Grant Christiansen

by Grant Christiansen

In John 3:16 Jesus proclaims the most remarkable promise ever given to humankind: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (RSV) His promise is given irrespective of one's ability, ethnicity, gender, merit, performance, status or work; his promise is give to the most desperate and evil of men and women as well as to the best amongst us! The result of believing his promise is the deepest longing of the human heart: eternal life.

The promise begins with a simple word: for. "ForGod so loved the world...." The word for serves as marking the reason for what has just preceded. In John 3:14-15 Jesus had said, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." (RSV) Jesus has likened his being lifted up on the cross to an ancient account of the Hebrew people's disobedience in grumbling against God after having been delivered from slavery in Egypt.

by Grant E. Christensen

Colossians 4:2-4 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; {3} praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; {4} that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. ^[13]

Ephesians 6:18-20 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, {19} and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, {20} for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly , as I ought to speak.

by Grant E. Christensen

I have the privilege of serving the congregation of Grace Covenant Church of Bremerton—for over 25 years now. After several years of pastoring the congregation, I commiserated with colleagues that I did not know very many people in our community outside the church. Serving a small church can be all-consuming, yet I have enjoyed my work very much! In 2011, I began a sermon series on Communion Sundays entitled “Prayer and Evangelism,” focusing on the vital role of prayer in reaching lost people. While conversing about the series with a friend and colleague, Rev. Doug Olson, who is pastor of Hope Covenant Church in Tacoma, he mentioned, “You need to look at the verses in 2 Corinthians 10 about spheres.” So, after finishing our call, I looked up the passage:

by Grant E. Christensen

Matthew 9:35-38 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. {36} Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. {37} Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. {38} Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." (Italics and underlining added)

Just as He began His third tour of the cities and villages of Galilee while seeing the distressed condition of those living within the region, Jesus commanded His disciples to pray one of the clearest evangelistic prayers in the New Testament: “ Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” So often, we Christians have approached this prayer hoping that God would raise up another Billy Graham or those trained in evangelism, thereby limiting our expectations to a select few—those gifted and trained. Yet, Jesus, in choosing the twelve, did not begin with calling priests, scribes, or Pharisees. Instead, He called ordinary fishermen and even a tax collector. Immediately following His command to pray, Jesus sent out these very ordinary men to reap a plentiful harvest, knowing that the workers were few.