NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

1 Ultimate Goal For Every Christian

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Personal evangelism is to Christian living what scoring is to football.

Living Apart From Sin
Doesn’t Mean You’re Above It

Personal Evangelism is paramount. Of all the things Christians do, this is the most important.

It is the reason we do anything at all.

You could say that Personal Evangelism is to Christian living what scoring is to football.

Football has many facets and every detail is carefully measured and monitored during training. Running speed, balance, toughness, reflexes, vision, discipline, upper body strength, and lower body strength to name just a few.

Offensive linemen are even tested for right-left eye dominance and attitude is an important factor for every member on the team.

But none of these details matter if the end result is not attained: points on the board.

How important a player is to the team has little to do with his raw ability and a great deal to do with how much he contributes to the team’s ability to score points.

To complete the analogy, winning souls in the Christian life is like scoring points in a football game.

Two Benefits

The Bible clearly teaches that Christians will receive rewards in heaven and some people see that as a negative. They suggest we’ll be called out for doing sinful things. I don’t see it that way. I’ll share more about specific rewards just now but first a little perspective…

Let’s start with a fact. You will never change your basic nature. You will never be anything other than a sinner. There is no such thing as a sinless saint.

But that observation provokes a question. If no Christian will ever cease to be a sinner, why is clean living a worthy goal? If I can’t elevate myself spiritually why bother?

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That question applies to everyone. Even the likes of Mother Theresa in her most spiritually sacrificial moments still grappled with a sinful nature.

The reality is you may find ways to live apart from sin but you’ll never be above it.

So, what’s the point? Why do we bother at all? That question has a two-part answer. [Read more…] about 1 Ultimate Goal For Every Christian

God’s Power, Our Power, And The Gospel

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Which deserves more attention, the power we fail to use or the power we cannot access

God’s Power Is Regulated
By His Wisdom
Not Ours

Christians know that God is powerful and when problems arise, they often cry out to Him hoping for an intervention.

And it’s true. God does have the power to solve our problems and on occasion, for reasons we may never know, has done so but there is no guarantee.

It’s a mystery. We can’t say why unexpected problems arise and we’re quizzed as to why God doesn’t prevent them beforehand or remedy them afterward. These are questions not easily answered. Suggested explanations fill volumes but the rationale often contradicts and is never entirely convincing.

Things We Don’t Know And Rarely Mention

It’s not often mentioned but we also don’t know and can never calculate the number of times God has actually prevented tragedies. We loudly complain about the tragedies that do happen but what about the ones that didn’t happen. The ones we never experienced or knew about because God didn’t allow them to materialize. Those aren’t mentioned.

Obviously, we weren’t aware of them but they surely would have happened had God not intervened.

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Maybe we should pause briefly to offer a moment of gratitude for the events we weren’t aware of and will never know about because God graciously held them off.

In spite of there being no conclusive answer on the horizon, this discussion still gets a lot of mileage. Maybe we should just be satisfied that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and He has chosen to keep some of His ideas to Himself.

What We Do Know

But we aren’t left entirely in the dark. [Read more…] about God’s Power, Our Power, And The Gospel

How Far Will Jesus Go To Save A Soul

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Jesus doesn't just accompany us as we share the Gospel, He precedes us.

Education Is Important
Voting Is Important
Right Living Is Important
But Sharing The Gospel
Is First In The Order Of Magnitude

Personal Evangelism is almost a lost art. We rarely discuss it and because of that, we engage it even less.

The broad topic of Evangelism is mentioned often but it covers so many subtopics, from salvation to ordination and everything in between, that it’s hard to clarify the focus. Someone says the word Evangelism and it’s anyone’s guess as to what they mean.

Personal Evangelism, which doesn’t get so much attention, is very different. It’s personal, meaning it’s relational. It involves at least two people: the Christian who shares the Gospel and the unbeliever they share it with.

It’s one person, a Christian, sharing the Gospel with at least one other person, an unbeliever, usually face-to-face, and the intent is always the same, the salvation of a soul.

That’s how it is usually described but my experience defies that description. I’ll explain shortly.

Jesus Wants To Save Souls

When we finally get around to discussing Personal Evangelism, we are so focused on what to say, how to say it, and how to deal with objections – all important stuff – that a significant truth is often ignored or minimized.

The evangelist is never alone. He or she is accompanied by Jesus. He is the most important Person in the formula and He actively participates because He really wants to save souls.

Jesus is interested and involved and His words prove this.

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Jesus taught that there was more rejoicing in heaven over one soul that repents than over ninety-nine souls who need no repentance (Luke 15:7). If that is true, isn’t it reasonable to believe Jesus must also get excited when we make an effort to share the Gospel?

The truth is Jesus doesn’t just save souls He actively looks for opportunities and even manipulates situations to get people into position and ready to hear the Gospel. The Bible says this, literally.

The kindness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).

Statements like this prove the brilliance of the Bible. Though short, it opens the door to many thoughts and questions. How does God lead people to repentance? What does it look like? Shouldn’t we be able to recognize it when it happens?

Aside from all those interesting questions, there is an important observation to be made. Jesus doesn’t wait till you start to witness before He pays attention. [Read more…] about How Far Will Jesus Go To Save A Soul

7 Truths About The Gospel

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The power of the Gospel, like the power of creation is immesurable.

If You Don’t Share The Gospel
With Your Friends And Neighbors
God Will Find Someone Else Who Will

To start, a definition. A very short one because the Gospel is not complicated.

The word Gospel means Good News. That’s common knowledge so we need to extend the def a little and explain exactly what the news is.

Simply stated, the Good News is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for the sins of the world. That’s it! And we in the New Testament era – the last two thousand years – are the recipients.

To be clear, the Gospel did exist before the New Testament. The plan was formulated in eternity but it was definitively revealed only in the New Testament. It was alluded to and anticipated in the Old Testament but only clarified in the Person of Jesus.

Old Testament folks became believers by believing in the anticipated Messiah and if they were paying attention they could have pieced together details of the Messiah’s sacrifice but the information wasn’t as neatly revealed in the Old Testament as it was in the Person of Jesus.

The point, of course, is that the Gospel is brief but don’t let that brevity fool you. The meaning and intensity of the message are greater than the brevity would indicate.

The Gospel Is Power

The Gospel isn’t just powerful.

It IS power.

To say the Gospel is powerful makes it a comparative issue. The Gospel is more or less powerful than other forms of power but that is not how we understand the Gospel’s power. There are no man-made or natural forces that can measure up.

Gospel power compares only to the power of creation. Believers are even referred to as new CREATIONS!

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The Gospel transforms lives completely and forever. Education can transform life to some degree but its effect isn’t very durable. It requires updates to remain relevant.

Food can empower a life physically but only if there’s a constant supply.

One application of the Gospel lasts forever. It’s not like sunscreen. It won’t wear off. [Read more…] about 7 Truths About The Gospel

6 Reasons Personal Evangelism Is Neglected

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If you want to change the world, start with the Gospel!

Not Starting With The Gospel
Is Like Reading
From The Back Of The Book

Evangelism has two parts: disciple-making and disciple training.

The first part involves sharing the Gospel with unbelievers in the hope of converting them to Christ. Every converted person is referred to variously as saved, Christian, believer, and convert all of which are synonyms for disciple.

There are many ways to make disciples but the greatest number of conversions happen through personal evangelism, i.e., one person sharing the Gospel with at least one other person, face to face.

The important point is discipleship starts at the moment of conversion and no one is converted until they hear the Gospel.

The progression is simple: Hear the Gospel -> Convert to Discipleship -> Commit to Training.

We can’t get those things out of order.

Evangelism’s second part, disciple training, includes both instruction and practice.

Instruction lays out the principles taught in the Bible and practice is the hands-on phase where Disciples learn how to apply those principles to everyday life.

Both parts of evangelism are essential but there are problems.

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The training part gets more attention than disciple-making. In fact, some religious groups bypass disciple-making completely, opting to start with baptism, not conversion, which clearly contorts the process and the purpose.

But even churches that believe strongly in disciple-making may occasionally get the process out of balance essentially neglecting disciple-making. The result is personal evangelism is rarely mentioned and the skills associated with it are lost.

There are several reasons this happens. [Read more…] about 6 Reasons Personal Evangelism Is Neglected