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The title to this note is suggested by John 15:16, where Jesus assured the disciples that He had chosen and appointed them to bear fruit, and that the fruit borne would remain.

These words touch my heart. These words not only speak to what God is looking for by way of outcome, but also that He has specifically chosen me to be part of the fruit-bearing process, and that somehow the fruit will remain in spite of how unqualified I feel at times—frankly, on some days any fruit seems like a major achievement:)

Of course I need to make fruit-bearing the GREAT purpose of my life. I obviously have many things to do in life, but none of those other things should take the place of fruit-bearing.

What is the fruit? There is some confusion here, the suggestion sometimes being made that the fruit is the person that we have touched here and there, being the fruit. I don’t think that has that much warrant in Scripture. Rather, it points to the fruit of the Spirit—”love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against which there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22,23)

Somehow the fragrance of those otherworldly fruits attract other longing hearts to consider making Jesus part of their own experience.

I am especially pleased that directly after speaking of choosing and ordaining us to bear enduring fruit, Jesus added, “that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

Not only are we called to bear fruit, but we are also given the key to bearing the intended fruit: asking the Father in JESUS’ name for whatever is needed.

As I have been preparing for upcoming trips to Canada and the South Pacific, I’ve been reading much on the Holy Spirit. Oh what blessings have come my way. I’ve been losing sleep, but am more than happy to have lost sleep doing the readings.

Here is some of this morning’s portion…

“In these words (ordained to bear fruit) we have surely an indication of the deep, vital connection between true prayer and true fruit-bearing; such that the two things are as it were convertible terms. It is as if He said, “I have ordained you to produce real and lasting spiritual effects for Me; in other words, I have ordained you to be, in Me, prevailing petitioners with My Father that you may be bearers of such fruit.” The “things asked of the Father in Christ’s name” are that the disciple may be a vessel meet for the Master’s use, a branch pregnant with holy fruit; and there is therefore a deep and living correspondence between the bearing and the asking. Now here again is the operation of the Spirit, “the Spirit of grace and of supplications” (Zech. xii. 10). The prayer here meant is no mere devout performance of duty, the due utterance of an expression of reverence and dependence; it is “prayer in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20), who “maketh intercession for us … according to (the will) of God’ (Rom. viii. 26,27). It is the prayer of a heart filled with Him, and therefore filled with the humble but intense desire that His will may be done, and in particular that His implement may be used for His glory. Results of life, word, and work in answer to such prayer are “fruit that remaineth.” And indeed it is “fruit of the Spirit.”—H. C. G. Moule, Veni Creator

Be blessed bearing fruit!

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Several years ago, while traveling to New Zealand, my seat mate spent considerable time reminding me of all the bad things that have occurred in the name of religion. It was hard to sit there and say nothing, but I did for the most part. How does one answer such charges? I believe these thoughts taken from a sermon given in the 1800s by Frank Gunsaulus are a good beginning. Read the entire sermon at path2prayer.com

Bible versus Secularism

If ever anti-Christianity had a chance to show its beauty, it was when it was at its supreme strength, and when Christianity was a babe in the manger; and these are only suggestions of the hell it dug for man at Rome. You say that it was not what skepticism is at the present day, and I acknowledge that it is so. Why? Because nineteen centuries have rolled like waves of light between, and Christ has improved it in spite of itself. Never had the world so good a chance to see what almost absolute skepticism and unbelief could and would do for the liberty of the human soul as then. But when the thrones of Rome were occupied with men who held the same opinion of the Bible as he does to-day, what was the freedom of the race….

Shall we go forward with our Bible or backward without it? Infidelity has always forgotten that, so far as it has an eye for liberty and humanity, the Christianity not of sects but of the Bible has furnished it and trained it. The liberalism which puts its Bible aside will acknowledge that a Christless humanity culminated in Rome. Skepticism is often eloquent when it tries to show how much ‘’fragments of Roman art” had to do with the making of modern civilization. Now, as Rome marks the height to which humanity without a Bible ascended, it would seem that this would be just the point where free and untrammeled thought and the fullest intellectual liberty would be found. Right there, where a Christless race was supreme, ought to be the place where the liberty abounded which the religion of Christ is said to destroy.

Whose program for the production of intellectual and spiritual liberty can liberals accept? Hoarse is the cry: The Bible is to be cast out. We look and behold men who have these opinions sitting on the throne of the Caesars. Now, one would suppose the intellect of that whole realm would have fair play. There was no Bible there to fetter or to annoy. This ought to be the halcyon age for “the liberty of man, woman and child.” …

But what is the fact? Strangely enough, in that age, when nearly every monarch, or poet, or philosopher was a humorous skeptic and they had no Christian religion to “bind their hands,” in an age when nothing but this sort of infidelity was supreme, Seneca, to whom connoisseurs in ethics blandly turn when they grow weary of the strenuous Paul or the pensive John, Seneca, while he wrote a book on poverty, has a fortune of $15,000,000, with a house full of citrus tables made of veined wood brought from Mount Atlas. While he framed moral precepts which we are besought to substitute for the Sermon on the Mount, he was openly accused of constant and shameless iniquity, and was leading his distinguished and tender pupil, Nero, into those practices and preparing him for those atrocities which Seneca himself had upon his own soul while he wrote his book on clemency. At that hour the Bible Christianity offered to the world’s heart and aspiration, not a book, not a theorist of morals, but a man for the leadership of humanity, and, of that Man the literary and calm French skeptic says: “Jesus will never be surpassed.” In the age of Rome, when people were not burdened by churches or Bibles, Lucian says: “ If any one loves wealth and is dazed by gold; if any one measures happiness by purple and power; if any one brought up among flatterers and slaves has never had a conception of liberty, frankness and truth; if any one has wholly surrendered himself to pleasure, full tables, carousals, lewdness, sorcery, and deceit, let him go to Rome.” There was no Bible either to preach against it or to interfere with it. These things were the product then, as they are now, of infidelity. Whenever the world wishes a civilization so barbarous as that, the reviler of the Bible must create it, for they have the applause of evil and the goodwill of crime. In the age of Rome, when this skepticism was the creed of the State, Nero got tired of the goddess Astarte, and murdered his own brother, his wife, and his mother, and the senate was so affected with the same opinion that they heard his justification and proceeded to heap new honors upon him. He threw the preacher Paul into jail, but there Paul wrought out the impulse of Europe. In the age when the great Livy said that “neglect of gods” had come, Caligula let loose his imperial frenzy, and every stream of blood that could be sent toward the sea carried its red tide. In that age when, like later eloquent critics, Ennius said that he did not believe that the gods thought of human beings, “for if the gods concerned themselves about the human race the good would prosper and the bad suffer,” the courtesan was kept for pleasure and the wife for domestic slavery. In that happy age of unbelief, when Menander sung “the gods do not care for men,” “the homes were,” according to Juvenal, “broken up before the nuptial garland faded”; and according to Tertullian, “they married only to be divorced.” Friends exchanged wives; infanticide and other hellish crimes were common. This is what that spirit, in its purity, did for the home, when there was no Bible to read at its hearthstone and no New Testament to put into the hands of young lovers departing to make a new rooftree.

Labor will some day be too liberal to give up its Bible. In that age, when “God was dead”; in that age, when “the gods had abdicated”; they said, “the mechanic’s occupation is degrading. A workshop is incompatible with anything noble.” The curse of slavery had blotted the name of labor, and they agreed that “a purchased laborer is better than a hired one,” and thousands of prison-like dwellings rose to conceal the myriads of slaves. In that age Nero, who had the same opinion about God which the vaunting spirit which calls itself liberal has to-day, had a “golden house” as large as a city, with colonnades a mile long, and within it a statue of Nero 120 feet high. That is what the theory of infidelity did for labor and the working man when it was on the throne. Do you wonder that from that day to this the “carpenter’s son” of the Bible has been scoffed at by this infidelity?

In that age, when the theories of infidelity ruled, the gladiators made wet with their blood the great enclosure of the arena. The women and timid girls of Rome gave lightly the sign of death. The crowd shook the building with applause as the palpitating body was dragged by a hook into the death chamber, and slaves turned up the bloody soil and covered the blood-dabbled earth with sand that the awful amusement might go on. All this was allowed by infidelity in its purity, before it had been influenced by the Christian’s Bible into believing that such things are atrocious.

Oh, when I hear infidelity prate of the horrors of slavery and defend a Godless theory of the State, I remember that those who had it in its purity did not regard the slave as a man. When I read the story of slavery and hear an exponent of free thought say, “The doctrine that woman is a slave or serf of man-whether it comes from hell or heaven, from God or demon, from the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, or the very Sodom of perdition-is savagery pure and simple,” I say, “That is so, but just that was the ruling idea when infidelity was on the throne of Rome.” And only where the Bible has gone and triumphed has woman the privileges which are thus praised.

Read the rest of Gunsaulus’ sermon comparing the claims of Scripture with the claims of liberalism at path2prayer.com

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I have received communication from at least two individuals who sincerely wondered whether Oprah’s latest web seminar was Christian or not. It isn’t!!!!!!! It is New AGE to the core and reminds me of the things Irenaeus dealt with at time of the early church.

Though the Bible is occasionally referenced, Oprah’s New Earth is all about putting man at the center of the universe and self help. You may think you are getting help by what is shared, but true victory always comes from Jesus.

The following web link has an excellent study on the subject!

http://www.probe.org/cults-and-world-religions/oprahs-spirituality-exploring-a-new-earth.html

Learn more about following Jesus at path2prayer.com.

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Hudson Taylor 2
Surrender Brings the Call

Abstract: Hudson Taylor’s China venture began at the age of 17 when he offered to do anything God desired if God would only take his heart of stone and replace it with a sanctified heart of flesh.

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’ And He said, ‘Go, and tell this people….’” Isaiah 6:8

“And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” Acts 5:32

I’ve heard from a number of you who took heart when you heard about the difficult situation Hudson Taylor faced when he first arrived in China at the age of 22, including a revolution where 15,000 rebels were defending the city of Shanghai against a 50,000 member contingent of the Imperial Army, food was selling at famine prices, the dollar was soaring, he couldn’t find lodging, nor could he afford it since his sending organization had not yet sent an all important letter of credit.

To make matters worse, when the letter finally came, he found his annual income was limited to 80, even though renting lodging in the foreign settlement was 120. Adding further difficulty and embarrassment was the sending organization’s decision to not honor bills exceeding 40 per quarter.

Taylor responded by writing and seeking more realistic support, but responses arrived with hardly any acknowledgment of his struggles, and one even spoke of additional missionaries coming to join him.

Not wanting to remain dependent on friends, he moved to a ramshackle place near the Chinese part of the city, outside the protection of the foreign settlement, where the bullets not only sounded in the distance, but struck his home at times—even cannon-balls.

Needless to say it wasn’t the kind of mission service he had dreamed of back in England, yet he continued determinedly learning the language and sharing his faith as possible. Why was he so committed? Where was his confidence coming from?

It came from a sense of his call to China and the preparatory work undertaken in England. One afternoon when he was 17 he wrote his beloved sister Amelia, requesting her to pray for him as he asked God to remove his heart of stone and give him a sanctified heart of flesh. He wanted to obtain “perfect holiness.”

That very day God responded, as he shared after the fact: “If God would only save me completely, then I would do ANYTHING in His cause He might direct. Never shall I forget the feeling that came over me then. Words can never describe it. I felt I was in the presence of God, entering into covenant with the Almighty. I felt as though I wished to withdraw my promise but could not. Something seemed to say ‘Your prayer is answered, your conditions are accepted,’ and from that time the conviction never left me that I was called to China.”

God’s answer had come so quickly that Taylor was able to add a post script to the aforementioned letter to Amelia: “He has revealed Himself to me in an overflowing manner…. Glory, glory, glory, to His ever-blessed Name! I cannot write for joy. I open my letter to tell you.”

He immediately began preparing to serve God in China.

What was the secret of His confidence? He was willing to do ANYTHING in God’s cause that God might direct.

I wonder, are we as willing to do ANYTHING in God’s cause that He might direct our way?

I suspect this kind of surrender is also key in God using us as His witnesses on a day to day basis.

These words came home to me this morning in a special way:

“It is only through the surrendered life that God can work. God cannot use you in any special way if you are holding back part of your life from Him. If there is one little chamber of which you hold the key, and into which God has not fully entered, he cannot greatly use you. Your intellectuality may be great, your genius may be superb, your social standing may be beyond question. But God does not use people for these reasons. God uses them when he has all there is of them, and ONLY then.” Chapman, Power

I want to be a much-used vessel for God. I think you do too. Basic to His using us is our making a voluntary, unselfish and unequivocal surrender of all we are and all we have, to His service—which for many people has begun as a “willingness to become willing!”

Surrender is OUR part. If we do our part, God will be able to do His part. Won’t you join me in making sure God has ALL of us?

Happy witnessing!

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Abstract: Hudson Taylor, one of the greatly blessed instruments of God in bringing the gospel to inland China, succeeded in spite of facing impossible circumstances at the outset. Upon arriving in Shanghai he discovered that rebels were in control of the city and were fighting a 50,000 man Imperial Army, food was selling at high famine prices, the dollar was soaring and out of control, he had no money and lodging couldn’t be found either. Yet he succeeded as he looked to God as the Great Circumstance in his life!

I want to share a quote from Hudson Taylor who was the instrument God used so marvelously to bring the gospel to China in the middle 1800s.

He set sail for China on the Dumfries on September 19, 1853, and voyaged for the next five and half months as the sole passenger. He arrived at Woosung on March 1, 1854, which was a short distance from Shanghai.

Conditions were far from ideal, for his home country was on the brink of the Crimean war, Shanghai was in the hands of rebels, the city was invested with an imperial army of 50,000 soldiers, food was at famine prices, the cost of the dollar had risen from four to seven shillings, and was soaring.

He was twenty-two and his courage was strong, and in his pocket were letters of introduction to three individuals. Seeking these people, he discovered the first was dead, the second had left, but the third was still there. In spite of sincere desires otherwise, as a result of the fighting in the area there were no lodging places available in the foreign compound and fighting was taking place on the outside.

Sadly he also lacked funds to get such lodging, for he had come with few funds, and was looking for a letter of credit that was to come from his sending organization. But there was no such letter for months, and he became dependent on the kindness of some missionaries who took him in as a paying guest.

As a result of the conflict going on, all he could do was pray and learn the Chinese language—a feat which he assured missionaries joining him later could be accomplished in six months!

He was not daunted by these circumstances, for he looked to God whom he had already learned was THE GREAT CIRCUMSTANCE in life.

Speaking of this he said the following:

“The believer does not need to wait until he sees the reason of God’s afflictive dealings with him ere he is satisfied; he knows that all things work together for good to them that love God; that all God’s dealings are those of a loving Father, who only permits that which for the time being is grievous in order to accomplish results that cannot be achieved in any less painful way. The wise and trustful child of God rejoices in tribulation… Our Heavenly Father delights to trust a trustworthy child with a trial in which he can bring glory to God, and through which he will receive permanent enlargement of heart and blessing for himself and others.”

I will share more from Taylor’s life in the days to come, but for now be encouraged knowing that the same God who was the great circumstance in Hudson Taylors’ life is still ruling the affairs of this world for the good and advancement of His kingdom and the good of His children, and is working ALL THINGS WELL for them!

Happy witnessing!

Dan

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While in college I helped produce a multimedia production in which we asked people what they were waiting for-as I use the term “multimedia” I have to smile because at that time it meant stringing some Kodak projectors together with sound. Our presentation took all of eight minutes as I recall, and consisted of a excerpts of interviews held with people of all ages.

The young kids were waiting to go to school. The Elementary age children were waiting to get into the higher grades, or into High School. The High Schoolers were waiting to get their drivers licenses and going to college so they could have more freedom. The students in college were waiting till they graduated so they could get married and have more time to do what they wanted-so that life could really start for them. The newly married were busily working on buying a house and starting a family. The middle aged people were looking forward to getting further ahead in their job, having grandkids, or having their children move out on their own so that peace and quiet could return to their lives. Those towards the end of their careers were looking forward to enjoying their retirement. Those in retirement were not so sure. And the ones we interviewed in nursing homes had run out of things to look forward, perhaps a visit from their families, and one couldn’t help but wonder if they had achieved all the things they had been hoping for.

All of the interviewees had a future focus to their lives. Granted we asked the question in that way, but few, if any, responded, “O I am loving what I am doing now.”

In my interaction with young adults and friends I often find a “waiting” attitude: waiting for that guy or gal of their dream, waiting for graduation and getting out on the job, etc.. But life is meant to be lived EVERY day!

I find a similar “waiting” attitude when it comes to witnessing, and believe this waiting attitude is part of the challenge we face in being witnesses for Jesus.

For too long we have been taught that witnessing is something you do with the church on the weekend, or something you do with people who are especially qualified, or is done by people who have lots of time on their hands-like retired people.

Now I don’t minimize what retired people do, nor do I minimize the activities that go on with churches like Keith has mentioned in the one post (facebook group) on Shine in Edmonton (I think the idea is wonderful), but I question whether God really wants us to always be waiting for the weekend or more convenient moments to witness.

Accordingly, I would like to advance a “witnessing lifestyle.”

What do I mean?

A witnessing lifestyle is one where we have…

1. Sought to be the vessel that God can use for His kingdom.

2. Believed that God can use us regardless of how qualified we may feel ourselves to be (II Cor. 4:7).

3. Taken the time to prayerfully consider God’s commission to go into all the world, starting in Jerusalem and going out from there, so to speak, and accepted the commission to be His agents EVERY day (Matt. 28:19; Acts 1:8).

4. Taken the time to think through how we are going to reach people, and draw them into a relationship with ourselves and with other believers (John 1:41,42).

5. Taken the time prepare materials that we can carry and share with people EVERY day, even if it means only having one resource available to share with a classmate, work colleague, or attendant at the gas station.

6. Taken the time to pray at the beginning of the day asking God to lead us to people that He is trying to reach, and seeking His eyes to see the fields that are white for harvest.

7. Taken the time to quietly pray for each person we meet during the day, asking God to open the way for a conversation about God.

8. Made ourselves available for God to work in and through us throughout the day.

9. Invited people to learn about Jesus and give their lives to Him, in appropriate ways, as we meet them throughout the day (John 4:29).

10. Invested time in learning about witnessing in our Bible study, by reading books of others who have been used by God, taking classes on the subject, and being part of a group where we can be challenged, pray together, and encourage one another.

11. Carved out time every week to spend some time witnessing.

12. Intentionally sought out experiences where we can be challenged (witnessing on the streets with our friends, for example).

13. Carved out territory that we will pray for and do our best to reach (be it our workplace, our neighborhood, or a section of the town we live in).

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but certainly includes some of the elements that would be present to have a “witnessing lifestyle.”

So if nothing else, ask God to give you a heart to reach out to those who don’t know him today, pray and ask Him for those divinely ordained encounters, believe that what happens today is in His control, take a piece of literature with you that you can leave with someone else, and pray for each person you interact with, and ask God to at least give you one good conversation for Him TODAY.

I will write more on these elements in the future, but this is a good beginning.

Perhaps you can think of some other elements. I will start a post on the witnessing lifestyle so you can add more there. (for those that are reading this elsewhere than facebook, join us on facebook in the group Christian Witnessing Works. Write me for an invite at path2prayer@yahoo.com).

Have a blessed day witnessing!

Dan

For those that might be reading this elsewhere, join us in the group Christian Witnessing Works on facebook. Write me for an invite or further help if necessary at path2prayer@yahoo.com. This will also be posted in the witnessing section at my web site path2prayer.com.

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Abstract: We often assume that people share our confidence in the Scriptures and are open to our “proof” oriented methods of witnessing. The reality is quite different. The following essay discusses how Gnosticism entered into the church in the first couple of centuries and still impacts the world we find ourselves in, and suggests ways we might witness to individuals who no longer find authority in the Scriptures.

Living in a “Sola Scriptura” Bubble!

We Christians live in a “sola scriptura” bubble!

Wiki defines “sola scriptura” as “the assertion that the Bible as God’s written word is self-authenticating, clear (perspicuous) to the rational reader, its own interpreter (“Scripture interprets Scripture”), and sufficient of itself to be the final authority of Christian doctrine”*

Now let me explain before you get upset with me.

We would like to believe that proving our beliefs from the Bible will bring witnessing success-of course with some finessing in reaching out and connecting to the people we are witnessing to, etc.. The truth is, many seekers no longer look for truth in the Bible in their quest for God. In fact, many don’t believe there is such a thing as objective truth. They are seeking God, but because they believe that God is transcendent-is beyond the grasp of the human mind-and ineffable-beyond being described in human language-they look for Him in ways that you and I would not be comfortable with, and are accordingly anything but convinced by our Bible “proof.” It doesn’t mean they won’t listen, but it won’t initially be on the basis of the Scriptures we hold so dear. Unfortunately we often forget this and assume that all, if not most, of the people we witness to will listen to our proofs from the Bible. Hence the “Sola Scriptura” bubble idea.

Paul came up against this very thing when he was witnessing to the people in Athens. He spoke to them of the “unknown” god they were worshipping (Acts 17:23). This “unknown” god was not only the result of their ignorance of the true god, but also the result of the transcendent ineffable underpinnings of their belief system-God couldn’t be understood, and if He were understood, human language would be inadequate to describe Him, which effectively negated anything Paul might have said-I think I hear the hiss of a serpent here.

I wish I could say this “unable to know” problem was confined to people OUTSIDE of Christendom, but it entered the church in the early centuries after Christ, when Gnosticism first appeared, took root and remained under various guises, and still continues to challenge us in our day, only in a postmodern, post-Christian way.

Gnosticism, as one person put it, is not based on factual, intellectual, or rational knowledge that one would find in the sciences, rather it is based on an experientially-based pursuit and knowledge of god, and proponents of the religion believed they had a secret knowledge of god, human beings and the universe that other people did not have.

Though the idea came out of what some term classical mysticism, it entered the church, or at least was seriously introduced, in the apologist era when Christians were being persecuted by the pagan Romans, and Christian “apologists” were attempting to bring respectability to the Christian faith and end the persecuting that was going on, by using Greek philosophical concepts that explained Christianity in more pagan-friendly terms. Eventually Christianity became respected, but that respectability came at a price: a more pagan version of Christianity.

Gnostics believed themselves to possess a special, higher spiritual knowledge and wisdom than was possessed and taught by the bishops and other church leaders of the second century. They believed God was wholly transcendent and spiritual and far removed from the fallen, material universe which He did not create (they actually thought the physical universe was created by an evil, demented lesser God). They also believed that matter, including the body, was an inherently limiting prison or evil drag on the good soul or spirit of the human person and that the spirit was essentially divine-a ‘spark of God’ dwelling in the tomb of the body.” Salvation meant achieving a special kind of knowledge not generally known or even available to ordinary Christians, including an awareness of the true heavenly origin of the spirit within, and the idea of an essential divine nature as an offshoot of God’s own being. They looked to Christ as an immaterial, spiritual messenger sent down from the unknown and unknowable God to rescue and bring home the stray sparks of his own being that had been trapped in material bodies. Finally, salvation came through self-knowledge (Roger Olson, Story of Christian Theology). Needless to say these constructs were far removed from those espoused by the church back then, and were accordingly resisted.

The early church, in the person of Irenaeus, mounted a three-fold attack on Gnosticism, by showing that it was absurd and full of contradictions, that it had no basis from Christ and the apostles, and that Gnostic understandings of Scripture were neither plausible nor possible, and eventually succeeded, though Gnostic ideas remained.

But Gnosticism is returning in our day, but often in a post-Christian context that is exceedingly challenging to overcome, similar to what Paul encountered in Athens.

Remember, Gnosticism is based on many ideas, including God’s transcendence-the idea that God is beyond our understanding and can only be understood on the basis of an internal self-authenticating experience.

Irenaeus overcame Gnosticism by showing the absurdity of the idea, the utter lack of connection with Christ and Scripture, and the lack of plausibility. He even went so far as to mockingly suggest his own Gnostic-like description of the cosmos, based on a being that was called a gourd, which was associated with a melon, and eventually had a cucumber at work as well. He partially succeeded because people still looked to Scripture as the ultimate authority.

Paul failed with the Athenians, and came away convicted that only his personal testimony of the power of Christ and the cross in his own life would work.

I believe Paul’s method is still the preferred way to begin witnessing to many people in our day. We not only live in a postmodern world, we live in what is increasingly also becoming a post-Christian world. But post-Christian IS NOT post-spiritual; in fact people are VERY spiritual in our day-there is a great and growing hunger for a spiritually-fulfilling experience. And, as many are looking to a personally authenticated experience to find a higher being, sharing our own experience with God, in loving and authentic ways, will be a witness they can understand, and which they can neither gainsay nor refuse.

Now, returning to the “sola scriptura bubble” idea, we assume that everyone looks to Scripture the way we do. Unfortunately that isn’t true. Yes, there are some, in fact many people, who still do, but there is a growing majority who have written off the authority of the Scriptures.

Is there a place for Scripture? Absolutely. There are still many people who look to Scripture and are willing to dialog on the basis of Scripture. Traditional methods can still work for these people. But these methods won’t work for everyone.

However, regardless of how our witnessing begins, in due course ALL witnessing must return to the Scriptures, for it is in the Scriptures that we are personally informed, personally maintained, personally instructed, and personally empowered to live for Jesus, to witness, and to succeed in our ongoing relationship with Jesus-it is THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK IN ALL THE WORLD. Eventually we must bring the Scriptures to the forefront if our witness to postmoderns is to endure.

Let’s be careful, then, in not assuming that everyone accepts the Scriptures as their basis of authority when we reach out to them. Your testimony of how God has delivered you from depression, your testimony of how He brought you happiness, your testimony of how God has personally intervened in your life, your testimony of how He has answered your prayers, will be the most powerful, irrefutable testimony you can share. Later you can perhaps follow Irenaeus’ example in dismantling the tenets of Gnosticism, but do so gently, remembering they are as suspicious and incredulous of our beliefs as we are of theirs.

Find more essays on witnessing at path2prayer.com in the Christian Witnessing Works section.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sola_scriptura

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Abstract: Many of the new ideas espoused by society are based on untested suppositions, and it easily falls prey to the next faddish thing—often promoted AND accepted for self-serving reasons, only to discover, sometimes years later, that the latest fad was ONLY A FAD.

Our “Not So Brave” New World

I will be going on a mission trip to Cambodia in February to speak at their camp meeting. In preparation, I have been getting all the vaccinations required to hopefully inoculate me against catching diseases while traveling.

I wish there were a vaccine we could take AND share with others, against the many, often crazy, sometimes truly bizarre, ideas that abound about life and the future. Sadly, many of the new ideas espoused by the world are based on untested suppositions, and society easily falls prey to these faddish ideas—often promoted AND accepted for self-serving reasons, only to later discover that the latest fad was ONLY A FAD.

These varying world views, at least so far as the west is concerned, originated with the pagan and Hellenistically-influenced, pre-modern, obsession with appeasing the various gods which were disinterested in human beings; eventually transitioned to the modern rationalistic era when science was king and everyone looked for a rosy future; then on to the postmodern era when disappointed expectations brought a return to experience-based, self-centered, understandings that seemed devoid of former moorings, including an emerging deconstructionist phase when all past norms are being deconstructed in favor of new, highly individualistic, self-serving, norms—though it is hard to use the word “norm” in postmodern thinking. Please note there is a somewhat similar, but not identical, progression when it comes to spirituality.

All of this is symptomatic of humankind’s ongoing profound loss of hope, and the attendant vulnerability to the next “answer” promulgated by particularly skilled, well networked, communicators who strongly suggest their way is finally THE WAY.

It’s hard to give credence to some of these ideas, and we might laugh if so many thinking people did not buy into them. But since the suppositions can’t be tested, come with promises that strongly cater to human desires, are strongly defended, and must await the test of time, the ideas are being accepted.

Of course their acceptance requires what seems to me a mind boggling leap of faith—though one wonders if there is perhaps a tacit realization that they are empty promises, but MORE SATISFYING and self-serving in the short-term empty promises, and thus to be accepted to obtain the short-term objective regardless of what may seem absurd to some of us.

In dialoging with adherents, it accordingly often comes down to our opinion against their opinion on what is real for the time being—tough to predict what only time will reveal—and what is worthy of our hope, and we aren’t making much progress.

Now, I’m not gratuitously railing against what some modern thought leaders are propounding, only suggesting that our witnessing will undoubtedly have to take these new ways of thinking into account.

Neither am I questioning the sincerity of the adherents who have bought into the ideas in their own quest for something better—after all, we have all had our “moments” when thoughtful deliberation might have spared us pain and embarrassment.

How do we dialog with people who buy into these ideas?

For starters, respectful questions, asked in the context of caring relationships, might prove helpful. For example “What is truth?” “How does one discover truth?” “How does one evaluate truth?” Being more personal, “How did you come to believe this?” “Why did you come to believe this?” “How can your ideas be tested?” “If your ideas were not true, would you want to know?” Or “Do you know anything about the prior history of these ideas and the people promoting them?” These kind of questions could pave the way for meaningful interactions?

We live in a “not so brave” new—or was that old—and rapidly deteriorating world, and the answers being given are finding acceptance in the absence of BETTER answers, the truth of which will be proven in human experience—your experience and mine.

So what are we to do?

Believe and live out our faith in respectful, consistent and confident ways.

Learn enough about what is being embraced in the culture around us to enter into their conversations—what may seem absurd to our unexposed way of thinking, with knowledge, may seem less absurd, and will enable respectful interactions.

Learn how to respond. And then pray for God’s divine appointments to share our reasons for being hopeful.

Unfortunately, there is no easy vaccination to be found, but we have the opportunity to be God’s vaccinating agents, treasures in earthen vessels, conveying truth in human flesh—through Christ’s indwelling—much like Jesus did when He came to earth. I hope we will accept the challenge of our day.

We will consider living out our faith in this “not so brave” new world in the next couple of essays.

Happy witnessing!
Dan
12/23/2007

Thank you for remembering that the essays are not to be used commercially, asking permission for more than personal use. Join in the discussion at Christian Witnessing Works on facebook and find all the essays in the Christian Witnessing Works section of path2prayer.com

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This witnessing testimony was shared in a discussion post in the Christian Witnessing Works group on facebook, which you are invited to join! It demonstrates how God can turn the most adverse circumstances into witnessing opportunities. The post came in response to a reply that God cannot used depressed ambassadors. She responded and subsequently gave me permission to post here.

I don’t agree with you about God can that cannot use a depressed ambassador .. think we must be careful .. there is a huge difference between being depressed because of attitude and because of chemicals .. and also God can use anything or any one no matter what, He is all powerful!

“Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 1 Peter3: 7-8

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘ The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.This was the LORD’s doing,And it is marvelous in our eyes’? Matthew 21:42

[ The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People ] Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 1 Peter 2:4

There is also a verse that state that even the stones will cry out.. can not find it right now

The point is, it matters not in what state we are (because we all are sinners), God can use us ~ we need to be willing though.

I was depressed chemically (still am, but thank you to medication I believe God provided and I’m doing well) and even in the worse levels of the chemical depression, God worked miracles to reach people through me. Because God knew my heart and understood what was going on in my body. But if I not been sick, I would have never have been in the clinic where I was, would never have met a young lady, only 15 (I was then 23) who refused to talk to anybody and kept on trying to end her life.

We had the same surname, but were not related at all. For some reason I was drawn to her and everyday would just go and sit by her and tell her” I wish I had a sister .. she could be my sister if she wanted to be even if she never talked….” After a few weeks she nodded her head and so we became none-speaking sisters. I would sit by her and show her pictures I had drawn or poems I’d written. Two months later she spoke all of a sudden and said I am going to tell you something you will never believe but that is okay I am going to tell you…. In short, she shared with me how she watched her dad drown when she was about 5 (she told me I would understand that as I had shared with her that I witnessed a murder at the age of 4/5) … Her mom re-married and her step dad had raped her on a daily basis (she also thought I would understand because I shared with her that at age 8 I was gang-raped)

But then she said .. the next part you will not believe and cannot relate too…. She told me how she walked in a park, how a beautiful man knew her name and talked with her and invited her to join his club .. She did .. and then discovered that he was Satan and she worshiped him .. did horrible things in the process .. At age 14 she wanted out .. he said it was fine, but they needed to punish her first … She told me what it was .. and it is too horrible to share here… but she then was free to go .. she thought God would never ever accept her back and she was finished with life …

I just cried and hugged her and then I heard myself speak, but like it was not me .. if He can love me who is this nuts then so much more can and does He love you! … it led up to her giving me permission to talk to her doctor and share with him what she shared with me .. She refused to talk to the doctors directly, but always through me ..

Six months from the day I was admitted I walked out, without any form of medication .. The doctors words were .. Willa this is a miracle as I was classified Article 60 (in SA it means that only a judge of the court and appointed doctor can release you). And they did.

I faced many traumatic experiences even after this … In 2003 I was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder syndrome and the funny stuff that goes along with it … when I was the most sick, I even stated that there was no God!!! … But after a long and difficult road surrounded by positive friends and a great medical team and the grace of God, I am well. Yip, need to drink one tiny little tablet a day .. but doing well. And in spite of this God uses me to reach out to people …

I agree with you and Dan that thanksgiving and attitude! It is very important, even for the chemical depressed person!

However, be careful not to create a message that God cannot use depressed ambassadors or sinners or what ever!

First, with a message like that we limit God - He is all powerful! He will even use stones if He needs too!

Secondly people who are sick and feeling bad already feel depressed and like they cannot be of any worth. By saying God cannot use them, you are confirming their unfounded belief and therefore dooming them to nothing!

I hope that I did not create a message that depression (chemical or emotional) can be use as an excuse for bad behavior or choices as it is not!

Just as God is willing to use us the way we are as long as we are willing, He has also provided wisdom to deal with all matters wisely

We also need to be careful for emotional uplifts .. very dangerous ..

Would rather say we need to have a inner peace … no matter what the circumstances …. Knowing that God is in control we can thank Him for all things!

I am thankful for the trials and traumas of my life, as it is these things that made me weak, but by God’s grace, a strong tool in Him

Happy Witnessing, Willa

You can find links to my essays on witnessing at the Christian Witnessing Works page on this path2prayer.com web site.

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Abstract: The vast majority of the people who have not accepted Christ either don’t know about the Bible, are prejudiced against the Bible, or resist having the Bible quoted to them. Witnessing to them necessitates seeking common ground and using something other than the Bible at the outset, and it is no denial of our faith to turn to other resources.

When seeking out the people of His day, Jesus skillfully and sensitively reached out to his hearers on the basis of their world view and their current relationship to God. His witnessing conversations often included asking for practical help, sharing life-changing truth in non-threatening ways, affirming them as we have mentioned before, and communicating in terms of the common every day things of life until they were prepared to hear more substantial spiritual truths.

To the women at the well, an implied social acceptance conveyed in a “give me a drink,” eventually became an invitation to seek God’s acceptance in the water that would well up to eternal life (John 4:14). The details of her life were messy and most people had written her off, but Jesus acceptance in spite of what He knew about her changed her life.

To the fishermen disciples, a further call to become fishers of men began, at least for Peter, with an implied “I need you” in the practical request to use his boat to preach from, to the conveyed, “I know what I’m doing” in commanding further fishing in the middle of the day when one didn’t customarily find fish, was followed by practical “seeing is believing” outcomes when the nets were filled with fish, and thus opening the way for a marveling Peter to worship at Jesus’ feet and the latter’s: “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” (Luke 5:10) By showing His ability in the common every day things of life, Peter was inspired to trust God to do spiritual miracles.

To Zacchaeus, who was little of stature in every way except in his ability to oppress the people and therefore did not seem to be a likely candidate for the kingdom, Jesus’ “make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house,” brought a joyful response and complete change of life (Luke 19:4-6). Zacchaeus was one of those “white for harvest” people waiting to be plucked by a skillful harvester.

Those kind of people are all around us. Sadly in many cases our good intentions AND the tools we use to reach them, often get in the way of their hearing our message.

You and I might we have seized the opportunity to offer at least a bit of a sermon or spiritual admonition at the outset in these situations—they had serious issues to overcome, or to package the plea in a pleasing presentation, but in all cases, the first appeal was a sensitive plea in the common every day things of the particular individual’s situation that conveyed disarming acceptance in non-threatening ways.

Recently books and discussions have been suggested which at least in the minds of those posting might be witnessing opportunities or resources. I appreciate the postings though group members come from various spiritual persuasions and we need to be sensitive to them, and I request that suggestions of books be conveyed in terms of personal testimonials and not slick marketing promotions. But I do want to remind that witnessing efforts need to be custom fit to the people being addressed with much sensitivity to their world view and past experiences. What works for one person won’t work for another, etc..

Which brings me to today’s point, and I am quoting Charles Trumbull again, “The Bible is the soul-winner’s indispensable equipment. But it is not necessarily his tool. Ninety-nine persons in a hundred, of those who have not yet come to Christ, are not deeply interested in the Bible…. If we would use bait that would attract them at the outset, and seek interests that are common to them and ourselves, we must, as a rule, begin with something else than a Bible quotation.” (Taking Men Alive)

He is specifically speaking here of situations where there is neither interest in, nor acceptance of, the Bible. It is NOT a denial of our faith to avoid antagonizing our hearers unnecessarily at the outset with a presentation of truth from the Book he or she may know nothing about, or is deeply prejudiced against. The point is getting into conversation and relationship with them, and we will have to do it on their terms instead of ours, of course without compromising our values.

In seeking common ground we mustn’t forget that our purpose in witnessing is bringing people to Jesus, which is most accomplished, eventually, through their personal reading of His word. The challenge of course is getting them to that point. Will they accept the verse we share because we share it, particularly if they have no prior relationship with us? Doubtfully? Hence the need to work on their ground, with resources they respect, and in Jesus’ affirming way.

Lest I be misunderstood, I am not suggesting there won’t be conversations when the Bible is primary because of the person’s interest in and prior experiences with the Bible. In those cases by all means use the Bible from the outset.

And when it comes to suggesting books, some books work better than others and we need to pray for wisdom and discernment to suggest what will work for them.

Happy witnessing,
Dan 12/21/2007

You can find the rest of these essays on witnessing and join in the discussion at Christian Witnessing Works group on facebook or at path2prayer.com

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