reach the unchurched with the gospel and how to mobilize the younger generations in our churches so that they can go out and make a difference for Christ in their world in the coming generations. There are many teenagers in our churches today that are hungry to see God send revival and for that we can rejoice!

In chapter 6, Dr. Reid talks about the need to affirm doctrine without ignoring culture. He calls this “adding without subtracting.” This section of the book transitions the reader from learning about the radically unchurched to learning how to reach the radically unchurched. One area of concern that Reid focuses in on in this section is how many churches today are so focused on attracting the lost that they sometimes become lost themselves. Reid states that many well intentioned efforts to evangelize the unchurched actually become counter-productive. Chapter 7, deals with the power of a changed life. In this chapter, Reid focuses on how to effectively share “your story.” Sharing the story of how Jesus has made a difference in your life is a powerful element of evangelism in a post-modern context.

In chapter 8, Dr. Reid talks about the effect that genuine worship can have upon the unbeliever who is invited to church. Reid talks about the differences between substance, style and spirit when it comes to our worship gatherings. When the radically unchurched come into contact with the manifest presence of God in corporate worship they will come away with a different perspective on Christianity than the preconceived one they once held. In chapter 9, Reid encourages the use of a variety of approaches in sharing the gospel in order to spur creativity. In order to reach the radically unchurched we will need to use every medium possible.

Chapter 10 discusses the need for more churches to be planted in order to reach the unchurched. Church planters must have a calling from God and a passion to stick it out even through the difficult periods of ministry. Although new and innovative churches are needed in order to reaching an ever-increasingly different looking culture, we must also be sure to plant churches that are not so different that they don’t resemble a church at all. All churches must be built upon the firm foundation of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. Dr. Reid concludes the book with a discussion on passion. Until the radically unchurched see a passion in God’s people they are never going to have a desire to join a church. Reid encourages believers everywhere to prayerfully ask God to give them a passion for reaching the lost. Without a genuine passion for Christ we will never have a genuine passion for reaching the radically unchurched.

Evaluation
Dr. Alvin Reid is a man who obviously has a great desire to see unbelievers reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has dedicated his life to this pursuit. In his book, Radically Unchurched, Reid shares this desire with his readers and it is easy to allow his passion to rub off on you. The Church in the United States is living in a different day and age than they were just a generation ago and we need to re-evaluate how we are going to accomplish the Great Commission into the future. In this excellent work, Dr. Reid gives us a clarion call to the battle lines in order to reach this huge segment of the American population—the radically unchurched.

I believe that Dr. Reid does an excellent job of explaining the rise of post-modernism in our nation and its impact on our culture. A direct result of this subtle shift in the way we think and see the world is the obvious rise of those who are growing up in an unchurched environment. After just a few pages it become obvious to the reader that Reid has a keen insight into the new realities that we face in evangelism today. His expertise in this area comes through loud and clear. The many examples and personal stories in this book drive home the author’s point time and time again.

One of the few downsides of this book is that there are so many examples and personal stories that sometimes it can be a little bit distracting. It would also seem that being such a guru on evangelism as he certainly is, there would be more stories of personal evangelism. There are many great stories in this book, but most of them are about someone else rather than himself. It also seems that Dr. Reid equates evangelism to an event in this book. Although he emphasizes servant evangelism in this book, every example of outreach that he cites is one of an individual or a group going out to “do” servant evangelism. In contrast, Jesus did not come to earth to “do” evangelism, but He was, by nature, a servant who loved people and never stopped sharing the message of God’s truth. All that being said, it is more than evident that Reid has a great concern for being obedient to our Lord when it comes to sharing the message of salvation with those who still need to hear it.

Dr. Reid has a great deal of insight into the world of the unchurched. In this book he provides a considerable amount of knowledge that could be helpful to every pastor and Christian who takes the Great Commission seriously. There is no doubt that much can be gained by giving the information presented in this work a careful study. This book would be a great tool to use as a curriculum for a small group or Sunday School class to go through together. Sometimes as believers we see the world and culture around us as the enemy rather than realizing that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We should not be hostile towards the unchurched, but we should embrace them and prayerfully and sacrificially love them to the Messiah. If we can get a good grip on the principles that Reid teaches in this book then we will be much more equipped to reach these people that Jesus died for and much less apt to bury our heads in the sand and hide from them. This book is great for igniting a fire and passion in the heart of believers who desire to be the hands and feet of Christ to our culture.

Pastors and parishioners of churches with a very conservative and traditional approach to worship will also find this manual an excellent resource in understanding how to avoid becoming the next statistic on the churches-who-have-closed-their-doors forever list. So many mainline and denominational churches today are dying because they have refused to adapt the methods in order to speak the language of their culture. We must always remember that the message never changes, but the methods that we use to get the message out to the masses must always change. Reid understands this concept and does a wonderful job of expressing exactly what that looks like in our world today.

Pastors of churches that are a little more contemporary will find this book to be a breath of fresh air and an excellent tool for training their people how to reach their unbelieving family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. This is a great resource for getting an Elder Board all on the same page when it comes to the evangelistic direction a church should be heading in if they want to truly have an impact in their community. This would also be a great book for Youth Pastors and youth ministry volunteers to read, because it will give them a better understanding of the postmodern mindset that they will be dealing with moving into the future.

With each passing day it seems that our culture is moving further and further away from a biblical worldview. This does not mean that we should despair of hope, but rather we should be excited to know that the darker the night the brighter the light. People are trying to find peace and purpose and fulfillment and happiness and we have the answer to their deepest need—the gospel of Jesus Christ and His message of salvation. With concentrated prayer and just a little bit of every effort, every Christian and every church can do their part in making a difference in the life of someone who is radically unchurched.

Victor Lee is the Minister of Single Adults & Evangelism at First Baptist Concord, Knoxville, TN. He has been writing professionally for 22 years. Lee entered full-time ministry in 1995. He is a veteran journalist and minister with a focus on discipleship, sports evangelism, singles ministry, purposeful family living, and evangelism strategy. A former newspaper reporter, Lee has written several hundred articles for Christian web sites and magazines. He is a Sports Evangelism Consultant for the North American Mission Board; a columnist for Sports Spectrum magazine; and a board member of Sports Outreach America, the International Sports Federation, and His Passion Ministries. Victor and his wife, Judy, have an adult daughter and three foster children and currently reside in Wake Forest, NC.

Content Summary
The introduction of this book deals with the basic premise that families ought to have a unified purpose and that parents can make sure that the purpose is carried out through a mission statement. In chapter 1 of Family to Family, the authors identify the “model” healthy family. First, the reader is made aware of the fact that Christian families in America today are being bombarded by the ideals of this world more than ever before. The authors also examine what a healthy family looks like based on Scripture.

In chapter 2, the authors talk about each individual family going through the process of developing a mission statement. One main idea expressed by the authors here, is that a family mission statement must be functional. A mission statement is what the authors call a “center line” that families can use to guide them through the landmines of this life. The authors also point out how mission statements are used in many places in Scripture. Pipes and Lee even go so far as to argue that family mission statements are a biblical mandate. The remainder of chapter 2 outlines exactly how to develop a family mission statement.

In chapter 3 of Family to Family, Pipes and Lee address the need for parents to effectively pass on their faith to their children. This chapter is divided into four sections that address the various aspects of spiritual leadership within a family. First, the authors talk about different strategies for talking to children about Jesus. There are an assortment of suggestions given here for talking with the different age groups within a family about spiritual things. The next two sections of this chapter deal with how to mentor a child. Pipes and Lee provide many different examples and strategies for how to disciple children effectively. Also included in this chapter is a section on how to implement family devotions and family worship.

In chapters 4 to 6 of Family to Family Pipes and Lee give helpful hints for how to build evangelism and ministry into the very DNA of the family. Chapter 4 describes ways in which each individual family can best reach their community with the gospel. Chapter 5 gives some ideas for how each individual family can minister together at their local church. In chapter 6, Pipes and Lee talk about the importance of prayer and the Holy Spirit going ahead of a family as their share the good news of salvation with lost people that the Lord brings across their path. There are several methodologies listed in order that a family can find the evangelism system that works best for them and can be included in their individualized mission statement.

Evaluation
Pipes and Lee do a great job at communicating that all Christian parents must be strategic in finding and fulfilling God’s specific purpose for their family. This is best accomplished through a family mission statement around which they can envision their priorities. God has made it clear in His Word that parents must be intentional in the raising of their children. The authors make it very clear that Jesus is the only hope for the families of this world and He is the only way to have a restored relationship with the Father. If you accept the divinity of Christ and the authority of God’s Word then you will find much to be pleased with in this book.

Pipes and Lee use many great illustrations which help the reader gain a better grasp of what they are trying to communicate. Another great aspect of the book is that the authors do a very thorough job of examining many of the biblical passages relating to parenting. There are many stories shared by the authors which demonstrate exactly how a family, as a unit, can be instrumental in bringing others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. After examining the evangelical church in the United States, Pipes and Lee have concluded that the reason why Evangelicals are losing 88% of their teenagers when they turn 18 years of age is because parents have an unbiblical view of the family. Their argument that the families which have Christ as the center of their homes only lose 5% of their children when they turn 18 years of age is a very powerful and eye opening argument. If this is truth, then America could see revival in the coming generation if every family in our churches would take this book seriously and put its principles into practice. Writing the mission statement isn’t all that difficult, but living it out with our children would certainly be more of a challenge, but just think of the possibilities for Kingdom impact if we do so.

The uniqueness of this book is its emphasis upon a family mission statement. Most families in our culture today, even in our churches, are that they are way too busy. They are so busy, in fact, that they don’t have time to spend together at the dinner table, let alone, time to spend together in the Bible. The sad reality is that many Christians today live as practical atheists—they say they believe in God, but live their lives as if they do not. This is especially true when it comes to time management. Very few Christians in our culture live as if every second belongs to God and as a result very few Christians are actually consistently glorifying God through their lives and their families. Way too much of our time as Christians is wasted. This book will definitely help any Christian family to learn how to redeem the time knowing that the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16).

Pipes and Lee are unashamedly conservative, and clearly Baptist in their theology, which as a Baptist myself, is fine by me. They view the 66 books of the Bible as God’s perfect, inerrant Word. Alongside of this, they also believe that the Triune God is the Creator of all things. This world is God’s creation and we have the privilege of living in it. This leads Pipes and Lee to conclude that families belong to God and they can only find their peace and fulfillment by accomplishing His will. It is God who determines what a healthy Christian and what a healthy family looks like. Pipes and Lee force their readers to make the choice whether or not they will be a hearer of God’s Word only, or whether they will actually be a doer of His Word. I believe that they do a great job in this book of laying out what biblically healthy families look like and live like. Family to Family can be a defining moment for Christian families everywhere who decide to heed the advice found on its pages.

There are several positive aspects about the book which I would like to mention. First, it’s a really easy read. I would say that any person who is able to read on a high school level would do fine and be able to understand the concepts found in this book. The authors make many claims and give many suggestions for how a family can carry out God’s will. Second, readers are encouraged with the fact that having a healthy family isn’t as far out of reach as one may think, even in today’s culture. With a few minor, intentional adjustments, most Christian families could begin living out God’s game plan for the family. Finally, Pipes and Lee show that if these principles are carried out in our families it could have a positive impact on, not only our children, but on our children’s grandchildren! That is an exciting premise.

I believe that every parent should read this book. This would be a great book even for non-believing parents to read since it gives some practical steps that can be applied in order to have a family driven by a purpose and mission. Although the book is obviously designed with Christian families in mind, all families could find benefit from its sound biblical wisdom. Believing and non-believing families alike struggle with spending quality and quantity time together. This book could even be used in a Sunday School or Small Group setting effectively. Unfortunately, Christianity has been largely secularized in the United States today. Due to this, very few Christian parents have a worldview which is consistently founded on the Word of God. They figure out how to be saved from the Bible, but then they figure out how to do everything else in life, including parenting, based on pop culture and pop psychology. Pipes and Lee do a great job emphasizing that God's purpose for the family is to be consistent with what we find clearly spelled out in God’s Word. I highly recommend this book!

Content Summary
Thom S. Rainer’s book The Unexpected Journey: Conversations with People Who Turned From Other Beliefs To Jesus serves to build the confidence of those who desire to be faithful in carrying out the Great Commission. Rainer points out that Christian evangelistic efforts today are often hampered by a fear of failure, rejection, or incompetence. The result of this fear is that, rather than struggling in the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome these phobias, more often than not, Christians choose to take the path of least resistance and refuse to share their faith. Rainer reminds the reader that God still uses ordinary means to get the attention of sinners who need a relationship with Christ. Evangelistic programs, special outreaches, and orchestrated church campaigns are great, but they will never be the engines that drive the unbeliever to seek Christ.

Thom Rainer and his wife, Nellie Jo, personally interviewed Christians who once followed the paths of Mormonism, Judaism, Hinduism, Atheism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Wicca, Agnosticism, Buddhism, Islam, Unitarianism, New Ageism, and even Satanism. The Unexpected Journey uses a dynamic, flowing, and conversational format to tell twelve fascinating conversion stories. Speaking in the first person, the interviewees share the struggles, hurdles, and open doors God used to bring them from other faiths to Christianity. With respectful honesty, they share both their good and bad experiences with Christians and churches and how those encounters influenced their journey to faith. Each chapter includes not only the individual’s story, but also a section highlighting and explaining their former non-Christian belief system.

As Rainer moves from person to person and story to story there appears to be a slow and subtle shift in his perspective. Although Rainer begins writing the book with the desire to expose the truth that many Christians never share their faith, it appears that by the end of the book that he and his wife have had their own personal wakeup call and a newfound passion for reaching the unchurched. They were determined to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem. By the end of the book it is clear that these interviews have had a profound impact on this couple.

Every testimony of conversion is supernatural and something special, but these twelve stories are truly amazing. The reader will find that each of the stories provides an epiphany moment whereby the unbeliever comes to a crisis of belief and this is the catalyst that brings them to saving faith in Christ. In each case, the beliefs that these people held so dear began to crumble in the face of truth. Whether it was finding out that their beliefs were just patently false or finding out that their friends in their belief system were not true friends in the end, there was always a defining moment in each of these testimonies. Rather than building their lives on a solid rock, each of these individuals began to realize that they had built their lives on shifting sand as they were each confronted with the truth of the Scripture.

Another interesting and very significant point is that each of these people eventually learned that a born again Christian had been praying for their salvation. This is a theme that runs like a needle pulling a thread throughout the pages of this book from cover to cover. This is a profound truth that every Christian needs to be reminded of. Amazingly, those who were being interviewed knew exactly who it was that had been praying for them. This book is filled with various methodologies that helped lead one of the interviewees to Christ and away from the false religion that they once adhered to. Another great aspect of the book is how the person who has been won to Christ gives practical advice and wisdom on how to lead others out of that same religion that once ensnared them.

Evaluation
In The Unexpected Journey: Conversations With People Who Turned From Other Beliefs To Jesus Thom Rainer deals with world religions, personal evangelism, and loving people to faith in Jesus Christ. Dr. Rainer clearly summarizes his purpose in writing the book at the end, but is also loud and clear throughout its pages. A watching world is observing the Church to see if our walk matches our talk. So many in our world are hurting and they are watching Christians to see if they will love them the way that the Bible says Jesus does. The harvest is truly plenteous but the laborers are few. Rainer makes it clear that we need more Christians who are ready and willing to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come to the banquet table of Christ.

I like the fact that even though Rainer is a former Southern Baptist professor, pastor, and is currently the President of Lifeway Christian Resources, his biased towards Baptist distinctives is not glaringly obvious. Although I am a Baptist myself, I appreciate the objective way in which Rainer writes because I believe that gives this work credibility across denominational lines. It is clear that Rainer is a deeply conservative Evangelical. When dealing with so many different belief systems, particularly as they relate to the afterlife, Rainer makes it clear over and over again that Jesus is the only way to God. I am glad that it appears that each of the individuals who were interviewed also adhere to the exclusivity of Jesus.

With each person who was interviewed it appears that at one time they were all hostile toward Christianity for various reasons. Some based their disdain for Christianity on the hypocrisy of many professing believers while others simply had very limited knowledge of what Christianity was really all about. No matter the excuse, most of the people interviewed spoke of a time when they finally visited a church because a Christian who cared for them invited them to go. Even though these people were previously hostile toward Christianity, they eventually came to faith because some Christian(s) continued to care for them and invite them to examine Christianity.

As Rainer conducts each interview, one question that consistently comes up is “Now that you’ve been converted from your previous ‘religion’ to Christianity, what can Christians do to reach the people who are still in your former ‘religion’?” It is little surprise that every single person who was interviewed said something that emphasized the need for Christians to love unbelievers to Christ. Rainer’s point is that just about any Christian can tell an unregenerate soul that they need to “be saved” or they can point them to some Bible verses, but it takes a believer who is filled with the love of Christ to show an unbeliever what Christianity is truly all about. If we want to infiltrate the Gates of Hell, Christians must be willing to fill up their spiritual squirt guns with care and concern for those they desire to pull from the flames. Unbelievers are tired of hearing about what we say we believe, but they are amazed when they see it in action.

Rainer’s book and its foundational concept are tremendously interesting and unique. There are not many books, if any, on the market which tell the conversion testimonies of such a diverse group of converted Christians! Not only was the concept unique, but Rainer’s writing abilities are also excellent. When looking through the table of contents before beginning to read, I couldn’t help but think that the book was probably going to get boring by the end reading all of these different interviews, but nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Rainer manages to keep the reader on the edge of their seat throughout the entire book. There is good use of humor and the author is able to paint a picture for the reader in such a way that you feel as though you are actually there and participating in the interviews.

Dr. Rainer makes it clear that our call as Christians is to be obedient to the Great Commission and if we are faithful to lift up Jesus Christ He will draw people to Himself, even those who may seem so far away. As we go through life we must be constantly looking for ways to show acts of random kindness to our friends, neighbors, co-workers and acquaintances, trusting the Holy Spirit to use the seeds we plant to draw people into the family of God. The sad truth is that most churches talk a great deal about evangelism but few churches and Christians actually evangelize. Reading stories like these should encourage and motivate any person who is truly born again to have a greater burden to reach out to those who have not yet accepted the message of salvation, just like it did for Dr. Rainer and his wife. Each and every one of the people who were interviewed came to Christ as a direct result of the Holy Spirit using another Christian to share the life transforming message of the cross. Many times as Christians we have no idea of the kind of impact that our life and our witness is having on an unbeliever. That message comes through loud and clear in this book. We must plant and water the seeds and wait for God to produce the harvest.

I am hard-pressed to find anything negative to say about this book. The only thing that I can think of to mention is that interviewee’s discussion of their old life and beliefs in their former religion is sometimes a little distracting. As the reader goes back and forth between the former religion and their new faith in Christ it can be a little dizzying at times, but this is simply a personal preference and not a major cause for concern. I personally would recommend this book to every Christian who can read at a high school level. At times all of the details of the other world religions could be a little confusing due to the fact that there are so many different ones mentioned and most readers are probably not going to be well versed in the various belief systems of these religions going into reading the book. That being said, it is still interesting to learn of just how different all of these religions are from biblical Christianity and it is very encouraging to hear the individual stories of life change.

A few of these stories are so amazing that on first glance they could seem to be fabricated or, at the very least, come across as embellished, but Rainer goes out of his way to make sure that everything is documented down to the minutest detail. Reading The Unexpected Journey is just that, expected. It is a great reminder of our God’s power and might to rescue even the most inoculated sinner. This book could be and should be used in every personal evangelism course and would also be a great read for students in other seminary classes on world religions, apologetics or philosophy. Any pastor or Christian teacher who reads this book will also be encouraged to not give up hope that God’s Word will never return void. God is still in the business of saving souls and transforming lives!

This book is a great resource for everyone Christian to have on their book shelf, particularly pastors and teachers and anyone who wants to have a better understanding of how to evangelize people from other religions. Another amazing part of these stories is that many of the people who were interviewed were well educated and well versed in their former religions, as opposed to being nominal or novices. Some were very high up in leadership and others were “experts” in their former religion. The same God who worked miracles in the lives of these people wants to work miracles in the lives of the people that we rub shoulders with on a daily basis. If we consistently show the love of Christ and share the message of the gospel it won’t be long before we see God doing the miraculous all around us as well!

Have you ever seen a label that reads as follows—“Warning: Contents Under Extreme Pressure”?  Sometimes I think that should be a warning label I put on people that I often meet.  I have never seen as many stressed out people as I have seen in the last few months.  There’s actually a well known stress scale called the Holmes Stress Scale which lists the 100 most stressful events you can have in life; things like the death of a spouse, a divorce, losing a job, etc. On that scale, after much research, they have discovered that THE single most stressful time of the year is the period between Thanksgiving and New Years. WHY?  Because you start to worry about presents, parties, and all kinds of other problems, like finances.  Some of you are even worried about that annoying relative you’re going to have to see.  'Tis the season to be uptight!  Nothing destroys the Christmas spirit faster than trying to find a parking spot at the mall.

So since we are about to enter this “Most Wonderful time of the year”, how can you be thankful in the midst of it all?  How do you keep your joy and sanity in the midst of all the insanity?  In the midst of a bad economy?  When things aren’t going your way?  How do you be thankful in tough times?  Philippians 4:4 (NIV) says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"  Is that possible?  Is it possible to always rejoice (be glad), no matter what the circumstance?  Yes!  Today I feel like I need to share with you a couple of scriptures on a step-by-step strategy for surviving the seasonal stress that is about to hit.  Paul goes on to say, "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:5-8 NIV). 

In this very short passage we have the four keys to surviving stress.  They are very simple to say, but they’re a lot more difficult to apply....

HOW TO BE THANKFUL IN TOUGH TIMES:

Step One:  WORRY about nothing

"Do not be anxious about anything…" (Philippians 4:6 NIV).  It’s no sweat to repeat this verse, but as soon as you’re finished saying it, you start worrying.  The Smithsonian Institute magazine recently said that we live in the “Golden Age of Anxiety.”  We not only have micro worries, which are your personal worries, but we’re also confronted daily with macro worries—the worries of the world.  It’s no wonder people are uptight.  They get up in the morning to an alarm clock and that sets them off in a negative mood in the first place.  It’s not a "comfort" clock, it’s an "alarm" clock.  Then the first thing they do is turn on Bad Morning, America and catch up on all of the latest from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea.....more great news!  They sit down to breakfast to eat their Wheaties and they read the newspaper which is full of more great news.  They get in the car and on the way to work they listen to talk radio to hear more great news.  It’s no wonder they’re stressed out by the time they get to work.  The Bible says, “worry about nothing.”

Here are some facts about worry from Dr. Walter Calvert.  He did a study and discovered that 40% of your worries never happen.  30% of your worries concern the past.  Worry cannot change the past and it cannot control the future.  All worry does is mess up today.  You can worry about the past all you want to but it’s not going to change it.  The past is past that’s why it’s called “past”—it’s gone!  So 30% of your worries are past and 40% of your worries aren’t even going to happen.  That means 70% of your worries are worthless.  Dr. Calvert says that 12% of your worries are needless health concerns.  It’s kind of like the hypochondriac who had written on his tombstone, “I told you I was sick!”  He also said that 10% of your worries are insignificant and petty issues.  This leaves only 8% of your worries as being actual, legitimate concerns. 

So what do you do with those 8% that are legit?  Here’s my suggestion.  You pick a worry time for every day.  You decide, “I’m going to worry between 5:00 and 5:15 every day!” and just bundle them up into one time slot.  Then when a worry comes in your mind the rest of the day you say, “It’s not time to worry!  That’s at 5:00 when I have my worry session.”  Obviously I'm being a little fasciscious, but here's the point--worrying doesn’t change anything.  It’s stewing without doing.  There is no such thing as a born worrier.  Worry is a learned response.  You learned it from someone--your parents, your peers, you learned it from experience.  That’s good news because if worry is learned that means it can also be unlearned.  So how do you unlearn it?  Jesus said, "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34 NAS).  What is Jesus saying here?  He’s saying don’t open your umbrella until it starts raining.  Today is probably the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

It’s interesting to know that when Paul wrote this letter he was in prison in a Roman dungeon.  The key to reducing stress in your life is live one day at a time.  Just focus on today.  Whenever God tells us not to do something, He always has a positive replacement.  What does that mean?  Whenever God has a “don’t” He always has a “do”.  Anytime He says “eliminate this from your life,” He adds something in and that’s the second step...

Step Two:  PRAY about everything

Paul goes on to say, "…but in everything, by prayer and petition..." (Philippians 4:6 NIV).  Maybe you're thinking, “But, I’m too busy to pray!”  The truth is you’re too busy not to pray.  If you would use the time you normally spend worrying you’d have plenty of time to pray.  If you prayed as much as you worried, you’d have a whole lot less to stress about.  Just pray when you used to worry.  If you’ll do that, you’ll find you have plenty of time for prayer.  He says “in everything...”  Some people think God only cares about religious things: "God cares about how many people I talk to about Christ or how many people I invite to church or how much I give."  But the truth is that God cares for more than just these things.  Is God interested in your car payments? YES.  Is He interested in your postnasal drip?  Or your foot fungus?  YES.  He’s interested in every detail of your life.  I like what the Philips Paraphrase says in this verse..."when you pray, tell God every detail of your life."  God is concerned about the big things and the small things in your life.  He knows every detail of your life.  The Bible says He even knows the number of hairs on your head (for some of you that ain’t all that difficult).  The God who made every thumbprint unique, who made every voice print unique, who made every snowflake unique has no problem handling the details of your life.

Paul goes on to say, "...pray with petition...”  What does petition mean?  A petition means a specific, detailed, direct prayer.  Most people pray too vague so they never get any answers.  Things like, “God, bless me.”  What is a blessing?  Can you define what a blessing is?  Sometimes a problem is a blessing in disguise.  Is that what you’re praying for?  “God, give me a lot of problems.”  You need to be specific.  "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you" (1 Peter 5:7 NLT).  We need to learn to unload our problems instead of worrying about them.  I love the wording of this passage in the Greek because the word translated as "give" literally means "just let it drop."  It’s not toss it or throw it or heave it fifteen feet—just let it go.  It's the idea of a deadlift participant in the Olympics.  He lifts the weights up into the air, but rather than putting them down real smooth, he just steps back out of the way and let's the weights fall.  That is the picture here in the Greek language with our worries.  Just make sure to get your toe out of the way first.  Prayer is a tremendous release valve.   

I read recently that major life insurance companies have done studies and discovered that if you attend church every week you will live on the average 5.7 years longer than people who don’t attend church every week.  Just one more reason to attend church every week.  But why is this true?  One guess I have is that those people who do go to church unload their worries on the Lord.  They have learned to decompress.  If you don’t talk it out to God, you’ll take it out on yourself.  When you swallow your worries your stomach keeps score.  You’ve got to let it go, unload it.  Paul says if you want to relieve stress here’s what you do...worry about nothing and pray about everything.  This sounds simple, but it’s something that you have to learn over and over.

Step Three:  THANK GOD in all things 

Paul further says, "...with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6 NIV).  Whenever you pray, you should always pray with thanksgiving.  The healthiest human emotion is not love, but gratitude.  Believe it or not scientists have proven that having a thankful attitude in life actually increases your immunities.  It actually makes you more resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness.  You need to develop the attitude of gratitude because it’s the healthiest human emotion!  People who are grateful are happy, but people who are ungrateful are miserable because nothing makes them happy.  They’re never satisfied.  Nothing is ever good enough. 

There’s an old hymn my church used to sing when I was growing up that went like this: “Count your blessings, name them one by one.  Count your blessings see what God has done.  Count your blessings.  Name them one by one.  Count your many blessings, see what God has done.”  I think that song is a great idea.  This week maybe you need to start making a list of all the things God has done for you.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV) says, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."   Please notice the word "in" there.  It's actually the most important word to keep you from misinterpreting this verse.  It does not say “Give thanks FOR every circumstance.”  That’s often a misinterpretation you hear with some Christians.  They’ll say things like, “You should give thanks FOR everything.”  The Bible doesn’t teach that.  The Bible says give thanks IN every circumstance.  I don’t know about you, but when I get a flat tire the first words that pop into my mind aren’t...“Thank God.”  I’m not going to tell you what the first words that pop into my mind are!  If you’re in a car crash do you say...“Praise the Lord!”?  Be serious—that’s loony toons Christianity not biblical Christianity.  You don’t have to give thanks for evil in the world.  If my child were murdered I would not be thankful for that.  If my wife came down with cancer, I would not be thankful for that.  When terrorists fly airplanes into buildings, I’m not thankful for that!  The Bible does not tell us to be thankful for evil.  The Bible says “IN every circumstance give thanks,” not FOR every circumstance.  Even out of bad God can bring good.

Step Four:  THINK ABOUT the right things

Even if you have spiritual A.D.D. like me you can discipline yourself and learn to do this.  Paul says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8 NIV).  If you want to reduce the level of stress in your life, you must change the way you think.  Whatever you put in your brain is what’s going to come out.  It’s like a computer—garbage in, garbage out.  The way you think determines the way you feel and the way you feel determines the way you act.  So Paul says if you want to change your life, you need to change what you’re thinking about.  

If you’re reading the newspapers more than you’re reading the Bible and you’re watching television and movies too much, they mostly glorify the unhealthy in life rather than the healthy.  It says think about the things that are true, noble, right, lovely, admirable—does that describe what Hollywood is portraying?  Does that sound like the typical movie in the theaters these days?  Not a chance!  Most movies are the exact opposite of that—glorifying sex outside of marriage, drugs, alcohol, partying, violence, etc.  Paul tells us to fill our minds with good things.  That involves a deliberate conscious choice where you change the channels if necessary.  Why should I do this?  Because the root cause of stress is the way I choose to think.  Why is it that you can take two people, put them in the exact same circumstance and one of them falls apart and collapses emotionally while the other handles it with very little problem at all?  Obviously, the problem is not the circumstance—it’s your response.  It’s how you’re viewing it.

"For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7 NLV).  What do you think about most?  What dominates your mind?  What are you thinking about right now?  We always move toward what we���re focusing on.  So if you want to become like Christ, you have to train yourself to think about Him.  You have to fill your mind with the Bible.  What is the result of doing these things?   What is the result of worrying about nothing, praying about everything, thanking God in all things, and keeping my mind on the right things?  When you do these four steps look at the result it produces in your life.  "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7 NIV).  What a guarantee! He is guaranteeing peace of mind—Have you noticed that is what everybody seems to be looking for?  It’s amazing the things people will try in order to find peace of mind—yoga, crystals, therapy, fad diets, books, seminars, tapes—then they watch Oprah followed by Dr. Phil.  They run from one thing to the next, one counselor to the next, looking for peace of mind.  But the Bible says that God’s peace is a gift to you.  It can’t be explained and it can’t be duplicated.  

How do I get that kind of peace of mind that keeps my heart at peace when I’m under pressure?  That keeps me calm in a crisis?  That gives me strength in the storm?  That helps me be thankful in the tough times?  How do I get that kind of peace?  The key is the last phrase of that verse...“in Christ Jesus.”  It’s a relationship—you need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ—you need to put your faith and trust in Him.  Paul says that God's peace will "guard" your heart and mind.  Please notice that word “guard.”  The word guard is a great military term in Greak.  It means a sentry guard, a garrison of troops or soldiers.  Remember, when Paul was writing to these people in Philippi it was a Roman city, a colony protected by the Roman legion.  The Roman legion, the sentry guards, kept the peace of the city of Philippi in tact.  God says that when you trust Christ, He puts a sentry guard on your mind.  He keeps you at peace when everything else wants to make you stressed out.  That’s the way you do it.  What’s got you worried today?  Your health?  Your finances?  Your relationships?  All that you’ve got to do in the next couple of weeks?  Marriage problems?  Your kids?  Your career?  If you’ll take these steps and let Jesus Christ become the sentry guard of your mind and the center of your life, you will find a peace you could not imagine!

The big picture of this book is that there are varying levels of relationships that Christians have with the people that make up their world and it is their job to reach those people with the gospel of Christ by first meeting needs with love. The subtitle of this book is “seven stages for making disciples.” Throughout the course of the book Dr. Thompson walks the reader through each of his seven steps one by one. Those seven steps are listed as: 1) Get Right, 2) Survey, 3) Pray, 4) Build Bridges, 5) Show Love, 6) Make Disciples, and 7) Begin Again.

Not only are there seven stages of making disciples listed in this book, but there are also seven layers of relationships that are listed in his diagram. Circle 1 is Self. Circle 2 is Family. Circle 3 is Relatives. Circle 4 is Friends. Circle 5 is Neighbors and Associates. Circle 6 is Acquaintances and Circle 7 is “Person X.” Dr. Thompson makes the point that most of our evangelism strategies target “Person X” in Circle 7 to the neglect of Circles 2 through 6. In the introduction, Claude King talks about how he was introduced to this book while he was in seminary and how dramatically it impacted his life. His purpose in revising and updating the book was to help readers personalize the chapters by including questions for them to answer at the end of each chapter as well as some small group study helps in order to “build up the body.”

From the very beginning of the book, the reader is encouraged to understand the utter importance of relationships, especially as it relates to the process of evangelism and discipleship. Thompson encourages the reader to direct their attention in evangelism to the relationships that they have already begun rather than focusing all of their attention on total strangers and distant people who may appear to be totally unattached to the reader’s life. Starting at the innermost circle, the reader is encouraged to consider their vertical relationship with God. Of all of the stages, Dr. Thompson spends the largest amount of time on the first stage (“Get Right”). This section of the book, encompassing chapters 5 through 9, deals with getting right, first and foremost with God, then with one’s self and finally with others. In this portion of the book, readers are taught how to be reconciled with God, how to develop a positive self-image through Christ, how to bear Spiritual fruit, how to overcome common barriers (both internal and external) that keep Christians from bearing fruit for God, as well as the importance of “mending ruptured relationships” with close friends and family members.

In Stage 2, Dr. Thompson teaches the reader how to survey their relationships. On page 98, Dr. Thompson encourages the Christian to “shake the family tree.” When this takes place the reader may find that they have some broken relationships with their family and relatives. The distinction that Dr. Thompson makes between family and relatives is that “family” refers to spouses, siblings, mothers and fathers as well as sons and daughters, while “relatives” refers to anyone else who the reader is related to, such as aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. Many personal illustrations are used by the author in order to drive home his points.

Next the author guides the reader through circles 4 through 7—from friend, associates, co-workers, acquaintances and finally to what Dr. Thompson refers to as “Person X” which is any person we meet who is not in one of the aforementioned circles, namely strangers. Dr. Thompson also shows the inter-connectedness between one person’s concentric circles and another person’s. In other words, one Christian might have John Doe in their Circle 2, while another Christian has them in their Circle 5, while still another might have them listed in their Circle 6. It is interesting to think of this earth as being covered with these overlapping concentric circles. It is the duty of the body of Christ to work together to win as many of these lost people to Christ as possible while we have the opportunity because life is short.

Another significant theme in this book that cannot be underemphasized is the importance of prayer to the process of evangelism. It is clear that Dr. Thompson believed that nothing of eternal significance was ever going to happen apart from prayer. The Christian must learn to work with God through prayer. The reader is encouraged to pray for opportunities to be an empowered witness as well as to pray for God to orchestrate events in the lives of the people who fall into these concentric circle categories so that they have the opportunity to plant and water seeds of the gospel, all the while expecting God to give the harvest. Dr. Thompson also emphasizes the need to build bridges with the lost in order have an impact on their lives. These bridges can be built in times of joy or sadness. With these bridges in place, Thompson once again returns to focusing on relationships by explaining to the reader how to genuinely show love, and that is by meeting needs. This is an overarching principle that runs throughout the entire book. The final two stages discuss how to introduce people to Jesus Christ and then turn them into fully devoted followers of the Lord, by focusing on discipling those who have put their faith and trust in Him. Ultimately this brings the reader back full circle and the process starts all over again as the person who has been evangelized now becomes the evangelizer. 

The purpose of this book is to equip believers to communicate their faith in Jesus effectively, with confidence and without fear (as the title makes mention). Bill Fay’s relational approach to evangelism teaches the Christian that they cannot fail in sharing their faith as they depend on the power of God for the results. This work contains many practical helps in how to present the compelling message of God’s saving grace to those who have yet to experience it.

One of the over-arching themes of this book is first mentioned on page 6. Bill Fay calls it the “Sin of Silence.” Mr. Fay asserts that only 5 to 10 percent of the people in an average church have shared their faith in the past year. That means that 90 percent or more of the Christians in most churches are choosing to remain silent instead of sharing the good news of the gospel with unbelievers. The author states that there are only two types of people who will read this book: 1) Those who talk about the lost, and 2) Those who talk to the lost (page 8). Another major point made by the author is that success in evangelism is not necessarily leading someone to saving faith in Jesus Christ, but rather, success is just being an empowered witness and allowing God to do His work in the heart of the person who is not yet born again. The job of the Christian is to plant and water seeds of the gospel and allow God to bring the harvest of souls. Mr. Fay also says that unbelievers must hear the gospel an average of 7.6 times before they will receive it.

In chapter 3, starting on page 15, Bill Fay discusses the six most common excuses for why Christians do not share the gospel with the lost. These excuses are: “I’m afraid of being rejected,” “I’m afraid of what my friends will think,” “I don’t think I can share with my co-workers,” “I don’t know enough,” “I’m afraid of losing my friends and relatives,” and “I don’t know how.” In chapter 4, Mr. Fay lays out five questions to ask a person in order to determine where they are spiritually. These questions are as follows: “Do you have any kind of spiritual beliefs?,” “To you, who is Jesus Christ?,” “Do you think there is a heaven and hell?,” “If you died, where would you go?,” and “If what you are believing is not true, would you want to know?” After each of the first four questions, Bill Fay teaches the Christian to employ what he calls “The HMMMMM Principle.” Rather than arguing or trying to correct false thinking when asking these five questions with an unbeliever, instead the Christian should simply listen and then respond with a “Hmmmmmm” after hearing their answer.

Another major principle in Sharing Jesus Without Fear is having the unregenerate soul read certain passages of Scripture out loud because, according to Romans 10:17, “faith comes by hearing” the Word of God. If the person reads the verse out loud but doesn’t understand what they have read, Mr. Fay has them read the verse out loud again until they do understand. After all of the selected Scriptures have been read there is a second set of five questions to ask the person with whom you are sharing the gospel: “Are you a sinner?,” “Do you want forgiveness of sins?,” “Do you believe Jesus died on the cross for you and rose again?,” “Are you willing to surrender your life to Jesus Christ?,” and “Are you ready to invite Jesus into your life and into your heart?” If a person does receive Christ as Savior, Mr. Fay emphasizes the importance of getting the new Christian into a solid, bible-believing church where they can be discipled.

Chapter 8 is about how to respond to the 36 most common objections that Christians face when sharing their faith. The big idea behind chapter 9 is that believers need to be intentional about developing and keeping non-Christian friends because the tendency is that the longer a person is a Christian the fewer and fewer unbelieving friends they have and the less chance they have of sharing the gospel, both visibly and verbally. In chapter 10, Bill Fay discusses why Christians should go to prayer before they go to share (the gospel). Christians should be praying for: “Opportunities,” “Love,” that “Others Will See Christ In You,” “Boldness,” and “Power.” In the final chapter (chapter 11), Bill challenges the Christian to get out of their comfort zone and start joining in on the exciting journey of sharing their faith on a consistent, daily basis. Mr. Fay mentions Philemon 6 several times in this book, the last of which is on the final page of this chapter. This verse says, “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”