Basics of New Covenant Theology

Here is a short but very good video that puts forward some of the basic tenants of New Covenant Theology.

What is New Covenant Theology? from SoG / New Covenant Media on Vimeo.

How to Be More Evangelistic in 2012

(Originally written for the folks at Grace Bible Church, Escondido, Ca.)

At the beginning of most years many folks are making resolutions. some of those resolutions involve quitting bad habits or starting up good ones. Some determine that this will be the year that they accomplish some big goal and put a check on their bucket list. I have a challenge for you in 2012: an adventurous, thrilling resolution that is pleasing to God and carries with it a monumental . . . eternal significance . . . be an evangelist. Resolve in 2012 to be more evangelistic. Make this year that you step outside of that comfort zone a little more. Here are a few tips and suggestions that can help get you started.

1. Carry tracts with you. Resolve this year to always have tracts with you. I am a forgetful person, so I place tracts everywhere so that I will always have them on me. And don't just carry them around, give them away and leave them for people to read.

2. Pray for the Lost's Salvation. Make a list of lost people you know and pray first for them that our sovereign God would be pleased to save them. Weep over their soul and cry out to the Lord to have mercy on these sinners. This is also a way to stoke your heart for evangelism.

3. Pray for the needs of the Lost . . . And Tell Them You Did. People love to talk about themselves and often their problems. When your lost relatives, friends or co-workers tell you theirs tell them you will pray for them and their concerns. Or, if you know of a distress or need in their life without them having voiced it to you, pray for them, and then let them know you prayed for them. They will see this love and concern that you have for them and the Lord may grant this as a road that leads to sharing the Gospel (and should).

4. Join-in on an Evangelism Outing. Throughout the year GBC's Evangelism Ministry has plenty of evangelism outings. This year, resolve to at least join in one of them.

5. Read a Book on Evangelism. There are some good books on evangelism in Book Room on the Evangelism Shelves for checking out that will encourage and instruct you in biblical evangelism. If you have never read one before I wold recommend "God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life: The Myth of Modern Evangelism" by Ray Comfort or "Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God" By J.I. Packer.

6. Do Evangelism Lunches. Invite someone out to lunch with the objective of sharing the Gospel with them. In this way your not "waiting for an opportunity" to tell them about Jesus, but making one.

7. Use Social Networking. Sure, you may lose a Facebook "friend" or two but at least they may have been able to read about the Gospel from something you have posted. You can post Scriptures, links to evangelistic articles, or "tract websites" (sites that are themselves interactive tracts, like www.needgod.com).

These are just a few simple and easy suggestions to start becoming more evangelistic and fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. May the Lord find us faithful in 2012.

Jumping into 2012

Well, it is the eve of a new year. Tomorrow will be the first day of 2012. 2011 was a good year, a blessed year. God showed his kindness to my wife and I to give us another baby that will be born in June of 2012. I was privileged to attend the Ambassadors' Academy and begin open air preaching. This year we saw our churches evangelism ministry become more emboldened and it looks like God has raised up up more co-laborers. I was incredibly blessed to preach a Sunday evening series of four sermons through Colossians 1.15-20 and learned and grew much out of it myself. There has been the sorrow of saying good-bye to Christian brothers and sisters as they move away and the joy of new ones joining our church and getting to know and serve with them. Deeper friendship was carved with men I respect. God amazed me with his grace and kindness with what he has done in the lives of my sons with autism. And I could go on for pages. I could also talk about the hardships, struggles, failures of the year, but they are noting in the light of His glorious grace and they are not the point of this rambling.
What I do want to do here is mention a few things about this year that I want to take fro 2011 into 2012.

1. Bible Reading Plan. I have tried a lot of Bible reading plans in my Christian life of 36 years. Some took your through the Bible in a year, reading various portions, reading straight through, or chronologically, while others were a mad dash to read the New Testament (NT) several times a year and the Old Testament (OT) once or more. This year I discovered a plan that has been the best plan I have ever used. I have o give credit to John MacArthur for this one (who gives credit to another saint from his younger days for it). While teaching the Fundamentals of the Faith class this year at church I ran across this plan. You read the same 5-7 chapters every day for a month. I started with John 1-5 and then the next month hit the next 5 chapters. Thus far I have made it through the Gospel of John, Romans, 1, 2, 3 John, 1 & 2 Peter. At this rate I hope to have the NT finished in a little under 2 more years. Why have I enjoyed this method so much? Because it is a fundamental truth that we learn more with repetition. Some methods claim repetition but they cover a section and then return to it weeks or months later. That is too much of a time laps for my goal. I want to drink deep of these 5 chapters; get into the marrow of this meal. I have found that these chapters have an incredible way of working themselves into my life that month. I go around referencing them all of the time and thinking about them. I don't have to struggle to try to remember what I have read that morning because likely I have been reading it over and over for some days now. Also, you get to see how things fit together in that particular book better and remember where particular passages are located. THis method is something I am using just for the NT while daily supplementing it with a good dose of OT reading. I will be taking this reading plan with me into 2012, and 2013 for that matter.

2. Open Air Preaching. This is something I have always dreamed about doing and this year the Lord gave me the courage to do it. Open air preaching (OA) has been such a blessing and opportunity to get the Gospel out to masses in San Diego. I will be doing more, much more open air preaching next year, Lord willing.
3. Re-reading Favorite Books of the Past. In the past 6 months I have been reading through some old "friends," books that have at some point been instrumental in my growth as a Christian and/or shaped my theology. I want to read through a few more this year, particulary ones on family and sanctification.


OK, so what are things I need to crank up in 2012?

1. I really, really want to re-master my Greek (and in time, my Hebrew). I know this will take time and work. I need to make a plan to succeed here. I might look into getting into a class or finding some sort of accountability partner to keep me paced.

2. One of my favorite books of all time is Pilgrim's Progress. It is not only entertaining but filled with so much Scripture, theology, and practical guidance. Tonight I have downloaded an audio unabridged copy of it read by Max Mclean. I plan on listening to it at least once a month this year, if not more.

3. The Sermon on the Mount. Years ago I memorized half of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). This year I want to memorize the whole thing and then move on to memorizing to other large portions of Scripture.

4. Biblical Counseling. I have been listening to many of the introduction lessons for the Biblical Counseling course for over a year with the plan to make 2012 the year I listen and study all the lessons and gear up to attempt the other requirements towards certification. I would love to do Biblical counseling in general but specifically I think I might be of some use in counseling those who are parenting special needs children.

Numerically all of these things may seem insignificant, but when I see what is behind all of them I just think to myself, "Whew, 2012 is going to be a busy year." Not to mention, I have family, work, and running goals for the year as well. But a busy year is a good thing and if I get a fractions of these things accomplished I will be grateful. And I keep in mind, not my will, but His!

Happy New Year!

"180"

Earlier this year while attending the Way of the Master's (Living Waters) Ambassador's Academy I had the privilege of previewing a pre-released copy of the movie "180" with my fellow classmates. Before the film began Ray Comfort gave a few words about the movie but they did not prepare us for what we were about to see. Once the movie was over and the lights came back on you could have heard a pen drop. Seconds later the silence was replaced with the sounds of sniffles, tears, and groans. We were indeed moved. 180 is a pro-life movie and the MOST powerful one I have ever seen. In the movie Ray lays down a situation that present an ethical problem for those whom he is interviewing. He draws a sharp comparison to the Nazi Holocaust to that of the American Abortion Holocaust. The result is both men and women of the pro-choice persuasion changing their minds on camera and seeing the horrible thing that abortion is and adopting a new pro-life view. But even better, Ray does not stop there. He goes on in the video to present the heart changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I want to encourage every Christian everywhere to get the word out about this video. You can go to www.180movie.com to view it for free. Also, you can download a free copy or order DVDs (at $1 for 10 or more) from Living Waters. In this day and age it is not difficult to get the word out, it just takes you making a stand. I encourage you to post the link onto your blog, Facebook status, email signature, etc. I even wear 180 t-shirts that have not only led to conversations about the movie but to the Gospel.
This movie has already been view over a million times on Youtube. If you have not seen it yet please take the 33 min it takes to view it. It is well worth your time.

Formula of an Open-Air Sermon

It seems that one of the reasons many Christians feel inadequate to do open-air evangelistic preaching is because they don't know what to say. That is understandable, because as Christians we have a lot we can say to the lost world, many wonderful things. However, knowing that typically a preacher will only have their audience for a bit, and so as to not overwhelm the listener, or get sidetracked, it is best to stick to some essentials of the Gospel presentation. Below is a brief outline I try to stick to when preaching:

1. There is a day of Judgement that awaits.
2. We are sinners and will be found guilty of breaking God's law on the Day of Judgement.
3. The penalty for sin is Hell, a place of eternal torments.
4. God has provided a way of pardon/forgiveness of sins at his own expense.
5. God sent his Son, Jesus, born of a virgin, fully man and fully God. He was sinless and always pleasing to God.
6. Jesus laid his life down on a cross and while on the cross took upon himself the wrath of God for the sinners who are his.
7. Three days later he took his life back up an arose from the grave, conquering death and sin.
8. The command is given to all men: repent (turn from your sin) and believe/trust in Jesus to save you from the penalty that you deserve.
9. Recount the Promises: everlasting life, forgiveness/pardon, adoption, justification, friendship with God, Heaven, etc.
10. Encourage the audience to call out in repentance and faith to God to save them today.

Now, you can choose to flesh out these points by expounding on them or you may even open up a passage of Scripture and as you preaching though it bring out these points as they are encountered. Keep in mind the audience and how long you will have to talk with them. Consider that if the crowd is moving along that you might want to alternate between a very basic points message followed by a longer one that expands those points more for those who might be hanging around to hear more.

Open-Air Preaching on Grand

The Missing Years of Jesus

I have often heard the folks attempt to throw a wrench into the Christian message by stating, "We have no record of Jesus' life from the age of 12-30." True, we do not have details of his life growing up as the son of a carpenter, living in Nazareth, possibly surfing the loss of his dad, and being the big brother to at least six siblings. But, we do have some very revealing statements about the life he lived during those "missing years." These words about those years a very profound. From the age of 12 to 30 while living what sounded like the life of many (as mentioned above) he did something very unordinary. In fact, he did some thing totally unique. It was something that only he has ever done. Something that set him apart from everyone else. Something that would set the stage for those years we read about later in Scripture. Are you ready to know what it is? Here it is: He was living a sinless life (II Cor. 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; I Peter 1:19, 2:22). Ok, before your snort and stop reading, just ask yourself, who else has ever done something this extraordinary? Just think of it, Jesus spent 33 years never telling one lie, using God's name in vain, or being unrighteously angry at someone. He went through all his teenage years and adulthood never lusting. So, what was Jesus doing during those missing years? He was living the sinless life we never could.
The follow up question to that is "why?" the Bible gives a very clear answer to why Jesus came and lived the life of one of us while remaining sinless: "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2:17-18). Had Jesus not lived that sinless life he would never have been a sufficient Savior. But because he did lived that blameless life he is able to save us to the uttermost.