Posts
Personal evangelism is, simply, an individual telling another individual about Jesus.
A part of being a Jesus follower is to serve as an intentional ambassador of faith.
It’s not easy to talk about Jesus. One anonymous writer said it this way, “If you talk about Jesus all the time, none of your family and friends will ever come around you.”
I chuckled at that, but I also disagree. There are thousands of people who are searching to fill that hole within their heart. They are learning that nothing of this Earth will fill it. They see churches, but they have been disappointed or don’t know how to crack the entry code. They hear about Bibles and they hear about prayer, but they have no idea where to start. They believe they are too old. They see you and me get up on Sunday and go off to church, leaving them at home or in the neighborhood. They have small children, and they want those children to be in church, but as adults they are embarrassed to admit the children know as much about faith as they do.
And, so how do we lovingly come alongside people and confidently talk about Jesus in our own personal way? Sure, we may not have all the answers. I don’t know how to spell every word in the dictionary – that’s why I have a dictionary. I don’t know all there is to know Scripture – that’s why I have a Bible. You and I don’t need all the answers; we just need the courage and the confidence to talk about our relationship with Jesus. And, the story of Jesus really tells itself.
Consider this summer training our “boot camp” toward the best fall season you and I have ever experienced. Imagine the blessing if you and I could talk to someone about Jesus every month, every week . . . every day!
Try to attend every Sunday that you are in Lexington. When you can’t attend, the lessons are summarized (without all the stories) at www.thevclass.blogspot.com.
My conviction regarding personal evangelism comes from knowing that we all experience some levels of relational, financial and physical pain, and that within that there’s a degree of spiritual pain, too. I’ve been there – worried sick over family, worried sick over money, laying in the hospital – and saying, “Where are you, Lord? Where are you?” So, in this, I’m not a Sunday School teacher, I’m in the ditch with you. But, as a follower, I’ve got to take the focus off my own pain and minister to others whom the Lord is sending my way. And, that ministry often comes down to helping people find Jesus, focusing on Jesus instead of the storm, and just praying over people.
So many hurting people get to a dark place of exasperation and lament, “My life is ruined” or they are told “your life is ruined” or about them it’s said “their life is ruined.” And, that’s just hogwash. In fact, it grieves me when I hear people talk about the ruination of life. As long as my Jesus sits on the throne of righteousness, and as long as my Jesus calms the storm, no life is ever ruined. Even in its 11th hour, any life – through Jesus – is capable of being restored and redeemed and useful for the Kingdom of God. We just have to remind people of the hope that comes from knowing and following Jesus.
We all fall down.
Proverbs 24:16: “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.”
Everyone fails from time to time. We all mess up. It’s going to happen. Within God’s perfect will, He knows it will happen and He understands that it will happen. He allows it to happen, because it’s through the failures that we learn to lean on Him.
But, read closer – the righteous man falls often, but gets up. Not everyone gets up. Followers of Jesus – those working to live lives that are just, and right, and good in the Lord – they get up. And, each time we get up, we are closer to the Lord.
God lifts us back up.
Psalm 40:1-3: “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord.”
So Proverbs says, we all fall down and the righteous will get up, but it’s God that lifts us up; it is Him hearing our cry, and helping lift us up. But, don’t overlook what David writes – David was down and waiting patiently on the Lord to help him.
One of the hard lessons that I’ve learned over 52 years is that when I fall and cry out to the Lord for guidance, the guidance doesn’t always come right away. Sometimes, I need to be in that pit of despair, alone with God, praying to God, listening to God, and learning from God. Even as I wait, however, I know He is with me and that He lifts us back on solid ground.
God wants us to correct ourselves.
Jeremiah 8:4-5: (The Lord says), “Jeremiah, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: When people fall down, don’t they get back up? When they start down the wrong road and discover their mistake, don’t they turn back? Then why do these people keep going along their self-destructive path, refusing to turn back, even though I have warned them?”
Over and over again, the people of Israel made the same mistakes, repented, and then made those mistakes again. We do the same thing. We fall down, God helps us back up, we are sorry for the behavior or the attitudes that caused us to fall down, and then over time we forget about it and fall down again. And, God is reminding us that we are smarter than that. I’ll confess to you that I’ve started out for Charlotte, and just absent-mindedly got on I-26 toward Spartanburg. I immediately realized my mistake, and changed course. But, then there are my attitudes and actions that cause me to experience pain, and yet it’s tough to turn from them. But, God expects me to do it. In fact, God warns us that there will be consequences to the sinful choices we make over and over and over again – even when we know to our core that should not be making those choices. When my boys were little and deliberately disobeyed us – what happened? There were consequences. What are the consequences to deliberately disobeying God? We end up in the ditch. And, the ditch will be our destination until we get to a place where we realize that obeying God and staying out of the ditch is a better course of action.
Last, and this jumpstarts our summer thinking on personal evangelism: Go back to Psalm 40:1-3 – “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord.”
Telling our “faith story” – what we have learned in our failure and redemption – is one way that we can be involved in personal evangelism. God promises, through David’s words, that people will put their trust in the Lord because of His redemptive work in and through the pain of our own lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment