David December 23, 2009

There is a dude that most of you will never meet on this side of eternity named David…and at one time in my life I wanted to punch him in the throat because he would not leave me alone…EVERYTIME I turned around he was inviting me to his stupid church!

When he saw I wasn’t going to come to a Sunday service he asked me to come and play basketball…which TOTALLY got my attention.  AND…I started playing football with a crew from his church on Sunday’s as well.

Then he asked me to come to a Bible study…to which I told him what I thought about the Bible and was about to lower to boom when he told me there would be hot girls there…

I went…and didn’t miss a night for about six months or so!  (BTW…NONE of them were hotter than Lucretia…I’m just sayin!)

David started inviting me to church in the Spring of 1989…he was always nice, always offered to take me there and bring me home and NEVER gave up on me.  And so…several MONTHS later after throwing out every excuse imaginable…I went…and was BLOWN away by how friendly people were…and how powerfully the Gospel was preached.

I went back the next week…and the next…until finally on a Sunday night in May of 1990 I surrendered my heart to Christ and told Him I would follow Him for the rest of my life.

There are so many things that happened to bring me to that place…but one of the MAIN INFLUENCES on me was a guy named David.  He didn’t sing a song or preach a message or wear a REALLY bad Christian T-shirt…he simply decided to be my friend and, for some reason, he NEVER gave up on me.

I tell this story on today’s blog because…all of us need to be a “David” in someone’s life.  God has placed in where we are in this world and in our circles of influence for a reason!  Who is it that you are allowing God to absolutely burden you for?  Whoever it is…don’t give up.

Today we begin our Christmas services here at NewSpring Church…and there will be MULTIPLE opportunities for you to bring someone to church.  (Here is a link with the service times for each campus…and even if you haven’t yet RSVP’d…COME ON, we’ve got room for you and WHOEVER you want to bring!)

Don’t give up on that person…

And NEVER take the responsibility of inviting someone to church lightly (See Acts 10:14 and Acts 10:17).  When God changes someone’s life the possibilities are potential in that person becomes unlimited.

SO…NewSpring Church…do what it takes…get people here, and BEG for Jesus to capture hearts and draw people to Himself.

I can’t wait!

URGENCY!!! (Part Two) December 11, 2009

One of the things I’ve been begging God for is a renewed sense of urgency when it comes to reaching this world for Christ!!!  I don’t ever want to get to the point where I get so wrapped up in “church work” that evangelism is neglected.

Which takes me back to my story yesterday about Jennifer.  There was a CLEAR opportunity in front of me…she CLEARLY was in danger…she was CLEARLY unaware of what was taking place…she CLEARLY thought I was joking around the first time I spoke with her…and all of this makes me think…

#1 – WHAT IF I had simply decided to just commit to praying for her?

#2 – WHAT IF I had decided that I didn’t really want to place myself in an uncomfortable situation?

#3 – WHAT IF I had turned my back on what was happening right in front of me?

#4 – WHAT IF I had said, “this isn’t REALLY that important…and now’s just not the best time to draw attention to this?”

#5 – WHAT IF I had said, “Well, I can’t help everyone being robbed…what about the person in the jungle who gets robbed, who is going to help that person?”

#6 – WHAT IF I had given up on trying to get her away from danger after she didn’t respond the first time?

#7 – WHAT IF I had decided to enroll in Bible studies on how to warn people who were being robbed?

#8 – WHAT IF I had not realized that someone’s life was at stake?

IT COULD HAVE GONE BAD…REALLY BAD!!!

Guess what…when it comes to sharing Christ and inviting people to church…there is WAY more at stake than there was with Jennifer in Ryans that day.  We’re talking eternity.

There really is a heaven…and there really is a hell…and people really do go to one or the other!

And we can’t make excuses any longer…we’ve got to be willing to do whatever it takes to reach these people and tell them about Jesus…

If you are a member or regular attender of NewSpring I am asking you to do three things…

#1 – Read Luke 14:15-23 and Luke 15:1-10 and see how JESUS feels about people who are lost and far from Him!

#2 – Ask God WHO you need to BRING to church with you THIS MONTH!!!  Seriously…ask Him to place someone (or multiple people) on your heart after reading the Scripture above.  (We are going ALL OUT THIS SUNDAY to share the GOSPEL…you SERIOUSLY NEED to get people here!!!)

#3 – SEIZE the opportunities that God puts in front of you!  Read Isaiah 40:6-8, we have a limited time on this big ball of dirt we call earth…and we have a direct command from our Savior to REACH the world for Him (Matthew 28:18-20)…the WORLD begins with those who God has placed right in front of us…so let’s go for it!!!

URGENCY!!! (Part One) December 10, 2009

Have you ever been robbed?

I remember working at a steakhouse here in the upstate MANY years ago (before I knew Christ) and experiencing what I NEVER thought would happen…

It was a Saturday afternoon and, for some reason, we were slammed.  The line was literally out the door and I happened to be working the cash register.  (People would go through the line, get their drink, order their food and then pay before they sat down.)

So this guy handed me his ticket…I looked at him and noticed he had the hood on his jacket over his head…AND he had on a pair of gloves.  I literally thought to myself, “It’s not cold outside…maybe this guy is going to try to rob me.”

I told him how much he owed…he threw a $20 bill at me…and I opened up the cash register to get his change…

That’s when he reached inside of his jacket (and as I saw his hand I began to tell myself, “THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!!!”)

He then began pulling out the largest knife I’ve EVER seen in my life and said something like, “You need to hand me the money.”  To which I simply hit one button on the cash register…it opened up…and I told the guy, “it’s yours” while backing away with my hands in the air.

He instructed me to come back to the register and hand him the money…and I told him in a very direct way that his command would NOT be happening!  (Did I mention the knife was HUGE?)

So, he came around the counter and approached the register to take out the money…

Then I saw Jennifer.

She was a waitress who worked there…and wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on.  The cash register was right next to the window where the servers would come get the food…and she was standing there goofing off with the guys in the kitchen.

He stopped looking at the money for a second and looked at her…so I said, “Hey Jennifer, could you come here for a second.”  (By this time I had backed WAY up and was standing about 10 feet from where the robber was.)

She looked at me and noticed that I had my hands up and said something like, “Oh Perry, you’re so funny!”

I realized she thought this was a joke…that I was playing around…and she didn’t notice that right behind her was a dude who had a knife and was seemingly trying to decide between taking the money or taking her.

So I screamed…REALLY LOUDLY (and I think I might have used profanity) that there was a man behind her with a knife…and that she needed to cease and desist flirting with the kitchen boys and walk away.  (That is the edited version.)

When I screamed the entire restaurant looked at me…and became VERY silent.  Jennifer SPRINTED out of there…and the robbed grabbed the money and ran out the door.

(They caught him 15 minutes later…he was very high and wanted the money to buy more drugs.)

Looking back on that situation makes me see several things…

• Jennifer was in danger
• Someone had to tell her…she wasn’t going to just figure it out…she wasn’t paying attention
• I tried to tell her nicely…but she thought I was joking.
• Understanding the urgency of the situation I cast aside what others thought about me and was willing to make an idiot of myself to get her out of the danger that was right behind her that she was unaware of.
• Romans 10:14-17!!!

We are called to do the same with our friends and family members who do not know Christ!!!  More about this tomorrow…

Four Questions Every Church Should Wrestle With – Part Three September 12, 2008

Last post on this from Romans 10:14-15,

#4 – “And how can they preach unless they are sent?”

Pardon me while I go “Rick Warren” and use an acrostic on this one!  S-E-N-T stands for…

S = Set On Fire!!!  Personal evangelism and inviting people to church MUST be regularly taught from the stage!  People have GOT to know that lost people matter to God (Luke 19:10); therefore they MUST matter to the church!

E = Encouraged!!!  Anytime you ask someone to invite people to church there is some excitement…but also discouragement because they begin thinking, “I’ve already asked them a hundred times and they won’t come!!!”

Encourage them…I always tell them that I am so glad that a guy named David didn’t give up on me!  Ever more specifically…I am glad GOD didn’t give up one me!!!

For those of you at NewSpring getting “no’s” for this weekend–don’t give up!!!  Sometimes it takes a while!  It did for me!

N = Necessary!!!  It is so necessary for a church to be obsessed with personal evangelism!  Heck, if the early church had been a bunch of guys who loves theology more than Jesus and had decided to get in a room with people who only thought just like them and solely focused on the “finer points of theology…”  Well, we’d have all gone to hell!!!

T = Tense!!!  Christians must understand that when we step out into the world and begin to invite people to church…there are going to be tense conversations!  AND…that’s OK!  We must remember that it should not be our goal to win arguments and distance people…but to work through the tension and allow God to use us to break down walls that people have built up.

Four Questions Every Church Should Wrestle With – Part Two September 11, 2008

Continuing the post from yesterday based on Romans 10:14-15,

#2 – “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?”  

If we truly want people to believe in Jesus then we MUST do all that we can to make sure they hear about Him!

I think one of the fundemental problems that exists in church world is that we have communicated very clear messages…however, very few of them actually have anything to do with Jesus.  We say things like…

• Do more, try harder
• Don’t do (fill in the blank!)
• This particular political party must be our obesssion.
• Don’t watch this movie or listen to this music
• Boycott this

I could go on and on…but I think we all get the point.  The church spends WAY too much time talking about what it is against and never gets to the heart of the message that can actually change people from the inside out–JESUS!

They can’t believe in Jesus until a church decides that HE is going to be their one obsession!

#3 – “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

You and I are called to preach the Gospel every single day.

• How we treat the waiter or waitress this weekend is preaching a message!
• How we react when someone cuts us off in traffic is preaching a message (and our kids are on the front row!)
• How we talk about our spouse is preaching a message!
• What we are willing to say about others when they are not around is preaching a message!

Everything we do preaches a message…our lifestyle openly declares whether or not we love Jesus…or merely just the idea of Jesus!  If we claim to love Jesus but are not living for Him then we are nothing more than, as Craig Groeschel would say, a practical atheist!

Being a Christian is NOT about simply what we KNOW (none of us will ever know more than satan!)  It’s what we DO with what we know!
People outside the walls are “listening” to us “preach” every single day…and you and I need to be willing to (preach) live in such a way that shows the world that we believe!

Let’s do our best to live out to a watching world what it means to love Jesus…our life just might be the message that God uses to help someone cross over from death to life!

Four Questions Every Church Should Wrestle With – Part One September 10, 2008

In reading through Romans recently the Lord grabbed my attention through what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:14-15, in these two verses there are four questions that I believe every church should obsess over!

#1 – “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?”

Every church (well, nearly every church) would admit that they want to see people come to Christ, to “believe on the name of Jesus;” however, my fear (and frustration) is that many times we fail to understand that people who don’t know Christ simply do not BELIEVE that He is the answer to their issues!

Guess what…that makes is pretty much impossible for a Non – Christian to begin acting like a Christian.  (An agenda many churches seemed to be obsessed with!)

So where does that leave us?  Simple–we need to live our lives and preach the Gospel in such a way that people far from God don’t have a hard time believing in God because of they hypocrisy they see in our lives…OR because of the sub par standards we have set in our worship services!

It’s not that the Gospel is “unbelievable,” but rather the fact that often times we make it unbelievable.

Yes, I know that “salvation belongs to the Lord,” and that no one comes to Christ unless they are drawn by Him…it’s just that I think we need to do life and do church in such a way that when Jesus does draw someone to Himself He can draw them THROUGH us rather then sending them AROUND us.

Bob August 26, 2008

I have a friend who doesn’t know Jesus…I’ll call him “Bob” in this article, although Bob is not his name.

I first met Bob several years ago at the gym…and over time he and I began talking here and there for about five minutes at a time.

Let me be very clear…we have absolutely zero in common. He’s about 20-25 years older than me. He likes cats, he doesn’t sweat like me…you get the picture.

About a year or so ago I invited him to church…and he came! (it’s amazing what a personal invite will do!)

And then the next week–HE CAME BACK!

I think it would be safe to say that if Bob is in town–he doesn’t miss! EVER!

He always tells me when we talk about how much he enjoyed the service. AND…if he has questions he always asks.

One day I talked to him about his relationship with Jesus and he told me that he isn’t ready to make that decision…but, “I think I’m getting closer,” he always says.

There are weeks when we do not see each other…and then there are weeks when we see one another several times. He always smiles…and always tells me either, “I’ll see you this Sunday,” or, “I won’t be there this week…but I will make it the next.”

Bob doesn’t know Christ!

I’m glad he comes to church…but my prayer is that he ultimately will give his life to Christ.

I pray for this often!

We are supposed to go to lunch in the next month or so.

Bob doesn’t know Christ…but he needs to!

Here’s my question, “WHO IS THE ‘BOB’ IN YOUR LIFE?”

Who, in your life, needs Christ…but for some reason you have been unwilling to invite them to church…or even begin a conversation with them about Jesus?

Why? What’s holding you back?

I once heard Brad Cooper ask the question, “If you REALLY believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ then why in the world would you show up at church every single Sunday without a carload of people who need Him?”

Does Jesus save? ABSOLUTELY!!!

Does He change lives? ABSOLUTELY!!!

Has He called us to REACH OUT…or be obsessed with other things?

Jesus said in Luke 19:10 that He came to seek & save that which is “lost!”

If that was the heart of Jesus…and Jesus lives in our hearts…then that HAS TO BE IN OUR HEARTS AS WELL!!

We CANNOT claim to be followers of Jesus and NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT HE CARES ABOUT!!!

Who’s your Bob?

Who in your life, if they died today, would bust hell wide open?

What are you willing to do in order to be used by God to make a difference in their lives?

Here’s something you might want to consider…INITIATE a conversation, INVITE them to church. There has to come a day when we STOP USING, “Well, I’m prayin’ for them” as an EXCUSE!!!

Go for it!!!

Who’s your Bob?

Are you willing to get uncomfortable in order to reach out to them?

That’s EXACTLY what Jesus did in order to reach out to us!!!

Go for it! Today! Right now!!!

Let’s do what it takes to reach out to people far from God!!! They don’t need to change their life–they need Jesus–and HE WILL change their life!!!

By the way…the next four weeks here at NewSpring Church are going to be AWESOME opportunities for your friends and family members to hear the GOSPEL!

Once again–GO FOR IT!!!

Bob doesn’t know Christ!

Who’s your Bob?

What are you willing to do?