Church Planting Discussion

I thank Philip Bassham for sending me this. Source

Horatius Bonar, writing the preface to John Gillies’ Accounts of Revival, proposes that men useful to the Holy Spirit for revival have been marked in these nine ways:

1. They were in earnest about the great work on which they had entered: “They lived and labored and preached like men on whose lips the immortality of thousands hung.”

2. They were bent on success: “As warriors, they set their hearts on victory and fought with the believing anticipation of triumph, under the guidance of such a Captain as their head.”

3. They were men of faith: “They knew that in due season they should reap, if they fainted not.”

4. They were men of labor: “Their lives are the annals of incessant, unwearied toil of body and soul; time, strength, substance, health, all they were and possessed they freely offered to the Lord, keeping back nothing, grudging nothing.”

5. They were men of patience: “Day after day they pursued what, to the eye of the world, appeared a thankless and fruitless round of toil.”

6. They were men of boldness and determination: “Timidity shuts many a door of usefulness and loses many a precious opportunity; it wins no friends, while it strengthens every enemy. Nothing is lost by boldness, nor gained by fear.”

7. They were men of prayer: “They were much alone with God, replenishing their own souls out of the living fountain, that out of them might flow to their people rivers of living water.”

8. They were men whose doctrines were of the most decided kind: “Their preaching seems to have been of the most masculine and fearless kind, falling on the audience with tremendous power. It was not vehement, it was not fierce, it was not noisy; it was far too solemn to be such; it was massive, weighty, cutting, piercing, sharper than a two-edged sword.”

9. They were men of solemn deportment and deep spirituality of soul: “No frivolity, no flippancy . . . . The world could not point to them as being but slightly dissimilar from itself.”

source

Humor in the pulpit can be very dangerous. It’s like a narcotic. Your people will love it (how much more entertaining to hear you riff on something than to teach Leviticus or talk about sin). You’ll love it (less sleeping, more laughing at how hilarious you are!). And the temptation will be for you to give the people more of what they want and less of what they need. I listen to about 10 sermons a week, and some of the guys I listen to are both funny and really good teachers. But here’s what I notice… they have to tell three jokes for every one that really lands. Two out of three just kind of linger there and die. And so the whole sermon feels like it’s being interuppted by second rate comedy. Over time, my fear is that the people will come hungry for your humor and not necessarily for the word of God. They will be dependent on you and your charisma and your sense of humor, and you’ll never be able to plant churches because you can’t find anyone else as funny as you are, and so you’ll have to pipe your sermons into other locations.

“If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

Abraham Lincoln

This is what I preached Sunday night. It is in my opinion one of the most important things that we can teach our people as they grow. You should be able to get the audio very soon

Hebrews 4:2

1. To profit from the preached Word you should prepare before you come to the service

• Get enough sleep the night before
• Get ready early, arrive at church before the hour. Get up early to avoid arguments
• Have a clear mind. Make sure that worship is the most important thing in your life Luke 10:39
• We have to come with the full assurance of faith Hebrews 10:22
• Bring an ink pen and notebook
• Sit close to the front of the church

2.     To profit from the preached Word you should come praying

• Have a time of prayer before the service even on Saturday evening
• Ask God to speak to you
• Pray for the pastor
• Wait on God Jeremiah 33:3

3.     To profit from the preached Word you must listen correctly

• Listen without excuses or pride
• Listen carefully to be sure that what you are hearing is the Word of God for sure Acts 17:11
• Listen quietly Psalm 46:10
• Listen with faith Romans 14:23, Hebrews 11:6
• Listen to the Lord gratefully
• Do not talk during the service
• Don’t think about others but focus on your own life
• Resist all distractions

4.     To profit from the preached Word you must have the right attitude towards the Word of God

• Receive the Word of God like it literally is from God because it is I Thessalonians 2:13
• You have to obey what you hear James 1:23-24
• Look up every reference
• Respond to what you are hearing
• Confess every sin that He shows you
• Be submissive to the Holy Spirit
• Be honest
• Ask questions

What is the Focus of Your Ministry? from Mark Coffey on Vimeo.

Don’t Take Your Culture with You from Mark Coffey on Vimeo.

Training Leaders Cross-Culturally from Mark Coffey on Vimeo.

THE TRIAL AND INCARCERATION OF JOHN BUNYAN

John Bunyan was a Baptist preacher, a pious man, and a man well-beloved by all who knew him. John Bunyan was incarcerated in the Bedford jail in England. The following account is taken directly from a transcript of the trial on October 3, 1660, that led to his imprisonment at Bedford:

I believe that it is necessary that you understand what it means to be ecumenical and why I would be against the concept altogether.

The word ecumenical means of, relating to, or representing the whole of a body of churches b: promoting or tending toward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation

1 Ecumenical - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.” Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. 29 Jan. 2009 .

What is the Modern Ecumenical Movement?
There is great emphasis in the church today on uniting professing Christians of all denominations and beliefs. The message is that we’re not so different after all… we can work together. Setting aside theological differences, we can help each other in the things we all agree upon. That effort is commonly referred to as “ecumenism,” which is defined as “the organized attempt to bring about the cooperation and unity of all believers in Christ.”

“The Spread of Ecumenism.” Bible Prophecy | Christian Apologetics at the Jeremiah Project. 29 Jan. 2009 .

What would be a Biblical response to our working together regardless of doctrinal beliefs?

Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

2John 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

Unity in the faith is impossible without the doctrine of Christ. Without such a foundation we have no basis for the faith, for the gospel, for knowing Jesus, or for knowing anything pertinent to the Truth.3

“The Spread of Ecumenism.” Bible Prophecy | Christian Apologetics at the Jeremiah Project. 29 Jan. 2009 .

1Timothy 1:3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,

Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

1Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Handling Money on the Mission Field part 2 from Mark Coffey on Vimeo.