Fire On Your Head

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

This passage of scripture uses strong language. It leaves no room for error. It states its case plainly, pointedly and concisely.

In the Church, we all have three primary enemies: 1). The flesh; 2). The Devil; and 3). The world.

We see this referred to also in the Parable of the Sower: the world is represented as seed sown among thorns. They grow up and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Not that it bears no fruit at all, but that perhaps it bears no lasting fruit. It BECOMES unfruitful.

What do these thorns represent, specifically? The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the desire for other things, pleasures of this life, etc… Obviously, the love of the world.

We all naturally gravitate to that which we love most. We enjoy talking of those things that are most dear to us. We crave any new information or available knowledge of our favorite object of affection with great interest and excitement. We never think to complain of any cost or sacrifice that is necessary to pursue this object of our affection, but instead feel that it is well worth it.

Now, please bear with me here while I put some pointed questions to your own conscience, for the purpose of helping you to discover your own true spiritual condition, whether “the love of the Father” is in you or “the love of the world”.

The passage above states that,”if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him…“.

1). Has serving God become a boring routine to you?  Do you find yourself indulging more and more in worldly entertainment–even in some things with questionable content and/or subject matter–without first asking yourself, “will this glorify God? Will this set a good example in favor of holiness and will this be a positive influence to others of godliness? Will doing this demonstrate and exemplify “the love of the Father”, or “the love of the world?”

If these questions are unimportant to you , and instead, you presumptuously indulge your worldly lusts, you can be sure that you love the world and the things in it, and that the love of the Father is not in you.

2). What kind of things do you most enjoy talking about? Do you find your greatest pleasure discussing deeply spiritual subjects such as holiness, self-denial, prevailing prayer, healing the sick, driving our demons, the love of God, etc…? Or do you prefer discussing the latest worldly music, movies, entertainment and amusements? Remember, Jesus Christ Himself laid it down as a rule of our nature, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”.

3). When you do read God’s Word, is it hard to put it down because you are so hungry for God, or do you find its pages uninteresting and even boring? Do you love to spend time in prayer because you enjoy being with the father, or do you avoid prayer or feel inclined to keep it short so that you can get past it and on to something more enjoyable to you?

4). When you perform what you consider to be your Christian duties, do you feel relieved, and free once again to pursue your worldly enjoyments, as though you had fulfilled an obligation, or do you consider yourself a love-slave to Jesus Christ, and that everything you do,–whether you eat or drink or whatever you do–that it should be done for the glory of God?

My beloved brother, sister, whoever you are, remember that while you read these questions, God’s eye is pouring a searching blaze of light into your inmost heart.

Now, I won’t take it upon myself to accuse you or to decide the answer to these questions for you. I encourage you to examine yourself, listen to your conscience and allow the Spirit of God to search you and show you your true character, and show you whether you are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”.

If you no longer find pleasure in serving God or if you find MORE pleasure in worldly amusements, then you have left your first love and are a backslider in heart who is “filled with his own ways”.

If this is the case with you, I urge you, at once, to stop what you are doing, fall on you knees and repent, and do your first works. Your first work is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ. Otherwise, you CANNOT be His disciple.

Perhaps some of you are thinking, “this is legalism! this is bondage!”.
To whom is it legalism? If you PREFERRED God and loved Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you would find your greatest pleasure in pursuing Him, and anything that cooled off your zeal or took up time you could be spending in His fellowship, service or conversation would be repulsive to you. Legalism and bondage is when you perform your Christian duties out of a sense of obligation rather than out of love and because you prefer it. If you loved Him as you ought to, wouldn’t you want to talk of Him, His word and His great love?  Wouldn’t you find your greatest pleasure in pursuing Him and bringing sinners for whom He died into His family, so that “the Lamb that was slain may receive the reward of His suffering?

Remember the sad words of the Apostle Paul, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world”.

Your servant-brother,

Joel Crumpton

http://joelcrumpton.blogspot.com

There are many people in the body of Christ who are asking God these two questions:

“WHY? Why have I been prayed for to be healed, and yet, I’m still suffering?”

“WHEN? When, Lord, will I be healed?”

Perhaps some of you reading this have asked these two questions.
You have requested prayer. The pastor or a visiting evangelist laid hands on you for healing, but you stayed the same as before. You cannot help but wonder, “Why?”
You see in the scriptures that “…Jesus… went about doing good: healing ALL who were oppressed of the devil…” – Acts 10:38
You believe it is God’s will for you to be healed, based on the promises and provisions of the New Testament….and you are CORRECT!
So, now you ask, “When, Lord?”

I asked these same questions myself. You see, several years ago, I received a revelation about healing from Luke 4:18 and Matthew 10. I began to see multitudes healed on a regular basis OUTSIDE THE 4 WALLS OF THE CHURCH! But…inside the church, it was a completely different story.

This perplexed me and caused me much anguish. I spent much time of the next few years, praying, fasting and asking Father about it. Then, I received another great revelation from Scripture. As a result, I now see as many healed inside the Church as I do outside the Church.

The answer is found in several passages of scripture. We’ll look first at James 5:14-16:

“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

A great part of my failure INSIDE the Church, among BELIEVERS, was that I was trying to apply the same principles there as I was using in the “…As you go,…” area.

You see, our Lord Jesus, in the days of His flesh, healed ALL that were sick…BUT…NOT ONE OF THEM WAS A CHRISTIAN when He healed them! Many times, after healing them He would warn, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you!”

All Jesus required of these sinners to GET HEALED was enough faith to ALLOW Him to touch them and say, BE HEALED!…or RISE AND WALK!…

Now that Jesus has gone to the cross, died, been buried and has risen again from death, He has born-again children of God who sometimes need healing. We, as followers of Jesus Christ are no longer ignorant sinners. We are born of God! We Know Him! We have His words and we read them (or at least, we should). “To whom MUCH is given, Much is required”.

Notice verse 14 of James 5, “Is ANY sick AMONG YOU?” Then, in verse 16, “…confess your faults (sins) one to another, and pray one for another THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED…”

You see, my dear brother/sister, the Father requires something MORE of us!
As we will see in future articles on this subject as we go over a number of passages of scripture in detail, the primary hindrances to healing inside the Church, are bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness.

The Church at Corinth, in the days of the Apostle Paul, was faced with this same situation. Some of them had become sick and were not healed. Others became sick and actually died as a result. This brought up the inevitable question, “WHY?”

Paul endeavored to answer it in his first letter to the Corinthians. In 1Cor. 11:17-18(AMP):

“But in what I instruct [you] next I do not commend [you], because when you meet together, it is not for the better but for the worse. For in the first place, when you assemble as a congregation, I hear that there are cliques (divisions and factions) among you; and I in part believe it”.

Also, in verses 27-31(AMP),we read this concerning the taking of communion:

So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a way that is unworthy [of Him] will be guilty of [profaning and sinning against] the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man [thoroughly] examine himself, and [only when he has done] so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discriminating and recognizing with due appreciation that [it is Christ's] body, eats and drinks a sentence (a verdict of judgment) upon himself. That [careless and unworthy participation] is the reason many of you are weak and sickly, and quite enough of you have fallen into the sleep of death. For if we searchingly examined ourselves [detecting our shortcomings and recognizing our own condition], we should not be judged and penalty decreed [by the divine judgment].

Brothers and sisters in Christ, THERE IS HEALING IN THE ATONEMENT, and that is what communion represents. We can be healed as we partake, UNLESS WE PARTAKE UNWORTHILY, NOT DISCERNING THE LORD’S BODY!

We are commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to WALK IN LOVE, PERIOD!  We are even exhorted to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven. For He makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what thanks do you have…? And if you greet your brothers only, How are you different…? Be ye therefore perfect (mature, walking in love), even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect (loves His enemies).” – Matt. 5:44-48.

WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST!

Communion is a representation of His body. The bread represents His body. He took stripes on His body to provide for our healing. Are you beginning to get the picture here? Communion means “common-union”.  When we allow bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, envy, strife, jealousy, slander, etc… to have a place in us, we divide the body of Christ. These things hinder your faith and cause your heart to condemn you.

1 John 3:18-23:

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.  And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Perhaps you are thinking, “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY DID!”

The greater the offense – the greater the opportunity to exercise the God kind of love, and FORGIVE!

Remember the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis? His brothers did him wrong, and THEY WERE THE PEOPLE OF GOD!!! Did he hold it against them? No, and he wasn’t even born-again!

DO YOU WANT TO BE HEALED?  Forgive those who’ve wronged you.

Your servant-brother,

Joel Crumpton

If you would like to hear more on this subject and go further in depth with both *being* healed, and ministering healing you may want to listen to our two part series of our Fire On Your Head Podcast

“Are Any Among You sick?”

Download this episode (right click and save)

“As you Go, Heal the Sick!”

Download this episode (right click and save)

There are so many in the Church who are always complaining that God does not REQUIRE them to spend hours in prayer, or that they do not feel LED to do this or that. They are content with doing only those things that they are certain God requires of them. Only the very least that they can do without feeling guilty.

But is this the proper attitude of one who loves the Lord with ALL their heart, soul, mind and strength?

Would a truly loving wife want to do only those things that she was certain her husband has asked her to do? Or would a husband who loves his wife as he should, want to do the least he could for his wife without feeling guilty?

Is it not those soldiers who do more than they are required to do who receive the metal for bravery and heroism?

Those who risk their own lives to save others will receive the highest honor.

In Luke 17, Jesus uses the example of a servant who does only what he was commanded to do. He ends by saying, “When you have done ALL that you are commanded to do, say, ‘we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do”.

What kind of crown will you have on coronation day to cast down before the feet of King Jesus?

Will it be a “card-board”, Burger King crown? Or will it be something worthy of the King?

Those who get promoted and honored are those who go above and beyond the call of duty. We have the example of Paul, of Peter, of the hero’s of the faith in Hebrews 11 and of our Lord Jesus Christ!

We must never allow ourselves to be motivated by guilt or fear in our service of the King of kings. “Neither circumsision nor uncircumsision avails anything: but FAITH which WORKS by LOVE”.

When we spend much time alone with Jesus, we see His heart. We understand how intensely He desires that sinners should be saved from sin and damnation, and that backsliders should return to their first love. We become zealous and bold to bring them back to Him.

When David’s mighty-men were close enough to him to overhear him thinking out loud that he greatly desired a drink of water from the well in Bethlehem, they risked their lives to get it for him without having to be told. They did it not out of a sense of duty, but out of love for their king.

We know how great His love for us is.

How great is our love for Him?

What are we prepared to do?

Check out this video on The Obedience of Faith

No one likes to think about going to hell. In fact, most people presume that they will go to heaven when they die. But, it was the Lord Jesus Christ who said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven: but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven. MANY will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? And in your name have cast out demons? and in Your name done many miracles? But I will profess to them: “I never knew you: Depart from Me! You who practice lawlessness” Matt.7:21-23.

It is not enough to just say that you believe in God. Believing in the existence of God won’t save you from His wrath on Judgment Day, any more than believing in the existence of a parachute would save you when you jump out of a plane at 20,000 ft. You would need to put-on the parachute and understand how to use it, and actually pull the “rip-cord”! Otherwise, all your believing would not save you from certain death.

Jesus warns us to “…Strive to enter in at the ’small’ gate: for MANY, I say to you will seek to enter that way, and will not be able”. -Lu. 13:24.

Also, in verses 25-30 Jesus reveals what it will be like on Judgment Day. He will say to the righteous on that Day, “Well done! My good and faithful servant; Enter into the joys of your Lord!”

He will say to the wicked, “I never knew you: Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!”.

I solemnly urge all my friends & readers to ask your conscience this most important question: “In my present spiritual condition, if I should die today, which of these 2 statements would the Lord Jesus Christ say to me?”

Titus 1:15-16 reads, “Unto the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure: but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him: being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate”.

There were 2 very important reasons Jesus chose to suffer and die on the cross. The first reason is, that all of us have broken a most important law. Every one knows it’s wrong to lie, especially when THEY are the subject of the lie. Everyone knows it’s wrong to steal when someone steals from them. Everyone knows adultery is wrong when their husband or their wife does it. God has an obligation to punish all those who do these things.

The second reason for the cross is that every one of us is part of the ultimate statistic: 10 out of every 10 people will die. In fact, in the next 24 hours, approximately 146,000 people will die around the world. Perhaps, some of you will be in that number. Perhaps I will. Only God knows.

Please know that I love you all. I love you enough to tell you the truth. And please consider, this is not just my opinion. My opinion would not matter any more than anyone else’s. This is the Word of God! And these are the written words of The Lord Jesus Christ! It was He who suffered on a cruel cross to save us from our sins and the punishment you and I deserve.

He has prepared a salvation for each of us IF we will just meet His conditions of repentance, faith and continued obedience.

Remember, Jesus said, “...he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved“. -Mk.13:13.

It is alarming that many who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ will look everywhere else except the Word of God to establish their opinion about what God requires of humanity in order to escape the lake of fire and to gain eternal life in heaven. But, our opinions cannot change what God has said as recorded in the Bible. Many profess to believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of Almighty God. But how many of us LIVE in such a way as to show that we believe it to be true?

2Cor.5:17 says, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold (see), ALL THINGS are become new.”

To all who read this note, allow me to address your conscience:

How is it with YOU?…

Have you become a new creature in Christ?

Are those people who knew you before forced to acknowledge that, there must have been a true work of Christ that could have resulted in such a radical change in YOU as they witness from day to day?

Can they see that you have set your affections on things above? Or are you “…earthly, sensual, devilish?” -Js.3:15.

Have old things passed away?

Have ALL things become new?

If NOT, you need to question your salvation! You cannot afford to be deceived about this most important subject.

Jesus Christ puts it like this:

“What shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” -Mk.8:36-37.

If we do not allow Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, we deceive ourselves if we imagine we are merely saved from the consequences. If we are not pursuing perfect holiness in the fear of God, God’s word warns us, “…without which, no man shall see the Lord.” -Hebrews 12

God can only require that we love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

He does not require that we exceed our natural ability to love Him. Inability has never been the ground of our failure to please Him. It is our unwillingness to love, to trust and to obey Him that is the grounds for our guilt before a just and holy God.

We are under obligation to love, trust and obey God to the extent of our ability. God cannot, justly, require more from us.

BUT… our unwillingness to do these things forces us to see the great wickedness of our heart, and is the reason for our guilt and danger until and unless we repent and believe the Gospel.

What is a backslider?  How do know that you are not a backslider?  The Bible warns us that “the backslider in heart shall be filled with His own ways“.  Allow me to ask your conscience a few pointed questions to allow you to “examine yourself, whether you be in the faith“, and if you see that you are, in fact, backslidden in heart, you would certainly want to know wouldn’t you?  If you have no concern about this then you are not a backslider, but a hypocrite. If, after examining yourself in the light of these questions, you see that you have backslidden, you must immediately return to your “first-love” and do your “first-works” or else…
Consider:
If you have lost your spiritual appetite, and have developed an appetite for the things of this life, you are beginning to backslide, and must repent and return to Christ.
If you have lost your zeal for the lost, and are less involved in soul-winning than you once were, you are sadly backslidden.
If your friends and family have commented that you are beginning to return to your old ways, you are definitely backslidden in heart. If you can remember a time when you were more intimate with the Lord, and more on fire for souls and more fervent in prayer than you are right now, then you are definitely backslidden and must repent. If you were ever truly converted to Christ and born of God, you know what it is to love Him more than anything, and to be willing to lay down your life and take up your cross to follow Him. So if you have layed these things aside, you can be sure that you are a backslider in heart.

If you prefer watching a movie or just “hanging out” with your friends instead of attending a prayer meeting, you can be sure that you are a backslider. While a Christian’s heart is ablaze with the love of God, the prayer meeting will be the most important and interesting event of the week. But when the heart is backslidden, prayer is a burden, and a backslider will use any excuse to avoid meetings that bring him into such close communion with God. Therefore, if you find yourself neglecting early morning prayer-meetings without good reason (by the way, self-denial is a condition of discipleship according to our Lord Jesus Christ), or any scheduled prayer-meeting, this is strong evidence that you are backslidden in heart.
If you find yourself reading God’s word more as a duty, than as pleasure, know for certain that you are backslidden in heart. While the love of God remains in your heart, no book is as precious to you as the word of God. To read it and meditate on the scriptures is as satisfying to you as a good meal is to a hungry man. But, when you have left your first-love, you begin to fill your heart and mind with other things, and even the thought of reading God’s word is somewhat repulsive to you.
When we indulge in junk food we have no appetite for the healthy nutrients that make our bodies strong and able to fight off disease. In the same way, when we indulge in worldly amusements and entertainment, we have no appetite for godliness. Therefore, if you notice that you are making time for worldly entertainment or amusements, but find that you have little or no time to pray or read and sudy the word of God, it is because you really don’t have a heart for godly things. Therefore, you see prayer and Bible study as a duty instead of an awesome privilege. You have abandoned your first-love, have come again under the control of a self-pleasing spirit and must repent deeply or nothing will change. It will only get worse.

The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways.
You know you are a backslider if you are always feeling condemned. You attend meetings at Church, and you know you’d rather be somewhere else, so you feel condemned. You stay away from meeting and you feel condemned also. You try to read your Bible and your heart is not into it, so you feel condemned. You neglect your Bible and you feel condemned also. You try to spend time in prayer, and your heart and mind wander and do not get into it, so you feel condemned. You neglect to pray and feel condemned also.

Why?
Because you are a backslider! You have left your first love. You have become a “lover of pleasure more than a lover of God”.
If you are a backslider, you will notice that you no longer have a tender conscience about little things. Now your conscience has become “seared as with a hot iron”. The small things that once bothered you don’t seem so bad now. When a person backsides, they will make allowances for things that Jesus Christ would NEVER allow. A backslider in heart will go to a video store, and they are pulled to the PG-13 and R rated movies. They don’t want to watch something clean. Clean movies are boring to the backslider. If you are a backslider, you will notice that you are becoming more and more “worldly-minded” and less and less “spiritually-minded”. Many times, backsliders will get with other professing Christians who are cold also, and all of them will waste hours of precious time filling their mind with vain amusments and worldly entertainment. When confronted, they will reply, it’s not “that bad”.
WHAT!
Remember,”you are bought with a price, and you are not your own”.
When the heart is right, worldly amusements and entertainment are repulsive. When the heart is full of the love of Christ, it finds it’s greatest enjoyment in prayer, winning souls, searching the scriptures and worshiping the Lord. But when the heart is backslidden, these things are boring and repulsive, and you will instead fill up all your free time with worldly things.

Would a true follower of Jesus waste hours watching sports on television, perhaps even wasting God’s money, that they should be using to build up His Kingdom to purchase more and larger entertainment centers. Have you forgotten that you have surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? All your time, all your talents, your possessions, your money, your influence, are no longer your own, to do with as you please. Remember, “Whoever does not forsake all that He has cannot be my disciple”.

How is it with YOU?

Was there a time when you were more zealous, more useful, prayerful, tenderhearted and loving than you are today? Are you drawing closer or sliding backward?
Are you now trusting in your good works to save you or are you trusting in the blood of Christ?
Are you seeking worldly pleasures or do you find your greatest pleasure in serving Jesus Christ.
We naturally enjoy spending time with the one we love most, and we naturally find our greatest pleasure in doing the things that please them. We are jealous of anything that would get in the way of that, or that might grieve the one we love. So, if you find yourself gaining interest in things that grieve the Spirit of God or that occupy the time you once spent in His presence and service, then you are a backslider in heart. You are filled with your own ways.
Listen to your conscience. It will do no good to pretend you are not backslidden when you know you are not as on fire for God as you once were. Unless you return to God now you will not get better, you will only grow worse. Why continue to grieve the Spirit of the Lord and harden your heart?
Allow the Holy Spirit to bring godly sorrow upon you that works repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. Humble yourself NOW, return to your first love and be renewed and revived. Then do your first works over again.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Check out this video by Joel Crumpton called Have You Backslidden?

If you know how to pretend to be on fire for God in the presence of professing Christians, when you are, in fact, as cold as ice, you are a hypocrite.
If you spend more time praying, reading the Bible, Worshiping, etc… in church when others are watching, than you do in secret when only God is watching,YOU MIGHT BE A HYPOCRITE.
If you are more concerned about how you appear in the eyes of mortal men than how you appear in the eyes of The all-seeing God, you are a hypocrite.
Those who say there are a lot of hypocrites in “the Church” should consider two things.

1. Hypocrites are not TRUE Christians. They are only pretending to be. They go to Church services because it is part of their act. They are actors.
2. They are not really IN “The Church”, because they have never been born “from above”.
   They may be able to deceive everyone else, but they cannot fool God, and they are also aware that they are faking. If you pretend long enough you can get pretty good at it.

Judas Iscariot was a hypocrite. He could have been nominated as “best actor”. Even when Jesus told His disciples, “one of you will betray Me“, no one suspected Judas. When Jesus said to him, “what you do, do quickly”, the others thought he was going to give money to the poor. He was a good actor.

Are you a good actor?

I have noticed an alarming trend in our day of pastors of churches, who rarely, if ever preach an evangelistic message in their services. They seem to have lost their zeal for souls. Perhaps they have even left their first love. In some cases, pastors don’t feel it is their calling to win souls. However, Paul, writing to Timothy who was a pastor, encouraged him to “…do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry.”
Why should pastors preach evangelistic messages regularly?

Shouldn’t they just teach and encourage?  There are several reasons.

First, when people visit a church service for the first time, a wise pastor should assume the possibility that they may be there because either they have been backslidden, and God is trying to draw them back to Himself, or they are unsaved and someone has been praying for them. Backsliders can often appear to be right with God. Having experience on how to worship as a believer and speak Christianese, they may appear to be simply someone who is new to the area, and is looking for a good Church. At the very least, a pastor should assume they need an opportunity to get things right with God, and spend the last 5-10 minutes of his preaching in preparing for a call to repentance.

Most congregations are made up of believers at different levels of maturity and skill in winning souls. But mark this down, anyone who professes to be a Christian, but has no zeal for souls is a hypocrite! He or she is only pretending to be a Christian. Those who are not as skillful, but who are full of zeal for souls will learn from the example of their pastor, and while they are learning, they will be greatly encouraged to bring their unsaved friends, family and neighbors to the Church services, knowing they can expect their pastor give an altar-call and bring them to Christ.

But, suppose they bring that lost neighbor, and the pastor neglects to draw the net, or perhaps even to throw out the net. In such a case, the believer get’s discouraged. He becomes vexed and heart broken. Perhaps it had taken him months to convince this person to attend to the preaching of his pastor. Now the service is over, and his friend is still lost.

I have seen the result when new converts are all full of zeal and love for souls. Often, with a faithful minister, there will be a kind of “chain of grace”, in which each new convert begins to bring in all their lost friends and neighbors, and these are converted. Then these also do the same, and so on. Before long, you have revival: a building filled with zealous new believers who hunger to be trained and taught on the subjects of prayer, holiness, soul winning, and all the various Christian graces.

-thatjoelguy

1. Always give the altar call before you preach, otherwise, sinners and backsliders might understand what they are getting into, and be truly converted.

2. Make sure you ask everyone to close their eyes and bow their head, that way you will both grieve the Holy Spirit and you will give sinners the impression that following Jesus is something they should be ashamed of.

3. Avoid making the impression that sinners are expected to repent publicly NOW, otherwise they may feel a sense of urgency, and actually be converted.

4. Don’t mention the particular sins of which you know some of your congregation to be guilty, otherwise, they will take it personally, and may get under conviction and be converted.

5. Always rush through the altar call, then sinners will not have time to consider the enormity of their crimes against God, count the cost,respond and be soundly converted.

6.Remember not to give a strong, urgent altar call at every service, otherwise, those who are unskillful in winning souls might be encouraged to bring their unsaved neighbors to Church, knowing they can always count on an altar call being given.

7. When giving an altar call, be vague, and ask ,”if anyone needs more of God or prayer for anything, feel free to come forward!” That way, sinners will more easily obtain a false hope, and grieve away the Spirit of God.

8. Be more concerned about your own popularity than you are about the glory of God and the salvation of souls, otherwise God will work with you and sinners and backsliders will be convicted and converted to Christ.

9. If you really want to ruin an altar-call, avoid prayer as much as you can. Then you will be doing the work in your own strength, and few, if any will be soundly converted.

If you avoid these instructions, you are in danger of being successful in winning souls to Christ, obtaining the help of the Holy Spirit, building up the Kingdom of God and being extremely useful to God in this life.