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

The Drive-Thru Diference?

You may have heard about the drive-thru difference. This is being promoted by different radio stations but in particular the one in the Washington DC area is where I first heard it. The concept is this, when you go to pay for your order pay for the one behind you as well. Sounds like a nice thing to do, right? After all Christ said it’s better to give than receive. However, I was bothered by this. At first I didn't know why but after some study and thought I found why I take issue with how this is being promoted. To illustrate the problem let’s look at what is posted on the radio station’s website. Here we find a flyer they suggest you leave for the person behind you to read explaining what just happened. This is what it says:

Hi! I just wanted you to know someone cares. You don’t know me, but I’ve just paid for your order. Just something I felt like doing. I heard about people doing things for others on the radio on WGTS 91.9. They call it the Drive-Thru Difference. Maybe you’ll feel like doing it for someone else and sharing. I hope this encourages you today! (Emphasis added)

Did you catch that last part? The reason they suggest you are doing this is to encourage others. Encourage them to what? Die in their sins? What is missing from this message? It’s the Gospel. Being this is a Christian radio station you would presume that Christians are the ones asked to do this. Instead what happens is another wasted opportunity to share the good news of the saving grace of God. So what if some lost person gets a free Big Mac. All that does is allow a person to go to hell with a full stomach and wallet. We need to proclaim the Word of God. As Jesus said, there will always be poor among you (John 1:28) but what we will not always have is time itself. If you want to pay for the person behind you great, I have done this many times. But instead of leaving a radio promotion behind leave a gospel tract. The fruits of repentance cannot grow if the seed is not first planted. Go serve and obey.

"Jesus Was Perfect But So Am I"

Photo by Leo Reynolds'

The Bible says that man will usually declare his own righteousness if given the chance. 

 "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness" - Proverbs 20:6

 I was reminded of this when discussing the commandments with a gentleman at the local county fair. After looking at a few of them in detail like lying, stealing and lust we discovered he had not broken a single one. (1 John 1:10) I told him that was remarkable because I only knew one perfect person and that is Jesus Christ. In his audacity he calmly declared that he knew Jesus was perfect but that he was also.

I asked him to look at himself very carefully in the light of God's word because if he had told just one lie in his entire life he was destine to hell according to the scriptures. (Rev 21:8) I then bid him fair well. 

No matter how good of a person you think you are the One who made you knows your heart. And the truth is just as the prophet Jeremiah said, your heart is deceitful above all things. (Jeremiah 17:9) Examine yourself while you still have time. Repent and put your trust in the Savior.

"But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." Revelations 21:8

Tolerance Intolerance

Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day in Westminster, MD

If the battle against Chick-Fil-A illustrates more than anything else it’s the fallacy of tolerance. Christians are often criticized as being intolerant when we uphold biblical values and teachings. But this creates a logical error in our opponents. By refusing to tolerate our position on things such as marriage they are in fact committing the very act they charge us with. The reality is that they are being intolerant of Christianity. But should this be any surprise? The world system is completely opposed to Christ. Every thought and action perpetrated by the unbeliever is anti-christ. This is what John is speaking of in his first epistle.

“…even now many anti-christ have come, by this we know it is the last hour.” – 1 John 2:18

Before we are drawn to Christ by the Holy Spirit to become “children of God” (1 John 3:1) we were enemies of God. James illustrates this quite forcefully in James 4:4 when he said, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?”

It should be noted that the term world in these verse refers to the world system, not the created world or people in general. The creation reflects the glory of God and we should have a compassion for people. But as Christians we oppose that which defies God and we know the world system stands against Christ; “therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

So next time you hear such hateful words being uttered against Christian virtues don’t be shocked. Instead remember that this is a symptom of the disease called the sinful nature and be spurred on to bring the cure of the gospel.