Category Archives: Evangelism

THE NATIONS AND THE GREAT COMMISSION

Culture, Evangelism, Great Commission October 11, 2022 Leave a comment

PMW 2022-077 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Introduction

An interested reader sent me a question regarding the Great Commission. The question was two pages long, but I will edit it down to a manageable size. He wrote:

I have a question about a certain verse that I believe you use in a certain way…. The Verse is Matthew 28:19…. My question is this: In what sense do you understand Jesus telling His disciples to “make disciples of all nations?” Can you break that down for me and clarify? I know in the KJV it says to “teach” and that has been discovered by many to be wrong and it seems the better translation is “to make disciples of all nations” I always thought that you believed it meant each particular nation would be through the “preaching of the gospel” would be Christianized. Each nation in a universal but limited sense. Not all but the majority of the people of each nation would be made disciples of Christ through the “things that Jesus taught the disciples”….

[The reader cites a scholarly article he has read on the matter. He notes:] The Aorist Imperative form of this verb lends itself to the expression of a simple activity, like the calling to the commitment to follow Jesus, which each one of the disciples who was listening to this commission had previously done. “Baptizing them” would also be understood by these same disciples as being similar to the individual commitment each of them had to make before they were baptized by John the Baptist (cp. Mark 1:5)….

There is another issue in Matt 28:19-20, and that is how to take the participles – “baptizing and teaching” in relation to the main verb “make disciples”. The commentary you quoted interpreted them as participles of means… “Make disciples of all nations BY baptism and BY instruction.” But the word “by” is added for interpretation and is not in the text.

I hope I have saved the relevant portions of his extended question. And I believe I have. So now, to work! Continue reading →

GOSPEL CONFUSION (2)

Evangelism, Interpretation June 25, 2021 Comments: 2

PMW 2021-049 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is the second in a two-part series on the proper presentation of the gospel. This is an important consideration for the truly biblical postmillennial hope. If the gospel is not understood, the method of presentation will be deficient, and the results of preaching will be skewed.

The Nature of Salvation

As A. W. Pink rightly stated: “Salvation is a supernatural work which produces supernatural effects.” [1] The dog returns to his vomit and the swine to the mud, but the believer stands in a new relationship to God (2 Peter 2:22; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Of the believer the Scriptures teach that he is chosen to be holy (Ephesians 1:4), obedient (1 Peter 1:2), and to bear fruit (John 15:16). He is ordained to do good works (Ephesians 2:10). He follows Christ (John 10:27). Christ died for him in order to redeem him from iniquity (Titus 2:14), to move him to live in righteousness (1 Peter 2:24), and to cause him to serve without fear in holiness and righteousness (Luke 1:74-75). He is predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). This begins with the new birth and is ultimately and perfectly realized in heaven. He is described as a called, chosen, and faithful person (Revelation 17:14). Continue reading →

GOSPEL CONFUSION (1)

Evangelism June 22, 2021 Leave a comment

PMW 2021-048 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Despite confused objections to postmillennialism by many, especially dispensationalists, the postmillennial hope is not rooted in politics. Rather it is rooted in the gospel, which we believe very deeply to be “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). A leading deficiency of the church in modern America is due to its commitment to method over message. And to make matters worse, it does not even understand the message properly. Before we can correct the method, we must understand the message.

The presentation of Christ in modern evangelism leaves much to be desired. Because of this Christian leaders are too often mired down with fruitless, professing Christians. And very often these merely professing Christians end up in leadership positions in the church. Were this not the case, Non-Lordship advocates would not have to respond to Lordship arguments with a pitiful “where is there room for carnal Christians.” [1] As MacArthur complains: “the cheap grace and easy faith of a distorted gospel are ruining the purity of the church. The softening of the New Testament message has brought with it a putrefying inclusivism that in effect sees almost any kind of positive response to Jesus as tantamount to saving faith.” [2] Continue reading →

IRAN HAS WORLD’S FASTEST-GROWING CHURCH

Church, Evangelism, missions December 6, 2019 Comments: 2

PMW 2019-099 by Caleb Parke (Fox News)

A new film tells the story of the “fastest-growing church” in the world, an underground, persecuted Christian movement in a country known for exporting radical Islamic terrorism — Iran.

People in Iran, a Muslim-majority nation, are fleeing Islam in droves as believers bow their knee to Jesus and become aggressively pro-Israel, according to the documentary “Sheep Among Wolves Volume II.”

“What if I told you Islam is dead?” one unidentified Iranian church leader says in the film, which was directed by Dalton Thomas and produced by Frontier Alliance International Studios.

“What if I told you the mosques are empty inside Iran?” he continues. Continue reading →

IMPRISONED GANGS CONVERTED TO CHRIST

Evangelism, salvation June 18, 2019 Leave a comment

PMW 2019-049 Caleb Parke (Fox News)

A Texas megachurch has seen incredible things happen since planting a church inside the state’s largest maximum-security prison six months ago.

But what happened last week was a first in the history of the prison.

The warden at Coffield Unit in Anderson County, which is located about 90 minutes outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth area and houses roughly 4,200 criminal offenders, invited Gateway Church to baptize a handful of inmates in administrative segregation, or solitary confinement, where they spend 23 hours of their day behind solid, steel doors with air holes in them because of how dangerous they are. Continue reading →

IRANIAN CHURCH IS THE FASTEST GROWING

Church, Evangelism June 14, 2019 Leave a comment

It’s a simple story that can be summarized in just two sentences: Persecution threatened to wipe out Iran’s tiny church. Instead, the Iran church has become the fastest growing in the world, and it is influencing the region for Christ.

Everyone loves a good story. As Christians, we especially love stories that tell us how, when all seems lost, God makes a way.

One such story is about the church in Iran—and it’s one of the greatest stories in the world today.

As simple as it is, such an amazing story is worth examining deeper. Continue reading →

CHRISTIANITY’S GROWTH IN IRAN

Evangelism, Optimism June 4, 2019 1 Comment

PMW 2019-045 by Afshin Ziafat (Desiring God)

Robert Bruce, a Scottish missionary to Iranian Muslims in the late nineteenth century, wrote home to his supporters, “I am not reaping the harvest; I scarcely claim to be sowing the seed; I am hardly ploughing the soil; but I am gathering out the stones. That, too, is missionary work; let it be supported by loving sympathy and fervent prayer.”

For many years, Iran was one of the most difficult regions of the world to reach with the gospel. A significant development occurred in 1979, however, with the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The ruling monarch, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown, and in his place an Islamic Republic was birthed, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Sharia law became the law of the land, and Muslim clerics became the heads of state. Continue reading →