Am I praying, preparing, passing on the Gospel?

Over last four weeks I've passed out handouts and bulletin inserts and we've had discussions on the question, "how to share the gospel with others."

Have we studied the Scriptures of the “Romans Road,” or the “ABC's of the kingdom”?

Have we thought about or had any discussion, or practiced our testimony or how we might start a conversation with someone, or even prayed with someone?

Do we know the Gospel? Do we believe it? Do we live by it?

Most conversations won't lead to someone committing their life to follow Christ in that moment, but we have talked about how each conversation, each act of kindness, and each prayer that we pray privately and specifically for others can help them be a step closer for them to eternity in union with God through Christ. Do we believe that?

If we do then we will pray, prepare, and pass on the gospel.

Questions, Questions, Questions?

Too busy?

Just not motivated?

Are we just plain lazy?

Do we realize we are engaged in a spiritual war and are we doing battle on our knees so to speak?

The motivation question: fear of God and love of God.

The “love quotient: Have we been forgiven much and do we love much? Have we freely received and therefore freely give?

The fear of God component:  Have we given serious thought about giving an account to God for our own obedience or disobedience to share the gospel and be and make disciples?

If our hesitancy to share is because we still feel unprepared then let's earnestly prepare and pray so that we can be as Paul wrote to Timothy, "a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of God."

Do we really care about people's souls? Do I love?

That's why I wrote that we need to be filled with God's word, and filled with the Holy Spirit, and most of all we need filled with God's love.

Am I “over the Holy Spirit” or seeking to be filled?

I can count on God to manifest spiritual graces and gifts through me if I ask (1 Cor 14:1 love motivates me to earnestly desire spiritual gifts). God will give me words of wisdom and prophetic words of encouragement and words of knowledge that can open people's hearts to repent and believe the gospel. But Paul also wrote in 1 Cor: 13 that even if I prophesy and have all wisdom and have all faith, if I have not love I'm just a clanging cymbal.

So maybe the real question is, do I love? Do I love God more than myself, do I love others more than myself, or at least do I love others as much as I love myself? If I have repented and placed my faith in God, it is because others prayed and shared the gospel with me, and I will desire to share the gospel and pray for others.

The less experience we have we will tend to be more self-conscious, nervous, focused on how I am doing, or my fears, or I may talk too much and not listen well.

But with prayerful experience I will be less focused on me and on the results, on trying to be “successful” or do it well.

Over time I will be more focused on Christ’s love, on Father’s ultimate purpose.

That brings us to the Gospel itself-the power of God for salvation.

Knowing the story is more than just topics or verses in a formula.  

It begins with God, with His desire in creation, his image in the man he formed and his purpose for the man and woman he said were “very good.”

So, witnessing is not just about dealing with the fall and sin issue and forgiveness or going to heaven.

It is about God and his story, his heart, his image.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?  (Good News-evangel)

Is the whole or full gospel about my being forgiven and me going to heaven?

Is it about me being baptized and filled with Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts?

Is it about God’s kingdom and me getting my life in order to serve the King?

All of these are true but are they the whole truth????

What about God’s plan and purpose before Adam and Eve fell and what about his eternal and ultimate purpose in the new heaven and earth in Christ, and the church being in union with God?

Would you have said something like the following?

The gospel is that God himself has come to rescue

and renew creation

in and through the the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

We have a good future and a hope and we can commit to the welfare of our city by being filled with the love of God and building the altar, temple and walls as a holy habitation for God and light to the world for all people, hastening His return and the restoration of all things in the wonderful new heaven and earth.

Maybe, if we ask God to fill us with his love, His Word, His Spirit and His holy fear (the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom), we will repent of not being gospel focused, missional communities, and we be “joyful for a change.”

Those who go, bearing precious seed, weeping, will doubtless come again, rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them. Ps 126

I am asking all of us not just to be in a small group-but to be in a gospel focused, missional group, with others who see the need to become more obedient as disciples.

We can be a family of missionary servants, being and making disciples together, for the glory of God and furtherance of his kingdom in all the earth.

3 P’s: Prepare, Present and Pray the Gospel

1. Be filled with the love of Jesus Christ (God so loved the world that He gave… We love God because He first loved us…  He who has been forgiven much loves much… The love of God compels us… )

2. Be filled with Holy Spirit Acts 1:11 And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”

3. Pray for opportunities and specific people Col 4:2-4 2-4 Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don’t forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I’m locked up in this jail. Pray that every time I open my mouth I’ll be able to make Christ plain as day to them.

4. Prepare and practice sharing your testimony 2 Timothy 1:7-87 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 

5. Be familiar with the gospel story and the call to follow Jesus in his kingdom  1Cor 15:1-6 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve.6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living…

ABC’s of the kingdom of God

A - Admit my need – Acts 2:37-41 Repent, believe, be baptized

B – Be Born again – Jn 3:3-7 from above to enter (begin) in the KOG

C – Continue together – Acts 2:41-42 belong in small group and gatherings

How will Jesus build His church? Mt 16:16-18

Other helpful passages include the “Roman Road” Romans 3:23 (everyone has sinned); Rom 6:23 (sin causes separation from God); Rom 5:8 (Christ died for us); Rom 10:9-10 (believe and confess Jesus as Lord of your life) Rom 5:1 (no more condemnation for those in Christ) 

Instead of the Old Four Spiritual Laws, or the old simple “Sinner’s Prayer, and instead of using Rev 3:20 and just “asking Jesus into your heart, give them the full gospel.

Ask if they know the real Jesus.

Ask if they know the whole story from creation to restoration. (That means you need to know the story.)

What is the whole Gospel story in your own words?

In a few words, what is your story in the Gospel story (testimony)?

A Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I am sorry for my sin. I confess my sin to you. God forgive my sin through Jesus Christ. I choose to take up my cross, deny myself and follow you with my whole life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and help me believe and obey your word. Place me within your body, the church, to grow and become more like you. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Worldview presuppositions (objections) and answers

1.      Truth is relative.  How do you know that is the truth? What if you are wrong? Jesus said, “I AM the Truth.” What if He is and you are calling him a liar?

2.      “I’m a good person compared to others.” (See Romans Road) and James 2:8-9  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

3.      “Jesus was a good man but I believe there are many truths and ways to God.” Jesus said, “I AM the way.” C.S. Lewis said, “Either Jesus is a liar, a lunatic or He is who He said He was.”

4.      “I’m not ready. Someday I intend to be a Christian.” What is really hindering you: friends, addictions or pleasures you don’t want to give up, possessions, or are you genuinely seeking to know if Jesus if God but just not believing yet? The first step is not complete faith but repentance. “Repent and believe.” Begin by asking forgiveness and calling on Him for help. “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

How to handle opposition and hold onto your values

Joshua and Caleb return with the grapes of the Promised Land in “Spies return with grapes” by Michiel van der Borch, 1332

We always have choices. If I choose to bite on the bait of Satan (his tasty morsels of offense are always offered on the “baitstick” of a trap) then I may be caught and ensnared by it. But I don’t have to live in my pain or in a bitter vow of offense (“I will never let that ___ happen to me again”). I can choose to avoid or even be set free from a stronghold of judgment or bitter root of negative expectation against a person and life in general. Here are three direction to make better choices on how to handle opposition: toward Christ and his body, toward the accuser-Satan, and toward yourself (past, present and future).

Toward God and the Body of Christ (Lessons from Ezra 3 going forward)

1. Give thanks, worship and pray: Keep the altar in your heart free of old ashes. The priests had to take yesterday’s ashes outside the camp and keep the fire burning on the altar (Lev 6:9-13 and Heb 13:13-17). Each day choose to “take out the trash” and add new wood to keep the flame of God freshly burning in your heart - morning, daytime, evening and through the night. Then it will be easier to think on him and call on him through the day.

2. Feed your spirit and soul the truth by meditation in God’s word  (Ezra taught the people God’s commands (Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8).

3. Repent and confess your sins: Humble yourself before God and cleanse yourself of impure motives and sinful thought, words and actions. (Israelites who had married unbelieving wives had had to divorce them (keep hearts with undistracted devotion to Christ-don’t marry the world). “I am a partaker of and contributor to the sins of the world.” “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner." 

4. Don’t withdraw or neglect gathering for fellowship with friends

5. Be generous in word, in deed and in service to those around you. Others need your help.

6. Keep your focus on Christ - what we do we do for the love of God in Christ - it’s not about me. “I ask the grace that my motives, my energies, my actions and my relations with others be purely by your love, service and glory; that I will be saved and use all created things for your intended purpose-the salvation of the world” (ancient prayer).

7. Share in Christ’s suffering for the body (Col 1:24) and continue to do good, as He suffered for you (1 Peter 4:12-19).

Toward the devil

1. Ignore the distraction if possible (person, circumstance or bad spirit). Keep your hands on the task God put before you because that’s where God gives you grace. Ezra records how the Israelites had nothing to do with those who were stuck in the past and sowed discord. The leaders would not allow threats and distractions to undermine the forward purpose of God (until they were ordered to cease work by the king in Ezra 4).

2. Be armed while together building a safe place for your families and for those harassed by the enemy to enter (Nehemiah 4). Wear God’s spiritual armor while you are busy building the new wall of protection together.

Toward your own soul

1. Be aware and acknowledge your pain. Ask Jesus to walk with through the distracting and painful thoughts and feelings. Process your own grief (shock-denial-anger-bargaining-acceptance and peace).

2. Engage and explore your feelings with a friend who can help you (share up with spiritual authority but don’t dump down on someone who may pick up your hurt and offense).  

3. Discern and exchange the lies with Jesus’ own word to you. Within the pain you can encounter Jesus, the Living Word. Speak what He says to you (Rhema) to directly rebuke and resist the devil-tell him to “GO.”

4. “Reframe” and “Resolve" the event or person which activated the pain until you feel a close bond with God and those whom God has brought you into relationship. “Shalom” or “The peace of Christ be with you,” is a peaceful and healthy response. “I am able to have a good response” ( “I am a responsible person”). 

Core Convictions

Passion to know God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit 

The Co-mission to be and make disciples 

Death and Resurrection Life through the power of the cross

We love God and His family (the church)

The Kingdom of God: the care of creation and its inhabitants