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Saturday, July 31, 2010

BEYOND – Following Jesus to a place you have never been (applied)
My Observations of the North American Christian Convention – 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

By Glen M. Copple,
Minister of the Word
New Hope Gospel Ministries
Home of Getting To Know Jesus

I would like to share some observations from attending the North American Christian Convention July 6-9 in Indianapolis. Although I have attended other NACC in previous years, this is my first time to have a booth to promote the Getting To Know Jesus Bible study ministry that God has called me to. It was a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to present the solution to the problem most stated at the convention. Let me explain.

I listened with intensity as Ben Cachiaras and Brian Jones talked about the problem that the United States and our churches have gotten away from the Gospel. In the opening session on Tuesday evening, Ben specifically said that the church in America is losing ground. He inquired as to whether people are being transformed by Christ. He called us to repent and believe. Ben called us to join Jesus in what He is doing, but the only way we are going to know that is to study His life and teachings from the Annunciation to the Ascension. That can powerfully be accomplished by Getting To Know Jesus – a complete Bible study of every event in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

On Wednesday morning, Brian Jones challenged us to trust Jesus to lead us. Isn’t Jesus smart enough to do so? He mentioned the ignorance of the Christians in our churches. The solution is to study every event in Jesus’ life. We should desire to build a passionate, personal and powerful relationship with Jesus so we will become more like Him. Brian lamented how many churches evangelize, baptize and then say to the new believer, “You are now on your own. Grow and flourish.” Yet they don’t teach them about Jesus so He can come in and complete His work in their lives.
Brian ended his message with a call: “Who is going to make this happen?” I wanted to scream, “Here I am, send me.” God has already put in place a Bible study series of every event in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ to address the main issues of this convention. Getting To Know Jesus is a study tool that is designed to stop the continuing trend of churches getting soft on the Gospel and not being strong institutions in their communities.

On Thursday, Francis Chan called us to action challenging us to “Get BEYOND where we’ve been the past few decades.” He said that we have separated hearing the Word of God from living it. He inquired about what percentage of the people in our churches don’t even know the Great Commission. He asked why we receive Jesus into our heart but do nothing to lean about Him or live by His example.

I don’t know a better way to address the issues Francis put before us than to start a Getting To Know Jesus Bible study group in every church in the United States. That will fulfill the part of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) that we seem to forget: “…Teach them to observe ALL I have commanded you…” When we spend time studying the life of Jesus, our love for Him will grow. Our knowledge of right and wrong will guide us to change our behavior. Our desire to engage the world will increase to the point that we will be looking and acting like a people that sincerely loves and follows Jesus Christ.

The theme: “BEYOND – Following Jesus to a place you’ve never been” was well chosen. My challenge is how can you follow Jesus to a place you have never been if you haven’t studied His life and teachings? The solution is to study every event in the life and teachings of Jesus and teach others from what you learn. As you get to know Him more completely, He will come inside you and change you from the inside out. He will plant a passion and a power that you have either forgotten or never experienced.

We have forgotten our roots, our heritage, our calling as Christians. I have observed it from my days as a college student from forty years ago. Christians became complacent, silent, liberal in theology (God is dead, the miracles aren’t true, Jesus didn’t really die, etc.) and stopped engaging the culture. We sat silently by as the ACLU, atheists and other anti-Christian groups came in, corrupted our churches, homes, communities and government. Now we are starting to sound the alarm bells, but who is doing anything but talk about it?

The Getting To Know Jesus Bible study series starts with the Inter-testament period and touches every event recorded in the four Gospels. Instead of a theological treatise, it is written to be a life-application study of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The lessons are written with the Bible text from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for that lesson included. Everything that is needed to get to know all about the life of Christ is in each lesson.

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) challenges us to “…Teach them ALL that I (Jesus) have commanded you…” Getting To Know Jesus does exactly that. It teaches us all that Jesus taught and helps us apply it to our lives today. Men like Bob Russell, Joe Garmin, Joe Grana, Woodrow Kroll and others have examined the Getting To Know Jesus Bible Study Series and endorsed this study tool as a much-needed solution to the problems our churches and nation are facing today.

Let’s get down to some action! Start by teaching everyone in your church about the complete life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Let Him change them from the inside out. As Jesus becomes deeply implanted in their lives, they will pick up the “sword” (Bible) and engage the community. That will strengthen marriages, communities and help us to put leaders into government that will be obedient to God instead of thinking that they are god.

The only way we are going to seriously and lastingly get our nation back to being “One Nation Under God” is to involve everyone in our church and every church in studying the life of Christ. When we spend time studying Jesus’ life, we will naturally become more like Him. Studying His life and teachings will empower us to take on those who speak out against Christ and silence them in their shame and sin.

Many people claim to know Jesus, but an examination of the lives of so many in your church doesn’t reflect that they “KNOW” Jesus. How many men are delving in pornography? Would Jesus do that? How many couples are living together or having an affair with someone they are not married to? Would Jesus do that? How many people are cheating on their taxes, embezzling, stealing or breaking the law in some other way, yet claiming to be upstanding and committed Christians? Would Jesus do that?

There is a need for every church to be Getting To Know Jesus. There is a Bible study tool already written and available for people to be Getting To Know Jesus. New Hope Gospel Ministries has the material already written and in place. They can be reached at www.gettingtoknowjesus.org. Let’s work together to turn this nation back to Christ.

If we truly want to follow the theme BEYOND – Following Christ to a place you have never been, then we owe it to ourselves to get our friends together and get serious about studying every event in Jesus’ life as our Lord, Savior and role model.

Let’s start a revolution of Christians in the United States who are truly a RESTORATION MOVEMENT – Restoring the authority and life of Christ as our pattern for how we live and engage the world.

God Bless America (and in turn, we better be serious about blessing God)