Christ The King Ministry International.org

By Rev. Michael Carl

Speak Out Even More

Pakistani Asia Bibi stood before a judge in Sheikhupura, Pakistan, the town where she has been held since June on a charge of blasphemy.  Ms. Bibi is charged with blaspheming Mohammad because she told a group of Muslim women, “Jesus is alive, Mohammad is dead.”

Pakistani law gives the death penalty for anyone who is convicted of blasphemy against the name of Mohammad.

Before her court appearance, Ms. Bibi was allowed to spend fifteen minutes with her husband Ashiq Masih, their two daughters and Voice of the Martyrs representatives.

Asia told VOM that she prays everyday at 3 a.m. “I thank God that the jail administration has good behavior with me.  I don’t have trouble from them, but I miss my daughters and family. Please arrange my soon release from this jail,” Asia told VOM contacts.

“Asia is strong in her faith,” VOM representatives said.

The court rescheduled another hearing for Oct. 27.

In another recent incident, a Muslim teacher used a bamboo cane to repeatedly beat an eleven-year-old Christian student for claiming to be Pakistani.  A Pakistani history book the teacher read aloud to the class said, “We are Pakistanis and all Pakistanis are Muslims.”

So how do we stop it, or can we?

There are some things we can do.

First, tell someone about Jesus!  The state of the persecuted church worldwide is all the more reason for Christians to become even bolder defenders of the faith and communicators of the Truth!

Not only that, we can get down on our knees and pray for our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, Iran, and the many others.  We can also join the hundreds of churches that will be praying on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on Sunday, November 8^th.

Then call your elected local, state and federal officials and ask them to boldly take a stand for religious freedom.

To remain silent is to consent to the persecution and the abuse.

We’re into a teaching series on how to share the Gospel.  We’re learning about how to convey the hope, freedom, peace and assurance the Good News provides.

One church in Wakefield that shares the Good News—the Word of God—without apology and that serves the Eucharist with joy is a relatively new one in town, Christ the King Church.  We are now meeting at 10 am in the youth room at St. Joseph’s Church in Wakefield.

We’ve even started a Bible Study Breakfast Saturday mornings at 9 am at Brothers in downtown Wakefield.

Come and be a part of what God is doing. You’ll be treated like family if you join us for worship and fellowship on Sundays.

If you need information on how to find us, call 781-640-9450.

Teaching By Rev. Michael Carl

Introduction

There are so many issues in today’s world.  There are just as many issues in the Church of our Lord.

One of those is persecution of the Church.  In so many cases, it goes under the media radar, unnoticed and certainly underreported.

We can be a prophetic voice in our time to speak up for those who are persecuted for their faith.

That could be a legitimate aspect of our evangelism.

Yet today’s passage isn’t often associated with evangelism.  Yet, the application is there.

The Passage

³⁵ Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”

• They address Him as teacher, why?

The Greek word for teacher is:  didaskale

The definition is…  a teacher, a master or a teacher of scholars or disciples.

• Why was this such a bold request?

It was presumptuous because of the nature of what it meant to sit at a king’s right hand.

• How did Jesus respond?

³⁶ And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

• Was this in keeping with His character?

Yes, because Jesus was a Servant in the most perfect sense.  He knew His

mission and His purpose so He was secure in His servanthood.  You see, we can be the servant of others when we’re emotionally and spiritually secure in our identity in Christ.

³⁷ They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.”

• Was their request proper?

Of course it wasn’t.  They were asking for something for themselves.  When

you know the significance of asking for a place at the right hand of a king, you know that they were way out of bounds.

Their request was prideful, self-serving and totally immersed in self-centredness.  It was also natural.

We all do that because we’re all a bit insecure and we want to be noticed or to make sure we get proper credit for all we do.

Well Jesus, sets them straight:

³⁸ But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

What is the significance of the Cup?

The Greek is poterion , which is important because it’s a cup that God sets before us.

This cup is a God-given opportunity for service in His kingdom.

• About what kind of baptism was Jesus referring?

It was one of those baptisms by fire and sacrifice.  It was a baptism that

purifies and makes holy.  It was the ultimate expression of surrendered servanthood.

³⁹ They said to Him, “We are able.”

So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; ⁴⁰ but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.”

• Do you think they had any idea what Jesus meant?

Of course they didn’t know.  In one sense, since Jesus hadn’t died and risen

from the dead yet, and had not yet sent the His Holy Spirit, they couldn’t have known the fullness of what’s meant by the Cup and the Baptism.

Still, in their present state of self-seeking, they obviously didn’t understand the selflessness to which Jesus referred.

⁴¹ And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. ⁴² But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

• How was Jesus’ teaching in verse 42 a correction of James and John’s attitude?

It changes the focus and attitude.  Jesus’ teaching is an attitude adjustment if

you will.

• How does all of this relate to evangelism?

Evangelism properly designed and carried out is done with surrender to the Lord in mind.

We don’t evangelise in our own strength and we don’t operate effectively in the power of the flesh.

What does it mean to be ‘in the flesh?’

Well, to be in the flesh is to be doing things in our own strength, to be doing them using worldly methods and ideas.  When we’re operating in the flesh, frequently we’re operating under the wrong attitude.  We’re self-serving and in it for ourselves.

C’mon, how many of us have thought about, so we can sound spiritual, doing something for God, but in reality were doing it for some type of personal gain?  We did what we did to be seen by our fellow church members or to want to take credit for getting people into the pews/seats.

The Cup of which Jesus speaks, and indeed His teaching on servanthood puts any evengelism outreach in proper context:  We do it to enlarge God’s family and to give Him glory.  We do it as a servant of the Lord with no thought to what we can get out of it.

Is this difficult?  Of course it is.

When we realise the full impact of what Jesus was getting at in talking about cups and baptisms, we realise how much we need to be submitted to God and how much we need to be immersed in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

⁴³ Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. ⁴⁴ And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Conclusion

Jesus did what He did as a Servant.  He yielded Himself to the Father’s authority willingly, knowing that His sacrifice would bring about the most remarkable deliverance for the world.

We evangelise under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and under the Father’s full authority.

It’s for His family and for His kingdom.  This kind of evangelism changes us as much as it does the hearers.

In reality, this is so hard to describe.  When evangelism is done surrendered to the Lord’s power, anointing and authority, we’re filled with His Spirit and His joy.

When we see successes, people save and changed, there’s an unequalled excitement that cannot be duplicated or described.

Worship was totally awesome this Sunday.

Keep Jesus in your thoughts and in your sights.

To help out, check out this wonderful video of a song we’re doing on the 18th.  It’s “Be Unto Your Name.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryeiRT_z9H8

Sermon by Rev. Michael Carl

Introduction

Up to this time, we’ve experienced some of the same travails as other new churches.  Now it’s time to develop a plan of attack on how to move ahead.  One of the ways this happens is through outreach and evangelism.

This is a series within a series.  The purpose is to learn about evangelism—the how, when and proper method and attitude.

The Passage

It’s interesting to note that today’s Gospel reading provides us with some keys to effective evangelism.

So, let’s take a look:

¹⁷ Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

• What’s Jesus doing?

• How can this be a key to effective evangelism?

First, Jesus is out among the people.  This is one key to evangelism.  We

need to be out circulating among the people.  You can’t do evangelism of the lost if we hide in our houses or just stay in our own little groups.

One of my colleagues likes to say, ‘Some churches idea of evangelism is like a fisherman parking a boat in the middle of the bay and posting a sign that says, “All fish are welcome.”’

In most cases, the lost are not going to be like the man in our passage.  The folks may not necessarily coming running up to us asking, ‘What can I do to be saved?’

However, the man does ask a common question.

What is his question?

He asks, ‘”What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”’

• Is this a common question people ask nowadays?

• How often have you had someone ask you how to be saved?

Let’s remember that the context of the passage is that this man comes up to Jesus to ask the question.  One of the key reasons this happened was because it’s Jesus.

• How do we develop to the point where people may actually come to us and ask us about our faith?

Right, we need to grow in our faith so that people out there notice that

there is something distinctly Christ-like about us.  How do we do that?  Well, two ways for that are taking place right now.  We’re in worship and the specific segment of worship is the sermon/teaching time.

So, worship with our brothers and sisters and Bible study are two ways.

The third is also critical.  James tells us in James 1.22 says to be doers of the Word, not merely a hearer.

So when we have those wonderful devotion times, a great Bible study, a mountaintop experience in worship, we need to let those things penetrate into our psyche and change us and form Christ-like character in us.

However there are those who may never come up and ask.  In those cases, we have to be prepared to go after them.

¹⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

So how does this verse help us in our evangelism?

This is a verse that will help us acknowledge Who we are to communicate to the lost.  Do we know Christ?  Do we know His goodness and His awesomeness?  Are we aware of how great of a God He really is?

If not, this too is an invitation to draw near to the Lord.  This is a beckoning call into a deeper walk with Him.

Folks, don’t we all know that we need to get closer to Him?  Aren’t we all aware of how much our lives are lacking when we don’t have as close of a relationship with Him as we need to have?

We’re not taking some lame, wimpy, defeated dreamer to the people.  We’re taking a tough-minded, strong and determined victor to the public.  We’re taking to the world a Saviour who could endure so much pain that even after repeated beatings and blood loss, He still had enough physical strength to carry a cross up the side of a hill!

Then there’s the emotional and mental strength.  Jesus endured repeated questioning by the Pharisees, doubts and eventually abandonment by His disciples and He still had the power to say, ‘”Father, into Your hands I give My Spirit.”’

¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”^[c]
20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.”

• So, how does this line apply to evangelism?

Check this out.  If we’re asked about our walk, or if someone questions our integrity as a Christian, how would we stand up?

Have we been faithful?

No, don’t get me wrong here.  This doesn’t mean that we can’t share Christ if we’ve been less than faithful.  No one would ever be able to witness if that was the case.

This section is a simple reminder that we need to regularly examine ourselves to make sure we’re holding on and showing a decent testimony to the rest of the world.

Let’s skip down to verses 26-27

²⁶ And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?”
²⁷ But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

• What do you think?  How does this set of verses equal effective evangelism?

Exactly!  Ultimately it’s all in the Lord’s hands and ultimately the responsibility rests with Him.

Conclusion

We put our trust in Him for our salvation.  We put our faith in Him for those seeds sown.

You see, evangelism is to be done by us, but the results are in the hands of a sovereign Lord.

We’re the vessels.  Our part of this is to keep the faith and to let Him build the fire in us.  He’s the One who gives off the warmth that draws people to the fire.

Do you know how awesome the God we serve really is?

He is an amazing, wonder-working God!  He is awesome in power and glory!

Join us for worship tomorrow at Christ the King Church, 10:05 am at our newest location, the St. Joseph’s Church Youth Room, located at 173 Albion Street in Wakefield!

You will be blessed!

Check out this video featuring Chris Tomlin singing How Great Is Our God!

How Great Is Our God!