Two elderly women were out driving in a large car and both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red but they just went on through. The woman in the passenger seat thought to herself "I must be losing it, I could have sworn we just went through a red light."
After a few more minutes they came to another intersection and the light was red again and again they went right through. This time the woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red but was really concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous and decided to pay very close attention to the road and the next intersection to see what was going on.
At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was definitely red and they went right through and she turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred! Did you know we just ran through three red lights in a row! You could have killed us!" Mildred turned to her and said, "Oh, am I driving?"
Brothers and sisters, the way things are going in our world and country we wonder who’s driving or if anyone is driving at all.
We live in a world of unrest and untruth. Turn on the TV and listen to the news. Read it in the paper. It’s everywhere.
We are a culture that does not want to admit that evil exists, especially in people. There is always an explanation or rationalization for the things people do. We make a serious mistake when we deny the existence of evil, and here is why: When we believe that evil does not exist, we become blind to it. When evil is dismissed as unreal, good becomes irrelevant. Good is only understood in relation to evil. If nothing is evil, then nothing is good. We are seeing that in our culture.
When we lose our concept of sin, then nothing is wrong and the right becomes wrong. When this happens we are in danger of losing our moral sanity.
The Lord is the only one who can change people’s hearts and lives. But how we go about presenting the truth of God’s Word is very important.
Here is my recommendation of what we Christians must do, how we must act and talk.
1- Contend without fighting
2- Speak without offending
3- Preach without condemning
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.” (Phil. 1:27)
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” (Jude 3)
We are charged to contend for the faith of the gospel, the truth of God’s Word about the faith of Christ. How do we do this?
I once had an encounter with some unbelievers while having breakfast. My wife and I were having breakfast in a local coffee shop. It was empty except for four men at another table. One was mocking Christianity; in particular, the resurrection of Christ. He went on and on about what a stupid teaching that was. I could feel the Lord asking me: ‘Are you going to let this go unchallenged?’ However I was thinking, but I don’t even know these guys. He’s bigger than me. He’s wearing a leather jacket, tattoos all over his arm, and looks tough. I was agitated and frightened about doing anything. But I knew I had to stand for Jesus.
I took my last drink of water and went over and challenged him. With probably a squeaky voice, I said, ‘I’ve been listening to you, and you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I did my best to give him a flying rundown of the proofs for the resurrection. He was speechless, and I was shaking. I must have shaken for an hour after that. But I had to take a stand.
While talking to another pastor about this incident the following week, he suggested I should have said something like this instead: “You know, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation, and found it very interesting. If you don’t mind, I would like to pay for your breakfasts. The reason I want to do this is that, because of the resurrection, Jesus Christ has changed my life and lives in me, and wants to communicate his tremendous love for you.”
I learned then that good arguments don’t always change people but changed lives do. Changed lives change the lives of others, and thereby change the world. It only takes a little salt to season a whole pot of stew. It is amazing the effect that one Christian can have when they love other people and serve in the spirit of Christ. Let your light shine. A small candle can light up a whole room of darkness. We need to fight for the faith without being combative.
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (I Pet. 3:15)
We are to speak on behalf of our faith in Christ. We all need some kind of testimony and then be prepared to give it to others, but we need to do it carefully, gently and respectfully. When we come on too strongly to people we can sometimes turn them off.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Col. 4:4)
After a day’s hunting in India a young Englishman who was a poor shot said to his Indian attendant, “I didn’t do so well today.” The young attendant replied, “Ah, you shot very well, but God was very merciful to the birds.”
That young Indian used tact and it’s something that we all need to use when speaking for Christ. We are here to draw people to Christ, not push them away by being offensive or rude. “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (II Tim. 4:2)
Thomas Ken, writer of the song, “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” was a chaplain to the sister of Charles II. It is said that the king once said concerning Ken’s courageous preaching, “I must go and hear Ken tell me my faults.”
Brothers and sisters, I think it’s the preacher’s responsibility to preach the Word and do it with a certain amount of rebuke.
I think any time we preach the Word of God we will tell someone their faults. In fact, some people will swear the preacher is picking on them or preaching right at them. I’ve always heard it said that the preacher’s job is to: “Shakem in, shakem up and shakem out.”
I think its fine to shake people up with the Word of God as long as we don’t condemn people. Condemning is not our business. That’s God’s business. Our business is to encourage and give courage to people in order to follow Christ. People in the world are so downhearted. They need to be helped, not hurt with condemning or condescending words.
Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their school board out of office for supporting "intelligent design" and warned them not to be surprised if disaster struck.
He said, "I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city.”
While Pat Robertson has a right to his opinion, I don’t think the way he expressed it helps the cause of Christ in America.
We Christians must preach the faith of the gospel without condemning people. It sounds very much like he was condemning the people of Dover, PA and that is not a good program of preaching.
A guide was conducting a group of tourists around the Empire State Building in New York. On the elevator ride to the 102nd floor, a nervous woman asked, “What if these cables should break? Would we go up or down?” The guide replied, “That depends entirely on the kind of life you’ve been leading.”
I think that some people should be nervous about what is going to happen to them when they die, but condemning people to hell with our words will not help them to turn to Christ.
One preacher friend of mine said years ago, “We must tell people the good news and then tell them the bad news of what will happen to them if they don’t accept the good news.”
There is truth in what he said, but the way we say things to people can make a big difference. Blatantly and perhaps obnoxiously telling people they will go to hell if they don’t accept Jesus as their savior is not the best way to go about it.
I don’t think there is one thing wrong with teaching the truth of scripture about hell, however. I think most of the time people will make their own application without us applying scripture to them.
Let’s be quick to preach Jesus…to present Jesus to people as the way, the truth and the life, but let’s not consign anyone to hell when it is not our business!
A little nine year-old girl prayed, “Dear God, take care of my family, take care of the whole world. And please God, take care of Yourself or we’re all sunk.”
Our world is a mess and it’s getting messier every day. In the book Genesis we see that God put His foot down and said, “Enough is enough.” And He destroyed that ungodly world. And there will come another day when God will say, “Enough is enough.”
The Lord is our only hope. He is our only hope in this world and our only hope for the next life.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Let’s be quick to present Christ to the world. But in our presentation let’s not fight, offend or condemn people, because it won’t do any good. Let’s present Christ as the loving Savior that He is!
After a few more minutes they came to another intersection and the light was red again and again they went right through. This time the woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red but was really concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous and decided to pay very close attention to the road and the next intersection to see what was going on.
At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was definitely red and they went right through and she turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred! Did you know we just ran through three red lights in a row! You could have killed us!" Mildred turned to her and said, "Oh, am I driving?"
Brothers and sisters, the way things are going in our world and country we wonder who’s driving or if anyone is driving at all.
We live in a world of unrest and untruth. Turn on the TV and listen to the news. Read it in the paper. It’s everywhere.
We are a culture that does not want to admit that evil exists, especially in people. There is always an explanation or rationalization for the things people do. We make a serious mistake when we deny the existence of evil, and here is why: When we believe that evil does not exist, we become blind to it. When evil is dismissed as unreal, good becomes irrelevant. Good is only understood in relation to evil. If nothing is evil, then nothing is good. We are seeing that in our culture.
When we lose our concept of sin, then nothing is wrong and the right becomes wrong. When this happens we are in danger of losing our moral sanity.
The Lord is the only one who can change people’s hearts and lives. But how we go about presenting the truth of God’s Word is very important.
Here is my recommendation of what we Christians must do, how we must act and talk.
1- Contend without fighting
2- Speak without offending
3- Preach without condemning
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.” (Phil. 1:27)
“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” (Jude 3)
We are charged to contend for the faith of the gospel, the truth of God’s Word about the faith of Christ. How do we do this?
I once had an encounter with some unbelievers while having breakfast. My wife and I were having breakfast in a local coffee shop. It was empty except for four men at another table. One was mocking Christianity; in particular, the resurrection of Christ. He went on and on about what a stupid teaching that was. I could feel the Lord asking me: ‘Are you going to let this go unchallenged?’ However I was thinking, but I don’t even know these guys. He’s bigger than me. He’s wearing a leather jacket, tattoos all over his arm, and looks tough. I was agitated and frightened about doing anything. But I knew I had to stand for Jesus.
I took my last drink of water and went over and challenged him. With probably a squeaky voice, I said, ‘I’ve been listening to you, and you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I did my best to give him a flying rundown of the proofs for the resurrection. He was speechless, and I was shaking. I must have shaken for an hour after that. But I had to take a stand.
While talking to another pastor about this incident the following week, he suggested I should have said something like this instead: “You know, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation, and found it very interesting. If you don’t mind, I would like to pay for your breakfasts. The reason I want to do this is that, because of the resurrection, Jesus Christ has changed my life and lives in me, and wants to communicate his tremendous love for you.”
I learned then that good arguments don’t always change people but changed lives do. Changed lives change the lives of others, and thereby change the world. It only takes a little salt to season a whole pot of stew. It is amazing the effect that one Christian can have when they love other people and serve in the spirit of Christ. Let your light shine. A small candle can light up a whole room of darkness. We need to fight for the faith without being combative.
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (I Pet. 3:15)
We are to speak on behalf of our faith in Christ. We all need some kind of testimony and then be prepared to give it to others, but we need to do it carefully, gently and respectfully. When we come on too strongly to people we can sometimes turn them off.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Col. 4:4)
After a day’s hunting in India a young Englishman who was a poor shot said to his Indian attendant, “I didn’t do so well today.” The young attendant replied, “Ah, you shot very well, but God was very merciful to the birds.”
That young Indian used tact and it’s something that we all need to use when speaking for Christ. We are here to draw people to Christ, not push them away by being offensive or rude. “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (II Tim. 4:2)
Thomas Ken, writer of the song, “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” was a chaplain to the sister of Charles II. It is said that the king once said concerning Ken’s courageous preaching, “I must go and hear Ken tell me my faults.”
Brothers and sisters, I think it’s the preacher’s responsibility to preach the Word and do it with a certain amount of rebuke.
I think any time we preach the Word of God we will tell someone their faults. In fact, some people will swear the preacher is picking on them or preaching right at them. I’ve always heard it said that the preacher’s job is to: “Shakem in, shakem up and shakem out.”
I think its fine to shake people up with the Word of God as long as we don’t condemn people. Condemning is not our business. That’s God’s business. Our business is to encourage and give courage to people in order to follow Christ. People in the world are so downhearted. They need to be helped, not hurt with condemning or condescending words.
Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their school board out of office for supporting "intelligent design" and warned them not to be surprised if disaster struck.
He said, "I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city.”
While Pat Robertson has a right to his opinion, I don’t think the way he expressed it helps the cause of Christ in America.
We Christians must preach the faith of the gospel without condemning people. It sounds very much like he was condemning the people of Dover, PA and that is not a good program of preaching.
A guide was conducting a group of tourists around the Empire State Building in New York. On the elevator ride to the 102nd floor, a nervous woman asked, “What if these cables should break? Would we go up or down?” The guide replied, “That depends entirely on the kind of life you’ve been leading.”
I think that some people should be nervous about what is going to happen to them when they die, but condemning people to hell with our words will not help them to turn to Christ.
One preacher friend of mine said years ago, “We must tell people the good news and then tell them the bad news of what will happen to them if they don’t accept the good news.”
There is truth in what he said, but the way we say things to people can make a big difference. Blatantly and perhaps obnoxiously telling people they will go to hell if they don’t accept Jesus as their savior is not the best way to go about it.
I don’t think there is one thing wrong with teaching the truth of scripture about hell, however. I think most of the time people will make their own application without us applying scripture to them.
Let’s be quick to preach Jesus…to present Jesus to people as the way, the truth and the life, but let’s not consign anyone to hell when it is not our business!
A little nine year-old girl prayed, “Dear God, take care of my family, take care of the whole world. And please God, take care of Yourself or we’re all sunk.”
Our world is a mess and it’s getting messier every day. In the book Genesis we see that God put His foot down and said, “Enough is enough.” And He destroyed that ungodly world. And there will come another day when God will say, “Enough is enough.”
The Lord is our only hope. He is our only hope in this world and our only hope for the next life.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Let’s be quick to present Christ to the world. But in our presentation let’s not fight, offend or condemn people, because it won’t do any good. Let’s present Christ as the loving Savior that He is!
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