Saints, beloved of God,
I hope you are well. May God be growing each of us, and continuing to teach our hearts of His supreme worth.
Our Next Meeting is this Monday evening (9/28), and will be the beginning of a short series.
Here are the details....
Location: Library 3rd floor
Time: 6-8pm
Topic: "Journey in the Gospel" plus "Justification: Doctrine, Apologetics, and Life-Application"
During this series, part of our time will be spent enjoying some of the study "Journey in the Gospel" by Paul Washer. We'll also be taking a closer look at the wonderful truth of "justification" and it's impact on our doctrine, sharing of the Gospel, and the entirety of our lives.
Charles Spurgeon writes, “In these days I feel bound to go over and overagain the elementary truths of the gospel. In peaceful times we may feelfree to make excursions into interesting districts of truth which lie farafield; but now we must stay at home, and guard the hearts and homes ofthe church by defending the first principles of the faith. In this age therehave risen up in the church itself men who speak perverse things. Therebe many that trouble us with their philosophies and novel interpretations,whereby they deny the doctrines they profess to teach, and underminethe faith they are pledged to maintain. It is well that some of us, whoknow what we believe, and have no secret meanings for our words,should just put our foot down and maintain our standing, holding forththe word of life, and plainly declaring the foundation truths of the gospelof Jesus Christ” (The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol.32, p.385).
CHANGE Collegian Network UPDATE:
From the Field: This new section of the blog will post short summaries from CCN members about their experience sharing the Gospel on campus. It will be an encouragment to each other in being proactive with this Good News, and offer the "Lesson" learned by the evangelizing student. Our campus is so big, and it's so hard for us to always know what's going on with each other, so I thought seeing the actual evanglizing work God is doing on campus would be a blessing. The story of what God has done will be an encouragement for the group, so for God's glory any CCN member can email a "From the Field" segment to me at anytime, which will be put on the blog! ccn@iupui.edu). The first "From the Field" piece is below!
"Origin" into Schools: In November, we will be teaming up with Living Waters Ministries and the Good Messengers to bring FREE Copies of "Origin of Species" to students at IUPUI! The catch? The book is printed by Living Waters with a clear debunking of Evolution and a Gospel message in the introduction! We plan to reserve tables throughout campus as rally points for the distribution, and anyone able to help out is appreciated! What a creative way to get the Gospel in people's hands, and start conversations at IUPUI. The above video explains more! The Blog: More and more updates and resources will be posted to the blog in the days to come!
Prayer Requests from CCN IUPUI: Please pray God will bring revival among our group and ultimately to IUPUI. Pray that we might see our own sin and how much we've been forgiven, that we might have much love towards our God, each other, and the lost. That we might be humbly taking up our crosses, with the joy of the Lord as our strength, and we might boldly speak as we ought for Christ, proclaiming His unadulterated Good News to all. That the unity of God's Spirit would be among us through Christ, growing us in purity, and powerfully sanctifying us, for His Name's sake among the lost.
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FROM THE FIELD:
Location: Campus Center
This last week, I found myself in the Campus Center with about 3o minutes until my next commitment. I saw a young man sitting by himself on the first floor, and by God's grace alone, was moved to go share the News with him. From start to finish, the work was of God! I gave him a tract to begin the conversation and he warmly received it. I told him what it was and asked him if he had a minute to talk. To my surprise he offered me the seat across from him. From there, we talked for about 20 minutes about the Gospel. He said he used to go to church and different youth groups pretty consistently, but over time just "got away from it." At first, he said that thought he was an "okay" person, but definitely "not perfect." It seemed God had already been showing him his sin before we met, and he listened intently during our whole conversation. Thanks to God's Spirit moving, with His Word (primarily His law), I helped him see that by God's standard, he's not "okay," but is actually at enmity with God, and as far as I could tell, God was convincing this boy of his desperate state. All he could keep saying was that he "never heard any of this before."
Praise God, his mouth really was stopped (Romans 3:19) from justifying himself, and I asked if He knew what God did for him. He couldn't really say! I was able to lay out the Good News before him and, in a sense, blow the sand off of the lines that exist between his current belief system and God's Word. Again, the whole conversation he kept saying how he "never heard this before" or "never had anyone explain this." We spoke much about justice, and how his biggest problem is that God is is good and can "by no means clear the guilty." (Exodus 34:7). Then we talked about the substitutionary death of Jesus in his place and the implications of His resurrection from the dead. Then we talked about Christ's return and His call to repent and believe. He seeme genuinely convicted of his sin, and followed the patterns of thought very clearly when he heard the Gospel. Shortly after, he had to leave, so we ended on that note, and I refered him to the tract and website if he had any questions. He thanked me for taking the time to talk with him, and gladly gave me his email.
All in all, it was a beautiful and blessed encounter. It is a wonderful and fearful thing to see the Spirit of God moving, and it's so clear that God is the One who seeks people and brings them to life through His News! He also gets the credit for moving this oftentimes hesitant evangelist. I won't be surprised if I see this young man again, and hope to follow up via email. Please pray for Zach.
Lesson: There really are hearts whom God is calling to Himself on campus, and there are children of God at IUPUI who have yet to hear the Gospel of their salvation! Not everyone you approach with the intention of sharing the Good News is going to laugh at you or tell you to get lost. May we trust God! He wants to save, even more than we are willing to be used of Him in the process. May we find joy in bringing the news to those who reject it and those who receive it, because the ultimate purpose is God's glory and seeing the Name of Christ be lifted up!
Also, don't forget where you came from! Remember the terrible state of knowing you are guilty, but not knowing you are forgiven in Christ, and consider that there are people out there whom God is awakening, but who need the Good News! You might be the first one to verbally share the true Gospel with someone whom God is causing to thirst for righteousness! - JB
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I hope to see you all soon.
Grace to you in Him,
John
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