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Category Archives: Evangelism

The Cross is Not Enough

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Jesus’ death on the cross is not sufficient to provide the abundant and eternal life God has promised us. Does that statement shock you? The apostle Paul made it very clear to the Corinthian Christians:

And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. 1 Cor 15:17-19, NLT

Peter also knew that our eternal hope depended on the resurrection of Christ:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you. 1 Peter 1:3-4, NIV

Jesus death, Jesus dying on Cross, Jesus' crucifixion

What Christ’s Death Accomplished

So why do we so often leave out the Resurrection when we share the Good News of Jesus? We don’t forget to talk about the Cross. And yes, praise God, the death of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary provided the payment that my sins – and yours – had earned. Our sins deserved the death penalty. Our sins brought us spiritual death and separation from our holy God. But Jesus Christ took that penalty on Himself. The perfect, sinless God who became man died so we could have forgiveness. But that is only part of the Gospel message.

Why We Need the Resurrection

Paul never forgot the resurrection. He knew that without it the Gospel was incomplete. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul succinctly expresses the Good News. He boils down the message to its most important components.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.  1 Cor 15:3-4

Yes, Jesus’ death paid the price of our sin, but His resurrection provided our hope for life – both now and eternally. Don’t miss these important truths:

  • Jesus’ resurrection proves that everything He said and did on earth was true. See John 14:20
  • Jesus’ resurrection defeated death! That victory was His and ours! See Romans 6:9
  • Jesus’ resurrection provides us with new life in God. See Romans 6:10, Col 3:1
  • Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our physical resurrection. See Rom 8:11, 1 Cor 15:20-21
  • Jesus’ resurrection gives us power for this life. See Philippians 3:10, Romans 8:11

Have you forgotten about the resurrection? It is the power of God for those who believe! Because Christ has been raised, we will be raised! Believers, we have the same power living in us that raised Christ from the dead! Let’s shout it out!

What is the most exciting thing to you about Jesus’ resurrection?

This post originally ran on April 2, 2012.

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Help yourself and people who need a Bible

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Today’s post can transform your quiet time while you help provide the Vidunda people with a Bible in their own language. Welcome my guest Lara Williams. She and my friend Katie Orr have written an encouraging and practical quiet time guide titled “Savoring Living Water: How to Have an Effective Quiet Time.” It is more than worth the price and your time. (Here’s my 2011 review.) If you buy the e-book today, you also have the extra blessing of helping people around the world have the Bible translated into their language! Read on!

 

Really looking at what’s going on in the world at large can make me…uncomfortable. It’s much easier to just sit in my cozy house with my iTechnology while eating all my favorite foods that I picked up at the choice-satiated grocery store rather than really looking at the world.

But I’m glad that’s not what Jesus did.

I’m so thankful our God didn’t leave us in our selfish mess, but rather bent down and clothed Himself with humanity to make a way for us to truly live. It’s radical grace.

But if I’m not purposeful, I can get comfortable in plentiful. I can forget what it’s like to be separated from God — in the dark.

So today I’m going to remind us. Well, not just remind us and leave us in a pit of guilt, I have something we can tangibly *do* in an effort to help bring light and life to those who have never read of their Maker.

Katie Orr and I wrote a little book called Savoring Living Water: How to Have an Effective Quiet Time. In the process of writing that book, God reminded us of the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who do not have a single verse of Scripture in their language. The realization floored us. So we asked Him what we could do to help. And He led us to OneVerse.

To make a long story short, He led us to give $2 from the sale of every copy of Savoring Living Water to OneVerse, specifically for the translation of the Bible in the Vidunda language. Every $26 funded another verse for the Vidunda people.

We’re excited to report that we are SO close to reaching our original goal of funding 104 verses. In fact since the launch of the book last Fall we’ve raised almost $2300 towards the Vidunda project — that’s over 88 verses!

With the goal being within arm’s reach, we want to have a final push TODAY. So for today only, $5 from the sale of every e-copy will go directly to this Vidunda project. That means if we can sell 82 e-copies of the book today, we will reach our goal!

You or I may not be able to leave our homes or families to go study languages and translate the Bible for a people that’s never read the name “Jesus.” But we can buy a book. And we can pray that God would bring His Word to the nations.

(If you’ve already purchased a book but would like to donate more towards our goal, visit our OneVerse giving page to find out how.)

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Monday Minute in the Word – Capable, yet Powerless

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Monday Minute in the Word+devotionalWe humans are intelligent, creative, and capable. We can hang a massive station in space, split an atom, and clone a sheep. We can build beautiful buildings, paint masterpieces, and create entire new worlds for epic stories. We can find cures for diseases, break the sound barrier, and scale Mount Everest.

We can do all this and more. But we can’t save our own souls. We are powerless, dead in our sin. Every one of us has sinned (Romans 3:23). Our sin has earned eternal death, separation from God (Romans 6:23). But God – who is rich in love and mercy – stepped in. When we could not help ourselves, He reached out to help us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8, NIV

The greatest human accomplish is nothing compared to Christ’s saving work on the cross. The sharpest mind, the brightest talent, the strongest body is only temporary. Their highest achievements are merely a blip in the scope of eternity. When death finds us – and it will find each of us – the only thing that will matter is what we did with Jesus.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? How does it compare with Christ’s work on your behalf?

Do you have a saving relationship with Jesus? If not, find out more about how to know Jesus.

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Famous Last Words – Anna

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Have you ever noticed that many older Christians “retire” from serving God? Once they aren’t working or their kids are grown or they can’t get around like they used to, they step back from active involvement in ministry. They continue to attend church, but they pretty much become a Christian spectator. (Lord, I’m praying already that this won’t be me.)

Anna, the Jewish prophetess, is a great example for all of us as we get older. (I know, some of us are older than others.) We meet Anna in the temple not long after the birth of Jesus. Joseph and Mary took Jesus there to observe all the ceremonies required by Jewish law.

36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Luke 2:36-38, NIV

Although some scholars think Anna could have been more than 100 years old, she had not retired. She constantly served God and His people at the temple. Although we don’t have a specific quote from Anna, the Bible does tell us that after she met Jesus, she “spoke about the child to all…”

Anna faithfully witnessed about Jesus Christ to all who would listen. The implication is she continued witnessing until her death. I can imagine that the last words on her lips may have been, “Jesus is the redemption of Israel!”

Will you testify about your Savior with your dying words? Who do you need to tell?

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The Cross is Not Enough – Monday Minute in the Word

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Jesus’ death on the cross is not sufficient to provide the abundant and eternal life God has promised us.

Does that statement shock you? If you are a Christian, I would expect you to be highly offended and perhaps not read another word. But if you’ll hear me out, I think you’ll agree with me.

The apostle Paul firmly believed the cross was not enough. Read what he wrote to the Corinthian Christians:

And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. 1 Cor 15:17-19, NLT

Peter also knew that our eternal hope depended on the resurrection of Christ:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 1 Peter 1:3-4, NIV

So why do we so often leave out the Resurrection when we share the Good News of Jesus? We don’t forget to talk about the Cross. And yes, praise God, the death of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary provided the payment that my sins – and yours – had earned. Our sins deserved the death penalty. Our sins brought us spiritual death and separation from our holy God. But Jesus Christ took that penalty on Himself. Without the cross of Christ we would still be dead in our sins. But that is only part of the Gospel message.

Image from visualbiblealive.com

Paul knew the Gospel is incomplete without the resurrection.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul succinctly expressed the Good News. He boils down the message to its most important components.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.  1 Cor 15:3-4, NIV

Yes, Jesus’ death paid the price of our sin, but His resurrection provided our hope for life – both now and eternally. Don’t miss these important truths:

  • Jesus’ resurrection proves everything He said and did was true. See John 14:20
  • Jesus’ resurrection defeated death! That victory is His and ours! See Romans 6:9
  • Jesus’ resurrection provides us with new life in God. See Romans 6:10, Col 3:1
  • Jesus’ resurrection guarantees our physical resurrection. See Rom 8:11, 1 Cor 15:20-21
  • Jesus’ resurrection gives us power for this life. See Philippians 3:10, Romans 8:11

The resurrection is the power of God for those who believe! Because Christ has been raised, we will be raised! Believers, we have the same power living in us that raised Christ from the dead! Let’s shout it out!

What was your first reaction to: “The cross is not enough?”

Do you tend to forget about the resurrection? I’d love to hear your thoughts about the power of the resurrection in your life.

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