For Crying Out Loud!

Okay. I'm back. But I won't be writing weekly like I used to. So if you want to read my articles, you'll just have to pop in now and then.

Here’s a very likely scenario when someone got saved. That person’s Christian friends suddenly take interest and begin to invite that person to their churches. What’s wrong with the picture?

I have a friend who’s gotten saved just couple of months ago. It was due to an illness that she realized the mortality of man and THE GREAT QUESTION OF GOD. Through proper witnessing she gave herself to the Lord and today, she’s a real lover of Jesus while she presses on with her illness. At the very onset, I “educated” her about the need to establish herself in one local church so she can receive consistent and proper guidance in terms of her new found faith and counsel for her illness. Guess what? You guessed it right. Well meaning Christians begin to invite her to their church services, cell groups, etc. WORST YET … they begin to give her Christian books to read!!! Yikes! Maybe you are asking, “What’s so wrong with that?” Let me enlighten you.

When a person accepts Jesus for the first time and is bornagain, immediately we need to help that person establish his/her faith in Jesus and the Word of God. We introduce JESUS to him/her, not some famous PREACHER-TURNED-AUTHOR. We need that person to discover JESUS through the Word of God, letting the HOLY SPIRIT be the Teacher and the Guide that He is. Now bear in mind this friend of mine is battling illness. And when she started reading books on testimonies of healings and faith, naturally she get inspired and she too started to believe that God can and will heal her. Now, that doesn’t sound like it’s wrong. Problem is, she is putting her faith on someone's testimony of healing or someone's teachings of faith INSTEAD of allowing the Holy Spirit through the Word of God to establish her faith! There’s a huge difference here. The Bible emphatically states: “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the WORD OF GOD” … not by some manual on Faith or someone's testimony on healing. Being inspired does not mean you have faith! Positive confession does not necessarily mean you have faith. Yes, we have faith. We can have faith if we choose to believe, but that’s not God’s kind of faith. That’s just faith, not the supernatural faith! That’s why a lot of people believed and did not reap the same results as their heroes of faith.

I know Christians meant well when they approach a new convert. I am sure they too rejoice with that person’s new found faith. But what is needful? To invite that person to your church? To read a book from a famous PREACHER-TURNED-AUTHOR? Or to introduce Christ? The Great Commission states: “Go ye therefore into the world and MAKE DISCIPLES …” Note the command to MAKE DISCIPLES. In other words, someone got that person saved. That someone now has become a discipler. Now it is the discipler’s work to disciple the disciplee, not some other Christian or church. In other words, go make your own disciples and not bother with someone else's disciple.

This friend of mine had encountered some other Christians who had been healed of the Lord of some illness. Their testimonies are inspiring especially since she too is battling an illness. But what is more needful? To hear how someone got healed from the Lord? Or to discover from the Word of God that Jesus is the Healer? I am talking about FIRST HAND REVELATION; not riding on someone else's faith!

Of course, being a newbie in the Lord and lacking knowledge, she too wants to imitate her “mentors”. If the mentor did not take medication because of faith in God, a new believer tends to do the same. Now here is the problem. Instead of imitating Christ, people with need like her want to emulate her “mentors”. Maybe it worked for her mentors. MAYBE God did tell them not to take medication. That's a big MAYBE. Question is: did God ask you to do the same? And on what basis are you putting your faith on? Someone's testimony? Someone’s faith? Or did God himself through the Holy Spirit and His Word gave you that faith to believe?

Faith in God is a very personal thing. It’s something that’s birthed out of an intimate walk with the Holy Spirit and interaction with His Word; not someone else's testimony or teachings. Yes, those books inspire. They instruct. Bottom line, I need to find my own faith in God not ride on someone else's testimony or teachings.

May I remind us this week … introduce JESUS! For crying out loud, I know you love your church and your pastor, but if you are not the discipler then just simply introduce Jesus to your friend who has just gotten saved. Tell him/her how sweet Jesus is and how wonderful and powerful the Word of God is; not how grand your church is and of the many wonderful programs your church has. THEY NEED TO HEAR ABOUT JESUS, not about your church or your pastor or some famous preacher. When Jesus said, “I will build my church” He wasn’t referring to your church! He was referring to a person who's bornagain! You and I, we are the living stones of God. We are His church. Jesus is more interested in you and me than He is in our churches. He will build us, not our churches. So for crying out loud, when you encounter a friend who is a new convert,INTRODUCE JESUS! And don't be the discipler that you are not. Remember, it's not about your church. It's about JESUS, the Savior of our souls.