The ANSWER that Never Goes Away

    I saw Darren smoking a cigarette in front of his RV late Friday night. I greeted him by name, "Hey, Darren!" and he greeted me by name, “Hello, Tim!”.

    “I just wanted to show off that I remembered your name, Darren,” I said, remembering his name after meeting him early that morning. He smiled and followed me barefoot to my trailer. Within seconds, he told me what I would have soon surmised.

    He was drunk.

    He also soon surmised that I was a minister and began to tell me another thing I already knew: the importance of remembering people’s names, one of my many Achilles' heels!

    “People use different parts of their brains,” he said, “to remember their own names and to say the names of other people. You have to not say your own name when you meet people and are trying to remember theirs. That should be very important to you in your ‘business’.”

    I winced.

    My uncle Don one time said he liked getting old because he could finally use his age for all of his shortcomings and I am definitely using my geriatric years to excuse what I’ve suffered all my life: a poor memory.

    We stood in the cool September air, even after I had been gone from my own RV for 14 hours, yes, on my “day off". I was tired and knew from experience that our discussion would soon get around to “religion”, a familiar topic especially for non-church-goers and especially when they’ve imbibed.

    I listened.

    He was my age and a Marine. You never say “former Marine”, something I learned the following day at a funeral of another Marine. If he hadn’t been leaving on Sunday, I know we would have become friends, even though he was big, brawly, and brash. He bemoaned religion, the military, the government, and finally, my favorite subject, God.

    “If there is a God, why is there so much of … this?” he waved his huge hands to the dark sky, obviously referring to the places of uttermost tragic circumstances to where he’s traveled. We had been standing and talking for what seemed like an hour, but it was undoubtedly due to my readiness to go to bed.

    But you know me.

    I asked him to come sit down at my picnic bench in front of my RV, but his bare feet couldn’t bear the rocks, something only now as I write this do I find amusing that this tough Marine also apparently has an Achilles’ heel … or maybe like me a touch of plantar fasciitis. I even offered to go get him my Adidas flip flops, but no. So, we stood. He talked. He asked. I listened.

    He’s been to Somalia. He’d been to (you name it, he'd been there). He’d seen suffering. Sometimes I wonder if people look at ministers and think of them as hothouse flowers, living in Ivory Towers. And perhaps we are; but even ministers, and especially ministers, see a lot of evil, hear a lot of things. You don’t have to be a Marine or a paramedic to know the evils and tragedies of the world. And yet we still believe in God.

    Philip Yancey began a great writing career with books dealing with suffering. Where is God When It Hurts? was later repackaged in another book entitled The Question that Never Goes Away. In between he even wrote a book called Disappointment with God. I stopped reading him, even though his writing ability and wit exceeds my favorite go-to writer, Max Lucado, simply because his books and his tragedy depress me.

    When Yancey was an infant, church members suggested that his father, who was stricken with polio, to go off life support, praying in faith that God would heal him. God did not, and his father died. Yancey at one time lost his faith in God and at times in his writing, he seemingly has not regained it all back.

    We all experience tragedies, and so has Darren, at least from afar. The Marine told me of his life, how he retired at 52 and has been travelling the country in his RV with his wife. He wouldn’t trade his life for anyone.

    He stood looking at me. He had just asked me how I could explain the answer to the question that never goes away while he’s standing there drunk with no shoes on in the middle of the evening after my 14-hour long day.

    I said, “You know that’s why I’ve been listening to you all this time. You know I’d love to tell you…”

    He smiles broadly, interrupting me, not even knowing possibly what I said, leans over and gives me a big hug, “I know you would. Good night, Tim,” and walks back to his RV.

    I smiled too as he walked away. Witnessing with a person who is intoxicated has not been my forte, no matter how kind of a drunk they are. I felt a little like Jesus and the man whom we call the rich, young ruler: “Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him…”

    I have no idea about the Marine’s soul, but the following day I read the eulogy of a Marine, who died at age 86 after a life well lived, whose faith was strong to the very end. I wished that kind of testimony for my almost-friend Darren who taught me the value of remembering names.

    After the funeral, I went and got a copy of my book, The Gospel of John, One Day at a Time and put a copy of the 23rd psalm from the funeral on page 58, a devotional entitled, “Why Is There Evil in the World?”

    I’m no Philip Yancey, but there’s a link at the bottom of this post to see what I wrote several years ago.

    On Sunday morning, I was as sick as a dog, so much so that I missed church, but between kneeling at the porcelain altar, I trotted a copy of the book to Darren. Who knows, I may be the only Philip Yancey that Darren will ever read.

    I told him I had just did a funeral of a Marine the day before (the words sounded a little more ominous than I intended as they came out of my mouth), and wanted to thank him for his service. Darren left that morning to resume his wonderful life of retirement, disbelieving in God who allows suffering in the world, rather than believing in a God who allows him to live his wonderful life of retirement.

    His empty lot at the RV park will soon be replaced by another traveler. It reminds me of the plot of ground or water where Darren’s body or ashes will some day be deposited.

    I pray for the Darrens who need to believe because of God’s goodness, rather than disbelieve because of the world’s tragedies.

    The Gospel of John, One Day at a Time: John 9. Days 20-21 (johnoneday.blogspot.com)

   

A New Year, Rosh Hashanah

At Sundown Monday, September 6, 2021 a new year begins the Jewish calendar, as recorded in Leviticus 23 (also recorded in Numbers 29:1-6):

23 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.’ ”

As practicing Jews, the Lord Jesus Christ, His disciples, and the Apostle Paul all marked this solemn occasion. It is traditionally called Rosh Hashanah and begins the Feast of Trumpets, including the blowing of the shofar.

The New Year begins in the Seventh Month?

You may have noticed that nowhere does these passages from Leviticus and Numbers say that this is Rosh Hashanah or a “New Year”. Just as the holiest day of the week is the seventh day; that is, the Sabbath, the number seven often signifies holiness to the Lord. Rosh Hashanah is in the seventh month of Tishri, with the first month being Nisan, which occurs in March/April. Only in Ezekiel 40:1, the phrase “Rosh Hashanah” is used, literally meaning the head of the year, rather than the New Year.

I compare it to the calendar year begins in January, but the school year begins in August/September. The Jewish calendar is based on a lunar cycle of the moon, and of course that is from where we even get the word “month”.

From sundown Monday to sundown Wednesday were days of self-judgment (two days are used, just to make sure that the right time is observed), a time to remember our sins, our repentance, and our forgiveness of those sins. 

Typically in modern Judaism, Micah 7:19 is read, “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. ‘You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.’ ”

But I’m not Jewish…

…But Jesus was and still is Jewish. He is of the tribe of JUDAH, from which we get the name Jew, and Judea. Numerous passages in the New Testament refer to the concepts of Rosh Hashanah. Since the first four feasts from the Old Testament coincided with the fulfillment of those prophecies in the New Testament, these feasts celebrated this month may also coincide with the future prophecies when they are to fulfilled.

What were the first four feasts that coincided with the fulfillment by Jesus Christ that have already occurred? Passover, Pesach, celebrated the liberation from enslavement and coincided with Jesus’s institution of a “New Covenant” or a “New Testament in My blood” (Luke 22:20, KJV) and occurs at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Ḥag haMatzot. There is also the Feast of Weeks, Shavuat, (Pentecost), which Christians also link with the New Testament fulfillment in Acts 2.

Further, twice Paul referred to the holy day of Pentecost in Acts 20:16 and 1 Corinthians 16:8. If he, as a Christian to the Gentiles, we too should be mindful of the Jewish feasts, and especially those which have not yet been fulfilled, including Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Rosh Hashanah can be celebrated by Christians in anticipation of several coming prophecies to be fulfilled. Consider:

At the sound of the trumpet, the dead in Christ shall rise (see Matthew 24:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, and 1 Corinthians 15:51-57). When John is called up to heaven in Revelation 4:1, he heard a trumpet sound and voice which said, “Come up here…”. This passage marks the beginning of the Tribulation, when the church is raptured from the earth.

In Luke 10:20, Jesus said we are to rejoice that our names are written in heaven. In the Jewish Talmud, there is a rejoicing at Rosh Hashanah about those whose names are written in the Book of Life (see Philippians 4:3, Revelation 20:15, 21:27).

Revelation says there are “ten days” of tribulation. The time from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur is exactly ten days of repentance. While the Great Tribulation is seven years, it is possible that it could begin at Rosh Hashanah with the rapture of the church, of Christian believers both Jewish and Gentiles, and during those seven years, the Great Day of Atonement would come seven years and ten days later at Yom Kippur.

It is amazing that the seven years of Tribulation from Revelation 4 through Revelation 22:15 that the word is not mentioned, but yet, in Revelation 22:16, it is clear that these things are testified to the churches! 

John 5:24 through 29 states clearly that we who

    1) hear the word of Jesus and
    2) believe in God who sent Jesus (see also John 3:16)
    3) have everlasting life and
    4) will not come into judgment.

Verse 25 says that an hour is coming and now is for those who will hear the voice of the Son of God and live. That “hour” has lasted nearly 2,000 years that we have heard (either in His presence or through His word, the Bible) from the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, and, as a result, live in eternal life. From my book The Gospel of John One Day at a Time, I wrote: 

The phrase in John 5:28 which says “Do not marvel” can be loosely paraphrased as “and that ain’t all.” Not only did Jesus give life to the spiritually dead, He also states that ALL in the graves will hear His voice. If they have “done good” (or believe in Jesus, see John 5:24), they will have everlasting life. If they “have done evil” (or ever did anything bad—ever! See Romans 3:10-23 for more on that!) they will be condemned. John 6:29 says that believing in Christ is “the work of God.” On Judgment Day, all will hear the Christ’s voice. Every knee will bow down and every tongue will confess He is Lord, but for some, it will be too late.

The worst sin of all is to reject God’s gift of eternity. Revelation 20:12 speaks of two resurrections: John wrote, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them.” (Revelation 20:6). But, “anyone not found written in the Book of Life” are judged by their works and every one of those will be “cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 3:15).

Let us use these days of

• Rosh Hashanah,
• Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement (begins sunset, Wednesday, September 15, 2021),
• Sukkot or Feasts of Booths / Tabernacles (begins sunset, Monday, September 20, 2021), and
• Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah (which ends the Feast of Booths, at sunset Monday, September 27 through sunset, Wednesday, September 29)

to admit, confess, and repent of our sins; believe that God sent Jesus to be the atonement of our sins; and to call upon the name of the Lord for our salvation (See Romans 10:9-10, 13).

Blessed Assurance

 Blessed Assurance

 

Does the Bible really teach “once saved, always saved”? If you are truly saved and going to heaven, is it possible to sin so badly that you would lose your salvation? Read the following verses and decide!

--God’s WORD--

1. God’s Word says we can know we have eternal life.

1 John 5:13--These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

God’s Word says there is no condemnation for Christians.

Romans 8:1-2 -- There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

God’s Word says He is faithful even if we are not.

2 Timothy 2:11 -- This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. 12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

God’s Word assures us He will never leave or forsake us.

Hebrews 13:5 -- Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." ⁶So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

Jesus’ Word says we shall not come into judgment.

John 5:24 -- "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Jesus’ Word was that He would be with us always.

Matthew 28:20 -- “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Jesus’ Word promised true freedom and sonship forever.

John 8:34 -- Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

God’s Word says faith, not works, is what saves.

John 3:36 -- He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

John 6:47 -- Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

Ephesians 2:8-9 -- For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

--God’s WILL--

2. God’s Will – We are saved by His will, not ours.

John 1:12-13 -- But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 6:37 -- All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

We are kept saved by God, not ourselves.

2 Timothy 1:12 -- For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

Romans 8:31-35, 38-39 -- What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 God’s will predestined us for heaven.

Ephesians 1:5 -- having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

God’s mercy saves, not our righteousness--God saves us when we were unrighteousness.

Titus 3:3 -- For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

--God’s WORK--

3. God’s Work –The resurrection is proof that sin and death no longer reign over us.

Romans 6:9 -- knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:17 -- And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

The resurrection proves God will resurrect us as well as He raised Christ.

Romans 8:11 -- But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

God’s work in the resurrection assures us our life is hidden with Christ in heaven right now.

Colossians 3:1 -- If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Our works may be lost but we shall be saved

1 Corinthians 3:15 -- If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

God’s work keeps us in His hand.

John 10: 28 -- And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

Jude 1:24 -- Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

God’s work in the crucifixion makes it impossible to fall away and renew ourselves again to repentance.

Hebrews 6:4 -- For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. 7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

God’s work in salvation makes us confident, assured, and anchored with things that accompany salvation.

Hebrews 6:9 -- But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. 10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…

We are kept by God’s power that doesn’t fade.

1 Peter 1:3 -- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

God began and will complete His work in us.

Philippians 1:6 -- being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

--God’s WITNESS--

4. God’s Witness (the Holy Spirit) seals and guarantees us our inheritance.

2 Corinthians 1:21 -- Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

2 Corinthians 5:5 -- Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.

Ephesians 1:13 -- In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 4:30 -- And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

God’s Spirit is our witness and guarantee of eternal life.

1 John 4:13 -- By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

Romans 8:15 -- For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is irrevocable.

Romans 11:29 -- For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

God’s Witness of the Spirit stays with us forever.

John 14:16 -- And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

 

 “Once saved, always saved” does not mean getting “hell-fire insurance” by praying a prayer then living sinfully. True salvation is putting your trust in Jesus Christ for your eternal life, and receiving His Holy Spirit to come live inside you and change you from within.

If you once were living for God and you feel you have lost your salvation, don’t give up on God. The “Blessed Assurance” we have from these and many more verses similar to them is that God has never given up on you.

If you still have doubts, it may be that you have never been saved to begin with.  Read again Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” God’s Spirit should bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. If you don’t have that assurance, nail it down today. Pray this prayer:

Dear God, I admit that I’m a sinner, and I accept the fact that you accept me and love me just as I am. I believe Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins. I believe You raised him from the dead to prove your love and forgiveness for me. I call in faith for You to come into my life. I receive you and I commit my life to you. In Jesus Name,  Amen.”

If that is the prayer of your heart, God promises He will come in to the life of anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord (Rom. 10:13). Get involved in a local church that preaches God’s Word and the assurance of your salvation.

Session 8: Building an Exemplary LifeGroup

     I wouldn’t blame you if chapter 8 is your least favorite chapter in this book as it is mostly historical, but as I have been saying, don’t read just for information but also for inspiration.

When you read the Bible, does it make you think of things that God is speaking to you that you really don’t see in the text? I think that was true for me not only in the Bible, but also in chapter 8.

Click here for a video teaching on this session.

The first quote from “Building a Standard Sunday School” was like that. On the question of being “In the Field or From the Office?” 

I remember being in my first pastoring ministry and I was a husband, a father, a student in seminary, a pastor of a small church in Whitt Texas, and working for a newspaper. When I was at church out on visitation, I felt badly that I was not at home. When I was home, I felt badly that I was not spending enough time studying. When I was at school, I was thinking I needed to be at my job at the Fort Worth Star Telegram, bringing in more of a paycheck. 

And you guessed it, when I was at my job, I was thinking I should be preparing for a sermon or visiting someone in need. That cycle was almost comical.

You probably have felt that way that the call of God in our ministries is sometimes a never ending task. But the truth is, some day there will be an end to our ministry and the question is, are we preparing someone to fill our shoes.

That problem is found in the opening quote of Chapter 7:

“Perhaps the most difficult question constantly facing the department [of Sunday School Administration] is the balancing of time between office promotion and field work.”

The dilemma for you as teachers is should you

a)         Be teaching a good lesson or

b)         Be developing good leaders

That balance is like me being a pastor, a husband, a father, a student, an employee. I fully relate with your work as a LifeGroup leader and commend you for what you do.

That actually was why I came up with the POINT strategy of having at least five different people to serve as POINT men and POINT women for Prayer, Outreach, InReach, Need-meeting, and Teaching.

I had a current leader send in who was in charge of each of those ministries. Who was the POINT People? It was Teacher Teacher Teacher Teacher, and Spouse of the teacher.

Administratively, Chapter 8 says that we need DEVELOP a system for training Sunday School officers.

You can skip over the Enlargement campaigns; Large Conferences and Clinics; Superintendents’ meetings; Free literature; A monthly publication; and Emphasizing the Standards.

They are all historically interesting for its information, but it’s not practical for today. But in reading through the information, what is our inspiration?

We should be strategic. The standards offered a strategy for its time. What is the strategy of LifeGroups for our time? What is God calling you to do for your LifeGroup now and how do you balance developing a good lesson with developing good leaders, all the while developing a good life at home and at your jobs?

This chapter inspired me develop a network within our association, of others in our 90 plus churches, of what they are doing that we should do.

Our churches are not in competition with other churches. I just spoke to a FBC member who is going to another sister church in Bell county and in fact in our city. I told her to go with our blessings but be a good spy while she is there, and send us back good intel information.

I didn’t really say that, but I don’t get out much to visit other churches. I think we should, not so we can defect to other churches, but so that we can positively affect our own ministries with good ideas and strategies from other churches.

Historically, only five percent of churches in any year met the standards Flake set out. But I think that as we reach for something that is a difficult standard is how we grow.

That’s why Jesus said “Be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” God’s standard of excellence is perfection and though we will never reach sinless perfection, our response is to try and reach for the stars.

And when we fail, we should seek forgiveness but never settle “for give-up-ness”. In other words, just because we not achieve our goals, keep setting the standards high and work towards them.

The same is true in seeking to improve our Sunday Schools and Life Groups.

When we lose a person who transfers to another church, it behooves us to look to ourselves. If our preschool, children, or youth numbers are down, we should remember that we as leaders in our adult classes should look to ourselves and ask ourselves “Are we doing all we can to train our students to reach out to other students?"

Are we training our parents to raise their children and youth to want to grow so that our church will have a preschool, children and youth atmosphere of wanting to grow spiritually.

I am not talking now numerically but spiritually. Is your teaching impacting your class to the degree that your students and the families of your class members are growing in their ministry.

Not merely academically. Not intellectually. And teachers watch out now, I am going to step on toes. Listen to me.

Is it for your own ego that you are teaching? Do you relish the accolades from your class members who lavish praise on you “Wow great lesson”?

Do you beam with sinful pride when you hear your class members say, “Oh come to our class, we have the best teacher!” and yet, and yet, week after week, they come and listen and laud your lessons, yet never listen and lead another to salvation.

Jay Vernon McGee today is preaching through the woes of Jesus found in Matthew.

6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Like I said at the beginning, I wouldn’t blame you if you thought this section was the least practical in information, but for inspiration, the goal for us to look for doing more than simply getting through the lesson, but getting the lesson through should be the measure of our success.

Is our church (and is the largest organize ministry of our church -- the adult Sunday School LifeGroup ministry--) is it organized to meet and exceed the standards that God has set for our times?

Not for Flake's Time. Not for First Baptist, Nashville. For FBC Killeen!

If our church succeeds in providing enough preschool teachers;

If our church succeeds in providing enough children and youth leaders;

If our church succeeds in reaching the unreachable standard of perfection in providing homes which are growing and thriving in ministry;

And if we succeed in reaching people and yes teaching people and also in serving people and ministering to people, all because of our LifeGroup ministry;

Then you may not get the accolades of being a dynamic teacher; you may not have a book written about you 100 years from now how you brought an entire denomination back from a pandemic; but if you succeed in developing your class to be doing what God has for this time and this location and this setting and this class room for this church;

Then, you will undoubtedly hear from our Lord and Savior, WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, ENTER INTO YOUR REST.

And that, my friends, will be a far better blessing than being called Rabbi and Teacher in the marketplace.

My final question to you teacher is:

What is YOUR STANDARD of success in your classroom?

Blessings to you

Session 7: Summary of Go After People

Chapter 7: Go After People is go after people and the chapter is written by Allan Taylor a former football coach and former education minister at Woodstock Baptist Church. Taylor quotes Arthur Flake as saying Flake was Like a fiery football coach, admonishing the leaders of his day, “Prepare the Sunday school to go into action to reach the people. It is time to quit quibbling and dillydallying and get out into the homes and places of business and urge the people to join the Sunday School and attend the services of worship … Every Sunday school should observe a regular visitation program. Nothing else will take its place.” That not only spoke true in Flake’s day but today as well.

In this final step of Flake’s Formula, Taylor writes

The purpose of Flake’s previous four steps was to set-up the fifth and final step—reaching people. The first four steps prepared the church for those they were about to receive. These steps are unnecessary if there is no fifth step. Churches who have practiced all five steps have found Sunday School to be vibrant, growing, and effective in reaching new people. Flake’s Formula postures the church to be more aggressive in evangelism.

Evangelism in Today’s Sunday School

1. Sunday School is the largest organization in the church. 

2. Sunday School meets at “prime time.” 

3. Sunday School is age graded. 

Who in the church will be most effective reaching millennials? Answer: millennials! Who in the church will be most effective reaching baby boomers? Baby boomers! Who in the church will be most effective reaching high schoolers? You guessed it! … high schoolers.

4. Sunday School is for all ages of people. 

5. Sunday School assimilates new people. We reach and keep people? With relationships. We don’t reach people we don’t know and we seldom reach people we barely know. But we can reach people when we have developed some relationship with them.

6. Sunday School is an open group.  The hardest time to attend church is the first time, and so it is with Sunday School. The most difficult time to attend is the first time. in “big church” we can hide as we blend in with the crowd but you can’t do that in a small group. Don’t become a closed group. Reach people

7. Sunday School affords everyone an opportunity to get involved.  Everyone of your class members can and should be involved in winning people to Jesus.

Then Taylor writes about Six Essentials for an Evangelistic Sunday School

1. An evangelistic Sunday School must have the example of an evangelistic pastor.  Leading by example is the greatest form of leadership. The challenge of pastoring has never been more difficult and stressful. Pastors above all the church activities must be intensely focused on seeing people saved. It is so encouraging for me to see nearly a dozen people joining me on visitation. But it is even more encouraging whenever I hear about classes leading other people to the Lord.

2. An evangelistic Sunday School must have a clearly defined vision for evangelism. We have to keep “The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.”

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17)

• “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
• “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work [of salvation].” (John 4:34)
• “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” (John 10:10)

• “I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” (John 17:4)
• “… He said, ‘It is finished.’” (John 19:30)

3. An evangelistic Sunday School must enlist teachers and leaders in alignment with this vision. Coach Taylor asked, “How can we expect to move the evangelistic ball down the field when the quarterback won’t call the play? Show me an evangelistic Sunday School group and I will show you an evangelistic group leader. How do we build an evangelistic Sunday School? One group at a time. How do we build evangelistic groups? One leader at a time.

4. An evangelistic Sunday School must have outreach leaders.  If outreach is important to the church then the church needs outreach leaders. Someone has to lead the charge, organize the effort, and execute the necessary details. Then taylor says this “Every adult group and every preschool, children, and student ministry should have an outreach leader if they are serious about going after people.”

The Outreach Leader Job Description

• Be a personal witness.
• Lead the class/department in the outreach/evangelism strategy.
• Train class members to share the gospel.
• Train class members to share their testimonies.
• Train class members in the outreach/evangelism strategy.
• Once a month, enlist a member to briefly share a testimony in class of his or her salvation or a witnessing experience.
• Keep the class/department Prospect Book updated.

5. An evangelistic Sunday School must have prospects. If

He then lists ways we can collect a list of prospects for our group I won’t read that but go to page 81 in the book and see the 10 ways he lists but we will add another and that is new movers.

6. An evangelistic Sunday School must have an intentional outreach strategy.  When we are intentional we are purposeful; we are strategic; we are resolved; we are decisive; we are focused; and we are determined. It’s time we get intentional again!

Taylor talks about MTV and no not a cable channel

To “go after people” was the chief aim of Jesus and the early church. It is to be the chief aim of the Sunday School.

“Christ’s mission to this world was to win souls; that was the purpose of his coming. The Apostle Paul said, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,’ and should not we also in all our Sunday schools have this as our supreme aim?” ⁶²

May we, too, Go After People!