God Said It & That Settles It!

Six times in the first chapter of the Bible we have the phrase, “and it was so.”  It each instance, God simply declared His Word, and “it was so.”

1. God’s Word Is Infallible!
   There never has been a failure of the Word of God.
   God’s Word has never needed help to accomplish it’s purpose.  We just take God at His Word.
   All through Scripture, whether it is speaking of judgment, or correction, or a promise, what God said was so.
   God’s Word declares itself to be infallible, history proves God’s Word to be infallible, and our experience proves God’s Word to be infallible.
2. God’s Word Is indestructible!
   (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33), “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
3. God’s Word Is indispensible!
   We cannot escape the truths of God’s Word nor survive without the teachings of God’s Word.
   We must obey God’s Word to have God’s blessings.
   We must believe God’s Word to have God’s power.
   We must declare God’s Word to see God’s glory.

12 reasons I believe we should win souls door-to-door in 2012

Through leadership of Dr. Lee Roberson, God taught me the importance of personal, door-to-door soul winning.

Here are 12 reasons I believe we should win souls door-to-door in 2012…

1. God has commanded us to preach the Gospel to every creature. We must go to them, we cannot simply wait for them to come to us.
2. Door-to-door soul winning was how the N.T. church reached their communities with the Gospel. (Acts 20:20; Luke 9:1-6; Luke 10:1-7)
3. Throughout the centuries, door-to-door soul winning has been proven to be an effective means of winning people to Jesus Christ.
4. The fact that the unsaved are currently under the condemnation of God demands that we go to where they are and share the Gospel with them rather than wait for them to show up in a service.
5. We will never get everyone in our community into our services, but we can go to everyone in our community with the Gospel.
6. Door-to-door soul winning provides each church member the opportunity to personally share the Gospel with the unsaved, not just church staff members or those behind the pulpit.
7. Door-to-door soul winning provides real life and current illustrations of the power of the Gospel and man’s response to the Gospel for sermons and Bible lessons.
8. Door-to-door soul winning produces the confidence and courage to share the Gospel with the lost in other daily life settings.
9. Door-to-door soul winning challenges the believer to study God’s Word more diligently to be able to answer questions and help folks they meet in the neighborhoods.
10. The urgency of the hour demands that we be aggressive with our witness and get out to where the unsaved live.
11. Door-to-door soul winning challenges our people to “step up” their commitment to the Lord Jesus and His Gospel.
12. Regularly scheduled times of church-wide, door-to-door soul winning helps our church folk to discipline themselves to be active in sharing the Gospel with the unsaved.

Excuses for not going out into our communities with the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ are sinful and shameful.

The Bible’s commands and examples are clear, we are to go to each house, systematically, and earnestly with the soul saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.   Let’s give ourselves anew this coming year to going to each and every house in our cities, towns and villages and share the Gospel with individuals, one-on-one.

Pastors, let’s be sure to train our people how to simply communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Bus Ministry

Back in the 1990’s, God led our church to begin running buses on Sunday mornings to bring in children & families who wanted to come to church but did not have transportation. For over 15 years, God has blessed this ministry with hundreds (actually, more like thousands) riding the bus and many, many coming to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

Individuals and families have been powerfully impacted by this important ministry. You are probably aware that the bus ministry requires a lot of time, energy, and finances to be effective. MLIBC has a handful of people who have worked faithfully and diligently over the years to reach people with the Gospel. Others have given generously to keep the buses rolling.

Following are some reasons for having a bus ministry…

1. God has commanded us to go into the “highways and hedges” and compel folks to come in to His house. The bus ministry is a very effective way to do this.
2. There are hundreds of children in our communities that can and will come to Sunday School if only someone will go get them.
   
3. There are families and individual adults who have no or limited transportation that will come to church if someone will go get them.
   
4. The evangelistic bus ministry is an effective means of getting unsaved folks into our services and under the preaching of God’s Word.
   
5. The evangelistic bus ministry is an effective means of getting new believers into Sunday School where they can be taught the Word of God and discipled.
   
6. The ride to and from the church provides added time to teach memory verses and Bible lessons.
   
7. The evangelistic bus ministry provides an effective training ground for future church workers and leaders.
   
8. The evangelistic bus ministry is an effective means of involving our teens in ministry and leadership training and experience.
   
9. The evangelistic bus ministry is an effective means of giving your church a visible presence in your community.
10. The bus ministry provides a way to give children from dysfunctional homes the love, acceptance, and direction they do not receive anywhere else.
    
11. The bus ministry provides an avenue to folks who are not comfortable teaching, yet want to serve the Lord.
    
12. The bus ministry helps the church maintain a humble attitude about itself.
    Unkept bus kids running around our halls help our church folks understand God’s compassion on the needy.

We must keep in mind that the bus ministry requires tremendous amounts of time, energy, and resources.  It is not an easy or cheap ministry by any standards, and if we are not willing to invest that which is needed, the bus ministry will be ineffective.

Also, we must understand that the bus ministry is not an end in and of itself.  It is a means to an end and that is to win people to Christ and disciple them.  Simply running buses for the sake of running buses is unacceptable.  Our end goal must be to use the bus ministry as a tool for reaching families for Christ.

As far as I am concerned, the bus ministry is worth every minute, dollar and ounce of energy we put into it.  I “cut my teeth” preaching on buses in Chattanooga, TN, our assistant here at MLIBC and his family were reached by our bus ministry.

Please pray, give and get involved in the bus ministry.  The rewards are “out of this world!”