In 2014, VLBC’s theme is Announced and Distinguished. VLBC is been charged to step up its evangelism ministry efforts and carry out the command to bring more souls into His kingdom before it is too late.  All year we have been discussing witnessing and keys of effective evangelism.  Evangelism includes preaching the word (delivering the good new) and allowing the God’s Holy Spirit to work within us to encourage new believers to continue their spiritual growth by becoming responsible members of a church body. This is the “Great Commission” Jesus commanded His spirit-led followers to do and He gives us the power to do it.

     To review, unity and purity are the first two keys of essential evangelism we learned about this year.  Jesus’ taught us that effective evangelism requires Christians to have unity with fellow Christian brethren just like He has unity with His Heavenly Father.   He teaches us that we must first live in union with God before we can have unity with our fellow Christian brethren. He also teaches us to strive or attempt to attain a pure heart in order to live in harmony with God and allow His Spirit to operate within us. In order to maintain purity and unity in the church body, Christians should examine fellow brethren in love and deal with sin in the church as the Spirit directs them to do.  Jesus is exalted by Christian demonstrating God’s love, creating unity in the church and bringing sinners into His fold.  We learned that true evangelism starts with Spirit-Filled Christians who build, support and pray for their and other church ministries; work together in humility; and invest their time, resources and money in church activities.

     The third key of effective evangelism we learned about is power. We know that the Spirit of God must be alive in churches to allow God’s inspiration and blessings to flow throughout the entire church body.  Most importantly, we learned that we need the Holy Spirit to operate in us as well as our spoken words if we intend to carry out the Great Commission and evangelize effectively.  We learned that many refer to “Holy Ghost” power only to mean “signs, miracles and deeds,” which is the fourth key of effective evangelism that we learned about. We know that when Jesus came to earth, He set aside His Godly powers and limited himself to only things that man could do. While on earth, Jesus’ miracles were performed through the power of the Holy Spirit and when He ascended to His father, that’s when He sent the Holy Spirit to give us power.  When Jesus said that anyone who believed on Him could do greater works – “greater” meaning more in quantity, “works” meaning labor or occupation; and “miracles” meaning signs, wonders and powers. Today, Christians are able to spread the gospel more abundantly throughout the world, can lead sinners to a relationship with God and teach people to invite the Holy Spirit to live in them.  That is the “more greater or “more abundant works” that Jesus meant. And remember – sharing one’s faith is more pleasing to God than relying on miracles to win souls.

   The fifth key of effective evangelism we learned about is persecution .We learned that pure and unified churches can reach the world with evangelism that surges with power from God and that persecution will come to those who live a holy life. When a person or church is pure, unified (on one accord) and powerful, there is going to be a reaction from Satan. Praise God.  That persecution is acceptable with God and He planned it this way. That’s when Christians will know they are headed to victory and a reward awaits them in heaven.  [To Be Continued.]

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  – 1 Corinthians 13:11

     Life’s experiences come to teach and move us to the next level of our lives. Like the children of Israel, God allows us to pass through some wilderness but He does not intend for us to stay there. Wilderness can be a training ground for a trial or strengthening of one’s character to build their faith; or a dry place to dwell for a period of time for our rebuke, correction and return to God or turn away from rebelliousness.  The devil sends enemies of mankind’s destiny that will cause men to be thrown into the wilderness.  Men can also throw themselves into the wilderness by disobeying God.  More importantly, men can also lead the people who God has assigned them to lead, into the wilderness right along with themselves if they are not obedient and following God as they should. In the Garden of Eden, it was Eve that the devil first deceived.  Today, many men are being deceived by their misunderstanding of the leadership role that God bestowed upon them in Garden of Eden on that fateful day.

        No matter what circumstance drive us into the wilderness, God says in Ecclesiastes 3:1, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. By God’s grace, we don’t have to stay in the wilderness forever and He makes a way out because He has prepared a better place for us.  Wilderness is defined as wastelands, a harsh environment, etc.  It is uncultivated wild lands where no vegetation and uncontrollable weeds grow. The bible indicates references to “wilderness” as being a physical place or a style of living. It also suggests that it is a form of discipline for people to repent and return back to God.  It symbolizes an unproductive life; a life full of shameful experiences, pity and sorrow; a life without genuine love; an ingratitude heart; emptiness; servitude; pain and torture; etc.

     God is man’s ever present help and to come out of the wilderness, get an understanding and assume his God-given leadership role the way God intended for man.  To come out of the wilderness, men should:

• Acknowledge the supremacy of God and invite Him into every situation and circumstance in their life.
• Be humble and sincere to admit their wrongs.  Acknowledge you don’t know everything and stop pointing accusing fingers at everybody or everything else.
• Do not take pride and arrogance because of your leadership role, but rather accept it with full responsibility and accountability to those who God placed under your authority to lead. Remember – you are ultimately accountable to God for yourself and those who He has assigned to you to lead.
• Pray and declare your helplessness to God. Ask Him to teach you how to lead yourself and others.  Go beyond prayer and seek God’s face, His presence and His will.  In other words, seek a deeper relationship with God and become more Christ-like so you can understand how to lead others to Him.
• Repent, follow the scriptures, obey, serve and submit to Him daily and set an example for others to follow.  Show forth the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23, “. . . the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. . .”
• Acknowledge that you are called by His name and put a demand on the grace upon your life, your family, your church, your community and society.

When a church has unity and purity, that church can reach the world through effective evangelism that surges with power from God. We see that the hands of the apostles wrought many signs and wonders among the people and their preaching was confirmed as miracles began to happen. Acts 5:15-16 says in part that, “. . . they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them; and multitudes came out of cities unto Jerusalem, bringing sick and vexed people with unclean spirits, and  everyone them were healed.”  That’s how much people believed in the power that the apostles had. What drew people to this church was the power that was so evident because the apostles were pure and they had unity among them according to Acts 5:12 “. . . and they were all with one accord . . .”

Now a pure and powerful church is going to make waves in the system which brings us to a fifth key of effective evangelism, persecution. Remember the first four keys we previously discussed are 1) unity, 2) purity, 3) power, 4) signs, wonders and miracles. Christians should know that Satan is considered the prince of the world. Satan at one time was an angel by the name of Lucifer who thought he’d like to be equal with God or better and so he pulled off a rebellion in heaven and convinced one-third of the angels to fall and go with him according to Revelation 12. God threw Satan and his one-third of former angels (now called demons) out of Heaven and they became antagonist of God and still are working against God. The earth at the present time is in the hands of Satan and the earthly systems are controlled by Satan. He is the prince of the air who governs the world and the Bible calls him the ruler of this world. Therefore, anyone who lives in this world apart from Jesus Christ is one of Satan’s people at one level or another.

As Satan was against God from the very start, even before Adam and Eve, the demons war against the holy angels, holy men against evil men, and the same kind of war is going on all the time. When a church with unity and purity comes along with great power and starts ripping off people from Satan, then Satan gets irritated. He’s trying to salvage his authority and hang on to his rebellion at some level. He’s already been booted out of heaven because of his original rebellion and earth is his domain. He’s trying to capture the earth and everybody in it, including Christians.  Satan also moves in powerful churches where people keep getting saved, healed and delivered.  Powerful churches are going to have persecution. When you irritate Satan’s system, the system reacts. It’s interesting that the only Christians who make waves and the only churches that make waves are the successful ones. Failures don’t even create ripples in the system. If you’re going to make waves in the world and irritate Satan, you can count on one thing: persecution. Satan is going to come after you. Christians can be assured that everything Satan does, God will undo and vice-versa; and God will turn everything to His glory. But persecution will come to those who live a holy life. [To be continued.]

The last three weeks we have been discussing the power of the Holy Spirit.  We learned that to witness or evangelize effectively, preaching the gospel must be combined with the Holy Spirit. We learned that God only manifests His Holy Spirit in us if we present ourselves as pure holy instruments through which He can work. We learned that Jesus performed miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit while He was on earth. We learned that John 14:12 speaks about Christians doing greater works; not greater miracles than Jesus. While the apostles were given authority to do the same works that Jesus did, we see no record of them performing greater miracles than Jesus did. Their ministry was considerably years longer than Jesus’ and yet the bible does not say that volumes of books could be written of all the miracles the apostles did, as it says of Jesus in John 21:25.

This week we will learn that even though God can lead us to do miracles, we need to be careful to not mistake miracles as a form or power from God to witness to others about God’s goodness.  Today, many people expect miracles to prove God is real and seek prayers for God to meet their needs through the supernatural means of a miracle.  Remember when Jesus condemned the Pharisees as “wicked and adulterous” in Matthew 12:38-39 because they refused to believe the signs and wonders Christ had already performed.  Their hearts were hardened towards the truth even after Jesus performed numerous public miracles. Nothing would make the Pharisees believe. They were not satisfied with the miracles Jesus had done and demanded something even greater. Remember Pharaoh after witnessing so many of Moses’ miracles in Egypt. Remember in Psalms 78:10-11the children of Ephraim did not keep their covenant with God, refused to walk in His law and forgot His wondrous works even after seeing God’s miracles.

Some people seek after signs and wonders because they are curious thrill-seekers. Like the crowds in John 6:2 and King Herod in Luke 23:8, some people want to see something sensational but have no real desire to know the truth about Jesus.  Some seek signs and wonders because they hope to get something for themselves. After Jesus fed the multitudes, a large crowd followed Him to the other side of Galilee. Jesus however, saw their true motivation and rebuked it: “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (John 6:26). The crowd’s desire was not to know Jesus or even to see more miracles; it was simply to fill their stomachs again.

Maybe that’s why it nobler in God’s sight to believe without needing a miracle.  Rather than seek a miracle, let’s learn to take God at His word as we lead people to Him. Sharing our faith is more pleasing to God than relying on miracles to win souls. “In John 20:29, Jesus said “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 

     What Jesus gave to the apostles and His last command to us today, is the commission and authority to preach the gospel and lead others to the power of God unto salvation. If we are not preaching the gospel as we have been commanded to do, we are not delivering the true message of His Great Commission and we certainly will miss the true power of God to bring souls into His knowledge and Kingdom. 

     In John 14:12 when Jesus said . . . “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father,” He was announcing the coming of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus became man, He set aside His Godly powers and voluntarily limited His abilities to only those things that a man could do. While on earth, Jesus’ miracles were performed through the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus said that anyone who believed on Him could do the same, He meant that the power of the Holy Spirit would henceforth be made available to all believers, and when combined with sufficient faith, men could produce the same miraculous feats as He had performed. 

     Notice that John 14:12 DOES NOT SAY we will do greater miracles, but rather greater works. Let’s look at the Greek meanings of words for explanatory purposes. The word “greater” is translated into the Greek word meizon – neuter of 3187; (adverbially), meaning (i.e., greater degree or more). Jesus saying, “the works I do”; translated into the Greek word ergon,, means to work or toil as an effort or occupation; an act of labor (i.e., they will labor in greater in degree). Jesus saying “greater works than these” means a more extensive ministry. There are other Greek words used for miracles – Semeion, a “sign,” [i.e., an evidence of a divine commission; an attestation of a divine message or evidence of the presence of God.] Terata, “wonders” (i.e., events that evoke astonishment in those who observe them, see Acts 2:19). The Greek word Dunameis, is often used for the power to do miracles (i.e., “mighty works” or deeds performed by a superhuman power).  Erga, “works;” (i.e., the deeds of Jesus – see John 5:20, 36.)

      In Greek translations, John 14:12 DOES NOT SAY:  greater signs (miezon semeion); greater miracles (miezon dunamis) power or greater wonders (miezon terata;).  IT DOES SAY greater works (miezon ergon).  Many Christians use John 14:12 out of context when they claim they will do greater works than Jesus did.  There is no greater work done than Jesus dying for our sins. Jesus is NOT saying we will do greater miracles than He did but that our effect on people and our influence will be greater. Fulfilling the Great Commission IS the greater work that Jesus spoke of in John 14:12.  The Great Commission is found in Matthew 28:18-20 when Jesus said, “. . . All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”  

     “Greater” in quantity refers to Christians spreading the gospel throughout all nations. Through witnessing or evangelizing, Christians can bring sinners into a relationship with God and teach them to invite the Holy Spirit to live in them. This is something that the disciples could not do at the time Jesus said this. Christians today will know that they can do greater and more abundant works by carrying-out Jesus’ commission to preach the gospel and disciple people throughout all nations about the death and resurrection of the Savior; and teach new believers that the Holy Spirit is available to all who believe. [To be continued.]

     Have ever asked yourself is there something so attractive and dynamic about the power of God expressed in my life that makes people want to be around me? Christians need to pray to God that this be so. Evangelism must begin with us and the power is in us – but it only emanates from us when we are pure. God knows those that are His. Christians should eliminate sin in their lives and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord should depart from their iniquity. There is so much to do in this troubled world in these last days.

     We need to keep ourselves pure and keep our fellow brethren pure by examining each other in love and dealing with sin so that power will flow throughout the entire church body. Peter says in I Peter 4:11, “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

     Peter is telling us to use our God-given abilities for God’s purposes and not our own. God has given each of us gifts and abilities and Peter encourages us to discover ours so we can serve others which is God’s will for mankind.  He lists prophesy, ministering, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling, mercifulness, wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, discerning of spirits, divers tongues, interpretation of tongues,  apostleship, evangelism and pastoring as gifts and abilities given to all mankind. [See Romans 12:6-8, I Corinthians 12:8-11, 28-30 and Ephesians 4:11].  Ephesians 4:10-13 says that God gives gifts so He might fill all things . . . “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”

     This is why it is so important for Christians to be pure so we can be used as instruments of God. It pleases God when we yield ourselves as instruments for Him to use. Think of a home appliance that has been engineered and built to perform a specific task.  Without the inflow of electrical power, the appliance is just a piece of metal or plastic unable to function and serve. It cannot do the work it is intended to do until power is applied from a dynamic outside source. That’s how it is with God’s work in the church.

     Natural gifts are not enough in Kingdom work. People preach, teach, sing, play musical instruments, perform technical and administrative work, etc. in the church.  If the power of God’s Spirit does not flow through all that these workers do, they might just as well stay home. The dynamic Spirit of God must be alive in churches to allow God’s inspiration and blessings to flow throughout the entire church body. Remember, true evangelism begins within the church body itself.  [To be continued.]

 Let’s recap what we have learned about evangelism so far this year. We learned: 1) that Jesus commands us to spread the good news; 2) Jesus will be ashamed of us before His Father if we are ashamed to bear witness of Him; 3) it’s never too late to witness about God’s goodness to others; 4) complete evangelism involves words and deeds; and 5) that effective evangelism requires unity and purity in a church body. 

     True evangelism begins in churches where Christians live a pure, save, and holy life or in churches where each member strives to attain purity within themselves and in amidst their congregation.  It is in these churches; that growth will occur and God will add members to keep His church pure.  It is in these Houses of God, where a pure church will have pure Holy Ghost power – which brings us to this weeks’ discussion about power. 

      In I Timothy 5:22 and Romans 6:13, Paul tells us to keep ourselves pure and to yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. In Romans 12:1, he tells us that it is our reasonable service to God to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.  Why – because God only manifests His Holy Spirit in us if we present ourselves before Him as pure holy instruments through which He can work.

     We previously learned that effective evangelism requires both words and deeds.  Words are self-explanatory but deeds require the Holy Spirit to work within us to reveal the true deity of Jesus. To witness or evangelize effectively, proclamation of the gospel cannot be divorced from the Holy Spirit. In John 6:63, Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Speech eloquence is mere trapping of one’s ear absent the Holy Spirit.  If the Holy Spirit is manifested in us when we are witnessing to others, it will bring the breath of Heaven which will cause sinners to come to Christ. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”

    Jesus was raised up from the grave by that by same Spirit.  This is the same Spirit or power that will raise dead souls today.  No other power on earth can quicken a dead soul. If we want that power to quicken lost souls who are dead in sin, we must look to God and His Holy Spirit.  When we become pure and allow the Holy Spirit to dwell and work within us, the Spirit will do His work and lost souls will be saved. I pray that the desire of your heart is to be a holy instrument that God can use to make a difference to bring more souls into His Kingdom. [To be continued.] 

 This week in our continuation about purity, we learn that the church must be careful to examine sin within itself. First, Christians must examine their own hearts and take responsibility for disciplining their own lives. Second, Christians are to be on the lookout for sin in the church body and discipline others around them. Biblical references concerning the examination of sin in the church follows: [I Peter 4:17, Peter says “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin[s] at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” Ephesians 5:11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” I Timothy 5:20, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.”  Titus 1:13, “This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;” Luke 17:3, “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.”] 

      God was the first disciplinarian in the church. An example to indicate how critical purity is and the severity of sin in the church occurs in the example of Ananias and Sapphira who lied to the Holy Spirit in an effort to gain religious prestige and to be thought of as being spiritual. God disciplined them by execution where they dropped dead before the face of the whole church. [See Acts 5:1-11].   Things that can lead to disunity and impurity in today’s church body are superficial Christians who commit sin and hide in the church because the church never deals with their sin. God dealt with it, and we must learn to deal with sin in today’s church. In churches where unity and purity dwells therein, pure evangelism will help the church to grow.

    However, Christians must be careful with disciplining others in the church. Be careful to not take the “I’m holier than thou” attitude.  Rebuking others must be done in love and for the purpose of restoration.  Before you take it upon yourself to rebuke someone, first examine yourself, pray and know what the scriptures say about rebuking others. Ask yourself if you love, are willing to forgive, is the rebuke for correction, and will the rebuke help the person in their Christian walk. 

     Read Matthew 18:15-17 which tells Christians how to approach a person who offended them: 1) first tell the person what offended you and why. If they heed the rebuke, you have gained a brother. Forgive, forget and leave it alone. This what God ultimately desires. 2) If the person doesn’t or refuses to hear, take one or two others along and attempt the rebuke again so the word will be established in two or three witnesses. If the person doesn’t listen the second time, 3) take it to the church leaders for resolution, not to the church body. 

     Church discipline must be performed in a manner to bring the person back to Christ and into the loving embrace of the church body. “Rebuke” must NOT be to condemn, raise suspicion, withhold forgiveness or permanently exile the offender from church.  Church discipline must be to strengthen, train, correct, perfect, and most of all to purify the offender and bring them back into unity with the church body so effective evangelism can occur within the church.

Last week we learned about unity or oneness. This week will we discuss another important key to effective evangelism – purity.  A church body must have purity in order for evangelism to be effective. We must define purity from the same standpoint as the Apostle Paul did in I Timothy 1:5, where he links a pure heart to a good conscience and sincere faith. In Philippians 4:8, Paul encourages us to focus our minds on what is good and pure. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to keep our hearts with all diligence because out of it, comes the issues of our life.

     The heart is the center of our emotions and it controls our entire being.  Christians must invite God to take control of all of their heart and make them pure as we renew our relationship with Him on a daily basis. God’s greatest commandment is to love Him with all our hearts. [Mark 12:30, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”] It is only God who can make our hearts pure and only He who can judge our hearts to be pure. Christians should regard purity to be more precious than life, for without purity we can never truly have life. The beatitude in Matthew 5:8 says “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

     Many Christians are not pure in heart even though they are trying to live a pure life. Many are routinely overcome by sin and disobedience in their life. Christians must repent and ask God to forgive their sins and lukewarm attitudes toward purity. We should pray for power from God to overcome impurity in every area of our life. God is ready and willing to help us have a pure heart. When we have a heart is pure we will hunger for God.  God dwells in a pure heart so we can live in harmony with Him. When God dwells in our heart, He has our entire being – meaning He has everything else of us, or all of us. If God doesn’t have our heart, He really doesn’t have none of us, or nothing at all.
     A pure heart gives us freedom from sin based on our pure motives and the power of the blood keeping us safe in times of temptation. It doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes but we will be cleansed from all sin and perfected in holiness in the loving fear of the Almighty God. Psalm 24:3-4 tells us in part, that those have clean hands and a pure heart shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place.  [To be continued next week.]

Last week we learned that meaning of the word “evangelize” means to spread the good news of Jesus through preaching the word and by showing good deeds or acts.  In the biblical days, Jesus taught His disciples that to evangelize is to present a testimony to the world in the unity of love. Evangelism was a natural thing that sprung out of personal communication and the collective unity of the disciples.  This week we will focus on “unity.”

Creating a unity with God and with fellow Christians (oneness) is an essential key to effective evangelism.  Jesus talked about unity in John 17:21 when He told His disciples, if you are one, the world will know that you sent me; and in John 13:34, if you love each other the world will know you’re my disciples. Here we see the importance of unity like the disciples had.  Jesus wanted His disciples to become unified as one so they would be powerful witnesses to the reality of God’s love. Today, we can also be powerful witnesses to the reality of God’s love and help to build a unified church by praying for fellow Christians, building others up and supporting their ministries; working together in humility and investing our time, resources and money in church activities and other efforts  to exalt Christ and bring sinners into the fold.  We should avoid matters that get us sidetracked and take us out of union with God such as gossip and arguing over divisive matters.

Jesus wants believers to become unified like the unity with Him and the Father. Christians cannot truly unify as one unless they are first living in union with God. Let’s take the example of a grapevine. Jesus is the vine and God is the gardener who cares for the branches. The fruitful branches represent the true Christians who follow Christ and the unfruitful branches represent the superficial Christians. Each fruitful branch is united with all others fruitful branches who live in union with God. Fruit bearing branches are pruned or cut back to promote growth (e.g., strengthen character and faith).  The unfruitful or non-fruit bearing branches will be eventually be cut off or separated from the vine to die because they may affect the ability of the fruitful branches’ to produce fruit (e.g., sustain life).

Jesus didn’t ask God to take sinners out of the world. Rather, He sends true Christians into the world to preach the gospel and testify of His goodness and saving grace.  In Matthew 5:13 Jesus said, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” If Christians don’t make an effort to affect the world around them they are of little value to God.  If Christians are too much like the world, they are worthless to God. Christians must learn how evangelize effectively and bring more sinners to Christ as well as allow their lives’ to have a positive impact on others.  It all starts with living in union with God and creating unity in the church body.