Well, it's Monday.
I hope y'all had a good Lord's Day yesterday. At our church, we started a study on personal evangelism, or, to put it in simpler language; The Art of Soul Winning.
How many of you have personally won a soul to the Lord? That's a thought-provoking question. We have been saved that we might reproduce. Are we being busy about this business? Conviction has entered my own heart.
It's nearly impossible to win someone to the Lord if you don't know the Lord yourself. Take this into consideration first.
Have you been born again? Being a church-goer, being a nice person, being raised in a Christian home, or being able to talk the talk doesn't matter a bit if you haven't been born again.
Have you ever thought about what "salvation" really means? What does the Bible say? Is it a decision that a person makes? Is it turning over a new leaf? Is it a mental assent to something they've just learned? What is the Christian saved from; hell? their sins? God's wrath? Does the Spirit do anything? How does a heart of stone change to a heart of flesh? How does a human - a member of a condemned race - become legally justified before God? How does this balance with God's holiness and justice?
When Jesus talked with Nicodemus, in John 3, he talked about a new birth. He talked about condemnation. He talked about about the Spirit.
So...if you are saved, what is it that has happened to you? Paul used his testimony almost every time he witnessed. He described what happened to him when he met the Lord. Could you do the same thing?
I challenge each one of you to leave a comment on this post, and share with the rest of us what has happened to you. Make it personal! Let us be encouraged by hearing what God can do.
.gif)
3 comments:
Well, it's only fair for me to start the comments on this post.
When I was 5 or 6 years old, I had a conversation with my parents that ended with me praying a prayer because I didn't want to go to hell, and I did want to be with my parents in Heaven.
But the Spirit had not done a work in my heart, and I still had no concept of sin. Nor did I realize that I was under the wrath of God and was dommed to an eternity under His wrath unless I repeneted and threw myself on His mercy.
When I was 8 or 9 years old, the Lord opened my eyes. I saw myself for who I really was - a sinner with a heart that was emnity against God. There was no way for me to respond to God. Everything in me was in rebellion against Him.
But God, somehow, took me from having a heart of stone that could not feel, to having a heart that yearned for Him. From being His enemy, He made me His child. He adpoted His enemy...who was no longer His enemy.
How He changed my heart, I do not know. All I know is that He did it. I no longer love the sin I once followed. I now hate sin. I hate the thought of displeasing God. Where once I didn't care, I now care. Where once I couldn't help myself from lying, now I have the power of God working through me to live honestly. He's made so many changes that I cannot list them all.
I'm truly a new creature. A regular human is a fallen creature, with no way to commune with God. But a regenerate, born-again human can talk with Him. A born-again human being has new thought patterns. I'm not sinless...just sinning less. I'm not perfect. God has changed my heart, but I still have the same body. My body and new heart fight each other, and sometimes my body wins. But I know I have God's promise that someday He will give me a new body that cannot sin. How I look forward to that day!!!
The biggest change in my life is that I have fallen in love with Jesus. He is so lovely, so kind, so perfect, so everything.
Tell me about Him. What did He do to YOU?
God saved me the day before I was five years old. I can't remember of course what exactly I said, but I do remember that I knew I had sinned and I needed a Savior. I remember talking to God and asking Him to come into my heart and save me.
I now love the Lord, and I try hard to please Him. I hate it when I disappoint Him. I often fall, but I always try to repent. He often reminds me of His love.
I cannot remember the exact day I trusted the Lord as my saviour, but my mom, much to my gratefulness now, recorded the event in my "baby book" - it is so sweet to go back and read the words she wrote and through her words know how excited and thankful she was that her firstborn had come to know the Lord! I was also around 5 years of age at the time.
I went through a period of apathy in my teen years - mostly inward rebellion although outward conformance. The Lord in His utmost grace and mercy brought me through that time and the past few years since I have been married and started my own family have been such a blessing from His hand. I can see His work in everything, each day, and it is so sweet to trust Him completely for everything. He has recently blessed us with our 3rd child, due in January, and we will celebrate our 3rd anniversary this fall when our oldest turns two. Children are such a blessing from Him!
I have been heavily burdened for those around me who are unsaved and went to college the year before I got married to take American Sign Language so I could share the good news with any Deaf people I might come into contact with in my life. My teacher was a deaf man himself and said that the deaf community as a whole is very unreached as far as sharing the news of salvation goes because they feel unwelcome in most churches. What a sad commentary on the state of churches today! :(
I also feel burdened to lift the apathy from the churchs of today. Most of the churchs I have been to in my life have been very relaxed in their approach to living a godly life and teaching godly principles to the congregation. The prevailing attitude seems to be a desire to maintain the status quo, which is unfruitful and damaging to the spiritual lives of those concerned. In my own church I now attend there are many issues of sin within the church that are not addressed whatsover. I have felt burdened to bring this to the attention of the elders and although I feel I have not made an impact so far I know the Lord can use me if I just submit to what He wants me to do.
Every day is sweeter because of Him, and my hope for the future is secure. Praise Him for what He has done for us!
Post a Comment