Thursday, April 21, 2022

HOLY SPIRIT POWER LIKE A POWERFUL MUSCLE CAR!

 



“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19.

Hello Friends:

     Welcome to the Soulwinnersr.us website. I’ve decided to forego, because of lack of interest, my “Evangelism Questions” series I was going to do. I laugh with my wife at my usually “un-viral videos" . . . but the Evangelism Questions series were especially un-viral. I do look at the number of views of each of my videos, but I don’t think I’m obsessed about it . . . at least not yet! (Note: I’m only joking. I realize that videos about soulwinning isn’t on the radar of most people as “must-see TV”.)
     I’m going to aim my focus again on power for evangelism. Today’s title is “Holy Spirit Power Like a Powerful Muscle Car!” During research for my recent website posts I found out that the word “power” is mentioned 385 times in the Bible, and 121 times in the New Testament alone I am astonished that not more attention is given to the topic of Holy Spirit power for evangelism.
     There has been over my forty-four years of Christianity a lot of talk about “the power of prayer”, “the power of happiness”, and even “the power to get wealth”. There are many books about the Holy Spirit. But I have never seen a focused sermon, book, or video about Holy Spirit power for evangelism. I’m not saying they don’t exist. I’m just saying that in my over forty years of Christianity I haven’t seen any.
     I looked today and John Wimber in the mid 1980’s wrote a book entitled “Power Evangelism”. It was about the signs and wonders that accompanied the apostles in the Book of Acts, and how we can today engage the Holy Spirit to gain that same power, accompanied by signs and wonders that will lead to evangelizing others. I don’t want to minimize signs and wonders that will likely accompany the power of the Holy Spirit. But I first want to focus on some of the basics, and the first one is to understand and embrace that the power is real.
     I want to focus more on why Jesus and His apostles so many times used the term power associated with the Holy Spirit. And why they repeatedly stressed so many times in their speech and writings the power that lives inside each believer. Also, the fact that we rarely talk about that power, rarely feel that power, and rarely acknowledge that the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives even exists. Most of us, myself included, don’t feel very powerful in our Christian lives.
     A lot of preachers and teachers get up in front of their congregations and speak their message loudly and forcefully. They try to exude confidence that what they say is very powerful, and worth hearing. I can understand where they're coming from. After all, in these videos I'm trying to use confidence, and share with a degree of power words that are worth hearing. But I’m not talking about forceful and convincing messages, and even videos. I pray that God will take care of that in each of us at the appropriate times.
     I’m talking more about an inner strength that the Holy Spirit gives, that most times has a quiet power about it. It’s the kind of power that hums quietly like the powerful engine of a muscle car, that can come to life at any time when the driver pushes the accelerator pedal. It allows the driver to get to the destination with a slow steady pace, or a powerful fast pace, depending on the need at the time.
     I’m asserting that you and I as Christians are just like that powerful muscle car. Our engine was overhauled by God when we came to Christ. Before Christ we were like a 1970 Ford Mustang with a V-6 engine. I’m using that example because a 1970 candy apple red Mustang was my dream car that I desperately wanted at the age of eighteen. It was a plain Mustang with very little real power, but it was very nice looking. My Dad, however, had to sign for me to get a loan for the car, and he quickly put an end to my dream. He wanted me, at my young age, to get a bigger, safer car, which I ended up doing.


     But if I took that beautiful candy apple red Mustang and had it overhauled with a 428 cubic inch Cobra Jet engine, adjusted the suspension and some other parts of the car, it would have turned into a true muscle car, much like a 1970 Ford Mach 1.


     This is like us after we are overhauled by God. We turn from a plain 1970 candy apple red Mustang, which looks nice on the outside, but has very little real power . . . to a 1970 Ford Mach 1 muscle car. We just need to learn how to harness that raw power to reach the destinations God has for us. One of those destinations He wants us to go to is to a place of telling others about Jesus.

See you next time,
Arlen

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

DOES THE CHURCH HAVE SUPERHERO POWER? IF NOT, WHY NOT?

 


“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19.

Hello Friends:

     Welcome to the Soulwinnersr.us website. I’m doing another brief interlude to my normal posts. This post is something I thought about with my last Evangelism Question post. It’s entitled “Does the Church Have Superhero Power? If Not, Why Not?” I’ve touched on this theme before, but I think it’s a very important topic to consider again and again.
     I think that Christianity gets a bad rap because many, many people, especially our younger generation, think of the church to a large degree, as being wimpy and boring. They don’t see Christians as having any real power, and if you get right down to it, any real joy. I will own up to my own part that I play in that.
     Young people, and even many older people, are almost addicted to action games and movies where they live vicariously through the online or movie heroes that save the world, or at least their part of the world, against an evil villain. I love westerns and am amazed how drawn into the Old West action I get, and I will even say Old West violence. After all, the heroes are justified in using violence to save innocent people. Right? But that’s a debate for another day.
     Where’s the church losing out? What can we do to instill a sense of action and adventure into our Christian faith? I don’t advocate for us to drum up false excitement and adventure, or to renew our somewhat failed seeker sensitive strategies. But just like the goal of my Soulwinnersr.us website was to instill the focus for myself, and perhaps others, toward evangelism . . . I think that we should perhaps have focus groups or if you will, think tanks, to figure out how to instill the sense of adventure and great joy back into our Christian faith. We’re failing, and it’s critical to look at why we’re failing.
     We’re not failing because of a wimpy and boring story. The Bible is packed full of adventure, intrigue, action, and power. After all, God, His son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit are the most powerful superheroes ever, right? Let’s look at the term “power” in the Bible. Through the wonder of the internet, I counted how many times the term power, powerful, powered, etc. was mentioned in the Bible.
  • 385 times
  • 264 times in the Old Testament
  • 121 times in the New Testament
     For the sake of time, I’m only going to look at just a few New Testament references to the term power:
  1. John the Baptist referred to Jesus in Matthew 3:11 as “more powerful than I.”
  2. Jesus’ hometown people of Nazareth were “astonished” at His miraculous powers in Matthew 13:54.
  3. Jesus said in Matthew 24:30 about his return to earth “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
  4. The angel Gabriel in Luke 1:35 told Mary, the mother of Jesus, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”
  5. Luke referenced Jesus in Luke 4:14 as going to Galilee “in the power of the spirit”, where the “news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity.” In other words, Jesus went viral. 
  6. Luke referenced one of the Bible’s many instances of Jesus’ power to heal in Luke 6:19, where it says, “The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.” 
  7. Jesus gave out His power to others for the first time in Luke 9:1 where he summoned his disciples, and “he gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases.” 
  8. Jesus in Acts 1:8 told his disciples before he ascended to heaven on a cloud that they would receive Holy Spirit “power” to be witnesses everywhere they went. 
  9. Paul referred to Jesus in Romans 1:4 as “the powerful Son of God”, and in Romans 1:16 that Jesus demonstrated “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” 
  10. Paul wrote in Romans 15:13 that he wanted the Romans to “overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
     I could go on and on a couple hours about references to power in the New Testament alone. Ephesians 1:19 refers to ‘the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength”. Don’t you and I usually feel wimpy and insignificant. So, it’s difficult to think of the limitless power that we have in God and His Son Jesus!
     We talked earlier about the power of superheroes to save the world from evil villains. The evilest villain in the entire history of mankind is Satan. Satan’s plan is not only to kill people, but to make them suffer unbearably in the process.
     Only God’s plan can thwart Satan’s diabolical scheme. Acts 10:38 reported that Jesus healed “all who were under the tyranny of the devil.” Where have we heard of the tyranny of a dictator recently? 
     Ephesians 6:12 says that we struggle against “the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” The definition of cosmic according to Merriam Webster is the following: “Of or relating to the cosmos, the extraterrestrial vastness”. Then Merriam Webster further defines cosmic as the following: “Characterized by greatness especially in extent, intensity, or comprehensiveness.” In other words, our struggle against the devil and evil is so big the human mind can’t comprehend it. Talk about the need for superhero power!
     Many young people and older people alike are transfixed by stories of cosmic implications like the Marvel movies, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, and many others. How can we instill in them, and us, the cosmic implications and need for church superhero power . . . before it’s too late?

See you next time,
Arlen

Sunday, April 10, 2022

EVANGELISM QUESTION 1: BIBLE EXAMPLES


 

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19.

Hello Friends:

     Welcome to the Soulwinnersr.us website. Last week I did a post on “The Divine Intervention Show”, a take-off on the show “Intervention” about drug and alcohol addicts that are facing death if they don’t get help from intervention specialists to overcome their addictions. The Divine Intervention Show, on the other hand, would be about people facing spiritual death if they don’t get help from divine intervention specialists filled with God’s Holy Spirit, leading them to give their lives to Jesus.
     Now I’m back to the seven-post series about evangelism questions to try to shed a bright light on some very important specifics to introduce Jesus to unsaved family members, friends, and others. My first post is entitled, “Evangelism Question 1: Bible Examples.” I want us to look at key Bible, or scriptural examples of what evangelism is all about.

First, let’s define evangelism:
  • The Cambridge Dictionary defines evangelism as “the activity of persuading people to become Christians, often by traveling around and telling people about your beliefs”. A pertinent Bible verse explaining evangelism is found in 2 Corinthians 5:11, “Therefore since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people.” This Bible verse doesn’t use the exact word evangelism, but it clearly defines it by using the phrase, “persuade people”.
Next, let’s define an evangelist:
  • The Cambridge Dictionary defines an evangelist as “a person who tries to persuade people to become Christians, often by traveling around and organizing religious meetings”. So, evangelism is “the ACTIVITY of persuading people” . . . and an evangelist is “the PERSON who tries to persuade people to become Christians.
  • Ephesians 4:11 talks about the ministries of Jesus, including using the specific term “evangelist”. Here it is: “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” Paul specifically used the term “evangelist”.
     Now, let’s look at whether only a trained and gifted “evangelist” is authorized to do evangelism, or to “persuade people to become Christians”. D.T. Niles, in his book “That They Might Have Life” declared the following well known statement:
  • “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” I know that quote isn’t directly taken from the Bible . . . but isn’t it the very essence of evangelism . . . “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread?”
     Jesus didn’t just commission trained evangelists to go out, organize evangelistic meetings, and persuade people to become Christians. Acts 1:8 is one of several Bible passages where He commissioned ordinary fishermen, tax collectors, and various other untrained people to do the work of evangelism. Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
     Please, please recognize the power we have as Christians when we are filled with the Holy Spirit as were the disciples in Acts! I realize that a couple places in Acts have examples of people speaking in tongues . . . and there are groups of people that emphasize speaking in tongues as being the catalyst by which all Holy Spirit power is manifested. But the filling and power of the Holy Spirit doesn’t come exclusively to those who speak in tongues. Let’s look at tongues just a little bit to clarify:
  • Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:4: “The person who speaks in another tongue builds himself up.” So, tongues are generally to build a person up in his or her personal faith.
  • Paul then wrote in verse 39, “do not forbid speaking in other tongues.”
  • BUT, Paul wrote in verse 19 about public church gatherings, “I would rather speak five words with my understanding, in order to teach others, than ten thousand words in another tongue.”
  • So, I think it’s safe to say that tongues can serve a purpose, just like many other Bible-based practices. Tongues can never, however, be the foundation piece that we stand on to be able to do evangelism.
     The Holy Spirit’s power inside us doesn’t come exclusively from speaking in tongues. It comes from the following sources:
  1. First, the Holy Spirit’s power comes inside us immediately when we confess and turn from our sins, and do as Paul wrote in Romans10:9, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
  2. Second, the Holy Spirit’s power comes to each of us after we commit our lives to Christ, and each of us is now a “temple” of God, filled with His Holy Spirit.
    • In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul states emphatically to Christians, “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in You?” God’s temple isn’t just the one in Jerusalem built by Solomon. And it’s definitely not the church structures where Christians meet. God’s temple is you and I, individually and collectively, where God’s great Holy Spirit power now resides.
  3. Third, the Holy Spirit’s power comes from having a close, intimate relationship with God and His love. James wrote in James 4:8, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” I think the Bible is plain. Closeness to God is the greatest catalyst toward having tremendous Holy Spirit power, including great power for you and I . . . to be evangelists.
See you next time,
Arlen

Saturday, April 2, 2022

THE DIVINE INTERVENTION SHOW!

 



“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19.

Hello Friends:

     Welcome to the Soulwinnersr.us website. I was planning, and am still planning, on doing a seven-week series on “Evangelism Questions”. But something else grabbed my attention. I mentioned two days ago in a Facebook post, “The Missing X-Factor”, where I referenced the “Intervention” TV show about drug and alcohol addicts that are virtually on the last leg of life due to their addictions. Their loved ones are desperate to the point they called the show to give them help to literally save the lives of their family members.
     You will likely think I’m a little bit, in mental health speak, too “religiously preoccupied”, but when watching the Intervention TV show, it reminded me of another “death” that is far more diabolical than the earthly death feared by the families of the addicts in the show. It’s eternal death in hell.
     I think with all my heart that Satan wants to minimize in our minds and hearts the impact of this death. He wants us to put off thinking about it so long that we die before we find the answer to turn around to avoid it.
     I’m proposing another TV show. It’s called “The Divine Intervention Show!” The focus of this show will be about loved ones so concerned about the fate of their family members heading toward eternal death in hell, that they also call on a team. They call on a team of “Divine Intervention Specialists”. These specialists are filled with God’s Holy Spirit, and they have a direct line to God through the Spirit that help them with the supernatural intervention that is needed to turn the afflicted family member around.
     One thing that struck me about the current Intervention show is that God was rarely mentioned by the Intervention team, and if so, it was only in passing. Then, if the family member agreed to take up the Intervention specialist offer to go for treatment, the family member was sent by plane to the treatment center destination. At the airport they were greeted by treatment professionals, I didn’t see "God" being mentioned in treatment direction, and He wasn’t referenced at all in any of the names of the treatment centers.
     It reminded me very much of the Dr. Phil Show, who follows the same pattern. Dr. Phil offers treatment, all expenses paid to many of his guests, and may mention God in passing, but rarely does so. The show is almost exclusively about secular self-help strategies that can be good to some degree, but they don’t reach the root of the problem, which is sin.
     The Divine Intervention Show, on the other hand would address sin straight up. Sin is, after all, the driving factor in addictions, dysfunctions, violence, and a myriad of other maladies leading to eternal death.
     Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.”
     None of us want our family members to go on the broad road to destruction and eternal death. Let’s cry out for Divine Intervention and divine intervention specialists, if you will, to help turn them around to accompany us on the narrow road. It’s the only thing that will save their lives!

See you next time,
Arlen