Church growth, mission, and evangelism

For those in the United States, this is Memorial Day, a day to honor all of the men and women who have given their lives in defense of their country. It is very difficult to accept what politicians define as defending their country. Men and women dying alone in far off lands for flimsy causes. All we can do is support the men and women of our respective countries who are putting their lives on the line for us and remember that God put His Son on the line to die for us that we would be saved!

Human wars and killing are probably one more reason why, more than ever, we need to gain peace with God:

Where do we begin? Where shall we start? Jesus said that there is only one way back to God. It has nothing to do with keeping the law. There is no life in the law. The only way is to be “born again� back into the family of God. Jesus said unless you are converted you won’t enter the kingdom of heaven. You must believe with your heart and not your head. There must be a change in your thinking and an intellectual acceptance of Jesus Christ. Christ demands a change in the way you live. There must be a conversion of the will. There must be that determination to follow Christ. Your will must be bent to the will of God.

The Holy Spirit makes you realize that you are a sinner. Jesus Christ through the Spirit of God takes up residence in your heart. Conversion is so simple that the smallest child can be converted, but it is also so profound that theologians throughout history have pondered the depth of its meaning. God has made the way of salvation so plain. No person will ever be barred from the kingdom of God because he couldn’t understand it.

The believer will now find himself in a state of complete reverence, confidence, obedience, and devotion. There will be a reverential fear of God, a constant gratitude to God, a dependence on God, and a new loyalty to Him. Now, righteousness and holiness of heart, and living the Christian life will be placed above all other concerns, for pleasing Christ will be the only thing of real importance. 

The three elements of conversion are repentance, faith, and regeneration. Repentance is the turning around from sin. Sin is the rejection of authority and the denial of all obligations to God. We are to renounce the evil influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

When you fall in love completely and absolutely with Jesus Christ you will not want to do the things the He hates. You will automatically renounce all the sins of your life when you surrender by faith to Him. You cannot have faith without genuine repentance. The word repentance is sadly missing today. Jesus called on men to acknowledge their guilt and to turn from their ungodliness. He said that repentance must come before He could pour out His love, grace, and mercy on men. Until this is done, faith is absolutely    impossible.

Salvation, forgiveness, and justification are based entirely upon the atoning work of Christ. An individual must repent of sin and accept Christ by faith. Knowledge of sin is the first aspect of repentance. It is the Holy Spirit who brings about this conviction. Repentance cannot take place until there is first a movement of the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind. It is possible to be convicted of your sin and know that you are a sinner and even shed tears over your sins and yet not repent.

The second aspect of repentance is emotion. The third aspect involves the will. There must be a determination to forsake sin. The Bible teaches that when a person comes to Christ a change takes place that is reflected in everything he does. There is not one verse of scripture that says that you can be a Christian and live any kind of life you want. God expects that nothing less than all of your work will be performed in His name. Christ will not receive us into His kingdom until we turn from all the sin in our lives. When you have determined that you are renouncing sin and yielding all to Christ, you have taken another step toward peace with God.

Thanks again for joining us on this Memorial Day. We ask God's blessing on your family members serving in the military and pray that He might see that they need never go in harm's way.

Until tomorrow, thanks and God Bless. 

Pastor Bob Emery

bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org

I can't believe that it is Friday. I'm getting posted late as usual. The really good news for today is that I figured out why my podcast didn't come out with all the music and the words. I redid the podcast in another file and was able to listen to an mp3 of the podcast with voice and music. If all goes well, I will have a podcast with music and voice for next Wednesday.

I am also putting things together to start doing a video podcast. I don't know how glamorous it will be, but I hope it will be one more way to reach out to others. So maybe a video podcast  with voice and music for next week. To be continued!

Still lots of time to talk about gaining peace with God:

Why did Jesus come? God began to teach His people that man could only be saved by substitution. Someone else would have to pay the penalty for man’s redemption. Adam was the federal head of the human race. When Adam sinned, we all sinned.

The word justify means the clearance of the soul from guilt. Justification is far more that forgiveness of sin. Sin must be put away and made as though it had never been. Man must be restored so that there shall be no spot or blemish or stain. Man must be taken back to the position he had before he fell from grace.

The only solution was for an innocent party to volunteer to die physically and spiritually as a substitution before God. This innocent party would have to take man’s judgment, penalty, and death. God’s own Son was the only personality in the universe who had the capacity to bear in His own body the sins of the whole world. Only God’s Son was infinite and thus able to dies for all.

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ had no beginning. He was never created. The Bible teaches that the heavens were created by Him. All the myriads of stars and flaming suns were created by Him. The birth of Jesus Christ that we celebrate at Christmas was not His beginning. His origin is shrouded in that same mystery that baffles us when we inquire into the beginning of God.

Only Jesus had the power and capacity to bring man back to God. He would have to die in the place of sinful man. Voluntarily. Jesus came to reveal God to man. It is He who told us that God loves us and is interested in our lives. It is He who told us of the mercy and long-suffering and grace of God. It is He who promised life everlasting.

God demands death, either for the sinner or a substitute. Christ was the substitute. The awful suffering of Jesus Christ was his spiritual death. He who knew no sin was made to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Because He knew no sin there is a value beyond comprehension in the penalty He bore, a penalty He did not need for himself. Now that the ground of redemption has been laid, all the guilty sinner has to do is believe on the Son and he can have peace with God.

In the cross we see the depth of man’s sin, the overwhelming love of God, and the only way of salvation. There is no possible way of being saved from sin and hell except by identifying yourself with the Christ of the cross. Two thousand years ago God held your sins and mine to the flames until every last vestige of our guilt was consumed.

The blood sacrifice runs throughout the Old Testament-a foreshadowing of Christ’s perfect sacrifice. The Bible teaches that blood redeems. Blood brings us nigh. The redeemed sinner will never have to face the judgment of God. Christ has already taken his judgment. Blood makes peace. Blood justifies. The repentant sinner, pardoned through the blood of Christ, regains his full citizenship. Blood cleanses. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all of our sin. 

Without the resurrection there could be no salvation. There are certain laws of evidence which hold in the establishment of any historic event. There must be documentation of the event in question made by reliable contemporary witnesses. There is more evidence that Jesus rose from the dead than there is that Julius Caesar ever lived or that Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty three. In the face of overwhelming evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ there is plenty of doubt.

The resurrection of Christ meant first that Christ was undeniably God. He was what he claimed to be. Second, it meant that God had accepted Christ’s atoning work on the cross, which was necessary for our salvation. Thirdly, it assures mankind of a righteous judgment. Forth, it guarantees that our bodies also will be raised in the end. The Scripture teaches that as Christians, our bodies may go to the grave but they are going to be raised on the great resurrection morning. And fifth, it means that death will ultimately be abolished. The power of death has been broken and death’s fear has been removed.

Paul looked forward to death with great anticipation as a result of the resurrection of Christ. “I love Him so much that I can hardly wait to see Him!� Without the resurrection of Christ, there could be no hope for the future. The Bible says that someday we are going to stand face to face with the risen Christ and have bodies like his.

Thanks again for joining me today. I would welcome a chance to have someone else write a guest blog. Send me a note at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org.

Please have a safe Memorial Day weekend for those of you in the United States. Keep all the men and women of your armed services in your prayers!

Yes, there will be a Monday blog! I wouldn't miss you for the world. Until then, thank-you and God Bless.

Pastor Bob Emery 

Thanks for joining us today. We finally got the podcast published, although without any music. Well, we'll try again next week. We continue our talk about gaining peace with God:

Our society suffers greatly from loneliness, but we can have a friend in Jesus. Jesus Christ can make life joyful, satisfying, and glorious to you. All over the world are millions of men and women who love and serve Christ. The moment that you accept Him, you are closer to them than you are to your own blood relatives.

First, you must repent, surrender, and commit your heart and life to Christ. Let Him forgive your past sins, and He will take you into His family. If you are lonely today, I beg you, come to Christ and know the fellowship that He brings. With Christ as your savior and constant companion, although alone, you need never be lonely.

There is no loneliness quite as bitter as the loneliness of a backslidden Christian. Yet there is forgiveness for you. As you confess and forsake your sins, your fellowship with Christ will be restored. The loneliest soul of all is the man whose life is steeped in sin. Christ can give you power to overcome every sin and habit in your life; but you must repent, confess, commit, and surrender yourself to Him first.

Jesus was alone. He had come to His own, and His own received Him not. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. The crowds who had so recently shouted, Hosanna, now shouted, Crucify Him. Jesus was enduring the suffering and judgment of hell for you and me. Hell is the loneliest place in the universe and Jesus suffered its agony for you, in your place.

We have sought to change the world and the laws which govern it, but however we try, the end is always the same. The only thing certain about life is death. None of us can be sure when that exact moment will be, but we are well aware that it may come at any time. The lifespan of the average person does not far exceed the biblical three score years and ten.

The Bible tells us that we have two deaths. The first is the death of the physical body. The second death is the eternal death, hell, the conscious everlasting banishment of a soul from God. The Bible teaches that our soul will live forever in one of two places-heaven or heal. If you are not a Christian, and you have never been born again, then the Bible teaches that your soul goes immediately to a place Jesus called Hades, where you will await the judgment of God.

Life or death is equally welcome when we live in the will and presence of the Lord. If the Lord has chosen me to go to him soon, I go gladly. Please do not give a momentâ??s grief for me. Donâ??t say good by, but see you soon, when I will wait for you in heaven.

The teachings of Hell are the hardest of Christianity to receive. Some donâ??t believe that eternal or everlasting mean forever. The Bible teaches that whether we are saved or lost, there is a conscious and everlasting existence of the soul and personality. There is absolutely no evidence that God intends to give us a second chance! There is hell for every man who willingly and knowingly rejects Christ as Lord and Savior.

We have distinct teachings of Jesus on the subject of hell. Jesus told stories and gave illustrations on the subject and warned men time after time about the folly of living a sinful and hypocritical life here on earth. Will a loving God send a man to hell? The answer is yes, because he is just. Man condemns himself by his refusal of Godâ??s way of salvation. The remedy is personal faith and commitment to Jesus Christ. The man who refuses to believe what God says in His word about heaven and hell awakes in the next life to find that he has been wrong.

Hell is a separation from God. It is a second death, which is described as the eternal conscious banishment from the presence of all that is light, joyous, good, righteous, and happy. If physical death were the only consequence of a life lived apart from God, we would not have so much to fear, but the Bible warns that there is the second death, which is the eternal banishment from God.

A saint has been described as a sinner who has been forgiven. The subject of heaven is much easier to accept than the subject of hell. And yet the Bible teaches both. And since we know that are souls are going to spend eternity someplace, we ought to know something about it.

Our sorrows and problems here seem so much less when we have keen anticipation of the future. In a certain sense the Christian has heaven here on earth. He has peace of soul, peace of conscience, and peace with God. In the midst of troubles and difficulties he has an inner peace and joy, not dependent on circumstances.

Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you. The Bible teaches that Elijah and Enoch ascended in a literal body to a literal place that is just as real as Hawaii. The Bible indicates in a number of places that it will be a time of grand reunion with those who have gone on before. The Bible indicates that in heaven we will serve God. There will be work to do for God.

The Bible teaches that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The moment a Christian dies, he goes immediately into the presence of Christ. There his soul awaits the resurrection when the soul and the body will be rejoined. But the new body that we will have will be a glorious body like that of Christ. It will be an eternal body. We have seen that manâ??s future is hopeless without God.

Please take time to visit our website: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org

Send your comments to me at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org

Until tomorrow,

Pastor Bob Emery

This is a second attempt to get the podcast for May 24th up and running. Hopefully all will go well today.

Thank-you.

Welcome to today's podcast. We're glad you joined us. Please take time to visit our sponsor: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org. As always, I look forward to your feedback at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org .

We managed to get a little music in today's podcast. I hope you like it. With the Adobe Audition software, I only have 5000 sound clips to work with. I look forward to your feedback.

Today's program is:

Music

Intro

A plug for Newburgh Seminary  www.newburghseminary.com

Gaining peace with God

Close with some inspiring thoughts from Joel Osteen

Wrap up

Music

I hope you have enjoyed our podcast. Please join us next week. I hope to give you a surprise.

Regards,

Pastor Bob Emery

Welcome back! I'm so glad that you have joined us at church growth, mission, and evangelism; this blog is a ministry of www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org. Please take time to visit our site. Thank-you!

We continue with gaining peace with God:

Man’s only salvation from sin stands on a lonely, barren, skullshaped hill; a thief hangs on one cross, a murder on the other, and between them, a man with a crown of thorns. He is the Son of God. This is He, before whom angels fall down and veil their faces. And yet he hangs bleeding and forsaken on the cross!

Man’s hideous injustice that crucified Christ became the means that opened the way for man to become free. Sin’s masterpiece of shame and hate became God’s masterpiece of mercy and forgiveness. Through the death of Christ on the cross, sin itself was crucified for those who believe in Him. He proved the truth of all God’s promises to man, and if you will accept Christ by faith today, you, too, can be forgiven of your sins. You can stand secure and free in the knowledge that through the love of Christ your soul is cleansed of sin and saved from damnation.

Satan is determined that humanity shall continue on its tormented way until the end of time. There is no doubt that the devil exists. How and why did the devil come to be? We know from the story of Adam and Eve that the devil already existed. If the devil hadn’t already existed, then there would have been no reason for God to create the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Long before Adam existed, it would appear that God’s universe was divided into spheres of influence, each of which was under the supervision and control of an angel or heavenly prince, all of whom were responsible directly to God. The devil must have been just such a powerful, heavenly prince, having the earth assigned to him, perhaps as his special province.

This heavenly prince, known as Lucifer, must have stood very close to God, so close that ambition entered his heart and he determined not to be God’s beloved prince, but to place himself on an equal footing with God. Lucifer was not a counterpart of God, but of Gabriel or Michael, he was not a fallen god, but a fallen angel. It was at this moment that the breech appeared, the universe split, and a portion set itself in opposition to God. Lucifer left his position in the government of God, descended to the lower heavens, and declared that he would be like the most high God.

 As a mighty prince, with hosts of angels at his command, Lucifer has set up his kingdom on earth. His power and position were the very reason that the Scriptures came to be written. There was no doubt in Jesus’ mind about the presence of the devil, nor the power that he wielded here on earth. The devil is a creature of vastly superior intelligence, a mighty and gifted spirit of infinite resourcefulness. We forget that the devil was probably the greatest and most exalted of all of God’s angels. He is not however, all-powerful, omniscient, or omnipresent.

We know that the anti-Christ will appear and try to ensnare the minds and hearts of men. The signs of the false prophet are everywhere at hand, and many may be the living witnesses of this awesome moment when the final act of this age-old drama begins. It will be a battle to the death that will continue until the end of time, until one or the other of these mighty forces triumphs and places a king on the throne.

Never for a second of your waking or sleeping life are you without the influence of these two powerful forces. Don’t doubt for a moment the existence of the devil! He is very personal and he is very real. He is extremely clever. Perhaps the cleverest thing that he has done is to convince people that he doesn’t exist.

Once asked how he overcomes the devil, Martin Luther replied, “Well, when he comes knocking upon the door of my heart and asks, “Who lives here?� the dear Lord Jesus goes to the door and says, Martin Luther used to live here, but he has moved out. Now I live here. The Devil takes flight immediately.�

How can you explain humanity’s eagerness to listen to the base and vulgar and vile, while it turns a deaf ear to the good and clean and pure? We constantly pass up the rich and beautiful and ennobling experiences and seek out the tawdry, the cheap, and the degrading.

There is a much greater struggle going on that we cannot see. One of the many prices that Adam paid for listening to the devil was to lose the vision of spiritual dimensions. He lost for himself and all humanity the capacity for seeing and hearing and understanding anything that was not basely material. It is the evil and distortion within ourselves that keeps us from seeing and experiencing God’s perfect world.

That's all for today. Remember to listen to our podcast tomorrow! The podcast gets bigger and bigger. There is so much material to cover. Our task here is so important and time is short.

Our podcast for tomorrow will include:

Greeting

Introduction

Continuation of gaining peace with God

More uplifting thoughts from Joel Osteen

Wrap up

and hopefully some short bits of music if all goes well

Until then. Thank-you and God Bless.

Pastor Bob Emery

bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org - please let me know what you think

Hello.

A new week, a new chance to talk about God. That's as good as it gets. Thanks for joining us. Let's continue:

If God is a righteous and loving being, why then is there so much wickedness, suffering, and sorrow? God created this world as a perfect whole. In this perfect world He placed a perfect man. God gave Adam eternal life, freedom, and freedom of choice. Adam walked with God and had fellowship with Him. He was intended to be a king on earth, ruling by the will of God. Adam had total freedom to choose or to reject, freedom to obey God’s commands or go contrary to them.

When a man is given freedom he is faced with two paths. Freedom without choice is meaningless. God provided Adam with the perfect setting in which to prove whether or not he would serve God. Adam made his choice. God is not to blame. It is Adam who made the choice to serve the tempter rather than the truth of God.

Adam was the head of the human race. Just as we inherit characteristics from our parents, we have inherited our fallen, corrupt nature from Adam. The Bible states that the result of Adam’s sin shall be visited upon all his descendents. Even though Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, they gave birth to children after their own likeness. Cain and Abel were infected with the disease of sin and it was passed on to every generation.

We are still trying to make the same mistake that Adam made-we are still trying to be our own king. God sent his own Son to experience the same temptations that were set before Adam and to triumph over them. Satan tempted Jesus just as he tempted Adam. The great difference is that Jesus Christ resisted the temptation. We may deplore Adam’s choice, but we still copy him.

There is not a day that we don’t have a chance to choose between the devil’s clever promises and God’s sure word. From the beginning of time, man’s ungodly quest for power has brought him to the brink of doom. New rubble and new misery are being created daily, yet man plunges on his stubborn way. It is because of this sin that man has never been able to obtain the utopia of which he dreams.

Sin is what we are all suffering from today. People don’t like to be told that they are sinners. We popularize and glamorize sin. There are multitudes of people who are totally ignorant of sin’s real meaning. It is the lack of understanding of sin that keeps many Christians from living the true life of Christ. Man seeks to excuse himself of sin, but God seeks to convict him of it and to save him from it.

Sin is lawlessness, the transgression of the law of God. If you look at the Ten Commandments of God, you will see how mankind is not only deliberately breaking them, but glamorizing the breaking.

Sin is inequity. Inequity is the deviation from what is right. Inequity has to do with our inner motivations. They are the wrongs that spring from our own corrupt nature rather than the evil acts which force of circumstances sometimes cause us to commit.

Sin is missing the mark-Falling short of God’s goal of Christ. The object and end purpose of all of life is to live up to the life of Christ. When we fail to follow Christ’s example, we miss the mark and fall short of the divine standard.

Sin is a form of trespass. Sin is the intrusion of self-will into the sphere of divine authority. Sin is making the decision to prefer ourselves to God.

Sin is unbelief. Unbelief is a sin because it is an insult to the truthfulness of God. He that believeth not God makes Him a liar. It is unbelief that causes men to turn a deaf ear to the gospel and to deny the miracles of Christ. It is only in Christ that the remedy for sin can be found. It is only Christ who can save the sinner from the fate that surely awaits him.

That's all for today. Send your comments to me at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org.

Please stop by our website at: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org.

See you tomorrow!

Pastor Bob Emery

Hello. Welcome back to the church growth, mission, and evangelism blog. Please take time to visit our sponsor at: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Another week is coming to an end, but there is always time to talk about Peace With God:

Everyone should know beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly who God is and what He is capable of doing. It is in the lack of knowledge of God and man’s own refusal to obey Him that lie at the root of every problem which besets us. It is man’s unwillingness to learn and to obey God’s laws that has laid such a heavy burden on our souls.

The Bible declares God to be Spirit. After his resurrection, Christ said handle me and see, a spirit has not flesh and bones. The Spirit has no body, yet it has being and power. Jesus knew the borderless reaches of the Spirit and came to try to give us an understanding of its wonders, its comfort, and its peace.

God is a Spirit. He is not limited to shape; he has no boundaries or bonds; he is immeasurable and indiscernible. He can be every where at once. He can hear all, see all, and know all. When man knows in his hear that God is an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Spirit, it helps to overcome the temptation to try to limit Him. Those who doubt that the Bible is the true word of God do so because they are unwilling to ascribe to God anything that they are unable to do themselves.

Secondly, God is a person. Everything that we attribute to a person can be attributed to God. We have a hard time accepting that at death our personalities will leave our physical bodies. Personalities don’t have to have physical bodies. God does not have a physical body, but He still is a person.

Third, the Bible says that God is a Holy and Righteous Being. God is utterly perfect and absolute in every detail. He is too holy to tolerate sinful man. We can scarce imagine the overwhelming holiness of God, but we must accept it if we are to benefit from the Bible.

It is because God is so holy and man so unholy that so wide a gap exists between God and the unrepentant sinner.

Before sin entered the human race, God and man had fellowship with each other; but now that fellowship is only possible through Jesus Christ. Man would have remained lost forever if it wasn’t for the infinite mercy of God who sent His son to earth to save us. It is in God’s holiness that we find the reason for Jesus’ death. Only Jesus was strong enough to bear the sins of the whole world.

Forth, God is love. God’s holiness demands that all sin be punished, but God’s love provides the plan and the way of redemption for sinful man. Were it not for the love of God, none of us would have a chance in the future life. Until you actually accept God’s love and experience it, until you actually possess true peace with God, no one can explain it to you. You have to receive God by faith in His son the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please send your comments to: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org . We need your input to help us grow. I would invite any of you to write an entry for our blog. See you on Monday. Remember a new expanded podcast coming up next week.

For now, God Bless.

Pastor Bob Emery

Hi. Welcome to our church growth, mission, and evangelism blog. On behalf of

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org we are really glad you stopped by. Please take time to listen to the podcast posted today. It is full of really good stuff!

You really need to read Peace with God by Rev. Billy Graham. Here are a few of his thoughts.

Time is running out. Is there a path we can follow? Is there a codebook to show us where we are going? Yes, there is a codebook! It is an ancient and historic book we call the Bible. This book has come down to us through the ages. It has passed through many hands and appeared in many forms and survived attack of every kind. It is interesting to note that when Bible reading was outlawed in our American public schools, it was required reading in the Catholic schools of communist Poland.

The real theme of the Bible is the story of God’s redemption as it exists in Jesus Christ. God caused the Bible to be written for the express purpose of revealing to man God’s plan for redemption. God caused this book to be written that He might make His everlasting laws clear to His children and that they might have His great wisdom to guide them and His great love to comfort them.

The Bible is the only book that is God’s revelation. There are many bibles of different religions; there is the Muslim Koran, the Buddhist Canon of Sacred Scripture, the Zoroastrian Zend-Avesta, and the Brahman Vedas. All of these nonChristian bibles have parts of truth in them, but they are all developments ultimately in the wrong direction.  They all begin with flashes of true light and end in utter darkness. The Bible is the only book that offers man redemption and points that way out of his dilemmas.

During sixteen hundred years, the sixty-six books of the Bible were written by men of different languages, living in different times, and in different countries; but the message that they wrote was basically the same. As we read these ageless words today, we find that the rules of conduct set forth by the ancient scribes are as fresh and meaningful today as they were to the people of Jesus’ time.

People are discovering the Bible again. They are finding that the familiar but almost forgotten phrases ring with a current meaning that makes them seem to have been written only yesterday. This is because the Bible embodies all of the knowledge man needs to fill the longing of his soul and solve all his problems. The men who wrote our Constitution knew that they were writing the basic document for a government of free men; they recognized that men could live as free and independent beings only if each one knew and understood the law.

Men found out that if they knew the law and lived according to it, they could, in truth, be free. They had their Constitutional rights and they had their Constitutional responsibilities. Just as the Constitution was intended to apply equally to all men living under it, without special favor or interpretation, so the Bible stands as the supreme Constitution for all mankind.

Conscience tells us in our innermost being of the presence of God and of the moral difference between good and evil. Only in the pages of the Bible do we find the clear and unmistakable message upon which all true Christianity is based. All scripture is given by inspiration of God.

Biblical scribes never attempted to gloss over the realities of life. The startling thing is that the lives and motivations of these people who lived so long ago have such a modern flavor. The great all prevailing truth stands for time and eternity. The bold, clear message of the Bible for every living being is the message of Christ and His offer of peace with God.

If you have been away from the Bible for a while, start with the book of John. While it is considered one of the most profound books of the Bible, it is also the clearest and most readily understood. It was written for the very purpose of showing the how and the why of man’s salvation, so that the questions of the mind as well as the groping of the heart might be satisfied. When you have read through each of the Gospels individually, start in at the beginning of the New Testament and read straight through all the books in order.

Who is God? What is he like? How can we be sure he exists? The only possible answer is that there is a Supreme Creator. Just as a watch must have a designer, so our universe must have a great designer. We call him God. Benjamin Franklin said, “I have lived a long time and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see that God governs in the affairs of men.�

That's it for today. Be sure to stop by tomorrow. My son is playing a concert in Epinal, France tomorrow night and Saturday night they are playing in a 14th century cathedral that is heated by underground hot springs. Talk about being near to God.

Remember your comments are really important to us. Send them to:

bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org .

Until next time. God Bless.

Pastor Bob Emery

Thanks for joining us for our podcast this week! I'm sorry I'm late, but my son left for Germany and France yesterday and I just couldn't get ready.

The rough schedule is:

Introduction

Background

Continuation of discussion on evangelism

Billy Graham's thoughts on Peace With God

Some encouraging words from Joel Osteen

Wrap up

The links that you need:

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org

bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org

http://top9eye4.libsyn.com

http://top9eye4.libsyn.com/rss

Thanks again for joining us today. I think that next week will be a little less hectic. I will have some new things for you to listen to.

Thanks and God Bless

Pastor Bob Emery

Just a quick note. Our podcast for today will be delayed until tomorrow.

My son left for Germany/France today with the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse orchestra and chamber choir and I just ran out of time. The raw audio is done. I just want to make sure that it is as good as I can get it before I upload it to the server.

Thanks for your patience.

Pastor Bob

Welcome to church growth, mission, and evangelism. We're glad you came back!

We are starting on a new topic today, a review of some material in Billy Graham's book called Peace With God.

All of humanity is seeking the answer to the confusion, the moral sickness, the spiritual emptiness that oppresses the world. All mankind is crying out for guidance, for comfort, for peace.  One of the first paths we chose was labeled “political freedomâ€?. Give everyone political freedom, and the world would become a happy place. Let us select our own government leaders and we will have the kind of government that makes life worth living. Political freedom is important, but it will not give us the kind of world we long for.

There was also education. We are the most educated people in the history of civilization, and the most confused. The most inviting path was the one called “a higher standard of living�.

We live in a country that has the greatest political freedom, the greatest and most far reaching education system, and the absolute highest standard of living in the world; and yet that empty feeling is still within us. Why does that hollow feeling still persist? Many are floundering in this time of crisis and finding that their efforts are leading them not up but only further down.

Thousands of teenagers take their own lives. Our families are riddled with all kinds of abuses and aberrations. We are a nation of empty people. We aren’t filled with the spirit that makes work a joy. We aren’t filled with the determination that makes pushing ahead a pleasure.

We have the greatest variety and number of artificial amusements of any country. People have become so empty that they can’t even entertain themselves. Boredom is a sure way to measure your inner emptiness. Why are we so empty? Our Creator made us for Himself; and we can never be happy and find completeness apart from fellowship with him.

We don’t have much time. The tools of annihilation have been placed within our reach. Our generation has accomplished what other generations have only tried to do, or dreamed of doing in their most insane moments of power and ruthlessness! We have achieved the ability to totally destroy ourselves.

With all of our progress in technology and in the management of deadly diseases, we have not solved the basic problem of the human race. We still cannot govern ourselves or live in equality and peace! We still face the same trials and temptations that were with us in the Garden of Eden.

Man is still plagued by his depraved and sinful nature that fills him with hate, envy, greed, and jealousy. The curse of sin is upon us and we are forever haunted by the fear of death. In spite of our progress, we still are unchanged.

Jesus came to give us the answers to the three enduring problems of sin, sorrow, and death. Christ is unchangeable. He stands steadfast and calm, ready to welcome all who will turn to Him and accept the blessings of safety and peace.

Thanks again for joining us. Here's the plan for this week's podcast that hopefully will be published tomorrow. Just a reminder that those great folks at Libsyn are upgrading their systems this week and tomorrow's programing may be affected.

Greetings

Introduction

Wrap up of material on evangelism

New thoughts on God

Some good news for the day

Please take time to visit us at: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org

Send your comments to me at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org

Pastor Bob Emery

Hello

Welcome back to the church growth, mission, and evangelism blog sponsored by:

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org . We are very glad to have you a part of our evangelism mission.

Today I would like to continue with thoughts on evangelism from The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert E. Coleman.

Evangelism is not done by something, but by someone. It is an expression of God’s love, and God is a person. Men are God’s method. Until we have such people imbued with his Spirit and committed to his plan, none of our methods will work. This is the new evangelism we need. It is not better methods, but better men and women who know their Redeemer from personal experience. Men and women who want only that Christ produce his life in and through them according to his good pleasure.

Equally agonizing may be the adjustment of the congregation to the Master’s view of the ministry. In all probability our whole concept of success will have to be reevaluated. Every one of us should be seeking some way to incorporate the wisdom of Jesus’ strategy into our own preferred method of evangelism.

New and bold approaches will need to be tried as situations change and not everything tried will work. A person unwilling to fail in the determination to find some way to get the job done will never get started, nor will the one afraid to try and try again make much progress.

Jesus’ life would teach us that finding and training people to reach people must have priority. The wandering masses of the world must have a demonstration of what to believe-they must have a mentor who will stand among them and say, “Follow me�.

It is better to give a year or so to one or two people who learn what it means to conquer for Christ than to spend a lifetime with a congregation just keeping the program going. Nor does it matter how small or inauspicious the beginning may be; what counts is that those to whom we give priority in our life learn to give it away.

Keep the focus on Jesus. The only realistic way to do this is by being together. If our followers are to see through us what they are to become, we must be with them. Let them see us in action so as to feel our vision and know how it relates to daily experience. Evangelism is then seen as a way of life. By being with us, their own involvement is inevitable.

If we are alert, most of the time our disciples could be with us while we are serving others. It may be necessary to arrange special times when the group can meet together with us. We can study the Bible, pray, and in general share with one another our deepest burdens and desires. Let the meeting grow out of a common need for fellowship.

We must keep our purpose clear. The times we spend together are not meant to be a break, but a strategic maneuver to gain more strength for the attack. It is our business to see that those who are with us are given something to do which will require the best in them. Everyone needs to be given some specific work by way of personal evangelism.

Probably no more essential contribution can be made to the ministry of the church than in the area of follow-up of new Christians.

We need to follow up with them to hear how things are going. This means seeking them out where they are or counseling with them while they are with us in another activity. It is essential that the new Christians keep growing in grace and in knowledge. We need to anticipate their problems and prepare them for what they will face. As their guardians, we are responsible for teaching them to live for the Master.

Everything should be leading these men and women to the day when they will assume by themselves a ministry in their own sphere of influence. The crucial thing is their own spiritual experience. We must make sure that they are well enough trained to keep them from being overwhelmed.

Christian service is demanding, and if people are going to be any use for God, they must first learn to seek the kingdom. We are not living for the present. Our satisfaction is knowing that in generations to come our witness for Christ will still be bearing fruit in an ever widening cycle of reproduction to the ends of the earth and unto the end of time.

Thank-you for visiting us today. Please give me your feedback. We want to get better and better for you. email me at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org .

PS

Libsyn has advised us that they will be making some wonderful system improvements this week. The bad news is that there may be some glitches in the process. So we will include Libsyn in our prayers and make whatever changes in our publishing schedule that are necessary. Thanks in advance for your patience.

Pastor Bob Emery

Hello. Friday is here at last, but still time to talk about evangelism. Thanks for joining us!

Be sure to visit: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org -our sponsor. Now evangelism.

Jesus expected his followers to reproduce. Jesus had built into his disciples the structure of a church that would challenge and triumph over all the powers of death and hell. He did for see the day when the gospel of salvation in his name would be proclaimed convincingly to ever creature. We must not fail to see the direct relation between bearing witness of Christ and the ultimate victory over the world.

It all came back to his disciples. They were the vanguard of his enveloping movement. His whole evangelistic strategy-indeed, the fulfillment of his very purpose in coming into the world, dying on the cross, and rising from the grave-depended on the faithfulness of his chosen disciples to this task. As simple as it may seem, this was the way the gospel would conquer. He had no other plan.

As surely as the disciples were participants in the life of Jesus, even so they would bear his fruit. Jesus called on men to evaluate the product of their lives.

The Great Commission of Christ given to his church summed it all up in the command to make disciples of every creature. The word indicates that the disciples were to go out into the world and win others who would come to be what they were-disciples of Christ.

Leadership was the emphasis. The masses were ripe for the harvest. The only hope for the world is for laborers to go to them with the gospel of salvation, and having won them to the Savior, not to leave them, but to work with them faithfully. Here finally is where we must all evaluate the contribution that our life and witness is making to the supreme purpose of his who is the Savior of the world.

What really counts in the ultimate perpetuation of our work is the faithfulness with which our converts go out and make leaders out of their converts, not simply more followers. Our work is never finished until it has assured its continuation in the lives of those redeemed by the Evangel.

The test of any work of evangelism is in the effectiveness with which the work continues in the next generation. Christians are actively winning souls and training them to win the multitudes. Values can only be measured by eternity. Consider what it would mean to the future of the church if we had only one true disciple now to show for our labors. Our ministry alone would soon reach multitudes with the gospel.

They gave the gospel to the multitudes, but all the while they were building up the fellowship of those who believed. As the Lord added daily to the church, the disciples were preparing men to reproduce their ministry to the ends of the earth. The Acts of the Apostles were really just the unfolding in the life of the church the principles of evangelism.

Times changed and gradually the simple way of Jesus’ evangelism was forced into a new mold. Some how or another the principles got confused. The costly principles of leadership development and reproduction seem to have been submerged beneath the easier strategy of mass recruitment. The nearsighted objective of popular recognition generally took precedence over the long range goal of reaching the world, and the methods of evangelism employed by the church collectively and individually have reflected this momentary outlook. Jesus’ plan has not been disavowed; it has just been ignored.

Well-intended ceremonies, programs, organizations, commissions, and crusades of human ingenuity are trying valiantly to do a job that only can be done by people in the power of the Holy Spirit. Unless the personal mission of the Master is vitally incorporated into the policy and fabric of these plans, the church cannot function as she should.

That's all for this week. Please join us next week. It will be great!

Pastor Bob Emery

Hello! Welcome to the church growth, mission, and evangelism blog sponsored by:

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Please take time to visit their site. Hope that you got to listen to our podcast on the same subject yesterday! If you missed it, go to:

http://top9eye4.libsyn.com/rss .

We continue with our discussion on evangelism:

Jesus made it a point to meet with his disciples following their tours of service to hear their reports and to share with them the blessedness of his ministry in doing the same thing. The time he spent with them, he was helping them to understand the reason for some previous action or getting them ready for some new experience to fulfill his work, which was the evangelization of the world. The Twelve gathered with Jesus to tell what things they had done.

After the disciples were sent out to work, they were expected to share their experiences later with the group. Nothing could have given Jesus more joy than this. Visualizing the victory ultimately assures by their work. This was what Jesus had been working for all these long months and now he was beginning to see the fruit of his labors. He cautioned the disciples against pride in their accomplishments.

These follow up sessions following the disciples visitation merely brings into bold relief a strategy of Jesus throughout his ministry. As he reviewed some experience which the disciples had he would bring out some practical application of it to their lives. He never let an occasion pass without giving the frustrated disciples a much needed lesson on how they, through more prayer and fasting, should have laid hold upon God’s faithfulness.

Realizing that they had missed completely the spiritual lesson of his remarks intended to warn them against unbelief, Jesus said, “Do ye not yet perceive, neither understand?� Doubtless this brought clearly to mind that day when the disciples seated the multitudes for dinner, and then saw Jesus perform the miracle of the loaves. With this evidence of Jesus’ miraculous power there could be no doubt about his ability to feed them with their loaf of bread if it was necessary.

One of the most penetrating of the Lord’s correctional lectures following the disciples’ activity was in connection with their attitude toward others in the work who were not members of the apostolic company. He felt constrained to give them an extended discourse on the dangers of discouraging any sincere work on his behalf.

In Samaria, when the impulsive disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy the people, Jesus said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.� Then showing his disciples how they might solve this kind of problem, they went to another village.

Jesus would let his followers have some experience or make some observation of their own, and then he would use this as a starting point to teach a lesson of discipleship. The fact that they tried to do his work, even though they may have failed aat it, gave them greater awareness of their deficiencies, and hence they were more disposed to the Master’s correction.

Jesus kept his disciples moving toward the goal. His plan of teaching, by example, assignment, and constant checkup, was calculated to bring out the best that was in them.

Many experiences of grace which bring delight to the soul need to be clarified and deepened as their meaning is interpreted in the light of the total world mission of Christ. It is this crucial that those engaging in the work of evangelism have personal supervision and guidance until such time as they are matured enough to carry on alone.

We must always s remember, too, that the goal is world conquest. We dare not let a lesser concern capture our strategy of the moment. We fail, not because we do not try to do something, but because we let our little efforts become an excuse for not doing more. The result is that we lose by default the advantage of years of hard work and sacrifice.

Disciples must be brought to maturity. There can be no substitute for total victory, and our field is the world. We have not been called to hold the fort, but to storm the heights. It is in this light that the final step in Jesus’ strategy of evangelism can be understood.

Thanks for reading our blog. Please send your comments to: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Your feedback is vital for the growth of our ministry.

Until later,

Pastor Bob Emery

May 10, 2006

Welcome to our podcast! Thanks for joining us! Sorry that this is posting so late. I'm trying to learn our new software and the yard work needs to be done.

The rough program for today is:

Welcome

Introduction

Continued overview of evangelism

Some special thoughts on expectancy

Wrap up

Links:

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org

bob@thegreatcommissionchurch

http://top9eye4.libsyn.com/rss

http://top9eye4.libsyn.com

Thanks again!

Pastor Bob Emery

Welcome

We're so glad that you could join us today. The spring yard work is making it hard to stay on my publishing schedule, so I appreciate your patience. Today we continue with thoughts on evangelism:

Jesus was always building his ministry for the time when his disciples would have to take over his work, and go out into the world with the redeeming gospel. He was never too early in his insistence on action. He got the disciples involved in a vital experience with God, to show them how he worked, before he ever told them that they had to do it. He never discouraged them in their spontaneous attempts to share their faith. He was delighted. In fact on several occasions Jesus asked those who were helped by his ministry to say something about it to others.

Jesus used his disciples to help along his work by having them arrange for food and housing for the group as they followed him. He also let them baptize people who were aroused by his message. But even after they were formally ordained to the ministry, they showed no evidence of doing any evangelism on their own. Maybe this would mean that we need to be more patient with our new converts.

Jesus gave his disciples briefing instructions before letting them go. He outlined for them exactly what he had been teaching all of the time. He told them to go and preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He emphasized the immediacy of the task with the phrase-the kingdom is at hand. He also spelled out the depth of their authority by telling them to heal, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils, and raise the dead.

Jesus told them to go to the lost sheep of Israel, not the Gentiles. They were to trust in God to supply their needs. They were told to render their services freely, remembering that they had received freely from the Lord. As they were faithful to God, he would see to it that their needs would be supplied.

His instructions were even more specific in his command to find a friendly person in each town they visited, and to live there as long as they continued their evangelistic work in the area. The disciples were told to concentrate their efforts on the most promising individuals in each town, someone who would be able to follow up on their work after they had gone.

The principle of establishing a beachhead in a new town by connecting with potentially key followers is exactly how Jesus had lived with his own disciples and he expected them to do the same. The places that refused the disciples the opportunity to do this actually brought down on themselves the judgment of utter darkness. The leaders had called Jesus Beelzebub. His disciples should not expect any less abuse. Jesus told them that the Holy Spirit would enable them to meet any emergencies.

Jesus never let his followers underestimate the strength of the enemy, nor the natural resistance of self-serving people to his redeeming gospel. He reminded them of the decisive nature of the gospel invitation. There could be no compromise with sin. They were not going forth to maintain the status quo. They were going forth with a revolutionary gospel, and when it was obeyed, it effected a revolutionary change in people and their society.

Jesus sent them out in pairs. This no doubt provided them with needed companionship along the way. Together they could help each other. The disciples were to go into every city and place where Christ himself was about to come. The disciples were forerunners for their Lord. They were all to practice what they had learned from the Master’s method of evangelism. Jesus assured them again of the promise and authority of the Holy Spirit to do the work.

On a mountain in Galilee Jesus gave his Great Commission to the whole church. “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you; and I will be with you always, even unto the end of the world. To his disciples it was a definite command. Christian disciples are sent men and women-sent out in the same work of world evangelism that the Lord was sent, and for which he gave his life.

Evangelism is not an option for our lives. It is the commission of the church which gives meaning to all else that is undertaken in the name of Christ. When the church gets down to business with evangelism, then those in the pews will start moving out for God.

The rough plan for tommorow's podcast is:

Welcome

Introduction

Continuing overview of evangelism

Some special thoughts on expectancy

Wrap up

Special links

We thank you for joining us today. A special thanks to our sponsor:

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org  Be sure to send your comments and suggestions to me at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org .

That's all for today. Thanks and God Bless.

Pastor Bob Emery 

Hi

We're glad to have you join us again. Sorry we're so late today. I spent part of the evening on the phone to the tech support folks at Adobe getting their expert help to install the new Adobe Audition software that we are going to use for our podcasts.

Today we continue with some thoughts on evangelism.

Jesus saw to it that his disciples learned his way of living with God and man. His disciples needed to know how his experience was to be maintained and shared if it was to be perpetuated in evangelism. It was no accident that Jesus often let his disciples see him praying. They could see the strength that it gave to his life, and though they probably couldn’t understand fully what it was all about, they must have realized that this was part of his secret of life.

One might think that the idea of putting words into the disciples’ mouths to get them to pray was below the capabilities of these disciples, but Jesus would not take such an important matter as this for granted. He emphasized the importance of prayer again and again and continually enlarged upon its meaning as they were able to comprehend deeper realities of his Spirit. Unless they grasped the meaning of prayer and learned to practice it consistently, not much would come from their lives.

Jesus taught the importance and use of the Holy Scriptures. This was evident both in maintaining his own personal devotion and in winning others to the Way. He would take time to impress the special meaning of some passage in the Bible for his followers and never ceased to use the Scriptures in his conversation with them. All this was to show the disciples how they should know and use the Scriptures in their own life. The scriptures along with his teachings became the basis for their faith in Christ.

Jesus practiced everything that he wanted the disciples to learn. Evangelism was lived before them in spirit and technique. He led them to recognize the need inherent in all classes of people, and the best methods of approaching them. They observed how he drew people to himself; how he won their confidence and inspired their faith; how he opened the way of salvation to them and called them to a decision.

Jesus asked no one to do what he had not first demonstrated in his own life, thereby proving not only its workability, but also its relevance to his mission. Every thing he said and did was a personal lesson in reality and the disciples were there to learn every moment of their waking day. How else will his way ever be learned?  There is no avoiding our personal responsibility for showing the way to those we are training. This is the Master’s method, and nothing else will ever do to train others to do his work.

Jesus was training men to do a job, and when they knew enough to get started; he saw to it that they did so. The application of this principle is so pronounced that it needs to be considered as another part of his strategy of conquest.

Please come visit us at: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org .

Send your comments to: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org .

Thanks. See you tommorrow.

Pastor Bob Emery

Thanks again for joining our blog! We thank God for this opportunity to share our thoughts on evangelism. When you get a chance, please stop by:

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org . We thank them for their continued support of this ministry.

Jesus wanted his followers to obey him. In receiving his Spirit they would know the love of God for a lost world. The disciples understood that they were not just keeping a law, but were responding to the One who loved them and was willing to give himself for them. He gave them his glory which was his, that they all might be one even as he was one with the Father. God gave all he had to those he loved, even his Son. For the Son, it meant doing the same. Just as man by his sin had to die, so God by his love had to send his Son to die in our place.

Jesus never lost an opportunity to impress upon his followers the love of God for a lost world. The life of Jesus was simply a revelation of God’s purpose to save a people for himself. The Master considered no service too small, nor sacrifices too great, when it was given for the glory of God. The constant renewing of his consecration of himself to God through his loving service constituted Jesus’ sanctification.

The disciples were to give themselves in selfless devotion to those whom the Father loved and for whom their Master died. Such a demonstration of love through them was to be the way that the world would know that the Gospel was true. Love is the only way to win the free response of men, and it is possible only by the presence of Christ within the heart.

Jesus made it very clear that his life was mediated only through the Holy Spirit. That is why even to begin to live in Christ one must be born again. The corrupt human nature must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit before it can be conformed to its true created purpose in the divine image. It is the Spirit who sustains and nourishes the transformed life of a disciple in knowledge and grace. By the same Spirit one is set apart unto God for holy service. It is only the Spirit of God that enables one to carry on the mission of evangelism.

Evangelism was not interpreted as a human endeavor, but as a divine project which had been going on since the beginning and would continue until God’s purpose was fulfilled. It was the Spirit’s work. All the disciples had to do was to let the Spirit have complete charge of their lives.

The Spirit was to fill them with the very presence of the Master. The privileges which the disciples were to enjoy in this deeper relationship to the Spirit were greater than they had known as Jesus walked with them. Jesus was confined to his one body and one place. The Spirit would enable him to be with them always and every where. They needed an experience of Christ so real that their lives would be filled with his presence. Evangelism had to become a burning compulsion within them.

Only those who followed Jesus all the way came to know the glory of this experience. Jesus reserved for his few chosen disciples, particularly the Twelve, his most revealing things. Jesus was deliberately investing all he had in these few men so that they could be properly prepared to do his work.

We must die to ourselves to live in Christ, and we must give ourselves away in service and devotion to our Lord. It is necessary that one see in us a clear demonstration of the way to live his life.

That's all for today. Thanks again for joining with us. Please send your thoughts to:

bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Remember, your feedback helps us get better.

Pastor Bob Emery

Welcome back! We are so excited about the growth in thegreatcommissionchurch.org. In the month of April our site had 7990 pages read, which is really incredible for a four month old web page. We thank God for all of his favor.

Today we continue our discourse on evangelism.

Jesus expected the men he was with to obey him. They had to be loyal. All they were asked to do was to follow Jesus. No one will follow someone in which he or she has no trust, nor sincerely take the step of faith unless he or she is willing to obey what the leader says.

It soon became apparent that being a disciple of Christ involved more than joyful acceptance of the Messianic promise; it meant the surrender of one’s whole life to the Master. There had to be complete forsaking of sin. The old thought patterns, habits, and pleasures of the world had to be conformed to the new disciplines of the kingdom of God.

Perfection of love was the only standard of conduct.

Jesus didn’t go running after those who left the membership roles. He was training leaders for the Kingdom, and if they were going to be fit for service, they were going to have to pay the price. Those who couldn’t go all the way fell by the wayside. Jesus didn’t have time to scatter himself on those who wanted to dictate their own terms of discipleship. Jesus’ would-be disciples were made to count the cost!

Jesus began to talk with His disciples with greater frankness about His suffering and death. Again and again Jesus talked to His disciples about His death and its meaning to them, but they didn’t grasp the meaning until after Jesus was betrayed into the hands of His enemies.

It was hard for them to accept the teaching of servant hood for the sake of others. Jesus endured their failings, because they were willing to follow him. He knew that they would master their defects as they grew in grace and knowledge. Their ability to receive knowledge would grow if they continued to practice what truth they could understand.

Obedience to Christ was how they learned more. No one could follow Jesus without learning what the truth was. Jesus did not ask them to follow a doctrine, but a person.

He continually followed the will of His Father which made it possible for God to use His life fully according to his plan. The cross was the crowning obedience to God’s will. That obedience could not be compromised.

The only way that the disciples could learn Jesus word was by following him. There could be no development of character or purpose without it. The disciples could not possibly defeat the powers of this world without strict adherence to him who knew the strategy of victory. This required absolute obedience to the Master’s will.

We cannot be oblivious to the commands of Christ. We are engaged in issues of life and death. Every day that we are indifferent is another day lost to the cause of Christ. There is Sno room in the Kingdom for sloth, for such an attitude not only precludes any growth in grace and knowledge, but also makes you useless on the battlefield for evangelism.

There is a malaise among the clergy and the laity regarding the commands of God. The great tragedy is that even among those who realize what is happening little is being done. It is high time that the requirements for membership in the church be interpreted and enforced in terms of true Christian discipleship. Followers must have leaders, which means that not much can be done with the membership until something is done with the leadership.

If this task seems too large, then we will have to begin like Jesus did by getting with a few chosen ones and instilling into them the meaning of obedience.

Thanks again for visiting! Please visit us at: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Send your comments to: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org . We appreciate your help in making this a better website.

Until tomorrow,

Pastor Bob Emery

Thanks for listening to Church growth, Mission, and Evangelism.

Today we continued with our overview of evangelism, talking about some things mentioned in the book "The Master Plan of Evangelism" by Robert E. Coleman. We also included some special comments in a new section of our podcast with ideas from "Your Best Life Now" by Joel Osteen.

Links to remember:

www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org

bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org

Please let me know what you think. I'm still trying to figure all of the technology out, so I appreciate your help. Contact me at:

bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org

Thanks again for listening. Be sure to join us next Wednesday when we create our show using our exciting new production software. Don't miss our daily blog. And don't forget to visit: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org

Pastor Bob Emery

Hello again! Welcome back to the church growth, mission, and evangelism blog. I'm really excited today because the new Adobe Audition software came for producing our podcast. Our goal is to only be the best. Be sure to keep listening in!

We continue with these thoughts on evangelism.

Jesus did all that he could and this served to impress upon his disciples the need for immediate personal care for new converts, but he had to devote himself to the task of developing leaders who could give this kind of specialized care to others. The whole problem of giving personal care to every believer is only resolved in a thorough understanding of the nature and mission of the church. It was the church that was responsible for following up with all the followers of Christ.

Preaching to the masses will never suffice in the work of preparing leaders for evangelism. Building men and women for leadership requires constant personal attention. It can be done only by persons staying close to those whom they seek to lead. The church has obviously failed miserably in this case. There is a lot of talk in the church about evangelism, but little concern for personal association. When confirmands are confirmed, they are left entirely on their own to find the solutions to innumerable practical problems, any one of which can spell disaster for their new faith.

Half of those who make a profession of faith and join the church eventually fall out of membership and most of those who remain are insufficiently trained to be of any real service to the Kingdom. If Jesus found it necessary to stay almost constantly in contact with his disciples for three years, how does the church hope to accomplish the task in only a few days a year?

Every convert needs a Christian friend to follow until such time as he or she can lead another. The mentor should stay with the new believer as much as possible, studying the Bible and praying with him or her, all the while answering questions, clarifying the truth, and together seeking to help others. If the church doesn’t have such trained mentors, willing to do this, then it needs to be training some!

Be sure to visit our website at: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Send your feedback to me at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Remember that we need your feedback to keep improving!

A real rough outline of tomorrow's podcast:

Welcome

Introduction

Overview of evangelism

An all new special addition to the program!

Wrap up

Thanks again for checking in. It means a lot to us. Talk to you tomorrow!

Pastor Bob Emery

Hello! Welcome back to the church growth, mission, and evangelism blog. I'm really excited to start the second week of our combined blog and podcast-a how to on this topic.

I'm going to continue talking about the ideas in Robert E. Coleman's book, "The Master Plan of Evangelism." This is a classic text in the field of evangelism.

Our days are running out. The evangelistic programs of the church have bogged down on nearly every front. In an age where around the world communications are possible, it is hard to believe that there are fewer and fewer saved souls. People can be won if they are given leaders to follow! You don’t have to be special to be used in the Kingdom of God. Anyone who is willing to follow Christ can have a mighty influence on the world when properly trained.

Jesus taught his disciples by drawing them close to himself. He was a living example of what he taught. Knowledge of the Kingdom of God was learned by association. Jesus invited his disciples to “come and see�. Living with Jesus taught the disciples everything that they needed to learn. Jesus was their own private tutor. As Christ’s ministry got longer, he spent more and more private time with just his disciples.

Frequently Jesus would take his disciples with him on retreats to some mountainous area of the country where they could avoid publicity. Jesus needed to get alone with the disciples. When Jesus made the last trip to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples apart from the rest as he made his way to the city. It was not until Jesus was running out of time that the disciples were ready to grasp the meaning of his presence with them. Fully half of all that is recorded about Jesus’ life happened in the last months of his life, and most of this was in the last week.

All of the ten post resurrection appearances were to his followers, particularly the apostles. The disciples who had fled in despair following the crucifixion needed to be revived in their faith and confirmed in their mission to the world. Even when Jesus was ministering to others, the disciples were always there with him. Without neglecting his ministry to those in need, he maintained a constant ministry to his disciples. The disciples were seeing everything he said and did as well as having their own private explanation.

Nothing is more obvious, yet more neglected, than this principle. Jesus’ method of training was simply being with them. It was because they had continued with him in his temptation that they were appointed to be leaders in his eternal kingdom. Jesus spent time with Zacchaeus after his conversion. He spent several days in Sychar after the conversion of the woman at the well. Often when someone received help from the Master, they were expected to join in with the procession of His followers.

I want to be sure to thank our sponsor, www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Be sure to visit this superb website. I also look forward to your feedback at: bob@thegreatcommissionchurch.org . Your feedback will help me build a better site!

Thanks for visiting. See you tomorrow.

Pastor Bob Emery