A while back, my Dad bought a Christian CD for my son, Jeremiah. It’s a great CD that puts Bible verses to music. One of the songs is based on Philippians 2:14 … a verse I sadly paid much attention to before Jeremiah got the CD. The song goes like this:
Do… do… do… do… do all things,
Do… do… do… do… do all things,
Do… do… do… do… do all things,
Without complaining or arguing!
Pretty deep stuff for a children’s song, huh? And, simple, too. My son sings this all of the time, and the cool thing is that he’s learning to apply the Scripture to his life.
So, what’s in it for us? Well, I think it’s time we all learn to stop complaining. Now, I’m not talking about providing helpful feedback to a person or an organization that asks for feedback and wants to improve (think restaurants that offer comment cards). I’m talking about the unproductive stuff. Like complaining to a friend or family member about some person, place, thing, or event when there’s nothing that they can do about the situation. I’m talking about complaining about work, church, family members, and the like with your only real purpose being to let people know how unhappy you are.
One of the world’s most prolific bloggers, Seth Godin, recently wrote a post about the uselessness of whining. Take a look at what he wrote about the two problems with whining:
The first is that it doesn’t work. You can whine about the government or your friends or your job or your family, but nothing will happen except that you’ll waste time.
Worse… far worse… is that whining is a reverse placebo. When you get good at whining, you start noticing evidence that makes your whining more true. So you amplify that and immerse yourself in it, thus creating more evidence, more stuff worth complaining about.
If you spent the same time prattling on about how optimistic you are, you’d have to work hard to make that true…
Well, we’ve identified the problem. We know what God thinks about it. And, we know how useless our complaining is. So, what are we going to do about it? Hmmm?
(Contributed by Jonathan Williams. This post first appeared on Jonathan’s blog November 2010)
One of the churches that we have learned a lot from through the years is NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. NewSpring’s pastor, Perry Noble, recently wrote a blog post for his church about understanding evangelism, and though Sanford, Florida is a long way away from South Carolina, we felt like this post was valuable enough to share with Palmetto Avenue Baptist Church today. So, read on…it’s good stuff.
Evangelism (telling others about Jesus) is not a great idea…it is a COMMAND issued by CHRIST Himself.
It’s not easy, it does cause us to get uncomfortable, people will think you are crazy and following the command of Christ will create tension at times…
Nonetheless we are still called and empowered to do this!
So, today I hope you will take a little time to read Acts 8:4-8 and then Acts 8:26-40 and let’s think about six things together…
#1 – Evangelism Is The Proclamation of Jesus Christ–PERIOD! (Acts 8:4-8)
One of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard in my life is, “preach the Gospel all of the time and, when necessary, use words!” DUMB!!!!
Because…GOD SAID in Romans 10:14-17 its through THE WORD that people are saved.
Listen, good deeds are never a bad thing…but please don’t try to convince me that cutting someone’s grass or paying for their coffee is evangelism…it’s NOT! The BIBLICAL definition of evangelism is when we PROCLAIM CHRIST…and unfortunately a cowardly church culture has turned it into a whole lot of things that Jesus never intended for it to be. The Bible says in Acts 8:5 that Phillip proclaimed CHRIST…Acts 4:12 says there is no other name by which we must be saved…I Timothy 2:5 says there is ONE mediator and we’ve been commissioned and commanded by Jesus with this calling/responsibility! (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:45-48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, II Corinthians 5:17-21!)
#2 – Evangelism Will Disrupt Our “Normal” Routine!
#3 – God Is Preparing The Hearts Of The People He Is Prompting Us To Share Christ With!
Check out Acts 8:27-28, the reason God sent Phillip down this road is that He was working on the heart of a man who desperately needed Him! Please understand that we NEVER know what God may be doing in someone else’s life. They may portray that they have it all together and they are not interested…but you never know what God is doing in their heart. If God is prompting you to share Christ with someone then He has gone ahead of you and is preparing them as well!!!
#4 – Be Normal!
Please notice in Acts 8:29-30 that Phillip did not say, “Hello hell bound sinner, did you know that unless you repent of your sin and give your life to Jesus you are going to fry like bacon in a devil’s hell?” He did not scream, yell, hold up signs…
He simply listened to the Spirit, ran up to the chariot (it does take effort) and asked a simply question, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
It’s amazing the opportunities that God puts in front of us every single day…and when we see them and embrace them we simply need to be normal, engage them in conversation and communicate that we are interested in them.
#5 – Evangelism Must Come Back Around To A Conversation About Christ.
I said it in point one…I will say it here…we are called to PROCLAIM CHRIST!!! Notice in Acts 8:31-35 that Phillip began where the eunuch was and brought the conversation back around to JESUS! It HAS TO come back to Christ…we can’t allow the conversation to get sidetracked with political and sociological issues…no one EVER surrendered their lives to Christ because they had all of their questions answered!!! Always bring it around to JESUS!!!
PLEASE understand this…if Phillip had simply said, “I am not going to share Christ with him…I’m just going to buy him a cup of coffee and give him a warm smile” then we would have had nothing more than a story about a caffeinated eunuch who felt good about himself for a moment but NEVER HEARD ABOUT JESUS!!! BAD STORY!!!
#6 – Evangelism Isn’t A One Time Deal.
Notice Acts 8:36-40 (one of the coolest sections in the Bible…God literally teleports someone!!!) The eunuch receives Christ, is baptized and then God moves Phillip someone else to KEEP proclaiming Christ. We are NEVER done with this…God has strategically placed each one of us in places of work, in neighborhoods and in certain social situations NOT for our comfort…but rather He placed us there with specific relationships so that we can literally tell others about Jesus!!! It’s NOT a one time deal…it’s a core value that we must embrace in our lives if we are going to follow Christ!!!
Have you considered taking part in Financial Peace University? A free preview of the course will be held this Wednesday night at 6:45. Come check it out!
We’re going to be at Alive After 5 this Thursday in Downtown Sanford!
We will have a booth letting our community know that we are here, and we care about them! This really is a great “block party” atmosphere! Please plan to come help us support Sanford and promote our church at this event!
Coming up on August 24 we launch our Financial Peace University course. It’s A thirteen-week DVD course that shows us how to handle our money in a way that honors God.
For the first time, we’re offering this course on a Wednesday night. You should consider getting involved! Take a look at this video to learn more…
If you live in Sanford, Florida, we invited you to attend this course at our church.
This last Tuesday, August 2nd, we had the opportunity to partake in Sanford’s National Night Out Against Crime. This is an event where each community holds a rally with the local police department to fight against crime. Palmetto Avenue Baptist Church used this time to show our community, Sanford, FL, that we are here, and that we support the Sanford Police Department in the fight against crime. We showcased all of our ministries (PABC, Church At The GYM, and Liberty Christian School.
We had about thirty-five volunteers come out and be a part of this awesome event! A big thank you to all of the volunteers who made this happen! We definitely let the community know that our church exists, and we are all about helping our community!
This Tuesday, August 2nd is National Night Out Against Crime. Our local community of Sanford, FL will be rallying together to lower crime. This will be a great night as many of the organizations in the city come together to rally around one cause – lower crime. Our church,Palmetto Avenue Baptist Church, will be there showing our support for the local community.
If you would like to partner with us plan show up at Fort Mellon Park on 1st Street by 5:30pm and come be apart of this awesome event! There will be many booths with free samples, The Big Red Bus, Mayor Triplett, and a few police demonstrations.
When I was just a young (punk) kid growing up in Sanford, FL I loved listening to Punk music. One of my favorite bands, MxPx, had this song called, “Responsibility.” The lyrics went, “Responsibility, what’s that? Responsibility, no not quite, yet.” This was my anthem growing up. I figured when I left the Central Florida area, left my small, local church I’d start thinking and worrying about responsibility. My Dad always told me, “When you have your own power bill I’m going to come over and leave all the lights on and open the fridge door and turn the air down to 72!” This was a joke to me, until I got my own place and started paying for all those things, now, I thank Jesus everyday that he doesn’t come over and do that!
I’ve found the key to any growth or maturity is responsibility. Until you feel the urgency of responsibility, you are incapable of growing.
Be responsible for how things are in your life right now. Your city, family, job, savings, life is all because of you. The church in Sanford, FL called Palmetto Avenue Baptist Chuch is what it is, because of it’s regular attenders. Take responsibility.
The words of legendary coach John Wooden ring true today, “Control the things we can control. If you try to change the things you can not control, then it will soon affect the things you can control.” We need to accept responsibility and change the things we can. There is an infinite list of things we can not change, take responsibility, change things for the better.
“Be the change in the world, that you wish to see.” – Ghandi
Thank you so much for your warm welcome when we visited Sanford last month. We so enjoyed the breakfast fellowship and the opportunity to chat with some of you. You have been such a large part of our lives and ministries for so long, and it was like coming home to spend a little time with you.
Thank you also for the lunch with some of you after church. It was nice to get to meet some more of the Palmetto Church Family! We especially enjoyed getting to visit with the Pastor’s grandson! What a charmer.
Thank you for the generous live offering. We are so grateful. Most of all, thank you for your faithful support and prayers these many long years. We are encouraged to have you behind us as wel continue to work out God’s calling in our lives. Pray with us about South Sudan and that God will lead us concerning His will for us and a ministry there. We are looking forward to taking a trip there in August or September.
We trust that God will continue to bless and enable you as you reach out, not only to your area but to the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We count it a privilege to be part of your ministry. We will look forward to seeing some of you in Africa again soon!
What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear DAV (Disabled American Veterans)? Veterans from WWII, Vietnam – old men in wheel chairs, maybe sixty, seventy years old, older? Well, I had the immense pleasure of attending a Wheelchair Rugby game, DAV vs Sanford River Rats and Team USA Armed Forces Good Will Ambassadors on Friday, July 8. I was rocked awake, shocked back to reality! These Disabled American Veterans are my age, MY AGE! Hello! Afghanistan, Iraq. It felt like a personal slap in my face, as it should have hit me a long time ago, but this is the moment for me, that it finally sank in. I am so completely humbled and honored to have been in the presence and to have watched our heroes and our youth, our local ball players, our good will ambassadors come together, strap themselves in a wheelchair and TRY to keep up with these amazing DAV wheelchair rugby players! Sanford’s Palmetto Avenue Baptist Church hosted the game in their gym and their Pastor, Ron Williams, City of Sanford’s Mayor, Jeff Triplett, and River Rat’s GM, John Welton, watched from the sidelines as the Veterans, without breaks, exhausted most every ballplayer on the other teams! The Veterans were so kind as to occasionally backwards roll a ball through the goal line. What an awesome game to watch, full of energy, excitement from the players and the crowd, banging and clanging and clattering like you’ve never heard, but mostly a tug on your heart like you’ll want time and again! You’ll not want to miss this event should it come around again next year to become an annual City of Sanford, River Rats BaseBall, Team USA Armed Forces Good Will Ambassadors, and Disabled American Vets Wheelchair Rugby Event held at Palmetto Avenue Baptist Church in Sanford Florida!!
Written by: Sandy Adcox
(This article was first published in the Sanford Herald on July 24, 2011. Posted here with permission from the author.)
A while back, my Dad bought a Christian CD for my son, Jeremiah. It’s a great CD that puts Bible verses to music. One of the songs is based on Philippians 2:14 … a verse I sadly paid much attention to before Jeremiah got the CD. The song goes like this:
