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Grown & Go - November 2024

Building Relationships To Build The Kingdom

Many of us can think back to that moment when God first gave you “eyes to see and ears to hear” (Matt 13:16-17) the truth of the Gospel for the very first time. That moment when you recognized that sin has separated you from God (Is 59:2) and you needed saving, and the only way this could occur was by turning away from sin and trusting in Christ Jesus (Rom 10:9-10; Jn 14:6). Now think back to that time you were saved and remember who God placed in a relationship with you to bring you to himself. That is my point here as Elmer Towns wrote in his book Winning the Winnable: Friendship Evangelism “A relationship between Christians and unsaved people has proven to be the most effective means of influencing unsaved people to get saved.” In John 1:35-36 we hear an example of this where Andrew introduces his brother Simon Peter to Jesus. Then the next day, Jesus located Philip who lived in the same town as Andrew and Simon Peter. In these encounters, the men were friends and were part of Philip’s coming to know Christ. There was also a friendship when Philip found his friend Nathaniel and brought him to Christ  (Jn 1:45-46). Dave Earley explains that “Evangelism Is . . . Winning three battles so Jesus can win the War.” 1 Those battles consist of “winning friends, winning them to your church, and winning them to Christ.” 2

Who was your friend who loved you enough to point you to Christ? I can remember before I was saved of the many friends who were pointers in my life that led me to the saving power of the gospel. The first thing they did was simply to build a relationship with me so that I might hear. Are you inclined to listen more to someone you call a friend, that you love and trust, over a complete stranger? For me, it involved many years, many small steps, and many Christians’ witnessing to me, having not been raised in a Christian home before victory was won and I was saved. We can produce all kinds of programs and methods to win people to Christ, but the same holds true today as with Andrew and Simon Peter – your relationship with others is the most effective way God will use you to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:12-27)!

There has been one thing overwhelmingly apparent in our College and Career life group Amy and I have in our home on Tuesday nights – God does His most transformative work to point people to the Church when unbelievers see and experience real, authentic, and genuine gospel community. Young people have come to this group and witnessed a gathering of the people of God who genuinely love to study the Word and strive to live out its precepts. This sort of biblical community changes lives. As one of Oakhill’s pastors, there is nothing more encouraging for me to see than the genuine lifelong friendships that have organically formed revolving around the word of the Lord. Seeing people who naturally desire to spend time with one another outside of the Sunday gathering. With all the things pressing in from the world, gospel-centered friendships are one of the most convincing ways to win people that they might come to church and worship with God’s gathered people.

Once we have made the friendship and were trusted enough by an unbeliever for them to come alongside us to the church, we can’t stop there. We must use our words to win them to Christ. Proverbs 11:30 reminds us that, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise”. We must exit our comfort zones, open up our mouths, and proclaim the gospel message for our friends to be saved. Paul exhorts “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching” (Rom 10:14)? My prayer for us is that we will use our authentic relationships with others to win people to Christ and his Church by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us as God’s people.

1 Dave Earley and Dave Wheeler. Evangelism Is . . . How To Share Jesus With Passion and Confidence.
2 Ibid, 189.

Student Life - November 2024

During our “Follow Me” series we have been going through, I recently taught the students how Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Many times, the students have heard of Jesus as Savior, Messiah, Teacher, Sustainer, Servant, etc. But this time, I wanted them to hear and understand how Jesus is our Shepherd. This title, shepherd, is actually important to our Old Testament history. As God chose Israel to make His covenant in, Israel still needed guidance. And in Numbers 27:16-17, we see that a man should be appointed over the congregation (Israel) and should lead them just as a shepherd would with his sheep. So as Moses was once the leader, it was then decided that Joshua should succeed Moses and become Israel’s shepherd. 

However, there were not always good shepherds over God’s people. Sadly, selfishness, perversion, pride, and anger took root in those who were supposed to be shepherds over God’s flock. In Ezekiel 34, God rebukes the shepherds, He calls them out for eating off the fat of what they were given and not giving it to the sheep. They clothed only themselves, when the sheep still needed warmth. They cared only for themselves. And sadly, this failure of leadership only continued for the people of Israel. 

After painting this picture, we begin to see our narrative of sheep needing a shepherd. But not only just some shepherd, but one who could do the job well, the TRUE Shepherd. Thus, we look at John 10. In this chapter, Jesus continues to be berated by the Pharisees. And yet, in humility, He reminds these Pharisees of the analogy of sheep needing a shepherd. One who would shepherd them well, care for them immensely, and lead them carefully. In His analogy, He notes that the sheep hear their shepherds voice and know him and follow him. After this beautiful example, the Pharisees still did not understand. So, Jesus doubles down. He says “I AM the good Shepherd.” In verses 7-18, Jesus paints us a beautiful picture of how He leads us. He explains that He is the door of the sheep. These shepherds that came before Him were thieves and
robbers who did not lead the sheep well (thieves and robbers were the example of Israel’s previous horrible leaders). Jesus explains that He is the door to the sheep, to the flock. If anyone enters in through Him, they will be saved, can find pasture, have life and have it abundantly. How amazing and beautiful! Jesus goes on to explain that He would lay down His life for the flock, where thieves, robbers, and hired hands would not (hired hands were those who did not own the flock but were over them). These people do not care for the flock, whereas Jesus lays His life down for them AND unites them! He explains that He has other sheep elsewhere, but He will bring them as well, so that His flock may become ONE. 

Even after explaining all of this, some of the Pharisees still did not understand. Some still didn’t understand who Jesus really was. Thus, He explains that He and the Father are One. They do not understand this because they are not His sheep. Which brings us to our “Follow Me” verse in verse 27. Jesus explains “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” 

So, dear reader, please hear the words of our Savior. He is our Good Shepherd. He cares for us, tends for us, dies for us, leads us, defends us, unites us, restores us, calls us by name, and knows us. He is truly a Good Shepherd. He fulfills the job no one in the Old Testament could. He cares for the sheep and makes us glad to be His sheep. This
causes such joy and peace for me. I hope it does for you as well.