The Presence of Fear Does Not Mean the Absence of Love

It’s been said there are two great hindrances to evangelism – a cold heart and cold feet. The problem is that we see one as the symptom of the other. We assume cold feet are proof of a cold heart.

The apostle Paul’s entire ministry has driven by love. He testifies, “For the love of Christ compels us” (II Cor. 5:14). Knowing the abundant love of Christ, Paul felt compelled to make a priority in his life what is a priority with God – the people for whom He died. Paul’s heart was obviously attuned with the Savior’s. So deeply concerned what he for the salvation of his own people that he testified, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Rom. 10:1). He even stated one chapter earlier that he could with himself separated from God if it would secure the salvation of his people. He explains, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3). Paul was so captivated by the love of Christ that His love radiated through him to others.

Nevertheless, that never prevented him from having moments of fear. He still sensed the need to pray for boldness. He requested prayer “that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19).

Nowhere does Scripture state of even imply that the presence of fear means the absence of love. The presence of fear, however, often says more about how much we are moved by His love than how much we aren’t. Torn by fear, yet knowing the person must meet the Savior, we do what we can to make the Gospel clear. Fear is an excellent reason to fall to our knees in prayer – not a reason to jump into a pool of guilt.

Prayer and Share

It may seem obvious that our efforts to share should be accompanied by our efforts in prayer. However, many believers don’t commit the effort in prayer before, during, and after their effort to share. Paul said in Romans 1 that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, while in Philippians 4 he said that we should (in everything), by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made know to God. When we bring these two together we can see that through prayer we are asking God, with thanksgiving for the power, to bring the power of the gospel to bear on those with whom we want to share the good news. Notice the words “in everything.” In evangelism that means your words, actions, attitudes, and feelings. In other words, commit all of your evangelism efforts, and all parts of your evangelism efforts to Him.

So, when you feel scared to share your faith… pray. When you lack boldness… pray. When you say you don’t know any non-Christians… pray. When you don’t know what to say… pray. When you have compassion for a lost friend… pray. When you need an open door… pray. When you can’t answer the question of your non-believing friend… pray. When you have shared over, and over, and over again… pray. During your gospel presentation… pray. After sharing the gospel… pray.

Prayer is the place to start, the place to continue, and the place to end in evangelism. Those who share consistently are in prayer persistently.

We Must Be People Who Pray

When we turn to the New Testament, we find that those who gave themselves whole heartedly to evangelism also gave themselves to prayer. Not only did they plead with men for God, they also pleaded for men with God. We find them asking God for the opportunities to speak the Gospel (Col. 4:3). They also requested the courage they would need when they received that opportunity (Eph. 6:19). Although the emphasis is on believers praying for themselves and others who are evangelizing, they also interceded before God on behalf of the lost (I Tim. 2:1-4).

Pray and keep praying. As you do, expect God to answer. Praying in faith is believing not only that He can, but also expecting that He will. God wants us to pray knowing He can and expecting that He will.

Church DNA

What is Church DNA?

To answer this question, we have to first establish a standard definition of DNA from which to begin our discussion. DNA is best described as the basic genetic building blocks that determine who we are and ultimately what we will become.

Many in church leadership and consulting are using this concept of DNA as a benchmark for assessing church health and direction. Every church has building blocks that determine its current practices and its plans for the future.

This purpose of the Church DNA blog is to help church leaders discover and evaluate the DNA that drives their values and priorities and to champion evangelism in every conversation.

How Humility Impacts Non-Christians

There is something different and attractive about Christians who view themselves as number two and others as number one. What strikes you about many people is not their humility - it’s their conceit. Will Rogers made the statement, “I always like to hear a man talk about himself, because then I never hear anything but good.”

In Philippians 2, Paul addresses the unity that needs to exist among believers. But he makes it clear that the basis for unity is not a method, it’s a mindset. He exhorts, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit.” Selfish ambition and conceit typify a person whose desire is to promote himself. People with selfish ambition and conceit lose friends instead of making friends. What’s the cure? After describing the problem, Paul gives the preventative. He says, “But in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” In one word, the answer is humility. The kind of humility that considers others more important than yourself. In your mind, others are number one and you are number two.

How does that spirit of humility impact non-Christians? You must understand that some non-Christians already feel believers are conceited. Non-Christians sometimes say, “Christians act like they are related to God Himself.” Of course we do, because we are! Non-Christians sometimes say, “Christians have the audacity to think they are certain they are going to heaven.” Of course we do, because we are! But if accompanying that justifiable confidence we have a humility that focuses on them, not on ourselves, that presents a contrast to most others they meet. We are saying, “You matter to me.” There is something different and attractive about Christians who view themselves as number two and others as number one.

People who are contagious are not the ones who concentrate on building a statue to themselves, but on building a statue to others. Ask God to cause the importance of others to increase in your mind and your importance to decrease. Ask God to give you an opportunity today to tell somebody how important he or she is to you.

We Must Learn How to Share Christ

When we study the book of Acts carefully, it becomes clear that the disciples knew how to lead someone to Christ. Starting where the person was, they knew how to lead that person to saving faith in Christ as the Holy Spirit worked.

If we are going to have an evangelistic lifestyle, we, too, must know how to lead someone to Christ. In light of this, those who consistently evangelize have found it helpful to master a method. Obviously, one will have to adapt it to particular situations and people, but mastering a method makes most people more consistent in sharing Christ and more confident as they do so.

Whatever approach you use, make certain it makes the Gospel clear. The Gospel in its simplest terms is: Christ died for our sins, and arose from the dead (I Cor. 15:3-4). Therefore, a good approach in sharing the Gospel should cover the basic doctrine of sin (so they understand their need), the death and resurrection of Christ (so they understand God’s way of salvation), and faith (so they know what they need to do). It should also give non-Christians ample opportunity to interact with you so you can be sure they are following you and understand what you are saying.

Excerpt from Dr. Larry Moyer’s How-To Book on Personal Evangelism

What is Saving Faith?

It has two elements. The first is knowledge. It is self-evident that to believe in a person, you must know about the person. The fact that saving faith includes knowledge is not only evident from common sense. It is also plainly taught in Scripture. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Similarly, Jesus told a crowd in Jerusalem, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life” (John 5:24). Other writers of the New Testament also told individuals’ hearing before they believed (Acts 18:8; Eph. 1:13). Saving faith is not without content or substance. Before one can believe in Him, one must know about Him.

The second element of saving faith is appropriation. Passages such as the ones studied earlier show that personal response is demanded. That response in essence is, “Believing that you have the gift of eternal life and You alone are able to give it , I willingly take what You have to offer.” To convey this idea in introducing others to Christ, many use the word “trust.” Not only is this consistent with what is meant by the Greek word translated “believe,” it also readily identifies in a lost person’s mind what God is asking him to do. Having heard the Good News of Christ’s substitutionary death and His resurrection, the sinner is asked by God to trust Christ as his only means of salvation. When people trust Christ for salvation, they are relying on Christ’s sacrificial work as their only means of right standing with God. It is then that the benefits of Christ’s death are applied to sinners they are saved by the grace of God. Some people “believe” in our English sense of the word. The mentally assent to the fact that Christ died and arose, while depending on their good works to save them. “Believe” in the biblical sense of the word means that if one mentally assents to the fact that Christ died for his or her sins and arose, they trust in Christ alone to save them.

A person is saved when he or she understands the ability Christ has to save and acts on that knowledge by trusting Christ. That is saving faith. One is not saved by simply understanding that Christ died and arose or even mentally assenting to that being a fact of history while depending on one’s good life for salvation. One is saved when as a sinner deserving of hell, on has trusted Christ alone for salvation.

Greetings from Hungary

Greetings! Greetings in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ! I pray this letter finds you well and enjoying the mercies of the Lord. Thank you for your continued kindness with your prayers for the work of the Lord here in Hungary.

After three weeks of intensive ministry, I took a walk by myself on Friday. The walk ended up being six hours. During the walk, I stopped at a museum. Upon entering I got to talking with the receptionist. It was interesting in that she could not speak English and I speak just a little Hungarian. When I began to walk into the museum she called me back telling me that if I wanted to take pictures I must pay in order to do so, which I did. She then began to show me a magazine of the museum. I really didn’t want the magazine but it was real nice so I bought it. After some conversation I began to walk a few steps into the museum when I said to myself, “Give her a tract!” I went back and gave her the tract, May I Ask You A Question. I then entered the museum. About an hour and a half later as I was leaving, the receptionist was franticly waving me to come to her. When I reached her she pointed to the May I Ask You A Question tract, where it shows how to trust Jesus as your Savior, and then to herself, doing this several times, indicating she had made a decision to trust Christ. The power of the living Word of God! Wow! The celebration continues!

- J -
Hebrews 4:12

When is a Disciple Not a Fisherman?

Are we really fishers of men if we never put our hook in the water? Mennonite Pastor, John M. Drescher, wrote a rather convicting article entitled, “The Fishless Fisherman,” in which he asked this same question. We spend a lot of time reading about the best evangelism lures, poles, and equipment, but we never go to the water and put our line in. And if we never go to the water and put our line in are we following Jesus?

Here’s perhaps a different perspective on being a fisher of men. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” This was the first thing that Christ taught His disciples. Isn’t that interesting? How important was evangelism to Jesus? It was the first thing He taught the disciples and usually it is the last thing we teach new believers, (or mature disciples for that matter), isn’t it? This is not an indictment, but rather an observation… why do we not make the first thing we teach new followers of Christ, the first thing Jesus taught them?

This all comes down to the plain and simple truth of obedience. Think of it this way, when your knees begin to knock at the thought of sharing the gospel - greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world, AND, He desires all men to be saved! With those two boundless truths, obedience becomes easier because of Who is on your side and Who wants your friend to know Him!

With the Lord on our side desire our friend to be saved, we need to be obedient to go to the water and put our line in. It’s only as we make important to us what was important to Him that we will truly be followers of Jesus and fishers of men.

We Must Give God Obedience, Not Excuses

The basis of evangelism is the Great Commission. Christ’s command is: “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Luke 5:1-11 tells us about one of the first things Christ taught his disciples in evangelism. Using the metaphor of catching fish, He taught them to catch men. After they had fished an entire night with no success, Christ said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Any fisherman acquainted with the Sea of Galilee would understand that if you don’t catch any fish at night , you might as well settle for no fish. Despite this fact, Peter answered, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” Miraculously they caught a net breaking, boat-sinking load, and Jesus said, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” His message was simple: “When I say do it, do it!”

We sometimes think that we aren’t called to speak to a lost neighbor about the Gospel because we may not be able to answer his or her questions. Sometimes this concern has some merit. At other times, it becomes an excuse behind which we hide. After all, Christ’s calling is to us as well as to the first disciples, and He can provide the miraculous catch.

« Previous Page — Next Page »