Waiting Times Should be Productive Times

God can use waiting times for His glory and our good if we will allow Him. I have been learning that waiting times are and should be used as praying times, preparing times, and a time of trust and growth.

Waiting times should be preparing times. While we wait, God can use it to prepare us and grow us for what He has next in our lives. If we use it wisely and are open to learning what He wants to teach us during this season, we can one day look back on it with much growth and blessings.

Waiting times should also be praying times. This is another way to prepare and is one way that prepares us best. We should be praying about our desires for the future, casting all our anxieties at His feet and bringing to Him everything specifically.

Lastly, waiting times are times of trust. It is a time God can grow our faith in who He is and the promises of His Word.

Waiting times should not just simply be idle times of waiting for what we hope is next; waiting should be productive times used for God's glory. May we pursue active waiting as we trust God with our future and pray and prepare!

Worth 33 minutes of your time....

The Essential Tool of Evangelism

If you ask most Americans if they are aware that Jesus Christ died on the cross, you would find that a majority would say that they are. Though it is a blessing that this truth is not foreign today in America, the tragedy, however, is that many do not truly understand why. This problem is evident in the indifferent and unchanged lives of those who not only reject the gospel, but also those who claim it. No longer emphasizing sin, repentance, and the judgment to come, the root of this problem can be found in the modern methods of evangelism and the exclusion of giving the Law. Since the Ten Commandments are no longer being used to prepare a heart for the Good News, we are missing the essential tool that God has intended to show a person why he needs a Savior. Because the Law is what reveals our sin, drives us to Christ, and protects the gospel message, we must use it before giving the Good News so people will more likely come to Christ.

The Law, or Ten Commandments, is a forgotten yet essential tool of evangelism. It was used by Jesus (John 7:19-23), Paul (Romans 2:20-24), and James (2:10-11), and was also regularly promoted by great Christians of old including: Charles Spurgeon, John Newton, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, John Bunyan, and Martin Luther, to show people how desperately they needed Christ.

One of God’s purposes of creating the Law was for it to work in harmony with the Gospel (Galatians 3:21). While the Law was never able to save a person (Romans 8:3; Hebrews 7:19) and can never justify anyone (Galatians 2:16), God created it for sinners (1 Timothy 1:9-11; Galatians 3:19), to work alongside the gospel and to prepare a heart for grace. It is a missing tool that needs to be brought back in our gospel presentation for many reasons.

The first reason we must include the Law in our evangelism is because it reveals to a person their sin. In a culture where most believe they are essentially good and heaven-bound, the first step to give the gospel is to break people of this deceit and show that they are instead sinful creatures under God’s wrath. The Law is important because the Scripture tell us that “by the Law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).” Paul also said that he did not know sin before he knew the Law (Romans 7:7). To show a person his sin, we must show him the Law because it functions to unveil the condition of the sinful human heart. This is a vital because unless a person sees and understands his sin, he cannot and will not repent from it and therefore cannot be saved.

While the modern gospel message will usually mention “sin”, this general reference is not enough for the spiritually dead to understand. The Mark Cahill, in his book, One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven, rightly argues:

When mentioning sin, most believers cite Romans 3:23, which says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." For the lost to understand this verse, they need a definition of what "sin" is....to know sin, we must know what the Ten Commandments are (111-112).

The Law is incredible because it specifically defines sin for us. 1 John 3:4 says: “sin is the transgression of the Law.” The Bible also tells us that sin is unrighteousness (1 John 5:17), which is anything that does not conform to God’s standards that the Law reveals. Most people do not truly understand what sin really implies and shrug their short comings as “being only human.” The Law, however, gets down to the wire, showing the person exactly what he has done wrong, how he has specifically offended God, and that he has sinned. As a person sees detailed commands in the Law that he knows he has broken, sin will make sense as he sees his guilt before a holy God.

The Law not only shows what sin is, but it makes it personal. Mark Cahill stated, “One of the biggest lies Satan tells the lost is that they will be good enough for God on Judgment Day (One Thing, 119).” For a person to be broken over his sin and come to Christ, he must realize not only that he is not good, but that his guilt is personal. The Law does this by showing a person that his definition of “good” is not the same as God’s. It makes sin personal because he not only sees how great he has fallen short of God’s standards, but also that God requires personal perfection in not just actions but also in heart. Sean Norris explains:

[Jesus] explains that we do not break God's law simply through our actions, but first in our thoughts and hearts. Anger with your brother is the same as murdering him. Lusting after another is the same as committing adultery. Jesus takes the law to its highest pitch here. It is concerned with matters of the heart. The only way for anyone to be good and pleasing to God is to have a pure heart, to have completely pure motivations, to never have a bad thought about anyone or anything. In short, as Jesus sums up, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:21-48). This is language about our state of being as opposed to our behavior. The law is about more than individual sinful actions; it is about the sinful state of the heart that leads to those actions (Introduction to Law).

If sin is not personal, it will not be taken seriously nor will lead to “sorrow unto repentance” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Instead of viewing sin as a general problem, as one sees through the Law that he has lied, stolen, lusted, and blasphemed, sin will be specific and personal to him. This is important as Ray Comfort in his book, God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life, warns: “Without the entrance of the Law, sin is neither personal, nor is it a threat (Wonderful 59).” As sin is revealed through the Law, no longer will he feel “not as bad as everyone else,” but he will see how short he has fallen in the eyes of the One who requires perfection and that he is personally worthy of hell.

The Law is also essential to reveal sin because it speaks to the conscience. Because the Bible says that the Law is written on every heart and is therefore apart of every person (Romans 2:14-15), when we use the Law, we are merely isolating truth that people’s consciences will agree with. Instead of arguing and debating in circles with a person’s intellect, the Law allows the Christian to get straight to the crucial need of the gospel, by pin-pointing the device God has placed inside every human to verify his sin. As a person gives the lost the Ten Commandments, the Holy Spirit works with the conscience to reveal his guilt before God and to signal to his inner man that he is indeed guilty. Ray Comfort explains this beautifully:

When we use the Law to appeal to the conscience and bring the knowledge of sin, we merely work with the Holy Spirit to convince people of their transgression. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit "will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8). (Wonderful, 55)."

As the Law convicts a person's conscience, the Bible says it causes their mouth to be stopped (Romans 3:19). Seeing specifically and personally their sin and guilt before God, the Law stops their mouth so they cannot justify themselves any longer. D.L. Moody exclaimed: “I can always tell a man who is near the kingdom of God; his mouth is stopped. This, then, is why God gives the Law---to show us ourselves in our true colors.” (Cahill, One thing, 131). The Law is a wonderful tool to humble the self-righteous, because before a person is humbled before God, he cannot come to Him in repentance, because as Ray Comfort stated, “It is the conviction of sin that causes godly sorrow and ‘godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation’ (2 Corinthians 7:10) (Wonderful 63).” A person cannot be born-again until he sees his sin, so we must show a person his need for righteousness through the Law before we give the gospel.

After the Law reveals a person their sin and brings them low, the next benefit of this tool is that it helps drive a person to Christ. Mark Cahill states: “The Law carries us right to Jesus. People attempt to be justified by their works, but the Law leads us to Jesus so we can be justified by our faith, not by our works (One Thing, 116).”

The first way that the Law drives a person to Christ is that it prepares his heart for the cross by making grace desirable. A person won’t come to Christ for grace without knowing why he needs it. Ray Comfort declares, “It is the Law that makes us thirst after a righteousness we have no desire for (Wonderful, 84).” To make the gospel good news, we must give him the disease before the cure. Mark Cahill makes a wonderful point: “It’s very important to get people lost before you can get them saved (One Thing, 126).” This is what the Law is for, to make the person needy before we give him hope and to help the person see their disease so they will desire the cure. We must use the Law as a preliminary work before we give the gospel to prepare the person’s heart by showing him his great need for grace. We must remember what Martin Luther said, “The Law is for the proud and the Gospel for the brokenhearted.” The Law makes grace desirable because it shows us how much we are in need of it.

The Law also prepares a heart for the gospel because it leaves the hearer helpless. This is one of the purposes of the Law---to show a person how helpless he is so he will run to Christ, the only solution, for help. The Law is simply a mirror: it reveals our sin but it cannot take that sin away. Because one sees that God requires perfection, something he knows he does not have, the Law will help make him desperate for grace. We use the Law to show sinners that in the mirror of God’s standards, he is dirty and he can never clean himself up and that he needs help, as Ray Comfort explains: “The Law doesn’t help us; it just leaves us helpless. It doesn’t justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God (Wonderful, 59).” When a person realizes this, it leaves him helpless and makes grace desirable to know of the one way to get himself out of his hole of sin, which will hopefully lead him to Christ.

The second way that the Law drives a person to Christ is that it gives understanding to the cross. After one uses the Law as a preliminary tool to open a person’s eyes to sin and strip him of his own self-righteousness, the most exciting part is to follow with the gospel because the preaching of the cross can be better grasped. I love telling people about Jesus’ death and His love for them after taking them through the Law because the cross finally seems to be understood. Ray Comfort said, “The Law magnifies grace and opens sinner’s eyes to the gospel so that the cross makes sense (Wonderful, 103).” A person may have heard for years that Jesus loves him and died for him, but when one uses the Law to expose his need, the message of Jesus’ death takes on a new and personal meaning. Paul said that the Law is a schoolmaster to bring the lost to Christ (Galatians 3:24). Because the person sees specifically why he needs a Savior, Christ can be no longer just a religious figure or His death just a historical fact, but it can now be personal, beautiful, and desirable. The cross will no longer be “foolishness” to him but hopefully the “power of God until salvation.” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Charles Spurgeon declared about the power of the Law:

The Law is meant to lead the sinner to faith in Christ, by showing the impossibility of any other way. It is the black dog to fetch the sheep to the shepherd, the burning heat which drives the traveler to the shadow of the great rock in a weary land…Apart from the deadening effect of the Law, no one would feel the need to cast himself at the mercy of Christ (Wonderful, 113).

One cannot understand God’s mercy until he is first exposed to His wrath. The Law, through the working of the Holy Spirit, can help drive sinners to the cross in utter helplessness where they can be met by Christ.

People cannot understand the cross without first knowing its purpose. Mark Cahill pleaded, “Make sure that you share Jesus only after people recognize their need for Him…Identify the problem first, and then give the answer (One Thing 122).”

Without the Law and identifying the consequences of sin, Christ’s death will not be a desperate need. Dr. Jack B. Scott declares: “You have to convince people that they are sinners under the judgment of God before you can ever offer them the gospel of salvation. If they don’t come to a point of seeing that they need Christ, then they will never accept Him” (Lecture 30). When you take a person through the Law and show them exactly why God’s wrath abides on him, referring to the cross and what Jesus has done will be much more understood and appreciated. He will see beauty that his guilt can be removed by the suffering and death of a substitute (Hendrickson 214), and hopefully by God’s grace, he will repent of his sins and run straight into Christ’s arms.

The Law does so many wonderful things in our labor in evangelism. Not only does it show a person their sin and help to lead him to Christ, but it is also an essential tool because it helps to protect the gospel.

Unfortunately, because the Law has been deleted from modern evangelism, instead of sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come, people have promoted different reasons to turn to Christ which in turn has watered-down the truth and beauty of the gospel. The Law aids in protecting from many of these errors by helping to keep truth in perspective.

First, the Law aids to protect the gospel because it helps to give a correct view of the character of God. If God’s nature is incorrect in the mind of a person, it can keep him from understanding the way to eternal life. A great example is how God’s forgiveness today is abused; Dwelling primarily on God’s love, the greatest danger in modern evangelism is that it tends to focus too much on God’s forgiveness, almost eliminating His holiness and justice. This is dangerous and serious. Bill Bright in Heaven or Hell warned: “Although God is loving and merciful, He is also holy, righteous, and just. To emphasize some of His attributes at the expense of others creates a distorted view of who God is and therefore creates false expectations of what He will do at the judgment seat (35).”

Deceptively, some people possess a false peace believing that after they die, God will simply over look their sins and forgive them. The truth is, however, that God’s forgiveness cannot be separated from His justice and can only be given through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Ray Comfort convincingly stated: “The thing that sinners are hoping will save them on the Day of Judgment---the goodness of God---will be the very thing that will condemn them. Because if God is good, He must by nature punish (Wonderful, 93).” When people see God’s goodness through His righteousness as a Holy Judge, it is only then that His love and mercy through Christ can be fully appreciated. We risk the gospel and the salvation of souls when we deviated from true knowledge of who God is (Dewitt). That’s why the Law is important because it is what exposes God’s righteousness and wrath, which are the two things that will help us appreciate His love so much more. The Law protects the gospel because it gives a more realistic view of God and prepares a soul for His mercy after being exposed to the truth of His wrath.

Another way that the Law protects the gospel is that it helps to prevent false conversions. The difference between using the Law in evangelism and leaving it out can greatly affect the unbeliever’s response and motivation to the gospel. Because sin and the wrath to come are not emphasized in modern evangelism, believers are using the benefits of Christianity, such as peace, joy, and happiness, to convince people to come to Christ. Since sin is not being brought to light through the Law and being used to show the true need for the cross, repentance is thus lacking---which is the very ingredient that is essential for a man to be born-again (Luke 13:3).

Because the Law has been overlooked and many people are not coming to Christ in repentance, this has resulted in many false conversions. Ray Comfort states, "There are many today who name the name of Christ, but who have failed to "depart from iniquity [lawlessness]" (2 Timothy 2:19). They are false converts who have "asked Jesus into their hearts," yet they remain unconverted cause they have never truly repented (Wonderful, 14).” Without the Law, people are more likely to come to Christ for the wrong reasons and without repentance, becoming false converts who will later “fall away from the faith,” or will be deceived until God tells them “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:13-23).

Without using the Law, we are in danger of creating false conversions. When we give the Law, however, and we show the truth of why a person needs God, it will better assist his motivation to get saved not for selfish earthly benefits, but rather to flee the wrath to come. The Law protects the gospel because it emphasizes the true intent of the gospel---to get right with God and to protect us from the judgment we are to face in the future---which the Holy Spirit will hopefully use to spur repentance.

The Law is a powerful tool. Because it is “to revel our true states before God, bring the knowledge of sin, make sin appear exceedingly sinful, convict the conscience, magnify the grace of God, and serve as a schoolmaster to lead sinners to Christ (Comfort, Wonderful 122),” it is a tool we simply should not neglect in our evangelism. We should keep in mind the warnings of great Christian men of old, such as John Grecham Machen, who argued:

A new and more powerful proclamation of [the] law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour; men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of the law….So it always is; a low view of the law always brings legalism in religion; a high view of the law makes a man seek after grace. Pray God that the high view may again prevail (What is Faith? 141-142).

And Spurgeon who warns:

Lower the Law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt; this is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain; for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ...They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy Law. Therefore the Law serves a most necessary purpose, and it must not be removed from its place (Wonderful, 97-98).

We must give the Law before we give the Good News because people will not cry out for mercy and forgiveness until they see their sin. Just like a patient will not desire the cure until he knows his disease, in the same way people will not desire grace until they know their disease of sin. We must stop giving the solution without first addressing the problem by using the very tool God has given which function is to “convert the soul” (Psalm 19:7). If we use the Law before the gospel, we can better prepare the way of sinners to the Savior which will hopefully cause them to run and fall into the gracious arms of Christ.

Works Cited

An introduction to the Law and the Gospel. Sean Norris. September/October 2010.

Bright, Bill, Heaven or Hell: Your Ultimate Choice. Orlando, Florida: New Life Publications, 2002.

Cahill, Mark, One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven. Rockwell, Texas: Biblical Discipleship Publishers, 2009.

Comfort, Ray, God Has a Wonderful Plan For Your Life. Bellflower, California: Living Waters Publications, 2010.

Dr. DeWitt, Of God and of the Holy Trinity, Lecture 3. SYS 103 Christian Doctrine. Lakeland, FL: Whitefield College.

Dr. Jack B. Scott, Jeremiah, Lecture 30. OTS 105 Old Testament Survey. Lakeland, FL: Whitefield College.

Hendrickson, William, Survey of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1976

Machen, John, What is Faith? Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1969.

Men's Thoughts on Modesty: Excellent Video on the Extreme Importance of Modest Dress

Ladies, this video is so worth your time. Please take the time to prayerfully watch this.

Note: Please ignore the music at the beginning and end; they are short and it can be easily fast forwarded.

This Post Could Change Your Life

I'm not sure who stops on my blog these days, but I'm sure there's many different people who may occasionally find themselves at my page. Because of this, I decided I must share the best thing you will ever hear and give you news that could truly set you free.

Death is bewildering; Funerals seem to have a great effect on one's emotions as one peers at the body lying in the corpse and realize that will some day be me. Death is something no one will be able to escape. I'm sure all of us have pondered about it at some point in our lives. The terrifying part is that we don't know when it will come upon us. Will death come knocking years from now or will our last breath be tomorrow? There's no way to know.

But the thing we can know is where we'll be once our life does leave our body and our lives on earth come to an end. We can know the destiny of our souls. The Bible is the most amazing book that tells us all about life past and the life to come. It is the only book whose prophecies have been fulfilled and truths have stood the test of time. In its pages we can know what's to come and where we're headed because it is God's inspired Word to us, and He tells us plain and clear.

The Bible tells us that it's been appointed unto every man to die and then the Judgment (Hebrews 9:27). We will all stand before God and will give an account for our lives. The question I impose to you is that when you die and stand before Him, on what merit would He let you into heaven?

The first response of people is usually: "Because I'm a good person and I try to do what's right." What is your definition of good? Are you really good because you're not as bad as other people or are you truly as good and perfect as Jesus Christ? I'd encourage you to compare your goodness to the questions below, which are God's standards of good:

Have you ever told a lie? Then you're a liar.
Have you ever stolen anything (the value is insignificant. Stealing is more than just material; It could include hours from your boss or music from the internet)? Then you're a thief.
Have you ever taken God's name in vain? He calls that blasphemy. It's very offensive to Him.
Have you ever looked at a person with lust? God calls this adultery in your heart (Matt 5:28).
Have you ever hated someone? God says it's the same as murder (1 Jh. 3:15).

If this is not enough, realize that God's knows our every thought and will judge us according to every sinful thought we have ever entertained. How would you like for someone to project all the thoughts you ever thought on a movie screen for all your friends and family to read? You'd be mortified. That's because you even sin in your mind. God judges you even by your thoughts, your motives, the very things inside your heart! Our most righteous deeds can be laden in sin simply because our motives may be selfish.

So ask yourself, on Judgment Day, if you stand before a holy and just God, would be innocent or guilty? You would be guilty because you have broken God's commands--you have offended Him and sin must be punished because of His righteousness. The Just Judge will declare you guilty.

If you believe you would perhaps be innocent because you believe God will simply forgive you when you stand before Him, may I simply ask you if you have ever tried that in court? Imagine you are guilty and the judge is about to sentence you to prison and you get on your knees and plead for his forgiveness. If the judge simply let you go without your punishment being paid, he would be a very bad, unjust judge. If he lets one go without being punished, he would be wrong to not let all go--Hitlers and all--regardless of their crime.

But the Bible says that God is righteous, holy, and just. Much more higher in power and authority than an earthly judge, God must punish sin because His holiness requires it. He would be going against His nature to just simply forgive anyone. So you are in trouble.

But don't stop reading, because there is wonderful news for you! And that's why I am writing this post because I care for you and want to tell you the best news you will ever hear in this life. Do you know what Jesus did for you? The punishment you (and me) deserved (which is hell), Jesus took upon Himself on the cross. Because of His great love for you, He has made a way that we can be forgiven of our sins and can have eternal life. He has made a way where God's justice and mercy and forgiveness could meet.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down to earth many years ago and died in your place to take the punishment you deserve. He died and resurrected the third day. He became a substitute for you. Imagine yourself in court, guilty and headed for prison, when someone walks in and says, "Wait Judge, take me instead. I love this person and I will pay their fine." This is what Christ has done for you.

Jesus was the perfect substitute that appeased God's wrath because Jesus was holy and without sin. God poured the wrath we deserved on Jesus. You see, you have this huge debt that you owe, but because of Christ, God can legally dismiss your case. Sin must be punished and someone has to pay for it. Either you will, eternally in hell, or you can let Christ pay it who already has by paying your fine by taking God's wrath upon Himself. Looking to Christ is the only way we can be declared "not guilty" before God and can be forgiven and go to heaven.

The Bible says that to receive this gift you must repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ. Repent means that you must turn your back on sin and turn your face to God---to stop serving sin and to start serving God. Putting your faith in Christ is so much more than just believing in Him and believing that He died on the cross for you. If you were in a airplane knowing that it was about to crash at any moment and you had a parachute next to you, you wouldn't just believe the parachute was real and existed beside you. That would be absurd. Instead, you would put that parachute on, hold on to it, and trust it to save you. That is what Christ asks you to do to Him.

You must repent from your sins and put your faith in Christ! You must believe that He is the ONLY way to heaven and when God lets you into heaven, Christ will be the only reason that God lets you in, because that's the only way you will be able ever to enter. It's not based on works, it's not religion, it's not going to church.....it's not even praying a prayer. It's on Christ and Christ alone. It is free, and it is a gift. It is truly liberating!

This is the best news you will ever receive. You are headed for hell but you don't have to go! Someone has made a way for you to enter heaven. Someone has taken the punishment of your sins. Someone has taken the wrath of God for you. Someone has the gift of eternal life of heaven that they want to give to you.

I'd encourage if you have not repented and put your trust in Christ alone, that you go to God and get things right with Him today. Repent so you will not perish (Luke 13:3). When you are in Christ, He will give you a new heart---a heart that wants to please Him because of the great love He has given by what He has done. He will forgive you, make you into a new person, and grant you eternal life in Heaven. He will set you free!

There is hope for you, and that is only found through Jesus Christ. He wants to be your substitute so you don't have to pay eternally for your sins. Will you let Him?




The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23)

Jesus said: "I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father but by me" (Jh. 14:6)