Читать книгу Abba's Own - David R. Lumsden - Страница 20

Eternal life and being known by God now and in Judgment Day is at stake.

If Jesus Christ is the focal point of all Scripture, then “Complete in Jesus Christ” is central to all Christology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, and Eschatology, for that matter, all Theology, (Col 2: 10). God’s love message to humankind is about giving His only beloved Son to atone for our sins and rise again bodily by the power of His Holy Spirit, that we may be justified before God to enter Heaven.

Many people are being lost for eternity. They need to receive the Truth, the Way, and the Life, (Jn 14: 6), and take it by faith, literally. The Holy Spirit moves upon a person’s life for a change of mind and heart, drawing that person to receive Jesus Christ consistent with the inspired Truth of His Word. Why are so many people confused about true Christianity? Mary Fairchild writes “Statistics and Facts about the Global Face of Christianity Today,” in Thought.co. She reports that 32% of the world population is Christian, which includes Catholic, protestant, and orthodox. 37% of the 32% are protestant⁷ even less would be conservative evangelicals.

Barry Meguiar of Revival ‘Outside the Walls’ ministry says “51% of evangelicals believe that many religions can lead to eternal life.”⁸ As God says the fields are white unto harvest, but the labourers are few, (Matt 9: 37). Who are the people who are going to stand up for Christ and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto salvation, complete in Him, that souls be saved truly, consistent with the Word of God? There is nothing more fulfilling in life than to serve God in this ministry of reconciliation, whereby people make peace with God in spirit and truth. True believers, who have heard and believed the truth of Scripture for salvation, know the difference Jesus makes in one’s life.

Many times, pastors get the cart before the horse. Their message for entertainment surpasses soul-winning. Many evangelical leaders may be criticized for

preaching a personal experience with Jesus Christ, but that is why God calls us to be preachers of the Word and workers in His vineyard ripe-unto-harvest. Not doing so, reflects focus on self and disobedience toward God and His Commandment and anything else that comes to man’s mind. Some pastors fear soul-winning, or evangelism, is no longer relevant to the post-Christian church, they say that now we are in the post evangelism age. To be evangelistic; i.e. Expecting people to be converted and saved is presumptuous, as one pastor of a former evangelical church said. (The church is now more likely classed as a liberal Protestant church. Therefore, the reins need to be drawn in on church leaders to have them realize God’s purpose in calling ministers out from the world to the ministry of reconciliation. Unfortunately, a pulpit committee did not check that pastor’s credential or fell for his teachings of social action over the preaching of the Word for the salvation of souls led by the Holy Spirit.

Is Christology, salvation, complete in Christ, known by God, eternal destination, preaching the true Gospel, soul-winning, and accurate edification of the flock through biblical discipleship, are some of all critical themes effective in church ministry for the Kingdom of God and His glory? Why are there so many different church denominations and views on salvation, especially, when there is one God, one Lord, one Word of God, one Church, one Holy Spirit, and yet so much misunderstanding among pastors that in OT time, God referred to them as brutish and foolish (Jere 10: 8-21), or has truth been lost in translation from the originals? The expression in God's Word, “Complete in Jesus Christ alone," is as right for the OT as the NT. The Psalmist says, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,” (Ps 23: 1). His needs for holy living and requirements to dwell in the house of the Lord forever were met in the Lord Jesus Christ, our great Shepherd, who made the necessary sacrifice for our redemption. When the author preaches, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, not his wit, He desires to make man’s sin and need for salvation clear and relevant for all to believe God, and he prays for God to add converts to the Church. Some of the great evangelists in history spent a great deal of time on sin, as well as on salvation. To preach repentance and die for our souls for salvation for humankind, not speaking in tongues, was the reason Christ was sent to come in the flesh, (Matt 4: 17). May God grant you His grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord, by the power of His Holy Spirit, for your new birth into eternal Life and the preaching of His Word in season and out of season. May others come to biblical faith in Jesus through His Spirit leading you in salvation and ministry to do evangelism that is of God, with His purpose and glory in mind.

The study is essential for assurance of salvation, in a secure knowledge of one’s eternal home being Heaven, not just hoping that one will go to Heaven, if you do anything of human making, repeatedly. Doing your own thing will not get you into heaven. Praying about the Lord’s Word and His will must be in the ground of preparation for one’s preaching, teaching, counselling, soul-winning, and the development of one’s theology, that one knows this side of eternity that God will know one in Judgment Day as a child begotten of God, (1 Jn 5:1-2; Jn 1: 12). One’s theology determines one’s impact on church growth, personal joy, and fulfillment in a pastoral ministry. It is written in The Scriptures, “to know to good and do it not is sin,” (Jas 4: 17). Therefore, should one not do sound theology by rightly dividing the Word of Truth, (2 Tim 2: 15) and, accepting it by faith as defined in Hebrews 11: 1, to be a useful servant approved of the true God, led by God the Holy Spirit is impossible? Yes, the real biblical ministry is born of and given by God to believers.