Category

Great Commission

Sep 22
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Praying God’s Word for the Unreached

By Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission, Missions, Uncategorized

Have you ever wanted to use God’s Word to pray for some of the neediest people in the world who have no access to His Word or the knowledge of His Son, Jesus? Here are a few verses that will help you do that. Couple these verses with a tool like the “Unreached of The Day” App, or The Joshua Project. Just fill in the name of the people group you are praying for.

Psalm 86:9 “Lord I pray that all the _____________ people you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; I pray the _____________ people will bring glory to your name.”

Psalm 113:4 “Lord, may you be exalted over all the _____________ people, your glory over the heavens.”

Isaiah 42:8 “You are the Lord and this your name! I pray your glory will not be given to another. I pray the _____________ people will not give your praise to idols.”

Psalm 96:3 “Lord send workers to declare your glory among the _____________ people, your marvelous deeds among all the _____________ people.”

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” Matt 6:10

Sep 14
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Jesus In Athens

By Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission, Missions

People are on the move all around the world. Many of the 1 million refugees entering Europe intially arrive in Greece. Jesus in Athens is the compelling story of the ways Christians are serving migrants, and how Muslims are encountering the love of God and Christians, believing the gospel, and forming churches. You can watch it on Amazon Prime for free by registering for a free 30 day trial.

Watch it here.
Sep 07
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Inspecting the Bridges We Use to Evangelise Muslims

By Church Planting, Culture, Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission

On December 11-14th, we’ll gather together at Lakewood for our end-of-year Connect Open Weekend. This year, we’ll have Samuel Green, author of “Where to start with Islam” as our guest speaker. If you haven’t already, please “Save The Date”.

As the Connect Open Weekend get’s closer, from time to time we’ll post articles here to help us engage with how we can be equipped to communicate Truth to our muslim friends.

Read it here.

Aug 28
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Day 8: G = God’s Global Plan

By Church Planting, Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission, Missions, WILD

God’s intention for Israel as a people was always clear. He told Abraham that he’d be the father of a nation through which all other nations would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Later, He told Moses that through Israel He’d demonstrate His power to the surrounding nations (Exodus 34:10). They were intended to be His witnesses (Isaiah 43:10). To demonstrate the incredible blessing of having access to God’s Word (Deut. 4:6,33).

Although Israel failed, God wanted His people to be a light and a witness, to communicate His blessing to others. It was part of who they were as a people, whether they recognized it or not.... read more

We mentioned in Wednesay’s post about identity and purpose being closely linked together. What was true of God’s people under the Old Covenant is also true for those in the New Covenant. The command and commission these New Covenant believers received was directly from Him and they were to pass it on to others, to go out, and to be His witnesses everywhere.

The pattern He described was of His people moving out with Truth from a local base and then out to the nations. From its beginning on the day of Pentecost, God’s Spirit empowered the early Church to move out geographically, but also across boundaries of language, culture, worldview, and ethnicity.

The Narrative of the early Church and in the centuries that followed was one of spreading out, of taking God’s Truth into new areas, both locally and globally.

Aug 27
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Day 7: N = Nurture

By Church Planting, Discipleship, Gospel, Great Commission, WILD

Someone who is learning to make use of God’s Word is able to feed themselves; they are in a position of being able to find nourishment from the Word. We know that God wants us to move beyond being only fed by others. Peter used the image of a baby craving milk (1 Peter 2:2).

Paul puts the responsibility on the Colossians (Colossians 1:23) to continue to believe the Good News they’ve been taught and to stand firmly in it. To let their “roots grow down into Christ” and for their “lives to be built in Him” (Colossians 2:7).... read more

A clear sign of growing to maturity is when individuals within the Body are learning to use God’s Word for their own nourishment and growth. But most plants or trees don’t grow in a laboratory, or even a greenhouse. They’re trying to make it out in the real world where they’re vulnerable to the extremes of weather and attacks from disease and pests.

Most healthy plants don’t grow indoors, but are able to handle heat, cold, insect infestation, cold weather etc. But even healthy plants often need some protection from bugs and weather. Careful farmers are aware of what is most likely to harm their crops and take measures to protect it. God wants His people to be able to find their own protection and to be able to feed themselves and also to protect against attack.

Paul used two pictures to teach this to the church in Ephesus. The first, pictures immature believers as small boats without a rudder, on a stormy ocean, being pushed around by strong winds (Ephesians 4:14). Paul tells them that they don’t need to be like that. They can apply Truth to everyday life, in conversations, in relationships, when faced by temptation.

Another picture Paul gives the Ephesians is to describe believers as defending themselves in warfare (Ephesians 6:10-17). We use these weapons as we share Truth in the Body, but every believer is told to put the armour on, to pick up the shield, to know how to wield the sword. No one can hope to stay safe for too long if they always have to hide behind someone else’s shield and sword and never join the battle themselves.

We’ll talk more about the Nurture of God’s people at our upcoming workshop on Saturday, 10 October. Please “Save The Date” if you haven’t already.

Aug 24
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Day 4: N = Narrative

By Church Planting, Culture, Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel, Great Commission, Meta-Narrative, Missions, Uncategorized, WILD

If you have had the opportunity to be part of a friends journey of faith, you would recognise that it takes some wisdom to help anyone to do this well. In the Bible, wisdom is strongly correlated with order, and an orderly approach to how we use God’s Word is crucial to effective Church Planting & Discipleship.

Think about your own experience, either discipling others or being discipled yourself. Think how well prepared you or a fellow disciple would be if there had already been exposure and some understanding to God’s Word as His complete Narrative, or Story.... read more

What if we had a clear understanding of how and why God created the universe, the world and man and woman? Imagine if you had been able to stand alongside your friend and observe together how God related, from the beginning, to his created human beings that He had made.

If together, or as a group, you’d learned together how Adam and Eve listened to Satan and then saw God’s interaction with them and His response. And what if you’d been able to teach or learn together how through history, you saw the highlights of God’s record of the way he has relationship with human beings.

And then, if your friend or friends hadn’t yet decided to follow Jesus, you’d been able to introduce them to the promised Messiah, the Rescuer. And most importantly, if you’d taught and learned together how all the threads of who God is, what He’s shown us about Himself, how that comes together in His Son, and how we understand that most clearly in His death, burial, and resurrection.

Even if you have not been able to guide an individual, or a group, through God’s Story, I’m sure you can appreciate what a great foundation of Truth you would be working with as you try to help and encourage others.

If the path to faith for anyone we are sharing Truth with involves getting to know God, themselves, their enemy Satan and eventually Jesus the Saviour, through God’s Narrative, then there will be many important areas of Truth we will be able to help them with.

It’s going to be great to discuss these ideas further during our upcoming webinar and workshop.

Aug 23
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Day 3: A = Authority

By Church Planting, Discipleship, Gospel, Great Commission, Missions, WILD

As we countdown towards our Church Planting Webinar on Saturday, we reach the letter A in P.L.A.N.T.I.N.G. A for Authority. God’s Word has authority! Right? Absolutely! Maybe?

If we were to play word association with Authority, many would respond with Power. Authority can have power, but as we think about Discipleship and Church Planting, we should consider whether someone comes under that authority.... read more

In a situation where a person or group of people are hearing Truth shared, are we seeing them putting themselves under the authority of that Truth, and the One who spoke it, the One who IS Truth? Maybe they are recognising it as having some authority – “Yes, it’s important. Yes, it’s right to listen to the Bible. Yes, I can see that I benefit from hearing what’s shared. I want what this teaching offers … but on the whole it is only one of the “voices” I listen to. Is it changing the things that are valued … loosening the fingers that are holding tight to the existing worldview?

If we are going to share Truth effectively, we must recognise the seriousness of the spiritual battle that is going on between Truth and Lies. There is another authority, Satan, who is hostile to God’s rule in this world, who has blinded the minds of many people (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). He has effectively created a web of lies that is in direct opposition to God’s authority.

When we share truth with an individual or group still under Satan’s control, we are joining in the battle that is going on for control of their hearts and minds.  We are contributing to God calling them “out of the darkness into His wonderful light”. This is a rescue mission as God uses His Truth to rescue people out of The Kingdom of Darkness and under the loving rule of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 1:13), who thankfully holds all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).