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The Fifth Gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John…You
“There are five Matthew, Mark, Luke, John…and the Christian. But most people never read the first four.” There are any number of books on how to do evangelism. This book is different―it’s an invitation to actually live out the message of the gospel. Jesus’s original intention was for ordinary people like you and me to live lives that point others to the only Person who can give them hope for this life as well as the next―to visibly display the Good News of salvation through the Messiah and Redeemer of humankind. But many Christ followers today are either ridden with guilt for not telling others about Jesus or so silent that no one really knows they’re a Christian. The Fifth Gospel will help you wrestle with the critical issues involved in living out your faith in front of a watching and sometimes not-so-friendly world. Isn’t it time to become a witness for the One you profess to love? Prepare yourself to represent your Savior well and to discover a new way to do evangelism. Get ready for God to unleash the gospel through you!
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2014
14 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 21, 2014
This book is solid; by which I mean it contains foundational truths, written with a pastor's heart, in a style that is conversationally informal.
The book's main encouragement is for every reader to live in a way that presents onlookers the "fifth gospel." In other words, each one of us is a walking, talking, relational sermon.
My pastor is considering using this book to shape an incoming sermon series. I pray our congregation will be encouraged by the ideas this book presents.
The book's main encouragement is for every reader to live in a way that presents onlookers the "fifth gospel." In other words, each one of us is a walking, talking, relational sermon.
My pastor is considering using this book to shape an incoming sermon series. I pray our congregation will be encouraged by the ideas this book presents.
April 15, 2016
There are five Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian, but most people never read the first four [Rodney (Gypsy) Smith, a 19th century British evangelist who led campaigns in Australia, South Africa, and the US]. (9)
…we first have to do some de-construction. We have to go back before we go forward. We have to reject the notion that the louder the gospel music, the more powerful it becomes and that if we just turn up the volume, people will listen. (13)
Where one man reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me” (D.L. Moody).
‘Trent, unfortunately most churches want people like you to agree with them on every point before they will accept you. But I think we’ve got it backward. In fact, as I read my Bible, I see Jesus accepting those He had strong disagreements with.’ (16)
We often forget that Christianity is not a philosophy to be argued but a Person to be known. (17)
As Christ-followers, we believe God has made Himself known through creation, our conscience, and special revelation in Scripture. (22)
But Jesus would have been a complete fool to get Himself crucified if there was any other way to heaven. What kind of person hangs bleeding on a cross in unimaginable agony for a lark or a lie? (32)
But belief itself never causes anything to be true or untrue, valid or bogus. Beliefs become legit when they reflect truth. You can believe with all your heart that the chair you’re sitting in can take you to New York, but your belief doesn’t make it true. You can believe in aliens or the Easter Bunny, but your belief doesn’t make them any more real. What we believe is irrelevant unless it’s grounded in fact. It’s the object of a person’s belief that’s important. Place your faith in the right object and your belief has purpose, meaning, power and validity. (33)
People don’t get martyred for pluralism. Jesus’ disciples spilled their blood because they believed the world really needed only Him. (33)
‘I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ’ (Mohandas Gandhi). (37)
While the church has dropped the ball, we must not forget what an example the church has been to many in our world, especially through acts of service. Think about the good done in the name of Christianity: The first orphanages were run by churches. The church and Christians founded many of the great American universities, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The church was pivotal in leading society to abolish slavery with leaders like William Wilberforce. George Williams created the YMCA in order to protect youth from the hazardous conditions on the streets. William Booth founded the Salvation Army to care for the poor and disadvantaged. Millard and Linda Fuller started Habitat for Humanity to provide housing internationally for the poor. Even today, many churches are passionate in their attempt to help the homeless, protect women from abortion, and to end the spread of HIV/AIDS. (39)
Many years ago a newspaper posed the question, ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ Wordsmith G.K. Chesterton immediately fired back a letter to the paper with this response:
Dear Sirs:
I am.
Sincerely yours,
G.K. Chesterton (40)
One website contends there are 43,257 denominations, and the number is rising. (41)
As John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach once said, ‘Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.’ (42)
During the fifth century, there was this dude named Simeon Stylites… [who] was a pole sitter…lived a strict life of asceticism in Syria, literally sitting atop a stone pillar some fifty feet high. And he did this for thirty-nine years without coming down. Not even a bungee jump…yet some have called Simeon a saint. (43)
As we’ve heard it said many times before, ‘People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.’ (48)
Jesus prayed for our oneness so the world will know we are His disciples. This appears to be His unanswered prayer. (53)
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). (55)
We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do—flee it or die upon it (A.W. Tozer). (55)
Failing to count the cost leads to compromise, complacency, and caving in to the enemy. (57)
Oddly enough, it turns out that self-denial is the secret to self-fulfillment. (58)
In C.S. Lewis’s most famous Narnia chronicle, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lucy wondered if Aslan, the great lion was safe. Mr. Beaver replied, ‘Safe? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’ (64)
Today, it’s estimated that each year some 200,000 believers are killed for their faith in Jesus. That’s 16,666 per month, nearly 548 every day. Many more die unknown, forgotten, and unreported. Their deaths are known only to God. (67)
The problem with idols is they become the center of our lives. In his New York Times best seller, The Reason for God, Timothy Keller writes:
• If you center your life and identity on your spouse or partner, you will be emotionally dependent, jealous, and controlling.
• If you center your life and identity on your family and children, you will live through your children until they resent you or have no self of their own.
• If you center your life and identity on your work and career, you will be a driven workaholic and a boring, shallow person.
• If you center your life and identity on money and possessions, you’ll be eaten up by worry or jealousy about money.
• If you center your life and identity on pleasure, gratification, and comfort, you will find yourself getting addicting to something.
• If you center your life and identity on relationships and approval, you will be constantly overly hurt by criticism and thus always losing friends.
• If you center your life and identity on a ‘noble cause,’ you will divide the world into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and demonize your opponents.
• If you center your life and identity on religion and morality, you will, if you are living up to your moral standards, be proud, self-righteous, and cruel. If you don’t live up to your moral standards, your guilt will be utterly devastating.
All good things. But not worthy of first place in our lives. (77)
American Idols:
Stuff
Cash
Sex
Technology
Beauty
Entertainment
Success
Religion (77-80)
In his book Seeing with New Eyes, David Powlison has a chapter titled ‘X-Ray Questions.’ In it are thirty-five heart-probing questions designed to detect one’s functional gods, the idols that lurk within our hearts. Uncovering those hidden idols requires blunt self-disclosure and honesty. To help you identify what idols may be creeping up on you, I encourage you to go to www.acts29network.org/acts-29-blog/x-... and prayerfully go through these questions as a means of spotting potential idols. (81)
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him (John Piper). (87)
We should never underestimate the power of joy before a lost and dying world [see the testimony of a man who was saved after working at a jewelry store in Qumran and was impressed with the joy of a woman who danced in the store]. (87-8)
Ways to be Joyful:
First, does it surprise you that Paul actually commands us to be joyful?
Second, God Himself is both the source and the object of our joy. (89-90)
The Latin phrase summum bonum refers to the ‘greatest good, the final end or purpose in life.’ (91)
Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth-century medieval philosopher and theologian, gives us eight of the biggest pursuits.
Wealth
Years ago, I was working as an intern at a church in Plano, Texas, and heard how their church offices had caught fire and burned to the ground several years before. While walking through the ash-filled ruins, the pastor had discovered in his office the only thing that survived the fire—a book he had written titled Biblical Theology of Material Possessions. Sometimes God has a sense of humor. (92)
Interestingly, the countries with the highest suicide rate are those with the most wealth. John D. Rockefeller, once the richest man in the world and the first person to ever earn a billion dollars, was asked, ‘How much money is enough?’ He responded, ‘Just a little bit more.’ (93)
Honor
‘Happiness can’t consist in honor because happiness is in the person who is happy—it’s internal. But honor comes from the person giving the honor and so is external’ [Peter Kreeft]. (93)
Virtue
Jesus wanted them [the Pharisees] to know that virtue apart from God is relative, a sort of pseudo-virtue. (94)
God
In fact, the word enthusiasm comes from the two Greek words, en and theos—‘in God’ (97)
Third, we can experience joy in spite of our circumstances. (97)
Laughing Jesus [painting] (100)
Believer, never lose sight of this: the degree to which you enjoy God will be the degree to which God is exalted through your life. [See Psalm 85:6] (101)
[See the video of Nick Vujicic on Oprah]. (105)
If God is Good…
A. If God is all-powerful, He can get rid of suffering.
B. If God is all-good and all-loving, He will get rid of suffering. But guess what?
C. Suffering still exists; therefore God must be neither all-powerful, nor all-loving.
There are several reasons why this argument is flawed. The argument’s foundation is cracked and built on faulty and incomplete logic. Let’s examine it more carefully.
Point A—we wholeheartedly agree with this. God is all-powerful and able to end suffering. No problem. So far so good.
Point B—we also agree with this…in God’s time. While God will eventually do away with suffering, the framer of the argument commits a huge error here. First, he pretends to know the timing of God’s end to suffering. Considering the limited nature of human understanding, this is, at best, presumptuous and at worst, arrogant. The second error he makes is to assume that mankind somehow deserves to be relieved of all suffering, as if God owes us health, happiness, and a pain-free life here on earth. But as we read Scripture, we actually discover the opposite to be true.
The third logical error is a failure to allow for the possibility that an all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving, and good God who possesses an infinite mind may have a higher purpose for present suffering that:
• He’s not currently sharing with us
• Cannot presently be known and understood
• Can be known and understood only by some
• Can only be partially understood by some or all
• Will be revealed at a future time (107)
As we try to make sense of it all, Satan capitalizes on our questions and confusion and attempts to drive a wedge of doubt between God and us. (108)
William Lane Craig, the great Christian apologist and philosopher, reminds us, ‘We can present a defense of the Christian faith without becoming defensive. We can present arguments for Christianity without becoming argumentative. (111)
The late Dr. Howard Hendricks … [told the story of a flight attendant who very patiently calmed agitated passengers. When he told her he wanted to write her a letter of recommendation for her to the airline, she smiled and said she didn’t work for airlines, but for Jesus Christ. She said before work, she and her husband would pray together.] (111-2)
Sometimes Jesus calms the storm and other times He just calms you! (115)
[See Think Different commercial]. (121)
[Well-known women’s speaker and writer Beth Moore tells about an old man at an airport who needed his hair brushed.] (131-3)
[Qumran caves had jars of clay with VERY valuable insides]. (141)
So it’s not enough to be weak. We also have to surrender our brokenness to God. Broken Christians release God’s power in and through their lives. (144)
I’ve come to believe that many visionaries struggle from anxiety because they live so much in the future, seeking to solve problems that may never come to fruition. (149)
[Take 1 Corinthians 13 and replace the words love and it with your name. Then do it with Jesus’.] (157-8)
As the hymn writer penned, ‘Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.’ (161)
We talk a lot about the 10-40 Window in missions…but what about the 9-5 Window? (169)
I was simply one beggar telling other beggars where to find some bread. (172)
It’s been said that ‘we must talk to God about man before we talk to man about God.’ …outreach begins with upreach. (173)
My wife once heard someone say, ‘Lord, lead me to those You are leading to the cross.’ (174)
Paul Little writes, ‘If we are constantly silenced by non-Christians’ questions, we are confirming their reason for unbelief.’ (174-5)
(www.oneminuteapologist.com) (www.bobbyconwayonline.com) (175)
The late Joe Aldrich, former president of Multnomah Bible College, said, ‘Within two years of becoming Christians, most of us lose contact with all of our non-Christian friends.’ (175-6)
The word ‘Go’ here [Great Commission] means ‘as you are going, make disciples.’ (177)
I’ve heard it said, ‘Don’t go to the grocery store to get groceries. Go to the grocery store to be a witness, and while you are there, go ahead and get some groceries. Don’t go to the gas station to get gas. Go to be a witness, and while you are there, go ahead and get some gas. And don’t go to the bank to deposit money. Go to the bank to be a witness, and while you are there, go ahead and deposit some money.’ (177)
People are in different places spiritually.
• Some people are stubborn, hard-hearted, and far from God.
• Others have an understanding of truth and are closer to receiving the message of the Gospel.
• Some are antagonistic toward the Gospel. They resent Christianity as Paul did before he was saved.
• Some are self-sufficient, spiritually indifferent, and see no need for Jesus.
• Others are seekers, looking for meaning and aware of their deep need for salvation, like Nicodemus.
• Many are watchers, carefully observing Christians’ behavior and relationships.
• Others clearly understand the Gospel, like the Roman centurion who said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’ But they aren’t quite ready to surrender their lives to Christ.
• And then some are genuinely ready to receive Christ and follow Him, like the Philippians jailor who asked, ‘What do I do to be saved?’ (179-80)
Write an autobiography and include the following:
• Overcoming guilt
• Financial difficulties
• Foolish mistakes/self confidence
• In-law issues
• Seasons of depression
• Regrets
• The pain of divorce
• Marriage problems
• Temptation
• Stressful times
• Trouble with law
• Loss of loved ones
• Parenting issues
• Relationship issues
• Pride issues
• Addictions
• Eating disorders (181)
O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there ‘Thy cheerful beams’ (Saint Augustine). (185)
A Jehovah’s Witness will tell you the Holy Spirit is a force or some invisible energy, like Star Wars when Yoda tells Luke, ‘Use the Force.’ (187)
But to help portray this three and one concept, think of the Trinity as 1x1x1, which equals 1, versus 1+1+1, which equals 3. (192)
He gives us assurance of salvation. [See Romans 8:16-17]. (195)
So just as wine controls or influences a person, so we should trust the Holy Spirit to do the same in us. (196)
[See the story of D.L. Moody in page 198.] Over one hundred years ago, two young men in Ireland were talking when one said, ‘The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully surrendered to Him.’ The other young man was so moved by that statement, he paused, then boldly proclaimed, ‘By the Holy Spirit in me, I’ll be that man… He was the Billy Graham of the nineteenth century…Armed with only a fifth-grade education, Moody became a powerful example of a Spirit-filled man.
A woman once chided him, ‘Mr. Moody, I don’t like the way you do evangelism’ (referring to his lack of eloquence).
Well ma’am, how do you do it?’ Moody replied.
‘I don’t,’ she said.
‘Well, I think God likes the way I do it wrong better than your way of not doing it at all.’
Dwight Moody was a Fifth-Gospel Christian. He made a commitment to share the Gospel with at least one person every single day. (198)
…we first have to do some de-construction. We have to go back before we go forward. We have to reject the notion that the louder the gospel music, the more powerful it becomes and that if we just turn up the volume, people will listen. (13)
Where one man reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me” (D.L. Moody).
‘Trent, unfortunately most churches want people like you to agree with them on every point before they will accept you. But I think we’ve got it backward. In fact, as I read my Bible, I see Jesus accepting those He had strong disagreements with.’ (16)
We often forget that Christianity is not a philosophy to be argued but a Person to be known. (17)
As Christ-followers, we believe God has made Himself known through creation, our conscience, and special revelation in Scripture. (22)
But Jesus would have been a complete fool to get Himself crucified if there was any other way to heaven. What kind of person hangs bleeding on a cross in unimaginable agony for a lark or a lie? (32)
But belief itself never causes anything to be true or untrue, valid or bogus. Beliefs become legit when they reflect truth. You can believe with all your heart that the chair you’re sitting in can take you to New York, but your belief doesn’t make it true. You can believe in aliens or the Easter Bunny, but your belief doesn’t make them any more real. What we believe is irrelevant unless it’s grounded in fact. It’s the object of a person’s belief that’s important. Place your faith in the right object and your belief has purpose, meaning, power and validity. (33)
People don’t get martyred for pluralism. Jesus’ disciples spilled their blood because they believed the world really needed only Him. (33)
‘I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ’ (Mohandas Gandhi). (37)
While the church has dropped the ball, we must not forget what an example the church has been to many in our world, especially through acts of service. Think about the good done in the name of Christianity: The first orphanages were run by churches. The church and Christians founded many of the great American universities, including Harvard, Princeton and Yale. The church was pivotal in leading society to abolish slavery with leaders like William Wilberforce. George Williams created the YMCA in order to protect youth from the hazardous conditions on the streets. William Booth founded the Salvation Army to care for the poor and disadvantaged. Millard and Linda Fuller started Habitat for Humanity to provide housing internationally for the poor. Even today, many churches are passionate in their attempt to help the homeless, protect women from abortion, and to end the spread of HIV/AIDS. (39)
Many years ago a newspaper posed the question, ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ Wordsmith G.K. Chesterton immediately fired back a letter to the paper with this response:
Dear Sirs:
I am.
Sincerely yours,
G.K. Chesterton (40)
One website contends there are 43,257 denominations, and the number is rising. (41)
As John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach once said, ‘Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.’ (42)
During the fifth century, there was this dude named Simeon Stylites… [who] was a pole sitter…lived a strict life of asceticism in Syria, literally sitting atop a stone pillar some fifty feet high. And he did this for thirty-nine years without coming down. Not even a bungee jump…yet some have called Simeon a saint. (43)
As we’ve heard it said many times before, ‘People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.’ (48)
Jesus prayed for our oneness so the world will know we are His disciples. This appears to be His unanswered prayer. (53)
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). (55)
We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do—flee it or die upon it (A.W. Tozer). (55)
Failing to count the cost leads to compromise, complacency, and caving in to the enemy. (57)
Oddly enough, it turns out that self-denial is the secret to self-fulfillment. (58)
In C.S. Lewis’s most famous Narnia chronicle, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lucy wondered if Aslan, the great lion was safe. Mr. Beaver replied, ‘Safe? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’ (64)
Today, it’s estimated that each year some 200,000 believers are killed for their faith in Jesus. That’s 16,666 per month, nearly 548 every day. Many more die unknown, forgotten, and unreported. Their deaths are known only to God. (67)
The problem with idols is they become the center of our lives. In his New York Times best seller, The Reason for God, Timothy Keller writes:
• If you center your life and identity on your spouse or partner, you will be emotionally dependent, jealous, and controlling.
• If you center your life and identity on your family and children, you will live through your children until they resent you or have no self of their own.
• If you center your life and identity on your work and career, you will be a driven workaholic and a boring, shallow person.
• If you center your life and identity on money and possessions, you’ll be eaten up by worry or jealousy about money.
• If you center your life and identity on pleasure, gratification, and comfort, you will find yourself getting addicting to something.
• If you center your life and identity on relationships and approval, you will be constantly overly hurt by criticism and thus always losing friends.
• If you center your life and identity on a ‘noble cause,’ you will divide the world into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and demonize your opponents.
• If you center your life and identity on religion and morality, you will, if you are living up to your moral standards, be proud, self-righteous, and cruel. If you don’t live up to your moral standards, your guilt will be utterly devastating.
All good things. But not worthy of first place in our lives. (77)
American Idols:
Stuff
Cash
Sex
Technology
Beauty
Entertainment
Success
Religion (77-80)
In his book Seeing with New Eyes, David Powlison has a chapter titled ‘X-Ray Questions.’ In it are thirty-five heart-probing questions designed to detect one’s functional gods, the idols that lurk within our hearts. Uncovering those hidden idols requires blunt self-disclosure and honesty. To help you identify what idols may be creeping up on you, I encourage you to go to www.acts29network.org/acts-29-blog/x-... and prayerfully go through these questions as a means of spotting potential idols. (81)
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him (John Piper). (87)
We should never underestimate the power of joy before a lost and dying world [see the testimony of a man who was saved after working at a jewelry store in Qumran and was impressed with the joy of a woman who danced in the store]. (87-8)
Ways to be Joyful:
First, does it surprise you that Paul actually commands us to be joyful?
Second, God Himself is both the source and the object of our joy. (89-90)
The Latin phrase summum bonum refers to the ‘greatest good, the final end or purpose in life.’ (91)
Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth-century medieval philosopher and theologian, gives us eight of the biggest pursuits.
Wealth
Years ago, I was working as an intern at a church in Plano, Texas, and heard how their church offices had caught fire and burned to the ground several years before. While walking through the ash-filled ruins, the pastor had discovered in his office the only thing that survived the fire—a book he had written titled Biblical Theology of Material Possessions. Sometimes God has a sense of humor. (92)
Interestingly, the countries with the highest suicide rate are those with the most wealth. John D. Rockefeller, once the richest man in the world and the first person to ever earn a billion dollars, was asked, ‘How much money is enough?’ He responded, ‘Just a little bit more.’ (93)
Honor
‘Happiness can’t consist in honor because happiness is in the person who is happy—it’s internal. But honor comes from the person giving the honor and so is external’ [Peter Kreeft]. (93)
Virtue
Jesus wanted them [the Pharisees] to know that virtue apart from God is relative, a sort of pseudo-virtue. (94)
God
In fact, the word enthusiasm comes from the two Greek words, en and theos—‘in God’ (97)
Third, we can experience joy in spite of our circumstances. (97)
Laughing Jesus [painting] (100)
Believer, never lose sight of this: the degree to which you enjoy God will be the degree to which God is exalted through your life. [See Psalm 85:6] (101)
[See the video of Nick Vujicic on Oprah]. (105)
If God is Good…
A. If God is all-powerful, He can get rid of suffering.
B. If God is all-good and all-loving, He will get rid of suffering. But guess what?
C. Suffering still exists; therefore God must be neither all-powerful, nor all-loving.
There are several reasons why this argument is flawed. The argument’s foundation is cracked and built on faulty and incomplete logic. Let’s examine it more carefully.
Point A—we wholeheartedly agree with this. God is all-powerful and able to end suffering. No problem. So far so good.
Point B—we also agree with this…in God’s time. While God will eventually do away with suffering, the framer of the argument commits a huge error here. First, he pretends to know the timing of God’s end to suffering. Considering the limited nature of human understanding, this is, at best, presumptuous and at worst, arrogant. The second error he makes is to assume that mankind somehow deserves to be relieved of all suffering, as if God owes us health, happiness, and a pain-free life here on earth. But as we read Scripture, we actually discover the opposite to be true.
The third logical error is a failure to allow for the possibility that an all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving, and good God who possesses an infinite mind may have a higher purpose for present suffering that:
• He’s not currently sharing with us
• Cannot presently be known and understood
• Can be known and understood only by some
• Can only be partially understood by some or all
• Will be revealed at a future time (107)
As we try to make sense of it all, Satan capitalizes on our questions and confusion and attempts to drive a wedge of doubt between God and us. (108)
William Lane Craig, the great Christian apologist and philosopher, reminds us, ‘We can present a defense of the Christian faith without becoming defensive. We can present arguments for Christianity without becoming argumentative. (111)
The late Dr. Howard Hendricks … [told the story of a flight attendant who very patiently calmed agitated passengers. When he told her he wanted to write her a letter of recommendation for her to the airline, she smiled and said she didn’t work for airlines, but for Jesus Christ. She said before work, she and her husband would pray together.] (111-2)
Sometimes Jesus calms the storm and other times He just calms you! (115)
[See Think Different commercial]. (121)
[Well-known women’s speaker and writer Beth Moore tells about an old man at an airport who needed his hair brushed.] (131-3)
[Qumran caves had jars of clay with VERY valuable insides]. (141)
So it’s not enough to be weak. We also have to surrender our brokenness to God. Broken Christians release God’s power in and through their lives. (144)
I’ve come to believe that many visionaries struggle from anxiety because they live so much in the future, seeking to solve problems that may never come to fruition. (149)
[Take 1 Corinthians 13 and replace the words love and it with your name. Then do it with Jesus’.] (157-8)
As the hymn writer penned, ‘Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.’ (161)
We talk a lot about the 10-40 Window in missions…but what about the 9-5 Window? (169)
I was simply one beggar telling other beggars where to find some bread. (172)
It’s been said that ‘we must talk to God about man before we talk to man about God.’ …outreach begins with upreach. (173)
My wife once heard someone say, ‘Lord, lead me to those You are leading to the cross.’ (174)
Paul Little writes, ‘If we are constantly silenced by non-Christians’ questions, we are confirming their reason for unbelief.’ (174-5)
(www.oneminuteapologist.com) (www.bobbyconwayonline.com) (175)
The late Joe Aldrich, former president of Multnomah Bible College, said, ‘Within two years of becoming Christians, most of us lose contact with all of our non-Christian friends.’ (175-6)
The word ‘Go’ here [Great Commission] means ‘as you are going, make disciples.’ (177)
I’ve heard it said, ‘Don’t go to the grocery store to get groceries. Go to the grocery store to be a witness, and while you are there, go ahead and get some groceries. Don’t go to the gas station to get gas. Go to be a witness, and while you are there, go ahead and get some gas. And don’t go to the bank to deposit money. Go to the bank to be a witness, and while you are there, go ahead and deposit some money.’ (177)
People are in different places spiritually.
• Some people are stubborn, hard-hearted, and far from God.
• Others have an understanding of truth and are closer to receiving the message of the Gospel.
• Some are antagonistic toward the Gospel. They resent Christianity as Paul did before he was saved.
• Some are self-sufficient, spiritually indifferent, and see no need for Jesus.
• Others are seekers, looking for meaning and aware of their deep need for salvation, like Nicodemus.
• Many are watchers, carefully observing Christians’ behavior and relationships.
• Others clearly understand the Gospel, like the Roman centurion who said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’ But they aren’t quite ready to surrender their lives to Christ.
• And then some are genuinely ready to receive Christ and follow Him, like the Philippians jailor who asked, ‘What do I do to be saved?’ (179-80)
Write an autobiography and include the following:
• Overcoming guilt
• Financial difficulties
• Foolish mistakes/self confidence
• In-law issues
• Seasons of depression
• Regrets
• The pain of divorce
• Marriage problems
• Temptation
• Stressful times
• Trouble with law
• Loss of loved ones
• Parenting issues
• Relationship issues
• Pride issues
• Addictions
• Eating disorders (181)
O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there ‘Thy cheerful beams’ (Saint Augustine). (185)
A Jehovah’s Witness will tell you the Holy Spirit is a force or some invisible energy, like Star Wars when Yoda tells Luke, ‘Use the Force.’ (187)
But to help portray this three and one concept, think of the Trinity as 1x1x1, which equals 1, versus 1+1+1, which equals 3. (192)
He gives us assurance of salvation. [See Romans 8:16-17]. (195)
So just as wine controls or influences a person, so we should trust the Holy Spirit to do the same in us. (196)
[See the story of D.L. Moody in page 198.] Over one hundred years ago, two young men in Ireland were talking when one said, ‘The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully surrendered to Him.’ The other young man was so moved by that statement, he paused, then boldly proclaimed, ‘By the Holy Spirit in me, I’ll be that man… He was the Billy Graham of the nineteenth century…Armed with only a fifth-grade education, Moody became a powerful example of a Spirit-filled man.
A woman once chided him, ‘Mr. Moody, I don’t like the way you do evangelism’ (referring to his lack of eloquence).
Well ma’am, how do you do it?’ Moody replied.
‘I don’t,’ she said.
‘Well, I think God likes the way I do it wrong better than your way of not doing it at all.’
Dwight Moody was a Fifth-Gospel Christian. He made a commitment to share the Gospel with at least one person every single day. (198)
March 26, 2024
The Fifth Gospel
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John…You
by Bobby Conway
Pub Date 01 Aug 2014
Harvest House Publishers
Christian
Netgalley has provided me with a copy of The Fifth Gospel for review:
Evangelism is a subject that is covered in many books. Different from other books, this book invites you to live out the gospel message. Jesus’s original intention was for ordinary people like you and me to live lives that point others to the only Person who can give them hope for this life as well as the next—to visibly display the Good News of salvation through the Messiah and Redeemer of humankind.To demonstrate the Good News of salvation through the Messiah and Redeemer of humankind, Jesus intended for ordinary people like you and me to live lives that point others to the One who can give them hope in this life as well as the next.
Today, many Christ followers are either ridden with guilt for not telling others about Jesus or so silent that no one knows they're Christians. The Fifth Gospel will help you wrestle with the critical issues involved in living out your faith in front of a watching and sometimes not-so-friendly world.Living out your faith in front of a watching and sometimes unfriendly world is one of the most challenging issues you'll confront in the Fifth Gospel.
Do you want to become a witness for the One you proclaim to love? Learn how to evangelize in a new way and represent your Savior well. Let God unleash the gospel through you!
I give the Fifth Gospel five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John…You
by Bobby Conway
Pub Date 01 Aug 2014
Harvest House Publishers
Christian
Netgalley has provided me with a copy of The Fifth Gospel for review:
Evangelism is a subject that is covered in many books. Different from other books, this book invites you to live out the gospel message. Jesus’s original intention was for ordinary people like you and me to live lives that point others to the only Person who can give them hope for this life as well as the next—to visibly display the Good News of salvation through the Messiah and Redeemer of humankind.To demonstrate the Good News of salvation through the Messiah and Redeemer of humankind, Jesus intended for ordinary people like you and me to live lives that point others to the One who can give them hope in this life as well as the next.
Today, many Christ followers are either ridden with guilt for not telling others about Jesus or so silent that no one knows they're Christians. The Fifth Gospel will help you wrestle with the critical issues involved in living out your faith in front of a watching and sometimes not-so-friendly world.Living out your faith in front of a watching and sometimes unfriendly world is one of the most challenging issues you'll confront in the Fifth Gospel.
Do you want to become a witness for the One you proclaim to love? Learn how to evangelize in a new way and represent your Savior well. Let God unleash the gospel through you!
I give the Fifth Gospel five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
December 23, 2017
I was first introduced to Bobby Conway via a YouVersion devotional, and immediately went out and bought this book and the other he’s written, “Doubting Toward Faith”. Finally just finished this one (my own fault for taking two years since purchase to read it). Conway has an engaging writing style and absolutely convicted me in my own faith walk and how I (don’t) evangelize. Many, many takeaways that will challenge me and deepen my walk with Christ in the days, months, and years ahead.
February 18, 2020
Excellent!
June 15, 2020
Best book I’ve read this year! This book really inspires you to go out and witness and be that fifth gospel!
February 19, 2015
A book By Bobby Conway
The title is based on a quote by Rodney Smith that goes: “There are five Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Christian, but many people never read the first four.”
The 5th Gospel is a stirring read that calls Christians not just to share the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, but to live it out every day. Written by Bobby Conway, pastor and founder of www.oneminuteapologist.com, this isn’t just a how to book with more methods to teach. He encourages and equips the reader to not say sorry for being a Christian, but give believable reasons why Jesus is real and that what he has done is important.
His manner is winsome and easy to read, as he builds the foundations for what he coins as a “fifth gospel Christian”- not to create classes of Christians, but to challenge and point us each to be a true, visible and bold witness for Christ.
At the end of each chapter a little summary is given, with pointed questions for reflection and discussion if the book were to be read in a group. These are good at refreshing the main point and the challenge that was brought in each chapter.
Without going into too much detail, at the start of the book I found myself wondering: “when are we going to get to the ‘sharing the gospel’ bit”. I soon realised and was reminded that this was the wrong question- as Bobby laid down biblical truths as a foundation for living and witnessing as a Christian. He touches on counting the cost for Christ, facing our idols, finding our ultimate enjoyment in God (for more see Desiring God, John Piper), then talks about suffering and weakness, how this displays the glory of God to the world. The ultimate trump card (love) is described and after countering the idea that we need only ‘live’ as Christians without speaking up he concludes with explaining our need for the Holy Spirit to work with us and in us as we make much of Jesus in our lives.
All in all, this book may very well change your mindset on “evangelism” as you see from the life and gospel of Jesus, Christianity is not just a message to be intellectually argued and agreed with, but it is a relationship with God and way of life.
We need not feel burdened by our failures in ‘sharing Jesus’ but rather if we seek first to love and know him, because we have first been loved and known he will work in and despite our weaknesses for his good and perfect plans.
“Jesus intends for ordinary Christians to live lives that visibly display the Good News of salvation and point others to the only Person who can give them hope for this life as well as the next.”
Will you be that Christian? Will you live as a 5th Gospel Christian?
Review by Rory Weightman
The title is based on a quote by Rodney Smith that goes: “There are five Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Christian, but many people never read the first four.”
The 5th Gospel is a stirring read that calls Christians not just to share the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, but to live it out every day. Written by Bobby Conway, pastor and founder of www.oneminuteapologist.com, this isn’t just a how to book with more methods to teach. He encourages and equips the reader to not say sorry for being a Christian, but give believable reasons why Jesus is real and that what he has done is important.
His manner is winsome and easy to read, as he builds the foundations for what he coins as a “fifth gospel Christian”- not to create classes of Christians, but to challenge and point us each to be a true, visible and bold witness for Christ.
At the end of each chapter a little summary is given, with pointed questions for reflection and discussion if the book were to be read in a group. These are good at refreshing the main point and the challenge that was brought in each chapter.
Without going into too much detail, at the start of the book I found myself wondering: “when are we going to get to the ‘sharing the gospel’ bit”. I soon realised and was reminded that this was the wrong question- as Bobby laid down biblical truths as a foundation for living and witnessing as a Christian. He touches on counting the cost for Christ, facing our idols, finding our ultimate enjoyment in God (for more see Desiring God, John Piper), then talks about suffering and weakness, how this displays the glory of God to the world. The ultimate trump card (love) is described and after countering the idea that we need only ‘live’ as Christians without speaking up he concludes with explaining our need for the Holy Spirit to work with us and in us as we make much of Jesus in our lives.
All in all, this book may very well change your mindset on “evangelism” as you see from the life and gospel of Jesus, Christianity is not just a message to be intellectually argued and agreed with, but it is a relationship with God and way of life.
We need not feel burdened by our failures in ‘sharing Jesus’ but rather if we seek first to love and know him, because we have first been loved and known he will work in and despite our weaknesses for his good and perfect plans.
“Jesus intends for ordinary Christians to live lives that visibly display the Good News of salvation and point others to the only Person who can give them hope for this life as well as the next.”
Will you be that Christian? Will you live as a 5th Gospel Christian?
Review by Rory Weightman
June 11, 2014
We all know the four gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But did you know that there is a fifth gospel? That’s right, it’s the gospel of you, the Christian. Jesus’ intention for us as Christians is to live a life that will point others in the direction of Him, just like the four gospels do. Many people will never read those ones, but they will definitely read us.
The Fifth Gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John…You by Bobby Conway with Jeff Kinley is a call for Christians to live out the message of the Gospel. It is a call to evangelism, to spread the Good News wherever and whoever you may be. But many of us find it difficult to do. We worry about how we will be perceived, or if we are smart enough to do so. But here, Conway shows you that Jesus wants to use you. This book will help you prepare to be a witness for Christ.
This is one of the most convicting books I have come across recently and it was exactly what I needed. Every day, I spend more time with people of another faith than I do with Christians. And yet, I struggle with how to share the Gospel with them. Actions and example have been more my method but as this book shows me, it’s a start but I can do more.
Full review here
The Fifth Gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John…You by Bobby Conway with Jeff Kinley is a call for Christians to live out the message of the Gospel. It is a call to evangelism, to spread the Good News wherever and whoever you may be. But many of us find it difficult to do. We worry about how we will be perceived, or if we are smart enough to do so. But here, Conway shows you that Jesus wants to use you. This book will help you prepare to be a witness for Christ.
This is one of the most convicting books I have come across recently and it was exactly what I needed. Every day, I spend more time with people of another faith than I do with Christians. And yet, I struggle with how to share the Gospel with them. Actions and example have been more my method but as this book shows me, it’s a start but I can do more.
Full review here
February 10, 2016
Very quick informative book that makes the reader think about how they should witness for the gospel. The main point is this, most people will never read the 4 gospels of the bible, therefore, we, as Christians, must live out the gospel to be proper witnesses of Jesus Christ. Unlike many books that may seem to try to form their own theological assertions, Bobby Conway simply establishes that in order to properly live out the gospel we must look to what the bible says to us, mainly what does God have to say, whom has He sent as examples and through those examples how they properly lived out the gospel. Great read, informative and biblically sound. Would recommend this book in a heartbeat!
June 23, 2015
The Fifth Gospel is about how Christian's are a picture of Christ and thus should be spreading the good news of Christ, therefore we are the Fifth Gospel. Our lives tell his story, but what kind of story are we telling. This is an inspirational and introspective book that gets you looking at how you live your life and the story that your live tells others. Is it the same story that God is telling?
4 Stars, I liked this book a lot and would recommend it to anyone that wants to evaluate their walk with God.
4 Stars, I liked this book a lot and would recommend it to anyone that wants to evaluate their walk with God.
April 13, 2015
This book was used as a ressource in Logos course Introduction to Evangelism. This book alone is already very valuable. It gives very important guidelines for evangelism, personal evangelism. Actually it helps me to be motivated for evangelization. I like the idea to realize that a Christian is a Gospel himself; his life should give testimony for Jesus.
May 22, 2015
Filled with scripture, and written to understand. Bobby wrote this really well and made me thirst for more. My heart has been even more open to aharing Christ with others through reading this book. I encourage every Christian to pick this up and really take a look at what it truly means to be a Fifth Gospel Christian.
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