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Pastor Jay's Blog

This blog is Pastor Jay's weekly musings about God's Word, God's world, and God's call to our culture.  We hope they encourage, challenge, and inform you.  Sign up to recieve them in your email. 

Posts Tagged with "Evangelism"

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Do I Have To Share The Gospel Like That

Few things bring panic to the souls of many like the thought of sharing the gospel. Each potential encounter has its own panic-inducing features. To share with a stranger means potentially upsetting a nice casual encounter with accusations of being a religious nut-job imposing beliefs on people. But share with a friend or relative and you quite possibly sour a relationship...

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The Pastor in the Pub, and other Evangelism Questions

A number of weeks ago I raised the issue that a pastor going into a bar would bring serious questions about his qualifications as an elder. A number of people later followed up on that with pastors they knew who did pub evangelism. Would their qualifications still be in question if that is what they are doing? So that gave me something to chew upon. A pub would certainl...

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Strange But Not Weird?

Freak. Extremist. Religious Nut. If you have been a Christian long enough you have heard the names the unbelieving world gives to believers. The problem is, sometimes you kind of agree. There are people that get themselves situated on a street corner with signs and beards and materials that make us cringe. Is that weird or is that the kind of "strange" the Bible says...

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Life Before Truth

What does an infant do with a diamond? Let me give you the two most likely options: 1) eat it, 2) lose it. We might show a little toddler our diamond ring, but there is no way we are going to give it to him. Why? He simply does not understand the concepts of value and rarity or how such concepts are attached to this shiny rock. There is a parallel to this when it come...

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How A Soul Is Changed Forever

What you are about to read below is a crown jewel from what is already considered a treasure of literature. It is a short fictional discussion that reaches to the heart of true change. While individual experiences will vary, the truths that shape those experiences are told here in one of the most compelling, hope-giving, soul-freeing ways ever penned. What, then, are ...

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You Can’t Scare People Out of Hell and into Heaven

Jesus ended his Olivet Discourse with the sobering reality of eternal punishment and eternal life. Hell is frightening, unimaginable, andfrequent. At least it is relatively frequent in the gospels. Jesus spoke more about Hell than anyone else. If you are wanting to be like Christ and speak like Christ, then Hell will be something you talk about. But how do you talk ab...

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A Common Challenge to Jesus’ Lordship

Last Sunday we were looking at Matthew 21:35-46 and our attention was brought to the matter of Jesus' Lordship. In the parable, hired vine-growers were attempting to overthrow the ownership, rights and lordship of the owner [God] and take the vineyard for themselves. Just what is the extent of Christ's lordship over someone's life? If we say it is total, we bump into ...

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Free from Righteousness

I have been in Romans chapter 6 for a while and a certain verse caught my attention. Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. "Free in regard to righteousness". Really? Is this an exaggeration? One of the impossible issues for most unbelievers to accept is the assertion of the complete corruption of their hearts. They wi...

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Do Not Try Jesus

I am fan of Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce. There is only one reason for this: a coupon. During my days in seminary, Emily found a coupon for it so we gave it a try. The sauce is the boss! All of this is a classic marketing strategy. Free samples are regular features in the marketplace because the only thing better than a word-of-mouth reference is a tastes-good-in-my...

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Has Tom Brady Found What He Is Looking For?

It was a record breaking night for the NFL's biggest game. All told there were 27 different records broken. In the middle of it all was Tom Brady. His presence and performance alone were 10 of those 27 records. Clearly Tom Brady has not only reached but cemented his place in football history and joined the league of the world's greatest athletes of all time. But that ...

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Sovereignty and Urgency

As finite creatures made by an infinite Creator, paradoxes are something we have to come to grips with. Being an infinite God means you do thingsdifferently. In what way? I have no idea. Being finite excludes the possibility that I can understand what it is like to be infinite. It is like asking a Dixie cup what it feels like to hold the ocean. Therefore, we are told t...

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One Approach For Evangelizing Catholics

One of the most difficult features of Catholic evangelism is the tyranny of the similar. Not only do the statisticians of world religions put Catholicism under the umbrella of Christendom, but there has been a decades long ecumenical push within Protestantism to say Catholics and Protestants are on the same team, just wearing different uniforms. Therefore, to talk about ...

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Four Ways Unbelievers Suppress The Truth

We have all been there at some point. A discussion turns to spiritual matters and it becomes clear that the person you are talking to does not believe in God. But it gets worse than that. They are incredulous about your faith. Not only do they not believe, they also don't understand how anyone could believe. They press you for evidence because they see nothing that would...

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7 Reflections On Dialoging With Jehovah Witnesses

Over the past 6 months I have had several scheduled conversations with Jehovah Witnesses who have come to my house. I don't know if my house will be blackballed, but it is possible and therefore I have been thinking about these interactions. I have learned several things about their approaches and hopefully this will help you. 1. Each Jehovah Witness will be different ...

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Strange But True: An Unexpected Reality in Evangelism and Apologetics

We all love a weird fact. For instance, camels have three eyelids. Crazy, huh? Our world is so diverse that every day we can be surprised by some unexpected reality. There are things like that in the theological world as well. There are so many diverse, yet unified, truths in scripture that there are realities we initially don't expect. Two of these surprising realities...

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Problem Method, Problem Message, or Both? Another look at “Easy Believeism”

Last Sunday night there was a verse in Hosea that promoted a short discussion about the "Easy Believeism" mindset. I thought a few more reflections might be helpful. I think this might be one of those cases that shows us the complexities of discerning between the methods used and the messages conveyed. There is a need to start with some definition. When I speak of "Easy...

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Why Every Christian Is Called to Evangelize

Evangelism is something we are always trying to grow in. Sometimes it is good to review the reality that God really does call each and every one of His children to verbally bring the gospel to spiritually dead people. Below are 8 key biblical reasons why you are called to evangelize. The first and second great commandments are the main heartbeat for evangelism. A person...

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Answering When the Atheist Asks

So, you have just asked your atheist friend the three questions from last week's post. But then the inevitable happens. He asks you the same questions back. Are you ready? This is one of the instances where scripture calls us to be ready to give a defense of our hope (1 Pet. 3:15). While the context for that verse is suffering, it doesn't have to be limited to that. You ...

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Scipture Alone VS. Catholic Sacred Tradition

There are areas of agreement that evangelicals have with Roman Catholics. But there are also massive areas of total disagreement that set the two in opposition. One of the primary areas of disagreement, the one that drives all the rest, is ultimate authority. In every significant discussion on spiritual matters, there will have to be an accepted base of authority. Until ...

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Cue A New View

There are few things more helpful than learning something new and then getting to see it in action. To see it allows your learning to go from theoretical to concrete. But how is that going to happen when you are talking about something that involves amounts of time, money, and effort that you simply cannot create out of thin air? The "Sounds Good" Theory A recent examp...

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