In this 3-minute video for The Gospel Project, Matt Chandler explains the difference between a moralistic interpretation of the story of David and Goliath and a gospel-centered approach.
I love listening to pastors who exalt Christ everywhere they can as they proclaim the Scriptures. Christ-centeredness is one of the core values we are seeking to implement in The Gospel Project.
Churches stop growing when disciples are not being empowered. It is a proven fact – the way to kill a church is to not empower people to make disciples. You can have a great program and a nice worship hall but if you are not empowering people – you can’t grow.
We create bottlenecks when we don’t empower people to make disciples. Don’t be happy if you have a big small group. Don’t boast that there are 30 people attending your small group. Ask yourself, have I empowered them to make disciples? Are new leaders being released to fulfill the Great Commission? Am I responsible from holding people back from making disciples by not empowering them.
This year change how we make disciples. Empower people to go and make disciples!!!
Some practical tips on how we can empower:
1. If you are currently leading a small group and you have people under you that are spiritually progressing, encourage them to start leading small groups this year.
2. Some of the people you are leading keeps on inviting their friends to attend your group, tell them to stop inviting and tell him/her to start a victory small group with his/her friends.
3. Partner up. Some of the people in your small group just needs a little push. Try partnering them up together to lead a small group together. Two are better than one.
4. Let someone lead your group and jump start your own group. Some take a radical step and let someone else lead their small group while he/she starts a new one.
5. Ask for a commitment. Movers are committed. You cannot work with someone who is not committed. I learned this from a top executive of a company. He said as a leader you must learn how to sift people. See who is ready and see those who are not. If they are ready, empower them. If they are not – guide them and encourage them but you can’t force them.
This blog is dedicated for all church leaders, church planters and pastors out there.
One of the things that I have learned as I preach the gospel to myself everyday is that grace of God is applicable to every area of my life. I am preacher of the gospel that has changed and transformed me. I also move in the grace of God by the grace of God.
Let me repeat my last line: I move in the GRACE OF GOD by the GRACE OF GOD. Once the gospel transforms you, it changes you for the better. Once the gospel grabs a hold of you, it changes your ministry. It energizes you, it pumps you up, it liberates you.
At the same time there is a great temptation for people who have experience the grace of God to move in the opposite spirit of grace. What do I mean? Because of our desire to move in the grace of God, sometimes we pride in our experience of grace and look down on people who are living under the law.
I have seen this at work with other preachers of so called “grace” and move not in the spirit of grace. Sounds oxymoronic but it is true. The temptation to preach against churches and other pastors in our preaching is not really exemplifying grace. I wrote this because I also have the tendency to do this and it is actually a note to myself.
I also am under authority which means God has placed me in a spiritual family that loves me and protects me. Every pastor is on a journey of God’s grace and story the same way I will journey in understanding the gospel till the day I die. As preachers of the gospel, let us be careful not to take pride in GRACE. Let us move in the spirit of honor and humility and not divide the shepherds to preachers of the law vs preachers of grace.
We have but one gospel. Our goal is to educate and preach the gospel but not in the expense of tearing other ministries down.
I move in the GRACE OF GOD by the GRACE OF GOD. I preach the GOSPEL by the GRACE OF GOD. I live the gospel by the GRACE OF GOD.
Sorsogon has been known as a typhoon city but ever since 2007 something miraculous happened.
Bicol prayer power summoned against typhoon
LEGAZPI CITY, 2007 — Climatologists may have the explanation for Typhoon Mina swinging away from the Bicol Region last weekend, but to Bicolanos, the answer was simple enough: typhoon Mina veered because of the power of prayer.
For more than 48 hours, as Mina threatened the region with its center winds of 175 kilometers per hour, radio stations in Sorsogon City were swamped with text messages urging people to pray hard so that the howler would spare their province and the region
On Saturday, after the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) announced that Mina had changed course and was headed for northern Luzon, a text message sent to Radyo Natin- Sorsogon said it was the deluge of prayers that made the typhoon turn away.
Pastor Allan Lopez, a physician by profession, said in a text message to Radyo Natin that his group, the Victory Christian Fellowship, and other congregations had dedicated Sorsogon to Jesus Christ to protect its people from the wrath of Mina.
Nothing is impossible
Churches in Sorsogon and prayer groups teamed up with the Intercessor for the Philippines, whose members devote themselves to praying and seeking Divine Intervention.
Sorsogon Gov. Sally Lee, a devout Catholic, said nothing was impossible when people got together to petition the Lord for deliverance. She said prayers had long been proven to be a powerful tool in warding off evil and calamities.
Darrin Patrick shares about the Church Planter
A Culture of Hope for the Men of the Church from Desiring God on Vimeo.
Mark 10:14-1514 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Jesus wants us to be without pretense when we come to him in prayer.
I love when I hear Alyanna prays or when Mika ask me to buy America. They have no clue of my powers. When we come to prayer we don’t come to a God who has limits. That is why God calls us to have faith like a child.
The problem is we are trying to be spiritual to get it right. We know we don’t need to clean up our act in order to become a Christian but when it comes to praying we forget that. We like adults, try to fix ourselves up. In contrast, Jesus wants us to come to him like little children, just as we are.
Come to me all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer and I will give you rest??? It says come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden.
What would touch the heart of God.
A long flowery prayer asking for his help or a sincere childlike attitude of coming to him because we are helpless. Sometimes the word HELPPPPPP packs more power than our King James prayers. Don’t try to get the prayer right; just tell God where you are and what’s on your mind. That’s what little children do. They come as they are, with runny noses and all. Like the disciples they say what is on their mind. Huwag nang denial king and queen.
HOW TO PRAY LIKE A CHILD
Ask anything and everything often.
2. Believe like a child.
Be confident of God’s power and love. Trust. Don’t be embarrassed by how needy your heart is and how much it needs to cry out for grace. Just pray.
3. Play like a child
How do we structure our child’s play? How do we structure our adult conversations? We don’t.
Starting today resolve to pray like a child!!!
Happy 6th day of fasting!!!!
The praying life reveals the heart.When we pray we are being unmasked. We expose what is inside of us. We become vulnerable to God and ourselves. We don’t like it and we are scared but we know we need to do it.
Only in a praying life do we acknowledge that we have a needy heart. As much as we want the world to see how self reliant we are, we really are not. That is why I always say that prayer mirrors the gospel. It shows to us how helpless we are and to admit it is actually healthy and beneficial to us.
When we are weak, God shows Himself strong. Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer.
The problem is we are trying to be spiritual to get it right. We know we don’t need to clean up our act in order to become a Christian but when it comes to praying we forget that. We like adults, try to fix ourselves up. In contrast, Jesus wants us to come to him like little children, just as we are.
COME MESSY
Come to me all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer and I will give you rest??? No, it says come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden. Have you seen a weary and a person carrying a heavy load. Don’t try to get the prayer right; just tell God where you are and what’s on your mind. That’s what little children do. They come as they are, with runny noses and all. Like the disciples they say what is on their mind.
The gospel teaches us that we cannot on our own. That is how we must be when we come to pray.
Enjoy your 5th day of fasting!!!
Thanks for the question that I know a lot of people are asking also. To answer your question, I got this really great article by RC Sproul on the unpardonable sin. Hope it answers your question.
“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation” (Mark 3:28–29).
I cannot tell you how many times in my teaching career very distraught Christians have come to me to ask about the unpardonable sin and whether they might have committed it. I suspect most believers have asked themselves whether they have done something unforgivable. It is not surprising that many people struggle with this issue because the precise nature of “the unpardonable sin” is difficult to discern and many theories about it have been set forth through church history. For instance, some people have argued that the unpardonable sin is murder and others have said that it is adultery, because they see the serious consequences that those sins wreak on the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage. But I can speak with full assurance that neither of those sins is unpardonable. There are two reasons for my assurance. First, Scripture shows us examples of people who committed these sins and were forgiven. Exhibit A is David, who was guilty of both adultery and murder, and yet, after his confession and repentance, he was restored fully to his state of grace. Second, and more important, when Jesus taught on the unpardonable sin, He said nothing about murder or adultery.
Amen
What, then, did Jesus say? He began in a radical way by saying, “Assuredly, I say to you.” Sometimes evangelical Christians who want to express agreement with something they have heard from a preacher or a teacher will say “Amen.” The word amen is transliterated from the Hebrew amein, which means “truth” or “it is true,” so those saying “Amen” are agreeing with what they have heard. But instead of giving His teaching and waiting for His hearers to say “Amen,” Jesus Himself said “Amen” before He gave His teaching. The word translated as “assuredly” here is the Greek equivalent of the word amein. In other words, Jesus announced that He was about to say something true. This was a way of saying, “Now hear this.” He was giving great emphasis to the teaching He was about to utter.
What is Blasphemy?
Jesus then stated that “all sins” can be forgiven, including “whatever blasphemies”—except for the specific blasphemy of the Spirit. Luke’s account of this teaching is even more specific: “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven” (Luke 12:10).
Tweet this[Blasphemy] is desecration of the holy character of God… In a sense, it is the opposite of praise. —R.C. Sproul
At this point, we need to define blasphemy, and this verse from Luke gives us a clue as to what it is. The two phrases “who speaks a word against” and “who blasphemes” are parallel. Blasphemy, then, involves speaking a word against God. It is a verbal sin, one that is committed with the mouth or the pen. It is desecration of the holy character of God. It can involve insulting Him, mocking Him, or dishonoring Him. In a sense, it is the opposite of praise. Even casually using the name of God by saying, “Oh, my God,” as so many do, constitutes blasphemy. We can be very thankful that the unpardonable sin is not just any kind of blasphemy, because if it were, none of us would have any hope of escaping damnation. All of us have, at many times and in many ways, routinely blasphemed the name of God.
Blasphemy Against the Son of Man
Jesus’ statement that “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him” seems shocking in light of the abuse and mistreatment He later went through, culminating in His execution on a Roman cross. But we must remember how, as He hung on the cross, Jesus looked at those who had delivered Him to the Romans and mocked Him as He was dying, and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Even though these men opposed Christ to the point of executing Him, there was still hope of forgiveness for them. Likewise, in the book of Acts, Peter told the people of Jerusalem that they had delivered Jesus to the Romans and denied Him, but he added, “I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers” (Acts 3:17), and he called on them to repent. So, on at least two occasions, the New Testament makes it clear that forgiveness was possible for those who despised Christ so much that they killed Him. These accounts verify Jesus’ assertion that any sin against the Son of Man could be forgiven.
Blasphemy Against the Spirit
But what of blasphemy against the Spirit? To understand this difficult saying, we need to see that it came in the context of Jesus’ opponents charging Him with doing His work by the power of the Devil rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit. However, they were not slandering the Spirit—not quite. Their statements were directed against Jesus. So, He said to them: “You can blaspheme Me and be forgiven, but when you question the work of the Spirit, you are coming perilously close to the unforgivable sin. You are right at the line. You are looking down into the abyss of hell. One more step and there will be no hope for you.” He was warning them to be very careful not to insult or mock the Spirit.
Christians and The Unpardonable Sin
Humanly speaking, everyone who is a Christian is capable of committing the unforgivable sin. However, I believe that the Lord of glory who has saved us and sealed us in the Holy Spirit will never let us commit that sin. I do not believe that any Christians in the history of the church have blasphemed the Spirit.
Tweet thisThanks be to God that the sin that is unpardonable is not a sin He allows His people to commit. —R.C. Sproul
As for those who are not sure they are saved and are worried they may have committed the unpardonable sin, I would say that worrying about it is one of the clearest evidences that they have not committed this sin, for those who commit it are so hardened in their hearts they do not care that they commit it. Thanks be to God that the sin that is unpardonable is not a sin He allows His people to commit.
Excerpt adapted from R.C. Sproul’s Mark, the fifth volume in the St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary series. Now available in the Ligonier store.
Dennis Sy is the Senior Pastor of Victory Greenhills. Husband to Thammie Sy, and father to two beautiful girls. A clueless church planter, a frustrated sociologist and an aspiring missiologist.
CHURCH PLANTING, LEADERSHIFT, and MISSIONAL LIVING
