This blog has been permanently relocated to https://www.removingbarriers.net Redirecting in seconds... Matthew 4:19 (And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.) “I do not care if you ever darken the doors of my church.” I would often say this to folks I am sharing the gospel with. My wife Jay did not like the tone of that statement and asked me to stop saying it. Tone aside, however, I mean it. I first said it to a person who accused me of evangelizing because I want more people to come to my church so offerings can increase. Our youth pastor lamented in a recent sermon, “We invite folks to a location rather than to the Person of Jesus Christ. That captures perfectly what I have felt all along. Too often, Bible believing Christians make it a habit to invite folks to a location. I decided years ago that I will never invite anyone to church without first tryin...
This blog has been permanently relocated to https://www.removingbarriers.net
Redirecting in seconds...
With the civil unrest, heightened political climate, changing
American culture, and the inability to actually go door-to-door witnessing due to COVID-19, my wife and I decided to start a podcast with the sole purpose of sharing the gospel by addressing the many obstacles preventing others from
seeing the cross of Jesus clearly.In Acts 2, Peter preached to the Jews and presented to
them Jesus Christ the Messiah. This was because the Jews already knew about God the creator, sin, and sin's consequences. The barrier that needed to be
removed was whether Jesus was the Messiah. Contrast that with Acts 17, where Paul preached to the Athenians and defended the faith by proving that the unknown God they ignorantly worshiped was the creator of
the world.
Notice that while the message of the gospel did not change,
the approach did. This was because of the cultural differences between the Jews
and Greeks. Once upon a time, the culture in the United States was more like that of Acts
chapter 2. However, the culture has changed, and it now looks more and more like that of the Greeks in
Acts 17. Many Christians, however, are still presenting the gospel like they are preaching
to an Acts 2 audience. In this highly unchurched and ungodly society, our approach needs to change to a more
apologetics-based one. I like what Ravi
Zacharias has to say about the issue when he said “The apologetic argument doesn't
save people, but it certainly clears the obstacles so they can take a direct
look at the Cross of Christ.”
The Removing Barriers Podcast stated goal is "we are attempting
to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross." In
the podcast, we address issues that a lot of folks prefer to leave to the
privacy of their home. Yet, many of these issues are preventing the unsaved
from seeing the cross clearly, while "woke Christians" wrongfully conflate
social justice with the gospel. Our prayer is that through our efforts the Lord
may be glorified, and lost souls would turn to him.
The first 4 episodes are now available on Spotify, Apple podcast, Google podcast, YouTube, and many other platforms where podcasts can be accessed.
Available episodes:
Episode 1 - Why Remove Barriers
Upcoming episodes:
Episode 5 - Black Culture: a Monolith? (Sept 12, 2020)
Episode 6 - Christians and Firearms (Sept 19, 2020)
Listen to the Removing Barriers Podcast here:
Comments
Post a Comment