11 replies to this topic

[Candice]

As I prayed this evening for a young man in Texas who was in critical condition following a motorcycle accident, I asked the Lord for His mercy on his soul and to forgive this young man his sins...

 

Last Sunday, the youth pastor gave the sermon.  His request from the congregation:  share the gospel this week with one person.  They are praying for 25 baptisms in the next month.  The pastor backed up his sermon with verses from The Book of Acts, etc.  We were asked to stop and pray for that person and select that person.

 

I couldn't think of anyone I was so close to who isn't a believer and who I haven't already shared with...but, I did think of my son, who I believe knows the Gospel. But, maybe I can fast and pray this week and then share...

 

Then again, is such a mandate really OK?  I have a few people I would like to share with, but do I believe that we need to sort of gain their respect and a relationship first?  Do we need to earn the right to share the Gospel?

 

I think of an Iranian couple (in their 40s) with a little, sweet girl.  This couple own a gyro shop.  I think of them and they are so kind.  I'm not sure they're muslim.  I know they're not strict - I've talked to Ali about that before...but who knows.  So, I think, do I go to the gyro shop off-hours and share with Mitra, Ali's wife? 

 

This mandate gave me no ill feelings on Sunday and nor does it now.  How are we to know when it's time?  I don't want to push the person away from the Gospel if it isn't the LORD's timing.  And, if the Lord does not go with me, I don't want to share at all.

 

By the way, the young man in Texas passed away this evening. And, I feel so sure that the Gospel message needs to get out - by all of us - urgently and diligently and continuously.

 

Please!  Share your thoughts, experiences and what the Lord has shared with you on sharing the Gospel....

 

Love you all,

Candice

 

 

[Kevin Blankenship]

At the church I WAS attending.....this same....mandate (15 Baptisms next month) or a similar such statement, is sort of promoted by the 'powers that be' within the Southern Baptist Convention churches.  This particular church is in a sub-group called the Shiloh Baptist Association.  Monthly, they list each church and how many new Baptisms, new converts, rededications, that each church within the association has done. And I suppose that each church is graded according to how big the church is, attendence, percentage of new converts, etc etc etc etc etc etc ad nauseum.  I'll be quick and to the point.....yet gentle: My Bible reads THIS WAY:  "And GOD!!......added to the church such as should be saved."

  I know that the Bible tells us to go out in the hiways and byways.  But this church started having a body-building night where every member was given a stack of tracts with the good ol Roman Road to Salvation printed on it. We....no...They....(members) were mandated to go to each house in the community. I think they called it "Blanket the community".  I have been approached by members who were trying to fill the church pews back when I couldn't care less about salvation or God, or anything like it. All I wanted was another mixed drink.  There approach did absolutely nothing for me. But everyone is different. I suppose that other folks might respond positively to having a tract placed in the hand and to be told "It would be nice to see you at Riverview Baptist Church this sunday."  The pastor told us one time:  "It's y'all's job to bring them in. If YOU bring them in.....I'll get them saved."  On another Sunday he said, from the pulpit, "I am so thankful to my congregation....that y'all don't expect me to go to the hospital and nursing homes and visit the sick, so that I can stay at the office and work on these sermons. (Alliterated sermons...grrrr) emphasis mine. lol  In this day and age....more and more individuals are studying their Bibles, I believe. The cemetary-trained pastors jsimply cannot shovel that non-sense out to us anymore and not expect to be challenged. And I am not specifically referring to anything that I quoted here.  It would take alot more room.  Let me summarize: We should ALL be like the Bereans!!!!!! All of us!!!!!! We should know our Bibles as good as anybody.  The Professor Himself.....the Holy Spirit has the classroom open and it's open roll. Everyone is invited to class. (NO donuts and coffee afterwards....lol) 

[Lori Smith]

Candice,

 

When I worked part time last year as a receptionist at a nursing home, I got to know a Muslim man (from Iran) who used to visit his dad every evening. I shared Jesus as much as he would let me. In addition I talked to him about the wonderful history of Persia (they set the Jews free following Babylonian captivity). Then God had me give him this book http://www.amazon.co...sperate for god

 

It made quite an impression on him. So, I would pray and ask God what He would have you do. Certainly, I prefer to wait and let the Holy Spirit lead, but then again, God has used classroom assignments to force me to share the gospel and people got saved. 

 

Shalom,

Lori

[Big John]

Hi gang,
 
I haven't posted recently but have been reading everything that comes along.  I felt I had to say something about this topic.  I have been saved for 50 years and have done a fair amount of "witnessing". I used to think that witnessing meant the kind of thing described above or carrying tracts with me, etc. Not that those activities are inherently wrong. But I have truly come to believe that when someone has something people want, they ask. In fact, these days I have gone somewhat the other way. When someone comes to me with a bible or church or moral question, I usually discourage them. Like, "are you sure you want to know what I think? You probably won't like it, etc." I may be wrong but I'm looking for a little more than a nibble when I fish.

I truly believe that most of those churches that try to count numbers, are doing a great dis-service to their people. Usually, all the attention is on getting someone "saved". Where is the growth being taught. The discipleship. The depth in the Word. The expansion of ones prayer life. People should be taught to grow in the Grace of God and that will draw some in. I also agree with the thought someone had about going to God in prayer. Learning to travail before God on behalf of unbelievers but just as important is being in prayer for our brothers and sisters and leaders in the church.

And briefly I will share a thought about the Manifest Presence of God. Jesus never meant for us to walk this path alone. Jesus carried the manifest presence of God with Him. Does he tell us we should expect less. One of my fav scriptures is Numbers 11:29. Gotta read the whole story to get the context. It is assume. "And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!" Moses knew that it was Gods plan to create a nation of kings and priests!

Well, nuff said. hopefully I got my point across.

God bless
Big John

[Kenny]

"Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words."  - Anselm

[Julie Daube]

Candice, you asked some excellent questions, and there have been some great responses already. Here's my take on this issue:

 

First, we already have a mandate to share the gospel. It's in Matthew 28:19-20.  

 

That being said, I don't see a biblical basis for a pastor randomly picking and choosing a specific number of baptisms to aim for in a given month and telling the church members they must select a person with whom to share the gospel during that time. Rather, the Bible teaches us to be ready to proclaim the gospel at all times, through the power of the Holy Spirit - not at the insistence of the pastor.

 

You also asked, "Do we need to earn the right to share the Gospel?" I would say a big YES to that - we absolutely we need to earn the right to share the gospel. In fact, in the gospel presentation used by Evangelism Explosion, there is a requirement to ask permission to share how we came to know that we have eternal life.

 

It has been shown that the average Christian needs to hear the gospel a certain number of times before they respond in faith. This means that a pastor should not just assume that all the members of his congregation will be able to share the gospel and lead a person to salvation simply because he told them to. The Bible says that some of us plant seeds, some of us water them, and others reap the harvest.

 

If your pastor really wants to see people in the community get saved, a more effective strategy might be to have a community outreach and ask church members to invite their friends and neighbors. Some examples could be a pot-luck lunch, a movie night, clothing giveaway, etc. When churches seek to meet people's tangible needs, it often opens doors to share Jesus naturally, especially as people ask why the church is doing this. I have seen this again and again in Alliance churches around this country and worldwide.

 

The bottom line is that we should always be ready to share the gospel whenever God gives us an opening, and that we should pray for opportunities to share Christ with all those he puts across our path.  

[Kenny]

In my personal experience I have learned that if I am to expect God to provide an open door of opportunity to present the saving message of the gospel to another person, that in my experience the only times it has been effective has been when I begin my day in prayer surrendering and yielding myself unto the Lord. I might pray something like, Lord, here is my hands, my feet, my ears, and my mouth. I surrender them to You as instruments to use to bring glory to Your holy name. I pray that You, O Lord would lead me to someone whose heart You have prepared and that You would use my lips to speak only those words that You know will reach any person whose heart You have been stirring. Salvation is of You Lord, I pray that my body may be used this day as Your instrument for the glory of Your name - In Thy name, Amen

 

The only times I have been able to effectively witness to someone has been those times when I began my day as mentioned above. 

 

If you doubt that method can be effective, I challenge you to try it everyday for the rest of the year, and then come back and post your findings.

 

I have likewise noticed that opportunities to witness have not gone so well if I didn't start my day as mentioned above which drove me to sadness for lost opportunities when I didn't surrender and yield my entire being unto God to use.

 

Blessings dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus

[elizabethcog]

In my time as a believer,which is not lengthy, I am filled with love and adoration of Jesus who saved(and saves) me,I pray always for Him to give me a heart like His and courage to share with all He shows me....I used to set out to do this and I memorized out of obligation( struggled too) and just with no discerning at all ran about like it was my job.Needless to say I had not much success and wore myself, and I'm sure others, completely out.But when I stopped trying to be something and Jesus showed me how to just be, something started to happen,I found myself quieter and kinder and more forgiving so then I started really spending time getting to know Jesus by reading my bible and giving of my energies and gifts as those were brought near in my everyday life path,someone I wouldnot even say I was trying to influence came to me after about 6 months(I was her supervisor,she is retired now and I miss seeing her everyday)and told me she was joining a church and being baptised and wanted to thank me for showing her Jesus like I somehow introduced them...well if so the only one to thank is He who saves and calls us and gives us ears to hear,Jesus Christ!!! It is so super cool that he let's me(us) participate in the plan he made,me plain old nothing special me a daughter of THE KING, I am so proud of all He did and does and how He loves!!

[Candice]

 

First, we already have a mandate to share the gospel. It's in Matthew 28:19-20.  

 

 This means that a pastor should not just assume that all the members of his congregation will be able to share the gospel and lead a person to salvation simply because he told them to. The Bible says that some of us plant seeds, some of us water them, and others reap the harvest.

 

The bottom line is that we should always be ready to share the gospel whenever God gives us an opening, and that we should pray for opportunities to share Christ with all those he puts across our path.  

Agree with all of this. We do have a mandate.  My approach has been like Kenny's....

 

In my personal experience I have learned that if I am to expect God to provide an open door of opportunity to present the saving message of the gospel to another person, that in my experience the only times it has been effective has been when I begin my day in prayer surrendering and yielding myself unto the Lord. I might pray something like, Lord, here is my hands, my feet, my ears, and my mouth. I surrender them to You as instruments to use to bring glory to Your holy name. I pray that You, O Lord would lead me to someone whose heart You have prepared and that You would use my lips to speak only those words that You know will reach any person whose heart You have been stirring. Salvation is of You Lord, I pray that my body may be used this day as Your instrument for the glory of Your name - In Thy name, Amen

 

The only times I have been able to effectively witness to someone has been those times when I began my day as mentioned above. 

 

If you doubt that method can be effective, I challenge you to try it everyday for the rest of the year, and then come back and post your findings.

 

I have likewise noticed that opportunities to witness have not gone so well if I didn't start my day as mentioned above which drove me to sadness for lost opportunities when I didn't surrender and yield my entire being unto God to use.

Amen. Amen.  I agree Kenny.  This is my own experience and is the only way I believe I can share the Gospel is to be prepared as you say. 

 

All responses were very helpful to me.

 

Lori,

Your resource is appreciated.  I see Iranians are coming to Christ in huge numbers daily, and they are truly persecuted.  I pray for them.

 

Thank you everyone.

[noah22x]

By being Christians, we share Christ whether we mean to or not. Here of late, 2 Cor 5:18-21 has been teaching me about ministering. Might it help you also.

 

I fear costing a person their walk with Christ because of my delivery. But it doesn't work that way. I can't take anything away from God.

 

God can instantly instill the gospel truth in any person. I don't understand it, but God seems to want us involved in the process. Even though it's a given we'll make a mess.

 

That we care so much about being careful, well, that's gotta be good enough.

 

God Bless,

Noah

 

 

[Ginger]

Noah, thank you for your share.  I tried to click on 'like this' but had reached the quota for the day.

[Kevin Blankenship]

I really have a conviction, or rather, ,.......an idea I guess......that our communities....whether we live in Tennessee, Wyoming, California, and in between, are fairly well sick and tired of words.  And tracts. They hear of a Television personality who runs a Mega-church that falls from grace and gets "found out" that, even after years of rebuking homosexuals, or adulterers, (they have both been around since very early according to my Bible), he is discovered taking a trans-Atlantic cruise with a young male ..."attendee....yeah...right!"....and those people's tiny, mustard seed-sized faith gets routed away from Evangelical Christianity and they use that faith ("to every man is given a measure of faith") and apply it to a cult, or a flat-out false religion. Or they use it to believe in "humanism"....or the cultish belief that "there are no absolute right and wrongs" and there ya go!! He's twice as hard to win as the poor feller who is ignorant of the world's idea's about God...or even god's.

  So we preach to them, or hand them a tract, that lays it out. They have seen it before....heard it before....as children. And they see how the world makes human "targets" out of Christians with the fiery darts of jokes, etc etc.etc.  I mean...how could America EVER vote in enough people to "VOTE OUT" prayer in schools, or the Ten Commandments being displayed in public area.

    Many polls show that the vast majority of Americans say they are Christians. But we know that the immoral majority votes in the people who are so vehement in their belief that there are no absolutes. Therefore, unknowingly, those people, who got elected in, with a liberal agenda, brand themselves as anything but Lovers of Jesus Christ.

   I cast my vote with Big John!!!!  Even Jesus said to "COUNT THE COST" before committing to this life!!!!! Firstly, our lives should be a tangible representation of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Then...when the questions come, and they likely will as things grow worse, we will be instant, in and out of season......and the Holy Spirit will give us the words for that particular person. And then..."God will add daily to the church, such as  should be saved."  My take.