The Urgency of Evangelism

Last week I transferred to the PCA. I was also charged as an evangelist to do a gospel work in Downtown Los Angeles. I’ve never felt completely comfortable in the ministry of evangelism. But the more I minister in Los Angeles, the more I see the critical need for it. I’ve never been so energized to share the gospel with others than now. I was struck by a quote from Penn Gilette, of Penn and Teller. He’s not a Christian but this is what he says:

“… I’ve always said, you know, that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward… how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that…” — Penn Gillette

This cuts me to the quick. If Christians really believed that heaven and hell are real and they refuse to share the gospel to those who are perishing, what can we say about their humanity much less their Christian compassion? Sometimes I need to remind myself of what’s at stake in my ministry to others: life and death. This is why Paul writes:

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14-17).”

Filed under: Bible

New Years, New Beginnings

“Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression? The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and forever to your past. Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ. Never look back at your sins again.

Say: “It is finished, it is covered by the Blood of Christ”. That is your first step.

Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you. What you need is not to make resolutions to live a better life, to start fasting and sweating and praying. No! You just begin to say:

I rest my faith on Him alone
Who died for my transgressions to atone.”

- D.M. Lloyd Jones, Spiritual Depression

Filed under: Bible

Whatever Happened to Hell?

Los Angeles is the forgetful city. We don’t often think too much about the past or much more than a few years in our future. I’ve been meditating the last few weeks on the forgotten biblical truth on hell. Hell is one of those things that has been dislodged from the modern pulpit and much more so from modern conversation. If it’s not mentioned in the pulpit, there’s no way it’s going to gain a hearing outside. If the church doesn’t preach hell, the world sure won’t!

Jesus portrays hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12). It’s a place devoid of the presence and glory of God. A lot of people think that hell is unfair. But think about this: Hell is simply God saying, “no” to being in His presence. Everybody claims that they have a right to reject God in their life. Everybody intuitively believes that they can walk away from God. But how can you say that you have a right to say, “no” to God and then say God has no right to say “no” to you at the end of your life? Or would you say that you have rights that God doesn’t?

If you accept the premise of hell a lot of things follow:

Only when you understand what you have been saved from can you really appreciate the significance of the idea of salvation. If you don’t have hell what exactly are you saved from? But with the idea of hell we fall on our knees in gratitude that we have saved from the depths of destruction unto a life eternal.

The doctrine of hell also gives us perspective on what is at stake in this life. In Philippians 3 Paul speaks of “enemies of the cross” whose end is destruction. But he never says this casually. He says this with tears in his eyes (vs. 18). So often we have all these relationships with people who are going to hell but we don’t say a word. Instead of weeping for them we laugh with them. Instead of warning them we talk about the last sports game. There are family members and friends who stand on the precipice of disaster and we speak not a word.

I think about these ideas and it drives me to repentance for the shallow and insignificant ways I spend my time. May God revive this truth so long forgotten to his church and his people.

 

 

Filed under: Bible

The Good Life

I’ve been gearing up for the next year of preaching here at City Light. I’ve been reading, thinking and praying for inspiration and direction. Sometimes I go back to “older voices” for inspiration. I love the puritans and older preachers who bring us back to fundamental temptations and realities. Here’s Phillips Brooks:

“The great danger facing all of us… is not that we shall make an absolute failure of life, nor that we shall fall into outright viciousness, nor that we shall be terribly unhappy, nor that we shall feel [that] life has no meaning at all – not these things. The danger is that we may fail to perceive life’s greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to tender the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God – and be content to have it so – that is the danger: that some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with (husks and) trappings of life and have really missed life itself. For life without God, to one who has known the richness and joy of life with Him, is unthinkable, impossible. That is what one prays one’s friends may be spared – satisfaction with a life that falls short of the best, that has in it no tingle or thrill that comes from a friendship with the Father.”

I realized that’s the great temptation for so many of us. The greatest danger is not that we’ll make a failure out of life or lose our faith entirely or that we’ll become miserable. The greatest danger is that we’ll miss out on God’s greatest blessings. The biggest enemey of the great is the good. The greatest danger is that we’ll settle for having a good marriage, a good career and good friends. Those are good things but not the greatest thing. The danger is that those good things will keep us from the greatest thing – LIFE ABLAZE with the glory of God.

Filed under: Bible, City Light

60 Days Before God’s Face

At our church we’re going to be reading through the New Testament in 60 Days. So many people base their Christian walk on:

- Their feelings

- Christian books

- Advice of other Christians

But often we negelect the very words of God Himself. So for sixty days we’re going to seek to saturate ourselves in God’s word and prayer. We’re going to be doing in not as individuals but as a community. We hope to enhance this experience by sharing our thoughts, prayers and experiences on the City Light Church Facebook page. I’ll also be twittering at twitter.com/denniskang along the way. If you want to follow us log onto our website at citylightchurch.org or Facebook page.

Filed under: Bible