I’m currently preaching on Sunday mornings on the Gospel, and how God has commissioned every believer to evangelize the lost. I think most of us would agree we need to evangelize more, yet often, when the opportunity arises, we break into a cold sweat and suddenly become like Moses — “slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Ex. 4:10).

To help us grow in our understanding and ability to share the gospel, our church is learning a simple outline together: God, Man, Christ, and Response. At the same time, we are each praying for three unbelievers in our lives that we could be a witness to. I’ve chosen a neighbor, a local friend, and the person who cuts my hair.

Tonight, I came across this prayer, which would be a great one to use as we intercede for our unsaved friends. May God be pleased to answer the prayers of His people.

Father in heaven, I come to you humbly and yet boldly because of my salvation, which has united me with your Son. Your grace is reaching more and more people and calling them home. Therefore I pray for _____ . Hear my prayer even as you heard the pleading of your friend Abraham and spared his nephew Lot from terrible judgment. Your Son invited the spiritually tired, burdened and thirsty to take of the free water of eternal life. Lord, will you please open still another heart as you did mine? You alone can break addictions to self-righteousness, unbelief and sinful desires. Would it please you to provide repentance and faith leading to a new birth? Magnify your glory by delivering _____ from spiritual death. Lord, bring fame to your name by once again showing mercy. My plea is not based on my own goodness but on the sovereign love of Jesus Christ. Lord, I desire that you use me in telling the gospel of grace to others. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. Make your name famous. Amen. (Will Metzger, Tell the Truth, p. 237)

I came across this quote by J. I. Packer in his classic work, Knowing God. It’s absolutely stunning to consider the depth of God’s love for us.

God was happy without humans before they were made; he would have continued happy had he simply destroyed them after they had sinned; but as it is he has set his love upon particular sinners, and this means that, by his own free voluntary choice, he will not know perfect and unmixed happiness again till he has brought every one of them to heaven. He has in effect resolved that henceforth for all eternity his happiness shall be conditional upon ours.

Thus God saves, not only for his glory, but also for his gladness. This goes far to explain why it is that there is joy (God’s own joy) in the presence of the angels when a sinner repents (Lk 15:10), and why there will be “exceeding joy” when God sets us faultless at the last day in his own holy presence (Jude 24 KJV). The thought passes understanding and almost beggars belief, but there is no doubt that, according to Scripture, such is the love of God.

Gender Blog, a ministry of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, has finally weighed in on the nomination of Governor Sarah Palin as Vice-Presidential candidate. The bottom line:

Women should not be held back from an office that is not strictly forbidden in the Bible. Nevertheless, the question remains whether or not it is wise for a specific woman in a particular season of life to seek such an office — and the same would apply to any man.

While gender roles are clearly defined in the home and the church (1 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:12), God has given more liberty in the realm of government. You can read the whole Gender Blog article here.

The Logos blog announced today:

Microsoft is again offering Office Ultimate 2007 for only $59.95 to all students! It retails at $679.95, so this is a savings of more than 91%.

Ultimate includes these 10 programs:

• Word 2007
• Excel 2007
• PowerPoint 2007
• Outlook 2007
• OneNote 2007
• Groove 2007
• Publisher 2007
• Access 2007
• InfoPath 2007
• Accounting Express 2008

That’s only $6 per program!

There are two stipulations for qualifying:

1. You must have a .edu email address.
2. “You must be a student at a U.S. educational institution and must be actively enrolled in at least 0.5 course credit and be able to provide proof of enrollment upon request.”

While there are a couple of good Office competitors out there, Office is still the standard and it integrates best with Logos (e.g., Bible reading schedules in Outlook, search results in Excel, and copying and pasting text with auto-citations into Word).

Looks like starting September 8 you can also grab the upgrade to Vista Ultimate SP1 for only $64.95 (retails at $239.99).

On Monday, I asked the question, “Do you love the church?” Now, it’s time to consider the flip side of the coin. Do you love lost people?

I’m not talking here about “loving the world and the things in the world.” 1 John 2:15 forbids such worldliness. I’m talking about loving lost people. Do you love spending time with the lost, talking with them, getting to know them, and serving them? Does your heart burn with compassion for their souls? Or do you, like the Pharisees, turn your nose up at the “sinners” of this world and avoid them like the plague?

Are you interested enough in lost people to build a relationship and bring the gospel to them? Be warned: evangelism is a messy business.

Ed Stetzer, in his book, Comeback Churches, has this to say:

Most Christians don’t like lost people. We wish it were not so, but it is. Lost people don’t think like us; they often don’t vote like us; they influence our kids; they don’t know our inside references to Dobson, Left Behind, and Dave Ramsey. They are not “our” people. Let’s face it: people outside of Christ can be messy! Most of the time there is at least one or more divorces, meaning blended families. Their credit card debt is so high that they cannot be financial givers to the church. Their kids can be unruly, putting marks on the clean walls of the church building and running around unrestrained. They do not often know the unspoken “cues” in “our church” – when to stand; how we act; what version of the Bible we read from; that when the pastor asks a question from the front, usually we are not expected to call out an answer; and so forth. Comeback churches made the hard decision that they will love the lost as much as Jesus did.” (p. 62)

Now notice how Jesus ministered to the lost. He mingled with them. He treated them with dignity and compassion. And this resulted in many of them hearing and accepting the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ:

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:11-13)

May the church share in Jesus’ strategy to reach the lost by loving them and serving them, in order that we might more effectively bring the gospel to them.

Photo credit: goofegal