WE CONTINUE WITH THE FOUR PASTORS AND FOUR CHURCHES VIDEO
SERIES ~ Four who are faithful to the moving of God the Holy
Spirit's admonition to "Go, Make Disciples, Baptize
Them, TEACH Them. . . Be His Witnesses In All The
World" (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15).
While
I do not believe God caused the CoronaVirus, I am
convinced that He is using it to cause
His churches to move away from "preaching to the choir"
in our local fellowships - and to start using the power of
the internet and social media to take His Gospel of
Salvation to the far corners of the earth. Many churches
and pastors who had never learned to use social media
before to share the Gospel, are now very effectively using
it to share His Word.
Matthew 24:14, "And this Gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in all the world as a witness to all the
nations, and then the end will come."
Another thing many of us in the Christian communities have
learned - is to streamline the message, realizing that we
are reaching out to the unsaved of the world - not
necessarily to folks who want to hear a long discussion of
the Gospel. We are reaching out to folks who most likely are not interested in hearing
a long sermon.
That should motivate us to keep our Gospel
messages short and to the point. That should motivate all
of us to reevaluate and rethink: Who are WE trying to
reach with our messages? Those already in our Christian
family - OR - those who have not yet believed? In the
Great Commission, who is Jesus Christ telling us to Reach
and Teach - those believers in our local Christian family
or the unsaved?
Luke 5:31-32, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.' "
That is why each week I take the videos which have long
dead time in front, and videos which contain a lot of
material which is part of our normal local Sunday worship
service - and trim the video to share only that portion containing the Gospel
message. It is my belief that is what God wants us doing
right now. Not sharing our whole worship service, but
only His Gospel message of Salvation. I believe He wants
us reaching out to the unsaved - not "preaching
to the choir."
I am not a big fan of Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven"
books. But one thing in his first book which struck a
chord within me was his statement, and I am paraphrasing:
"In the large Saddleback Church, 80% of their members
were unchurched and non-believers before someone from
that church approached them with the Gospel message."
In other words, we should not be "farming" other
churches looking to grow our church - but should be going
"to the streets, lanes of the city, to the highways and
hedges" (Luke 14:16-23) and inviting those folks to
the "great banquet of the Gospel" in our churches.
One evening last week Dory and I went for a walk. We
normally walk a path which takes us past the park and
around a rectangular area of about 1 1/2 miles - a nice
way to stretch our legs and get exercise. That evening as
we were passing the park, I heard a loud speaker which sounded
like an announcer at a ball game. There is a ball
park in the park, so I assumed that was what I was
hearing.
Being curious, I wandered closer and, believe it
or not, a pastor had set up a screen with a speaker system
which could be heard all across the park. This intrigued
me so I went closer. On the screen was a video of him
giving a short Gospel message. Dory and I stopped to
listen. After the short video, the pastor prayed - and
then Dory and I went over to meet him and to thank him for
being so bold for God.
Another young man who had also heard him left his car and
came over. The four of us had a good discussion about his
ministry. He told us that he traveled to different
locations, setting up as he had in our park, as he felt
the Holy Spirit was guiding him. We who stopped to talk
with him were believers - but, as I said, his speakers
could be heard all over the park - where many families
come to relax in the evenings and where a number of young
people gather to play basketball, softball, tennis, etc.
I did not see him save anyone that evening - but I know a
lot of folks all over the park heard his short Gospel
message and prayer. The rest is up to the Holy Spirit.
Luke 14:16-17, 21-23, "Then He (Jesus) said to him, 'A
certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and
sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were
invited, "Come, for all things are now ready" (But his
friends were too busy). So that servant came and
reported these things to his master. Then the master of
the house, being angry, said to his servant, '"Go out
quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and
bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and
the blind." And the servant said, "Master, it is done
as you commanded, and still there is room." Then the
master said to the servant, "Go out into the highways
and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house
may be filled." ' "
If we focus our thoughts and efforts on those who are not
yet believers - or those who have sometimes in the past
believed, but are not yet connected with a local church
fellowship, or have just become lax in attending worship
services, Bible studies, and other methods of fellowship -
we must adjust our messages toward those folks.
Especially those who are still not yet believers.
Two
things we know about that latter group: (1) they are most
likely not interested in attending long church
services, and (2) they most likely will not sit still and
listen to a long Gospel message.
To reach the non-believer and the unchurched - our
messages need to be short and to the point. A great
example would be the 15 - 20 minute messages in Pastor Sam
Lacanienta's playlist, where each week he is taking one
attribute or one name of God - and sharing what it means.
Thinking back some 35 years to my own personal experience
- if I encountered a person sharing a short message, out of curiosity I
would most often stop and listen. But if that message
stretched to 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes - I would
have been gone after the first 15 minutes. And most
likely, the chance to reach me and make me want to hear
more about God, would also have left with me.
We want our messages long enough to be effective - but not
so long as to drive away those who should be listening.
Since the Covid-19 Panic has shut down our worship
services ~ I have been sharing Gospel messages taught by
these four pastors whom I trust to give you the true
Biblical Gospel. These four
pastors, four churches - I personally know
and I am proud to share their teachings with you. I
have chosen them because they are Conservative
Theology pastors whom I have known for years - and in
whose Worship Services, Sunday School Classes, and
Bible Studies I have participated over the years.
That is why I want to share their online messages of
hope, assurance, and peace found only in God's Word
with you. I am doing this through my Friends Ministry
eNewsletter, our Bill & Dory Gray Christian
Ministries blog site, and on Facebook.
All four
pastors and churches are Dispensational, i.e., they
believe in and teach a PreTribulation Rapture of the
Church and a PreMillennial Second Coming of Jesus
Christ to establish His Millennial Kingdom on earth.
And most important, all four believe in and teach "Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, alone" and Eternal Security of all believers.
What I am sharing with you is a YouTube Playlist for each of the four pastors / churches, and I will keep adding their latest message videos on top of the playlist stacks each week. That way you can view their latest videos, and you can also scan the playlists to find other videos which may address issues you want to study.
I pray these video messages will help you during this time of isolation and trial, and even after we are back to having open church services once again - with assurances that with God's help we will all get through the valleys and come out stronger on the other side.
PASTOR SAM LACANIENTA - Talakag Church on the Solid Rock, Philippines (15 - 20 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmAZE3n8MD0&list=PL_YT3RttutrjP4_ws1dHh8bO_CvVYWkPi
PASTOR ED DACIO - Corona International Christian Fellowship, Corona, CA (20 - 30 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDhWHzv5YVE&list=PL_YT3Rttutri2x3a9teQBvznVAO4IjUEt
PASTOR FREDDY CORTEZ - Church of Hope, Aliso Viejo, CA (30 - 60 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Fei3n4R-A&list=PL_YT3RttutrjNG8vXg20iPm0FNhfwZImX
PASTOR SERGIO NOLASCO - International Bible Baptist Church, Riverside, CA (50 - 90 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEnM_knCG1w&list=PL_YT3RttutrjJ0P_7W-3MKVGI9Rbwnekp
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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