The importance of the process towards an end

The church and the procedures of doing things in the church have experienced tremendous changes in the last century or so. These are changes that seem to have been blessed by God once you start evaluating them base on the results it delivers like bigger Sunday service attendance, increased number of so-called "decisions for Christ" during evangelistic crusades, more worship-driven Christians, more rejuvenated and involved young people in church programs, to name a few. Who wouldn't want all of these things to happen in their church, right? I would do a summersault in joy if one day I see all of these achieved in the church I belong to. But the question is, "Are these achieved using processes prescribed by the Scriptures?"

"Why worry about the process when the results clearly reflect what God wants to be achieved in this world." A lot of Christian leaders today make this kind of argument. They are making the point that "the end can justify the means." So how important really is the process to God? 1 Cor. 14:40 commands us to do all things "decently and in order". This is a clear declaration of the process of which things should be done. And if God is telling us this, we can make the conclusion that there is honoring and glorifying of Him with the process we employ towards the achievement of a goal. We cannot just make a spectacle in our churches, like holding something similar to a rock concert, just so we can make the unbelievers in our community attend our evangelistic service. But you may argue, "Hey! You Christian leaders have told us several times before ‘to win souls at any cost', and now you're telling us having a rock concert at our church to bring in the people is wrong?" Please understand that when we admonish you "to win souls at any cost", the point we are making is that if you have to die for the gospel's sake, then by all means, do it.

The next obvious question is this, "What process is decent and in order?"

First of all, it has to be biblical. There are processes of doing things that were clearly laid out in the Bible. Like when someone is sick. James 5:14-15 tells us that it is the sick that calls for the elders of the church to pray for him and to anoint him with oil. In modern times, television evangelists would announce to everyone that he/she will conduct a healing service so everyone who is sick is invited to come to the venue of the event. This clearly opposes what was instructed of us in James 5:14-15. Another problem with this is that most of the time, it's the person conducting the healing crusade that is being lifted up and not God. Now, as to whether I believe that there is true healing that happens in these events, is another discussion that should be reserved for another time.

Evangelism is another Christian function of which there is a clear instruction as to how it should be performed. Mark 16:15 tells us to "Go into all the worlds and preach the gospel…" There are two instructions here: (1) to "Go" and not wait for the unsaved to come to you, and (2) to "preach" the gospel and not to "sing" the gospel out. Most evangelism programs of churches today start by asking "what people would want to hear" in case we are successful in inviting them to our churches. The churches of today have concluded that people prefer that we talk about God's love to mankind to the point where we have made them believe that God would embrace anyone to His family just as they are, even with no resolve to turn away from sin. Furthermore, they believe that talking about sin and Hell to an unbeliever would only offend and push him away. And so, exclude sin and Hell from the message as much as possible. To make the person stay in your church for the longest time possible, it will also be good to deliver messages as often as the pastor can about the "prosperity that God wants to give people."

After finding out "what people want to hear", the next question is "how they want the message delivered." Churches of today clearly give the answer --- Entertainment! A widely accepted message goes well with entertainment. This is the reason why Christian music has changed dramatically in the last two decades. Now we have "Christian Rock music". Church leaders would allow that their churches be transformed into a rock concert scene for about an hour, with young people banging bodies with each other, if that would mean a big crowd listening to the preaching at the end of the program. I recently saw a video at the website of The Way of the Master Radio of a pastor who delivered a message on the Christmas story ala The Jerry Springer Show. The characters like Mary, Joseph and some fictitious characters that aimed to discredit the integrity of Mary were violently arguing with each other the same way guests in The Jerry Springer Show do. The manner into which this very holy Bible event was delivered in that video was a big blasphemy against the Word of God. But despite that, it breaks my heart to inform you that people in the congregation that watched the skit seemed to have enjoyed what they saw. Churches are willing to degrade the time tested biblical processes in favor of what they perceive as "great evangelistic responses."

The Bible also tells us that "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul (Ps. 19:7)." The Law was part of the evangelistic messages of Jesus when He was still here. The disciples and the apostle Paul followed through after Jesus ascended to Heaven. Great evangelists 300 and 200 years ago like Whitefield, the Wesley brothers, Luther and Spurgeon had a big part reserved for the Law in their messages. Why? Because the Law serves as our “…schoolmaster to bring us to Christ… (Gal. 3:24)” after it has stopped our mouths and made us guilty before God (Rom. 3:19) and gave us the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20). The person to which the Law is preached not only understands why he needs to put his faith on Jesus, he also realizes that because it was his transgression of God’s holy Laws that put him in trouble, there is a need for him to repent from these sins. Thus, his conversion is complete. But the preachers of our time removed the Law in their presentation of the gospel for the simple reason that they believe, talking about sin will push away the unsaved. They prefer to use what they call “The Seeker Sensitive Approach.”

Pardon me but I really don’t get this approach. It's saying that if you have hurt someone badly and I will serve as the bridge so that things will be settled, to make you get right with the person you've so insensitively inflicted pain on, I will tell you nice things about the person you've hurt (like he is such a forgiving person) so that you’ll feel good about yourself? Duh?! This is crazy! You hurt God insensitively and yet you want His children to be sensitive in dealing with what you did? What you deserve is to be shouted at on your face about the evil you’ve done against God so that you’ll be awakened and moved to do something about it. Isaiah 58:1 says, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression…" I don’t see the Seeker Sensitive Approach anywhere in this verse. Do you? This is why the Law shouldn't be removed in our evangelistic messages for the Bible instructs us to make people examine themselves through the mirror of the Ten Commandments so that they'll see how wretched they are in front of such a holy God. And as far as the "seeker", God is the only Seeker and not you. He seeks for your repentance of sins. He seeks for your total faith on Him.

The second way of knowing if your process is "decent and in order" is to examine if it is "after the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:4)." How do you know if it is "after the Spirit of God?" John 4:24 tells us that "God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." So how do you know if something you are doing is "in spirit"? Godliness is the answer. The manner should reflect holiness which is a prime attribute of God. Anything that does not evoke holiness or, any procedure that it is this world that invented is not of God. And how about "the truth"? Something is of the truth if (1) what is shown in the outside is similar from what's inside (Ps. 51:6) and if, (2) it sets you free (John 8:32).

Let’s test some of the things that have been happening in our churches and see if they are "in spirit and in truth".

I once heard of a church that holds raffle draws for people that will attend their evangelistic crusade. Why is this wrong? The church has now set the stage for the sin of covetousness for people in the crusade. Instead of them there to listen to the preaching of the Word, there will be people whose eyes are now focused on the material rather than the spiritual. The gimmick has failed the test on godliness on the basis of the potential sin it evokes, as well as the fact that raffle draws is an invention of this world and it definitely has no room in our churches. It has also failed the "truth" test because it really has not set the person free in terms of the hold of sin in his life. Some people may come back to this church, not because they have been truly converted, but because they like the cool gimmicks of the church.

Let's do another one --- Church music. There have been songs in our time being sung in our churches (I'm not saying all) that sounds more worldly than Christian. Yes, the lyrics look Christian but the manner they are sang is definitely worldly, like songs classified as "Christian Rock" music. The argument as to why these songs are permitted in our churches is to adapt to the taste of the modern time (Seeker Sensitive Approach). To further add to the modern feel, people leading in the singing of these songs wear clothes that will definitely not glorify God. They wear t-shirts with weird prints and tattered shorts that looked like they have not been washed for about a month. They jump around the stage like unbelievers do in a real rock concert while shouting "Praise the Lord" or "I love you, Jesus" from time to time. Clearly, this kind of music in our churches fails the "spirit test" for rock music is an invention of this world (I really can't imagine God inventing this kind of music), and holiness is not seen in the way people sing these songs and the way they present themselves to God while singing. It also fails the "truth test" for people are not really pouring their hearts in singing the songs because of the message. They simply are moved by the manner it is being sung, a manner more in-tuned to this world than to God. Furthermore, a lot of hypocrisy is committed with lines mentioned by the singers in the songs they sing that they really do not mean.

There are many more gimmicks that churches today employ that clearly fail the "spirit" and "truth" tests. There was a church that had a "Clown Sunday Service" where everyone that came to church that day wore clown costumes. Another church once had an "Elvis Sunday." The pastor that Sunday preached as Elvis Presley, complete with Elvis costume, voice and sideburns. A very famous church in California with a very famous book author as the head pastor, from time to time, have theme Sunday worship services. Some of their past themes were "Rock ‘n Roll Sunday" and "Hawaiian Sunday". It’s sad that so many churches would go to this length just to show-off the results they want, not knowing that they really haven’t achieved what they aimed to achieve, and that is leading people to a true conversion. If someone is in church because he enjoys what’s happening there, then he is a false convert. The only reason why a person is in church is because he has truly repented of his sins and placed his trust on Jesus for his salvation, making him a member of the family of God that gathers together as a church congregation.

You may argue now, "If the process is really important, then why did Jesus, Himself, several times did not act according to the prescribed process like when He healed on the Sabbath?" Actually that's not true. What Jesus went against with was the heartlessness and the insensitivities of the Pharisees towards those that were suffering. Jesus was also showing the Pharisees that their traditions won’t help them a bit in giving them eternal life if their heart is so wicked. Then Jesus laid the processes for doing things. He showed us that the amount of our offerings won't matter if there is no sacrifice and humility in our hearts. He taught us to give without the other hand knowing what the other has given. He taught us the process of praying --- in secrecy. The Bible gives us the criteria for choosing the leaders of our church. Guidelines on the proper use of our spiritual gifts in our churches were written in black and white. Even the manner of dealing with the sins of our fellow Christians was so carefully explained. We cannot deny that God is concern about the process we employ towards the achievement of an end.

God is a God of order. The universe shows us this. To achieve that order, God has chosen to lay down processes to which things must be done. It is our duty to behave according to the process, whether in our churches or in our personal lives. God’s process is sure. This world’s process isn't. God's will is that we get to the results that He wants us to achieve. The only way to have that is if we submit to the process. In doing so, we not only get to the real results, we also glorify God because in a way, we are saying, "Your way is the best way!" Praise the Lord for God-ordained processes!

When man boasts of tomorrow

2008 has arrived! Because it’s a new year, there’s a lot of people who have listed down their “New Year’s Resolutions” which, if you compare with last year’s resolutions, aren’t different at all. There are those who’ve made new goals of things they would like to achieve in 2008. Brand new plans of things to do throughout the year likewise come to the picture. All of these, people make as if they are so sure that they will get to live all of 366 days of 2008 (this year’s a leap year).

About two months ago, I made my 6 year old son (then 5 years old) memorize Proverbs 27:1 which says,"Boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."I made a copy of the verse and stick it on our refrigerator with the help of an adhesive tape. For the next 3 days, my son stood in front of our refrigerator every morning right after he woke up to memorize the verse. I explained to him what the verse means and its many implications on man’s life. I believe that if he would deeply understand the message of the verse, he would grow up not wasting everyday that passes his life.

How I wish people would come to likewise learn Proverbs 27:1 just like my son. People, both saved and unsaved, would benefit a lot if they understood what God is telling us through this verse. But the sad thing is, people in our time have become more boastful of their future than ever, to the point that it seems, they have forgotten that they are mortals who have a sure scheduled appointment with death. Here are some boastings that people make.

"I still have a lifetime ahead of me. I'll just enjoy what's around me (even if it offends God) and think about getting right with God when I’m already too old and weak to indulge on these things.It's the unbeliever that says this. Here’s a very dangerous kind of boasting for it may lead a man to Hell. This reminds me of the story of the rich man in Luke 12:16-21. He had a great harvest in his land so much so that his old barn could not hold what he had harvested. And so, he made a bigger barn. Satisfied with what he had achieved, he said,"Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry (v. 19)."He decided to enjoy what this world had to offer to him (including those that offend God) for he could easily afford them. But God said to him in the next verse, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee."Here's an example of a person who forgot that he is mortal just like any other person around him. He forgot that tomorrow may not come for him.

Is it wrong to be hard working so that you’ll be prosperous? Is it wrong to enjoy the fruits of your labor? The story does not suggest these. The story’s aim is to make us realize that above all, it is our eternal destiny that we should be prepared with and not how we can prolong the benefits of the fruits of our labor or whatever wealth we have. Right at this very moment, as you read this part of the article, that rich man and many others like him (rich and poor) are suffering in Hell because they were very foolish not to prepare for their eternal destiny.

Everyday, 150,000 people die (that’s about 17 people dying every 10 seconds), with most of them plunging to the fires of Hell. There’s a big chance that many of the people that go to Hell for eternity on a daily basis have heard or read the gospel. But they were too arrogant to respond to God’s call for repentance and faith on Jesus Christ. I’m sure that these people as they suffer in Hell have so much regrets for not taking the gospel seriously during their happy times here on earth. “If only I had listened to my friend/relative/stranger who once shared the gospel to me.” Probably, this is a common line among people in Hell. Unfortunately for them, it’s too late now. The unbeliever has only himself to blame for his predicament.

"I'm still young and full of life. I’ll just spend about a majority of my life chasing my dreams of fame, wealth and power and think about storing up riches in Heaven later in life."It's the believer that says this. So many believers right now are making wrong priorities. Looking at these priorities, you will come to a conclusion that these Christians are more materialistic than spiritual. They are so drawn to the things of this world that they have forgotten that these things do not have eternal value. They would drop on offering plates during some Sundays what seems to be a big amount of money to help their church’s programs and, maybe to support missions, just so they could be relieved of some of the guilt for not really being physically involved in the service of our Lord. I have mentioned in my past article that I even know of some pastors who’ve abandoned their pastoral duties in favor of the chance to work in progressive countries that will allow them to earn a big amount of money. This is sad.

I really don’t understand how one could totally forget serving God as an act of gratitude after they have been touched and saved by the Saviour. Remember Peter’s mother-in-law in Matt. 8:14-15? Jesus came to Peter’s house and He saw his mother-in-law sick of a fever. Jesus touched her hand and immediately the fever was gone. And what did Peter’s mother-in-law do after being touched by Jesus? The story said that she immediately arose and served Jesus and his disciples. How come people of today that have been touched and forgiven by God are not responding in the same way as Peter’s mother-in-law? Makes you doubt if they really have had a life-saving encounter with Jesus.

There are a number of Christians that are making God wait for their service to Him while they go on their lives chasing their selfish dreams of worldly wealth. In a way, you can’t really blame them. Most of the Christians in our present time are products of a modern gospel message that says, "God wants you to be prosperous in life that’s why you need Him in your life to help you achieve that prosperity." And so, Christians embark in a life that focuses on amassing material wealth for they were taught that this is God's will for their lives. This is totally unbiblical for what the Scriptures admonishes us is that we be the light and salt of this world. Any verse that talk about Christians lacking of nothing is not in terms of material wealth but instead, of the required righteousness for us to go to Heaven which we get through the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross (see Matt. 5:6). If we delay our service to the Lord because for now, we'd rather chase first our personal dreams, we may be surprised by death one day and lose our chance of storing riches in Heaven. I’m sure that you don’t want to be just an applauder when God hands out the rewards of those who’ve made it a point to serve Him during their lifetime here on Earth. As the song says, "Only one life so soon will past. Only what’s done for Christ will lasts."

"I'm still young. People around me still have a long time ahead of them. I’ll preoccupy myself first of things I enjoy and let others do the same. I’ll just share the gospel to people around me when it’s obvious that they are about to cross the bridge to eternity."Again, it's the believer that says this. If in statement #1, the unbeliever has only himself to blame why someday he will go to Hell, for this statement, the believer is to blame why the unbeliever will someday miss going to Heaven. Ezekiel 3:18 says,"When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand."This passage clearly points the responsibility to us in helping the people around us understand what they need to do to evade the pangs of Hell. And because we do not have control over time, we should take the first opportunity given to us to witness to an unbeliever because there’s a big chance that there will never be another chance.

Close your eyes for a while. Then think of three people: an unsaved family member, an unsaved friend, and an unsaved acquaintance. Picture these three people smiling at you in the middle of a cool day. Then slowly change the background from a cool day to a dark and hot place we came to know as "Hell". The smile they once flashed turns to a sharp stare of anger towards you because you never took time to tell them about the gospel as they feel the sufferings that Hell is giving them… Now open your eyes. Ask yourself, "Can I bear seeing these people in Hell?" I know you can't. So what will you do about it knowing that what you’ve just imagined can be a reality to them today? Remember, God will hold you responsible for their eternal fate.

We must make a total change of how we deal with people around us on a daily basis, from people who are full of life to people who will start their stay in Hell tomorrow if you will not take time today to tell them of what they have to do to evade the gruesome reality of Hell. If I were you, if you come home today and find your unsaved family member still alive, you will demand that he/she listen to what the Bible says his/her destiny because of his/her sins. If in the middle of your talk, he/she stands and tells you that he/she has had enough of what you are saying, and it would be better for him/her to do something else, pull him/her back on his/her seat and say that you’re not done with him/her until he/she makes a decision about his/her eternal destiny. How much lesser people would go to Hell if we have this kind of resolve of not stopping about talking to people about sin, righteousness and judgment until they make a decision to get right with God. But sadly, most Christians of today care less about the souls of people around them.

If you will ask me to deliver a message for the New Year, instead of exciting you with statements about how bright the prospects are for 2008, I’d rather tell you the reality, and that is this world will get worst in 2008. Why will I discourage you about 2008? Simply because I want you to get on your feet to tell more people about their sin and their sure destiny (if they won’t get right with God) before God says, “I’ve had enough of the sins of this humanity. Let me end all of these!” We must behave in this present time with urgency. Ephesians 5:15-16 says this, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise; Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The Bible clearly tells us that in the last days, things will turn to worst, and the signs show that we are indeed in the last days. If you don’t do something about the eternal destiny of people around you, then don’t dare shed even a single tear when you see these people experiencing the wrath that God will pour onto people who did not repent of their sins and place their trust on Jesus, for the reality is, you were partly responsible for their predicament.

It’s the New Year. If in the past years, you have thought this way, then I believe that it’s high time that you change the way you think. The way you thought in the past is so dangerous to you, if you’re not yet a Christian, and to others if you’re already a child of God. There’s nothing sure about tomorrow. Let’s live today as if this is our last day on this world so that we won’t get to waste even a second of today.

Missing In Action

The phrase Missing in Action (MIA) is commonly associated with the military status of a particular personnel. It may mean a military personnel who is in AWOL (absence without official leave) when the country badly needs him. It could also mean a military personnel who, in the course of a battle, suddenly disappeared with the reason not yet clear between being killed or captured by the enemy. In the Christian community nowadays, there’s also an MIA that’s occurring that significantly accounts as to why less and less Christians are involving themselves in the ministry of evangelism.

SACRIFICE. Yes, sacrifice among many who call themselves “Christians” has been Missing in Action. You hear fewer and fewer Christians who are going to the regions beyond just to share the gospel to the “unreached”. In churches right now, very few young people are stepping forward to go to formal Bible school training in preparation for a life-long service to our Master. Furthermore, there are so few of our brethren who are willing to give-up some of their time for some tracts distribution session in their community. And for those who are financially blessed Christians, so few of them are willing to give to small but effective evangelism-focused ministries just because these ministries aren’t that capable of bringing the news of their donations to as many people as possible. Why are these things happening? Simply because less and less people are willing to make a sacrifice.

This is such a sad scenario when you consider how much others who came before us have sacrificed just so the gospel could reach us. People have forgotten how Christ’s disciples gave-up their lives for the cause of the gospel. The lessons of the sacrifices of saints included in the book “Foxe’s Book of Martyrs” have been degraded to the level of literary past-time. Even the examples given by modern-time martyrs like Richard Wurmbrand, Nate Saint and his companions, Martin and Gracia Burnham, and many more do not anymore receive the same attention and response from Christians who hear their stories as before. I feel grief when I think that if this amnesia to the sacrifices of the people mentioned continues no one will remember them in the next 20 to 30 years, even if it was us who directly benefited from their lives.

So why are Christians today less and less willing to make some sacrifices for the gospel’s sake? Let me offer some answers from my own personal observation.

The first culprit is the increasing materialistic motivation of people, Christians included. A lot of us have forgotten the admonition from the Scriptures for us “to store-up riches in Heaven…”. Instead of doing this, we spend most of our time trying our best to build the most admirable house in the block, purchase the sleekest car among our peers, have the most extravagant summertime vacation, earn enough to buy the most expensive designer clothes, etc. When I see this happening among Christians I know personally, I could only wish that they read what the Preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes say about these things…”Vanity. Everything under the sun is vanity! (v. 1:2)” And what did Solomon say should be our life’s focus at the end of the book after exposing the vanity of these things? “…Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man (v. 12:13).”

It’s sad that even some church leaders have forgotten that our whole duty is to obey God and not to amass as much material wealth as possible. I personally know several pastors who have even migrated to more progressive countries and take up secular jobs, totally turning their backs to their “calling”, in order for them to give their families what they perceive as “a better life”. To relieve themselves of some of the guilt, they would spare some of their free time during weekends to hold an hour of Bible study with some people they already know and whom they need not look for anymore. That’s good, but is that really God’s will in their lives? No wonder why we see fewer pastors’ children who are going to full-time ministry in their adult years. I can only imagine the positive influence Christians can inject into this sinful world if only all of us will sacrifice our material ambitions just so we can obey God’s call to serve Him with all our heart, soul and mind.

Secondly and closely related to the first culprit is the preoccupation of most churches with what has come to be popularly called as the “Prosperity Message”. This kind of message tells Christians that God wants them to be successful in their chosen fields in all of it’s aspects including the financial aspect, that’s why it is important that you do your best in whatever you are busy with so that God’s Will is realized in your life. So what’s wrong with this message? I’m telling you right now… A LOT! Any message that does not admonish Christians to copy the kind of life that Jesus lived is an erroneous message. Jesus came to this world to do two things: (1) to save us from the consequences of our sins and, (2) to set an example on how life should be lived. If preachers are not able to deliver the second message clearly, then they are not fully doing their jobs.

I once heard an interview done by Larry King to a very popular pastor of a mega-church in the state of Texas. When asked by King if it is really God’s will that we live a comfortable life, the pastor without any hesitance so proudly answered in the affirmative. Declarations like this are so dangerous for it further fuels a person’s materialistic drive resulting to a lesser willingness to do some sacrifices for God. I agree with what Pastor Paul Washer said when he was interviewed by Kirk Cameron and Todd Friel in one of the shows of TBN. He said, “As far as I know, God only promised two things for Christians… eternal life in heaven and sufferings in this world.” Jesus once said to his disciples, “In this world you shall have tribulations…(John 16:33)”, and He expects this kind of response to these tribulations… “…when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad… (Matt 5:11-12)”. I remember Todd Friel once said in The Way of the Master Radio, “Is it God’s Will that we live a comfortable life? No. His Will is that we be the light and salt of this world!” Very well said, Todd!

Sometimes pastors will say this, “Be obedient to what God calls you to do and He will reward you tremendously for it.” So what’s wrong with this message? Yes, nothing. The problem lies at what was not said. Preachers should also explain that when God promises blessings, it is not always material blessings. Furthermore, most of the blessings God promises to give us will be given not here in this life but in Heaven someday. This is the reason why Solomon explained that God has placed the understanding of eternity in man’s heart (Eccl. 3:11,14). I often make Christians think with this question, “If indeed God rewards Christians’ obedience with material prosperity, and throughout the New Testament time (including our time), there is no one who could equal the kind of obedience that Paul and Jesus’ disciples exhibited, then why can’t you read in any of the New Testament accounts of them that they received abundant material blessings?” The answer is obvious. God’s promised blessings vary and most of their rewards they received in Heaven. God’s blessings could be peace of mind, satisfaction with even the fewest of wealth, the virtue of longsuffering, etc. In fact, the lowest kind of blessing that God can bestow on you is material blessing. Making people believe that obedience to God results to material blessings is again so dangerous. If in their obedience the material blessings do not come, they will be turned-off from serving the Lord, and worse, make them backslide.

Lastly, the main reason why Christians of today are not ready to give their lives to God as a living sacrifice is because they do not fully appreciate the sacrifices that Jesus did for them. I believe that if only Christians would fully fathom what it caused Jesus to give us eternal salvation, more of us will lose ourselves for the gospel’s sake. The Scriptures said that although He is God, He made himself of no reputation and took the form of a servant and the likeness of man, and then humbled himself even to death in the cross (Philippians 2:6-8). And why is there less appreciation to Jesus’ sacrifice? Blame it on the modern gospel message that declares that God will give us love, joy, peace, fulfillment and lasting happiness if we will just “accept” Jesus into our hearts, and very little emphasis on the sins that we’ve committed against God that left Him with no other choice but to send His only begotten Son into the world to pay for the sins that we should be the one paying for.

The modern gospel message made us focus more on what we can get from a relationship with Jesus when the focus should be surrendering our lives to Him as a show of our high gratitude for what He did for us at the cross 2000 years ago. If Christians around the world who are preaching to the lost would only straighten up their message to conform to what Paul and the disciples preached, and that is “repentance towards God and faith on Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21)” because of what we did to make God die for us, then more of the converts of their ministries will surrender themselves to missions abroad and to the cause of evangelizing their communities.

So many unsaved around us, but so few sacrifices on our part to bring them to a personal relationship with God. May all of us be consumed with the thought of how much God showed His love to us so that we will be moved to likewise show our love to Him by giving the whole of us and not just a part of us, through personal sacrifices we will render. This way, more people will experience the love God has been offering everyone in this world. We have been forgiven and now expect eternal life in Heaven through the sacrifice Jesus. Isn’t it just proper that we also make our own sacrifices for God? Let us not waste the sacrifices made by people before by not setting an example of sacrificial living to people who will come after us. As one song said, “And may all who come behind us find us faithful.”

Testimonials

A few months back we featured two testimonies of two Star Youth Ministries member. Here’s another one. Please read and be challenged to share the gospel.

CHRISTIAN GUNITA

When I was a young Christian I always asked myself, “How can I win souls for Jesus Christ?” and “Am I an effective Christian?”. I admitted that I don’t know how to start telling the gospel to other people. I always think of what other people will say. I’m afraid that other people will laugh at me. Those questions and problems were answered when I became a member of Star Youth Ministries and learned the principle of “Way of the Master”. By the grace of God, He used me to be an instrument to tell the gospel to my friends, fellow students and strangers. Because of this ministry and by His grace, I can now talk to people through one on one and even to a large group of people. I’ve done those things for God’s glory. Praise God!

I would like to share one of my unforgettable experiences in sharing the gospel. Last July 2007, as a part of our requirements in one of our major subjects, we organized an orientation seminar in the college I am attending. We had more than 80 I.T. freshmen participants. I asked my professor if I can use 5 minutes after the seminar to talk about Christ to our participants and she gave me the “go” signal. The devil tried some things to discourage me to not continue with my plan to share the gospel to my fellow students. But God reminded me of the message of a video clip we use in our WOTM seminars entitled “LETTER FROM HELL”. I learned that it is better to tell the truth than to hide it. I didn’t mind what my classmates and schoolmates would say. All I wanted to do is to share the gospel because I know it is His Will that I do so. After I shared it, some of the freshmen students said that through my short talk they understood that they are sinners who so badly need Jesus Christ to save them from sure punishment. Some of them teased me by calling me “Brother Christian” but I just didn’t mind them. Praise God for this wonderful experience. To God be all the glory!

As young disciples of Jesus, we must be willing to follow His example. It’s never easy to sacrifice your plans, career, time or friends to serve Christ. But when we do it for the praise and glory of God, we’ll quickly discover that the thrill of winning now in man’s eyes isn’t worth it compared with the glory of winning later the approval of God when our lives here on earth has ends.

Here’s the challenge to all of us --- Will we be willing to set aside our desires/plans for the sake of following Jesus Christ?

Victory in Doing God’s Will: The Gospel Buzz 2007 Experience

There’s nothing more fulfilling in this life than experiencing the kind of victory that comes with following God’s Will. That’s exactly what we experienced during our recently concluded Gospel Buzz 2007 (Oct. 24-26). The “Buzz”, as you all know, is a trip we have yearly where we (a bunch of young Christians whose passion is to share the gospel to the lost) go to a far away Philippine province to share the gospel. On our way to our destination, our bus would make stopovers along the way where there are crowds gathered like in parks and marketplaces. This year, we went to the province of Batangas.

For every victory there has to always be a battle that takes place. The battle that we went through before Gospel Buzz 2007 became a success was really a hard and tiring one and it all started months before the actual trip. But before Satan became aggressively offensive in his moves to thwart a successful mission trip, the early preparations for this evangelism program seem to suggest something like “a walk in the park” experience.

First, we really wanted that all of the participants be riding in one bus so that we could fellowship as a whole group. The previous year, when I inquired about how much the rent will be for a small bus, I became speechless whenever bus operators gave me the figure. We just couldn’t afford it that’s why we ended up renting two vans for our transportation. But because one of the participants for this year (Lester Cabais) is a tourism student in college who has connections with tour operators, he was able to negotiate a fee that we could afford. We were able to even save a few thousand pesos compared to if we rented two vans again for three days. The bus was so comfortable that we were able to rest our tired bodies in between stops. Secondly, the place that we will be staying in Calaca, Batangas was given to us free of charge. The father of one of the Star Youth Ministries members is working for the former governor of the province. The family of the governor owns a beach front property that they originally intended to transform into a resort but plans never pushed through. The property had nipa cottages that we could use as our bedrooms during the 3-day stay. The cottages were small and had hard beds, not really the type that would give you rest after a long and hard day under the sun. The room that I stayed in even had a small rat running around. We just reminded ourselves that we were not there for vacation. We were there to share the life-saving gospel to unsaved people. It was free and that is to our advantage. Things were going smoothly for us until challenges started coming in.

I believe that not all of the hurdles that started lining up came from the devil. Three weeks after the conclusion of Gospel Buzz 2007, I can now pinpoint which came from the devil and which came from God. Before, I thought that the financial problem we encountered was caused by the devil. Now I realize that God must have allowed things related to the financial needs of the trip to happen so that He could test us on how much we are really committed to push through with the program. I started very early in encouraging Christians to give their support to this trip. We promoted the Gospel Buzz 2007 with either me speaking about the trip in gatherings or through our website. I believe it was the month of June when we placed a promotional page on our website about the trip. In the page, we placed an email that Christians can use to arrange for their support to this program. Almost everyday from the day that promotional page was set-up I would open that email account to see if there was anyone who is planning to give a financial support to this trip. Almost every time I opened it I get disappointed. No one was really responding. One day, I was surprised to see a message in that account. I was so excited to read it. But when I started reading the email, I readily recognized that it was spam mail. It was supposed to be from a sickly and elderly lady from the Ivory Coast who was offering to give the $3,500,000 that her late husband had deposited in a certain bank to the ministry here in the Philippines. I’ve received several of these emails in the past that’s why I never really took this one seriously. I believe I ended up answering the email with a gospel presentation. I never received any reply from that person after that.

We were really praying hard that God would provide for this evangelism trip. Almost everyday, we would mention it in our daily prayer time in our ministry headquarters. I spent hours praying on my knees every evening, pleading to God that He would look at the needs of the Gospel Buzz but nothing was happening. The devil used this situation to discourage and bring me down several times. Then God made me realize one thing. I know that God wants to provide for the trip and I believe that He was talking to several Christians to give to this program. But the question is, “Are these Christians ready to heed God’s call to them?” That’s when I said, “If these Christians are hardening their hearts to God’s call, well, then on our part, we won’t.” I decided to push through with the trip with or without support coming in for this evangelism program. I decided to use the money we had set aside for programs we have lined-up for November and December. We’ll just trust that God would provide for our future events. I believe that we’ve made God happy with our decision. There were a few who likewise gave to this program and I strongly believe that they made God so happy as well. And so, we had this first challenge won.

The second challenge came a week before the trip. Understand this. Joining the trip were young and tireless people. There’s actually nothing that could stop this young people with anything that they would want to do… except sickness. One of the girls joining us, Andrea Amor (AA for short), started feeling weak exactly one week before we left. Because things weren’t getting any better with AA’s condition, her sister decided to bring her to the hospital. AA’s flu won’t stop and she begun to show rashes in her whole body. The doctors later diagnosed her as having dengue, an illness caused by mosquito bites. This illness has caused so many deaths in our country in the last 4 to 5 years. AA was really upset with her condition because she really wanted to join our trip. When I learned that she had dengue, I sent her a message telling her that maybe God wants her to be our intercessor during the trip that’s why she should not burden herself anymore with the thought that she won’t be able to join us. AA did not know that that was so hard for me to accept because I was really counting on her to be the leader of the other girls joining us.

When everybody thought that AA’s condition was the biggest blow that the devil could give to our plan to share the gospel to a far away province, the night before our trip, Lester who was even with me during that afternoon, experienced excruciating pain in his stomach and head. It was so painful that his mom was getting ready to bring her to the hospital. When I heard about what’s happening with Lester, I recognized right away that this was Satan’s last ditch effort to discourage us and to lessen the people joining us or even stop the trip. I didn’t want to tell Lester that what’s happening to him was of the devil’s doing and that to decide not to join us anymore will make the devil victorious. I wanted him to realize this himself. I then sent a text message to all of the participants to pray for Lester and to rebuke the devourer from all his cunning attempts to stop our trip. At that one moment, although we were in our own homes, we were together in prayer. That night, God reminded me of His promises. I remembered that “Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world…,” and the promise at the end of the Great Commission, “…and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the world.” And then God made me realize that the devil only waged an all-out war a week before the trip, not realizing that the battle had been won already 2000 years back when Jesus conquered death and brought salvation to each and every person who will truly repent of his sins and put his total trust on Jesus. I vowed that at the end of the 3-day trip, the devil will be left red-faced because of the shame of his cruel defeat which God will accomplish for us.

The next morning, the day of the trip, guess who I saw? Lester. He told me that he realized what I wanted him to realize that’s why he fought against her mom’s plan to bring him to the hospital because he knew that had he been confined that night in some medical facility, the doctors would have not allowed him to join us. Lester was not about to miss this trip because he actually gave up a chance to be in the powdery shores of Boracay Island just to be with us in this trip to share the gospel. But that morning, all of the pain he experienced was all gone as if nothing happened. While we were also talking about the spiritual struggle we all went through the night before, we were so surprised to learn that the verses and realizations that God gave me He also gave at the very same time to the other SYM members. We were speechless in amazement when that was brought to our attention.

And by the way, AA was also able to join us. Her commitment to come was honored by God. She was confined to a hospital Wednesday and was released Sunday evening. The day before the trip (Tuesday), she really lobbied to her family that she be allowed to join the trip. Her persistence paid off. Her parents told her that if her doctor that day would give her permission then they won’t stop her from joining the trip. Miraculously, her doctor gave her the “thumbs up” sign. And just like Lester, in the three days we were together preaching the gospel, AA was moving as if she never had a life and death situation days before.

There were other challenges that we gracefully went through successfully with God’s intervention. The unending morning rain of the first day would have hindered significantly our goal to witness to as many people as we can. But no, that was not the case. We anticipated that this could happen weeks before the trip. And so, I instructed everyone that it is a “must” that everyone brings his/her own umbrella for the trip. Weeks after the trip, I still enjoy seeing pictures of us witnessing one-to-one and even preaching in the open-air with umbrellas sheltering us from the rain.

Then there was the problem of the very small road to the place we stayed at. It was so small that people in the community had to go inside their homes so that our bus could pass. With that problem, it would be impossible for us to push through with our plan for the second day to have our bus bring us to several towns to preach the gospel as it would be a big hassle to the people of the community to do what they did when we arrived every time our bus goes out of the place. But God is powerful to turn any problem into a great opportunity. Instead of us going from town to town, God showed us that the community where we were had so many people thirsting for the life-saving gospel. And so, the next day, we saturated the whole barrio with the gospel. AA and the girls gathered the children of the community and did a crusade to them. While they were doing that, the guys were roaming around doing one-to-one witnessing to who ever they could start a conversation with and I was preaching open-air to the poor squatters of the place. We ended by distributing tracts to people, knocking at doors and entering compounds to share the gospel. We were surprised that even though the time was a time that people should be out somewhere working, most of the people where in their homes. Every where we looked there were people. Probably, most of them earn their living from their homes. At the end of the day, there’s a big chance that about 90% of the people of that community either heard the gospel preached to them or got a copy of the gospel message through a tract.

The evening of the second day, even though we still had one more day of sharing the gospel, we were all in tears as we’ve realized why the devil was working double time to hinder that trip. He knew that it will be a very successful mission trip with God’s help that’s why he really wanted to stop it. A lot of the participants testified that that was the first time they’ve really experienced a spiritual battle. It was scary but it was so satisfying after you’ve experienced how God can bring you out of it victoriously. All we really needed to do to end up victorious was to make the commitment to continue on no matter what the circumstance may be, including going to battle against the devil head on. We were humbled with the thought that God had used us to fulfill something great. We’re just a bunch of “nobodies” who were just willing to do His Will. And as what a pastor friend told me while we were there, there’s a great celebration that took place in heaven for the victory God has allowed us to achieve there. We can’t wait any longer for Gospel Buzz 2008! To God be the glory!

Check out the Gospel Buzz 2007 pictures here:

• Gospel Buzz 1
• Gospel Buzz 2
• Gospel Buzz 3
• Gospel Buzz 4
• Gospel Buzz 5
• Gospel Buzz 6
• Gospel Buzz 7
• Delegates

Substituting Music For Preaching

Here’s one fact --- If you want vibrancy in any ministry, employ the help of young people. Before any adult throws his/her protest on me, let me tell everyone that I am not saying that adults can’t have the same effect in ministries like young people do. I have been a witness to the significant contributions of adults in church ministries in the past. Praise the Lord for the adults in our churches! I am saying this fact with the youth’s almost limitless availability in mind. Young people are less tied-up with life-concerns than adults are. And so, if you want to right away mobilize Christians to action, there are always a lot of young people who will be available to enlist in your program, you can always count on that.

I can certainly testify to this. When I was contemplating about two years ago to start an evangelism ministry, my question was, "Who should I tap to help me with this?" Because of my work as an assistant principal in a private school in our province, I’ve known and developed relationships with a lot of young Christian students (past and present) in our school. It only took me one snack date with them to convince them to join me in a ministry with a primary focus on evangelism. And so, the Star Youth Ministries (SYM) was born. Soon enough, we were going to places preaching the gospel, WOTM style, and training others to do so as well. My hopes were high that I can challenge more Christian young people to be more involved in sharing the gospel as we went on. But my experience of easily convincing the core members of SYM to join me in fishing for souls proved to be one of a kind as the ministry of evangelism, I realized, has a competitor ---the music ministry.

A lot of Christians, young and old, have been drawn to music as their primary service to the Lord, leaving very few people available in the ministry of sharing the gospel to unbelievers. I have nothing against the music ministry in churches. I have been a music director of a church for more than 5 years before SYM was conceived. Before that, I was a member of a professional Christian choral group that was quite popular as it regularly holds Christian concerts in major venues not only here in the Philippines, but in other countries as well. Once, I even won first prize in a song writing competition. Music definitely flows in my veins. May God bless the music ministries in churches. What disappoints me about music in churches is that it has been used as a substitute to the direct preaching of the gospel in reaching souls for Christ. I even heard and know of churches that have great music ministries but no evangelism program whatsoever has been set up. Christian groups would stage concerts with really great music (but with very little evangelism elements) to entice unbelievers to join their church. And if people do join their church, they would right away give them the title of a “Christian”. What happens next is that these people would continue going to church and, maybe, join a particular ministry like, say,… the music ministry, and believe that they’ve been converted when in truth, no godly sorrow that worked repentance to salvation (2 Cor. 7:10) really happened. You then see these people living a completely different life when outside the four walls of their church, delivering a rotten testimony to other unbelievers in behalf of the true children of God.

Do we really think that music can truly deliver the complete gospel message and bring people on their knees to repentance and faith on Jesus Christ? I once asked a pastor while in an event he had a hand in organizing that hoped to hook people to Christ with worship music as bate if he had ever heard a Christian give a testimony that says that he got saved because of a Christian song he had listened to. He admitted that he had never heard such a thing. Then I told him that it's because it’s always the preaching of sin, righteousness, judgment and then God’s show of love that will bring people to repent and to put their total faith on Jesus Christ. He agreed with me. No argument whatsoever. And then out of nowhere, he told me that around only 40% of the people that go to his church (a church which likewise places a heavy emphasis on music) he can truly consider as true converts. He must have had a realization of what I was talking about. It’s so sad that this is happening in our present time. There are churches that I know that would even stage what they claim as an “evangelistic concert” but will never have any preaching in any part of their program. They will argue that the songs themselves can serve as the message.

Here’s something to think about --- Can you recall Jesus organizing a choral concert with his disciples as the singers in any of his crusades in place of his preaching? I can assure you this --- You won’t find any. In fact, the Bible mentions only one instance where Jesus took part in some singing, and this was after the Last Supper before they went to Mt. Olives (Matt. 26:30 / Mark 14:26). Jesus spent a big amount of time during His ministry preaching to crowds of people about the need to repent of their sins. He was 90% of the time in the open-air, enduring the heat of the sun during His evangelistic ministry, not singing, but preaching.

So why has music replaced direct preaching as a way of winning souls for Christ in the recent years? I can provide some answers from my personal observation. The first reason is because everyone enjoys music, but the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18). It’s so easy to bring someone to listen to some singing. The same though cannot be said of preaching. But if we focus on making an unbeliever enjoy our church music rather than him realizing the need to repent and to put his trust on Jesus because of how much he has offended God, he will be in church for the wrong reason --- to be entertained. I have talked to several young people who claim to be Christians in the Star Youth Students' Center who are not sure why they are in church. What they are sure though is that they enjoy very much the music that plays in their churches. Then if you ask them how one can become a Christian, they would give you so many ways but the one that would always stands out is that if you always worship God in songs.

Another reason I can give you is that a lot of Christians today are sissies when it comes to one-to-one witnessing. There are even some who will freeze in fear just by the thought of them giving out gospel tracts. But making music in front of people? They could easily handle that. Piece of cake! A walk in the park. They believe that anything that involves dealing the sinfulness of people would put them in a lot of potential rejection and humiliation, and they don't want that to happen. They are so concern about their public reputation. With music, there is less chance of rejection and humiliation. Instead, you can even expect people applauding you after a great rendition of a worship song. And here they are boasting that they are glorifying God every time they sing when in fact, it’s themselves they are lifting up. Let us all remember that in serving the Lord, we should lose ourselves even to the point that people already feel that we’ve lost our minds so that only God will be glorified (2 Cor. 5:13).

Thirdly, some Christians believe that there are people whom God calls to the ministry of evangelism, and some are not. There are those who would say that their calling is to be involved in giving, or in intercessory prayer, or in discipleship, or in music, etc. There are even some who would make a big deal about them serving as ushers during Sunday worship services, thereby excluding them already in serving God in other ministries. I believe that yes, God has called each of us to be involved in specific ministries as evidenced by our differences in terms of the talents He has given us. There are some to whom He gave heavenly voices and there are some that He is content listening to singing to Him silently. But this is the truth. We also have a common calling and that is to share His life-saving gospel. The Great Commission that instructs us to “Go” was given to each and every person that has received His forgiveness. The admonition of Paul in 2 Timothy 4:5 for us "to do the work of an evangelist" is directed to every Christian. I once commented that if you don’t hear this “Call” then probably you are not a true convert yourself. Sometimes I also feel that this reason of us having different callings is just being used as an excuse to not share the Gospel to others.

Finally, I have observed that Christians who have focused on worship, particularly in the area of music, believe that they are already pleasing God in their lives. If you will read the first chapter of the book of Isaiah you will find out that this is totally not true. In the passage, God showed that some things we do for Him like fellowshipping, prayer, offerings, and, yes, worship, can become unpleasant to Him. The reason? Because most of us still do not live a holy life and our hands are full of blood (Isaiah 1:15-16). What does He mean about people having blood in their hands? Probably there were those among the Israelites then that have really committed murder. But another reason why a lot of us have blood in our hands is because we have not shared the Gospel to the Lost. Ezekiel 3:18 explains that if we do not warn the workers of iniquity of the danger awaiting them (Hell), they will surely die of their sins but God will someday require their blood in our hands. We see hear that God’s will is that we balance everything that we do for Him. He is also telling us that what we do inside the confines of our churches must be reflected in what we do outside. A lot of Christians would sing worship songs that have lyrics that say "I will give my life to You", or, "You are my everything" but won’t even try to overcome their fear in just giving out tracts to people. What would you make of people who so bravely say these lines in worship songs but couldn’t deliver when called to witness to unbelievers? What else but "Hypocrites!"

The Church has suffered a lot in the last century because of the mistake of embracing a modern gospel message that is more person-centered than God-centered. It is high time that we do things again in the manner that Jesus prescribed that it be done --- us laboriously explaining to them the real issue so that they may be convinced ("…Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled" Luke 14:23). 2 Tim. 4:2 tells us to do it "with all longsuffering and doctrine." We must bring back the mirror of the Law in our message so that we can really show people their sins and convict them of the need to repent and to put their 100% trust on Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation. I admit that any message that will show people’s sins will not be easily accepted. The reality is that with this message, people may start hating us. But we must realize that this is the way that works. This is the way that truly delivers the results.

Let us not substitute music for the direct preaching of the Word for doing so may make us miss the target by a mile. Let us sing to the Lord to worship Him and to remind ourselves of His goodness to us. Sing songs to encourage and challenge other Christians to go on living for God. Only those who have already been forgiven by God deserve to sing. Let us therefore share the gospel to others so that soon, they will also have all the right in the world to sing their hearts out to the Lord!

Testimonials

For this month’s article, I decided to step aside and let some people do the writing for me. I asked two of the original members of Star Youth Ministries to share their testimonials on their soul-winning experiences. I believe that you will be encouraged with what they have to share in terms of their involvement in the Great Commission. Do enjoy reading them!

ANDREA AMOR FRANCO

Since I became a part of the Star Youth Ministries, I’ve yet to have an extraordinary experience when it comes to witnessing. But despite this, I consider each and every witnessing experience to have a great impact in my spiritual life.

Talking to strangers has not always been “appealing” to me. I grew up believing that talking to them might put me in harm. Not until I became a part of Star Youth Ministries. I found myself not only talking to strangers but searching for them as well. Yes, searching for lost souls and sharing the good news to them. I have never been a gutsy person when it comes to initiating conversations, never been a risky person as well. I believe that there is always a risk when it comes to witnessing but then God has proven His faithfulness because witnessing has not yet placed me in any trouble or harm. Instead, it has led me into deeper love for people and passion to share His word to those around me who always seem to be happy living their lives, but the truth is, deep down their hearts, they are screaming and crying for help.

Sharing God’s word is not easy but it can be fun. I am not saying this because I have gone to different places (such as Baguio, Pangasinan, Batangas) because of our witnessing sessions. The brothers and sisters in Christ whom we worked with have helped made it fun. But it is those strangers in parks and marketplaces whom we converse with in 3 to 5 minutes, sharing to them God’s life-saving Gospel (of course, the way Jesus did) that makes witnessing such a fun thing. I won’t trade the feeling for anything in the world. Talking to these people has also made me realize many things about my own life. But the ultimate realization is that everything I have done to serve the Lord was not really about my strength or courage but it has always been about God’s power working in me, and continually working in me, because knowing the very timid and fearful “me”, I know that it is impossible to do these things.

But then, I’ve realized that I really do not have to go to far places to win souls. I am a young person. I go to malls, I go to movie houses, and I study in a university. I am not a student who happens to be a Christian but I am a Christian who just happens to be a student. I admit that it is a lot harder to approach those people whom I am with everyday. There are a lot of excuses I could give not to preach God’s Word, but there is one great reason why I should not be afraid of telling the good news that would outweigh those excuses. It is the truth that God died for me. And so I started sharing the Word to some of my classmates without minding if they would laugh at me seeing those two pieces of curve illusions in my hands. It is a great blessing for me that I have a number of classmates who are already believers of Christ. We just had our first small group gathering and we talked about our plans on how to win the souls of our other classmates, and that is what I am really praying for right now.

I was asked to do an article to tell my witnessing experiences. I may have shared things here which you may think are out of context. Pardon me. I’m just so excited to finally be able to tell the world that I am a young Christian “at work”. This is the life I have chosen and if I have to spend my youth in serving my Creator, I would always gladly do so. One day when I’m old and I look back at how I had spent my youth, I know that what I chose to do right now for the Lord is something that I will never, ever regret doing.


ARVIN CUNANAN

Evangelism is the closest thing to the heart of God. The reason why I got saved is because there’s someone who boldly shared the Gospel of salvation to me. As a Christian or a follower of Christ, it is also my duty to lift up the name of Jesus and to share the gift of God, Salvation.

I remember one of my experiences in sharing the good news to a group of students. The students were also members of a fraternity. While having their past time, standing in the compound of a Catholic church, I decided to approach them and talk about their sins, their destiny and about Jesus. While sharing the Gospel to them using the principle of the Way of the Master, testing them on how they’ve kept the 10 Commandments, one of the students beside me started playing his balisong (a type of knife here in the Philippines that’s quite dangerous). I got scared and thought that at any moment, this guy could stab me. But God’s protection is with me. He promised that He’ll never leave me, nor forsake me. He said that for people who yield to the Great Commission, He will be with us even to the ends of the earth and that’s the reason why my fear of what might happen subsided. But if He does allow that I be physically harmed, this is what I’ll declare to everyone --- “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

Despite being just a typical young man in our church, I was assigned in the ministry of evangelism at the same time the youth leader in our church chapter. Our church pastor gave me the responsibility to make evangelism activities and strategies. Knowing the principle of The Way of the Master has been a great blessing for me. I conducted seminars and trainings in our church to teach the most effective and biblical way of evangelizing. Injecting the principle in our church is not that easy. We’ve had some of our ministry heads rejecting the idea of having a street evangelism program. They believe that the best way to bring people to church is by pouring on them Christian songs upon Christian songs until they’ve realized that it’s high time for them to embrace Christianity. Going out of the church to look for souls to witness to, is for them, already outdated. They believe that it is more effective to have an evangelistic concert, showing their talents and abilities to sing, dance and play instruments than to share directly their faith. For me, they are just making themselves the stars of the concert night, not Jesus Christ.

Many of the Christian churches today are loaded down with so many church activities while the real work of the church which is to win souls for Jesus is totally neglected. Sometimes, they substitute prayer for the Great Commission. They always pray for their love ones to be saved but they don’t do their part in bringing them to Christ. They give so many reasons why they are not involved in soul-winning, but in reality, they are not reasons, they are all alibis.

Andrea and Arvin will be joining several young Christians for this year’s missions trip which we call the Gospel Buzz (October 24-26). They will be spending three whole days sharing the Gospel (the way Jesus did) from Bulacan to Batangas and back to Bulacan. We need your support to this evangelism program. To find out how you can send your donation to the Gospel Buzz, just click the blinking bus at our homepage.