#i love to take 'i am personally responsible for the conduct of every other jew' as 'i can help!' instead of this avalanche

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

by J.R. Miller

Ezra's Journey to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:21-32)

Ezra is an interesting character. He was a priest and scribe who was commissioned to return from Persia to Jerusalem, and so took an active part in the civil and religious affairs of the Jews at Jerusalem. He led a fresh company of exiles back with him. A royal edict had been issued by Artaxerxes, clothing Ezra with authority. He was the bearer of offerings for the temple made by the king and by the Jews. He led a caravan. He was influential in enforcing the Mosaic law among the people, who had become indifferent to many features of it. Before setting out, he gathered his company together and spent three days in making preparation for the journey. The first thing he did was to seek God's guidance. He says, "I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions." We should begin every new journey, every new undertaking, every new piece of work - by asking God to show us the way.

The Bible very significantly begins with the words, "In the beginning God." At the beginning of everything, God should be recognized and honored. No friendship ever reaches its best - unless God is in it and God's blessing is on it. No business ever can have the fullest success - unless the hand of God is in it and God's guidance be sought. The things we cannot ask God's blessing upon - we would better not do. The place into which we cannot ask God to guide us - we never should enter. Ezra asked the Lord to show him a safe journey to Jerusalem. We need always to seek guidance of God, for only He can show us the right way.

Ezra is very frank in giving the reason why he cast himself so completely upon God. He was seeking the honor of God, and wished therefore, as far as possible, to be independent of human help. "For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way." He had told the king that the hand of God would be upon all them that sought Him for good, and he wished to give the king proof of this in his own experience. It was a dangerous journey upon which he and his company were about to set out. No doubt the king, with his kindly interest in the expedition, would have furnished an escort if Ezra had asked for it. But Ezra felt that this would be dishonoring God.

A life of faith - is a life of dependence upon God. Part of our witnessing for God before the world - is showing that our trust is not in human strength - but in God Himself. We say, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want." Do we prove our faith in this confession? When need is upon us, do we show ourselves trustful because the Lord is our Shepherd! We say, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." We sing the words with a measure of triumph in our voices. But do we live as if God were indeed our refuge, as if He were indeed a very present help in all trouble? Many of us are too easily frightened in time of danger or trouble. With such a God as ours - we ought to be ashamed to be afraid of anything. We ought not to turn to the world's help after we have declared so strongly that God is our defense and our refuge. We should show by the way we meet difficulties, dangers, losses, sorrows, that there is a divine reality on which we are leaning.

Ezra was taking up with him a great quantity of silver and gold and the sacred vessels for the house of God. He took special care for the safety of these treasures. He set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests. .. and weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels." First, these were godly men, honest and trustworthy, whom Ezra selected. This was important. Sometimes sufficient care is not taken in choosing those who are to be the custodians of money belonging to others. In this case, the money and the treasures were all carefully weighed and the amount set down. Again, at the end of the journey, the men were required to account for everything they had received. Some people are very careless about money matters. Young people should learn that it is part of their religion - to be strictly honest. If others put money into their hands for any purpose - it should be accounted for to the last cent. In societies of different kinds, there is money to be handled, and certain people have to act as treasurers. Those who accept this position should realize their responsibility. No matter if only a few cents a month are to be handled, there should be the same careful putting down of the amount and the same accuracy in accounting for it at the end as if the sum were thousands of dollars.

The charge of Ezra to these men who were entrusted with the treasures, is worthy of careful study. He said unto them, "You as well as these articles are holy to the LORD. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers. Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests and the Levites and the family heads of Israel." The men themselves were holy; that is, they had been set apart to a holy service. The treasures entrusted to them were holy. The money and the vessels did not belong to any man - but to God. The men were now to carry them safely through all the dangers of the thousand-mile journey. They would be held responsible for their safe-keeping, until they deposited them in the house of God in Jerusalem. Then the treasures would be weighed again, to see that they had been carefully guarded and that nothing, not even a fraction of an ounce, had been lost.

This was a very solemn trust. But every one is continually receiving trusts which he is to guard amid the world's dangers, and deliver at last at God's feet. A Christian convert in a missionary country said of something he was guarding with special care, "It is God's - but I am in charge of it." This is a true statement of our position regarding many of our responsibilities. It is true not only of the religious funds entrusted to our custody - but just as really of money of any society or institution or corporation or business that may be entrusted to us. It is true of anything for which we may be responsible. Our own life is a sacred trust committed to us, for which we must give account.

There are many applications of this principle. Other people are continually putting into our hands the gold and silver of their love, their confidence, their friendship, trusting us with things which we are to guard and keep for them.

Do you ever think, for example, of the responsibility of being a friend ? One confides in you and comes under your influence. How careful must you be lest you harm the life that thus entrusts itself to you. We accept friendships and confidences eagerly, and sometimes perhaps thoughtlessly, not asking ourselves if we can care for them, guard them, keep them. We forget that we must answer to God for every touch and teaching and for every impression we put upon any other life.

Our own good name also is a trust committed to us to be kept unspotted. We must guard it and live so every day that no stain may ever fasten upon it through any act or conduct of ours, or any association with evil. So the good names of others are in our keeping. We must be careful never to tarnish another's name by any careless word we may speak concerning the person.

Ezra testifies to the faithfulness of God in caring for him and his company on the way. "Then we departed. .. and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy." At the beginning of his journey Ezra committed the care of himself and other pilgrims, to the good hand of God. He was glad to say that without any help from the king, without escort of soldiers to guard them, they had come to the end of the long journey, through manifold dangers - yet without harm.

We never know how much good we owe every day and every night to the good hand of God that guards us amid life's dangers. We think we are keeping ourselves by our own tact or shrewdness, or that we owe our safety in our journeys to the perfection of the railways and vessels on which we travel, or to some sort of chance that favors us. We leave God out too often when we are thinking of our safety, our protection, our comfort, the countless favors of our lives. Always the eye of God is upon us and the good hand of God is over us. This is our Father's world, and we have children's care in it.

[asiaberkeley]

Afghan is beautiful

I am a half Afghan woman. An Afghan-European American. An Afghan American.

Admittedly, it took me awhile to offer up this information in the aftermath of 9/11 when Afghanistan became synonymous with terrorism in the eyes of many Americans. Taking pride in my heritage suddenly and painfully became controversial.

People didn’t know about my Afghan-ness though because I had my mother’s surname and not my Pashtun father’s: Hotaki. Also, I didn’t wear any kind of head covering because I was raised Catholic. It was easy to hide and pass for completely White.

My late father, an aspiring doctor and med school student who spoke six languages, left Kabul with his family before the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan as a child. They were the lucky ones. He spent most of his life in Germany where many Afghans have sought refuge. One of my fondest memories is flying kites with him and my Irish-Swedish-French American mother in the Munich Public Gardens as a child. There was no wind that day and we dragged the kites in dizzy circles…laughing together...just as I imagine him now when he was a boy: kite flying in the streets of Kabul.

Since my father died when I was six, I returned to my mother’s hometown of Boston with her in 1996. I was later left to contemplate what it meant to be Afghan in a place with very few Afghans compared to Virginia, California, and New York. In college, as an Asian Studies major at Wellesley College and later at the University of California, Berkeley, I often corrected people who said that Afghanistan is in the Middle East and not in South-Central Asia. I wondered why it seemed that no one had received much education on this country’s history or people outside of reading the popular Khaled Hosseini novel, The Kite Runner, especially since we have been at war—fighting together with the Afghan forces against the Taliban in the longest war in American history.

Many Americans don’t realize that the attackers on 9/11 were not Afghan. The attackers did seek a hiding and meeting place in Afghanistan, however. But those facts shouldn’t matter. Because it doesn’t matter what ethnicity, race, or nationality someone is if they commit a crime and it doesn’t matter where they were hiding. The guilty party does not represent all people of their background or country just like Hitler does not represent all Germans or all of Germany and El Chapo does not represent Mexico or all Mexicans. Similarly, the latest mass shooter in El Paso doesn’t represent all white American men.

After former President Trump pondered out loud the mere possibility of a concocted plan to kill 10 million Afghans and wipe the country off the face of the earth – presumably through the use of nuclear weapons – I have thought more about what it means to be Afghan American today. And it’s not because of those unimaginably cruel musings which add insult to injury in the homes of all Afghans traumatized by decades of war. Indeed, nearly every person who is not a white man has been made to feel worthless, subhuman and criminal under the rhetoric of the former Trump administration...so Afghans are not alone.

But Afghans were alone in the discussion of their genocide in 2019. I have contemplated my identity even more because not one leader or politician in America of any background spoke out formally against those disturbing statements. (And it doesn’t matter if this was an actual plan of his or just an imaginary scenario dangling in the recesses of his mind.) What does the national silence mean?

After 9/11, Afghan American author of West of Kabul, East of New York and Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary, went viral with an email he sent.  In it, he wrote:

“The Taliban and Bin Laden are not Afghanistan. They’re not even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics who captured Afghanistan in 1997 and have been holding the country in bondage ever since. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a master plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think Bin Laden, think Hitler. And when you think “the people of Afghanistan” think “the Jews in the concentration camps.” It’s not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity, they were the first victims of the perpetrators. They would love for someone to eliminate the Taliban and clear out the rats nest of international thugs holed up in their country. I guarantee it…Some say, if that’s the case, why don’t the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban themselves? The answer is, they’re starved, exhausted, damaged, and incapacitated.”

After 2001, my family warned me that just telling people I was Afghan may offend or anger them because they may have lost a loved one on 9/11 or they may have had a son or daughter deployed to Afghanistan. In middle school, a classmate told me I was from the land of the terrorists after I proudly showed her an autographed book I received from an Afghan British writer, Saira Shah, called "The Storyteller's Daughter." My American cousin, a veteran, was later deployed to Afghanistan and brought back a burqa which I showed to my classmates in high school to teach them about the Taliban’s oppression. Contrary to what they may have assumed, what they saw was not traditional Afghan clothing. Traditional Afghan clothing, banned under the Taliban, is colorful, intricate, deeply hued, bright and beautiful. Google it.

A year has passed since Trump discussed wiping Afghanistan off the face of the earth. After it happened, I regularly checked Twitter and the news to see if any of our nation’s leaders denounced those remarks. I called my Governor, Congresspeople, and many others asking if just one would put out a statement to support Afghans and Afghan Americans against talk of our annihilation. The Governor’s office simply said that he did not put out a statement. I still haven’t found any. However, some Americans did speak out on social media. Thank you.

We have studied the long-lasting horrors of the U.S. nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in our classrooms. I thought we concluded as a nation that something like that could never happen again. That not a single person in power thought it worth it to speak out against the possibility of the U.S. committing another nuclear genocide bewilders and frightens me. Is it controversial to say out loud that Afghans civilians do not deserve to die en masse? Are Afghans so vilified in our society that it’s a public risk to defend us?

If you still blame the Afghan people for 9/11 even if only on an subconscious level, think again. Many of the Afghan people are suffering in ways you can only imagine in your worst nightmares. They are not responsible and took no part in this. Like the poor souls who were killed in the Twin Towers, Afghans are survivors and casualties of terrorism as well. Afghan women have lost their entire families. They have been abused and pillaged. Men, women, and children have been bombed and maimed. Their history, including the rich Buddhist Silk Road history of Afghanistan, has been destroyed by the Taliban and others.

Discussing our nation's capability to conduct nuclear genocide of an entire people and country is an affront to all humans.

So I suggest to all of our nation’s leaders who have remained tight-lipped in the face of the unspeakable: Take time to learn something you don’t know about Afghanistan. Perhaps that could start with the story of progressive Afghan Queen and feminist Soraya Tarzi who asked, "Do you think, however, that our nation from the outset only needs men to serve it? Women should also take their part as women did in the early years of our nation..." Or it could be about the life and death of iconic Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir. You could learn about the courageous resistance of Afghan women and girls throughout history or visit that Afghan restaurant you were too timid to enter and try a sweet pumpkin kadoo dish.

As the war in Afghanistan, a war based on lies and deceit, may be coming to another tragic end with even graver implications for the women left behind who have fought so hard for equality,  maybe it’s finally time to read another book that is not the Kite Runner... and most importantly, time to look deep inside of ourselves and question the possible anger, hate and bias that has developed towards the Afghan people after the catastrophic and traumatizing events of September 11, 2001.

*See the Washington Post’s Afghanistan Papers which deemed that the American military did not know what it was doing there and that the war was based on lies and deceit. Government officials misled the American public about the war. The war has cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers with many more wounded as well as 100,000+ Afghan civilians killed or hurt. Many of the American troops have returned with PTSD. 30% of the Afghan casualties were children.

Sources

https://apnews.com/a2a8d7a4f89ec0515379dc4d4a38b56a

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/documents-database/

[steveezekiel]

HIS DISCIPLE

"I have done the Lord's work humbly and with my tears. I have endured the trial that came to me from the plots of the Jews."

Acts 20:19 (NLT)

• Paul relegated self to do God's work. He did the work humbly.

- He did not shrink from telling them the truth.

"I never shrank back from telling you what you need to hear, either publicly or in your homes."

Acts 20:20 (NLT)

- To work for God may entail difficulties; it may be hard, one may face challenges, but one has to endure trials (2 Timothy 2:3).

• Jesus was unequivocal, clear, about what it takes to be His disciple. He did not mince words, He was down-to-earth about it (Luke 14:26-33).

26. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

27. And whoever does not, bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

28. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost...

33. "... whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."

Luke 14:26-28,33 (NKJV)

• Jesus did not want whoever making the decision of following Him, becoming His disciple, do it impulsively. He wanted the person to know what it takes to be a disciple, be convinced about it, and make up his mind about it.

- Being a disciple, learning of Christ and working for Him, is a decision one has to deliberately make.

- Paul said, he did the work with many tears and He endured trials (Acts 20:19; 1 Corinthians 4:11-13; 2 Corinthians 4: 8-12; 11:23-28; 2 Timothy 3:10-12).

• If you are a Christian, Jesus' disciple, you have a responsibility to tell others about Christ; much more if you are called fully to do the work of ministry, you have to do it without looking back.

- If there is any benefit in being born again, then you have to tell other people about it.

- You are saved to serve. God called you to call others.

- God saved you to be an instrument of salvation for others. Nobody's blood should be on you for not declaring the gospel to them (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

26. "Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent (clean) of the blood of all men.

27. "For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God."

ACTS 20:26,27 (NKJV)

• The whole counsel of God

- The whole counsel of God is about telling the truth – the Word of God.

- It is the truth of the Word of God that sets free (John 8:32).

- Every leader should endeavour to teach the truth, the Word of God, to those under his/her leadership – a leader should not shy away from teaching the truth (Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 4:15,16; 2 Timothy 4:2-4).

2. "Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching.

3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;

4. and THEY WILL TURN THEIR EARS AWAY FROM THE TRUTH, and be turned aside to fables."

2 Timothy 4:2-4 (NKJV)

• Everybody is a leader in his/her own right. The people you have influence on, directly or indirectly, are the ones under your leadership.

• Use you influence positively. - Use you position in the family (both in your nuclear and extended family), place of work, school, and in the neighborhood where you live; to influence people for God positively.

- Teach the Word of God through your conduct (Titus 2:7,8).

- God will hold you responsible for the people you have the opportunity to influence for Him, but you failed to (Acts 20:26,27).

- Use your life and all you have to expand God's kingdom on earth.

- There is a reward in working for kingdom expansion on the earth (Luke 12:31).

- Nothing you achieve on earth matters to God as what you do for His kingdom (Mark 8:36).

- Let your stand for Christ be known everywhere you found yourself.

• Paul said, his life worth nothing if he uses it not for Jesus Christ.

"But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God."

Acts 20:24 (NLT)

- What are you doing for Jesus Christ? He gave His life for you, died and ressurrected that you may be justified – what will you do for Him? (Romans 4:25; 2Corinthians 5:15).

- You reciprocate Jesus' gesture by: submitting your life to Him, working to bring other people to embrace the salvation God has made available in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 6:20).

• True Disciples

- True disciples of Christ bear testimony of Him – witness for Him (Acts 1:8; 4:20; Mark 16: 15-18).

- A disciple lives according to the dictates of the Bible – the Word of God (James 1:21,22).

- He prays consistently (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

- Does not give up in his faith, does not consider the negative, and keep progressing in spiritual principles (Romans 4:18-22).

- A true disciple builds a strong fellowship with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20; 6:18; Jude 20).

• Love of many is waxing cold, and evil is increasing in the world, however you can take your stand for God.

- The issue of pandemic shows the whole world that man has no solution to every problem.

- Can God count on you? Can He rely on you?

• Note:

- Working for God in ministry, and standing to live as a true disciple may attract persecution; but it worth it (2 Timothy 3:12).

16. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

18. while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NKJV)

• You will not be a waste in Jesus' name.

Peace!

[wheelygoodteddys]

Should Christians be belittling Islam and Muslims? Is it sculptural?

Let's try to answer that question:

Romans 14:4, NIV: "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand."

In historical context this verse refered to two groups of believers with differing opinions. However, there is also a prophetic, spiritual and a "word of knowledge" reading that can be pulled from scripture. Therefore, do Christians have carte blanche to criticize, ridicule and belittle Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or the Islamic beliefs of a Muslim?

From this scripture alone, I would say no, yet one scripture only doesn't hold much weight. Therefore, we need supporting scriptures.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 New King James Version (NKJV)

19 "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you."

"Become all things to all men that I may win a few".

To those who are Christian the bible tells you to win them, not alienate them. For those determined to point out the wrongs of Islam to practicing Muslims, this is not your calling on earth. It is very clear that, besides your ministry and gifts to the church, your place in society is to positively deal with those unsaved and of other religions. This is imperative to open hearts rather than close them. A person on the defensive and busy defending their faith will not be open to hearing the gospel. Paul, in his wisdom, realised this and gave a clear example to follow.

In the light of the premise that a life of a Christian, in regard to non-believers, is to "win" and "save": how does attacking another's faith fulfil this life guideline? I hazard to guess that it doesn't.

Yet two scriptures an overwhelming argument does not make!

1 Corinthians 2:1-3 21st Century King James Version (KJ21)

2 "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified".

As this scripture implies, and there are numerous supporting scriptures, Jesus Crucified is the only response of a Christian. To enter into Islamphobic arguments, fighting, accusations, derogatory comments and a belittling of another's faith is not at all scriptural.

Are you still sceptical?

What has Jesus got to say in support of Paul's comment about only preaching Jesus crucified?

John 12:32 King James Version (KJV)

32 "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me".

From the words of Jesus, the church has long quoted a conduct of behaviour for Christians in society:

"Lift up Jesus and He will draw all men unto Himself"

I am yet to find support for reviling a person and Jesus will draw that person unto Himself.

Jesus says in John 17:14–19

14 "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth".

May we agree on this scripture and it's meaning!? Jesus wants you in the world, as He was in the world but not of the world?

Therefore, how was Jesus in the world?

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)

Isaiah 53:7

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth".

KJ21

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves".

Jesus came into the world as a lamb and sends His people out as lambs. He commands them to be wise yet harmless.

How can we relate these verses to trying to make a Muslim feel attacked about their faith; putting them in a position of having to defend it; defend themselves; defend their Prophet; and also answer for political Islamists in their faith: how do these types of encounters conform with Jesus' dealing with people and a command to be harmless?

Jesus is also adamant to not be of this world. Islamic propaganda, redoric, belittling Muslims, attacking their Prophet, trying to prove them wrong, holding up political Islamists as a mirror to them and wanting them to answer for those they can't, is a worldly berating. Something very much of this world and very harmful.

John 8:6

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” 

Jesus would not throw stones at Muslims and neither should those that profess to be representing Him.

James 3:9

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water".

And again:

Ephesians 4

 29 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you".

To attack another's faith in such a way that they need to defend themselves is not edification and does not bring grace to the hearer.

James 4

12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?

I hear the screams about false prophets appearing in the last days and preaching the truth.

Exactly, preach the truth in love.

Ephesians 4

15 "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, evenChrist: 16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love".

The life lesson is to speak the truth in love to the Body of Christ, to edify and build up. This deals with the manner in which correction should be handled amoung the church members.

There are no such scriptures that talk about correction of sinners. However, surly they need correcting? The correction of the church is a totally different thing to those outside the church.

Correction comes in the form of sharing the gospel.

Speaking the truth to those outside the church is not a correction that puts them in a place of defending an attack, on the contrary, it is to only preach Jesus crucified.

As for the false prophet argument and putting Muslims on the road to heaven by vilifying their faith, this is in no way scriptural.

Ephesians 6:12

Therefore, what does scripture say about fighting faiths that you disagree with?

12"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace";

Prayer warfare!

Not human warfare!

Christians are not called to wage war against the practicing Muslims of Islam but against principalities, powers of darkness,...

Please assess the way you deal with Muslims and any attack on their core beliefs.

More flies are caught with honey than vinegar.

However, it is much kinder to share your faith than attack another's.

[the-record-columns]

August 8, 2018: Columns

 God, G-d, and 

the Church of God of the Union Assembly

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

On Monday of this week I received a call from Kenny Smith, a faithful reader of The Record, who had a question.

In reading pieces in our paper written by Earl Cox, Kenny noticed that often  in Mr. Cox's column God is spelled G-d.  A brief reminder, Earl Cox is the only Gentile on the Israeli Diplomatic Corps, and it is his job there, and, indeed, his mission in life, to educate Christians that they should support the Jews, that it is Biblical, and to not do so is to risk the wrath of God Almighty.

That being said, many, but not all, Jews consider it s sign of respect to not write God's name in full, the concern being that the word may be written on something that will be thrown away.  Judaism prohibits erasing or defacing the name of God, therefore G-d takes care of things.  Anyone reading G-d  knows who they mean, but, if it gets recycled, no harm is done to Jewish traditions.

Now, back to Kenny Smith.

Interestingly enough, after a marathon Rotary meeting that very evening, who do I see having dinner with his wife and daughter but the aforementioned Kenny Smith.

 I met Kenny at the first ChickenFest in 2006.  He showed up out of the blue with a group of young people from his church, the Church of God of the Union Assembly, in Wilkesboro, to see what they could do to help.  It didn't matter what he said, mowing, trimming, setting up tents, whatever.  Well they did help, and also ended up selling chicken pizzas as well to make a little money for their church.

They were as well-behaved and polite a group of kids as you could ever ask for.

Fast forward to the rodeo we sponsored for several years.  We partnered for with Wilkes native Roger Harris who put on a great show.  The entire project wasn't too hard to put together except for the bleachers.  Every year, it was part of our responsibility to get the bleachers (which could seat 2,500 people) put up and taken down.

It was brutal. It was hot.  It was dirty. For years I used jail trustees but that wasn't much satisfaction, so I just hired the job out.  That was even less satisfying, as getting people to show up was always iffy.  Then one year, on Thursday before the rodeo was to open on Friday, the crew that I had paid a deposit to didn't show up on Wednesday, and at 6 p.m., on Thursday they still hadn't shown up--and wouldn't answer my phone calls.

 Enter Kenny Smith.

 His youth group also helped with the rodeo selling hot dogs and hamburgers as another fundraiser.  Kenny came by that Thursday afternoon to see about setting up his cooker.  I must have looked pretty sad and forlorn, so Kenny asked if something was bothering me.  Well, I unloaded on him about those damned bleachers and everything bad about dealing with them.

He listened politely and, when I had finished whining, he askled, "Is that the worst of it?" 

"That's all of it." I replied. 

"Then you don't\have a problem." Kenny said, and opened up his phone and started hitting numbers.  I swear, in 20 minutes the parking lot at the Rotary Park was sitting full of trucks and cars with dads and young boys and girls who showed up on Kenny's request to help with those bleachers.  I showed them what to do and they worked like beavers building a dam.  By 8 p.m., the job was done and they wouldn't even let me take them to supper.  They returned on Sunday afternoon to take the bleachers apart and load them on a trailer, again taking only a hearty "Thank you" from me.

 As long as we put on the rodeo, the youth of the Chruch of God of the Union Assemblyh took the "burden of the bleachers" off me, and did so with a smile and a work ethic that made me very proud of them.  When I reminded Kenny on Monday how much I appreciated what he and his youth did, he only said, "No, thank you, it was a good lesson for them."

 Many of those kids are now adults, and I'll bet they are great ones, too, because of role models like Kenny Smith to guide them.

     Vulnerability

By LAURA WELBORN

This past week I spent at UNC-Wilmington at a Summer Institute.  

I stayed in the dorms and since I had never stayed in a dorm before I was struck with how tough it must be to send our children away to school in such an foreign situation.  

Learning how to live in a group setting, a small room with someone we don’t know, would have to be overwhelming. I thought about how vulnerable this situation must make a person away from family, friends and everything you know.  It’s a wonder kids make it through their freshman year, but in talking to my stepdaughter’s friends when visiting her this week they said, “I loved it, it was the best time of my life.”

So how do we build that level of resilience in our children so they can face being vulnerable on unfamiliar grounds?

Alex Korb, in his book “The Upward Spiral,” says that spending time with friends eases depression and actually can improve the effect of antidepressant medication.  Being around people who are social helps you get better if you are depressed and getting better helps you be more social.

Korb says even talking to strangers helps and leads to better moods.  Studies show that talking with a friend reduces the level of stress hormones, feelings of anxiety and it increases feelings of calmness.

Social support can come in many forms- even text messages, facebook comments and emails can help counteract feelings of social rejection. In one study involving a virtual ball tossing game, when receiving emotionally supportive messages after losing the game, the participants were able to avoid a depressive response.  So even if it feels like the whole world is against you, having just one person on your side can make a big difference.

I think this is why Facebook is sometimes used as support. Whenever we can say kind, supportive words or do acts of kindness we are making a difference in a person’s life.   I am going to think differently about those Facebook messages that expose the vulnerabilities we deal with in life and I am going to put out a supportive comment.   I am going to encourage young people going to school, who are in unfamiliar situations, to be that person who reaches out to strangers with a kind word or gesture.  

Another point Korbs makes is that helping other people can be a great way to help yourself.  Empathy improves the symptoms of depression and increases positive emotions.  If you’re having difficulty being happy it can be easier to absorb feelings of happiness from others than to generate them in yourself.  

Levels of happiness are contagious, they can spread through a social network like the common cold. Harvard researchers found that if you have a friend who lives nearby who becomes happy, your chances of becoming happy increase by 25 percent, and if your next door neighbor becomes happy, the effect is 34 percent.  Interestingly enough the most pronounced effect of having increasing positive emotions through empathy is seen when older adults, who have retired or are near to retirement, volunteer.

Being around other people and developing close relationships feels good because we are developing dopamine neurons in our brain that makes us feel better and keeps depression at bay. Helping others with a kind word or doing something to make a difference in their lives actually helps us feel better.

Look for those moments - search out ways to help others and feel better while doing it.  

Remember, Jews are God’s chosen people

By Earl Cox

Journalist & Broadcaster

The Bible talks much about self-examination and is filled from cover to cover with lessons of morality, honor, integrity and values.  Christian history as it relates to Israel and the Jewish people is not one of which those who claim the name of Christ ought to be proud.  In fact, it is cause for us to hang our heads in shame and disgrace.  Time and again when the people which God Himself calls the ‘Apple of His eye’ needed us - needed anyone - to come to their rescue, we turned our backs and closed our eyes.  As a result, the lives of six million Jews and others were brutally snuffed out in the most horrible and agonizing ways imaginable and the atmosphere is ripe for it to happen again.  As Christians we have an obligation to stand up for the weak and speak out for those who are being marginalized, persecuted and slaughtered because of race or religion yet our silence is deafening as people around the world are suffering and dying in Syria and elsewhere. The Good News is not so good if we fail to express our faith to the world not only in word but, more importantly, in deed even if it means there is a personal price to pay.  God will honor us if we honor Him – in word, yes, but, more importantly, in deed. As my mother always said, “Actions speak louder than words.”

Followers of Christ are called Christians. As His disciples, we are to follow His teachings and reflect His love to the “world” which means in our homes, in our businesses, in our churches and in the world beyond.  The manner and fashion in which we conduct our lives matters.  Are we fair and honest in all we do and say?  Do we conduct our business affairs with diligence and integrity?  Do we put the best interest of others above our own desires?  Do we tell the truth and take responsibility for our decisions and actions even if there is personal cost involved? God knows the beginning from the end and there is nothing we can hide from Him which will not be revealed.

God’s Word makes it abundantly clear as to what is acceptable and what is not.  The Bible clearly states that the Jews are His chosen people and Israel is His special land deeded to the Jews in an everlasting covenant.  Those who would come against the Jews simply because they are Jews will suffer the wrath of God who likens these precious yet peculiar people to being the ‘apple of His eye.’  

Almost daily there are news reports of Israel being condemned on the world stage for one contrived grievance or another. God chose Israel and the Jews to be the recorders and keepers of His Word to pass it down from generation to generation.  If it weren’t for the Jews, there would be no Christianity and the Bible clearly warns that it is not the “branch which bears the root, but the root thee.” If we believe God’s Word is true from cover to cover, then as Christians have a duty to stand with Israel and the Jews because they are the root.  All who claim to be Christians but are actively engaged in anti-Israel, anti-Semitic campaigns such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions will suffer the wrath of the Almighty.

As Christians, we have been given another chance to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters.  While we’ve failed miserably in the past, it’s not too late to make a change.  We should take it as a personal affront when the world unfairly and unjustly condemns Israel for taking necessary protective action to defend her borders and her people from aggression and terrorism.  We should stand against those who engage in BDS campaigns claiming they are “helping” the Palestinians by punishing Israel.  This is an outright lie.  BDS is nothing but an anti-Semitic effort to promote an anti-Israel agenda.  Just ask any Palestinian who is gainfully employed by an Israeli company located on the “other” side of the so-called “Green Line.”  Does it help them feed their families or pay their mortgages when business is taken away thus forcing work hours to be cut or eliminated?  The time for sitting on the sidelines is over. It’s time for Christians to join in the game of “The World versus Israel.”  Going forward, Christians must determine what we want our legacy to be and for this we must ask ourselves whose side we are on. Are we in line with God’s Word and therefore standing with Israel or are we on the side of the world which is clearly against Israel and the Jews?  Those churches or universities with which we are affiliated, are they investing in Israel or divesting?  How about your pension fund?  Is it divesting from Israel? Remember, God will not be mocked. Just as those who bless Israel will be blessed, so those who curse Israel will be cursed.  As we do unto Israel, so it will be done unto us.

Earl Cox is an international broadcaster and journalist who has served in senior level positions with four US presidents. Due to his outspoken support for Israel, he has been recognized by Prime Minister Netanyahu as a Goodwill Ambassador from Israel to the Jewish and Christian communities around the world and named the Voice of Israel to America by Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Mr. Cox resides in Charleston SC and in Jerusalem.

[giftofshewbread]

The Threat from Within

By Steve Schmutzer

Jesus instructed us to “…. be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16). So why are so many Christians “….as dumb as hammers and dangerous as dynamite” instead?

I know – it’s a loaded question and it’ll evoke some reactions. So let me explain myself, and I’ll start by outlining what Jesus was trying to say.

In this Matthew passage, Jesus is sending out His 12 disciples for ministry. He’s taught them a lot, He’s been an example to them, and now it’s their turn to show what they’ve learned. The context is the earliest frontiers of The Great Commission, and Jesus uses figures of speech to make a key point.

He draws upon the reputations of two familiar animals: the snake and the dove. The first is regarded as wary and quick to perceive danger and escape it. The second is gentle and poses no threat. In effect, Jesus was illustrating the ideal practices of His kingdom’s work. Shrewdness and innocence combine in the most effective messengers of the Gospel.

The bigger view is this: these attributes enable believers to conduct themselves responsibly in a hostile world. Jesus uses another analogy from the animal kingdom to underscore this. In the first part of this same verse He says, “Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves….” His fuller point was clear: “Hey, you’re targets and the world wants your destruction. Therefore, be careful, be smart, and stay out of trouble.” That’s my paraphrase, but you get the drift.

One important element that’s easy to miss in this passage is Jesus did not want His followers to be like the wolves. The wolves oppose the Gospel. The wolves are bent on causing harm, silencing the truth, creating confusion, and imposing their agenda. The wolves embrace every unscrupulous tactic to dilute and disrupt the life-changing veracity of God’s Word.

It’s no surprise that the wolves try to blend in with the sheep as part of their strategy to destroy the flock. Paul had this very point in mind when he wrote his farewell to the Ephesians in Acts 20:28-30. He warned them that “savage wolves” would come, and he specifically stated some of them would come “….from your own number.” In other words, Paul was drawing attention to the threat from within.

Jesus sent out his disciples into an aggressive and unfriendly world that was filled with wolves, and Paul warned the church of the wolves within their own ranks. What’s the difference here? Not much, I’m afraid. Against the appeals of Scripture, a good deal of the church has “conformed to this world” in stunning fashion instead.

This brings me back to my “hammer and dynamite” assessment. I’m dismayed at some of the foolish and damaging claims I’ve encountered from “Christians” lately. Here’s just a sampling:

“Christians that do not support a two-state solution in Israel do not show the love of God.”

“The study of prophecy distracts from the important things we should be focused on.”

“This world would be a better place if more Christians would vote for democrats.”

It pains me to admit that a couple of these comments have come from established church leaders – which proves Paul’s point from Acts and highlights the peril of our times.

While the Bible makes it clear that matters of Christian faith clearly expose the wolves, I offer that politics may do the same thing. This applies to the wolves in the church as well as the wolves in the world. Really, both packs are one and the same since they each contend with eternal truth and with Bible-based values. They just hunt in two different territories.

We’ll start with politics which seems to be the more controversial of the two themes. Let’s briefly glance at some political agendas which callously cross the grain of the Bible.

For starters, God was shown the exit door and Israel got the cold shoulder at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. A motion was made to omit God and any reference to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from the democratic platform. Things got awkward when the motion was loudly supported. Embarrassed on live TV, the DNC leaders waffled and America watched as God and Israel got booed.

Barack Obama’s “two state” peace plan – AKA the “Kerry Plan” – was intent on dividing the land of Israel and enforcing the country’s pre-1967 boundaries. One of its key provisions was the permanent division of Jerusalem.

Strong anti-Israel views show up in the left’s base too. A 2016 Pew Research Poll disclosed that liberal Democrats sympathize more with the Palestinians than with Israel. That’s a big change from 2001 when this same group favored Israel 48 to 10 percent.

What about some of the social issues? Under Obama, same-sex marriage gained national legitimacy and the White House was bathed in the colors of the gay rainbow to celebrate this occasion. It’s no secret that abortion finds its staunchest supporters within rank and file liberals, and it’s the left that unrelentingly presses for increasing entitlements that weaken a nation. They also covet the lawless standards of open borders, sanctuary cities, and illegal amnesty. And don’t even get me started on the militant feminist and transgender ambitions of liberals which seem to dominate headlines these days.

Believe it or not, I have no partisan “dog in the hunt” here. I’m a registered Independent who’s just calling it the way it is.

Now, let me shift gears and see if the Bible has anything to say about all this. We’ll start with Israel. The Bible declares the Jews have been supernaturally regathered in the land of Israel by God’s design, and it states this process will continue beyond the present time (Ezek. 20:33-38; 22:17-22). The rebirth of national Israel is a prophetic event (Isaiah 66:8) which affirms God’s commitment to His chosen people.

According to the Scriptures, a time’s coming when God will put the people of earth on trial for how they treated the Jews and for how they tried to divide up the land of Israel (Joel 3:2). A two-state solution may conform to the world’s wishes, but it violates God’s terms and He will judge those who demand it.

In no uncertain language, the Word of God reinforces the straightforward fact that God has not forgotten the Jews or regretted His unconditional promises to them (Genesis 13:15; Romans 11:1-12). These are among the clearest prophecies in God’s Word, and the only way to derive a position from them that’s not there in the first place is by claiming God doesn’t mean what He says.

Where do I even start on the myriad social dysfunctions around which the left defines itself? The Bible takes a strong stance against the sin of homosexuality (Gen. 18 and 19; Lev. 18:22; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Rom. 1:26-28). It is crystal clear that efforts to legitimize and promote the gay lifestyle fly in the face of God. The Scriptures state that human life, from conception, is sacred (Psalms 139:13-16; Jer. 1:5), that law and order is essential for nations (Rom. 13:1-7), that personal responsibility is expected (Prov. 20:4; 2 Thess. 3:10; 1 Tim. 5:8), and that men and women were created different from one another (Gen. 5:2; Eph. 5:22-25; Rom. 1:26-27) no matter how much our culture wants to neutralize gender distinctions.

It’s not that committed liberals don’t understand the principles of ethics and virtue, but rather—they don’t want them! They’ve become a well-defined faction of the world’s wolves which wage a constant war against Biblical standards.

I feel I should make a point at this juncture. I am growing in my conviction that valid concerns stalk those who claim to be in the faith, yet choose to identify with the left. This dilemma is especially true as the left radically moves toward a militant-socialist agenda which actively suppresses the teachings and practices of God’s Word.

I’ve talked to enough dumb sheep to know plenty of them haven’t given sufficient thought to these matters as they ought to. They still perceive the left as “more tolerant” than the right. They think CNN tells the truth, and they voted for Hillary simply because “It was time for a woman to be President.”

Basically, these people aren’t really thinking at all. They sound like the world because they’re “of it.” They’ve bought into the basics of globalism “hook, line, and sinker,” and they feel self-righteous for having done so.

Enough about politics. Now – concerning matters of faith, how do the wolves reveal themselves in the church? The short answer is this: the same way matters of faith reveal the wolves in the world. As I’ve indicated, they are the same creatures in both places. But, are there any specific hallmarks of the wolves that Paul warned the Ephesian congregants about?

I believe Jesus sheds some light on this question because He also mentioned the wolves in the pews and pulpits. He warned, “Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits….” (Matt. 7:15-16).

Aha! Here’s a big clue. Jesus says we can recognize them by their fruits – those are the things they do and say.

Said another way, the wolves in the church will make the sort of choices that the wolves in the world make. They will hold to the world’s ideals, and insofar as the doctrines and standards of Scripture are concerned, they will oppose these sacred matters the same way the wolves in the world do.

And so I sigh when so-called “Christians” join with the mainstream media to challenge the Bible’s clear values. I cringe when these “ravenous wolves” enthusiastically march in gay parades under the claim of “unity and Christian love,” or when they hum and buzz with the mystics to empty their minds and “receive new revelations.”

I gasp at their affront to Almighty God when they insist other religions “….just have a different view of the same God we serve.” I feel a righteous anger when they murmur their thinly-veiled dislike of the Jews and when they applaud the “bravery of the Palestinians against their oppressors.”

I have no doubt that the Word of God is under attack – inside our churches! Because the Bible changes lives when it’s properly studied and applied, “deceiving spirits” (1 Tim. 4:1) are presently working overtime through “ravenous wolves” to blur the lines between what is right and wrong, to mock the importance of Biblical prophecy (2 Pet. 3:4), and to elevate any person or message that affirms the things they most want to hear (2 Tim. 4:3).

I feel one of the reasons the world will not believe the rapture has actually taken place when it does, is because so many “Christians” will still be found in the churches they’d always attended. I believe this fact will further feed the unprecedented deception of that time. The circumstances of these wolves who are left behind will be used to argue that the Bible does not really mean what it says.

In closing, Jesus urges us to be wary, to be careful, and to be harmless and innocent. An effective faith is one that recognizes the dangers of the threat from within.

[eunsahn]

Unintentionally Consequential

There's a line between “what we are,” and “what we do.” It's sometimes very blurry, sometimes may even overlap, and sometimes diametrically opposites. It's all based on self-identification. Depending on work, we may conduct myself as an engineer, or banker. If we're in a political mode, the identification might be as Democrat or Republican, Labor or Tory, Trotskyite or Stalinis, Liberal or Conservative. Vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, male, female, gay, bi, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, Buddhist, Zen Buddhist, Forest monk, Shin, Christian, Muslim, Sunni, Shiite, Jew, Orthodox Jew, Hasidic, Reform, etc., and that's a lot of round holes we square pegs might be forcing ourselves into!  These demarcations often have behaviors we associate with them, and quite often, we make ourselves into cookie-cutter images of what we imagine those labels demand. Likewise the label we pick may even determine what hole we think we should dive into. It's one thing to be environmentally conscious and then become a member of the Greens, it's another to look at them and start acting like we think a Green should act. Neither is particularly good or bad, after all, we haven't necessarily thought of every way to be environmentally conservative and may have something to learn from what appear to be like-minded individuals. To one extent or another, we also try to force others into round holes, and they may have a totally different hole picked out for themselves. It may come as a real shocker to find out that Hitler was a vegetarian and that he was kind to dogs. Animal rights activists might also be vegetarian dog lovers, but that doesn't mean they also have to be Nazis any more than Hitler was a tree-hugging liberal. “Fascists are evil!” we might say, and then to find out that they aren't evil 100% of the time can shake up some of our deeply held preconceptions. And lest we forget, Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, no tree-hugger was he, at least according to conventional wisdom. These examples of “other-identifications” are as mistaken as our own “self-identifications.” Following the Buddhist path is to lead to liberation. Following the Zen path leads to seeing things as they truly are, to experience it fully, to see our True Nature, to help others, and thus become liberated. One could even say that we're already liberated, if we looked for something that held us in chains, we'd see that there really isn't anything. And not just in an “emptiness” nothing, but in reality “nothing” except our own thinking. To be liberated from our thinking is to stop thinking “I'm this,” “You're that,” and because of this and that, it means I must do something and you do something else. Dropping this thinking includes even the notion of unity and differentiation, the notion that there's a fallback position when things get difficult. We make difficult for ourselves, and we really don't need a fallback position. That doesn't really exist either.  The bottom line is that there is no more a reason than an excuse for doing what we do. Negotiating the line I mentioned above can be tricky. Do I not eat meat because I'm a “vegetarian” or am I feeling compassion for all beings and therefore don't eat meat, so I look for the vegetarian section of a menu? Anything I do because I'm a “Zennist” is a poor excuse for doing it. Do I do things because I think it's correct action, and that just so happens to be what the Buddha would have done? Better reason for action. When I go the grocery store, do I put the cart in the little cart hut because that's what a Zennie “should” do? Do I see that someone's livelihood depends on people not putting carts back so he can gather them back up--which is what puts food on his family table? Honestly, sometimes I'll do either, largely dependent upon a whim.  To use the grocery store example further, when they ask “Paper or plastic?” which do I choose and why? Do I immediately say “paper” because I think of myself as environmentally conscious Buddhist, and the Buddha wouldn't have used paper, so ergo I must use paper?. Making the choice isn't that straightforward if I really look at it. Paper requires trees to be cut down. These trees help the atmosphere, provide habitats for animals, help stop soil erosion and so forth. The power saws used to cut them down requires power, obviously. That power is most likely a fossil fuel, the trucks that transport the timber to the sawmill likewise uses gasoline, the saws at the mill use electricity, which may have been produced by coal, nuclear, or maybe by wind, solar, or water power. The rest of the paper-making process likewise requires power, and on it goes. As it turns out, I bring my own bags, because Northampton Mass has banned plastic shopping bags, so it's a moot point here. Previously I went with paper because for all the shortcomings manufacturing entails, plastic ends up not decomposing for the most part, so the long term result is probably the worse choice. Neither choice is pristine. Until we stop creating karma, our actions will by and large not be pristine. Some may be wholesome and positive, some negative, and some neutral. The priest at an old Zen sangha I attended once said that meditation is one of the few karmically neutral actions we can make. Virtually any action we take--writing, grocery shopping, driving, being with loved ones, working--all involve other people, and therefore will have consequences. In my estimation, the same action will be perceived differently by others involved in the ripple effect of the action. The same person may have radically different reactions to the same phenomena, depending on the flexibility of perceptions. The reaction is dependent on any number of other factors in addition to the action I have taken. It would be very naive and self-important to think my actions happen in a vacuum, that they're the only stimulus that elicits a response. Even when I'm “just writing” this, the thoughts that come to me, the mood I'm in, my physical environment all figure into creating that “just.” In reality, what is it even possible to “just” do?  As Bodhisattvas, the job of “saving all beings” may be as simple as trying not to do harm. Maybe the next notch up is to try to be helpful. We can't worry about how this help will necessarily be received, we can't be paralyzed by the possibility that an action may be taken to be other than in the spirit we intended. We do what we can, as skillfully as we can, to be of benefit to not only the one person we're interacting with, but with the realization that the ripples of our action will flow out like Indra’s Net. This is how we save “all” beings--by respecting and taking care of ourselves so we can help the next being with whom we come into contact,  If we aren't paying attention, acting mindfully if you like, then our blind wandering throughout our environment may indeed result in our actions being “Unintentionally Consequential.”

Other writing from Eunsahn can be found here: http://nobodhiknows.blogspot.com/2017/04/unintentionally-consequential.html

[christianpublishinghouse-blog]

Why do Christians desire to talk about their beliefs? Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) This is the assignment that all Christians are obligated to be a part of, to the best of their abilities, based on their gifts and talents. Jesus also said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:39) Jesus commanded that we “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them” and “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20) All true Christians[1] have a determination to imitate God, which moves us to persist in reflecting his glory through our sharing of the Good News with others.

Within the heart of each true Christian, is the desire that he ‘love the Lord his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his mind.’ (Matt. 22:37) If this is the case, we to would be patient, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.’ (2 Pet 3:9) For the true Christian, “for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) The apostle Paul helps see the importance of the work that lies ahead,

Romans 10:14-15 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

14  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how will they hear without someone to preach? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”[2]

Many have used these two verses as the foundational texts for sending missionaries around the world for centuries. However, as was explain in the preface, these verses and others are just as important to the evangelism work that needs to be carried out by every Christian in their local community. This author believes that we should dial back sending missionaries around the world and focus on even evangelizing our own communities.

10:14a. Calling requires faith. How … can they call on the one they have not believed in? In the Old Testament, calling on the name of the Lord was a metaphor for worship and prayer (Gen. 4:26; 12:8; Ps. 116:4). No one can call out to God who has not believed in him.

10:14b. Faith requires hearing. And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? More than anything else, this question is the crux of all missiological activity since the first century. God has ordained that people have to hear (or read, or otherwise understand the content of) the word of God in order to be saved. One who knows the gospel must communicate it to one who does not know it.

10:14c. Hearing requires preaching. And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Since no other media except the human voice was of practical value in spreading the gospel in the first century, preaching is Paul’s method of choice. And yet, in the media-rich day in which we minister, has anything replaced preaching as the most effective way to communicate the gospel? We thank God for the printed page, and even for cutting-edge presentations of the gospel circling the globe on the internet. But it is still the human voice that cracks with passion, the human eye that wells with tears of gratitude, and the human frame that shuffles to the podium, bent from a lifetime of Service to the gospel, that reaches the needy human heart most readily. Hearing may not require preaching in person today, but it always benefits from it.

10:15. Preaching requires sending. And how can they preach unless they are sent? Even when his servants were unwilling (e.g., Jonah), God has been sending the message of salvation to the ends of the earth from the beginning. Paul, a “sent one” (apostle, apostolos), was sent to the Gentiles, and he needed the church at Rome to help him. But he also wanted them to be available for God to send them. There were many, many Jews in Rome who were still stumbling over the stone in the path of salvation. How would they ever call on the name of the Lord unless someone is sent? Paul wants the church at Rome to get in step with those who have borne good news to Israel before, most specifically those who brought the good news of their deliverance from captivity in Assyria:

Original Context

“Good news” in its earliest contexts was that of victory in battle. In Isaiah it is deliverance from captivity in Assyria (cf. Isa. 52:4, 11–12), a type of the coming deliverance from sin.

Isaiah 52:7

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Romans 10:15

And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Paul’s Application

Just as the “good news” was delivered to Israel in the Old Testament, so it still must be delivered in Paul’s day. It is a different gospel—a better one—of permanent deliverance from captivity to sin.

Six key terms, taken in reverse order, summarize God’s plan for taking the good news of the gospel to those in need: send, preach, hear, believe, call, saved.[3]

Every Christian should realize that effective communication would be one of the determining factors in whether the unbeliever will accept the truth. Some may feel that the message will get through to the unbeliever if he is receptive to the Good News regardless of communication skills. While that may be true on occasion, it is not the rule it is the exception. Moreover, it needs to be realized that our communicating skills are to be used to affect the hearts and minds of both the receptive and unreceptive. With the unreceptive, our skills must be stronger, as we are reasoning from the Scriptures, to overturn whatever has made this one unreceptive to the truth. It might be best if I were to put it this way, effective communication skills do not guarantee that one will accept the truth of God’s Word, but a lack of communication skills means that it is far less likely that they will accept the truth of God’s word.

Like a firefighter and a police officer, a Christian evangelist is on the job 24/7, as the opportunity to share a biblical message may occur at any time. Moreover, our conduct is always on display, and it is a form of witnessing to others. (1 Pet. 2:12) Whether we realize it or not we are always sending and receiving messages consciously and subconsciously with others by our tone, our demeanor, our body language, and so on. Again, our ability to communicate with clearness and precision, resolution and assurance are usually the difference between being successful and unsuccessful in our efforts to reach the hearts and minds of prospective (i.e., future) Christian disciples.

All Christians are Expected to Carry Out the Work of An Evangelist

Before delving into our book on Evangelism, let us take a moment to listen to one of the world’s leading authorities on Spiritual disciplines for our Christian life by Donald S. Whitney, who covers our obligation to evangelize very well,

Most of those reading this book will not need convincing that evangelism is expected of every Christian. All Christians are not expected to use the same methods of evangelism, but all Christians are expected to evangelize.

Before we go further, let’s define our terms. What is evangelism? If we want to define it thoroughly, we could say that evangelism is to present Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to sinful people, in order that they may come to put their trust in God through Him, to receive Him as their Savior, and serve Him as their King in the fellowship of His Church.[4] If we want to define it simply, we could say that New Testament evangelism is communicating the gospel. Anyone who faithfully relates the essential elements of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ is evangelizing. This is true whether your words are spoken, written, or recorded, and whether they are delivered to one person or to a crowd.

Why is evangelism expected of us? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself has commanded us to witness. Consider His authority in the following:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28: 19-20).

“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation’” (Mark 16: 15).

“And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24: 47).

“Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’” (John 20: 21).

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1: 8).

These commands weren’t given to the apostles only. For example, the apostles never came to this nation. For the command of Jesus to be fulfilled and for America to hear about Christ, the gospel had to come here by other Christians. And the apostles will never come to your home, your neighborhood, or to the place where you work. For the Great Commission to be fulfilled there, for Christ to have a witness in that “remote part” of the earth, a Christian like you must discipline yourself to do it.

Some Christians believe that evangelism is a gift and the responsibility of only those with that gift. They appeal to Ephesians 4:11 for support: “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.” While it is true that God gifts some for ministry as evangelists, He calls all believers to be His witnesses and provides them with both the power to witness and a powerful message. Every evangelist is called to be a witness, but only a few witnesses are called to the vocational ministry of an evangelist. Just as each Christian, regardless of spiritual gift or ministry, is to love others, so each believer is to evangelize whether or not his or her gift is that of an evangelist.

Think of our responsibility for personal evangelism from the perspective of 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” Many Christians who are familiar with this part of the verse don’t have a clue how the rest of it goes. It goes on to say that these privileges are yours, Christian, “that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We normally think of this verse as establishing the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. But it is equally appropriate to say that it also exhorts us to a kind of prophet hood of all believers. God expects each of us to “declare the praises” of Jesus Christ.[5]

While this author agrees with Whitney’s every word in the above, I would emphasize that we are to evangelize, so as to make disciples, which is more involved that simply sharing the Gospel. Paul summarizes the most basic elements of the gospel message, that is, the death, burial, resurrection, and appearances of the resurrected Christ. (1 Cor. 18:1-8) Therefore, the Gospel explained in detail or simply stated as Paul has put it, will not be enough to convert many unbelievers to the faith. Therefore, it is best to understand our responsibility as evangelist, in the sense of being able to proclaim or explain our Christian teachings both offensively and defensively: to (1) defend God’s Word, (2) defend the faith, (3) pull some who doubt back from the fire, and (4) most importantly, to help the lost find salvation.

All Christians are to be Evangelizers

We live in a world today where Genesis 6:5 and 8:21 is magnified a thousand fold. Certainly, most normal humans, who do not suffer from any sort of mental distresses, want to do good to others and live a peaceful life. Why then has there been so much evil in human history, and why is there so much evil today? We will have to turn to the words of our Creator for the answers.

Mentally Bent Toward Evil

Psalm 51:5 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,[6] and in sin did my mother conceive me.

King David had his adultery with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband exposed, for which he accepted full responsibility. His words about the human condition give us one reason for the evil of man. He says, “I was brought forth in iniquity.” What is iniquity? The Hebrew word awon essentially relates to erring, acting illegally or wrongly.

David stated that his problem was a corrupt heart, saying; surely, I was sinful at birth. He entered this world a sinner in nature long before he became a sinner in actions. In fact, this internal corruption predated his birth, actually beginning nine months earlier when he was conceived in the womb. It was at conception that the Adamic sin nature was transmitted to him. The problem of what he did, sin, arose from what he was, a sinner.[7]

David is not here casting the blame onto his mother, as God never intended mothers to conceive and give birth children who would sin. Nevertheless, when Adam and Eve rebelled, were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they lost their ability to pass on perfection. Therefore, every child was born missing the mark of perfection. The Hebrew term translated “sin” is chattath; in Greek, the word is hamartia. Both carry the meaning of missing the mark of perfection.

The verbal forms occur in enough secular contexts to provide a basic picture of the word’s meaning. In Judges 20:16 the left-handed slingers of Benjamin are said to have the skill to throw stones at targets and “not miss.” In a different context, Pro. 19:2 speaks of a man in a hurry who “misses his way” (RSV, NEB, KJV has “sinneth”). A similar idea of not finding a goal appears in Pro. 8:36; the concept of failure is implied.[8]

Genesis 6:5 The American Translation (AT)

5 When the LORD saw that the wickedness of man on the earth was great, and that the whole bent of his thinking was never anything but evil, the LORD regretted that he had ever made man on the earth.

Genesis 8:21 The American Translation (AT)

21 I will never again curse the soil, though the bent of man’s mind may be evil from his very youth; nor ever again will I ever again destroy all life creature as I have just done.

All of us have inherited a sinful nature, meaning that we are currently unable to live up to the mark of perfection, in which we were created. In fact, Genesis 6:5 says we all suffer from, ‘our whole bent of thinking, which is nothing but evil.” Genesis 8:21 says that ‘our mind is evil from our very youth.’ Jeremiah 17:9 says that our hearts are treacherous and desperately sick.” What does all of this mean? It means that before the fall, our natural inclination; our natural leaning was toward good. However, after the fall, our natural inclination, our natural leaning was toward bad, wicked, evil.

We should never lose sight of the fact that unrighteous desires of the flesh are not to be taken lightly. (Rom. 7:19, 20) Nevertheless, if it is our desire to have a righteous relationship before God, it will be the stronger desire. Psalm 119:165 says, “Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your instruction; nothing makes them stumble.” We need to cultivate our love for doing right, which will strengthen our conscience, the sense of what is right and wrong that governs somebody’s thoughts and actions, urging us to do right rather than wrong. It is only through studying the Bible that we can train the conscience. Once it is trained, it will prick us like a needle in the arm, when we are thinking of doing something wrong. It will feel like a pain in our heart, a sadness, nervousness, which is the voice saying, ‘do not do this.’ Moreover, if we ignore our voice, it will grow silent over time and will stop telling us what is wrong. (Romans 2:14-15)

James 1:14-15 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own desire.[9] 15 Then the desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

We have a natural desire toward wrong, and Satan is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:3-4), and he caters to the fallen flesh. James also tells us “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15, ESV) We resist the devil by immediately dismissing any thought that is contrary to God’s values found in his Word, which enters our mind, we do not entertain it for a moment, nor do we cultivate it, causing it to grow. We then offer rational prayers in our head, or better yet, aloud so we can defeat fleshly irrational thinking with rational biblical thinking. The Apostle Peter, referring to the Devil wrote, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” (1 Peter 5:9)

Matthew 24:14 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the inhabited earth[10] as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

With much of what people see today, one wonders what the Goods News could be.

Isaiah 52:7-8 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who proclaims  salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God has become king!”[11] 8 Listen! your watchmen lift up their voices; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see when Jehovah returns to Zion.

In the days of Isaiah, no individual was identified as “him who brings good news.” However, we know, in the first century C.E., Jesus was identified as the bearer of good news, the prince of peace, the king of God’s Kingdom. During Jesus’ three and a half year ministry, he proclaimed the good news about his giving “his soul as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28), releasing any who has faith in him from all the effects of inherited sin from Adam, including sickness and death. (Matt. 9:35) Jesus gave us a perfect zealous example of proclaiming the good news at every opportunity, to teach about the kingdom of God, so as to make disciples. (Matt. 5:1-2; Mark 6:34; Luke 19:1-10; John 4:5-26) Thereafter, his disciples would follow his example and in a greater sense (John 14:12-14), they would ‘bring good news’ “in all the inhabited earth[12] as a testimony to all the nation.” (Matthew 24:14)

In his letter to the congregation in Rome, the apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7, which served to emphasize the important work of proclaiming the good news. Beginning in verse 14, Paul asks several important questions, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how will they hear without someone to preach? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Rom. 10.14-15) We should note that Paul under inspiration, expanded upon Isaiah’s words, going from a singular “him” or “one” who brings good news, to a plural “those who declare good news of good things!” Emulating Jesus Christ, all Christians today are proclaimers of the good news of the kingdom. What is meant by the words “how beautiful are the feet”? Isaiah was speaking as though the proclaimer of good news was approaching Jerusalem from the neighboring mountains of Judah. Thus, literally, it would have been impossible to see the feet of the messenger. Rather, the focus is on the one bringing the good news, the feet that bring him are pictorial of the messenger himself. In the oppressive years of the early first-century, we can only picture the beautiful sight of Jesus and his disciples as they traveled throughout Palestine. The same is true today as Christian proclaimers bring million the good news of the kingdom throughout the world.

Nahum 1:15 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

15 Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless[13] pass through you; he is cut off completely.

Judah had thus long suffered under the heavy hand of Assyria. Therefore, Nahum’s prophecy regarding Nineveh’s looming destruction was indeed good news. Assyria would never again interfere in the lives of God’s people. Nothing would get in the way of the Judeans from carrying out pure worship and celebrating the festivals. This liberation from the Assyrian persecutor would be complete. (Nah. 1:9) Some 688 years later, the apostle Paul at Romans 10:15 apply the expression from Isaiah 52:7 and Nahum 1:15 to those whom the Father sends forth as Christian proclaimers of the good news. These ones are to proclaim the “good news of the kingdom.” (Matthew 24:14)

Romans 10:15 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”[14]

Christianity today, has sadly, fallen away from the evangelism that they had been assigned, the preaching and teaching of the good news, the making of disciples. (Matt. 24:14; 28:19-20; Ac 1:8) The first-century Christians were very zealous when it came to sharing the good news and biblical truths with others. In fact, the new believers were taught the basics of the faith, before they were baptized. Once they were baptized, they were immediately involved in spreading these same biblical truths to others. This is why just seventy years after the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ; there were more than a million Christians spread all throughout the then known world of the Roman Empire. Christians today, should have this same zeal because Jesus gave only one command that was to be carried out after his departure, the making of disciples.

The good news is that this current evil age that we live in is not all that we have to look forward to, as all have the opportunity of gaining eternal life. Yes, the path of salvation is open to all. Therefore, Christians today should be in the work of being used by God to help as many as possible to find the path of salvation, before Christ’s second coming.

John 3:16 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone trusting in him will not be destroyed but have eternal life.

John 3:36 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

36 The one trusting in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

A Grammar of New Testament Greek series, by James Moulton, says, “The importance of the difference between mere belief … and personal trust.”[15] Both these senses can be conveyed using the Greek word pisteuo. The context helps us to identify the different senses of the meaning of pisteuo. Then again, we also have the different grammatical constructions that also convey what the Bible author had meant by his use of the word. When pisteuo is simply followed by a noun in the dative case, it is merely rendered as “believe,” such as the chief priest and elders response to Jesus at Matthew 21:25, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ However, in Romans 4:3 we have pisteuo follow by a noun in the dative in the Updated American Standard Version, yet it is rendered “For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham put faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (The ASV, RSV, ESV, NASB and others have “Abraham believed God”)

If pisteuo is followed by the Greek preposition epi, “on,” it can be rendered “believe in” or believe on.” At Matthew 27:42, it reads, “we will believe in him [i.e., Jesus].” At Acts 16:31, it reads “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved …” (KJV, UASV similarly) What is the difference between “believing in Jesus” and “believing on Jesus”? Believing in Jesus is a merely acknowledging that he exists while believing on Jesus is to accept absolutely, having no doubt or uncertainty, trusting in, putting faith in or trust in, exercising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If pisteuo is followed by the Greek preposition eis, (“into, in, among,” accusative case), it is generally rendered “trusting in” or “trust in.” (John 3:16, 36; 12:36; 14:1) The grammatical construction of the Greek verb pisteuo “believe” followed by the Greek preposition eis “into” in the accusative gives us the sense of having faith into Jesus, putting faith in, trusting in Jesus.

Revelation 21:3-4 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell[16] among them, and they shall be his people,[17] and God himself will be among them,[18] 4 and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

In the O[ld] T[estament] the kingdom of God is usually described in terms of a redeemed earth; this is especially clear in the book of Isaiah, where the final state of the universe is already called new heavens and a new earth (65:17; 66:22) The nature of this renewal was perceived only very dimly by OT authors, but they did express the belief that a humans ultimate destiny is an earthly one.[19] This vision is clarified in the N[ew] T[estament]. Jesus speaks of the “renewal” of the world (Matt 19:28), Peter of the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21). Paul writes that the universe will be redeemed by God from its current state of bondage (Rom. 8:18-21). This is confirmed by Peter, who describes the new heavens and the new earth as the Christian’s hope (2 Pet. 3:13). Finally, the book of Revelation includes a glorious vision of the end of the present universe and the creation of a new universe, full of righteousness and the presence of God. The vision is confirmed by God in the awesome declaration: “I am making everything new!” (Rev. 21:1-8)

The new heavens and the new earth will be the renewed creation that will fulfill the purpose for which God created the universe. It will be characterized by the complete rule of God and by the full realization of the final goal of redemption: “Now the dwelling of God is with men” (Rev. 21:3).

The fact that the universe will be created anew[20] shows that God’s goals for humans is not an ethereal and disembodied existence, but a bodily existence on a perfected earth. The scene of the beatific vision is the new earth. The spiritual does not exclude the created order and will be fully realized only within a perfected creation. (Elwell 2001, 828-29)

Jesus Set the Example As to Proclaiming the Kingdom Good News

Christians today should be seeking to walk in the steps of their exemplar, Jesus Christ. Yes, we have been called, so that we might follow in Jesus’ steps.

1 Peter 2:21 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his footsteps,

In imitation of Jesus Christ, we should be willing to suffer the greatest difficulties if need be, even to the point of death, in order to uphold the sovereignty of God as we take every opportunity proclaim good news.

Luke 4:16-21 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll[21] of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. And he unrolled the scroll[22] and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news[23] to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll[24] and gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

A survey of the Gospels indicates that Jesus’ publishing program—via his traveling throughout Galilee and Judea and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom—was extensive and effective. Thousands and thousands of people heard the word from Jesus himself. In ancient times, the method of oral publication was far more effective than written publication. Books were expensive to make, and many people did not read. Most relied on oral proclamation and aural reception to receive messages. Indeed, most education was based upon oral delivery and aural reception/memorization to transmit texts. Thus, Jesus taught his disciples orally, and they committed his teachings to memory. When it came time, several years later, for the disciples to put these teachings into writing, they were aided by the Holy Spirit, who would remind the disciples of all that Jesus had taught them (John 14:26). Jesus’ disciples, commissioned by him, continued the same publishing work after Jesus’ death and resurrection. This publishing is known as the kerygma (Greek for “proclamation”). The word kerygma is taken straight from a well-known practice in ancient times. A king publicized his decrees throughout his empire by means of a kerux (a town crier or herald). This person, who often served as a close confidant of the king, would travel throughout the realm, announcing to the people whatever the king wished to make known. In English, we known him as a herald. Each New Testament disciple considered himself or herself to be like the kerux—a herald and publisher of the Good News.[25]

Yes, Jesus was an evangelizer, and he trained hundreds of evangelizers throughout his three and half years of ministry. “He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.” (Matthew 4:23) Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38, therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matt. 9:37-38) The apostles set up Christian congregations, with every Christian following the footsteps of Christ, to be an evangelizer.

While there is nothing, wrong with helping our neighbor deal with the social ills of the world, or taking some time to support a political candidate that we hope will implement laws that will allow for the greater work of evangelizing. Yes, Christianity has become a social institution, working night and day to save the world of humankind that is alienated from God, which has diverted them from the lifesaving work of being an evangelist. In the days of the Cold War between the United State and the former Soviet Union, a citizen of the United States would consider it treason if another citizen spent time promoting communism from the former Soviet Bloc. While we are citizens of this world, and of the country that we live in, our true Kingdom is the Kingdom of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Below we will quote the Holman Illustrate Bible Dictionary at length, to understand and appreciate what the Kingdom of God is.

The Kingdom of God

In the NT the fullest revelation of God’s divine rule is in the person of Jesus Christ. His birth was heralded as the birth of a king (Luke 1:32–33). The ministry of John the Baptist prepared for the coming of God’s kingdom (Matt. 3:2). The crucifixion was perceived as the death of a king (Mark 15:26–32).

Jesus preached that God’s kingdom was at hand (Matt. 11:12). His miracles, preaching, forgiving sins, and resurrection are an in-breaking of God’s sovereign rule in this dark, evil age.

God’s kingdom was manifested in the church. Jesus commissioned the making of disciples on the basis of His kingly authority (Matt. 28:18–20). Peter’s sermon at Pentecost underscored that a descendent of David would occupy David’s throne forever, a promise fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:30–32). Believers are transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God (Col. 1:13).

God’s kingdom may be understood in terms of “reign” or “realm.” Reign conveys the fact that God exerts His divine authority over His subjects/kingdom. Realm suggests location, and God’s realm is universal. God’s reign extends over all things. He is universally sovereign over the nations, humankind, the angels, the dominion of darkness and its inhabitants, and even the cosmos, individual believers, and the church.

In the OT the kingdom of God encompasses the past, present, and future. The kingdom of God had implications in the theocratic state. The kingdom of God is “already” present but “not yet” fully completed, both a present and future reality. The kingdom was inaugurated in the incarnation, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. God’s kingdom blessings are in some measure possessed now. People presently find and enter God’s kingdom. God is now manifesting His authoritative rule in the lives of His people. God’s kingdom, however, awaits its complete realization. His people still endure sufferings and tribulations. When fully consummated, hardships will cease. Kingdom citizens currently dwell alongside inhabitants of the kingdom of darkness. God will eventually dispel all darkness. The final inheritance of the citizens of God’s kingdom is yet to be fully realized. The resurrection body for life in the eschatological kingdom is a blessing awaiting culmination.

God’s kingdom is soteriological in nature, expressed in the redemption of fallen persons. The reign of Christ instituted the destruction of all evil powers hostile to the will of God. Satan, the “god of this age,” along with his demonic horde, seeks to hold the hearts of people captive in darkness. Christ has defeated Satan and the powers of darkness and delivers believers. Although Satan still is active in this present darkness, his ultimate conquest and destruction are assured through Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection. Sinners enter Christ’s kingdom through regeneration.

Many of Jesus’ parables emphasize the mysterious nature of God’s kingdom. For example, an insignificant mustard seed will grow a tree, as God’s kingdom will grow far beyond its inception (Matt. 13:31–32). The kingdom of God is like seed scattered on the ground. Some seed will fall on good soil, take root, and grow. Other seed, however, will fall on hard, rocky ground and will not grow. Likewise, the kingdom will take root in the hearts of some but will be rejected and unfruitful in others (Matt. 13:3–8). As wheat and tares grow side by side, indistinguishable from each other, so also the sons of the kingdom of God and the sons of the kingdom of darkness grow together in the world until ultimately separated by God (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43).

Although closely related, the kingdom and the church are distinct. George Eldon Ladd identified four elements in the relationship of the kingdom of God to the church. The kingdom of God creates the church. God’s redemptive rule is manifested over and through the church. The church is a “custodian” of the kingdom. The church also witnesses to God’s divine rule.

The kingdom of God is the work of God, not produced by human ingenuity. God brought it into the world through Jesus Christ, and it presently works through the church. The church preaches the kingdom of God and anticipates the eventual consummation.[26]

The last sentence of our quote says in part, “the church preaches the kingdom of God.” This has not been the case for almost 2,000 years. Today, the church preaches from the pulpit to those that are already Christian, as well as those, who happen into the church. Let us take another look at our key verses,

Romans 10:13-17 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

13 For “everyone who calls on [through worship and prayer] the name of the Lord[27] will be saved.””

14  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how will they hear without someone to preach? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”[28]

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord,[29] who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

14. Paul now launches into a series of rhetorical questions. The first is How, then, can they call54 on the one they have not believed in? Paul does not define his they. Obviously this is a term with wide application and may be seen as equivalent to “all people”. But the apostle may have the Jews especially in view. Throughout these chapters he is discussing the plight of his own nation, and they will be prominently in mind, whatever other application we may fairly discern. Paul advances to And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? It is possible to cavil at NIV’s rendering of whom they have not heard, a rendering shared by several recent translations. But NASB has it right with “How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard?” The point is that Christ is present in the preachers; to hear them is to hear him (cf. Luke 10:16), and people ought to believe when they hear him. Paul’s third question is And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? It is important to see the impossibility of hearing without someone preaching. “Hearing” is a reflection of first-century life. Paul does not raise the possibility of the message being read. While there were people who could read, the ordinary first-century citizen depended rather on being able to hear something. If the message of God was going to be effective in biblical times, it had to be heard. And for this a preacher was needed.[30]

Again, missionaries have been sent out throughout the last few centuries, but this is not the first-century way, it is the way of the last few centuries. However, over the last few decades, many trained in missions have come to realize the error of their ways. They have tried to grow the church by going outside of their community, to grow it back to their community. This was mistake number one. The other alternative was to grow from your community out to the rest of the world. Their second mistake was to use just a select few (missionaries), believing they were going to get the Great Commission accomplished. Of late, we hear much about having missionary churches that evangelize their own community, with their own members. While this belief is best and correct, I am unaware of any that are doing it as it should be done, and most are not doing it at all.

While modern technology is great, but there is but one-way to reach “the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Matt. 24:14). Yes, it is the human voice, but not as the Holman Commentary suggests with one man walking to a podium to preach, but for hundreds of millions to take to their communities, trained to preach (herald, proclaim) the message, and to teach what they had been taught “to one who does not know it.”

First-Century Christians Evangelized

[Jesus] reminded them in John 20:20 of his crucifixion: “He showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” Then he reminded them again about his peace in verse 21. Jesus said, “Peace be with you!” Jesus proclaimed peace, reminded them of his crucifixion, pronounced peace again, and then told them, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20: 21). With that one command, Jesus announced two thousand years of direction for the church, still in effect for the churches of today, even your church. He proclaimed that we are sent. The church is, and you are individually, God’s missionary to the world. Your church is God’s instrument to reach the world, and it includes reaching your community. We are sent on mission by God. We are to be a missions-centered church by calling, nature, and choice. We are called to be on mission in our community. We have been sent to be on mission in our context, and we must accept that call, that directive to be on mission where God has placed us, not five, not fifty, not five hundred years ago and not thirty miles away, not three hundred miles away, not three thousand miles away. We are exhorted to be on mission where God has placed us now, and our job is to [evangelize] wherever we are.[31]

Yes, the Great Commission was an assignment given to all Christians, which starts right in your own backyard. You can effectively evangelize the world, if you do it one community at a time, starting with your community.

Matthew 28:19-20 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, … teaching them … I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

In the Greek, the words for “all nations” are panta ta ethnē. We get our English word ethnic from the Greek word ethnē. When we hear (or read) Jesus’ command to “go to all nations,” we think countries. But when Jesus spoke those words, there were no countries as we understand them today. The nation-state is an invention of the modern era. In Jesus’ day there were groups of people, and there were empires. Jesus’ instructions mean that we must go to all the people groups in the world. The Jewish disciples of that day knew that Jesus was speaking about the Gentiles. The gospel was to go beyond the Jewish nation. But they also thought of Phoenicians, Macedonians, Greeks, Romans, and others Jesus did not use the word for empires like the Roman Empire, the Persian, or the Greek. Jesus used the word for peoples, and the Jews knew this meant all the different kinds of Gentiles. It meant to go to all the different kinds of people that existed. This is still God’s plan today. In today’s world, we have to remember that we are still sent … to all different kinds of peoples. The word peoples represents every ethno-linguistic people group around the world, all the different ethnicities present in our cities, and even the different generations that live in our communities.[32]

Who all were involved in the evangelism work of the first-century? The evidence is all too clear that all Christians were evangelizing their communities, with a select few, taking the message everywhere.

 Acts 1:14 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

14 All these with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Acts 2:1, 4 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

2 When the day of Pentecost was being fulfilled, they were all together in one place. 4 And they were all [men and women] filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues,[33] as the Spirit was giving them utterance.[34]

2:4. A third physical phenomenon experienced on the Day of Pentecost was the use of different languages. Throughout Acts, Luke uses different verbs to describe the coming of the Spirit upon new believers. This first time was a unique event, never again repeated in exactly the same way. When we look at the entire New Testament teaching on the Holy Spirit, we see the word baptism associated with initial conversion and the word filling with ministry. The first seems to happen once without repetition; the second occurs with frequency as believers allow God’s Spirit to produce powerful work through them.

Most evangelical scholars believe the tongues of Pentecost were genuine languages, not the ecstatic sounds Paul dealt with at Corinth (1 Cor. 14:1–12). Two arguments rise strongly to emphasize that these tongues represented languages not previously learned. First, the use of the word dialektos in verses 6 and 8 can only refer to a language or dialect. Second, the paragraph that follows (vv. 5–12) specifically emphasizes the fact that people of different languages understood the message of the Christians in their own language.

Some argue for a miracle of hearing as well as speaking in this chapter. The text does not really justify that. On the other hand, when people filled with the Holy Spirit proclaim the gospel, a supernatural ministry always takes place. When the hearers respond, a miracle of understanding certainly follows.[35]

Acts 2:17 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

17 “‘And it shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,* and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; (See Joel 2:28-29)

* The Greek behind the word “prophecy” here does not carry the meaning of “prediction,” or “foretelling,” (Gr., propheteuo), but literally means “a speaker out [Gr., pro, “before” or “in front of,” and phemi, “say”]” and thus describes a proclaimer, one who proclaims messages of God. That is, namely “to proclaim an inspired revelation, prophesy … Acts 2:17f; John 3:1; 19:6; 21:9; 1 Cor, 11:4f …; 13:9; 14:1, 3–5, 24, 31, 39; Rev. 11:3 …[36]

Matthew 24:14 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the inhabited earth[37] as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Acts 1:8 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in both Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the extremity of the earth.”

The prophecy of Jesus that the Good News would be “proclaimed throughout the [then known] whole world to all the nations [peoples], and then the end will come,” was applicable to them, and was carried out. The “nations” (Gr., ethnē), means the same as it does at Matthew 28:19, where we are commanded to “make disciples of all nations.” The first-century Christians made disciples of all nations (the peoples), in all of the then known world,[38] before the end came for the natural nation of Israel, as the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 C.E.,[39] killing over a million Jews, and taking hundreds of thousands captive. The apostle Paul wrote the Christians in Colossae about ten years earlier, 60 C.E, commenting on the spread of Christianity

Colossians 1:23 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

About 60-61 C.E., the apostle Paul wrote that the good news was “proclaimed in all creation under heaven.” (Col. 1:23) Did Paul mean that the good news had already reached faraway places like India, the Far East, Africa, Spain, Gaul, Britain, the Baltics, and Thule? While this does not seem likely, we should not speculate one way or the other. The point that Paul was making that the good news had been spread through the then known world as far as the readers knew, and regardless of the exact specifics, we know it was extensive. The good news had been spread as far as Parthia, Elam, Media, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Asia Minor, the parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and Rome.

First-Century Christian Worship and the Truth

The early Christians met in congregations, which for many of them, were private homes, to take in the truth. (Rom. 16:3-5) The book of Hebrews tells us some of what took place at these meetings. They were there, in part, to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:24-25) Tertullian of the late second, early third century (c.155–after 220 C.E.), wrote, “We meet to read the books of God … In any case, with those holy words we feed our faith, we lift up our hope, we confirm our confidence.”[40] In order to become a Christian, certain requirements had to be met, as we can see from the Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity,

As before, people who converted to Christianity were baptized. First, however, the new believer would be properly instructed in the beliefs and practices of Christianity. These ‘beginner’ Christians were the ‘catechumens’ (from the Greek meaning ‘oral handing down’, that is, teaching by word of mouth) and the way in which they were instructed developed as time went on. In the First apology, published in the middle of the second century, the Christian writer Justin Martyr (c. 100-165) gives us a valuable insight into how people were admitted into the church in Rome:[41]

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water.[42]

Thus, there were clear requirements before someone could be baptized: the education of basic doctrinal beliefs, praying, fasting, and a commitment to live a moral life and an understanding of Christian beliefs. These new believers were discovered by taking the message into the community. Then, they were taught to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. They were then organized into Christian congregations. These same disciples (learners) were trained to make more disciples, in the same way, preaching the Good News, and sharing the basic doctrinal beliefs.

Acts 5:42 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

41 So they went out from before the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day in the temple and from house to house they kept right on teaching and proclaiming the good news that the Christ was Jesus.

5:41–42 The apostles were not persuaded. They would continue to obey God rather than men. In fact, they rejoiced at having suffered for the name, very much in accord with the beatitude of their Lord (Luke 6:22f.). And the witness to the name continued—publicly in the temple and privately in the homes of the Christians. Luke seems to have used a common Greek rhetorical construction in v. 42 called a chiasm, which is most easily pictured as an A-B-B-A pattern. In the temple (A) and in homes (B), the apostles taught (B) and preached the gospel (A). Teaching was the task within the Christian fellowship, preaching the public task in the temple grounds. If there is any significance to his using such a device, it would be to give emphasis to the beginning and concluding elements. Their witness, their preaching of the gospel, was their primary task and occupation.[43]

Acts 14:21-23 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

21 After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to remain in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every congregation,[44] with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

14:21a. Journeying sixty miles southeast, Paul and Barnabas reached Derbe, preached the gospel there, and won a large number of disciples. Wait a minute! Were there no believers left behind at Lystra? Not yet. That awaits a future visit. Why would Luke so hurriedly mention ministry in a town where the results were so obviously significant? Probably because he knows he will revisit this town in his accounts of the second and third journeys and give it more press at that time.

Longenecker suggests Luke is simply a man of his times, more interested in the larger cities, the central target of most of the missionary activity in Acts. He does offer a suggestion of importance for Lystra and Derbe, however, and an applicational note worth reproducing here:

Probably the larger and more influential churches were in Antioch and Iconium as well, though the congregations in the smaller and more rural towns seem to have contributed more young men as candidates for the missionary endeavor (e.g., Timothy from Lystra—16:1–3; Gaius from Derbe 20:4)—a pattern not all together different from today, where the larger churches often capture the headlines and the smaller congregations provide much of the personnel (Longenecker, 438).

14:21b–22. In Derbe the missionaries could very well have headed southeast 150 miles to Tarsus and then easily returned to Syrian Antioch, but it was not yet time to go home. The churches of southern Galatia needed encouragement in their time of suffering, so they returned to the cities where they knew opposition awaited in order to tell the Christians, We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. These churches of southern Galatia were the likely recipients of the epistle to the Galatians written between the end of the first journey and the Jerusalem Council. When we read Galatians, therefore, we might think about these believers and remember how they came to Christ, enduring opposition from both Jews and Gentiles in the earliest days of their faith.

We wonder why Luke doesn’t tell us about renewed opposition in these three cities which had treated the missionaries so badly. Perhaps we should conclude that on the return trip they confined their ministry exclusively to small groups of believers and therefore did not offend synagogue leaders or influential people in either Gentile or Jewish communities of those cities.

Let’s not try to find a theology of suffering in the latter part of verse 22. Some popular religions today argue that people must find salvation through suffering. I have watched faithful followers of Catholicism plod forward on bleeding knees at the shrine of Lourdes in Portugal. I have seen flagalantes beat their backs bloody in the Philippines to earn favor with God. No, salvation does not come through suffering, nor were the missionaries talking here about salvation since their encouragement came to people already in the family of God. Rather, they reflected the word of the Lord Jesus about sharing his sufferings along the way to heaven (Rom. 8:17; Phil. 3:10–11; Col. 1:24).

14:23. The appointing of elders to new congregations affords sufficient consequence to give further space to it in “Deeper Discoveries.” Here we notice only that a different word appears, cheirotonesantes, rather than the usual presbyteroi or episkopoi, the latter two used interchangeably in the New Testament. The niv offers two marginal notes as options to the main text: “Barnabas ordained elders,” or “Barnabas had elders elected.” We should recognize the nature of these fledging churches. The manner of selecting leadership in established congregations like Jerusalem (Acts 6) would of necessity have been a very different process than that used with church planting efforts in the Gentile world of Asia Minor.[45]

Acts 20:20 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house,

20:20 A second characteristic of Paul’s ministry was the openness of his proclamation (v. 20). He kept no secrets, held nothing back. Whatever was true to the gospel and helpful to the faithful, he preached both publicly and from house to house. Mention of public proclamation recalls Paul’s days in the synagogue of Ephesus and the lecture hall of Tyrannus (19:8f.). The reference to houses most likely is to the house-church meetings of the Ephesian Christians. In contrast, some were not so open in their witness, i.e., false teachers who advocated hidden and secret doctrines. Paul warned the Ephesian leaders later in his speech that such would arise to plague their own church (v. 29f.). He reminded them of the honesty and openness of his own preaching. When one was faithful to the truth, there was nothing to hide.[46]

Review Questions

Why do Christians desire to talk about their beliefs?

Every Christian should realize what about effective ”

What similarity is there between the police/firefighters and Christian evangelists?

In short, explain why all Christians are obligated to evangelize.

What is the kingdom of God?

Who has carried the bulk of the evangelizing work for centuries, and why is it necessary to refocus our attention on churches and communities?

Explain how the first-century Christian evangelized and what they accomplished.

In the early church, what was a prospective disciple to go through before he or she could be a baptized member?

[1] As of the early 21st century, Christianity has around 2.2 billion adherents, out of about 7 billion people. Of these 2.2 billion, there are true Christians and there are false Christians. We are going to use one doctrine herein (inerrancy of Scripture), in establishing who is a true Christian, as opposed to who is a false Christian. You are not a true Christian if you do not accept full inerrancy of Scripture. This means that a true Christian would agree with the entire short statement below.

God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself.

Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms, obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises.

The Holy Spirit, Scripture’s divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.

Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives.

The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.―http://bible-translation.net/page/chicago-statement-on-biblical-inerrancy-icbi

[2] Quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15

[3] Kenneth Boa and William Kruidenier, Romans, vol. 6, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 314–315.

[4] See J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979), pages 37-57.

[5] Whitney, Donald S. (2012-01-05). Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life with Bonus Content (Pilgrimage Growth Guide) (p. 100-101). Navpress.

[6] Iniquity “signifies an offense, intentional or not, against God’s law.” (VCEDONTW, Volume 1, Page 122) Really, anything not in harmony with God’s personality, standards, ways, and will, which mars one’s relationship with God.

[7] Anders, Max; Lawson, Steven (2004-01-01). Holman Old Testament Commentary – Psalms: 11 (p. 266). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition.

[8] G. Herbert Livingston, “638 חָטָא,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 277.

[9] Or “own lust”

[10] Or in the whole world

[11] Or “Your God Reigns!”

[12] Or in the whole world

[13] Or wicked

[14] Quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15

[15] James Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek, Vol. 1: Prolegomena (London, England: T & T Clark International, 2006), 68.

[16] Lit he will tabernacle

[17] Some mss peoples

[18] One early ms and be their God

[19] It is unwise to speak of the written Word of God as if it were of human origin, saying ‘OT authors express the belief,’ when what was written is the meaning and message of what God wanted to convey by means of the human author.

[20] Create anew does not mean a complete destruction followed by a re-creation, but instead a renewal of the present universe.

[21] Or a roll

[22] Or roll

[23] Or the gospel

[24] Or roll

[25] Philip Comfort, Encountering the Manuscripts: An Introduction to New Testament Paleography & Textual Criticism (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), 2.

[26] Stan Norman with Gentry Peter, “Kingdom of God,” ed. Chad Brand, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 988–989.

[27] Quotation from Joel 2:32, which reads, “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah shall be saved.” In other words, Paul was referring to the Father not the Son.

[28] Quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15

[29] Quotation from Isaiah 53:1, which reads, “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of Jehovah been revealed?”

[30] Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 389–390.

[31] Putman, David; Ed Stetzer (2006-05-01). Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community (pp. 30-31). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition.

[32] Putman, David; Ed Stetzer (2006-05-01). Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community (p. 34). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition

[33] Or languages

[34] Or enable them to speak

[35] Kenneth O. Gangel, Acts, vol. 5, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 25–26.

[36] William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 890.

[37] Or in the whole world

[38] Christianity had spread from Jerusalem to Rome, Macedonia, Greece, Asia, Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Pamphylia, Syria, Cyprus, Crete, Babylon, Persian Gulf, Spain, Italy, Malta, Illyricum, Media, Parthia, Elam Arabia, Cyrene, Libya, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

[39] Dates of events before the Common Era (Also known as AD) are marked by the abbreviation B.C.E. Dates of events during the Common Era are marked by the abbreviation C.E.

[40] Thomas C. Oden, Ministry Through Word and Sacrament, Classic Pastoral Care, 59 (New York: Crossroad, 1989).

[41] Jonathan Hill, Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity, 46 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006).

[42] Justin Martyr, “The First Apology of Justin”, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume I: The Apostolic Fathers With Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe, 183 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885).

[43] John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 174.

[44] Congregation: (Heb. qahal; Gr. ekklesia) A congregation of Christians. A group of Christians, who gather for a Christian meeting, implying an interacting membership. In the Hebrew Scriptures, it usually refers to the nation of Israel, i.e., “the assembly of Israel” or “the congregation of Israel.” In the Greek New Testament, it refers to congregations of Christians, as well as the Christian congregation as a whole.–Nu 20:8; De 4:10; 1 Ki 8:22; Ac 9:31; Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 14:4.

[45] Kenneth O. Gangel, Acts, vol. 5, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 235–236.

[46] John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 424.

The Work of an Evangelist Why do Christians desire to talk about their beliefs? Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt.