Gospel

Know The Gospel of Jesus Christ

/ Jan Chinn / Leave a comment

1-john-4_1I grew up in the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church – 4th Ward, Houston, TX.  My pastor was Rev. C.W. Kimble Sr.  and my Sunday school teachers were some of the most knowledgable women about the Bible you could ever imagine! (my favorite was M. E. Prescott)  As I was growing up, I was taught that a preacher had “preached” when he had aroused our emotions AND said something that caused real life change/impact. We should not be bored to sleep, nor should we walk away without a changed hearts.  ‭‭Our Sunday school teachers told us that you could judge a sermon by whether or not a preacher made it plain to you that He knew that Jesus was The Christ; AND if he presented in a way that you could not help but confess it too.

Recently I was watching Christian television with my mother – now that she is older, she loves listening to church services.  I was amazed at the number of preachers & pastors &ministers on that television from around the world that preached a gospel of man. Do you know what I mean?

A gospel of man is one that says that God favors us in such a way that nothing will ever go wrong or be difficult in our lives. Really? I was called to missionary living – my colleagues and I cannot embrace that one. A gospel of man is one that says that if you don’t have an over abundance of cash, you just aren’t trusting God enough. Really? I served God in rural West Africa and some of the most devout and committed Christ followers I know have just a bit more than nothing!

These are just two – but there are many other crazy teachings out there that don’t highlight God’s desire that we be committed completely to Him; that our lives reflect His love for all people; that our hearts have concern and care for the poor. There are many who preach that the word prophet means future teller and not justice enforcer.

I’m grateful that I grew up with a Bible teaching pastor; am currently under the shepherding of a Bible teaching pastor, and that I’ve had Bible teachers all along the way!  Grateful!!

My friend, I want to assure you that the Almighty God did not create you for your own benefit and your own prosperity. I can assure you that He did not send His Holy Spirit to live in you in order for you to be able to see the future or in order that you will never ever have any difficulty in life. I can assure you that He did not send His only son in order that you could “have thine own way”!

Watch what you’re listening to. Every one that cries Lord, Lord – is not a mouthpiece of our Jehovah.

1 John‬ ‭4:1‬ My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. There are a lot of lying preachers loose in the world.

The Least of Them

/ Jan Chinn / Leave a comment

What if we really saw themCaring? What if we chose not to look past them? What if did not criticize them in order to make our disregard of their presence okay? What if we trusted God with their motives? What if we didn’t sidestep them on the sidewalks? What if we didn’t ignore their phone calls? What if we didn’t pass on the opportunity to touch their lives? What if we chose to empathize? What if we carried their burden with them? We are in a season where seeing them is considered okay — but what if we made the choice to see them every day?  Who are they? They are the ignored, the marginalized, the forgotten, the hurting, the needy, the lost, the sick — all of those that need something from us that they can never pay back. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation — leading the lost back to a right relationship with our King. How can they hear the message of the cross when they have not seen a good picture of His love for them?

When my sons were small boys (and even today as men) they had such compassionate hearts. When Joe was 8 years old, he cried when we drove through a skid row type area in Dallas; he wanted us to bring the homeless home with us. When Jeremy was around that same age, he saw a family’s house burned to the ground on the news and felt that we should clean out our whole house and give it to them. We nurtured their compassion and we were careful to teach them that this compassion was a necessary part of the gospel message. It is not by happenstance that they both care deeply for the souls of people AND for the lives of people.

For all of us the truth is that all we have and all we are – can be credited to The One who made us; who provides for us; who has gifted us. So to complete the message of the gospel it is necessary that we not only live holy before men, but we live before them in a way that says that we love them. We are not autonomous beings, though we live like it most of the time. It is not okay for us to hand out tracts to people and then treat them like they should fend for themselves. It is our duty (and it should be our joy), as a part of the gospel message that we see them — really see them. “They” might need money; food; clothing OR they might need love, a hug, an encouraging word; prayer — but whatever the need is we should be standing at ready to give or to be a connector as we preach the salvation message of the cross.

The Body of Christ is powerful – we have within us the power to change the world; to bring life, hope and peace into the world. We should live our lives fully for Him – as a blessing to the world; as messengers of both hope and salvation – so that when the end comes we will have exhausted the resources He placed in us to be a blessing in this world. What if I was ‘they’? What if you were ‘they’? What if HE were ‘they’?

The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ (‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭40‬)

Missions 101

/ JanChinn / Leave a comment

Missions 101

Click on the link above to hear Pastor Lloyd Chinn break down from the scriptures God’s heart on reaching the nations globally. Lloyd gives a biblical basis and foundation why any believer should do missions and how the Gospel is for everyone. Missions was not made for the church, the church was created to do missions and be an extension of what God is doing in the world.