Roots by the River

  “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of Glory appeared to our father Abraham…” (Acts 7:2). One of the wonderful things about the Bible is that God is not described in adjectives but in characteristics of who He is and in terms of what He does . He is the God of glory; He is the God of hope and the God of peace. Daniel described him to Nebuchadnezzar this way: “There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.” Jonah spoke of Him, “I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” God is , and God acts . In Hebrews 11:6, we read “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists , and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. “Sing to the Lord, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world” (Isaiah 12:5). Written in 1981.

  We shouldn’t just preach when we get there—we should preach on the way. “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near’” (Mt. 10:7). We often think of preaching as something that takes place at a certain location, at a certain hour, not too often, and not for too long. It also requires considerable preparation on the part of the preacher. However, this is not the kind of preaching Jesus was talking about when He gave His disciples the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19: “ As you go , make disciples of all nations.” Preaching and making disciples should be a normal part of our daily life, not a special part. Nor should it be only for pastors and full-time evangelists. “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria . . . Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went ” (Acts 8:1, 4). Everyone except the apostles preached as they went. Thi...

  Jesus said that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the Church. But city gates are not an offensive weapon. They are defensive, which means that the Church should be besieging them—and not the other way around. “He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Lk. 24:46–47). “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near’” (Mt. 10:7). “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, and He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed” (Lk. 4:18). “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea” (Mt. 3:1). “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Mt. 4:17). “And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it i...

Four great events took place through four great men. The men were Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The events were the fall, the promise, the law, and the free gift of salvation. Jesus Christ and His free gift are tied to the promise. He is the fulfillment of the promise. He sets us free from the fall and fulfills and sets us free from the law. Let us continue to study and meditate on the wonder of the free gift.

  Here is a thought from Isaiah 64:4-5:   “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who gladly wait for him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways.”

  A decisive point is a place where, if a battle were fought and won there, it would be a decisive victory, one that influences the whole war. In the war for souls, the battles must be fought in every location on earth because our Lord Jesus Christ sent us everywhere . “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations , baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). “He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations , beginning at Jerusalem’” (Lk. 24:46–47). “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth ” (Acts 1:8). However, some places in particular are decisive points, and taking them will get the message to all places faster. If we want to reach the whole, then we should know what so...

Here is the command stated again: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you . And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Mt. 28:18–20). All new Christians are to be taught to obey everything Jesus commanded, including this command. This means that the Great Commission is self-perpetuating. Each generation of Christians is supposed to hand it off to the next generation. “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria . . . Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went ” (Acts 8:1b, 4). In the first century, thousands of Christians left Jerusalem, preaching the gospel everywhere they went. But the apostles (the ...

  An army needs to understand in what direction it is supposed to march. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations , baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’” (Mt. 28:18–20). Jesus’ first statement in the Great Commission is indicative: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me.” That authority is absolute and comprehensive. This results in an imperative: “Make disciples!” “He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been...

If this is a war, then there must be weapons. What are those weapons? “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3–5). The world wages war with weapons that kill and destroy, whether they be clubs, arrows, swords, rifles, bombs, missiles, starvation, or chemical, biological, and atomic weapons. The history of warfare is filled with pillaging, looting, raping, torture, murder, and prostitution. Secular warfare is motivated by envy, covetousness, pride, glory, fear, vengeance, patriotism, anger, hatred, and defense of home. There are legitimate reasons for war (there was, after all, war in heaven), but most of the warfare in this world is simply carnal. But the wea...

  Men and women are never the enemy in the spiritual war. We have only one enemy—Satan. We fight him and those spiritual powers in league with him. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms . Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet...

  Many of my upcoming posts will be taken from my book Weapons and Tactics . Weapons and Tactics was written to give methods for implementing the principles laid out in my earlier book Principles of War . This book has many scriptural passages and some examples. I hope the scriptural quotations alone will hit you hard. I will quote Scripture extensively, and will draw your attention to certain parts of those passages by means of italics. The italics are not my attempt to make Scripture stronger, but are simply a way of pointing to what the Lord is saying to all of us. The first half of the book speaks of the weapons that God has given us for the part of the spiritual war related to evangelism. The second half is on the use of these weapons, that is, the tactics of evangelism. It follows the principles of war, but on a personal level, illustrating methods for putting those principles into effect. I would encourage you to read Principles of War as preparation for this study, as w...

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10). In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul writes of a knowledge without love. Here it is suggested that it is possible to have love without knowledge. Paul here assumes that love is normal in the believers. He prays that love might abound more and more. He also prays that this love be accompanied with knowledge and all discernment . There seem to be two reasons for this discerning love: 1) So that we may approve what is excellent. If we have love without discernment, we may end up approving things we should not approve. 2) So that we may be pure and blameless. These two reasons may be close together. If we approve what we should not approve, we will not be blameless. One of the reasons that love sometimes occurs without discernment is because love does not have a precise, sharp defin...

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). This is not saying that love overlooks sin. Love sees sin, and then covers it. In this case, lots of them, “a multitude of sins.” We know that this is true of the love of God, but is it true of us? The imperative is directed toward us: “Love each other deeply .” I think it must be true of us. 1 Corinthians 13:5 tells us that “love keeps no record of wrongs.” The opposite of covering sins may be keeping a record of them. “Love each other deeply.” “Deeply” has to do with the quality of the cover. Perhaps deep love provides deep cover, as in “Thou will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). This cover is not speaking of our own sins, but of others’ sins, for two reasons: l) “He who covers his sins shall not prosper but he who confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). 2) “Love each other deeply.” This love is the love that forgives others. Le...

Is there an upper limit to obedience in the Christian life? Is there a “danger above and beyond the call of duty”? Can we volunteer beyond the highest command of God? What is the greatest command? Jesus said: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment” (Mk. 12:30). Now look at it again and see if by volunteering we can go beyond it. The superlatives are all there. God requires all of each of our faculties to love him. In Christian churches today it is normal to hear challenges to greater heights than ever before, but less of the commands. Because the commandments of God are way beyond us—ideals that are not very realistic for the present—we make a graded scale and challenge Christians to follow the graded scale one step at a time. This is because we do not believe God provides the power and love and wisdom to obey His superlative commands as they are given. And since H...

  There is a wonderful example in the New Testament of the enemy’s challenge and the proper response: Acts 4:17–31. The apostles’ response was first according to God’s directive. “But Peter and John answered them: You yourselves judge which is right in God’s sight, to obey you or to obey God. For we cannot stop speaking of what we ourselves have seen and heard” (vv. 19–20). They were then threatened again. The apostles’ response to this second threatening was to present this challenge from the enemy to the Lord: “‘And now, Lord, take notice of the threats they have made, and allow us, your servants, to speak your message with all boldness…’ When they finished praying, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness” (vv. 29, 31). The apostles did not respond to the challenge in the flesh; they obeyed God and gained His power to be obedient. Obedience is a willing or an unwilling carrying ou...

  “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” —the Lord Jesus Christ, John 14:15 "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22). King Saul has just won a battle of annihilation, and now, because of disobedience, Samuel pronounces: “The Lord hath rejected thee from being king” (15:26). Those are hard lines with which to meet a triumphant, victorious king. It was a hollow victory and an empty triumph. Saul had tried to improve upon the commandment of God. We do the same today, only in more subtle ways. There are certain words that command respect. They speak of something held in high regard. Few people hold a negative view of these words. One of them is volunteer! The sound of the word may cause shivers to run through a person. It is used where ideals are at stake, where danger and death are the reward, where sacrifice is necessary. It has the sound of someone above the crowd—the exception—someone of a free will doing something with the consequences clearly in mind. The wo...

“And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of Heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 10:7). At least in recent Christian history, preaching is something that takes place at a certain place, at a certain hour, not too often, and not too long. It also requires much preparation by the preacher. This, however, does not seem to be what Jesus meant when He spoke of preaching. He said it again in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19: “ As you go , make disciples of all nations.” Preaching and making disciples should be a normal part of our daily life, not a special part. Nor should it be a normal part for special people. Here is a biblical example: “And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria except the Apostles… Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:1, 4). Everyone except the apostles was preaching as they went. If “all” means “all,” this meant thousands of peo...

  When Jesus sent the apostles as told in Matthew 28:19-20, it was much different from the way we send people on any kind of errand or mission. We send because we cannot or do not wish to go. The sender separates himself from the one sent. The one sent goes alone. This is with mutual agreement, for if the sender said that he would accompany the sent one, the sent one would reply with an accusative question, “Why do you send me if you are coming along? Go do it yourself.” That is not Jesus’ way. He sent, and then He said, “Lo, I am with you always to the close of the age.” Jesus “sent,” and then He “came along.” Isn’t that wonderful? But that is not the first instance of “sending and coming along.” Jesus said, “And He who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone” (John 6:29). The father sent the Lord Jesus, and then He came along. “He who sent me is with me.” He sent us, and now He goes along with us. How great it is to realize that no matter where we are or what our mission...

Two life-changing readings took place in my life in the fall of 1955. The first was my second reading of The Dynamic of Service . The book is a series of lectures on personal evangelism given by A. Paget Wilkes to fellow missionaries from several missions at Karuizawa, Japan, in 1920. It is the best book I have read on the subject. It is currently available on the CCM website , on Amazon , and on Audible . I encourage you to read it. The second was reading and studying Acts 8, 9 and 10. This was brought to my attention by a missionary in Japan. The following is a piece of the teaching: In chapter 8, take the time to see how God led Philip to the Ethiopian and the Ethiopian to Philip. In chapter 9, God led Saul of Tarsus to Ananias and Ananias to Saul. Chapter 10 tells us how God led Cornelius to Peter and Peter to Cornelius. In each of these stories the unbeliever was saved. God knew that each of them was ripe for the harvest. God led them to the harvester and the harvester t...

  This book is a collection of articles written by my wife Bessie for The Hammer  magazine. It was published in print in 2020 and has just been released on Audible. Here is a chapter from the book: Set Our Hearts at Rest “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:19–20) What is it that helps us set our hearts at rest in His presence? The preceding verse (verse 18) establishes the context: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” The immediate context is that if we see a brother in need and we have no pity, the question is, “How can the love of God be in us?” Years ago, just after Mother’s Day, a friend (the wife of a pastor) told me that her young daughter had defied her and gone to a public park. She was wondering how to handle this when the child returned. My friend ha...