by Les | Jul 4, 2022 | Click Date to Respond
Today we celebrate its 246th year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That excellent document led to a hard fought struggle to grapple our nation’s freedom from the rule of the King of England. Our forefather’s struggles, which led to their amazing victory, are an accomplishment that created a sense of self-sufficiency that has become a part of our American psyche and character.
As Christians we should ponder the meaning of both freedom and dependence, not independence, through a couple of scriptures.
First consider John 8:31-32.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
If you read further into chapter 8 you will find that the context is about becoming free from being a slave to sin. All have sinned and are deserving of death; that is, separation from God. Jesus changed that, he surrendered himself to reclaim us from eternal separation. We, as eternal living creations, have been rescued, redeemed, through Christ’s sacrifice. Jesus died for me, he died for you, and he died for all who believe in him that we shall enter into God’s eternal kingdom. This is our true freedom; the freedom that will remain with us after we are no longer citizens of this nation and enter into the presence of God.
In John 15:4-5 we learn that we are actually dependent on Christ.
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Just as no tomatoes will develop if you remove all of the blossoms from a tomato plant, Christians will not bear fruit if removed from Christ. In order to produce fruit, to be a living functioning part of the body of Christ, Christians need to remain connected to Christ just as the blossom needs to remain attached to the tomato vine in order to bear a tomato. Christians are dependent upon Christ in order to grow and mature. Far too many Christians have detached themselves from the church or from having any connection with a body of believers in a spiritually meaningful and refreshing way. It is only through union with fellow believers that the Fruit of the Spirit may thrive and be productive.
Christ has indeed blessed us with freedom from being a slave to sin. It is a gift that we can never reimburse Him for and we should thank him daily for this gift. To be worthwhile and beneficial to Christ’s instruction to make disciples we must remain forever dependent upon him. To be in Christ is to be dependent and to be dependent is to be free indeed.
by Les | Jun 27, 2022 | Click Date to Respond
Philippians 3:8,
What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my lord, for whose sake I have lost all things, I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.
When Steve (not actual name) and his wife married neither of them were Christians. His wife came to know Jesus a few years following their marriage and some difficulties began between them. Enough so that his wife told her grandmother that she was considering divorce. Her grandmother, a devout woman of Christ, told her that she should pray for Steve before making that decision. Although Steve wasn’t happy with the friction that had developed between him and his wife he saw no reason to change how he lived.
Steve was a barber who had his own shop during the time VHS video tape came into existence. Available from his barber shop were VHS tape rentals, most of which Christians would think inappropriate to view.
Time passed and the church that Steve’s wife attended held a revival weekend and she had several times asked Steve to attend the evening gatherings. He resisted but, out of love for her, decided to attend one evening although he intentionally arrived late. He stood at the doorway of the sanctuary, not wanting to enter, and saw that his wife was sitting with the choir behind the man who was speaking. As he stood there he began listening and he felt as though the pastor was looking directly at him, speaking directly to him, and the words began to reach his heart. Being someone who had rarely attended church Steve didn’t know how to respond to what he was experiencing.
While the minister continued to speak Steve began walking down the aisle. He walked past the minister and reached his hand out to his wife. She took his hand and he led her out of the church and to their home. At home he poured out his convicted heart and she led him through the prayer of salvation.
Being a new creation Steve felt that he had more to do. He told his wife he would return shortly and left the house. He went to his work place where he burned all the VHS tapes in the area behind his barber shop.
Following the purge of videos, customers who entered his shop would ask where all the tapes had gone and Steve would tell them he burned them and why he did so. He witnessed to all who entered and it wasn’t long before his customers were no longer returning. With the lack of customers Steve and his wife began discussing where God was leading them. That path led them to Central Baptist Theological Seminary and Steve became an ordained minister. In time the two of them became American Baptist missionaries and served outside the United States.
Steve experienced God in a miraculous way and, through their growth in their faith; the two of them began serving others in previously unexpected ways.
Following Christ isn’t without cost, for Steve it was the loss of his customers and business. But, having gained Christ and following the Holy Spirit’s lead into the ministry, and also having renewed his relationship with his wife, Steve would say that his gain far outweighed any loss that he experienced.
by Les | Jun 20, 2022 | Click Date to Respond
Recently I have heard some people express concerns about speaking to others about their Christian faith. For most, when they hear the word evangelism they get a mental image of walking onto a stranger’s front steps and knocking on their door and then asking them if they know Jesus Christ. I can honestly say that the very notion of doing this frightens me and I would expect that I wouldn’t be warmly welcomed. Thankfully, statistics indicate that this method is not the most effective form of evangelism.
A few years ago Rev. Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson, American Baptist Home Mission Societies’ national coordinator of Evangelism and New Church Planting, wrote a book called ‘Got Style‘ that introduced friendship evangelism. Dr. Johnson once met with a group that had gathered here at Meridian Avenue on a weekday afternoon to discuss friendship evangelism. Dr. Johnson’s book says that the most effective evangelism is where you share your faith in the context of a friendly, casual conversation. This is done by looking for opportunities to talk about your own faith experiences.
So how does friendship evangelism work? There are several ways in which to utilize friendship evangelism, the way that I like best is to look for a chance to make a statement that offers an opportunity that allows the listener to begin asking me questions. Below are a couple of examples that have worked for me in the past.
While sharing a pizza with someone from work I mentioned that the best pizza crust that I ever had was while I was in Santa Ana, El Salvador. A statement like that will either not be responded to or it will prompt the other person, or persons, to ask what I was doing in El Salvador. The answer to his question was that I was there helping to build new homes following two devastating earthquakes in 2001. Often more questions will then be asked; how did you get there, who were you working with, what things did you see and why did you go?
Another choice that I have used to start the same general line of questions and responses is by stating that the most unusual thing I have eaten is Iguana. This normally receives questions such as, where did you eat that which is followed by what you were doing there. (I was in Nicaragua at the time.)
The point of this type of methodology is that the other person(s) feel that they are in control of the conversation. If you, out of the blue, begin a discussion about the need of salvation, or about what Christ has led you to be a part of, you are controlling the conversation and others may feel threatened that the ‘do you know Jesus’ question is coming. On the other hand, if you can turn the conversation so that others are asking questions, then they are leading the conversion and they feel less stressful. From their perspective it is simply a friendly conversation.
Generally, if you can put another person into directing the flow of the conversation then they are more open to actually listening to what you have to say. People are often eager to hear how God has influenced our lives…. as long as they are asking the questions.
Questions are bridges for effective evangelism. If you feel that you don’t know enough to effectively witness (evangelize), be assured that you know more than you think you do and always trust God to take the conversation to where it ought to go. When exercising friendship evangelism be sure to subtly mention that whatever you have done is to God’s glory and never for your own.
It is the task of the Holy Spirit to save the lost, not our’s. Our job is to plant seeds and to water the garden that another may have already planted. The Holy Spirit will move in a person’s life when the time is right. We are to be available and willing to share Jesus in our life but we should earn the trust, from another person, to speak of Jesus to them.
I have mentioned a couple of methods that I have used to open conversations to share my faith with others. Helen, my wife, is far more gifted in the use of friendship evangelism. She was employing friendship evangelism before either of us knew there was a name for it.
by Les | Jun 13, 2022 | Click Date to Respond
Julie P. recently said that the most important thing that we, the church, should be doing is to bathe our church in prayer. To bathe means to immerse in water, to clean oneself with soap and water. The word bathe, when used as a verb, indicates an active participation in the cleaning, immersing process. To bathe our church in prayer is a prayer process that means intentional and thorough cleaning.
Here are seven ideas of how to go about how to bathe Meridian Avenue in prayer. Feel free to expand on this list below as the Spirit leads you in prayer.
1. Pray for unity in the church.
Pray that God will help us to set aside any differences we may have as we look to serve the greater cause that is Christ.
2. Pray that God will be glorified in all things that we as a church do and that Christ is continually exalted.
Pray that we as a church may make a difference in this world for the glory of Christ and for God’s purpose.
3. Pray that God’s Spirit and power will fill the church.
Pray that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.
4. Pray that the church would be faithful to go into all of the world and share the gospel of Christ.
Pray that we are bold in saying that Jesus paid the price of our redemption and for us to never take the gift of his love, in our behalf, for granted.
5. Pray for those who serve in church leadership.
Pray that every leader of this church, and churches around the world, have their hearts and minds directed towards Christ.
6. Pray for God’s power and protection against the attacks of the enemy.
The enemy we combat is strong but the power of God is far stronger. Pray that each of us is sheltered in His strength against the enemy of the church.
7. Pray that the church is awakened and is stirred into action.
Pray that each of us is awakened and that we live aware, listening to God’s words, and willing to make a difference in the lives of others.
by Les | Jun 6, 2022 | Click Date to Respond
Luke 6:38, Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
By accepting Jesus as our savior we come to know God. Through studying the scriptures we grow in faith and understanding. By serving others, as an extension of knowing Christ and maturing in faith, we can become happier and live more fulfilling lives.
It is wonderous that people derive joy by serving others and giving of themselves. By giving to others, by serving our fellow man and woman, we can experience a sense of fulfillment that cannot be found in any other way.
There are so very many ways in which we can serve others. We can serve within our church by helping in the kitchen, being an usher, helping to decorate the sanctuary or by serving in a leadership capacity. We can also help our neighbors who have need for assistance. This can be as simple as collecting their mail while they are away from home or shoveling a snow covered driveway. We can even serve as a volunteer with one of the many community programs to help those in need. The opportunities are plentiful and many of them provide an opportunity to tell others how Jesus has led you to serve.
Those who have come to experience God, and have grown in faith, should serve others just as Christ and his Apostles served others.
Acts 20:35, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
by Les | Jun 1, 2022 | Click Date to Respond
Every new Christian needs an opportunity to grow in their faith. Unless a new Christian, a newbie, has a mentoring Christian’s influence in their life they will likely continue to think and act as they did prior to experiencing God. Those of us who are more mature Christians have an opportunity to influence new Christians.
To effectively have a mentoring influence in a person’s life, Christian or not, the mentor must spend time with the one to be mentored. A newbie can come to worship services every Sunday, greet and shake hands with mature Christians every week, but not have their life influenced for lack of opportunity to spend meaningful time with a more mature Christian. Without an opportunity to spend quality time together there is limited opportunity for a newbie to meaningfully connect with mature Christians.
Connection is vital in the development of any new Christian’s faith development. Without a connection to others who are attending the Sunday service the newbie remains the newbie and often feel unnoticed or detached from others attending worship service. This is one of the reasons that Pastor Dick has mentioned small groups, connection groups, several times.
Gathering in smaller groups provides opportunities that will never exist during a worship service. In a small group the newbie is one of the few present rather than another face in a crowd. Small group gatherings are more intimate. A small group allows an opportunity for the new Christian to be noticed as well as an opportunity to get to know the others in the small group. It is an opportunity to learn about each other’s families, jobs, hobbies and, of course, to grow in faith.
In a small group it is easier to share your faith experiences which new Christians need to hear as well as an opportunity for the newbie to ask questions he or she might have. Small groups become like an extended family, a family that every member can ask advice from and seek support.
Also, in a small group, more mature Christians have an opportunity to grow. They learn from the experiences of others and from the God given knowledge that others have. There is also an opportunity to learn to communicate the Good News that is Jesus with others more effectively.
The skills gained in a small group can also be used outside of a small group. You never know when God will put you before someone in the checkout line at a grocery store or next to someone in a department store that needs to hear something from your faith journey.
Small groups allow more mature Christians to help guide those who have recently come to Christ (Experienced God), as well as an opportunity for all to grow in faith while learning to better serve others.
