Preaching the Gospel
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Category Archives: Gospel
Let the Kingdom Come through Making Disciples
May 8, 2012 – 3:49 pm
I’ve been a follower of Jesus for forty five years and from the beginning until now I have heard and read a lot about discipleship. Generally when it has been talked about or written about what happens is that some already believing person tries to teach some other already believing person something about following Jesus. What is generally not assumed is that we are talking about proclaiming the gospel and equipping the people who choose to follow Jesus.
Yet this was fully what Jesus meant. When he spoke to the disciples on the hill beside Galilee after the resurrection he told them to go and make disciples of all nations and when people believed they were to be baptised and taught to obey what Jesus said. Funny how something that was almost totally what Jesus meant has become something that hardly anyone means (especially in the western churched nations of the world). We have been able to create a plethora of churches that do just about anything EXCEPT make disciples.
There is a link to a You Tube video here that includes power point and video material to help clear up some of these issues.
My hope is that it may be useful.
Brian
MAKING DISCIPLES WHO CAN MAKE DISCIPLES
April 29, 2012 – 6:18 am
Yesterday afternoon I drove to Moss Vale to hang out with some great people from the Southern Highlands. Amazing that in a room with fifteen people there were so many connections from so many different places.
I used a power point which I have attached here just in case it may be useful.
Brian
DOWNLOADS:
Here is the power point presentation as a .pdf
Let the Kingdom Come by letting the will of God be done
If you want a copy of the actual power point file (with animations etc.) please email me and I will give you a link to download it.
brian@gracecanberra.com.au
Here is the link to the Mitre 10 Sandlot ad.
Here is the link to the Making Disciples animation:
REDEMPTIVE LOVE #1 – You Raise Me Up!
September 25, 2011 – 4:42 pm
One of the things we need to learn again or discover for the first time if we are to be useful to God in the effective ministry of the gospel is REDEMPTIVE LOVE. Love comes in many different forms. God’s love is a particular kind of love and I would like to suggest that the God-kind of love is defined by its power to redeem. This is another way of talking about the famous Greek New Testament word “agape.” Most of the people who try to identify that word do it by speaking about it’s selfless nature. It is concerned with giving and not receiving. I don’t think that sums it up adequately at all. The reason why the love of God is so amazing is that it continues to provide the opportunity for us to experience redemption. Perhaps I am speaking about motive rather than character. There is no doubt that the love demonstrated by Jesus is selfless. He laid down his life for his enemies. That’s about as selfless as you can get. Anyone who has had enemies will understand. But the motive behind the laying down of his life was that they might experience redemption rather than experience the consequences of their sin.
My point here is to suggest to you that the kind of love that we need to learn to show anyone, but especially people who are lost from God is love that has the power to rescue, save, renew, restore – that is, REDEEM. This kind of love is demonstrated by God all the way through the Bible; and it doesn’t happen in some pristine, quiet and comfortable manner. Quite the opposite. If you download the power point and the audio file from today’s message at Grace Canberra you will get a taste of how this love operates. I have taken the experience of Joseph (Genesis 37ff) as a case study and have showed that God continued to show love for Joseph in ways that may seem strange to people whose lives are identified with such a penchant for comfort and self indulgence.
Rolf Lovland and Fionnuala Sherry are the Norwegian and Irish Duo who first performed the song, "You Raise Me Up"
I have used the Rolf Lovland/Brendan Graham song, “You Raise Me Up” as a segue to this topic. It’s haunting celtic melody and inspirational words carry the euphoria of God’s capacity to love us through to the fullness of everything that we have been born and born again to become and to do. When you realise that Joseph was being carried on the shoulders of God’s redemptive purpose in all the the horrible experiences that he encountered, I hope you can catch a glimpse of the “eternity” that shows up every time we experience and evidence this kind of love.
I include the lyrics of the song here for you to think about. I think a song like this can become a tool to help God’s people to embrace the bitter-sweetness of redemptive love. When we learn to recognise it we will more often experience it. When we learn to experience it we will more competently offer it to others. When we offer it to the ones who know we will be more equipped to offer it without discrimination.
“You Raise Me Up”
When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up… To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up… To more than I can be.
There is no life – no life without its hunger;
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up… To more than I can be.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up… To more than I can be.
You raise me up… To more than I can be.
The links to the Secret Garden (with Brian Kennedy) original performance and a very touching Josh Groban performance on American TV are here:
Secret Garden You Raise Me Up with Guest Brian Kennedy
The audio file of the message today is available from this link:
110925 Brian Medway – Redemptive Love #1
Here’s to the experience of becoming more than we can be.
Brian Medway
LOOKING OUT FOR THE BARTIMAEUS MOMENT
September 6, 2011 – 6:51 am
Looking for needs for which there is a kingdom of God provision
Bartimaeus faith for those 'Bartimaeus Moments!"
We need to learn how to preach the gospel to every person. Jesus has clearly commanded this but most of us find it hard. It is unnatural, often unwanted and the few methods or tools that have been handed down to us don’t really seem to be relevant or effective. So we are going back to square one and reading the gospels to have a hard look at how Jesus did it. Our conviction is that the problem largely exists inside of us. God wants people to experience the gospel in our contemporary culture and he hasn’t changed the plan since Jesus commissioned his disciples a number of times prior to his ascension.
In one of the small groups I belong to we have been reading about Bartimaeus. We meet for forty-five minutes in a café before going to work. What we have been doing with portions from the gospels (at the moment) is to notice everything so that we can hear everything God is saying. Then we take what we think he has been saying and figure out how that would work in the spheres where we work or live. Then we know what we need to pray about and pray for. Then we have a go at it and discover what God needs to change about us in order for us to be able to represent kingdom of God opportunity.
Our conclusion about the Bartimaeus story was that Bartimaeus represented two different elements of a gospel proclamation story. Firstly he had a need for which there was a kingdom of God provision. He was blind and Jesus had given plenty of reasons for people to believe that God wanted to heal people who were sick or who had some kind of disability. The second thing about Bartimaeus was that he was the only one who exercised faith toward Jesus on the basis of that need. He called out in an ordinary way. Then when people told him to shut up he called out more aggressively.
So we have started to look for those occasions in our community spheres when there are needs for which there is a kingdom of God provision. We are then going to see what ways we can exercise faith so that the need can be met by the grace and power of God.
Based on our reading of Mark’s 10 Jesus preached the gospel by responding to the faith of Bartimaeus. He not only preaching it to Bartimaeus but to the crowd of would-be followers who initially wanted him to shut up. He also preached the gospel in the presence of his disciples who had observed everything that was happening but did not get involved in any useful way.
We think the gospel begins with God’s desire to meet needs. The coming of the kingdom of God represents his provision. In Bartimaeus’ case wholeness ruled instead of disability. The key to the ministry was the faith of the disabled man only. Jesus specifically says that.
We want to have Bartimaeus faith when a Bartimaeus moment arises around us. First we need to recognize them and second we need to have the courage and faith to proclaim the kingdom. That might mean something inside us needs to be changed in order for us to qualify.
Brian Medway
CHECKING THE PATHWAY TO THE GOSPEL BLOG
August 15, 2011 – 4:07 pm
Six-point-something-billion are loved by God. They deserve to be offered the hope of the gospel.
I am just in the process of setting up this blog. The idea is for me to put down my research notes and processes for others to look at, check and comment about.
I want to learn how to obey the command of Jesus to preach the gospel to every person – or more correctly, how to carry out my part of the responsibility. It is a simple, straightforward command. I think I understand the meanings of most of the words in the Great Commission statements. Its just that I don’t know how to do it. Somewhere between the understanding and the happening there is a blockage.
I mean to find out why and when I discover the reason, I’m going to seek for God to change whatever needs to be changed so that I know how to do it and how to help other people to do it.
Join me on this quest. If you don’t feel up to that, stick around and watch what happens.
Brian