Do you hesitate or fear to tell others the Gospel? Why? Are any of these 8 "reasons" your reasons?
God has worked long on me in this area. I should have been to the place where I passionately pursue other to proclaim the Gospel a long time ago, but I have only recently become an active evangelist in the sense of setting aside time specifically for that. But what a joy it is! What a joy to tell others the most important thing that can be told! What a joy to go home tired from doing the Lord's work! We wear ourselves out in many other ways, why not from putting our pride to death and telling people the Gospel?
Please observe the following video and then comment on it. How does this apply to you? How have you grown? Where do you desire to grow in the area of evangelism?
Now let's discuss this!
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5 comments:
Let me start with me. One of my greatest excuses for not telling others about Jesus has been simply that "I don't have time." Well, something was revealed to me as I met with a great friend of mine in my church about time management. He led me to observe the life of Jesus. I paraphrase him here:
"Look at the life of Jesus. You never saw Him hurrying to the Jerusalem breakfast meeting running ahead of His disciples saying, 'hurry up, guys! We're going to be late!' You never saw Jesus coming home at the end of the day disappointed in the way things went that day. He was on His way to Jerusalem resolute! Yet, He made time for others."
This is so true! He was on His way to die for our sins, yet He stopped for people the woman at the well and blind Bartimaeus. Shouldn't we, then, as Christians saved by grace and made in God's very image stop and set aside time for the one purpose of evangelism?
That helped tremendously. And what Eric Simmons said at New Attitude (in paraphrase):
"It's not all about learning the 3 steps to sharing your faith. It's not about that, though those things are important. Because if you love Jesus, you're going to love talking about Him."
we are to be prepared to give an answer, and we are also to love talking about Jesus rather than viewing it as mere duty. Amen? Amen! Now I love to go and tell people the Gospel up front! Haha!
What about you?
The biggest thing that I notice in myself is just plain old fear of man! I’m often afraid of what man will think of me! But you know, something that I’ve started realizing all the more lately is God’s unfathomable love towards the lost. He longs for them to become part of His bride! He is willing to do anything, to the point of crushing His own Son to bring the lost to Himself. How could I in light of this great love, be so selfish and proud that I wouldn’t be willing to step out of my comfort zone and share the incredible love of the savior with a dying world. How selfish of me!!! I have been so convicted of this lately. Along with this my eyes have been opened more and more to how undeserving I am that I should come to know Christ. Why out of millions lost would He choose to save my soul and bring me to an intimate place with Him for His glory!
Lord is always faithful to use the times when I share the gospel to do at least 5 major things….
1.Give the truth of God to the lost
2.Bring conviction to their hearts
3.Convict me of sin
4.Give me encouragement in light of my sin based on the finished work of Christ.
5.Draw me ever closer to God and ever longing more for Him and for Him to be made known.
David,
That is an excellent point. Thank you for your humility and for encouraging others by telling how the Lord is working in you; He certainly is!
Yes, the Lord has shown that to me as well and caused me to ask this question: What will matter in eternity? ANd in light of that, What, then, is the most important thing that I can tell others? It is the Gospel of Christ! When I look back on my life when my days on earth are done, I will not be saying, "I'm sure glad I stayed in my comfort zone that day. Whew! How embarassing that would have been had I tried telling them the Good News!" God help me if that's what I would say. May we not be ashamed of Him! May we fear and be in awe of Him and not of man!
God bless,
-Franz
Humm, I'd have to say what David did - fear of man. I have the time. I have the energy. And most importantly, I have an abundance of God's grace! With all that begind me, I am in the absolute safest place to be, for sharing the Gospel! And yet, often I let fear of man dominate. It's really revealing, about my heart and trust in the Lord.
I liked your post - it's something that's really been on my heart lately, that I've been thinking about. I have the greatest news in the world - I've been saved from the depths of my sin by a kind and merciful God! How can I NOT shout that in praise!? How can I possibly NOT share such a tremendous gift with the world? Even though I've let sin prevail in this area in the past, I know God's grace and forgiveness is sufficient. That His son died on the cross for my sins, and now I'm seen in Christ's righteousness. Wow. Who on earth should I fear, with such a God in heaven??
Anyways, those are my slightly rambly thoughts. It's an area I'm truly seeking to grow in. Our God is good. :o)
I think of David who "danced before the Lord with all his might" (2 Samuel 6:14). As my pastor noted, He danced in the streets and did not care who saw his passion for God! O why should I ever be slightly ashamed? Let us not only tell people the good news, let us tell them with joy!
"If you love Jesus, you're going to love talking about him."
-Eric Simmons, New Attitude 2006
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