Basin Theology: The Missionary Mindset

My original impetus in starting this blog was to encourage other Christians to view their immediate surrounding as the personal mission field given to them by God. Hence the title of the blog: Where You Are...Evangelism. It is still for this purpose and this was reminded to me again by my pastor’s sermon this morning.

As for some background, my pastor has led us into a time of inward evaluation of where our church is in obedience to God’s plan for His church. To aid in this we have used the Transformational Church program (TC) as a guide. One of the questions asked by TC that struck the loudest chord was, if your Church disappeared would anyone realize it was gone. We could even ask ourselves this question. If you disappeared would there be any less impact on your community for the gospel? 

The illustration used by my pastor was something he called basin theology. Let's look at Mathew 27:24.

When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.”

Pilate washed his hands in the basin of self. He knew what was right but in order to continue his comfortable life he was unwilling to change. Many Christians are in this position. We know our responsibility. We know we should speak to our neighbors, friends, family, and strangers about the kingdom of God. Instead we wash our hand of responsibility believing we will not be held accountable. 

Now let’s move on to John 13:5, 16-17 and examine the basin theology of Christ.

⁵Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded…¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Here we see Christ and the basin of others. Whereas Pilate used his basin to wash away responsibility Christ’s basin is used to wash away ourselves in service to God. As John the Baptist understood, we are to decrease and He is to increase. We are placed where we are to serve God as He pleases, not as we please. Let us know these things and do them!

God made me to be a missionary

God made me to reach other for Him

God made me to care for others more than I care for myself

God made us to minister to the needs of others.

God made us to be missionaries. Let’s Do It!

A Review of Convert: From Adam to Christ

Covert is written by Emilio Ramos who is the preaching pastor of Heritage Grace Community Church in Frisco Texas. In a past blog I expressed my excitement over the possibilities this book may hold. Now I share with you my experience having read the book. 

Covert explores the biblical context of conversion. Ramos takes us through what it mean to be dead in Adam and then to be made alive in Christ. As an evangelist I know how a firm understanding of the theology behind the Doctrine of Reconciliation to Christ is imperative to proclaiming a Christ centered Gospel. I agree with Ramos as he states clearly on page 41,

“The Church today is filled with soft messages and soft preaching… No one knows this better than the evangelist…”

The sovereignty of God in salvation is key to a biblical application of the Great Commission. Convert’s exhortation of this process drives this point home. The subject matter of the conversion process, the new birth, “the nature of the person in Christ…and both the mind and mission of the new man…” and “the exploration of the new man in relation to the world.” are thoroughly treated. 

At the end of Ramos’ book he gives an excellent exposition of the Great Commission. On page 165 he says,

 “The Great Commission is about making disciples, about producing mature followers of Jesus Christ by teaching them the theology of scripture in such a way that it results in genuine and biblical obedience.” 

It is this desire of obedience to the gospel that requires me to understand the theology God has placed behind it. To be faithful witnesses we must faithfully speak in truth. If you have a passion for evangelism this book is an essential tool. Get one for yourself and your witnessing partners.

To Emilio Ramos: Please provide this book in audio format as soon as possible.

Available now at the authors’website.

True Repentance: A Hunter's Pursuit

Available Now

I use to joke to people that I was glad God only gave me a desire for hunting and not fishing, otherwise I’d never see my wife. The truth be told now, God has redirected my life in service to Him and placed my hobbies, hunting included, in submission to that. Nevertheless I had a burden on me that as a hunter and lover of the outdoors I needed to communicate the Gospel to my fellow hobbyists.  I was disappointed in the so-called outdoor devotional market. It seems the “Christian” market place was flooded with cleaver anecdotes and stories about the outdoors-men experience and its relation to God but it is very superficial. The milk was plentiful but the meat was in short supply. 

One day while reading one of my favorite puritan authors Thomas Watson I wondered how many people had spent such time diving into the doctrine of repentance. This foundational doctrine of salvation must be understood and applied. As a result I set out to break down this deeper subject into a series of hunting related stories from around the country and even the world. My impetus was to whet the appetite of the reader on this glorious subject of what constitutes true and false repentance. I encourage you to pick this up and to examine yourself in the process. I’m sure you will not be disappointed.

True Repentance: A Hunter’s Pursuit is available now at Amazon online store.

Heaven is Full of Bad People: The Book

Available Now

Inevitably while witnessing, people are met that need a bible or require that leave behind that gives them more instruction. In past for years I encouraged people to read the book of John and 1 John. Why you ask? Simply because the Gospel of John more clearly than any other gospel points to the divinity and authority of Christ and that 1 John unmistakably lays down the principals of a Christian’s life in practice presenting a series of tests which a person can introspectively examine themselves. The two flow together, one pointing to Christ leading to salvation and the other to test the evidence of that salvation. 

I searched the market to find this combination without success. There were many Gospels of John available but just as many with weak gospel presentations and none with 1 John. Therefore I set out to put it together myself.

My parameters were as follows:

1. It must contain a clear biblical gospel presentation.
2. It must include the Gospel and Epistles of John.
3. It needs to be in a public domain translation that is also easy to read but not a paraphrase.
4. It should have some brief introductory commentary for the reader.
5. And of course to get it out there it must also be economically priced.

The result of this project is titled “Heaven is Full of Bad People: Hell is for those who think they’re good.” This book incorporates the Gospel of John and his Epistles in the World English Bible (WEB) translation, it has a clear law and gospel presentation, of which the title is derived, contains some introductory commentary by Mathew Henry, and finally is priced as near to cost as possible. 

If you are looking for that leave behind that will speak for you I encourage you to use this as just that. “Heaven is Full of Bad People” is available at Amazon online