Militant Evangelism! (13 page)

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" (James 4:3).

Where No Oxen Are

A verse that ministered to my heart for years is a strange little scripture in Proverbs 14:4. It is strange because on first seeing it, you wonder how it could inspire exploits for God. It merely says, "Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but much increase comes by the strength of an ox."

Let me try to illustrate what this means to me: I proudly display a trough I have built out of high quality timber. When you ask when I will be putting oxen into it, I look disgusted, and reply that I would never put dirty oxen into my clean trough, as they would only mess it up.

The trough may be clean with no oxen, but it is useless without them. In the same way, many won't do a thing for the Kingdom of God because they are afraid of making a mess. They want to keep things neat, tidy and uncomplicated. They don't want to take risks, so they don't do a thing for the Kingdom of God.

It goes without saying that we shouldn't move until we get a quickened word or a
rhema
from God in certain major decisions. For some years, I desired to set up what I called the Living Waters Free Christian Literature Distribution Ministries which, as the name suggests, is a ministry of providing free Gospel literature for the Body of Christ world-wide. To finance this I wanted to establish a Christian bookstore and use the profits for the ministry. I suggested the thought to a number of godly men who said the idea was good, but the timing was wrong.

One day, one of those men felt a strong impression that the time was right. That evening we prayed about it after family devotions, asking God to confirm it to us. The same evening, Sue and I began our own Bible reading from Proverbs 11:21. We had been reading through a portion each night and the verses following so confirmed my desire, failure to step out in faith would have been blatant mistrust in God.

Within days we had our own Christian bookstore opposite the local bar. The bar had a glass frontage and if drinking patrons looked towards our window they could see the words, "He who believes on
Me
shall never thirst—Jesus."

For that decision, which meant a change of vocation, we waited for a
rhema
, but the Great Commission doesn't leave any option. It is a
command
and therefore doesn't need a special word of confirmation. I don't have to seek God to confirm His directive to "preach the Word, in season and out of season." With such a clear admonition, we should be able to say as David, "Once has God spoken, twice have I heard . . . " We shouldn't neglect prayer
—we should pray as we go.

The Original Greek

Here is a fascinating thing. The original Greek meaning of "Go into
all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15) opens up some interesting thoughts.
The word for "go" is very absorbing.
It is "
poreuomai
," meaning "go." The word "all" also carries with it gripping connotations. It is "
hapas
," and actually means "all." And if that doesn't rivet you, look closely at the word "every." It is "pas," and literally means "every." So when Jesus said, "Go into
all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature," to be true and faithful to the original text, what He was actually saying was
"Go
into
all
the world and preach the Gospel to
every
creature." We are so fortunate in this day and age, to have access to the original Greek.

Stunning Feet

Those who are obedient to the Great Commission will find that God will
honor
their desires:

"And whatever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John 3:22).

If anything is "pleasing in His sight," it is obedience to the Great Commission. As I have said earlier, God is so pleased with those who preach His Word and witness for the Gospel, that He sees even the lowliest part of us as ravishing—"How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace." The Apostle Paul revealed the priority of his heart when he said, "To the weak, became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Our bus, the paper, the book, and movie, were just concepts to reach the lost, and God in His goodness and His condescension, blessed them.

Those seeking a personal great commission need to go back to their relationship with Jesus and ask the question, "Do I know the heartbeat of my God?" If we don't know His will, the Bible says we are unwise—"Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:17). Paul's prayer for the believer was that he would be "filled with the knowledge of His will" (Colossians 1:9). The very reason God came to this earth in the person of Jesus Christ, and suffered on the cross, was for the salvation of the world. Has

God lost His enthusiasm to see the lost saved? Has He changed His mind and is now willing that sinners perish?
Is He now wanting
worship
without service?
No, His will is that none perish, and that all come to repentance. To seek and save that which is lost is to flow in perfect harmony with the Father's will.

What a disaster it would be to have troops in the heat of battle, unclear as to what their mission was! How can any soldier apply himself to combat if he isn't sure what his orders are? Our directive is crystal clear. The charge to assault the enemy and bring back those who will desert sin and the
world,
rings in the ears of those who are truly born of the Spirit. They hear His voice, and run to do His will.

CHAPTER EIGHT: GAZING TOWARDS HEADQUARTERS

"... to him who knows to do
good
and does it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).

I
n Dallas Texas, W. A. Criswell, a Baptist legend who for more than 50 years, preached a literal Bible and an uncompromising fundamentalism, said that the Southern Baptist Convention is declining and will be replaced as the major evangelical denomination in the United States. "I don't think we will ever split. I think we will erode ... I think we will gradually acquiesce," Criswell said. "God will
raise
up somebody else to take our place." But he believes there are irreversible trends indicating that Southern Baptists as a whole are following the path of the United Methodist, Presbyterian and other mainline denominations that have downplayed soul-winning evangelism and have turned inward.

What he was saying in essence is, where has our
get-up-and-go
gone? Too many who profess to be Christians haven't got a get-up-and-go that has gone, because they never got it in the first place. The world may waste its time with its futility, but we have an urgent directive: "Let the dead bury their dead; but you go and preach the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:60).

Watchman Nee, in his book,
The Spiritual Man
said:

"The passivity of the saint arises out of the
nonuse
of his various talents. He has a mouth but refuses to talk because he hopes the Holy Spirit will talk through it. He has hands but will not engage them since he expects God to do it. He does not exercise any part of his person but waits for God to move him. He considers himself fully surrendered to God, so will no longer use any element of his being."

He continues by saying:

"They think their will must be
canceled
out and that they must become puppets. By falling into this state of inaction, the Christian now ceases from every activity. Indeed, he waits quietly all the time for some external force to activate him. And unless this force compels him to move he shall remain decidedly inert."

When Jesus ascended into Heaven, it must have been a glorious sight. The angels said to the
disciples that "this same Jesus will come in like manner." He ascended in the same manner in which He will come, so there must have been "clouds, power and great glory." When the disciples were caught up in the glory of the ascension, the two angels appeared and brought them back to this world with the words, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into Heaven?"

We haven't been saved to stand and "gaze up to Heaven," but to take the light to those who sit in the dark shadow of death. How can any person who professes to have the love of God in them, sit in passivity while sinners die daily and go to Hell? Paul said, "Woe to me if I preach not the Gospel!" We are like a doctor who has found a cure for cancer —we
must
present it to the dying world.

A friend of mine couldn't get a word from God, as to whether or not to go overseas with a team, to both construct a church building and to evangelize. Then he heard about a man who was waiting on God for a long time. He waited and waited ... then he died. So, my friend decided to go in faith (before he died), and was blessed beyond words.

Honors
and Big Prizes

Elbert Hubbard once said:

"The world bestows its big prizes, both in
honors
and money, for but one thing, and that is initiative. And what is initiative? I'll tell you: it is doing the right thing without being told!"

If you want people to appreciate you, and heap praise upon you,
then do the right thing without being told.
If a friend drops into a seat, exhausted after a day's work, and you know he loves a hot drink when he is tired, then make him one without being told. You
will
be praised. David did the "right thing" when he heard Goliath blaspheming. Peter did the right thing when he wanted to be with
Jesus,
and you and I do the right thing when we seek and save that which is lost.

With that thought in mind, look at the New Covenant (conversion) in Hebrews 8:10:

"I will put My Laws within their mind and write them on their hearts ..."

The word "hearts" is "
kardia
," and means "the thoughts or feelings." Look at how the Living Bible paraphrases the verse:

"I will write
My
laws within their minds
so that they will know what I want them to do without My even telling them
..." (italics added).

Have you ever noticed how Luke begins his Gospel? Does he say that God "told him" to write it? No, he merely says, "It seemed good to me" to write it. Luke had a perfect understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus, so he "took the initiative," put pen to paper, and God blessed his
labor
.

We need to "go to the ant, consider her ways, and be wise, which having no guide, overseer or ruler, provides her meat in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest." In California, you don't need to go to the ant,
the ant comes to you.
Ants don't need to be continually motivated to work. They are full of initiative, in fact, in my conclusive studies of
ants,
I have never seen one taking a rest. The only still ant you will see is a dead ant. They are maniacs for work, and God points to them as our example.