The Curse of Jeconiah

Whom Shall I Fear: Chris Tomlin

The Genealogy of Christ Jesus

Already There: Casting Crowns

Witnessing Speed Trap

For a number of years after my salvation I was very discouraged regarding my witnessing.

I was very active with one on one witnessing as the congregation I met with would go witnessing every weekend. They even sent teams to other churches within their fellowship.

So it wasn't a case of not witnessing.

My discouragement came from the fact that I was never able to "bring anybody to the Lord".

This was mainly from other people's testimonies of how many people they led to the Lord (said the sinner's prayer with), and how many people got "saved" on each witnessing endeavour.


At first it didn't bother me as I figured it was just a matter of time before I would be able to convince someone to get saved.

However, year after year would pass and nothing.

Some readers might be thinking, "well, it's up to the people to decide".

Although there is some truth in that, the problem was that the church I was part of at the time taught that we bring souls into the kingdom of God. They are our fruit.

So, with that in mind, you can see why i was very discouraged. As far as I was concerned I had no fruit.

Yes, I went onto the highways and byways but was 100% unfruitful as I couldn't compel anybody to come to the marriage supper of the bridge groom.

How did I over come this problem?

By reading the word. And the more I read, the more I free.

It wasn't until I came across 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 that I started to realise that what I was being taught was wrong.

1 Corinthians 3:5-7
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

You see, we don't save people. We don't bring people into the kingdom of God. It's God that does that.
We are not able to bring conviction to people. We are not able to open the eyes of the people to their spiritual condition. Those are things that only God can do. And the bible says its Him who does it.
The bible tells us the following things...

2 Corinthians 4:3-4
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

1 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

John 6:44
'No man can come to me, except the Father who sent me draws him: and I will raise him up at the last day.'

John 3:5
Jesus answered, 'Verily Verily, I say to you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'

John 16:7-11
'Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is better for you that I go away: for it I don't go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you.

And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: Of sin, because they don't believe in me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more; Of judgement, because the prince of this world is judged.'

2 Corinthians 7:9-10
Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance: for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorry produces repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world produces death.

We can clearly see that its God who convicts, and draws people to Himself. It's God who works in us to produce repentance from us. It's God who gives us the very faith to believe in Christ.

This begs the question then... if God does the drawing, the convicting, the giving of faith, and the saving, what is it that we do?

We bring the word of God to those that are lost. It's through the word of God that God creates faith in a man.

Romans 10:17
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

When we witness to people and tell them about Jesus, how He is the Word of God made flesh. How He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. How on the 3rd day He rose from the grave and ascended bodily into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. We are bringing the word of God (the God-breathed scriptures) to the lost.

We are told to go into all the nations and bring the teaching of the gospel. The gospel is found in the word of God.

This is what should be our sole aim, because we don't have any control over anything else other than to teach the gospel to all the nations.

Would we love to see God save someone right in front of us when we bring the gospel? Sure. Of course. The heavens rejoice when a sinner repents. But that is God's prerogative. We are not able to do that and we were never told to do that.

Even when it comes to apologetics, and finding common ground with the people you're witnessing to - it's all for the sake of being able to present the word of God, the gospel.

It's so that we can cast down every vain imagination that seeks to exalt itself above the knowledge of God, so that those who do not believe are without excuse.

When we do these things, we appeal to the earthly nature of man. We appeal to the wisdom of man, and then once those objections have been silenced we introduce the wisdom of God by appealing to spiritual things.

Even though this is the procedure we tend to take, it is futile of God doesn't open the person's eyes and draws them. Because at the end of the day, the natural man can not receive nor understand spiritual things - it is foolishness to them.

And its this that we tend to forget.

We convince the person of certain truths of God based on the wisdom of man, invite them to pray, and declare them saved.

That is wrong. We do not save them. We do not convince them. We do not convict them. We do none of the things that we endeavour to do, yet point to our large congregations as proof that we did something.

Is it surprising then, that we tend to find that a lot of people in churches today are false converts?

A lot of people in the congregation barely hold to the basic essential doctrines of the faith, yet are declared to be saved.

What have we been doing? Have we truly sought to take the glory from God and give it to ourselves by claiming we have done these things?

Do we not realise that salvation isn't something that can attained by convincing someone using a sound logical argument? We can not convince someone into the kingdom of God.

Salvation is a miraculous event in that God creates in someone a new spirit, indwells that same person with His Holy Spirit, and gives them eternal life.

When it comes to salvation, the wisdom of man will always fall short, because it's spiritual in nature. Remember, 'You must be born again'.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5
And I, brethren, when I came to you, didn't come with excellent speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing amount you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching [was] not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God

There are many whose faith stands in the wisdom of men and not the power of God. And it's partly due to the fact that those who brought the gospel message were not mindful of the fact that salvation belongs to the Lord. Sound logical arguments does not save anybody. Sound logical argument does not bring Godly conviction that produces sorrow unto repentance.

It takes the Spirit of God to do that.

So, with all that said, what should we be doing?

We must realise that anytime we are speaking the word of God to anybody that is not saved, we are either planting a seed or watering a seed. We should be praying that God would give the increase. We should be praying that God would open the eyes of those who we speak to. We should be praying that God would grant them repentance.

We should be aware that we do not convict, draw, or save anybody. We are not about the business of saving souls, but of preaching the Gospel... teaching the word of God. God is the one... the only one... who is about the business of saving souls.

Pray that God will save souls. Pray that God would even grant you the privilege to be the one who can be a witness to His saving grace as you preach the gospel. And also pray that God would keep us humble, knowing that all we are doing is planting and watering, but that He is giving the increase.

Is the Father only God, and Jesus not?

Let It Be Known: Worship Central

Biblical Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is basically the study of interpreting written text.

A lot of people actually practice hermeneutics quite often in their life.

Whether it's trying to understand a play from Shakespeare in English Lit., trying to understand the details in a phone contract or even reading someone's body language.

But quite too often, your average Christian does not practice hermeneutics when it comes to the bible.

For many Christians, we don't try to find out what the author of the scripture is trying to convey, but instead we are quite happy to pick a verse, or even half a verse, and give it whatever meaning we choose - whether it sounds right or not.

This ought not to be.


For a real Christian, in other words... someone that follows Christ, wanting to know what the bible says and what it means is very important. A real christian hungers for the word of God. A real Christian desires to know what the bible says.

So, a Christian should be applying hermeneutics to the bible when we read and study.

When it comes to biblical hermeneutics, its more than just reading and understanding verses within their immediate context (surrounding verses, paragraphs, chapters, book, and the bible as a whole). There is also the matter of understanding the historical context as well.

For example, in Revelations 3:15-16 where Jesus talks to the church in Laodicea about being neither cold nor hot. Without the historical background for the significance of what being hot and being cold means, we miss a greater understanding of what Jesus means.

Obviously, getting the historical relevance of passages is for in-depth study. But what about when we are doing our daily reading of the word? What about when we're meditating on various passages?

In those instances, at the very least, we should be reading the context in order to get as much as we can out of the passage in question.

This is generally known as exegesis. This means, to lead out. So the meaning that we get out is meaning that was intended by the author.

When we read into the verse what was not intended, this is generally known as eisegesis.

Many preachers, teachers, leaders, employ eisegesis rather than exegesis, and the congregation usually doesn't bat an eyelid, but instead erupts in a round of amens.

To miss-quote someone is wrong. And the bible says that when we know what is right and don't do it, to us it is sin (James 4:17).

Many Christians remain ignorant of the scriptures for two reasons.
1. Because of the eisegesis (scripture twisting) of many pastors/preachers/leaders/teachers.
2. Because they don't check to see whether or not what they have heard is true.

Some people have been so convinced by the eisegesis of their leaders that even when they read the verse(s) for themselves, all they see as what they have been taught.

An example of this is found in the account with Abraham and God regarding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18). Many people are taught that in this chapter, Abraham intercedes on Lot's behalf.

When you read the chapter, you find that is not the case. Abraham wasn't interceding for Lot at all.

An example of stout adherence to bad really bad eisegesis is found in Malachi 3 where God is talking about how the Israelites have robbed Him. A lot of Christians who have been duped by this have a had time of listening even when you show them the context of the surrounding verses, entire chapter, and entire book of Malachi.

Eisegesis can lead to very bad and damaging theology. After all, you are not being told what God wanted to say to His church, but are being told something different.

As we read the bible, let us take ask God to reveal what it is He wants us to learn. Don't read the bible when you're tired and your mind is sluggish. Don't read the bible when you're in a rush.

Set aside proper time to read it. Prepare your mind to receive instructions from the bible when you're going to read it. Let your mind be focused on not only reading, but understanding what is being said.

And then, once you have set the bible down, take the rest of the day to meditate on what you have read.