The gospel in three minutes

Yesterday I identified the gospel in six words. Here is the gospel that you can speak to someone in three minutes. God is gracious and merciful toward mankind. He has made us to live with Him and for Him and He provides the means by which we can do that. Man has rebelled against God. […]

The gospel in six words

This year our church is actively working to create a culture of evangelism — regularly looking for opportunities to teach the gospel with the intent to persuade. One of the basic components of teaching the gospel is that you have to know what the gospel is. There are many different biblical ways to articulate the […]

Some evangelistic encouragements at Thanksgiving

There are certain times when believers are particularly aware that they might have opportunities to communicate the gospel with unbelievers: anytime they get on an airplane (or any other kind of mass transit, for that matter), when a neighbor comes over and offers a lament about his family life, when a homeless person approaches them […]

What’s the message?

A message. Every commercial has one. So does every television show, movie, book, and website. All sermons have them, and so does every conversation. Some messages are obviously better and more clear than others, but every form of communication is given to convey a message. This is true of gospel conversations as well. When we […]

Grab bag

“A Stunning Scale of Our Solar System, Drawn in the Dessert.” Then read Genesis 1 and Psalm 8. I’ve not seen the movie, “The Risen,” but here is a review that appears to be quite helpful. Samuel James posted “Some Thoughts on Christians, Movies, and Nudity.” And then some more thoughts. These are helpful and […]

What makes a good testimony?

When individuals at GBC want to be baptized or join the church, we ask them to publicly share a brief testimony of their life with Christ and how they came to know Christ. This is actually just a shortened version of what we ask them to do when they meet with the elders prior to […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from around the web recently: Heath Lambert answers the question often asked of biblical counselors, “Who says medicine is important?” There have been several recent helpful posts for students, and particularly college students. David Mathis offers a brief and helpful video in, “You’re Not a Student First,” Marshall Segal provides “Five Back-to-School […]

A culture of evangelism

A couple of years ago I committed to reading at least one book on evangelism every year. I do not naturally think of looking for evangelistic opportunities and I need things to remind me to do that. So in addition to adding evangelism to my prayer list, I also remind myself of this necessary discipline […]

Repentance and the grace of God

If we understand that no man will ever genuinely repent without the grace of God changing his heart, then we will not feel that we have to dilute the demands of the gospel. We will put our confidence in God. We will remember that, if God is displeased with us, He will not bless us. […]

Free audio book – Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God

This month Christian Audio is making J. I. Packer’s classic work, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God available as a free download. Just go to Christian Audio, enter your email address and download. It’s that simple. (Of course, then you also need to listen to the book to benefit from it!) To whet your appetite, […]

Grab bag

Seen recently on the internet: Fred Phelps, leader of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, died this week. There have been numerous responses to both his life and death. Al Mohler, in “Fred Phelps and the Anti-Gospel of Hate — A Necessary Word” offers this wise insight: We must be very clear about the fact that […]

The gospel message

Two weeks ago we were going to have an outreach meal at the church. As part of that event, we were going to show a video presentation of the gospel as a stimulant to conversation around the dinner table. Because of the ice storm, we canceled the meal, but the video was still made. I […]

The magnificent mandate

Dan DeWitt, in A Guide to Evangelism: Many Christians, according to Russell D. Moore, think about evangelism like they think about flossing. They know they should do it more often – and they even feel guilty when they’re reminded of it – but they think of it as an optional discipline. Such a laissez-faire approach […]

Grab bag

“When Your World Caves In” (Paul Levy) — a sober reminder of the cost of sin in general and the cost (and protection against) sexual sin in particular: “Recently I’ve spent some time with two friends who were in ministry but have fallen morally and so now find themselves out of a job that they loved, […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from the last week: David Murray has “20 Helps to Sermon Listening.” Number 1? “Read and mediate on God’s Word every day: Daily Bible reading whets our appetite for the main course on the Lord’s Day. We can’t expect to be ready to digest spiritual food if we’ve not been eating through […]