Expectation…a genetic issue.
Monday, January 5th, 2009“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
(II Cor. 9:8)
Expectation is in the spiritual genetics of God’s people, given by the Spirit…and all is the ultimate in expectation.
Joshua was in an important battle with the Amorites. He needed more time, looked up and demanded that the sun stand still. God immediately told the sun to stand still. Joshua did not ask God to make the sun stand still. He remembered the promises we read about in Joshua 1, and acted with appropriate expectation (faith).
We can take our cue from the people in II Chronicles 29. They rejoiced because the service in the temple was reinstated so quickly…in 16 days. In one day, 3,000 were saved. In less than 40 days the people of Nineveh repented. In a matter of hours, the Spirit commissioned the church in Antioch to send out Barnabas and Saul. In 15 days the church in Berea was established. In 30 years the New Testament world heard the gospel.
God has commissioned his people to take the gospel to the world, and there is no back-up plan. There are 6.6 billion folk in our world, and God wants all of them to be saved…so, what should our expectation be?
God’s Expectation
When it was time to proclaim the good news publicly, the Spirit used a powerful public demonstration. Wind, fire, and powerful preaching caused an extremely successful public forum, and all of Jerusalem heard!
The first thing Paul did when entering a city was to seek out the public forum…the place where ideas were discussed (Synagogue, Mars Hill, etc.). We are fascinated when we read of whole cities hearing the good news quickly…because of passionate presentations from the public forum. We are sobered when we read that not everyone agreed with the message of the gospel…and there was a very real expectation of danger in public forum evangelism.
Oops! Do we need a reality check?
The population growth of the world (births minus deaths) duplicates a liberal estimate of the Lord’s church every 9 days...but God does not want one person to be lost. As I write, we have less than 500 missionaries in the world of 6.6 billion. In less than 30 years (1973-1999) the Lord’s church in the United States went from an estimated 3 million members to about 1.5 million members.
Considering this less than stellar record, it is not surprising that the word expectation has lost some of its excitement. The old saying is true:If we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get what we have always got!
Expectation and Public Forum evangelism?
Most of us have not seriously considered the first evangelism principle in the book of Acts. In our culture, local churches, mosques, temples and synagogues are normally not public forum opportunities. They are fortresses of contemporary idealism. Is it possible we have overlooked our greatest local public forum which is right in front of us and is already very persuasive in our culture…the media?
The perception is that Public Forum evangelism has not worked in the past. The truth is…it has. The challenge is that our Public Forum has changed. We live in a digital, sound-bite world…but tend to evangelize from an 8 track mentality.
Expectation of Provision
When discussing the Public Forum concept, normally the first challenge is not to the public forum reality of Acts…it is to the cost! Is it possible we have forgotten one more truism in the New Testament: God does not commission his people to do anything that He will not provide the resources to get the job done?
Expectation is in the spiritual genetics of God’s people, given by the Spirit…and all is the ultimate in expectation.
Joshua was in an important battle with the Amorites. He needed more time, looked up and demanded that the sun stand still. God immediately told the sun to stand still. Joshua did not ask God to make the sun stand still. He remembered the promises we read about in Joshua 1, and acted with appropriate expectation (faith).
We can take our cue from the people in II Chronicles 29. They rejoiced because the service in the temple was reinstated so quickly…in 16 days. In one day, 3,000 were saved. In less than 40 days the people of Nineveh repented. In a matter of hours, the Spirit commissioned the church in Antioch to send out Barnabas and Saul. In 15 days the church in Berea was established. In 30 years the New Testament world heard the gospel.
God has commissioned his people to take the gospel to the world, and there is no back-up plan. There are 6.6 billion folk in our world, and God wants all of them to be saved…so, what should our expectation be?
God’s Expectation
When it was time to proclaim the good news publicly, the Spirit used a powerful public demonstration. Wind, fire, and powerful preaching caused an extremely successful public forum, and all of Jerusalem heard!
The first thing Paul did when entering a city was to seek out the public forum…the place where ideas were discussed (Synagogue, Mars Hill, etc.). We are fascinated when we read of whole cities hearing the good news quickly…because of passionate presentations from the public forum. We are sobered when we read that not everyone agreed with the message of the gospel…and there was a very real expectation of danger in public forum evangelism.
Oops! Do we need a reality check?
The population growth of the world (births minus deaths) duplicates a liberal estimate of the Lord’s church every 9 days...but God does not want one person to be lost. As I write, we have less than 500 missionaries in the world of 6.6 billion. In less than 30 years (1973-1999) the Lord’s church in the United States went from an estimated 3 million members to about 1.5 million members.
Considering this less than stellar record, it is not surprising that the word expectation has lost some of its excitement. The old saying is true:If we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get what we have always got!
Expectation and Public Forum evangelism?
Most of us have not seriously considered the first evangelism principle in the book of Acts. In our culture, local churches, mosques, temples and synagogues are normally not public forum opportunities. They are fortresses of contemporary idealism. Is it possible we have overlooked our greatest local public forum which is right in front of us and is already very persuasive in our culture…the media?
The perception is that Public Forum evangelism has not worked in the past. The truth is…it has. The challenge is that our Public Forum has changed. We live in a digital, sound-bite world…but tend to evangelize from an 8 track mentality.
Expectation of Provision
When discussing the Public Forum concept, normally the first challenge is not to the public forum reality of Acts…it is to the cost! Is it possible we have forgotten one more truism in the New Testament: God does not commission his people to do anything that He will not provide the resources to get the job done?
Provision is fueled by genuine expectation. Excited folk are excited givers!
Expectations in Jerusalem
I fear we have forgotten the Biblical concept of evangelizing Jerusalem…then evangelize the world? Traditionally, our emphasis has been the other way around. It is easier to pay professional evangelists!
The message in the Public Forum of my Jerusalem should not be a feel-good invitation that other religious groups can duplicate. It is the distinctive, transforming power of the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus…that sets us apart!
The challenge is to find, or create, the effective public forum in my city…so every person hears the gospel.
The challenge is to find, or create, the effective public forum in my city…so every person hears the gospel.
Is it time for our expectation to be high enough that God will be glorified when he provides in Jerusalems all over the world? Godly expectation is in our spiritual family genes...found in the word ALL.
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We are excited about our experimental Friends For Truth radio study of the book of John on Thursdays at 7 p.m. on KJAK FM 92.7 (Central). We are encouraging our audience to study 2 lessons of our 10-lesson cbs study of John for 5 weeks (Jan. 8 through Feb. 5). Each week we will discuss the lessons of the past week and tease listeners with what is in the study for the next week.
Through streaming-audio technology it is an oppurtunity for Jerusalem involvement. It allows a person to study each week, and then go to kjak.com and listen to the Friends For Truth review/preview live each week (Central time).
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Continue to pray for, and take advantage of, the childrensbiblestudy.com, friendsfortruth.com (radio) and creationevolution.org resources.
Uncle Noah
Uncle Noah