Notes From Bible Study

How To Witness To People or Personal Evangelism (2)

A God/Christ-Centered Gospel

I. God is a Holy Creator: Rev. 4:11; 15:4; Hab. 1:13

II. Man is Sinful: Rom. 3:10-19
A. Realize that man is separated from God (Rom. 8:7)
B. Convinced of personal sins (Psalm 51:4)
C. Convinced of sinfulness (Isa. 6:5)
D. Use of the law (Gal. 3:24; Matt. 19:16-22; 22:37-40; James 2:10)

III. Christ is the only Remedy (Acts 4:12; 1 Peter 3:18; John 14:6; 2 Cor. 5:21) Not: “Your Best Life Now, 7 Steps to Living @ Your Full Potential” “Becoming A Better You, 7 Steps to Improving Your Every Day” Appealing to: God wants you to be happy, meaning in life, joy, peace, doing better

IV. Urging a Biblical Response (Acts 20:21; Mark 1:15; Isa. 45:22; Acts 2:36; Rom. 10:9-10; John 16:8-11) [Faith w/o repentance is presumption & repentance w/o faith is legalism] Turning from sin, trusting in Christ as Savior, owning Christ as Lord and King, and seeking to live for His glory! Not psychological pressure, leading in sinner’s prayer, signing a card, etc.

Building Birdhouses

Bro. Gary Batten was able to find cypress wood and have it donated so we could build birdhouses at the church. Our goal is to sale them and put the funds toward our new addition. Let me know if you would like to purchase one or more! (Bro. Gary on the left, Bro. Jack and Bro. Terry on the right)

Notes from Message

I liked the outline so I borrowed it from John Piper.

Christ, Seeing, Savoring, and Sharing

1. Seeing---John 6:40; 2 Cor. 3:18; Isa. 45:22; John 1:29; Eph. 1:18
***Wm. Cooper “Grace flies before, and love attends, His steps wher-e’er He goes, Tho none can see Him but His friends, And they were once His foes.”

2. Savoring---(Taste and enjoy it completely; treasure) Ps. 34:8; Song 2:3; Peter 2:3
***Jesus is all I wish or want, For Him I pray, I thirst, I pant; Let others after earth aspire, Christ is the treasure I desire.”

3. Sharing---(enjoy with another or others) 2 Kings 7:8; Ps. 78:4; Peter 3:15; Mark 5:21;
***Then you will be excited and qualified to address others; for you will speak from the heart, and recommend a tried remedy-a remedy that has effectually cured yourselves.” Matt. Henry

Father's Day Sermon from Ephesians

Jesus’ Father, Our Father, Our Fathers
Eph. 1:2-3

I. Jesus’ Father: Unique, ‘one of a kind,’ oneness & equality with Father (Unparalleled, unexampled)
John 1:14; 5:18; 10:29-33 “It is the eternal sonship that is in view and to this sonship there is no approximation in the adoptive sonship that belongs to redeemed men.” John Murray ***Matt. 3:17-John 17:1

II. Our Father (Matt. 6:9; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:5; Mal. 1:10) “To make one’s own; God’s taking the sinful children of men into His own family ***Rom. 8:32; James 1:17; Matt. 6:32---Doxology, adoration, hearts aroused and enflamed (worshipper, devotionalist, adorer) vv 3-14 is one sentence in the Grk (over 200 words) “In its opening doxology blessings cascade down upon the reader.” Sinclair Ferguson

III. Our Fathers (Eph. 6:4; Ps. 78; Job 1:5; Prov. 4:1; Heb. 12---Exodus 20:12 “to prize, revere, value”

How To Witness (1)

Our Bible Study Wednesday night was attempting to answer the question, "How do you witness to people?" This is a topic I certainly desire to know more about and practice more efficiently and faithfully. I have gleaned some information from Mark Dever's "Personal Evangelism." Here are the notes from Lesson 1:

How To Witness To People or Personal Evangelism (1)
(Matt. 24:14; John 1:7, 8; Acts 1:8; 8:4)

I. What are we to witness concerning or proclaim? Answer: The gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 16:15).
[Evangelism---”The spreading of the gospel by preaching or personal witness.”]

A. The gospel is not:
1) Talking about conservative politics/cultural values/social change
2) Our personal testimony (Mark 5:20)
3) Apologetics (1 Peter 3:15)
4) Attempting to get people to: do better and live rightly, obey the 10 Commandments, go to church
5) Expressing that Jesus: has a plan for your life, is your friend, wants you to be happy, etc.
6) Defending or proclaiming the doctrines of grace (1 Corinthians 3:1, 2)

B. The gospel is:
1) Good news that Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15)
2) Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and raised again (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4)
3) “There is one true and living God. God created us for His own glory and in His own image, but we ‘all have sinned’ and offended God’s justice. The Bible teaches that ‘the wages of sin is death.’ By our sins and transgressions we have separated ourselves from God and are deserving of everlasting punishment. But God, because of his great love and mercy, sent His own Son into the world to die for our sins. Jesus became a man and died on a cross, ‘the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.’ Jesus was buried and rose again after three days. He ascended to heaven and promised to return in the future. Now God calls upon us to repent and believe the gospel. God said, ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.’ God promised that whosoever believeth in Jesus shall receive forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) and all that believe are justified from all things (Acts 13:39).

***Mark Dever, The Gospel & Personal Evangelism “We don’t fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not subsequently converted; we fail only if we do not faithfully tell the gospel at all.”

Notes on Eph. 1:2

More Than A Salutation (Eph. 1:2)

(***Prayer for the saints to be enriched with grace and peace)

1. Grace (1:6-7; 2:5, 7, 8; 4:7; 6:24) God’s unmerited favor

2. Peace (2:14-15, 17; 4:3; 6:15, 23) well-being (John 14:27; 16:33; Acts 10:36; Phil. 4:6)

--> source is God & through Jesus Christ

Notes on Eph. 1:1

Location, Location, Location (Eph 1:1)-Biblical Geography

Apostle
1. Jesus (Heb. 3:1)
2. Primary/1st Office (Lk 6:13; Eph. 2:20; Cor. 12:28)
3. Messengers/Missionaries (2 Cor. 8:23; Acts 14:4, 14; Phil. 2:25)

By the will of God (5, 9, 11) Eph. 3:7; Gal. 1:15

Sphere of Residence ---Earthly & Spiritual geography, where they lived

I. Saints @ Ephesus (Acts 19:8-10, 20, 23-28)
1. Cleansed from guilt (Heb. 10:10, 14)
2. Cleansed from inward corruption (Cor. 6:11; Pet. 2:5, 9)

II. Faithful in Christ Jesus (engrafted into Him)
Believing Jn. 20:27; 2 Cor. 6:14-15; Acts 10:45; Tim. 4:12

Baptism of my son, Zebedee

Zebedee, my eight year old son, had told me recently of how God had "touched his heart" because he "used to hate church" but was now "enjoying church and prayer meetings." I had told him that I was thankful but was cautious not to overdo my enthusiasm because I did not want his motive to be my pleasure and approval. On Sunday morning (June 7) I noticed Zeb was emotional and shedding tears during the invitational hymn. At Eureka we hold a handshake where the congregation comes around and shakes the preacher's hand after or during the invitational hymn. As Zeb came around he expressed his desire for baptism. I questioned Zeb publicly concerning his faith in Christ, his knowledge that he was a sinner, and of his desire to live for the glory of Christ. Zeb's answers satisfied the church and I had the privilege of baptizing him in the evening service.

Time will manifest if Zeb's profession was Spirit induced, and it is the present hope of his parents that his profession was because the omnipotent Spirit has drawn him to Christ and the Lord was pleased to hear the prayers of his parents concerning his salvation; a prayer that has been offered to the Lord every day of his life since his birth (and even prior after we knew of his conception). Praise the Lord!

Youth Conference

Our Youth Conference was blessed! We had around 25 teenagers in attendance as we meditated on the "Majesty of Christ." The sessions included Christ,:

1. The Supremacy of
2. A Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World
3. The Focus of Scripture
4. Being Conformed to His Image
5. Evangelizing

Bro. Matt Strevel presented the last two topics and I presented the first three. We also did a little role-playing on witnessing at the conclusion. On Friday night, a worship service was held for everyone and Bro. Jimmy Fulmer preached on the topic, "The Majesty of Christ." Great preaching, great topic!

We had a great time learning more about Christ, enjoying fellowship with one another, and a lot of fun as well. The young men and women were very attentive and well behaved and wanted to hold another conference in the future. My prayer is God will continue to stir their souls to seek the beauty of Christ's majesty and the seed that was sown will bring forth fruit for God's glory.

(The picture was taken after several had left for home)

The Real Reasons for Revival

Last night (Monday, June 1) I really enjoyed the monthly prayer meeting at Eureka. The attendance was up from the usual number. But that was not the reason for the enjoyment and delight---the Spirit of God was with us and we pleaded with God to glorify Himself through us. The theme for the prayer meeting was "Revival." I came across a sermon by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, "The Real Reasons for Revival" and read highlights from it. The three reasons we are to pray for revival are:

1. The glory of God
2. The honor of the Church
3. Those who are outside the Church may be converted

The following is an excerpt from the sermon by Jones.

"Now, we cannot go into all these points in detail, but this is the thing that matters is it not? The Church, after all, is the Church of God. 'She is His new creation, by water and word.' We are a people for God's own peculiar possession. And why has he called us out of darkness into his own marvellous light? Surely it is that we may show forth his praises, his excellencies, his virtues. And, therefore, we should be concerned about this matter primarily because of the name, and the glory, the honour of God himself. Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that the world judges God himself, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the whole of the Christian faith, by what it sees in us. We are his representatives, we are the people who take his name upon us, we are the people who talk about him, and the man outside the Church regards the Church as the representative of God. And, therefore, I argue that we must emulate the example of Moses, as we find it here. Our first concern should be about the glory of God."