The Simple Gospel

 Every human being has this fact in common- we will all die one day. And when that happens, we will all stand before God and be judged by Him. And we will then spend eternity either in Heaven or Hell. God has a standard for entry into Heaven- absolute perfection. (Leviticus 11:45, Matthew 5:48) None of us meet that standard. We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. (Romans 3:23, Psalms 14:3, Psalms 53:3)

    That's why God met the standard for us by sending His Son Jesus to live the perfect life we could never live and die the death we should have died for our sins. And then He rose again to prove He's God and give us a living Hope. We can all avoid the Hell we are bound to by default because of our sins against God and instead be welcomed into Heaven through putting our faith in Jesus to forgive us of our sins and following Him. He offers that for free to whosoever will call upon His Name! (Romans 10:9-13)

    With the eternal weight of the choice given to all humans about what to do with the salvation Christ offers, it is imperative that the Good News of Jesus is shared with everyone! I mean- if you had the cure for Covid-19 or AIDS or cancer, would you keep it to yourself? Those diseases can only kill the body, but the soul lives on for eternity. Jesus is the cure for the disease of sin and He saves our souls for eternity- if we'll let Him.

    And that's what it comes down to- if we're willing to listen to The Father drawing and The Spirit convicting and trust Him. 

   Sadly, too many will let pride and a love for self and evil keep them from coming to God. And God won't force anyone to come to Him. In the end, we either say "Thy will be done" to God and choose to follow Him or He says "thy will be done" to us and lets us choose to reject Him and go our own way instead. There is indeed a way that seems right to a man, but its end is destruction. 

   Logically, we can either be with God or away from God in eternity. To be with Him is Heaven and to be away from Him is Hell. 

    It's appointed unto man once to die- and then comes the judgment.

    We will all die one day. And it won't really matter then what objections people make now or what ridicule is raised in regards to God and The Bible. None of it changes God or the facts about eternity.

    Of course, people will scoff and laugh regardless and raise any number of objections but even so- the facts remain. And the eternal state of every human soul is worth telling everyone about Jesus. Everyone is free to do what they want with this and with Him. That is the choice given to everyone. But everyone will die one day and everyone needs to consider what will happen then and decide what they will do with Jesus and His free offer of grace and love. Jesus loves you- no matter what you've done and no matter what you do in reaction to this information- He loves you more than anything. And I love you through Him because He loved me first. 

  Everyone has to make their own choice on eternity and I respect their right to do so but everyone needs to remember that every choice has consequences. This one has eternal consequences. May God bless and guide you as you make your decision.

Enrapture (song)

A thunderous sermon and exhortation has been given. The strains of Larry Norman's "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" can be heard pulsating in your ears. Hearts are racing, hairs are standing on end and goosebumps run up and down arms. And certainly The Holy Spirit is moving and drawing people to Himself.
    I fear though that someone may have a blondie moment and get caught up in rapture of emotions and have a response much like the seed that fell on rocky soil that sprang up quickly but died quickly because they didn't have a root! This song is addressing this very scenario and is intended to lightly lambaste (even though that's an oxymoron ;-)) the Southern Baptist stereotype of "Turn or Burn" style evangelism and seriously lambaste an evangelism built more on emotion and manipulation solely rather than on evoking the Scriptures and invoking the Spirit to work. (To be clear, I do believe an emotional experience can be part of the Spirit's moving but it's important to remember that God can work with or without it, as a train can run with or without a caboose. The engine of faith keeps things moving. (Thanks to Campus Crusade for Christ and Bill Bright's "The Four Spiritual Laws" for that analogy!)) As Rev. Tim Keller has said, "Truth without grace is not really truth and grace without truth is not really grace."

"Enrapture"
(Parody of "Rapture" by Blondie; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 8/11/2019)
(1 John 4 (especially verse 18), 2 Peter 1:5-11, Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, Luke 8:4-15, Romans 11:29, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Jude 1:24-25, Philippians 1:6, John 6:35-40)

No one knows
Advancing very close
The unbelieving-
Those folks won't (a-)go
Trumpet call
Thief comes snatch in night
And lost are left behind then
Hang heads and cry- Oh! Snap!-ture
Baptist tack
Scare 'em out of wits
Spine-tingling music
And a riled up pack
Embrace Grace
Sadly some lack roots
Pulls heartstrings, hand-wringing
Emotion manipulating- Oh, Crap!-ture
Rapture ready party- everybody's high
Forsake sinning- get saved by Christ!
Circumstance- Flash- Which's true?
Rejoice- grow fast- But got no root
In Luke 8, (it's) taught by God
Go out to the garden plot
When you get out on the farm, then you find soils "thar" (there)
And you find 4 types defined by Jesus Christ
And seeds come right down and land on the ground
On (the) path come avian seed eaters
Plants are fried by (the) sun on the rocky ground
And the shoots are dead from the seeds that fed
Among thorns- their choking stunts growers
The soil that's just right's seeds are growers
The seeds mate and grow- hundredfold
Some sixty and thirtyfold
Matthew 13- you read also 4 Mark
Then what was sown in hearts
Devil on path dines on seeds and bars what lost people need
What of faith sprang great with speed?
Come undone by persecution
Plants no root, yo...
No room to grow 'cause the plant in thorns' seduced by cars and hedonism
Yeah, all in all, only growers are on good soil
Which one is fear's altar call?
Rapture obscures
Fake from pure, true faith made sure
Retrain your brain- faith's a train
Move the feelings to end of train
Engine won't stop if that's dropped
Well, now faith in facts is running it
Enraptured by our God's beauty
He emancipates hearts from fear that starts when good theology's gone
In 4 1st. John- cast out by Love
And God won't have His call cancelled- 11 Romans states
God don't flip flop; His love won't stop
Just grab on- sure shot!
Election made sure- 2nd. Peter 1:10-
Deeds prove you're
God's now- He always keeps what He starts- just trust!

The Saved (song)

With my last post in mind, I thought I'd share a related parody that I did a while back that I thought you all might like.
This one relays the account of two guys in the New Testament who spoke up and led some dudes to Christ. (Philip and Paul) And it also talks about Christ's charge to us to preach the Gospel in all the world as He told us in Acts 1:8
So I hope this will be encouraging to us all.

"The Saved"
(parody of "How to Save a Life" by The Fray; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 2/16/2008)
(Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Acts 8:26-40, Acts 16:22-34, Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 9:35-38, 1 Peter 3:15, Isaiah 53, Jeremiah 20:9, Isaiah 55:11)

Verse 1
...........
Step One, He says, I need to walk
I walk- He says, Stick now to the chariot
Inside it rides (an) Ethiopian dude
Eunuch of rightly counting dues
What more of a window could you find?
"And He was led" and "He was silent"
Reading the lines (of) 53 Isaiah
I don't even wonder why I came

Chorus 1
............
There before too long, I found a friend
That's where I launched in my witness
And I wound up leading the eunuch to Christ
And I know now he's saved for life

Verse 2
..........
Let him know that we've not left
'Cause after all it means his death
-Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Laid down and this is what he longs
Asking, How to be saved, now Paul?
Pray to God- He hears you
And pray to God- He heals you

Chorus 2
............
There before too long, Paul got a friend
That's where he launched into witness
And he wound up leading the dude to Christ
And his house now is saved for life

Verse 3
..........
As He begins to raise, His voice
Empowers you- commands you one last chore
Wait until the Holy Ghost
Just breaks on the ones who've followed
He will move- a tongue descending
We will witness to everyone
(From) our home base to all surrounding place
Gospel will then to all Earth be proclaimed

Chorus 3
............
Where did I go wrong? I long to mend
Somewhere alone in the wilderness
And I could have spoke up- led you to Christ
Had I known- you would take your life

Chorus 4
............
Why did I prolong? Well, my lost friend
Somewhere he longs for some tenderness
And I should have laid up- Matthew 6, line
Twenty shows what to save in life

(What to save in life)
(What to save in life)

Chorus 5
............
Share before they're gone- it's a Godsend
Look here- how large is the harvest
And I should have read up in Matthew 9
Send out those laboring for Christ

Chorus 6
............
There, before they're gone- the lost befriend
That's where you launch into witness
And God would have you love and do like Christ
Now you know how to save a life

(Vow to share of Christ)
(It's how to save a life)
(Now we're saved through Christ)

....................................................................................

I can't keep it in- my soul is screaming!

[Note: This is another entry from the archives, which I'm slowly converting all over to this blog. Considering that I've heard some great sermons on God's transformative power today, from Ezekiel 37 and Isaiah 6, respectively- and evangelism has definitely been part of the emphasis today- this blog post seemed particularly appropriate for today. This one I originally posted back on February 26, 2008. It's slightly updated and edited here. Enjoy!] 

"Hey you! I'm into Jesus! I've seen the truth- and I believe!" :-)

(I've been listening to DC Talk's "Supernatural" album again some at work whenever I can- wow, I love this album!)
And of course, as some may know- this is the song I got my email address from. (With a "N" for the initial for my first name- so it still carries the same meaning, but it's like saying "Nathan's into Jesus" :-))
Yeah- Jesus rules! (And I mean that literally!) He's Lord, God and Savior. And He loved us all so much that He died on the cross for us and rose again from the dead. He made the ONLY Way for us to get into Heaven! WOW! I can never praise Jesus enough- or ever stop talking about how AWESOME He is! :-)
Lately, it's something that's been hitting at me. I think witnessing is something every Christian struggles with- and I certainly feel like it's something that I've always felt when I was younger that I wasn't as vocal about Christ sometimes as I could have been- and I've wanted to be bolder for God.
And it's something that we don't have a choice on- Jesus commands us to go! (As a great Keith Green song says- not to mention Matthew 28:18-20!)
And Acts 1:8 tells how to go- first preach in Jerusalem, then move on to Judea and Samaria- and eventually to the whole world! If we take the geographical aspect into mind, we basically have this parallel for us. Start telling people about Christ right where you are in your own neighborhood! Because people everywhere need to hear about God's love. And then you can start reaching out to the rest of the state and all the 50 States that make up the United States of America! (God bless America! Woohoo! Yay for America, its founders and leaders! And while its faults are many, I certainly pray that God will "mend thine every flaw." 'Cause it's still America the Beautiful as far as I'm concered. And God rules over it and the whole world!- yeah, I'm really patriotic- just threw that in there. :-))
And eventually we are called to take the Gospel out to the whole world!
The fields are white with harvest- beseech The Lord of the harvest to send more workers into His fields!
Okay- well, as I'm saying all this, I thought I'd also share a few encounters here. Just the other week I was at a gas station and my bill happened to be $7.77 (not to fill up my tank- wow, I wish! ;-)) Anyway, I just mentioned to the dude that it's the perfect number. (The number 7 in The Bible is associated with completeness and perfection. 7 days in the week, 7 marches around Jericho's walls in 7 days with 7 marches and 7 blasts of the trumpet on the last day- 7 seals, 7 trumpets and 7 bowls of God's wrath in Revelation)- and there's probably other examples. And it's really neat when you get three 7s, because that can also signify the Holy Trinity- God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
So I thought it was neat that the dude actually knew what I was talking about and mentioned, "Oh yeah, like in the book of Daniel?" So I told him, "Yeah. It's a good book. Have you read it?" And then he told me that he read The Bible and that he considers himself something of a Christian (it sounded a bit shaky to me, but I think maybe he was just not where he needed to be with God at the moment)- but he did tell me that he went to the charismatic-type church nearby my apartment. So that's way cool. And that was the extent of the conversation, but I prayed for him after I left.
Not a real big deal necessarily- but it was an opportunity to talk about God with the guy. And maybe that little conversation helped give him the spark he needed to get back closer to God. I hope so.
Anyway- this was just to say that God presents us with all kinds of chances to talk to people about Christ- and that's why we have to be ready at all times to share the reason for our hope in Jesus like 1 Peter 3:15 talks about. (in the Greek- apologia- which is where we get apologetics from in English- and where ApologetiX gets their name!)
And interesting that I should mention That Christian Parody Band- because this is kinda where this is all going. Lately I've just been excited to see God moving in the lives of people I've been praying for and I continue to pray and trust that God will work to bring people I care about to know Him as Savior.
(And let me also state that there are plenty of times where I've blown it and felt awful as I'm left thinking- I should have done something more- I should have specifically told them about Jesus.) But share what you can where you can- and definitely share God's Word whenever you can! Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God's Word never returns to Him void but it accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it out! :-)
Ive been reading in Jeremiah lately and this is a great read to show you the compassion and desperation Jeremiah felt for his own people- and the fervence with which he prayed for them and tried to warn them of God's impending wrath and destruction He would bring. And this just got me thinking of how much America (and the world in general for that matter) still needs to hear that message- that God is a God of wrath and will punish sin with finality one day- but that He's also a God of unending love who longs for every single person in the history of the world to be with Him in Heaven- and that's why He paid the price of sin for us by dying in our place!
Look at the all the other religions of the world- there's no other god who's ever been so personal with people that he would die for them to pay for their own sins! Jesus is that personal of a God! He loves us!
Amazing love! How can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me?
Charles Wesley asked that question in a rocking hymn called "And Can It Be?" and wow- that song and question still blows me away every time!

And check out this verse in Jeremiah 20:9
"But if I say, 'I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,' His Word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."

WOW! We've got a message to give to the nations- so let's get busy for Christ! (And remember that witnessing is equally important in the areas of your vocal witness- AND your lifestyle witness! Both have to match up!)