THE EVANGELICAL GOSPEL...

The Greek word for "Gospel" is evangel. Dallas Willard in his book, "The Great Omission", makes the point that there has been a change in what constitutes the term: Evangelical. Some people confuse the term "Evangelical" with "Evangelistic". While the two words are very similar and share some definitions, they mean quite different things. And this is something that Dallas Willard explores. His argument was that the two words used to mean the same thing. That is, both terms used to mean three things: (i) An awareness of sin, (ii) Spiritual conversion bringing forgiveness of sins, and (iii) Testifying to the work of God in a person's life.

But Evangelicalism has come to mean that a person (i) Believes that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, (ii) That Jesus Christ is divine, and (iii) There is salvation through no-one or thing, other than Jesus Christ. Dallas Willard says that this would be OK- if the Church was Evangelical AND Evangelistic. He lists the Church's general lack of applying the three traits of original Evangelicalism (conviction of sin, conversion to Christ by the Spirit, and testifying of God's work) as one of the great omissions of modern Christianity. He briefly surveys the history of Evangelicalism and makes the point that when the Church's preaching focussed on these three traits it often experienced what we now call "revival" or "awakening".
He cites the Evangelistic ministry of Mordecai Ham who influenced Billy Graham to become a Christian. Mordecai would often preach for weeks in a town before ever inviting people to accept Christ. He wanted to make sure that the town understood what sin was and that they felt deep conviction about it. Willard adds to this point by referring to John Wesley's method of preaching the Law first. "I must preach the Law first, then grace" said Wesley. He did this for same reason as Mordecai Ham. He wanted people to know that the Gospel was a solution- not merely an assessment of the problem.

¶ "What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Romans 7:7

Willard laments that there are too many preachers who have made the Gospel about God meeting "needs" rather than about God. Our greatest need, he writes, is not to have what we want in order to be happy, but to be forgiven of sin so that we can have fellowship with God. This forgiveness of sin can only happen through regeneration by the Holy Spirit (this is what we call being born-again). When this happens, born-again (forgiven and transformed) believers testify to the world about God's work in their hearts. This is what Dallas Willard says is the essence of being an Evangelical Christian. This then becomes the launching pad for Evangelicals to transform society with their testimony. A vibrant Christian testimony will always transform a society.

"Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 5:15-16

I pray that we will be an Evangelical church that preaches the true Gospel which proclaims our true, raw, condition before God; but boldly declares His forgiveness through the work of His Son- Jesus Christ; and upon receiving this eternally good news, we will testify to all who ask for the reason of our hope.

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
1Peter 3:15

Amen.

Dr. Andrew Corbett

GRACE, PRACTICE & WORK...

Christianity is the only 'religion' that has a Saviour from sin. All other religions promote the idea that people can earn God's forgiveness for their sins through their own efforts. Christianity is a grace religion. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation from sin. That's why we say that Christianity is not splet- "D O" but rather, "D O N E"- Jesus Christ is not only our Saviour (He has done all the work necessary for salvation), but our Atoning Sacrifice (He is not merely an example). God's grace in our hearts produces a spiritual revolution in our soul. This is called conversion, or being "born again". This is how you can tell whether someone has truly been saved. They live differently. They think differently. They speak differently. They spend differently. They love differently. Their priorities change. Their relationships are purged. All because they have been rescued by Christ for Christ.

But these changes, while commencing immediately, do not fully bloom immediately. They are seeds that must be watered, fed, nurtured and exposed to sunlight and wind in order to reach maturity. This process is guided by the Holy Spirit as He ministers the Word of God through the Body of Christ to the believer. In this sense, our growth in spiritual maturity is a work of grace.

"The process of conformation to Christ," as might more appropriately call it, is constantly supported by grace and otherwise would be impossible. But it is not therefore passive. Grace is opposed to earning, not to effort. In fact, nothing inspires and enhances effort like the experience of grace."
Dallas Willard, "The Great Omission", page 80

In First Timothy 4:7 we are told to "train yourself for godliness". Dallas Willard suggests that the process of God's grace working in our lives is most often achieved through a training process.

"For example, if I find, as most do, that I cannot by direct effort succeed in 'blessing those who curse me' or 'praying without ceasing,' in putting anger aside or not indulging the covetous or lustful eye, then it is my responsibility to find out how I can train myself (always under grace and divine guidance, we must never forget) so that I will be able to do what I cannot do just by trying in the moment of need."
Dallas Willard, "The Great Omission", page 114

Grace empowers work. This is achieved through practice and training. Do you want to be able to forgive others? Train yourself and practice forgiving. Do you want to have more friends? Train yourself to be a friend and practice friendship (not just friendliness). Do you want to be more generous? Train yourself and practice. Do you want to pray more? Train and practice. If it all seems too hard, remember that your ability to train and practice is made possible by the grace of God.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
Titus 2:11-12

The Bible says that only those Christians who have laboured, trained, and practiced godliness can enjoy the solid food reserved for the spiritually mature-

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:14

The goal of Christ for us is to make us like Him. For this goal to be achieved He gives us His grace which enables us to practice those things that will make us more like Jesus. This requires work and training. But its work and training made possible only by the grace of God. As a church being shaped by the grace of God we can expect that our workload will increase- but we can ask God to train us and help us to carry out this work.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11

Andrew Corbett
Discover What The Book of Revelation Means!

BE ON YOUR GUARD...

What can we expect in the days to come for our churches? We can probably expect "more". More in the sense that what we are experiencing now, we will experience more of into the future. We can expect an increasing number of people accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord. We are currently seeing people who are broken turn to Christ and find healing and wholeness. By God's grace, we are helping to strengthen marriages. We can expect more of this into the near future. But we can also expect more of less positive things as well.

1Peter 5:8 ¶ Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour.

Peter tells us that we can expect our spiritual enemy to try and attack us. He warns believers to be careful, or, on their guard. This means that it is not inevitable that we will be victims of the Devil. We can guard ourselves against his attacks. As our churches grow we can expect that the Devil will try to find some victim candidates from among our number. But we shouldn't assume that every difficulty we face will be a direct attack of the Devil. Churches face difficulties because-

1. We live in a fallen world which is riddled with sin and sickness

2. Church growth built upon young and new Christians always presents challenges (note the principle of Proverbs 14:4)

3. Knowledge and Competence Challenges

We could perhaps apply Peter's fatherly warning to the church in each of these three areas. The enemy can distract us from Jesus on the Throne by whispering into our ears that all the affects of the fallen world, which we are all ocassionally afflicted by, is his doing- as if he, the Devil, has some ability to random afflict people. As we grow we can expect more injuries, sickness, pain and suffering- because this is the world in which we live! It is not necessarily the Devil's doing. We should never abandon God just because these inevitable things happen. Neither should we give up on God's ability to heal. But some churches who begin to experience growth become distracted by the affects of the fallen world. May God help us to keep our gaze on Him in the midst of afflictions.

Peter tells us to be on guard; to be careful. Consider each of these areas where difficulties can arise for a church and ponder how our church will experience these things as we grow. For some people, any growth that brings more difficulties is just not worth it. But God thinks it is. He wants us to grow. He wants us to "overcome" difficulties. Would you please pray for our churches to be growing, overcoming, churches? Would you please pray that when we experience difficulties we will have the grace to hold onto Christ? Would you please pray that we will do all we need to in order to minimise or even prevent the consequences of living in a fallen world? Would you please pray that we will have caring and understanding partners in our churches who will patiently help any new or young Christian in their walk with Christ? And, would you pray that we will grow in our knowledge and competence to help and care for people so that they grow in the walk with Christ?

Finally, would you pray that we continue to grow the Kingdom of Christ and that we are not easily disuaded from serving the Lord in the churches that He has placed us in?

Andrew Corbett

A CHAMPION'S HANDICAP

In F.W. Boreham's all-time classic collection of essays- Mushrooms On The Moor, he has an excellent piece on the place of handicaps. He notes that champions relish handicaps while the mediocre are daunted by them. He describes watching a handicap foot race where the champion was severely handicapped. Boreham thought this was most unjust. As he viewed the race's finish he saw that despite the champion being the last to start the race he had chased down the field to end up winning the race. The great pastor went over to the great runner to investigate whether they shared a sense of injustice about this handicapping.

Boreham was mildly surprised at the champion's response. Far from being daunted by the handicap the champion actually relished the opportunity to compete both with the field of competitors and himself. Himself? Boreham was intrigued. The champion explained that it was only when he truly felt challenged to go beyond where he had previously been that he could be satisfied that he had given his best.

Handicaps don't daunt champions.

It was some time after this when Boreham attended a Missions Conference where the speaker appealed to his audience to give like they'd never given before so that the Gospel could be taken to the four corners of the world. This speaker shared how he had as a young man longed to go himself to the Missions field but was denied by his denominational leaders due to his physical short-comings. This was a major setback for this aspiring missionary. He was somewhat handicapped physically. But he was not daunted by his handicap. He applied his mind to understand commerce and business. In this arena he proved himself a champion. As a result, he told the Conference, he was able to do more for missions by enabling more missionaries to serve than he could if he had gone himself. He had dealt with his handicap like a champion!

But then Boreham laments that in his church experience up until 1915, he had found too few men within the church with a champion spirit. Instead, he had found too many men who were too easily daunted by even the slightest handicap. They were too busy to serve, too financially committed to give, too nervous to lead or too tired to share. What the church needs, sighs the great pastor, is men with a champion spirit.

I have just finished reading the autobiography of Peter J. Daniels. It's hard not to imagine that what F.W. Boreham lamented around 1915 would have delighted him around 1985 if he had someone like Peter Daniels in his church. Mr Daniels, who I have invited to Launceston in November this year, at one point served on several international MIssions boards based in Singapore and L.A., and several Australian Missions Boards (including Youth For Christ) while he ran several business enterprises. At this point in his life, Mr Daniels says he was "stretched". Now in his late 70s, he is still going strong. He serves the Lord with a passion. He speaks in more churches across Australia and the USA than any other speaker on the planet. He gives more to the work of missions than perhaps anyone in history. But perhaps most impressively, is positioning his life for maximum impact for hundreds of years after his life on earth expires. Mr Boreham might well describe Mr Daniels as a man who was never daunted by his handicaps, but like any other champion learned to overcome them.

May God give us more such champions within the church.

Andrew Corbett

THE GOSPEL...

"Gospel" means 'Good News'. And it is! Try and read the Apostle Paul's writings and miss what he considers is the Gospel! Around every five verses of Paul's writings he makes some reference to the Cross and its implications. For Paul, the Gospel pervaded everything.

There is probably no clearer and more succinct edition of Paul's Gospel than the first twelve verses of First Corinthians 15. Have a read of it. If put on the spot to share the Gospel, read it and explain it. The Gospel. It must be received, held fast.

1Cor. 15:1 ¶ Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,

The Gospel saves and keeps on saving us

1Cor. 15:2 and by which you are being saved,

The Gospel preserves the genuinely saved-

if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—

But the Gospel discriminates between those who have believed unto salvation and those who have believed in vain-

unless you believed in vain.

The Gospel affects everything- it becomes the thing of "first importance" to those who are saved by it-

1Cor. 15:3 ¶ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

And at the core of the Gospel of first importance is the preeminent announcement: Christ died for our sins! The Gospel is about Jesus dying for us because of our sins. The Gospel is Jesus! Jesus is the Good News!

that Christ died for our sins

And this Gospel is the Scriptures. The Bible is the Gospel!

in accordance with the Scriptures

The Gospel declares that Jesus Christ is Lord! He is Lord because He died and rose again.

1Cor. 15:4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

The Gospel provides proof. Our commitment to Christ is not based on unsupported faith. Our faith is grounded in its proofs. The Gospel is a proven Gospel-

1Cor. 15:5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
1Cor. 15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
1Cor. 15:7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

The Gospel transforms the least and the worst and humbles the mighty. The Gospel can transform anyone! No one is beyond hope! No one's situation is hopeless! The Gospel is hope!

1Cor. 15:8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
1Cor. 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

The Gospel is a Gospel of Grace. Grace is opposed to earning. There is nothing anyone can do to earn God's favour or blessing. God's favour and blessing are based on God's grace. Grace is opposed to earning, but it is not opposed to effort. In fact, God's grace empowers effort! By God's grace we can

1Cor. 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

The Gospel is not copyrighted! Anyone is allowed to use it. It is bigger and grander than any one person. You are invited by God Almighty to share the Gospel.

Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
1Cor. 15:11

This week I was contacted by someone who has attended our church a few times. They had realised that while they had occasionally attended churches throughout their life, there was something missing. We made a time to meet together. Kim and I then shared the Gospel with them. They then received the Gospel and made a commitment to Christ. Just yesterday I was contacted by a well known local sporting identity who said that something strange was happening to him. I had previously met with this person a few times over the past two years. They said, "I keep getting this thought in my head that I need to go to church, so you might see me there soon." This person had just shared how their life had fallen apart and everyhing they held dear had been taken away from them. "There must be more to life" they said. This person was experiencing the affect of the Gospel seeded in their life years earlier. The Gospel is a seed. Let's keep sowing.

Is. 55:11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Want a cause for your hobbies? Baptise your hobbies in the Gospel! Want a cause for your employment? Baptise your empoyment in the Gospel! Want a cause to which you can commit your entire life? Baptise your life in the Gospel!

1Cor. 9:23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

The Purpose of Pain

Last Saturday I crushed my foot when a gum tree I was cutting down fell awkwardly directly onto my ankle like a battering ram. Initially I thought it wasn't so bad. Then I realised I was yet again wrong. I was taken to hospital and had my ankle and foot Xrayed. The bones had separated but not broken. The ligaments were damaged. The swelling was large. Despite the doctors telling me how "lucky" I was that I hadn't done more damage, and that I wouldn't be able to put any weight on it for a few weeks, by Sunday it didn't feel too bad and I was even hobbling around without my crutches. But by Tuesday I couldn't even stand up without the risk of passing out from the pain!

Suffering and pain. My pain is temporary. But not for some. Although, my pain grew as the week went on. Not only did my ankle become more painful as the week went on, but then my Laptop became sick and had to be taken to the Mac Shop. So in effect, at the start of my week I had lost the use of my right foot, then my right arm! But my week continued to get worse! As I fumbled for my mobile phone today on my bedside I dropped it into my coffee and spilt the blessed juice of the holy bean all over the collector's Wimbledon Tshirt I was wearing! My mobile phone suffered a coronary and had to rushed by Sonata to the ICU ward of the Mobile Phone Shop. Eeek. My suffering and pain continues...

But I have been consoled by the sovereignty of God. That is, I rest in the knowledge that what happened to me did not catch God by surprise. Added to this I rest in the knowledge that Christ would not let anything happen to me that was not for my good-

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

So as my week has continued to get seemingly worse I have not reacted with my usual frustration that I have up until recently defaulted to, instead I have enjoyed the peace of Christ knowing that He is good and only does good, even when I don't like or understand what's happening to me. God's purposes are always good. Even still, I hope you've all had a better week than me.

:)

Andrew Corbett

THE PURPOSE OF THE POWER OF GOD...

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16

I want to see more of the power of God in our church! I pray that God will manifest His power in healing, deliverance, provision, and refreshing. I long for the spectacular aspects of God's presence to convince the sceptical of their need for a Saviour. If you're interested in reading about the recent history of God's power in Australia, there is a very inspirational book in our foyer called "The C.L. Greenwood Story". While we can all be open for God to do the spectacular and pray for God to manifest His miraculous power, there is an even more powerful manifestation of the power of God that we should be craving....

If you have the luxury of having some advanced Bible software, you could check out the following statement: The New Testament epistles use the expression "the power of God" in quite a different way than how I have described it above.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God..
First Corinthians 1:18

Rather than the power of God being reduced to an emotional experience, it seems that the New Testament authors regarded the power of God as the transforming work of the Holy Spirit wrought by the Word of God. It causes some to wonder whether the apostle Paul would balk at the use of the expression in the way most Pentecostals use it today. This is because the power of God is meant to transform us into the likeness of Christ so that our character is radically changed. If anyone claims to have encountered the power of God and yet they still lie, swear, cheat, slander, gossip, or abuse others - they have not genuinely encountered the transforming power of God. It is quite possible that you could be touched by the power of God so that your heart is filled love for those you were previously cold towards, or, so that you can now encourage those you once despised - yet carry on with the same physical ailment you had prior to your encounter with the power of God. Jesus curiously said that it was better to enter Heaven with one hand or one eye than to be totally whole yet go to Hell. Our eternal destiny is what matters immediately to the power of God, and our satisfaction with Jesus in this life (measured by our Christ-like character- who we are on the inside) is what matters most since this is what we take with us into eternity.

For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
Second Corinthians 13:4

WOW! Without the transforming work of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the Word of God to our souls- "the power of God" - we can't even live the Christian walk. While we pray and crave for the power of God to overcome all that enemy puts in our way, we have the promise of the Bible that the power of God is able to transform us through the preaching, reading, and ministry of God's Word into our lives as the Holy Spirit renews our hearts, minds and souls.


Andrew Corbett

ERNEST HEMINGWAY'S CHALLENGE...

Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Ecclesiastes 5:2

To say something with only a few words is a very rare ability. To write something in only a few words is less rare thanks to the luxury of re-writing and refining the vocabularly used. This is why the best speakers are often also really good writers (because they've laboured hard as wordsmiths to make their writing concise and persuasive).

Before Ernest Hemingway's tragic end, he had attained literary-legend status within his own lifetime. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He was renowned for being a concise writer. Like G.K. Chesterton before him, he could say a lot with just a few words. This ability was challenged when he was asked if he could write an entire story in just six words!

He did.

When I heard of Hemingway's 6-word story I was struck by its immense simplicity and power. It then got me thinking about Jesus of Nazareth and how little he spoke, and how scant our record of what He spoke actually is. But consider the impact of what we do have. His statements fill our language and most non-Christians probably wouldn't even realise it! "Go the extra mile...Turn the other cheek...Ask and you shall receive..." Jesus spoke with more profound simplicity than even the great Ernest Hemingway.

And the disciples were amazed at his words.
Mark 10:24a

After I heard Hemingway's 6-word story I couldn't shake it from my head for the rest of the day. I pondered it. I admired it. I felt it.

Contrary to Eastern Meditation, where the practitioner is required to empty their mind, Biblical meditation is filling the mind. I had been meditating on Hemingway's 6-word story. The Bible instructs us to meditate on its contents. That is, we should ponder a Bible verse. Memorise a Bible verse. Dwell on a Bible verse. Admire a Bible verse. And feel a Bible verse. This is the essence of Biblical meditation.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Joshua 1:8

When Ernest Hemingway was asked to tell a story in just six words, here's how he responded-

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

Wow. Apparently those who first heard it were stunned and some even began to cry. But here's something even more concise and even more moving-

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Colossians 1:16

WOW!

Andrew Corbett

THOUGHTS FROM FOOTBALL FOR THE CHURCH...

A church is different to any other group of people. It is meant to be a group of spiritually-related people who are co-operative and organised. Just like a football team, a church requires people who perform different functions simultaneously in order to achieve their common goal. In a football team there are those who initially get the ball moving. These are usually the big guys. They can’t run, duck and weave, like the smaller guys, but they sure can jump high and get things moving! Then there’s the smaller guys who get fed the ball by the big guys- boy! they can run! They get the ball to the mid-fielders who know how to jostle with their opponent and get around them to pass the ball to the forwards. It’s the forwards who know how to kick goals. Then there’s the defensive members of the team whose job is to get the ball off the other side and prevent them from kicking goals.

The church is made up of people who are gifted to get things moving. There are others who are able to keep things moving: servant-hearted people who know what “hard work” means. They serve as deacons, ushers, hosts, follow-up counsellors, visitation helpers, cleaners, gardeners, or door-greeters. Then there are those who are like “wingers”. They play near the side boundary with an aim to get the ball into the middle of the field toward their goal. In the church there are evangelists who are like wingers. They roam the boundaries looking for lost souls to bring into the centre of God’s Kingdom. They are bold. They gossip the Gospel. They scheme salvation of souls. They pray for sinners to be converted. They don’t care for the limelight but they long for the light of the Lord to shine in the darkness of people’s minds and souls. When the ball gets near the goal, the player with the ball is often “shepherded” by his team-mates. In the church, we each shepherd each other by protecting each other with prayer, encouragement, and practical provisions. The church that is functioning as a well-organised and co-operative team is more likely to be a growing, healthy church.

Andrew Corbett
www.andrewcorbett.net