Evangelism and some helpful books

Next week I’m off to the European Leadership Forum – an annual conference where about 400 Christians from all over Europe come together in Hungary for a week of teaching, sharing and fellowship. This will be the second time that I attend, and last year I found it to be a most encouraging experience. I hope to blog about it during the conference.
There are a number of tracks to follow – last year I chose the apologetics network. This year I’ve chosen to join the evangelism track, where the main speakers will be Michael Ramsden and Michael Green. As preparation for this I have been looking at some books and have found the following helpful:

Questioning Evangelism – Randy Newman (Kregel Publications).

This is a book which challenges the way so many of us think we should evangelise. We wait for the opportunity to pour out our well practised presentation, often preaching at people, rather than speaking to them. Often the way into people’s confidence is to question them and to listen until we understand where they are. At other times we need to challenge people’s ideas using questions to push their own beliefs further. When they get to admit the shortcomings of their own viewpoint, then they are ready to listen to others.

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism – Mark Dever (Crossway)

Mark Dever is obviously a man who is gifted in Personal Evangelism. However this is not an excuse for those of us who do not feel we have the same gift not to engage in speaking to others about Christ and his gospel. If this book is not particularly long, it is certainly challenging. The author takes us through all the excuses which we have for not speaking the gospel personally, and encourages us in very practical terms to get to work.

What Kind of God – Michael Ots (IVP)

The author looks at ten questions which are often used as objections to the Christian Faith. As a result of years of dealing with these questions he gives clear, useful answers which can be used in disarming those who object to the Christian Faith.

Things God Wants us to Know – Roger Carswell (Christian Focus)

A simple, clear presentation of the gospel by one of the UK’s more effective evangelists. Following an initial chapter which challenges the reader to come with an open mind to listen to the Christian message he goes on to say that God wants us to know who He is; who we are; what He has done; what we must do. This is a book to put into the hands of those who are prepared to think and want to know what the heart of the Christian message is.

The Heart of Evangelism – Jerram Barrs (Crossway)

I am reading this at the moment. It is the fruit of more than thirty years of reflection on what the New Testament teaches about evangelism. It is a thorough treatment of the subject, and, although the chapters are short and easy to read in one sense, they are full of the Bible and challenging. It is split into four sections – Section One is Mission to the World, and challenges us to think of what we are called to do. The next section – The Kindness and Perseverance of God – faces us with the fact that our mission proceeds from God’s heart himself. The third section – Barriers in the Way of Communicating the Gospel – looks at those barriers within ourselves, the church and the hearers. The final section helps us with the principles we need to bear in mind as we fulfil our calling to evangelise – Making the Gospel Known.
This is a book born from the heart of one who yearns for Christ to see the fruit of His labours, and for the lost to be found. It’s almost 300 pages, so not a book to consume in an afternoon! But as I read I am challenged, my heart is both convicted and warmed. I am encouraged to engage in the work. I look forward to reading the book through to the end.

Incidentally, for those of us involved in the Welsh language work, Christianity Explored is now available in Welsh. Contact the Evangelical Movement of Wales for more information.

Why look at the Psalms

I am at present preaching a series of sermons on some of the Psalms on Sunday evenings. Here are some of the reasons why I consider it especially worth our while spending time with them.

1) They are there to instruct us. Thirteen of them are specifically entitled Maskil, and although the meaning of the word is not clear, it’s root seems to be the Hebrew word for instruction. When Jesus wanted to instruct people as to whom he was, he often quoted the psalms. Some of them are in the genre of Wisdom Literature (such as psalm 1) guiding us into that knowledge which makes us live in God’s plan.
2) They are experiential. Often when we read them we find ourselves saying “I’ve been there,” or “I’ve felt that way.” They are not merely cold instruction, but instruction built on experience. This is why maybe older Christians seem to find the psalms more precious than younger ones. They help us understand our own experiences – experiences of not understanding what God is doing, of feeling that life is unfair, of being tempted to think as the world thinks, of joy in success, of wonder at the works of the Lord.
3) They are poetry. They convey more than bare truth. They convey all the range of emotions that we feel. There is joy and sadness, hope and despair, glory and shame, light and darkness, grieving and rejoicing, anger and repentance. They help us feel, and not fear our emotions, with a Christian perspective.
4) They are worship. Anyone who wants to know how we can come before God to worship Him must look at the way the Bible worshippers greeted the Almighty. As we see others coming before Him, we can learn and benefit much.
5) They are divinely inspired. As part of the Word of God we know that they are God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and invaluable for our persevering walk with God (Romans 15:4). But specifically we are told by Jesus that it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking through David in Psalm 110 (Mark 12:36). So also Peter tells us in Acts 1:16 speaks of the Holy Spirit speaking through David when he alludes to Psalm 41.
6) They point to Jesus. There are two ways in which the psalms especially help us to see and understand our Saviour in clearer light. There is a foreshadowing of our Lord, in that a number of the psalms set us a pattern, which when repeated becomes a type – for example the innocent suffering at the hands of the guilty. There is also prophecy, where the Spirit gives an insight into what the Saviour would be (such as Psalm 110, the most often quoted Old Testament chapter in the New Testament).

Time spent here is well spent, rewarding us much and deepening our knowledge of ourselves, of life and especially of God our Saviour.
Some books which I am finding helpful are:
Derek Kidner in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series. He seems to me to be excellent at giving the basic meaning of the psalms in context.
Alec Motyer has recently published a couple of books: Treasures of the King looking at some of the psalms which David wrote in specific situations. Also Journey, Psalms for Pilgrim People looking at the psalms of Ascent (120 – 136). Both are devotional books with valuable insights and are published by IVP.
Of course, Mathew Henry’s commentary is always warm, and Spurgeon’s Treasury of David is worth a look, although his exegesis is not always to be trusted.

New Word Alive - the Welsh Connection 3

Here's today's issue (See previous two)

The Welsh Connection
Welsh is one of the oldest living languages in Europe. The fact that it is still spoken is very much linked to the story of Christianity here. The protestant reformation took a while to take root in the land. There was sacrifice and even martyrdom by some to ensure that the Welsh could hear the gospel. In 1588 Bishop William Morgan published his authorised translation of the Bible. A copy was placed in every church throughout the land. It was a masterpiece of translation, with both the accuracy of the meaning and beauty of the language of outstanding quality. It became the standard for the language, and with very little change was the only translation generally used until 1988, four hundred years later.
Then in the early eighteenth century Griffith Jones, a clergyman in Carmarthenshire, burdened that the Bible was out of the reach of the majority of people, organised men to go to visit villages, staying for a few months teaching people to read, and then moving on to another area. His motive was to enable people to be able to read the Bible. This was so successful that a great proportion of the population became literate. (Even the Queen of Russia heard about it, sending envoys to learn how it was done so that she could use the pattern in her own country.) A century later Thomas Charles, another man of God, replicated these schools, also ensuring that the Bible was made available to everyone. The Welsh had become literate and the Bible was moulding the mind of the nation.
In 1988 a new translation of the Bible was produced, which was substantially revised in 2004. There is also a living translation of the New Testament on the internet – http://www.beibl.net/ - with the Old Testament in translation at the moment. But the tragedy is that a generation of is growing who are totally ignorant of the riches of God’s Word. Pray for the beibl.net project, Christian school workers, the Gideons and those involved in sharing the Bible these days in our land.