Missed Miracles

Can you imagine telling God “no” when He wants you to be part of a miracle? Yet every time He gently places the desire in your heart to commune with Him in prayer and devotion and we don’t follow in obedience; it is like saying “no” to a miracle.

Consider even the smallest call of God to study and pray as an act of His amazing grace. Imagine if He did not call you to prayer? Your heart would become hard and cold. What if He did not call you to devotions early in the morning? The cares and worries of the world would steal your joy and peace. If He never called you to serve Him, your passion for other things would rise and encroach upon every ounce of your strength.

The desire for study, devotion and prayer is not a longing of our fallen nature. It is beautifully conceived by the Holy Spirit. Treat every desire to be with God as a special gift to you from the King of kings. Do not neglect it. Instead, be stunned and swept off your feet that He would want to spend time with you.

Thank God for calling you by His side and never ignore His calm voice summoning you to sit with Him. It could be one of the greatest missed miracles of your life. 

Brad Ferguson

Three Essential Truths to Remember When Suffering

“…who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Titus 2:14

Every Christian is God’s possession. He purchased us at a very high price – His only Son. Therefore, He has made us and placed us in His special custody above all other creatures. He made us in His own image. Yet when suffering we tend to loose that focus.

When you are suffering remember these three essential yet simple truths. First, you are the object of God’s affections. He wraps you in the fullness of His presence. Never doubt, not even for a moment, that He has abandoned you. He has not. His faithful love surrounds you.  

Second, you are under His protective care. No temptation, trial, tribulation or thorn can approach you without being permitted by God. He is sovereignly in control of every person and circumstance in your life. He will guard and defend you so that you will not be crushed.  

Third, you are the recipient of all His resources.  He will supply you with the needed faith and grace to sustain you while in the valley.

Seasons of suffering can be darker than you ever imagined. They can be extended times of fear, abandonment and loneliness. No matter how turbulent and life changing the waters of suffering are, always hold tightly to our good Shepherd.

Kenneth Wuest said, “God in His wisdom plans the test, and limits the temptation. God in His love sends the test, and permits the temptation. God in His grace meets the test, and overcomes the temptation. In His wisdom He plans and limits.”

Brad Ferguson

Honduras Mission Trip

I recently returned from a mission trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras with several members of the church. It was amazing to see how God worked. We were able to do some work on a new church plant in Cerro Grande. I was able to preach 5 times in 4 locations. In all, over 75 people gave their heart to Christ.

One of the highlights of the trip was that I was asked to preach a baptism service for 14 new Christians from the new church plant in Cerro Grande. The entire service was outside and everyone stood for the music, preaching and the baptism.

There was no place in Cerro Grande with enough water to baptise. So the church sent a bus to pick the people up and we did the baptism in a town called Valle de Angelos.

This is Pastor Adolfo who has become a very good friend. It is amazing that even though we speak different languages God has brought us together and developed such a close relationship. I truly thank God for Adolfo.

Everyone who was baptised.

This is Estaphanie Michelle. She is a precious little girl who my family sponsors. My children pray for her every night. What a joy to get to meet her.

Me and bunch of kids from the Day Care. I had fun playing soccer with them. They are really good.

The Market in Tegucigalpa.

A wonderful lady who used her home to prepare lunch while we were in Cerro Grande working on building the new church.

Some kids in Cerro Grande.

The people don’t have much at all. What a joy to share the love and salvation of Christ with them.

On Tuesday night I preached in Cerro Grande. The church building is not yet built so we set out chairs and had the service outside. It was completely dark except for two light bulbs over the people. It was cold and the wind was blowing hard. I preached using the light from my flashlight. There were about 70 people in attendance and God saved 4.

I also preached at a private school in Tegucigalpa. This was amazing. We had two sessions of students with a total of between 500 and 600 present. I presented the Gospel and over 70 were saved. One of the administrators told me as she fought back her tears that of the students who came forward in the second session, one was a Mormon and the other was a Jehovah’s Witness. God is so good!

This is Felix and me. Felix was my translator in 2007 and again in 2009. I have grown to love him dearly in the Lord. He did an outstanding job! We got to the point where we could just about finish each other’s sentences.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

The City.

The city of Tegucigalpa.

Sermon Prep.

Sermon preparation is one of the most important tasks any pastor has. I believe it is best to preach through a book of the Bible. Expository preaching focuses on exposing the meaning of the text in its context and applying it. The first task is to determine what the author was saying to his audience. This is accomplished through much prayer over a particular passage. Other factors are also very important such as:

1.  Answer some basic questions such as who the author was. What was his purpose for writing? What is the theme and key verses of the book?

2.  Understand the genre. Is this wisdom literature? Poetry? Historical? Gospel? Epistle?

The next task is to read the passage over and over. As you are reading you will want to outline the text. This is to uncover the main idea of the text. Once the main idea is discovered you will use that as the focus of the sermon. Be sure to do all this without commentaries.

The commentary only comes in near the end of the study. It should be used to make sure you are not a heretic, to give important background or grammatical information. I will typically have between 8 and 12 different sources for each sermon. If your sermon preparation is dull, not well-organized or not well thought out then your delivery will take on the same characteristics. The delivery is only as good as the preparation. Let God use you alone in the quiet study and He will use you in the pulpit before His people.

Remember the 3 S’s:

1.  Without the Spirit there is no POWER in the PREACHING (Acts 1:8).

2.  Without the Scripture there is no PRODUCTION in the PROCLAMATION (Isaiah 55:11).

3.  Without the Savior there is no PURPOSE in the PASSION (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

Brad Ferguson

Shallow Evangelism and the Authentic Gospel, part 2 of 2

Shallow evangelism holds a terribly destructive influence over the one who thinks he is hearing the gospel but is not. While he believes heaven awaits if he only walks down an aisle, lifts a hand or fills out a card the true gospel of repentance and faith in Christ has been withheld from him. The cardinal sin in those who practice shallow evangelism is “thou shall offend no one.”  

The gospel must always contain two elements that are essential to the biblical message of salvation.

1. The holiness of God.
2. The sinfulness of man.

The Psalms are a wonderful place to learn about the holiness of God. “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!” (Ps. 97:12) Psalm 99:3 proclaims, “Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he!” And again in Psalm 103:1, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”

“Holy” is the only description of God repeated three times (Is. 6:3). He is perfectly pure, perfectly righteous and full of light. The Bible says there is no darkness in Him at all (1 John 1:5). Oswald Chambers said, “Anything that belittles or obliterates the holiness of God by a false view of the love of God, is untrue to the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ.”

Yet we are stained with the blackness and filth of sin. This is the offence that cannot be removed from the gospel. The word gospel means “good news.” One cannot understand the good news until he first understands the bad news. The bad news is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). When we realize that we have broken God’s law and stand before Him guilty and under His righteous condemnation, only then, does the good news become very good.

Romans 9:33 proclaims, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Any gospel that removes the issue of sin and repentance is not the gospel at all but an attempt at self reformation.

J.I. Packer said, “Evangelism is in essence the communication of a message – good news about Jesus Christ as the source of life and hope for lost sinners.” Removing the extremely high cost of sin from the gospel takes away its life-saving message. Oswald Chambers said, “The first thing Jesus Christ faced in men was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its blasting power.”

Lewis Drummond gave this definition of the gospel, “A concerted effort in the power of the Holy Spirit to confront unbelievers with the truth about Jesus Christ and the claims of our Lord (Acts 2:22-24,31) with a view to leading unbelievers into repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21) and thus into the fellowship of His church so they may grow in the Spirit.”

True effectiveness in the gospel is measured by remaining faithful to the biblical message.

Brad Ferguson

Shallow Evangelism and the Authentic Gospel, part 1 of 2

A disturbing trend is plaguing our churches. It seems to have slipped in the back door but has now found its way to the very center of far too many pulpits and ministries. Shallow evangelism is rapidly becoming a problem of huge proportions.

I define shallow evangelism as a lie espoused by some pastors and professors that trickles down to the Christian in the pew. It is a softening of the authentic gospel for no good reason except to perhaps not offend people by telling them the truth.

Shallow evangelism has two main problems. First it seeks to dim the holiness of God. Second it belittles sin. Oswald Chambers said, “Calvary is the estimate of His hatred of sin.” I would add to that statement that Calvary is also the most glaring display of the Holiness of God.

Here are some examples of shallow evangelism. I was visiting a church several months ago and the gospel message was to accept Jesus as your friend. Later in the service the children were told to invite Jesus to be their hero. Not too many days later I was made aware of a church that bragged of the tremendous number of people who raised their hand and accepted Jesus’ leadership in their lives the week before. A baptism service was then planned.

If all we need is a friend then our real problem is that we are lonely. If all we need is a hero then our problem is that we need a good example to follow. If all we need is a leader then we are just confused.

Joel Osteen, one of the most well-known proponents of shallow evangelism explains how one can be set free in his very popular book, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, “You may not be perfect – nobody is! Sure, you’ve got some flaws – we all do! But to be truly free, you must have a healthy respect for yourself in spite of those ‘imperfections’” (emphasis added) (66).

According to Osteen, our problem is a low view of ourselves which leads to focusing too much on our “imperfections.” Yet the Bible says that our problem is sin. Sin causes us to be unable to glorify God (Romans 3:23) and ultimately leads to death (Romans 6:23).

We do not need a friend, a hero or a leader. We need a Savior because those without Christ are dead in their sins and without hope. Mark Dever states in his book The Gospel & Personal Evangelism, “A gospel that in no way offends the sinner has not been understood” (64).

In the next post I will defend the authentic gospel and sound out a call to embrace it at any cost.

Brad Ferguson

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller

Phillip Keller, before becoming a pastor and author, was a shepherd for eight years. It is out of that experience that he brings this most beloved Psalm to life.  Keller was born in East Africa and was trained as an agrologist. He loved the outdoors.

Keller uses his unique experiences to bring vibrant meaning to an otherwise trite phrase we have heard all our lives. Through his book one can experience the rich blessing of knowing what is means to have the LORD as his Shepherd.

Psalm 23 will never be the same after you have studied it with Keller’s book as a resource. Be sure to read it with a pen in hand. You will underline almost the entire book.

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller. You can get more information at www.christianbook.com

 

 

Taking a Walk with Logan

We are blessed with three wonderful children. Michelle and I both realize that we are not able to spend as much individual time with them as we would like. Yet we make time for things we deem important.

Last week Logan and I went for a walk. Just the two of us. What an amazing time it was. When I have Logan all to myself it takes our father/son relationship to a whole new level.  He had some good questions to ask me about heaven. He asked if we would eat in heaven. He asked if we were going to wear robes in heaven.

He even asked me about Michelle’s dad who passed away about three months before Logan was born. Logan loves hearing about his Grandpa. It is amazing how alike they are. If Mark were alive today, he and Logan would be inseparable.

Logan is left-handed like his Grandpa. He has a great ability to fix things like his Grandpa. Logan is itching to go fishing just like his Grandpa. I told Logan about all the catfish his Grandpa used to catch. We called him Catfish Brown.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Logan. If you haven’t spent one on one time with your children, please do before he or she grows up and no longer wants to walk with you. You will discover how unique and wonderful your child really is. This time is priceless.

Taking the Gospel to the Unreached People Groups of the World

Our church just completed a missions awareness weekend in which we highlighted some of the unreached people groups of the world. Though there are many people in the Charlotte area who have never heard the Gospel, we do have churches, Christian neighbors, Christian radio, etc. The Gospel is available through the faithful church. Unreached people groups are those who have no access to a church, a Christian, a copy of the Scriptures or even a missionary. How can we reach these people with the Good News?

We have several members of our church who are intricately involved in praying, planning and strategizing on how to reach the unreached people groups of the world. As we focused on God’s work in Latin America and Africa, our attention was turned to the persecuted church.

May the church be encouraged! God is doing an amazing work on a global scale. The Gospel is being proclaimed through His church. He is revealing Himself to people who have never heard of His name. These are truly exciting times we are living in.

Let me introduce you to a group called “Ethne to Ethne.” This is a global network focused on serving the 28% of the world’s people without access to the Good News. “Eth-nê is the Greek word Jesus used for ‘nation’—a word which means tribe, ethnic group or people.

• Our world today has 6.4 billion individuals living in 234 geo-political nations but over 16,000 ethnê, or people groups, by country.
• Of those ethnê, more than 6,900 groups remain least-reached.
• This simply means they are a people group lacking an indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize their own people group.
• This means 1 in 4 people still remain without reasonable access to the gospel—the Forgotten One Fourth World.” Please visit their web site for more information on prayer and church planting. (http://www.ethne.net/)

The work to reach this “Forgotten One Fourth World” is very large, especially when we look at the current condition of the church. Here are some statistics that will paint a picture of the health of the church in England.

•  66% of the U.K. population have no connection with any religion or church
• On average only 7% of the U.K. population attend church each week
• 48% of the U.K. population have never seen the inside of a church building
• Within 20 years the Methodist and Presbyterian denominations will cease to exist in England
• The U.K. has the 4th lowest rate of church attendance in the entire European Union
• Between 1995 and 2002, 1,792 churches closed (went out of business) in the U.K. That equates to 4 churches closing there doors every week!
• In a recent survey only 35% of the U.K. population stated it believed in any kind of “God” or “supreme being”
• Islam is the fastest growing religion in the U.K.

Why give the statistics for the church in the UK? Because in many ways the saying is true, “As England goes, so goes the U.S.” England was once a mighty place of Godly men and women who were used by God to impact the world.

May the church in America wake up from our heavy slumber. God is faithful. His church will not fail. The Gospel will continue to be the power of God for salvation. People will continue to be saved.

Brad Ferguson

 

My Prayer Comes Before You

“But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.” Psalm 88:13

Observation: This timely reminder comes in the midst of the Psalmist crying out to God for relief. His companions have turned away. All his strength has abandoned him. The Psalmist describes his life as being in the depths of the pit. He indicates that he is going to die if God does not intervene. Yet everyday he calls out to God and spreads out his hands to the LORD. He simply will not cease to abide in God.

Application: Often times when our circumstances are at their darkest one of the first disciplines that is ignored is our personal devotion with God. Make every effort to maintain your time with God. Jesus told us in John 15:1-11 to abide in Him. A fairly prominent pastor of a huge church was asked if he has devotions everyday. He replied, “No, not everyday. Sometimes I skip a few days. Isn’t it cool that I don’t have to lie about that?” Yes, thanks for telling the truth! At the same time, this is an area to raise the bar not lower it.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I ask that You would bring me to the point of abandonment to You. I ask that my passion for You would trump my desire to spend the best part of my day serving myself. I want to cry out to You every morning.