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S Volume 1 . Issue 7
COUNCIL OF REFERENCE
The
UPSIDE DOWN
Dr. Richard Averbeck
9
Rev. Wes Roberts Challenge believers to share
their faith boldly, modeling the GOD’S PLAN TO CHANGE THE WORLD ............. 2
Mr. Jim Warren
passion and zeal of Christ's first GROWING THE CHURCH GOD’S WAY ................ 3
Rev. Rick Warren followers. GOD’S UPSIDE-DOWN PLAN TO SAVE THE WORLD 3
THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS ........... 5
The Book's Message WALK THIS WAY ......................................... 5
Publishers
David A. Martin
The 21st-century church has for- A READY ANSWER: LOVING GOD’S WORD ....... 6
John S. Martin, III gotten its first-century roots, turning PRACTICING GOD’S UPSIDE-DOWN LOVE ........ 6
to modern marketing strategies to
Editor promote church growth. THE POWER OF PRAYER ............................... 7
Michael J. Chiapperino
WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH .............. 7
2
THE WORLD
They walked according to the
Spirit, not the flesh. in God's way, our primary weapons
God permeated every aspect are spiritual ones. God's procedures
of these believers' lives. Their and tactics are revolutionary. We
lives were dynamic; they knew how to pray, worship, act kindly toward are called to be ambassadors to
one another~and treat non-believers with love. the world by:
Giving
“Thoughout the Bible, God reminds us to Loving
change our thinking, to see with spiritual eyes, Blessing
to remember that His thoughts are not ours.” Humbling ourselves
Relinquishing our rights
They kept in mind the purposes of God, not the priorities of people. CB
God's plans are dramatically different from ours; sometimes we must S
be willing to think and live outside of our comfort zones. Abraham, Gideon,
3
GROWING THE CHURCH GOD’S WAY
During the 1980s The Growth action that marked the first-century
and 1990s there has been a dramatic church.
increase in the number of "mega- Plan of the
churches" (congregations of 1,000 Early Church "All who believed were together,
or more) in the United States. and had all things in common. . .
God can reach our generation continuing daily with one accord.
"We have to ask what these trends without our nifty marketing plans . . and having favor with all the
mean for the church as a whole. to help Him out. The first century people" (Acts 2:44,45).
Are we witnessing a second era of church proved it. What "worked"
Christians who are really shaking for them? Today it seems that we are only
up their world? Or are believers willing to accept and love each other
just shuffling their club member- They were a worshiping church if we belong to the same clubs, have
ships around to get the latest, most They were an evangelizing church the same interests, and drive the same
attractive deal?" They were a learning church type of cars. A healthy, growing
They were a loving church church will be a cross-section of
The fact that a church is large races, ages, and socio-economic
can show that God is working and Church Growth Rule #1: backgrounds. And love will flow
moving mightily in a community. Become a worshiping church. naturally~often to the surprise of
But large does not equal healthy. A church that is growing is wor- a watching world! CB
A healthy church is an effective one. shiping. This principle is foreign to S
a world that does not understand
Too many churches are overem-
GOD’S
what worship is and why one wor-
phasizing a sensitivity to "the con- ships. We were put on this earth to
sumer" as they model their church tell people about Jesus and worship
growth strategies after business God.
plans. Their motto is: "Whatever the
consumer wants, we will give it to
them."
Church Growth Rule #2:
Become an evangelistic church.
Healthy and growing Christians
UPSIDE-DOWN
But the consumer-focused church
is asking the wrong questions:
will reproduce themselves and share
PLAN TO SAVE
d
their faith with those who do not
What can I do to make my know Christ. God can use many
product more appealing and
unique?
How can I improve customer
service?
creative ways to reach the lost
(drama, beach ministries), but His
primary way of converting souls is
through biblical preaching. "For
since in the wisdom of God the
THE WORLD
God’s plan to save
How can I adjust what we offer world through its wisdom did not the world is one of the most outra-
to meet and beat the competition? know him, God was pleased through geous ideas in the history of the uni-
the foolishness of [the message] verse. God, the omnipotent and omni-
A recent survey of 1,000 church- preached to save those who believe" present being, has chosen to use
goers revealed that 89 percent said (1Corinthians 1:21). fallible humans to bring about
the church exists primarily to take his salvation.
care of their spiritual needs. Only Church Growth Rule #3:
11 percent mentioned evangelism
as a core purpose for the church's
Become a learning church.
When the Bible is not preached
The Great
existence. in a church, the congregation be- Concession
If our churches rely on slick mar- comes weak, helpless, and ineffec- Christianity Today readers took
keting ploys, we will gradually shift tual. A church with a steady diet of a poll some time ago. It revealed that:
away from the message of the Gospel good theology and solid teaching
from scripture becomes a church on 89 percent agreed that faith in
and focus instead on the way we Jesus Christ was the only way
package it. New ideas are good, and fire, an upside-down church.
to salvation.
Christians should always be interest- Church Growth Rule #4: 87 percent agreed that every
ed in connecting with their genera- Become a loving church. Christian is responsible for
tion; but when marketing is more Many churches are missing one evangelism.
important then the gospel message, key element: the kind of love-in-
nothing good can come of it. continued on page 4
T
gospel message would recognize the gospel message to more people than any other person in human history.
the urgency of it.' "
In Acts 5:40-42 the apostles God is waiting to use us! We must be willing to be used. God entrusts us
were called in before the Sanhedrin, with the most important message in the history of the world. He gives us the
flogged, and then told not to talk authority to proclaim His message. And finally He empowers us to go anywhere
about Jesus any longer. After their and to speak this great message of hope and salvation to everyone.
release, they praised God and
rejoiced "because they had been
counted worthy of suffering disgrace
Practical
Upside
for the Name." From then on they wish come true. Without hesitation,
boldly proclaimed the Gospel he replied, "Every time I have a birth-
message whenever and wherever
Principles for day, every time I blow out the candles,
they could. Witnessing every time I see a shooting star, I wish
Witnessing to the lost is a very for the same thing~I wish for inner
Talk about an upside-down security."
view of the world! They rejoiced upside-down idea. It goes against
in suffering! In America we have every grain in our body: we risk People are lonely.
the opportunity to proclaim Christ being rejected, we feel insignificant, Even though people have power,
anywhere, openly and without and we are proclaiming a message money, fame, worldly happiness, they
serious repercussions. But how many that no one really wants to hear. are desperately lonely. Albert Einstein
of us are actually engaged in sharing That is why so many Christians once said, "It is strange to be known
the gospel? Believers in the early struggle to do it. so universally and yet be so lonely."
church were put to death for it, yet
they rejoiced in their suffering. Too But we need to be open to God's People feel guilty.
timing. We must be willing to walk Even though our culture has lost
Chur
many of us are complacent about
it; we even complain that sharing through every door God opens. its sense of shame, it still has a sense
our faith is too difficult! The lost are all around us. of guilt. When people are all by them-
Christians have forgotten how selves, alone with time to think about
Becoming an upside-down be- valuable God's message is to a dying moral issues, they realize they are
liever means catching a vision for and empty world. Several key morally out of sync with the way they
the lost, understanding that every principles need to be remembered: know they should be. They know they
person on this planet who does not have violated moral laws.
believe in Jesus will go to hell for People are spiritually empty.
eternity. This burden should so over- During an interview, Barbara People are afraid to die.
whelm us that we are constantly on Walters once asked Richard Drey- When actor Dennis Hopper was
our knees asking God to use us for fuss what wish he would like to asked what he feared the most, he
his glory~ushering people into His have granted if he could have one responded in one word~death.
kingdom.
We need to allow the Holy Spirit
Published by Christian Book Summaries, Inc., 4654 Winery Way, Gahanna, Ohio to burn these truths into our lives.
43230-4231, December 1999. Published monthly. Subscription $59.95 in the
United States; $64.95 in Canada; and, by airmail, $79.95 in all other countries. When we can empathize with
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Christian Book Summaries,
1550 Lewis Center Rd., Suite G, Lewis Center, OH 43035-9925 our desperate world for Him. CB
S
5
THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS
Do we as Christians with His perfect and blameless right- Billy Graham, when presented
really believe that the world is dying eousness. We who were debtors are with the Congressional Medal of
and that people are in jeopardy of now debt-free. Honor, looked out over the crowd
going to hell? If we do, why aren't in Washington D.C. and said, "As I
We are adopted into God's family. look around at these statues of all of
we sharing our faith more openly, "Because you are sons, God has
more vigorously and more fearlessly? these great leaders, I realize that they
sent forth the Spirit of His son into have one thing in common. They are
A criminal in England condemn- your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, all dead. And you are all going to
ed to death was told by the witness- Father'" (Gal. 4:6). die. Are you ready to die? Are you
ing chaplain that Jesus Christ could This powerful, life-transforming ready to meet God?"
forgive him for all of his sins. The message reaches across every ethnic,
criminal turned around and said, cultural, and social barrier. It is the The good news of the gospel in-
"Do you believe that? Do you really greatest message man has ever been cludes some bad news.
believe that? If I believed that, I given. And it is one that we are com- Jesus is not just something
would willingly crawl across England manded to transmit to our world. that will make people happier. He is
on broken glass to tell men it was someone who will stop people from
true." The Gospel going to hell.
The
The church today is unable Unplugged A compromising gospel is no gospel.
to turn the world upside down for Often, the church is so wrapped The devil is a master at present-
Christ because the message that it up in presentation that it has forgot- ing false hope through false gospels.
preaches is not the whole gospel, ten the message. Here are several If we are truly saved, we must believe
but rather what its listeners want to points that every church pastor and that there is only one way to heaven~
hear. It has, in many cases, compro- congregation should remember. and that is through Jesus Christ,
mised the message for the sake of God's son. The church is in jeopardy
the messenger. The gospel is simple The gospel doesn't need our help.
of compromising the message so
e-Down
and yet very profound in its message: The Holy Spirit can convict
anyone anywhere with or without unbelievers will not be offended. We
We are acquitted of sin. our presentation techniques. need to trust God and the message
"Christ redeemed us from the that He has commanded us to preach.
curse of the law by becoming a curse The most effective message is Who knows? The person we fear
for us" (Gal. 3:13, NIV). a simple one. offending might fall on his face and
When asked if he could put the ask, "What must I do to be saved?"
We are allotted Christ's righteous- gospel message in a simple format, The Bible is replete with these very
ness. C.H. Spurgeon said, "I will put it expressions. If it happened in biblical
Not only did Christ willingly into four words for you. Christ Died days, it can happen today. CB
take our sins, but he replaced them For Me." S
WALK When
God calls
Four requirements of discipleship:
1. Love God more than anyone else.
rch
us to minister to the Our relationships with others may hinder our ability to disciple others.
WAY
job. But God consis-
tently used the "wrong The early believers knew what this phrase really meant: be willing to
person for the job" die for the sake of the gospel. In today's circles this phrase has taken on a
throughout the Bible. totally different meaning: Be willing to deal with put downs and scoffers.
Take Gideon. When God called him Are we willing to say that we will follow Jesus no matter what?
to lead the Israelites, he was hiding 3. Forsake all you have.
in fear. Then once he gathered an Jesus had no home; he possessed little if any material goods. We have
army to march against the Midianites, great wealth in this country, which is neither good nor bad, but how much
God decided to thin out his ranks. of it possesses us? We need to be willing to say, "Lord, all that I have is
Finally, with a mere few hundred yours, and I give it to you freely as you have freely given it to me."
men, Gideon defeated the Midianites continued on page 6
during a night raid. God calls us to
be upside-down. Are we listening? VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CHRISTIANSUMMARIES.COM
WALK THIS WAY continued from page 5
6
4. Count the cost.
God wants us to know up
front what we are getting into and
We think we need more than
the Word.
More and more churches are
PRACTICING
why we are getting into it. We must
understand the cost that Christ paid
on the cross for us. Then and only
then can we understand what little
leaning too much on the written
words of men~and not enough on
the written Word of God. Christian
books are not bad, but they must be
GOD’S
price we pay for so great a sacrifice.
When we begin to understand
the basic principles of being a Christ-
tempered with the Bible, for only
God's words have the power to
change a depraved heart into a right-
UPSIDE-
ian, God will begin to use us. We
will lead one person to Christ. And
soon one disciple becomes many,
and the gospel of Jesus is proclaimed
eous one.
We have itching ears.
The world at large has always
been enamored with spirituality, but
DOWN LOVE
The Way to Show
in places never imagined before. A when it creeps into our churches we the World
little salt can flavor the whole soup. are in great peril. Captivated with
One strong disciple of Jesus can turn Love is the key indicator of the
the newest and latest, we sometimes Christian's heart and soul. It is the
a community upside down. CB dismiss the old~including the Bible~
S key element that turns the world
as outdated and irrelevant for today's upside down. Most non-Christians
A READY generation.
OF PRAYER
God uses prayer as
“The right approach to prayer is
specific, focused, and heartfelt.”
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display to be "in spirit." But it when they didn’t feel like it.
does mean it can be." We need to worship God because
He is worthy of our praise~not be- ummaries
S
Worship Him cause we are in the mood to praise
in Truth Him. Scriptures tell us to rejoice in
Volume 1, Number 7
Effective worship draws on an the Lord always (Philippians 4:4).
Publishers
accurate understanding of who God “Ultimately we give thanks for the
is~His nature, character, plan, and David A. Martin
fact that God is still on the throne~
purposes~what we know to be true John S. Martin, III
no matter how bad things get...And
about Him. when we praise God in spite of Editor
"When we worship in truth, we difficult circumstances, that’s when Michael J. Chiapperino
are agreeing with God about who non-Christians will listen to what
we have to say.” Christian Book Summaries is published
He is, what He can do and has by Christian Book Summaries, Inc., 947
done, and what He is asking of When Paul and Silas suffered East Johnstown Rd., Suite 116, Gahanna,
us." in prison, they boldly worshiped God Ohio 43230. U.S. Copyright C1999 by
Our response, then, is lifting in the middle of their hardships. Their Christian Book Summaries, Inc.
Him up, recognizing we are bringing jailer was so touched by their faith All rights reserved. Reproduction in any
honor to a God who deserves our that his heart was opened to the form without the copyright owner's
praise and our adoration. gospel! written permission is prohibited.
“God wants us to engage in wor- They would not bow down to idols. The mission of Christian Book Summaries
is to enhance the ministry of thinking
ship with intelligence as well as Humans were created to worship Christians by providing thorough and
emotion as we learn to worship and we all do worship. Tragically, readable summaries of noteworthy books
Him ‘in spirit and in truth.’ ” many people worship gods of their from Christian publishers.
own making or false gods rather than
Upside-Down Praise giving full allegiance to the God of Customer Service: Annual subscription
Bowing down and paying homage the Universe. rate is $59.95 U.S. for 30 issues. Address
new subscription requests, change of
to anyone or anything has always They worshiped with their whole address notices, questions about billing
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One of the ways the early believers We worship God~or fail to do
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on the feet of Jesus as a way of dem- time and talents in His work. The Author: Greg Laurie, pastor of
onstrating her devotion and affec- CB Harvest Christian Fellowship in River-
tion. Although God does not need S side, California, began his preaching
our praise to boost His ego, He never- ministry at the age of 20. His popular
theless desires it. radio broadcast, "A New Beginning,"
is carried around the world. His evange-
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CHRISTIANSUMMARIES.COM listic Harvest Crusades have drawn over
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Coming Next Month: of the Billy Graham Evangelistic
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The Upside Down Church by Greg
WHEN CHRIST(Word)
COMES by Max Lucado Laurie, copyright C 1999 by Greg Laurie.
Summarized by permission of the publisher,
Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton,
Illinois. 219 pages. $16.97. ISBN 0-8423-
JESUS’ FINAL WARNING
(Word)
by David Jeremiah 7812-X. This book is available at most
bookstores, at any online bookseller (such
as amazon.com or parable.com) or by
THE WILL OF(Word)
GOD by Charles Swindoll calling Tyndale House Publishers direct
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