I've got
5 kids. Recently our youngest went
clubbing for the first time. She’s 19. She works in the entertainment industry so
she’s not unaware that people can be pretty grubby. Just the same she got *The Lecture* before
she left the house. You know how it
goes: Never leave your drink
unattended; Stay with the group; Don’t
wander off on your own; Go to the loo
with a buddy; Never, ever, under no
circumstances ever, ever get into a car with a drunk driver! If anything at all happens RING!!! We can organise something. We have contacts on the mainland.
You would think the kid was 10 & clueless. She’s not ~ but she’s our kid. We love her.
We know she knows this stuff so this is just a reminder to stay safe. It’s what parents do.
We are made in God’s image & so it is no surprise to find
God doing the very exact same thing any loving parent would do before letting
the kids lose on their own; he issues His final instructions. The kids know this. Of course they do. They've spent 3 years with this man. They've heard it before but it’s important
enough in the mind of God that it’s the very final thing on His heart before he
leaves earth. And what does He tell
them?
Stay safe? Work hard,
get rich? Go back to what you were doing
before I interfered in your life? Nope.
18And Jesus came and said to them, h“: "All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Go therefore
and kmake disciples
of lall nations, jbaptizing them min2 nthe name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them oto observe all
that pI have
commanded you .Matthew 28: 18~20
Now, we know this. And we know that it was meant for all
believers in all times & all places but somehow, because we find it such a
difficult & challenging thing, we think it does not apply to us, that God wasn't
talking to us. Surely He didn't mean us?
That’s why there are evangelists in the
body of Christ. That’s why we have
ministers & pastors. So we don’t
have to do something that is so very difficult.
So very challenging.
Now I will be brutally
honest. Some people do have a special
anointing on their life to lead people into salvation through the empowering of
the Holy Spirit. The rest of us are
going to struggle. And no, saying that
your witness is your life is not going to hold water in this day & age
unless you practise a very radical form of Christianity because it is
impossible to tell just by looking who is a Christian & who is not. Sad to say there is very little
difference these days between those who belong to Christ & those who do
not.
John 14:15 says: “If you love me, you will keep my
commandments”.
This
is one way of knowing if we belong to the household of faith or not, a test as
to whether we are Christ’s or not. IF we
belong to Him, we WILL keep His commandments.
His very last command was to Go & make disciples.
There
are promises we can cling to: He who is
in me is greater than he who is in the world; I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me; Perfect love casts out fear; The Just shall live by
faith & faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen;
it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. None of which helps us in the least when we
are out in the world chatting with the neighbour who has heard us yelling at
the kids, swearing at the lawnmower, & pretending we’re not home when the
Mormon missionaries call in. It doesn't
help when we are in the park chatting with random parents about our kids, or
standing on the jetty waiting for the boat.
I’m
lucky. As a preacher I get to stand
& deliver to people in the park once a month. This is far less threatening for me than
confronting people one~on~one, which sad to say leaves me tongue~tied &
inadequate despite scripture telling me to be ready always to give
an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in
you with meekness and fear:1 Peter 3:15
It’s not that I don’t
know. I’d be a poor sort of preacher if
I couldn't explain why I believe what I believe. My problem is a problem of the flesh. Once we understand we are to crucify the
flesh we understand what we feel about the matter is of no consequence to
God. He loves us, yes, but He expects us
to be obedient children because He has given us every resource we need to
achieve the goals He has set us & fulfil the commands He has given.
So what I want to do is give
some guidelines that may be helpful.
The first is something
Christ Himself said before He commissioned His disciples to Go. He said: All authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to me… All authority. I don’t have the time to teach today on the
authority we have in Christ. Some of us have
had that teaching & understand that by the power of the Holy Spirit &
the shed blood of Christ we are seated with Christ in heavenly places: For he raised us
from the dead along with Christ and seated us with
him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can
point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his
grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united
with Christ Jesus. Ephesians
2:6&7
So
firstly we know we have Jesus own authority when we witness in His name.
Secondly
we know, & thus can act in confidence, that we are acting in accordance
with God’s known & revealed will for us.
Thirdly
we have God’s Holy Spirit within us to lead & guide us.
That
is our foundation.
Now we will all have
those unexpected moments when God gives us an opportunity to witness for Him
& in those circumstances we simply do the best we can at the time. What I am referring to next involves a
deliberate & intentional purpose to go forth & speak to people about
Christ.
Before
we step foot out of our own door there are things we should do. The first is to pray. We pray for courage, for boldness. Even that great Apostle Paul prayed that he might share the word with boldness. We pray that God will lead people to us, ones
He wants us to speak to, who will be ready to receive. We pray for a special anointing &
infilling of the Spirit of God.
We need to mark
our bible with the relevant bible verses if we don’t know them by heart, such
as Romans 10:9.
We
are being intentional. So we don’t want to waffle round too much. We want to quickly bring a conversation
around to the things of Christ. So once
we believe we have identified someone Christ wants us to speak to, how do we
proceed?
As
a very dear sister in Christ teaches, always lead with the love of God! What does that look like?, you might be
wondering.
Here
are some options to open with:
I have been
praying for you. Remember one of
the things we do before we leave our house is to pray for the people God will
bring.
God wants me to
share that He loves you very much.
God
may give you a specific word to share with them.
Ask
if there is anything you can pray for for them.
I find this one in particular opens doors. Many people don’t feel they can approach God themselves
but they are open to being prayed for.
Ask
where they think they will go when they die?
Many people
believe they will go to heaven because they are essentially a *good*
person. The bible says all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
Ask
if you can share what the bible says & present the gospel of salvation as
succinctly as possible.
Romans
10:9& 10 says If you confess with
your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you
are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are
saved.
Ask
if they believe Jesus died & rose again.
If they confess Jesus as Lord & believe that as the son of God, God
raised Him from the dead then according to Romans 10:9 they are saved.
Lead them in a prayer that
expresses these truths. Father, I
believe that Jesus is your son, that he died on a cross for me & that you
raised Him from the dead. I confess Him
as my Lord & saviour. I desire to be born again & have your spirt
indwell in me, sealing me unto the day of redemption. Check they understand that Jesus' Spirit now
dwells within them.
Finish by quoting a verse of
assurance, such as John 6:37
All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out.
Now
I want to say a word about repentance. I do not believe one can have a genuine
conversion experience without repentance but let us understand the Greek word, metanoia, was a military term used of a
soldier who was marching in one direction & then did an about face to march
in the opposite direction. It means to change one’s mind, or to change one’s
inner man. It describes what happens when someone accepts Christ. Thus someone
who genuinely becomes Christ’s will repent ~ that is they will stop marching
after the world & begin, then continue, marching after God.
It
is possible to bring many people unto salvation at any given time quite
quickly. Peter converted 3000 from one
short message on the day of Pentecost.
We need to be bold in our faith if for no other reason than the eternal
destination of those we speak to rests on their decision about Christ. For some, we are their only opportunity to
hear the gospel.
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