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Jonah 3:4 – Jonah’s School of Evangelism

By Jeremy Myers
5 Comments

Jonah 3:4 – Jonah’s School of Evangelism
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/334376104-redeeminggod-jonah-34-jonahs-school-of-evangelism.mp3

How do you evangelize? Do you use tracts? Invite people to church, or to an evangelism crusade? Do you use the Roman’s Road? Do you shout into a bullhorn that people are going to hell unless they repent?

In Jonah 3:4, we see how Jonah shared the message of God to the people of Nineveh. We’ll also see that his approach to evangelism left much to be desired.

Jonah 3:4 evangelism

The Text of Jonah 3:4

Jonah began to go into the city, walking for one day. He cried out, saying, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”

In this discussion of Jonah 3:4 we look at:

  • How Jonah evangelized the city of Nineveh
  • Why Jonah’s obedience was … less than satisfactory
  • How we too can evangelize others today

Resources:

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God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, following Jesus, Jonah 3:4, One Verse Podcast, witnessing

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Jonah 1:6-8 – Jonah’s Questionable Behavior

By Jeremy Myers
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Jonah 1:6-8 – Jonah’s Questionable Behavior
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/312591448-redeeminggod-69-jonah-16-8-jonahs-questionable-behavior.mp3

I always find it interesting when non-Christians challenge and question Christians on our behavior. It’s pretty bad when the unbelieving world has a better sense of justice and a better understanding of right and wrong than Christians. But then, we’re often to blame, for the answers we give to them are so often … well, just flat out wrong.

This is what we are looking at this week and next week in our study of Jonah. Today, we will see some questions that Jonah gets asked, and next week we will see how Jonah answers. In both cases, the sailors on board the ship reveal a better understanding of God, and life, and justice, and right and wrong than Jonah reveals. We’ll see the questions of the sailors today in Jonah 1:6-8.

Jonah 1:6-8 casting lots

In Jonah 1, Jonah has placed his own life in danger, as well as the lives of everybody on board his ship. In verses 6-11, the sailors play a little game of 20 questions with Jonah. The answers Jonah provides are … surprising and shocking. Now, I cannot cover Jonah 1:6-11 all in one episode, so we are going to take two episodes to cover these verses.

We will look at most of the questions today, from Jonah 1:6-8, and then next week we will see how Jonah answers the questions of the sailors.

The Text of Jonah 1:6-8

So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

In this discussion of Jonah 1:6-8 we look at:

  • The question of the captain to Jonah
  • The questions of the sailors to Jonah

Resources:

  • Redeeming God Discipleship Area
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Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

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Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God Bible & Theology Topics: evangelism, Jonah 1:6-8, One Verse Podcast, theology questions, witnessing

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7 Gospel Truths that Help Prepare People to Believe in Jesus

By Jeremy Myers
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7 Gospel Truths that Help Prepare People to Believe in Jesus

There are a myriad of gospel truths in the Bible. Yet only one gospel truth is presented as the truth that people must believe in order to receive eternal life.

This is the truth that God gives eternal life to anyone who believes in Jesus for it (John 3:16; 5;24; 6:47; etc.)

But realistically, if someone knowing absolutely nothing about God, or Jesus, or sin, or eternal life, then what are the chances that someone will believe in Jesus if you tell them “Hey, you can have eternal life if you believe in Jesus for it”?

I would say the chances are close to zero.

gospel preparation truths

This is one reason why there are so many other truths in the gospel. Many of the gospel truths are there, not so that people are required to believe them in order to receive eternal life, but because they help a person get to the point where they do believe in Jesus for eternal life.

I call these the Preparation Truths of the Gospel

7 Gospel Preparation Truths

There are potentially thousands of preparation truths in the gospel, but I have found that seven of these truths tend to be the most effective and necessary in helping a person come to the place where they believe in Jesus for eternal life.

Here are these seven preparation truths:

  1. There is a God (and He looks like Jesus)
  2. The Bible is God’s Word (so we can look to it for guidance)
  3. God Made Humans (so we are responsible to him in some way)
  4. God requires holiness (this is His standard)
  5. All have sinned (and fallen short of the standard)
  6. Sin results in separation from God (we separate from Him; not vice versa)
  7. Jesus delivered us from sin, death, and separation (due to grace and forgiveness)

IF a person believes all seven of these truths, it is nearly certain that they will also believe in Jesus for eternal life.

Now is it possible to take a person from knowing none of this to believing in Jesus in one 5-minute conversation? I highly doubt it.

This is why evangelism often takes place over the course of months and years, through relationship building and numerous conversations. Often, these seven truths are caught, not taught, as our friends observe us living out these truths in our own lives. And usually, despite how neat and tidy that seven-pointed list is above, the conversations are never that focused or that tidy.

But that’s okay, for that is what relationship-building is all about.

share the gospel

But what about the rest of the gospel?

Once a person believes, this does not mean that the gospel conversations are over. There are still lots of gospel truths left. What are we to do with these? It is this question that we will look at in next week’s post.

For now, what do you think about these seven “Preparation truths”? Are there others you have found helpful when you have conversations about Jesus with other people?

Also, if you want a better explanation of those seven truths, I delve into each one a little more deeply in my course, the Gospel According to Scripture.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: believe in Jesus, evangelism, gospel, gospel according to Scripture, truth, witnessing

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The Clear Gospel Invitation: Believe in Jesus for Eternal Life

By Jeremy Myers
33 Comments

The Clear Gospel Invitation: Believe in Jesus for Eternal Life

In some previous posts, I have written that while the gospel is huge and complex, the gospel invitation is clear and simple. I have received many comments, Tweets, and Facebook messages about this, so let me try to clarify even further.

There are thousands of gospel truths in the Bible. Clearly, one cannot believe all of them, nor must one understand and believe all of them in order to receive eternal life. Thankfully, Jesus Himself (as well as the Apostles) consistently show that there is one small set of gospel truths that must be believed to receive eternal life.

I call this “the gospel invitation.”

clear gospel invitation

The Gospel Invitation

The gospel invitation is one truth three parts. A person is invited to:

  1. Believe
  2. In Jesus
  3. For everlasting life.

Another way to think about this is that we are to (1) believe (2) in a person (3) for a promise.

Let us briefly consider each.

Believe

First, we invite people to believe.

Since the New Testament almost universally uses the verb “believe” or the noun “faith” it is not wise to substitute other words such as trust, commit, submit, decide, repent or any other word that implies some sort of action or work on our behalf. Believing and faith are the words the Bible most often uses (which is only one word in the Greek with a verb and noun form), and so we garble the gospel when we choose to use other words.

Yes, it is important to understand what the words “believe” and “faith” mean, which in itself is a huge study, but I will walk through this study with you in a future course I will offer.

Believe in a Person

believe in Jesus gospel invitationSecond, we invite people to believe in a person, namely, Jesus Christ.

We do not just invite people to just believe; they are invited to believe in Jesus.

Also, since Jesus has come and revealed God to us, it is not sufficient to invite people to believe in God. Someone can believe in God (or a god) and still not believe in Jesus.

But what exactly do they believe about Jesus? That He was human? That He was God incarnate? That He died on the cross and rose from the dead? That He was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life? When we believe in Jesus, what about Jesus must we believe? This leads to the third gospel invitation truth.

Believe in a Person for a Promise

We invite people to believe in Jesus for everlasting life.

There is a bit more flexibility with this term than with the other two. For example, instead of everlasting life, you could also use the words eternal life, the righteousness of God, or justification. Yet since some of these latter terms may require further explanation, it seems best to use the words Jesus Himself used, and stick with “everlasting life” or “eternal life.”

But whatever terminology you use, it is important to emphasize the promise Jesus makes to those who believe in Him. We are to believe in Jesus for His promise of eternal life.

It is not sufficient (or even the same thing) to believe that Jesus was God, or to believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead, or to believe that Jesus really existed, or any of these other true facts about Jesus. If you take a look at each one of those facts, while all of them are true, none of them include a promise, and it is entirely possible for someone to believe that Jesus truly existed, that Jesus was God in the flesh, and to believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead, while at the same time, failing to believe in Jesus for everlasting life.

Even the most legalistic, works-righteousness, religious Christians believe that Jesus was God and that He died on the cross and rose again. But they do not believe that Jesus gives eternal life to those who simply and only believe in Him. Instead, such people believe that we must somehow work for, earn, and keep our eternal life through a life of good works. Such people believe a lot of good things about Jesus, but they do not believe in Jesus for everlasting life. As such, the gospel invitation is not complete if it does not mention the promise of eternal life.

The Clear Gospel Invitation

So the central invitation of the gospel is that we can believe in Jesus for everlasting life. It is that simple and that clear.

Do you believe this?

Do you believe in Jesus for eternal life? If so, you have it. Jesus guarantees it.

Can you also share this with other people? Of course you can!

Just like Jesus did, you can invite people to believe in Jesus for eternal life.

You do not need to invite them to forsake their sin, repent, confess, commit, submit, or any of the other common words and terms that are found in modern gospel presentations but are not found on the lips of Jesus.

If you want to invite people to receive eternal life, you can do no better than use the words Jesus Himself used. Simply invite people to believe in Jesus for everlasting life.

The Gospel According to ScriptureWant to learn more about the gospel? Take my new course, "The Gospel According to Scripture."

The entire course is free for those who join my online Discipleship group here on RedeemingGod.com. I can't wait to see you inside the course!

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: believe in Jesus, eternal life, evangelism, gospel, witnessing

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Why the Eagles Cut Tim Tebow

By Jeremy Myers
81 Comments

Why the Eagles Cut Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow EaglesDo you want to know why the Eagles cut Tim Tebow? Or why the Patriots and Jets didn’t keep him on their roster? Or why the Broncos traded him?

It’s not because of his quarterback skills (or lack thereof, depending on who you ask). From a purely statistical perspective, Tim Tebow is better than most 3rd string quarterbacks and many 2nd string quarterbacks in the NFL.

It is also not the media frenzy that follow Tim Tebow wherever he goes, though this is part of it.

The real reason that the Eagles cut Tim Tebow is because Tim Tebow believes that his purpose on a football team is to evangelize his teammates and the coaching staff. Every time he gets a camera in his face, he starts talking about Jesus and giving glory to God for letting him play football.

But NFL Coaches don’t put people on their team to give them a platform to share their religious ideas. Nor do they put people on their team to share their political ideas. Or to sell their branded merchandise.

Imagine what would happen if an NFL football player, every time he got a camera in his face, said, “I’m just glad I get to play this game because it gives me the opportunity to tell you about my line of t-shirts and hats. Go to my store today to buy one!” No NFL coach in the league wants someone like that on their team.

NFL Coaches put players on their teams to win football games.

In the locker room, in team meetings, in coaching meetings, on the field, and in front of the cameras, Tim Tebow was always talking about Jesus and inviting people to believe in Jesus, and on and on and on.

It’s not about Tim Tebow getting more reps in the CFL. If Chip Kelly really believed that all Tim Tebow needed to become an NFL-quality QB was more reps, Kelly could have given that to Tebow in practices. No, that excuse is a smoke-screen. Kelly can’t come out and say he cut Tebow because Tebow spent half his time practicing and the other half proselyting, because the religious right in this country would scream and yell about religious discrimination.

But it’s not religious discrimination. It’s about not doing your job because of your religion. (Like the clerk in Kentucky who won’t issue marriage licenses … If she can’t do her job for religious reasons, that’s fine, but then she needs to quit her job.)

Tim Tebow prayingIf Tim Tebow wants to play in the NFL as a quarterback, here is my recommendation to him: “Tim, stop praying after you score a touchdown. Stop putting “John 3:16” in your eye black. Stop giving thanks to Jesus whenever you win a game.”

I agree with Jake Plummer, who, in 2011, gave Tebow the best advice, but which Tebow never heeded. Jake Plummer said this:

“I wish he’d just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates,” Plummer said, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ then I think I’ll like him a little better. I don’t hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff.”

I can hear the Christian outrage already.

What? You want Tim Tebow to stop witnessing? You want him to stop thanking God for his successes? We’re not supposed to be ashamed of the Gospel! With all the murders and wife-beaters in the NFL, it’s nice to have a good Christian role model for a change, and you want him to just shut up about his faith in Jesus?! What kind of heathen heretic are you, anyway?

Yes, well, hear me out.

I am thrilled that Tim Tebow is outspoken about his faith. Notice that I never said anything about him hiding the fact that he’s an evangelical Christian.

But Tim Tebow is making a basic mistake about witnessing, which is the same mistake a lot of Christians make.

Lots of Christians think that if they gain some sort of prominence in the public sphere, this means that they are responsible for using their position or their prominence as a platform to witness to other people.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

If a Christian becomes the CEO of a large corporation, God has not put him or her in that position so that they can witness to all the employees of the corporation, shout “Praise Jesus!” whenever they land a big account, or open up all their board meetings with prayer. God does not raise up Christians to places of prominence so they can cram Christianity down other people’s throats.

No, the person in a position of power or prominence is there so they can be the best CEO possible. They may include (but is not limited to) providing good wages and fair treatment to employees, and operating the business with honesty, transparency, and generosity. It means running the business in an ethical way, with creativity and imagination.

I hate it when well-meaning Christians tell powerful, prominent, rich Christians that “God raised you up for such a time as this.” Then they are told that God raised them up so they can hand out gospel tracts to their employees, or take a stand for “biblical marriage,” or some such nonsense.

I hear such things, I just want to barf.

If God raised someone up to be a CEO (which is debatable), then it was not to hand out gospel tracts or take a stand for “biblical marriage,” but is for the purpose of being the best CEO they can possibly be. If God really raised a person up to be a CEO of a company, it would be for the purpose of showing the world how a business can successfully be run according to the principles and values of the Kingdom of God rather than the principles of the rulers of this world. Same goes for politics, music, art, and sports.

This brings us back to Tim Tebow.

Tim Tebow John 3:16If God truly raised up Tim Tebow to be an NFL quarterback (which is debatable), then it was not so that Tim could announce his Christian faith by praying in the End Zone and praising Jesus at press conferences. No, God raised up Tim Tebow to be a quarterback so that he can be the best quarterback Tim Tebow can be. Period.

If Tim Tebow wants to be a quarterback in the NFL, he needs to be an NFL quarterback; not a missionary quarterback. Not a prophet quarterback. Not a “God’s spokesman” quarterback. Just a quarterback. He needs to work hard, throw the ball, and run the ball. And he must do it all with honesty, integrity, and a good work ethic both on and off the field.

Someone needs to tell Tim Tebow that the NFL stage is not for proclaiming the Gospel but for playing football.

If you still disagree with me, let me make one more point.

When Tim Tebow played for the Denver Broncos and knelt to give thanks to God every time he scored, what exactly was the message he was proclaiming to all who watched him? I think Tim Tebow thought he was showing everybody that he was thankful to God.

But thankful for what?

For letting Tim play football in the NFL?

If that is the case, what about all the other Christian quarterbacks who also wanted to play in the NFL but never had the chance? Does God love Tim Tebow more? Does God hear his prayers more? Is Tim Tebow more faithful than those other quarterbacks?

Or maybe the prayers of Tim Tebow were his way of giving thanks to God for scoring a touchdown?

But again, if this is the case, what does this tell the Christian players on the opposing team’s defense? Does Tim think that God heard his own prayers and ignored those of the Christians on the defense? If Tim threw an interception, would he like it if the opposing team knelt down to thank God for Tim’s bad pass?

Tim Tebow and GodHere’s the point: Whatever Tim Tebow’s motives might be (and I think they are pure), his prayers on the field tell the world that God hears and answers the prayers of some people more than those of others. This further implies that everybody who doesn’t seem to have the success, money, or fame that Tim Tebow has, must have less faith than Tim, or maybe God just doesn’t love them as much as He apparently loves Tim.

I really, really doubt that this is the message Tim wants to send when he kneels to pray in the end zone.

Which is why I encourage Tim to stop praying on the football field.

And the “John 3:16” on his eye lids needs to go as well, for the same reasons. If he wants to invite people to believe in Jesus for eternal life, let him do it in one of his numerous speaking engagements, or in personal conversations with friends off the field. But when he’s on the field, this is not the time to share the gospel, but to live the gospel by being the most hard-working, honest, ethical, cheerful, and dependable quarterback he can possibly be.

And this will be a good example to the rest of us about how to be a Christian in this world. I am not a good Christian if I refuse to do my work because I have to pray for 15 minutes out of every hour “in order to show my coworkers how good of a Christian I am.” I am not a good Christian if I refuse to work with certain coworkers because they have a lifestyle I disapprove of. I am not a good Christian if I show up late for work because “my morning devotions went too long.”

Look, we Christians are not good Christian witnesses when we stop doing the things we should be doing because we want to “be a witness.” No, we are good Christian witnesses when we work hard at being the best we can be in whatever job or position we find ourselves.

Christian witnessing is not accomplished by trying to be a witness.

Christian witnessing is accomplished by living life the best we can and loving others in the process as much as we are able. When we do this, we naturally become a witness to how a life looks that is transformed by God.

So if Tim Tebow truly want to follow his lifelong dream of being an NFL quarterback, I suggest he lose the Christian circus. This begins with letting his passing, not his praying, do the talking.

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, prayer, witnessing

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