"Give Me Scotland or I Die!"

"Give me Scotland or I die!"

That's what John Knox said of Scotland. I would say: To fall in love with your community, you have to die--to yourself, to the mission and to your own preferences.

If you are going to reach a community, you need to be deeply in love with it. Jesus, looking down on Jerusalem, cried, "They are like sheep without a shepherd." We have to say the same, about Plainview, Philadelphia and Pasadena. I am convinced you will not reach a community for Christ unless you are deeply in love with the community and its people.

I have often called for Christians in our world to think like missionaries in the Two-Thirds World. If you have ever been around a missionary, you know that the good ones all love the people they are sent to--they can't stop talking about the culture and context.

When missionaries take up residence cross-culturally, they truly love the culture where they live, sometimes even more than the culture back home. In the same way, a person looking to minister in a specific community cannot be disinterested in it. If it is a fishing community, you had better love fishing or learn to love it. If the community has a high school football team, you had better keep up with it. If you are a church leader, the community and its people must have an important part in your heart.

I think you and I need the same passion in our contexts--our own personal "Scotlands"--for the Gospel.

Jesus demonstrated this very concept in His earthly ministry as He: walked with the people in His culture, lived with them, listened to them, told stories to them, welcomed their children, and recognized and met people's needs.

The Church in Your Head

Too many church leaders read a book or go to a conference and get a great vision of a church in their heads. The problem is, they don't have a great vision for their community. The catch here is that part of you often has to die. Your own preferences have to be laid down to receive Christ's call and mission to the community. I don't care what you like; I care that you love the Gospel and the people God has called you to reach. You may have to die to your desires--to pastoring a cool church in Manhattan or a laid back church in Southern California.

Leading the Church to Love

As a church leader, you must be willing to die to your preferences so your community can be reached with the Gospel, and so must your church. In established churches, this can be even more challenging than personally dying to self. This is because the pastor often already has the vision and burden to reach the community, but the church is comfortable residing in the Christian ghetto insulated from the community. (While maybe not as common, church myopia can also be a problem for planters if the new church is growing primarily by people coming from other churches, most, if not all, of whom already have their own ideas about how church ought to be.)

Reaching a community for Christ is not about you and your preferences. It is more about Jesus and his mission to send you to people. Your goal is what Count Zinzendorf said: "Preach the Gospel, die and be forgotten."

Until the church dies to its comfort, preferences, wants and desires, it will not be able to reach the community. But like a grain of wheat, it must die so that it may bring new life.

Perhaps we should combine the phrases of Knox and Zinzendorf and say, "Give me Scotland or I die ... then let me die and be forgotten." When that matters most, you'll die to self, live for His mission and reach your community in ways that are unimaginable.

This column first appeared in the Nov/Dec 2012 issue of Outreach Magazine. The magazine has several excellent articles, including a cover story on evangelism that highlights some of our LifeWay Research.

Extracted from http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2012/november/give-me-scotland-or-i-die.html

REVIVAL OR DEATH

REVIVAL OR DEATH
“For decades sincere believers have asked, "Why don't we have revival?" And for decades the answer has
always been the same: We don't have revival because we're willing to live without it! It really is that
simple. Do we really want to hear the truth? God responds to hunger and thirst. He fills those who
recognize their need, who are empty and broken, who are at the point of desperation, who are panting
for Him the way a deer pants for water in the desert. He answers dependent prayers. Sure, we want
revival. But we don't need revival. That's the difference. God will meet us at our point of need, not our
point of preference. Revival is God's radical measure to get the church in a given area or at a given time
back to normal before it falls into spiritual oblivion and cultural irrelevance. Revival comes when we
realize that it's either revival or death, revival or continued backsliding, revival or the world around us
goes to hell.” In this above quote from Michael Brown, he really speaks to the high requirement for
revival namely in one word: Everything! Oh Brethren we must realize that this has always been so, there
are no shortcuts with God, we will never see a revival until this is realized and acted upon. In light of
eternity let us have tears for our lack of desire and desperation for God. John Knox was a Great Man of
God and this was his prayer, " God give me Scotland or I die!" Again, John Hyde who was a missionary,
prayed, " God give me souls or I die" Again, Whitefield prayed, " God give me souls or take my soul!"
May we take it further dear reader, can you pray: “God, Give me revival or I die?”


for more information click here

DOES GOD ANSWER OUR PRAYERS?

How to pray? What does it take for God to answer prayers?

Click above to watch video

Have you ever known someone who really trusts God? When I was an atheist, I had a good friend who prayed often. She would tell me every week about something she was trusting God to take care of. And every week I would see God do something unusual to answer her prayer. Do you know how difficult it is for an atheist to observe this week after week? After a while, "coincidence" begins to sound like a very weak argument.

So why would God answer my friend's prayers? The biggest reason is that she had a relationship with God. She wanted to follow God. And she actually listened to what he said. In her mind, God had the right to direct her in life, and she welcomed him doing just that! When she prayed for things, it was a natural part of her relationship with God. She felt very comfortable coming to God with her needs, her concerns, and whatever issues were current in her life. Furthermore, she was convinced, from what she read in the Bible, that God wanted her to rely on him like that.

She pretty much exhibited what this statement from the Bible says, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."¹ "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer..."²

So, Why Doesn't God Answer Everyone's Prayers?

It may be because they don't have a relationship with God. They may know that God exists, and they might even worship God from time to time. But those who never seem to have their prayers answered probably don't have a relationship with him. Further, they have never received from God complete forgiveness for their sin. What does that have to do with it you ask? Here is an explanation. "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."³

It's pretty natural to feel that separation from God. When people begin to ask God for something, what usually takes place? They begin with, "God, I really need your help with this problem..." And then there's a pause, followed by a restart... "I realize that I'm not a perfect person, that I actually have no right to ask you for this..." There's an awareness of personal sin and failure. And the person knows that it's not just them; that God is aware of it too. There's a feeling of, "Who am I kidding?" What they may not know is how they can receive God's forgiveness for all their sin. They might not know that they can come into a relationship with God so that God will hear them. This is the foundation for God answering your prayer.

How to Pray: The Foundation

You must first begin a relationship with God. Here's why. Imagine that a guy named Mike asks the president of Princeton University to co-sign a car loan for him. If Mike doesn't personally know the president of Princeton, that car loan is not going to happen. Yet, if the daughter of this president asked her dad to co-sign a car loan for her, it would be no problem. Relationship matters.

With God, when the person is actually a child of God, when the person belongs to God, he knows them and hears their prayers. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me...my sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."⁴

When it comes to God then, do you really know him and does he know you? Do you have a relationship with him that warrants God answering your prayers? Or is God pretty distant, pretty much just a concept in your life? If God is distant, or you're not sure that you know God, here is how you can begin a relationship with him right now: Getting Connected.

Will God Definitely Answer Your Prayer?

For those who do know him and rely on him, Jesus seems to be wildly generous in his offer: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."⁵ To "remain" in him and have his words remain in them means they conduct their lives aware of him, relying on him, listening to what he says. Then they're able to ask him whatever they want. Here is another qualifier: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us -- whatever we ask -- we know that we have what we asked of him."⁶ God answers our prayers according to his will (and according to his wisdom, his love for us, his holiness, etc.).

Where we trip up is assuming we know God's will, because a certain thing makes sense to us! We assume that there is only one right "answer" to a specific prayer, assuming certainly THAT would be God's will. And this is where it gets tough. We live within the limits of time and limits of knowledge. We have only limited information about a situation and the implications of future action on that situation. God's understanding is unlimited. How an event plays out in the course of life or history is only something he knows. And he may have purposes far beyond what we could even imagine. So, God is not going to do something simply because we determine that it must be his will.

What Does It Take? What is God Inclined to Do?

Pages and pages could be filled about God's intentions toward us. The entire Bible is a description of the kind of relationship God wants us to experience with him and the kind of life he wants to give us. Here are just a few examples:

"...the Lord longs to be gracious to you. He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for [trust] him!"⁷ Did you catch that? Like someone rising out of his chair to come to your help, "He rises to show you compassion." "As for God, his way is perfect...He is a shield for all who take refuge in him."⁸ "The Lord delights in those who fear [reverence] him, who put their hope in his unfailing love."⁹

However, God's greatest display of his love and commitment to you is this: Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,"¹⁰ which is what Jesus did for us. And so, "If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?"¹¹

What about "Unanswered" Prayer?

Certainly people get sick, even die; financial problems are real, and all sorts of very difficult situations can come up. What then?

God tells us to give our concerns to him. Even as the situation remains dismal, "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."¹² The circumstances may look out of control, but they aren't. When the whole world seems to be falling apart, God can keep us together. This is when a person can be very grateful that they know God. "The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."¹³God may provide solutions, resolutions to the problem WAY beyond what you imagined possible. Probably any Christian could list examples like this in their own lives. But if the circumstances do not improve, God can still give us his peace in the midst of it. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."¹⁴

It is at this point (when circumstances are still tough) that God asks us to continue to trust him -- to "walk by faith, not by sight" the Bible says. But it's not blind faith. It is based on the very character of God. A car traveling on the Golden Gate Bridge is fully supported by the integrity of the bridge. It doesn't matter what the driver may be feeling, or thinking about, or discussing with someone in the passenger seat. What gets the car safely to the other side is the integrity of the bridge, which the driver was willing to trust.

In the same way, God asks us to trust his integrity, his character...his compassion, love, wisdom, righteousness on our behalf. He says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."¹⁵ "Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us."¹⁶

In Summary...How to Pray

God has offered to answer the prayers of his children (those who have received him into their lives and seek to follow him). He asks us to take any concerns to him in prayer and he will act upon it according to his will. As we deal with difficulties we are to cast our cares on him and receive from him a peace that defies the circumstances. The basis for our hope and faith is the character of God himself. The better we know him, the more apt we are to trust him.

For more on the character of God, please see "Who is God?" or other articles on this site. The reason we pray is God's character. The first prayer God answers is your prayer to begin a relationship with God.

(Article by Marilyn Adamson)

►	I have a question or comment...
►	How to know God...

(1) 1 John 5:14
(2) 1 Peter 3:12
(3) Isaiah 59:1,2
(4) John 10:14,27-28
(5) John 15:7
(6) 1 John 5:14,15
(7) Isaiah 30:18
(8) Psalms 18:30
(9) Psalms 147:11
(10) John 15:13
(11) Romans 8:32
(12) 1 Peter 5:7
(13) Philippians 4:5-7
(14) John 14:27
(15) Jeremiah 31:3 (rsv)
(16) Psalms 62:8

4 Facts you need to know personally

Here are Four FACTS you need to know personally

In reality, a fact is something that has really occurred or is truly the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is authenticity, that is, whether it can be demonstrated to correspond to experience.

I need you to know four facts that I have discovered and have made sense to a lot of people.

FACT 1

God Loves YOU!

The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”

But the problem is that…

FACT 2

All of us have done, said or thought things that are WRONG. This is called SIN, and our sins have SEPARATED us from God.

The Bible says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God is perfect and holy, and our sins separate us from Him forever. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death.” Death here means spiritual separation from God!

The good news is that, about 2,000 years ago…

FACT 3

God sent His ONLY SON, Jesus Christ, to die for OUR SINS.

Jesus is the Son of God. He lived a sinless life, (the perfect Man) and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

Jesus rose from the dead and now He lives in heaven with God His Father. He offers us the gift of eternal life — of living forever with Him in heaven if we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.”

God reaches out in love to you and wants you to be His child. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name.” You can choose to ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and come in to your life as your Lord and Saviour.

It is not enough to know these three facts…

FACT 4

We MUST each receive Jesus as SAVIOUR and LORD in order to experience His LOVE and FORGIVENESS for our sins.

You would want to ACCEPT CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR and turn from your sins; you can ask Him to be your Lord and Saviour  by praying a prayer like this:

“Lord Jesus, I admit that I have been running my own life and have sinned against you. Come into my life and forgive my sins, take control of my life and make me a new person. Thank you for answering my prayer. Amen!

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? If so, pray right now, the Lord will come into your heart just as He has promised in Revelations 3:20. Remember it is not the amount of words that will save you but the sincerity of your heart in believing in Jesus Christ.

Did you pray this prayer?

YES

No

Click HERE to discover how you can be sure that Christ is in your life.

What is heaven like? Is there really a heaven?

Q: "Is there really a heaven? What is heaven like and where is it?"

our A: Yes, there really is a heaven.

What most people call "heaven" is actually an eternal city which the Bible calls the "new Jerusalem."¹ It will be spectacular. As a sampling, here is what heaven will look like.

A river, clear as crystal, will flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb [Jesus] down the middle of the city. On each side of the river there will be a tree of life, yielding twelve kinds of fruit every month. The streets will be pure gold, like transparent glass. The walls of the city will be adorned with every kind of jewel, emerald, onyx, amethyst, topaz, etc. There will be no need for a sun or moon, and no need for a temple or church. The presence of the Lord will be its light.²

However, the real beauty of heaven is this:

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away...I am making everything new."³

Heaven belongs to Jesus. He created it. "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...all things were created through him and for him."⁴

Though Jesus initially came to the earth as a Savior, he will one day sit as Judge. All people will experience a bodily resurrection from the dead, and all will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.⁵

So it might be helpful to see what Jesus said about how a person gets to heaven.

Many people think it's by living a commendable life, or at least trying to avoid extreme sins like murder.

Yet here's what Jesus said about getting to heaven. "...unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." The scribes and Pharisees were the admired religious models. They were the good people, the "holy" people!

Jesus reaffirmed what the prophet Isaish said. No one is deserving of heaven. No one is good enough. That's not how we get to heaven. It is why Jesus came...so that we could have eternal life.

And here is how. Heaven is given to all who will believe in Jesus. "everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."⁶

When we begin a relationship with Jesus, it is a relationship that lasts eternally. Our names are written in his book of life. Jesus said, "whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life."⁷

Regarding heaven, it's our decision now whether to respond to Jesus and accept his gift of eternal life.

Jesus said, "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."⁸

We're told in Scripture that in heaven there will be a multitude of people from every tribe, language, people and nation who will have eternal life because of their faith in Jesus.

What does it mean to believe in him?

It does not mean merely believing things about Jesus. There is a difference between your believing that Barack Obama was president of the United States in 2013, versus knowing him personally. In the same way, you might believe Jesus is God, without ever having him in your life.

Here is how you can believe in him and be sure that you have eternal life. Please see Beyond Blind Faith.

►	I have a question or comment...
►	How to know God...

(1) Revelation 21:2
(2) Revelation 21 and 22
(3) Revelation 21:3-5
(4) Colossians 1:16
(5) Revelation 20:11-13
(6) John 3:16,17
(7) John 5:24
(8) John 6:40

WHY IS LIFE SO HARD?

"Why?" When life is hard, is there a way to have peace?

How do we explain what we see in this world? Terrorist attacks, sex slavery, racism, world hunger?

Subconsciously, we probably ask ourselves questions like these quite often. But consciously we rarely do. We're so busy living our lives we rarely stop and wonder WHY?

But then something happens to wake us up. Our parents get divorced. The girl down the street gets abducted. A relative gets cancer. That wakes us up for awhile. But then we can often sink back into the denial. That is, until another tragedy hits, another incongruence. Then we're likely to think, Something isn't right here. Something is really, really wrong. This isn't how life's supposed to be!

So, WHY do bad things happen? WHY isn't this world a better place?

There is an answer to the WHY question, found in the Bible. But it's not an answer that most people like to hear: the world is the way it is because it's the world that we, in a sense, have asked for.

Sound strange?

What or who could make this world different than the way it is? What or who could guarantee that life is pain-free, for everyone, all the time?

God could. God could accomplish that. But he doesn't. At least not right now. And we're angry with him as a result. We say, "God can't be all-powerful and all-loving. If he were, this world wouldn't be the way it is!"

We say this hoping that God will then change his position on the matter. Our hope is that putting a guilt trip on him will make him change the way he's doing things.

But he doesn't seem to budge. WHY doesn't he?

God doesn't budge -- he doesn't change things right now -- because he's giving us what we asked for: a world where we get to treat him as though he is absent and unnecessary.

Remember the story of Adam and Eve? They ate the "forbidden fruit." That fruit was the idea that they could ignore what God said or gave them, and strike out on life apart from God. For Adam and Eve sort of hoped that they could become like God, without God. They consumed the notion that there was something more valuable in existence than God himself, something more valuable than having a personal relationship with God. And this world system -- with all of its faults -- came as a result of the choice they made.

Their story is the story of all of us, isn't it? Who hasn't said -- if not audibly at least in their hearts -- God, I think I can do this without you. I'll just go this one alone. But thanks for the offer.

We've all tried to make life work without God. Why do we do that? Probably because we've all bought the notion that there's something more valuable, more important, than God. For different people it's different things, but the mindset is the same: God isn't what's most important in life. In fact, I'd just as soon do it without him altogether.

What is God's response to that?

He allows it. Many people experience the painful results of others' or their own choices that run contrary to God's ways...murder, sexual abuse, greed, lying/fraud, slander, adultery, kidnapping, etc. All of these can be explained by people who have refused to give God access and influence over their lives. They are going about their lives as they see fit, and they and others suffer.

What's God view on all of this? He's not smug. In fact, God could rightly be viewed as leaning forward, compassionate, hoping we will turn to him so that he can bring real life to us. Jesus said, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."¹ But not all are willing to go to him. Jesus commented on this when he said: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."² Again, Jesus brings the issue back to our relationship with him. "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."³

But what about when life is unfair? What about those horrible circumstances that hit us in life, caused by someone other than ourselves? When we are feeling victimized, it's useful to realize that God himself endured horrendous treatment from others. God more than understands what you are going through.

There is nothing in life that could be more painful than what Jesus endured on our behalf, when he was deserted by his friends, ridiculed by those who would not believe in him, beaten and tortured before his crucifixion, then nailed to a cross, in shameful public display, dying of slow suffocation. He created us, yet allowed humanity the freedom to do this, to fulfill Scripture and to set us free from our sin. This was no surprise to Jesus. He was aware of what was coming, foreknowing all the details, all the pain, all the humiliation."And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day."⁴

Imagine knowing something that awful was going to happen to you. Jesus understands emotional and psychological anguish. The night that Jesus knew they would arrest him, he went to pray, but took some friends with him. "And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch [keep awake] with me. And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wills."⁵ Though Jesus confided in his three friends, they didn't understand the depth of his torment, and when Jesus returned from prayer he found them asleep. Jesus understands what it's like going through pain and extreme sadness alone.

Here it is summarized, as John describes in his gospel: "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God."⁶ "For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."⁷

There is no question that there is pain and intense suffering in this world. Some of it is explained by selfish, hateful actions on the part of others. Some of it defies an explanation in this life. But God offers us himself. God gives us the knowledge that he has endured also, and is aware of our pain and needs. Jesus said to his disciples, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."⁸ There is ample reason to be afraid, troubled, but God can give us his peace, which is greater than the problem before us. He is after all, God, the Creator. The one who has always existed. The one who created a universe on the backstroke.

Yet even in his power, he's also the one who knows us intimately, even the smallest, insignificant details. And if we will trust him with our lives, relying on him, though we encounter difficulties, he will hold us securely. Jesus said,"These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."⁹ He went through our ultimate threat -- death -- and overcame it. He can take us through the difficult circumstances of this life, and then bring us into eternal life, if we will trust him.

We can either go through this life with God or without him. Jesus prayed, "O righteous Father, although the world has not known you, yet I have known you; and these have known that you sent me; and I have made your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them."¹⁰

You might find yourself asking, "Why is life so hard?" Without God, humanity is easily drawn into hatred, racism, sexual abuse, murdering each other. Jesus said, “I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.”¹¹To find out how to begin a relationship with God, please see Knowing God Personally.

(2) Matthew 23:37 

(3) John 8:12
(4) Matthew 20:17-19
(5) Matthew 26:37-39
(6) John 1:10-12
(7) John 3:17,16
(8) John 14:27
(9) John 16:33
(10) John 17:25,26
(11) John 10:10
for more articles, click here