Thinking Out of the Tabernacle
Bi-Weekly talk on Scripture truth and faith tips to help you live a modern day disciple of Jesus Christ with Jeff Cavins through Catholic Bible Study podcast
Click the link below to listen to this week's talk :
Are we called to “market” the faith? Or, is evangelization more about the simple and direct approach? Jeff Cavins addresses these questions and encourages all believers to start pursuing effective ministry. He warns against being clever or catchy, but to instead focus on the good news, the message of the Gospel.
Snippet from the Show
It is better to be effective in ministry than to be cute or catchy.
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day, you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day, a holy assembly; no work shall be done on those days, but what everyone must eat, that only may be prepared by you. And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, and so until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days, no leaven shall be found in your houses; for if anyone eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.”
"Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb has been sacrificed.”
“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, so that he may have mercy on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”
When Pope St John Paul II asked for a New Evangelization, he did not ask to change the content of evangelization, which is always Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Rather, he asked for an evangelization that is new in its ardor, methods, and expression. One reason for this newness is because the field of the New Evangelization is primarily those who have already heard the Gospel…sort of. Those who grew up Catholic and received a version of the Gospel watered down with secular culture rejected what they thought was Christianity without really knowing the content of the faith. The full content of the faith must be presented in a new expression to avoid the defense, “I’ve already heard that.” It must also be presented with new methods because those who need evangelization are not showing up for the old methods of CCD and parish missions and Sunday homilies. It must be presented with new ardor because the fervent authenticity of the messenger is critical for communicating the Good News in a compelling way.
