People Sharing Jesus

People have many reasons for accepting Holy books.  Some of those reasons depend solely on the testimony of one witness.  The bible on the other hand is made up of writings that span 2000 years or more by a large number of authors and yet presents a common theme.  Having said this, I have a rather interesting test for the authenticity of the Scripture.

For me, it all comes down to what you think about Jesus.  If you believe that he was just another charismatic rabbi, then you might well reject the Scripture.  But if you accept the testimony of his resurrection from the dead, then everything hinges on that one event.  Having carefully studied the issue for a lifetime, I am more convinced than ever that Jesus Christ conquered death and thus changed human history.  Since I believe that is true, I must ask myself what it means.  It means that every claim he made has been backed up by a historical phenomenon that was widely attested and convincingly proclaimed by those willing to die for what they believed.  He claimed that the Scriptures point to himself.  Upon examination, I find that to be true.  I believe the Bible is true because it bears witness to the one who is the truth.

The Old Testament says, “Someone is coming.”

The gospels say, “Someone has come.”

The epistles say, “Someone is coming again.”

Wherever I read in Scripture, I see signposts pointing me toward Jesus.  He once said, “You search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and they testify about me.” (John 5:39)

Dan Wooldridge

The Psalmist confidently wrote, “The Heavens are declaring the glory of God. . .” (Psalm 19)  He was right; more than he knew, but not more than the Spirit who inspired him.  There is an abundance of information in every particle of the universe and in every cell of our bodies.  This fact was not lost on Francis Collins, who headed the human genome project.  There was a time when Collins did not believe in God and in fact never gave God much thought.  While working as a physician, he worked with a patient of great faith.  She asked him about his beliefs and exposed his own sense of carelessness in regard to investigating the possibilities of faith in God.  He reached out to an intellectual pastor and asked him if there was any rational basis for faith.  The pastor gave him a copy of MERE CHRISTIANITY by C. S. Lewis.  That began a journey that prepared his heart for the amazing discoveries of his work as a scientist.  Collins points out that there is intricately detailed information in DNA.  This information if found in any other context would automatically cause one to expect that someone planted it there.  He documents his thoughts in the book, THE LANGUAGE OF GOD.

A helpful analogy for the discovery of the wealth of intricate and detailed information to be found in both the vast universe and in living things is as follows:

Imagine that I was walking on a beach one day and saw a set of large sea shells arranged in such a way as to spell out on the sand my name, Dan Wooldridge.  I could choose to believe that somehow the creatures who once inhabited these shells died in just the right spot to allow their shells to wash up and rise from the sand to reveal my name, or that hermit crabs just happened to tow them there and randomly leave them in this configuration.  If either of these were my conclusion, I would be regarded as foolish and childish.  The most likely scenario would be that some person placed these shells in such a way as to spell my name.  The information encoded in DNA and in the vast array of scientific discoveries being made is infinitely superior to the phenomenon of shells spelling my name on a beach, and yet many are determined to believe that all of these things are random chance.  Sounds foolish to me.

Dan Wooldridge

The most frequent objection to faith is the one raised by the existence of suffering in the world and the idea that a good God could not possibly allow it.  I am always a little puzzled at this argument.  If you insist on seeing God as standing back with his hands in his pockets and aloof from all that happens that is an inadequate view.  The world is broken because of sin.  The Scriptures clearly teach this.  The reality is that vastly more people suffer because of mankind’s inhumanity toward others than because of natural disasters.  Clearly we know that human suffering is a testimony to the brokenness of man in the area of brutality by governments and individuals.  The Scripture further asserts that natural disaster is an extension of the storm that rages in the human soul and comes because of a created order that is in upheaval as it awaits our redemption.  (Romans 8:22)

Perhaps the most powerful reason that the existence of suffering does not phase my faith is that our God has entered into that suffering directly through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Now I realize that if you are a skeptic, you are not ready to accept this, but you really ought to consider it.  Jesus emphatically answered the issue of suffering by “tasting death for every man.”  He drank the cup of suffering and the sin that brought it into the world and defeated it on the cross.  He arose from the dead declaring that this present age would come to an end and that those who trust and follow him will enter a new world that has been redeemed.  The curse of sin that lies behind the world’s suffering has been broken and will finally be defeated.  A new day is coming.  Rather than declare the idea that a loving God would do something, perhaps you should become familiar with what God has already done and is doing.  Consider the tsunami of 2004.  You really should hear the amazing stories of what Christians the world over have done to minister to the nations affected by that disaster.  Though many of the people affected were Muslim, it was by and large the Christians of the world who rushed in to minister with food, clean up, compassion, and countless acts of kindness.  Even some of the natives in those countries were astounded and came away with a completely different view of the Christian faith.  This did not happen by accident.  Christians serve a God who cares and who compels them to care as well.  Suffering may cause some to doubt.  It causes me to think of the one who suffered so that there would be a day when all suffering would cease.

Dan Wooldridge

The more I read in the marketplace of ideas that find their way out onto the internet, the more that I am aware of a growing number of people who do not accept the truths of Christian faith at all.  Many who would say that they are Christians, when quizzed carefully, are more in step with agnostics and atheists than they are with biblical Christianity.  I want to attempt a series of blogs that speak to those who are skeptical.  I would encourage parents who are concerned about young people to refer them to these articles as a point of discussion.  In past series of this sort I have exchanged emails with numerous people who were questioning key issues and wanted a direct dialogue with me.  dan@peoplesharingjesus.com  is the address to send such notes to.  I will answer as many as I can as soon as I can.

Let me open up this series with a brief word about natural revelation.  Even without the use of a bible or the introduction of Jesus Christ, mankind has developed a keen awareness of something more than physical existence.  Long before the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus many of the same truths were recorded in ancient documents and cultures.  Why is it that mankind has recognized certain things such as the supernatural origin of the universe and the existence of moral codes even in times and places where there are no bibles and the name of Jesus was unknown?  Immanuel Kant, who was certainly no preacher, nailed the issue with this famous quote.  “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily reflection is occupied with them:  the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”

When Kant made this statement we did not nearly know so much about cosmology as we do today.  We now know that the universe had a beginning.  All research keeps underscoring this fact.  Scientist have always known that every effect has a cause.  What caused all of these wonders to come into being?  Scientists who are determined to lock God out of the discussion are scrambling to find solutions.  One of their attempts is to state that this is one of many universes.  The hope of those proposing this is that the obviously fine tuned universe would not be so hard to explain if it were a random accident occurring in the midst of billions of universes being churned out of some kind of universe machine.  There is absolutely no evidence for this theory and yet to read atheist scientists you would think we had a snapshot of the machine producing the universes.  No one seems to think to ask who made the machine.  In my opinion there is vastly more evidence for an intelligent being as the source for all of this intricate design than for a lame theory such as this which is pure speculation without a shred of evidence.  Allan Sandage, who recently passed away, must have thought so too.  He became a believer as a result of his study of the cosmos.  He is regarded as one of the greatest cosmologists in history.  He was once a Jewish atheist, but came to believe in God and is reported to have embraced the Christian faith as well. He flatly stated in print that the universe must have been created by a supernatural agent, and that nothing else makes sense.  This is quite a statement from one widely regarded as the greatest cosmologist of the modern era.  He actually said that his science led him to faith.  He became a Christian at the age of fifty.

As to the moral law within, those who claim that there is no God should be intellectually honest enough to say also that there is no right and wrong.  The idea that right and wrong are social constructs for the well being of society and do not arise from within mankind is simply  untenable.  We cannot have it both ways.  We cannot assert the survival of the fittest among animals and then switch over and say that it benefits mankind to avoid murder.  Animals have no sense of shame other than what might be imposed upon a pet as a result of discipline.  If you have ever had a chicken killing dog, you know that you just cannot shame them into repentance.  Shame and conscience are built into the human heart.  Those who would deny this live by a double standard.  They state that the conscience is only a social construct and yet complain if their possessions are pilfered.  If there is no God, there is no credible basis for the existence of right and wrong.  Very few atheists or agnostics are willing to go down that path.  Nietzsche, the mad man, is the most notable of those who pursued his atheism to its logical conclusion, and then he went mad.

Please think on these things before you argue with them.

Dan Wooldridge

In my growing up years, my father owned and operated a gas station.  In those days he made credit available on the honor system.  This meant that if people said “charge it” they did not need to sign a ticket.  We simply wrote it down in the ledger.  Dad wanted me never to have to ask the name of the persons who asked to charge things.  He did not want to lose the personal touch that comes from knowing your customers.  As you might expect, I started working hard at learning names before I was twelve years old.  I once told my father that his emphasis on the importance of knowing names had served me very well in ministry. 

Someone once said that there is nothing that so encourages and comforts another person than to hear their name called in a warm and friendly way.  If you think about it, Jesus was the Son of the Living God and the Creator of the universe and yet he called people by name.  He still does.  How can we say we are following Jesus if we do not strive to learn the names of people for the purpose of ministering to them.  Too often people practice the bad habit of settling in with a few friends and acquaintances with whom they are comfortable.  They basically hang up a no vacancy sign in regards to new relationships.  Aren’t you glad our Savior does not do this.  Learn someone’s name today and use it in a way that encourages and blesses them.  Just last night on a home visit I learned a new name.  The name is Micah.  Micah said she wanted to begin attending our church.  She also wants to follow Jesus.  As I talked with her and another girl whom I had met before, I frequently spoke her name.  We talked about what Jesus had done for us and why we need Him.  We talked about how we can receive him.  We talked about the meaning of baptism.  All through the visit I was careful to call both of the girls by name several times.  This accomplishes two things.  It commits the name to my own heart and mind, and it brings the person whose name I call back into focus and takes my words to a personal level.  I learned this from Jesus.

As I write this, people are coming by our offices to pick up a new pictorial directory.  I fervently hope that they will realize the ministry potential in this resource.  As you turn the pages of a directory, you can pray for individuals and families by name.  You can solidify a name in your mind.  Having done so, you are equipped to bless and encourage people on a level that was not previously possible. 

What is in a name?  GOD’S LOVE.

Dan Wooldridge

If there is anything I have learned in forty years of leading churches, it is that leading and listening go together.  God speaks to pastors through the people he has given them the responsibility of leading.  Such was the case when several of our men approached me a few years ago with the idea of a steak supper designed to bring out a group of men and strengthen our ministry to men.  The first time we drew over one hundred men.  The most recent event was attended by nearly four hundred men.  Large numbers of guests come and hear testimonies and challenges.  Many men have made important decisions because of this event.

I am convinced that the one we will have on April 27th will be a milestone in our ministry to men.  Our guest will be Jon Randles.  I know of no one who has done more to challenge and inspire men than Jon.  He has spoken at men’s rallies all over the country.  He has worked with the Department of Public Safety and the U. S. Air Force in areas related to character, motivation, and manhood.  He has spoken to countless college football teams in all divisions of competition.  He has been a guest speaker at a large number of American Universities.  Thousands have come to Christ under his preaching and many formerly casual followers of Jesus have stepped into the mainstream of God’s work in the world as a result of his challenges.  If there is a man in your life that needs a spiritual boost, encourage him to attend.  We actually will gather again on Saturday April 28th for breakfast followed by small group meetings led by deacons and a final rally with Jon Randles.  We will conclude just before noon.  Pray for us.  A great movement of God could arise from this event.

Dan Wooldridge

Last night by special invitation of the interim pastor and long time friend, Logan Cummings, I was a guest of CVBC in Bastrop.  My mission was to tell the story of how God has shaped Crestview into an evangelistic church with a missionary heart.  I shared with them how our missions arises out of our outreach evangelism in the local community.  I shared that many who lead in our mission efforts were the product of our local efforts in outreach.  It is very natural for us to engage in evangelism abroad and around the nation because we engage in evangelism in Georgetown.  I was also encouraged to invite any of their members to accompany us on any one of our mission trips.  I was particularly asked to talk about Myanmar and our involvement there.  Several were quite interested in the possibility of going with us to Myanmar.  I further challenged them to consider some of our other mission trips.

CVBC is a spiritual gold mine.  Many people have moved out of Austin into their area between Bastrop and Giddings.  They are searching for a pastor at present.  Please pray that God will provide a pastor who will lead them to reach their area and lead them to be on mission in our world.  A number of those that I met have already had some experience in missions.  They are a gracious and receptive church who wants to be used by the Lord.  They are still a young church.  They have only been in existence a little over twenty years.  God has blessed them with a wonderful piece of property of more than twenty beautiful acres.  They already reach families from fifteen miles away from them.  One of the men just completed a map upon which he pinpointed where all the members live.  It was exciting to see the extent of their reach.  In case you didn’t know, we did that very thing in 1995.  One of our new members made a large map with dots on it to demonstrate where our people lived.  It was hung in a main hallway.  We used it to help our people see that we were already a church with a reach into all parts of the city.  We claimed all those areas as our mission field and began to move toward the church we are today.  Guess what!  God has expanded our territory.  Our map today would extend into Austin, Leander, Jarrell, Granger, Taylor, Salado, Liberty Hill, and even Killeen.

I am praying God will expand the mission and ministry of Cedar Valley Baptist Church in Bastrop.  Won’t you join me?

Dan Wooldridge

The Christian life is supposed to be a life long adventure.  From the day we receive Jesus, we have the opportunity to explore the limitless possibilities of life in Christ.  As the Scripture says “all old things have passed away.  Everything is becoming new.”   (2 Cor. 5:17)  What is sometimes not so obvious is that God still invites us to step out in faith and attempt things that were previously impossible to us.  Take this blog for example.  When I started my journey, no such vehicle of communication existed.  Now I personally know people around the world and around our area who read this blog.  Pastors across the state who have never met me write and ask my advice or seek my encouragement.  Individuals I may never meet tell me that they have come to Christ because of something that I wrote here.

In order that we not live in the past, we simply must find ways to stay engaged in the present.  Never stop seeking to make new friends and acquaintances.  Seek connections to people of all ages.  Those sixty and above need to intentionally find ways to befriend younger adults.  Many of them never had strong relationships with their parents and will be excited and blessed by your interest.  Whatever you have done in ministry in the past keep your eyes and ears open for the present and future.  God never stops offering us ways to serve him.  I have actually known people confined to a bed who touched the world through writing letters and communicating by email.  People came to their bedside for prayers and advice.  This could be you someday.  Each day is a gift, and each day is an opportunity.  I have resolved never to be a pastor who could only talk about what he used to do.  Even in my last years, I hope to touch both those from my past and those I meet.  People are God’s treasure, and what we do for them, we do for him.  Do something!

Dan Wooldridge

On Monday I went to Dallas to be a part of an evangelism task force for Texas Baptists.  Our passion and vision is to rekindle a heart for evangelism throughout our Texas Baptist family of churches.  I should say at the outset that we have not been sitting on our hands.  We were just recently recognized by the North American Mission Board as one of four state conventions who had shown a significant increase in baptisms.  Some of you may know that we belong to only one of the two Baptist state conventions in Texas.  The Southern Baptists of Texas have many great evangelistic churches, but they were not one of the four conventions recognized.  The only reason that I would bring this up is as an example to those who believe that our convention is too moderate or not sufficiently evangelistic to measure up to those claiming to be more conservative.  Personally, I want to see all Texas churches reaching more and more people.  This is not competition.  We are on the same team and working for the same Savior.  None of us are as effective as we need to be.  Which brings me to my real subject.  Where has the ministry of evangelism gone?  There was a time when a key leader in every Texas Baptist Association had an assigned responsibility to encourage evangelism in that Association of churches.  There was a fully staffed team at the the state level who worked to provide encouragement and share ideas among the churches.  We still have a team, but it has been years since it was fully staffed.  Scott Willingham, who has been a guest on several occasions at Crestview, has worked hard to do whatever he could to encourage and assist churches.  Others on the team have also done great work.  Word is that they will soon enlist a new statewide director to replace Jon Randles who ably served for a few years.  After his departure, the Executive Director of our state convention also left to lead First Baptist Church in Midland, Texas.  There is always a reluctance to hire an evangelism director when the position of Executive Director is unfilled.  However, I am greatly concerned about the local leadership issues in our associations. 

In 1995, I was elected as Evangelism Leader for our association.  I planned several events  for three years to encourage and assist our churches in evangelism.  Then our association eliminated the position.  I guess they didn’t like the job that I was doing.  It was an unpaid job that I would do gladly again.  In fact, it was decided by the local leaders then that they did not want for our association to be planning programs for them, the pastors, to attend.  Some clearly saw no value in meetings to stimulate evangelism.  Most were much more interested in traveling to Willow Creek or other high profile churches for their stimulation.  Here is the problem.  Churches like Willow Creek in Chicago, Illinois will not work in many parts of Texas.  Each church needs to serve within its context.  Churches need plans that will work in any context.  Also smaller churches cannot afford to go to Willow Creek conferences and do not have the resources to implement some of the things that they learn there.  Consequently, in my view we hurt many of our churches simply because some of our churches were not interested.  Similar things have happened all over Texas as evangelism emphases have been shut down and large churches have looked to megachurches for models.  I BELIEVE IT IS TIME TO REVISIT THE ROLE OF THE ASSOCIATION IN THE MINISTRY OF EVANGELISM.  Even with a state director, he will need a contact person in each association who will be his co-laborer in rekindling the fires.  May I ask my readers to consider these things and pray with me.

Dan Wooldridge

In recent years a debate that is several hundred years old has arisen in evangelical circles.  This debate is fueled to a great extent by the writings of a man named John Calvin who served the Lord in Geneva in the fifteen hundreds.  Calvin is best known for his work, THE INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.  There were many important themes in his work.  I want to highlight a few of them.

The sovereignty of God was a major theme of his work.  His careful study of Scripture convinced him that God was absolutely sovereign in the affairs of men.  Every movement of history was under the authority of God.  He extended that viewpoint to salvation.  He would say that salvation is a work of God and there is nothing of man in it.  From this singular viewpoint he affirmed some maxims that can be stated with the acrostic TULIP.

Total depravity - Man is totally affected by sin.  His mind, his reason, his will, his desire are all enslaved to sin and death.

Unconditional Election - God has ordained certain to be saved by his sovereign choice.  (The attendant view that is most difficult to accept is that God has ordained certain ones to be eternally damned.)

Limited Atonement - Christ died only for the elect.  Many advocates of Calvinism would soften this by saying that the atonement was sufficient for all, but only efficient for some.

Irresistible Grace - Those whom God elects will inevitably come to Him.

Perseverance of the saints - Those who are saved are saved forever.

Baptist will quickly recognize the final maxim above as a hallmark teaching of our faith family.  There are Scriptural passages that certainly teach the sovereignty of God, and any honest assessment of Scripture should result in coming to the conclusion that God is in control.  My greatest objection to this argument is that it is attached to Calvin and called Calvinism.  John Calvin had narrowly escaped the superstitious form of Roman Catholicism that held Europe in its grip.  His ideas were based on Scripture, but there is no more reason to accept his interpretations as infallible than to accept the Papal doctrine of infallibility.

Another objection that I have to the notion of Calvinism is that it does not adequately take into account the mystery of the ways of God.  The idea that we could break down the mind of God to the basic elements and classify them under headings is not appealing to me.  The section in Romans which Calvin relied on so heavily closes with a doxology which raises the standard of humility to all who would seek to perfectly explain the ways of God.

“Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.  For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has borrowed from him that it shall be recompensed unto him again.  For of him and to him and through him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever amen.”

I love this passage found at the end of Romans eleven.  It basically says to me that I should study hard and formulate my thoughts, but in the end there is an unsearchable mystery about God that I must simply embrace.  His ways are not my ways and his thoughts are not my thoughts.  Any position that leaves me arrogantly triumphant in my view of God and salvation is suspect.  It is enough simply to know and be known by God.

Finally, I absolutely affirm the sovereignty of God.  Having said that, what more needs to be said.  He is as sovereign in the matter of salvation as he is in everything else.  The details of that sovereignty are wrapped up in the mysterious words of Scripture.  For the Scripture says of Jesus, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) Where is the limit to that?

Dan Wooldridge