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Learning From Peter as a Witness of Christ

February 27, 2015

Jesus chose Peter to be the leader of the apostolic company and entrusted him with the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 16:16-19). After giving them instructions about how He wanted them all to be witnesses of Him to the whole world (Acts 1:8), we first see in the book of Acts that Peter led the believers in choosing the necessary replacement for Judas (Acts 1:15-26).

In Acts 2, we read of Peter’s preaching the first apostolic message in obedience to Jesus’ directive for them to be His witnesses. This premier gospel message has many instructive features that we need to learn from so that we will be the witnesses of Christ that we should be.

Peter as a Witness in Jerusalem

Peter preached to men who were devout Jews (Acts 2:5) from every nation, but before he did so, they all heard supernaturally produced testimony to the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:11). Because the Spirit has chosen not to give us any more information about what that testimony included, we cannot be certain of what specific content they received through this precursor to his message.

Following this initial supernatural testimony, Peter explained to his hearers what they had just witnessed signified (Acts 2:14-21). This means that his hearers received a lengthy two-part precursor to his actual message.

When we look at Peter’s message (Acts 2:22-36), we see that it was preeminently a God-and-Jesus message that highlighted that God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Him (Acts 2: 22; 32, 36). When the people responded by asking him and the rest of the apostles what they should do in light of what he had preached to them (Acts 2:37), Peter instructed them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 2:38-39), just as Jesus had commanded the apostles to proclaim to the world (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Lk. 24:44-49).

Peter then extensively warned them after his message and urged them to be saved (Acts 2:40). Because the Spirit has chosen only to give us a brief summary of this lengthy exhortation after Peter’s message, we again note that God has not given us an exhaustive record of the witness that these people received on this occasion.

Three thousand people from among his hearers joyfully received his message and were baptized (Acts 2:41). This vast multitude of people was genuinely saved not by hearing just “a simple gospel message” that only told them that Jesus is God and that He died for their sins—they actually received a very lengthy witness that climaxed with an emphatic proclamation of Jesus as the God-resurrected and God-exalted Christ (Acts 2:36)!

What Being a Witness of Christ Does Not Mean

Although we do learn many things from this premier message about what being a witness of Christ entails, the inspired record of Peter’s first witnessing of Christ in Jerusalem (Acts 2) also teaches us many key truths about what being a witness of Christ does not mean:

Being a witness of Christ does not mean that we should necessarily give people as short and simple a message as possible. These people heard a four-part vast testimony (Acts 2:11; 2:14-21; 2:22-36; 2:38-40) that plainly declared to them many profound truths (cf. Acts 2:11, 33, 36, 38), including truth about the day of the Lord (Acts 2:16-21) that Bible interpreters even today have difficulty fully understanding and explaining.
Being a witness of Christ does not mean talking only or mainly just about Jesus Himself. In fact, Peter bore vital testimony many times in his message to what God the Father did in relation to Jesus (Acts 2:22, 24, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36).
Being a witness of Christ does not mean talking only or mainly about the Crucifixion of Jesus. Although Peter, naturally, did testify of the Crucifixion (Acts 2:23), he emphasized the Resurrection and Exaltation of Christ far more than he did the Crucifixion (Acts 2:24-36).
Being a witness of Christ does not mean talking only or mainly about Jesus as God. Although what Peter preached did testify to the deity of Jesus, he also testified that Jesus was the Christ whom God approved (Acts 2:22), worked through (Acts 2:22), raised (Acts 2:24, 32), and exalted (Acts 2:33, 36).
Being a witness of Christ does not mean talking only or mainly about Jesus as Savior. Peter did testify to that truth, but he climaxed his message with a declaration of Jesus as the God-exalted Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), which statement is not reducible to testimony merely about Jesus as Savior.
Being a witness of Christ does not mean talking only or mainly about believing on Jesus. Peter emphatically demanded that his hearers also repent (Acts 2:38).
Being a witness of Christ does not mean talking only or mainly about getting saved. Although Peter did provide testimony to them about being saved (Acts 2:21) and did urge them to be saved (Acts 2:40), he also demanded that they be baptized (Acts 2:38).

Conclusion

The inspired record of Peter’s testimony of Christ in Jerusalem that is recorded in Acts 2 provides us with vital instruction about being a witness of Christ. Let us all profit fully from this glorious passage!

In Evangelism, Exposition, Preaching

Paul as a Witness of Christ

February 23, 2015

In my final message in the series Thoroughly Equipped to be a Witness of Christ, I covered these key points about the apostle Paul as a witness of Christ. Although there is much more to learn about Paul as a witness that is important, these eight points cover many of the key things that Acts teaches us about this vital dimension of his life.

1. Paul began to be a witness of Christ (Acts 9:20) shortly after he was saved and baptized (Acts 9:18). Every believer must be baptized after he is saved, and then he should witness of Christ regularly (cf. Acts 9:20, 22, 27, 29).

2. Paul began to be a witness of Christ (Acts 9:20) in the place where he was after he was saved (Acts 9:19). If possible, we need to be witnesses of Christ wherever we are after we are saved.

3. Acts 9:20 does not tell us what Paul did not say to these people in the synagogues in Damascus when he witnessed to them. We must not misinterpret this one-verse summary of his message by saying that it teaches us something that it does not.

a. Acts 9:20 does not show that Paul did not preach about the resurrection of Christ to the people in the synagogues.

b. Acts 9:20 does not show us that Paul did not tell them to repent.

c. In fact, Acts 26:20-23 proves that he testified to both of these truths in Damascus when he first was a witness of Christ!

From Damascus, Paul went to Jerusalem and was a witness to Christ there (Acts 9:29). Then he was sent to Caesarea on his way to Tarsus, where he was born (Acts 9:30). Knowing Paul, he undoubtedly was a fervent witness in Tarsus.

After I was saved, I made a trip to city where I grew up to witness to everyone I grew up with. As God allows and directs, every believer should try to do likewise.

4. Paul served in the church at Antioch for some time before the Holy Spirit called him and Barnabas to go on a missions trip (Acts 13:1-4). God calls missionaries from local churches and sends them out from them.

Local churches must be faithful to prepare their people for the possibility of God’s calling them to missions. Local churches are where you should be trained to be a witness of Christ. Local churches are to be faithful in sending out and supporting those they send out as missionaries.

Acts 13:32-33 is an important passage because it shows that Psalm 2 was a key text that Paul used to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. We can preach the gospel to any lost person by taking them through Psalm 2!

5. Acts 16:31 does not show us that the jailor was saved by hearing a one-sentence gospel message. Note that Acts 16:32 says that Paul and Silas gave him more testimony than just what Acts 16:31 records.

Also, note what the jailor’s response was to the witness that they gave him: he was baptized (Acts 16:33) because Paul and Silas obviously told him that he needed to be baptized, which is not recorded in Acts 16:31.

6. Acts 17:17-18 is a key text about Paul as a witness because it shows that his content was the same with various groups that he evangelized in various ways. To all the people that he encountered in Athens, he preached the same essential content—Jesus and the resurrection. We must do likewise.

Acts 17:29-31 then teaches us vital truth that we should give to every person we witness to about Christ. We must explain to them that God has proven to them through His raising Jesus from the dead that He has fixed a day in which He will judge them through Jesus as the Judge that He has appointed. Because God has proven this to all men everywhere, we must tell them that God commands them to repent in view of these realities.

7. Acts 26:16-29 is perhaps the most important passage in at least the book of Acts for understanding Paul as a witness of Christ (Acts 26:16). It teaches us about his witnessing in four vital ways:

a. Geographical comprehensiveness – Paul began to be a witness where he was saved (Damascus). Then he witnessed of Christ in Jerusalem, throughout all the coasts of Judea, and to the Gentiles. Paul’s life of witnessing (Acts 26:20) was fully in line with what Christ directed His apostles to do (Acts 1:8).

b. Chronological comprehensiveness – Paul was a witness first in Damascus (Acts 26:20) and continued to be one unto the very day that he defended himself before King Agrippa and others (Acts 26:22). Paul’s entire life included his being a witness of Christ and so should ours.

c. Comprehensiveness about the people whom Paul witnessed to and about the people whom he desired to be saved – Paul witnessed to Jews and Gentiles (Acts 26:20), to the small and the great (Acts 26:22), and to the king (Acts 26:29), governor (Acts 26:30), and many others who were present at his defense (Bernice, chief captains, and principal men of the city [Acts 25:23]). Moreover, Paul wanted all of them to be saved (Acts 26:29)!

d. Content that Paul testified to every person – Paul told everyone everywhere from Damascus to the Gentiles that they had to repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance (Acts 26:20). He also testified to all people that Christ should suffer, be the first to rise from the dead, and show light to the people and the Gentiles (Acts 26:23)—all of which was exactly what Moses and the prophets did say should come (Acts 26:22).

8. Acts 28:23 and 28:30-31 show that Paul witnessed of Christ by testifying to everyone that he could for two entire years about both the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, just as Peter (Acts 2) and Philip did (Acts 8). We must likewise evangelize all people with the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12).

In Evangelism, Preaching

On The Value of Learning More about Being a Witness of Christ

February 17, 2015

I began my message this past Sunday morning with this illustration that pointedly challenged my hearers about a key issue:

Suppose that tomorrow, several hundred people here in Greenville would go to their mailboxes to get their mail. They find a letter that congratulates them because they have been chosen to attend some very special seminars. Billionaires will give specific teaching in these seminars that is guaranteed to make them very rich.

Can you imagine how eagerly people would pay attention in those seminars? Don’t you think that people would try to learn as much as they could? Wouldn’t they take very detailed notes about what those billionaires teach them about making money?

We are not here this morning to hear from billionaires about how to make lots of money. We are here to profit from the words of God about how to be a witness of Christ, which is far more important than making lots of money. I hope that you will pay very close attention this morning and take many notes from what God teaches you today.

How interested and eager are you about learning more about being a witness of Christ? If you will be in Greenville this Sunday morning (and do not already have your own church that you regularly attend), I invite you to come hear my final message in this series Thoroughly Equipped to Be a Witness of Christ.

In Evangelism, Preaching

Learning from Philip as a Witness of Christ

February 13, 2015

Acts 1:8 records that Jesus instructed His disciples to be witnesses of Him to the whole world. The rest of the book relates many accounts of their bearing witness to Him and for Him.

For many reasons, Acts 8 is a uniquely important chapter in the book of Acts for our understanding of being a witness of Christ:

—Shows how not just the apostles, but also other believers were witnesses of Christ (Acts 8:4)

—Has key statements about how believers initially witnessed of Christ to people outside of Jerusalem (Acts 8:1, 4)

—Has far more occurrences of forms of a key verb for preaching the gospel (euaggelizomai) than any other chapter of the book of Acts has (Acts 8:4, 12, 25, 35, 40)

—Provides the only inspired record of the gospel ministry of the only person named as an evangelist in Scripture (Acts 8:5-13; 26-40)

—Provides a crucial statement about the dual-faceted nature of sound gospel preaching (Acts 8:12)

—Records vital apostolic instruction about the necessity of repentance and prayer for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 8:22)

—Relates the vital importance of believers’ helping people understand what that they have been reading from Scripture but have not understood properly (Acts 8:30-35)

—Underscores the importance of confronting people with their need to have hearts that are right in the sight of God (Acts 8:20-23; 37)

Because God has given us Acts 8 to teach us so many important truths that vitally equip all believers for doing the good works of evangelizing and making disciples of the world, we need to profit from it as fully as possible. Because this chapter uniquely provides us with an extensive record of the evangelist Philip as a witness of Christ, we all as believers need especially to learn from Philip how God wants us to be witnesses of Christ.

If you will be in the Greenville area on this Sunday and are looking for a church to attend, I would like to invite you to come hear my message this Sunday morning that will explain these things further.

In Discipleship, Evangelism, Preaching

Beware This “News Report” Approach to Using John 11 in Evangelism!

February 9, 2015

This morning, I used a creative approach with some other believers to help them understand better how many believers have not rightly understood why Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead the way that He did. I believe that a vast number of believers need to understand this key point and then use that understanding to adjust in a very important way their use of John 11 in evangelizing people.

An Imaginary News Report of Jesus’ Raising Lazarus from the Dead

Imagine that a news crew from a leading TV network is able to go back in time to videotape one key Bible event, and they choose when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This crew has the ability to record what takes place without any of the people even seeing that they are present.

As they watch Jesus and others coming to the tomb, they choose to begin recording only at the exact moment when He actually commands Lazarus to come forth. Getting what they want on tape, they return to the present to share their highly selective eyewitness account with the world.

On a prime time news program, they present the stunning video, which instantly creates a worldwide sensation. As teams of news reporters and analysts all around the world go back and forth discussing the remarkable footage, leading news anchors here in the US carry on a torrid debate about what the world should make of this miraculous event.

The Internet explodes with a never-before-seen deluge of discussion on social media. Many bloggers chime in with their take on what significance the world should attach to seeing Jesus do something that no one else had ever been recorded doing—raising a person back to life who had been dead for four days!

Everywhere, people fiercely dispute why Jesus did what He did the way that He did it and what His doing so reveals about who He was. An endless stream of world leaders, political and religious, gives their opinions on whether they believe that the video proves that Jesus was God.

All too often, many Christians have evangelized people by using the account of Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead in a very similar way to what I concocted in this hypothetical story. By focusing on a very small portion of the Bible record about this event, they have in many cases not given people a right understanding of why Jesus raised Lazarus the way that He did and what His doing so shows about who He was.

The Foreground Significance of Jesus’ Raising Lazarus the Way That He Did

An examination of the Holy Spirit’s inspired report of what happened shows clearly how this has been the case. When John relates to us what happened immediately before Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out of the grave, he says,

Joh 11:38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

³⁹ Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

⁴⁰ Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

⁴¹ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

⁴² And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

Only after relating these events does John tell us the very selective part that the fictitious news story I gave above provided:

⁴³ And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

⁴⁴ And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Had the Spirit only inspired John to write verses 43-44 after he had given enough preceding material to give the basic information about the setting of this event, the news report would have been a more valid representation of what took place on this occasion. John, however, provided vital information in the verses immediately preceding verses 43 and 44 that the news report failed to provide.

Right before Jesus commanded Lazarus to come forth, John says that Jesus lifted up His eyes and talked aloud with God the Father (John 11:41). In this conversation, Jesus thanked the Father for hearing Him and for His always hearing Him. These statements show that Jesus communicated that He had prayed to the Father just before His raising Lazarus from the dead and that the Father had heard His prayer, just as He always had done before this event!

Moreover, John then recorded that Jesus then remarked to the Father, “But because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 11:42). Here John reports from the mouth of Jesus Himself what is the key to understanding why Jesus raised Lazarus the way that He did—He wanted the people to believe the vital truth that the Father had sent Him!

Saying this, Jesus told all those who were present on that occasion that the foreground significance of His raising Lazarus the way that He did was that people would believe that God the Father had sent Him! What He Himself said prior to what He was about to do thus made known that His intent through this miraculous event did not have proving His own deity as its foremost significance.

Yes, what He did testified to His deity but that clearly was not the sum total of what this event testified about Him. In fact, by Jesus’ own statement that John relates, we know that His own deity was not even the foremost truth to which His raising Lazarus the way that He did gave witness to His original audience.

How We Must Use John 11 Properly in Evangelism

As we have seen, this conversation between Jesus and the Father about His hearing Jesus’ prayer was a vital facet of this miracle that the news report completely left out. What Jesus testified about His purpose for doing this miracle the way that He did it is also a vital facet of this event that many, many believers do not account for when they use this account to witness to people.

In using John 11 in evangelism, we must not use this “news report” approach to sharing this glorious event with lost people. We must rather faithfully tell them that Jesus raised Lazarus the way that He did so that they will believe that the Father sent Him!

In Evangelism, Exhortation, Exposition, Theology

Beware “Theological Reductionism” that Overemphasizes the Deity of Jesus!

February 3, 2015

Is overemphasizing the deity of Jesus even possible? Mark 1:1-3 is a crucial passage for showing that such overemphasis is not only possible, but also is very widespread and has negatively affected the theological understanding of many believers.

The Proper Approach to Interpreting Mark 1:1

The Gospel of Mark begins with vital teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). This theologically pregnant statement juxtaposes many key theological terms: “gospel,” “Jesus,” “Christ,” and “the Son of God.”

Self-evidently, a right handling of this text is of preeminent importance. How then should we approach interpreting what Mark affirms here?

The Holy Spirit answers that question by how He has inspired what immediately follows in the passage: “As it is written in the prophets …” (Mark 1:2a). To interpret Mark 1:1 properly, we must relate it properly to how the Spirit has signified that Mark 1:1 is to be understood through our attention to previous biblical teaching.

What Does Mark 1:2-3 Itself Teach Us?

Before we can understand how Mark 1:1 relates properly with Mark 1:2-3, we must examine what Mark 1:2-3 teaches us itself. Mark 1:2-3 directs our attention to teaching found elsewhere in Scripture:

Mar 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. ³ The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

A careful analysis of verse 2 reveals that this biblical citation speaks of three distinct persons:

(1) the Speaker of the statement (“I,” “my”);

(2) the one who is sent by the Speaker as His messenger and who will prepare the way of another Person to whom the Speaker addresses the statement;

(3) the One Whom the Speaker addresses the statement to and Whose face the Speaker will send His messenger before and Whose way the messenger will prepare before Him (the third Person spoken of in the passage who is the referent of both occurrences of the pronoun “thy” in this verse).

The Speaker is God the Father, the one whom He sends as His messenger is John the Baptist (cf. especially 1:4-6), and the third Person in the passage is Jesus (Mark 1:7ff.).

Because Mark 1:3 informs us that the messenger would proclaim that the One whose way he would prepare (Mark 1:2) is the Lord, interpreters rightly understand that the passage is affirming the deity of Jesus. Is this affirmation of His deity, however, the only essential teaching of the passage about the gospel of Jesus Christ?

What Mark 1:1 Signifies Based on Its Relation to Mark 1:2-3

Many interpreters hold that the phrase “the Son of God” at its essence signifies Jesus’ deity in this passage and support this understanding by noting how that phrase is used elsewhere and by how 1:3 speaks of Him as the Lord whose way the messenger would prepare. Arguing in this way, they affirm that the essential truth about the gospel that Mark is stressing here is that Jesus Christ is deity Himself.

All too often, as they handle the passage in this way, however, they lose sight of another essential truth that the passage plainly affirms about Jesus before it speaks of Him as the Lord—Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is a distinct Person from the Father who sent His messenger before Him to prepare His way and His paths! Yes, this passage affirms the full deity of Jesus Christ, but what it teaches about His deity is not the only essential truth that this passage provides us about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Discussion

When interpreters emphasize one truth that a passage teaches to such an extent that they obscure or minimize without biblical warrant other key truths that the passage also teaches, they engage in what I call “theological reductionism.” Such reductionism, when it is repeatedly done, easily leads to widespread neglect of key biblical teaching and the mishandling of key passages of Scripture.

Yes, Mark 1:1-3 affirms the deity of Jesus Christ as the Lord. No, the passage does not teach that Jesus Christ as the Son of the God means only that Jesus is God Himself.

Rather, through inspiring Mark 1:2-3 as the essential explanation of the meaning that He intends for us to understand about the gospel significance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Holy Spirit teaches us to hold that “the Son of God” here denotes both His deity and His being a distinct person from God the Father. To emphasize the former at the expense of the latter is to engage in theological reductionism.

Moreover, the passage teaches us that the Father sent His messenger to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus to people as the Lord. The emphasis on the preparatory ministry of the messenger shows us that what would take place in Jesus’ life as the Lord was not a self-determined expression of and exercise of His own deity; Jesus came as the Lord whose paths His Father directed and determined.

Conclusion

Mark 1:1-3 teaches that a right understanding of the gospel significance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God includes both His deity and His distinction in person from God the Father. It also teaches us that another key truth about the gospel significance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is that the Father prepared His way to come to people as the Lord.

We must take care not to reduce the vital theological teaching of this passage about the gospel in such a way that we communicate that the gospel at its essence is reducible to merely an affirmation of and an expression of the deity of Jesus Christ. To furnish people with a proper understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we must communicate to them not only the deity of Jesus but also both His distinction in person from God the Father and the Father’s essential working in the life of Jesus.

In Exposition, Gospel, Theology

Un testimonio anónimo de la salvación

December 18, 2014

No estoy seguro de donde encontré este testimonio. Se ofrece un interesante relato de cómo alguien ha testificado de su salvación.

Mi Testimonio

Veinte y nueve años atrás el Señor me salvó en un motel en Las Vegas, Nevada. Se trata de 8:00 de la mañana. Yo estaba a punto de beber un poco de vino y de trabajo de algunos.

He trabajado en el motel una novedad para la empresa. Se paga bien. Mi esposa trabajó en un restaurante de una milla de distancia. Que estábamos haciendo bien financieramente.

Yo no estaba feliz de que por la mañana y muy desanimado. Sé ahora que Dios trabajó a cabo de esa manera.

Yo estaba sentado en la mesa en el cuarto de motel a punto de ir a trabajar. Encendí la radio en busca de algo de música, pero he encontrado a alguien hablar de Dios. Dijo que, si se quiere pedir al Señor que por favor perdone tus pecados, Él le salvar y darle una nueva vida y, a continuación, gracias a Él.

Bueno, yo pensé que sólo un minuto. Yo no la confianza, pero fui a la cama y se arrodillaron abajo, y dijo: Señor, si con reales como dice este hombre, por favor, perdona mis pecados y salvar mí y darme una nueva vida. Luego me dio las gracias a Él.

Yo no sabía lo que estaba guardado, pero inmediatamente perdió mi desánimo y me sentí pacífico y lleno de alegría. Le pregunté al Señor, si estoy realmente guardado, que me ayude a no pecar.

Por lo tanto, amigo, si usted se siente el Señor habla a usted, y le gustaría que se han salvado y una nueva vida, bajar por usted mismo y rezar. Pregunte al Señor para perdonar vuestros pecados y ahorrar. Si usted quiere decir negocios con Dios, Él le salvar.

~Inspirado por Dios.

¿Qué opinas de este testimonio?

In Evangelism, Spanish, Testimony

How to Be a Blessed Person

December 13, 2014

Psalm 32 reveals essential truth about how to be a blessed person. Anybody who heeds the teaching of this passage will experience true blessedness in his life.

On Being a Blessed Person

In the opening verses of Psalm 32, David makes four statements about being a blessed person, and none of them speaks about the things that the vast majority of people in the world think are important for a person to have in order for him to be a blessed person:

Psa 32:1 <A Psalm of David, Maschil.> Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

² Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

The first three statements show that a blessed person is someone whose sins God has properly dealt with so that God no longer holds him accountable for his sins. Addressing your sin problem, then, is essential for you to be a blessed person!

The fourth statement reveals that a blessed person is a person who has a truly special character—he has no guile in his spirit! Although initially we might think that this fourth statement is not closely connected to the other three, a closer look at the following verses shows us that it is.

No Guile in Assessing Our Own Sinfulness

Immediately after saying that a blessed person has no guile in his spirit, David adds,

Psa 32:3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

⁴ For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

⁵ I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

These verse show that when David spoke earlier about not having guile in one’s spirit, he had in view that a person must honestly acknowledge his sins to God. He must not hide his sins; instead, he must confess them to the Lord in order to have them forgiven.

Discussion

To be a blessed person, you must not deceive yourself about any of your sins. You must not make any excuses for any sins that you have committed.

You must openly acknowledge them to God, who already knows all about all your sins. When you confess them to God, He will forgive you.

Only when all your sins have been dealt properly with by God will you be the blessed person that He wants you to be. God wants you to be a blessed person, and He has shown you how to be a blessed person through dealing properly with all your sins.

Conclusion

If you will without any deceit in your spirit repent of your sins, confess them, and forsake them, God will forgive you. Through repentance toward God and faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, you will be a blessed person!

If you are already a believer in Jesus, you still need to be a person in whose spirit there is no deceit toward God about your sins as a believer. He will forgive you when you confess them properly (1 John 1:9), and you will enjoy again being a blessed person, just as David did when he as a believer confessed his sins to God (Ps. 32:3-11).

In Evangelism, Exhortation

The Salvation Testimony of Homer Chinn

October 12, 2014

With permission from Mr. Homer Chinn, a faithful member of my church, I am posting this testimony with the hope that God will use it to bring many people to Himself. May the Lord also greatly encourage many of His own through this message of His great goodness to this man whom He has saved for His glory.

My name is Homer Chinn. I’m a machinist for a company called Honeywell Aerospace where we repair and overhaul turbine engines. About 23 years ago, God saw fit to begin a work in my family.

It all began one Saturday morning when I was working on an old lawnmower. I began to get hot and frustrated so my daughter Amanda, who was only 5, was playing in the yard nearby so I sent her in the house to get me a beer and she said, “No, daddy.”

I didn’t think she heard me so I told her again, “I said Amanda go in the house and get your daddy a beer.” And she just bowed up on me and she said, “No, daddy.”

I knew then that she heard me and I got mad so I said, “Amanda, do you want a spanking”? She said, “No, sir.” Well, I said, “Go in the house, and get your daddy a beer!”

She said, “Daddy, I can’t.” I said, “Well, why not?” She said, “Because they are bad for you.”

I said, “Where did you learn that at?” She said, “At church.” When she said that, God spoke to me through that, and the weight of that just convicted me severely of my sin. I’d never felt that shame like that before.

So needless to say, I didn’t say anything else to her the rest of the day but that bothered me the rest of the day and for a couple of weeks after that. And it had gotten to where I wanted to go to church with my family but I knew if I went to church, God would require me to give up my sin, and I just didn’t want to.

But about 2 weeks later, I was sitting at the kitchen table on a Sunday morning. I started drinking again already then, and I heard my family come in from church. I heard the car door slam, and I heard one of the children skipping up the steps and come through the back door.

It was my daughter Amanda again. She crawled right up in my lap, looked me dead in the eyes. She said, “Daddy said, ‘Jesus died for me and you,’ didn’t He?”

And when she said that, the shame laid heavy on me and I never felt so ashamed in all my life. I was reared in church but had gotten out of it and when I got to be a teenager.

So I knew the truth that Christ had died for our sin but it was God speaking to me clearly through my daughter that day that really got my attention and made it hit home that He had died for me. The shame of her—a 5-year old, 40-pound little girl— telling me the truth, and here I was a grown man supposed to be teaching her weighed heavily on me.

So for another two weeks I resisted and fought it, but one Sunday morning I got up when they got up to get ready to go to church. I got up and went with them.

I thought that I had to go to church to get saved but by the grace of God that Sunday morning I went with them. I was tired of carrying that weight of sin. God had dealt with me and it grew heavy.

So I went to a little country church there in Traveler’s Rest that Sunday morning, and I don’t remember the Sunday school class. I don’t remember the sermon, but they sang the perfect hymnal invitation song for me, and that was “Just As I Am,” and I listened to that song real close, and I knew I had nothing to bring to the Lord but sin.

I had heard before some people thought you had to get cleaned up before God saved you but that’s not right. You just submit yourself, humble yourself before God, and He’ll do the saving.

So that day I walked forward on the last verse of the hymn and gave my life to Christ. Pastor knelt there at the altar and led me to Christ, and immediately my life began to change.

We were in a ministry like that for a couple of years and a couple of years into that ministry God began to show me some looseness and sin in that church that even I knew wasn’t right. I had no family here, I had nowhere to go for counsel, but I would lock myself in the bathroom and commit that to prayer.

And God in His mercy a year or two after I committed that to prayer one day led us to Mount Calvary. It was in the providence of God He allowed me to work with a godly young man named Lenny Bundy who has become a dear friend of mine. It was through his testimony and his walk with the Lord that I came to visit the church here.

My children and I just really plugged into the ministry here and began to grow. But as we began to grow, the trials and opposition came from some dear loved ones too. But I thank God through those trials He crowded us closer to Him. He taught us to take sin and living for Him much more serious than we ever knew how to before.

I saw God do some tremendous work in my girls’ lives which was I’ll forever be thankful. It was here God began to teach me how to pray, a little bit about prayer, the privilege of prayer, the power there is in prayer.

So I began to pray for my children and through prayer God opened many doors for them. He gave them access to people and things that could teach them things I couldn’t. It was through prayer God provided them some godly husbands and gave me some godly son-in-laws Tyler and Wesley for which I’ll always be thankful. And, now I’m going to get the privilege of being a grandfather!

So if you are here today, dear friend, and you don’t know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Yes, you may know His name, you may know some facts about Him, but until you know Him as your personal Savior from sin, you’ll never get to go to heaven.

It was here I learned what God had called me to do. So I ask you the same question today, “What has God called you to do? Why are you here today? Do you know your purpose?”

Listen closely to the messages today. If God speaks to your heart, be willing to surrender and yield to that—don’t resist. And obey whatever He lead you to do so God can save you so you can come to know the peace which passeth all understanding so you can come to know what your will is in your life and live your life for the Lord.

In Evangelism, Testimony

What Genuine Salvation Is According to Scripture!

July 4, 2014

Scripture teaches that every human being (other than Jesus of Nazareth) has sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Because of our sin, we have all earned death as our wages (Rom. 6:23).

When we repent toward God, confess Jesus as Lord with our mouths, and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead, we are saved (Acts 20:21; Rom. 10:9). Calling on the name of the Lord, we receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life because we honor Jesus as we honor the Father who has given all judgment to Him by appointing Him as the Judge of the living and the dead (John 5:22-24; Acts 10:42-43; Rom. 6:23; 10:13).

According to Scripture, however, genuine salvation is much more than just having one’s sins forgiven and going to heaven when we die. When a person is genuinely saved, he is delivered from the power of Satan and darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:12-13) so that he would walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4)!

Praise God for so great a salvation!

In Evangelism, Gospel, Theology

Archives For Evangelism

Peter as a Witness in Jerusalem

What Being a Witness of Christ Does Not Mean

Conclusion

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An Imaginary News Report of Jesus’ Raising Lazarus from the Dead

The Foreground Significance of Jesus’ Raising Lazarus the Way That He Did

How We Must Use John 11 Properly in Evangelism

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The Proper Approach to Interpreting Mark 1:1

What Does Mark 1:2-3 Itself Teach Us?

What Mark 1:1 Signifies Based on Its Relation to Mark 1:2-3

Discussion

Conclusion

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On Being a Blessed Person

No Guile in Assessing Our Own Sinfulness

Discussion

Conclusion

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