Evangelism and Discipleship

Recently, I was asked the following question: "How do evangelism and discipleship relate to love and purpose?" My response is as follows.


Jesus called us all to be His disciples not only because He loved us, but because we are to love Him. We are to be disciples of Christ and to do it with love. Jesus was/is the greatest lover of all time and He was/is also the best example of an evangelist that we have. What greater evangelist has the world ever seen? Paul was good, but he cannot even begin to compare to Christ who came and evangelized to the very world that He created(cf. John 1:10). I would argue that evangelism needs to be done, but it needs to be done out of love just as Jesus and Paul did it, for without love the message will be lacking. Our purpose as Christ followers is to love and to worship the Lord for who He is as well as for the high price that He paid for our redemption. Since He has done this we are to be His disciples, living holy and sinless lives. Part of that being that we are to evangelize to the lost, those who do not know Christ as their savior, with love for the purpose of bringing them into the Kingdom of God so that they may become disciples and evangelists as well.


This is just a brief look at this subject. I could go on and on for hours, but the main point is well made.

In conclusion, I have a few questions for us all to ponder.

When was the last time you proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to a lost soul? When was the last time you were a witness to a non-believer about the mercy and grace our Heavenly Father has shown you? Maybe just as important, when was the last time any of us witnessed to ourselves?

Suicide

How have I sinned against Thee? Let me count the ways. Arrogance, pride, selfishness, disobedience and doubt just to name a few. Assuredly the list is long. How could I be so foolish? Instead of taking things to You by prayer and supplication I have put things in front of You on my list of things to-do. Idolatry. I have neglected You, therefore, I have rejected You. How could I be so foolish?

…because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:21-23 NKJV)

What have I done? How could I be so foolish? Through Your brightness, I see my darkness. In Your presence, I now realize my sins. Shame. Humility. I know now what I must do. Logically, it seems the only option that I am left with. I close my eyes. I take a deep breath. I feel the cold barrel against my temple. I gently squeeze the trigger. I lay motionless on the floor. I? There is no more I. I…I am dead.

…“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35 NKJV)

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)

…if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:21-24 NKJV)

Goodbye Self, old friend. You will not be missed.

Crappy Poetry

So I caught a little bit of slack over posting a verse because of its lack of originality on my part. Understandable. But I would say that any thing written in the Bible is a lot better and way more original than I could ever come up with. So how about I let you in on a small secret. I love poetry. I love writing it. Not so much on reading it. I do not like how people try to make rules for poetry and tell you it has to be done a certain way. Poetry is about emotion and expressing it. It’s not about rhyming or structure. It is about making the reader feel that emotion. For me, I become a literary warrior with my pen as my sword. How a warrior chooses to wield his sword is for him to decide. So with that, here is some poetry that I wrote that does not rhyme or have any set structure or definite style. It was written about a month after my conversion to Christianity from atheism and any of you who know me know the state of depression I lived in for many years. It is very raw and this is the original, written all at once, unedited and not proofread version.

Have you ever met a lonely man?
Do you know how to recognize one?
Do you understand gloominess?
Can you spot it in my eyes?
Do you see it in my posture?
Or the way I walk or talk?
Maybe if you opened my chest?
Maybe if you examined my heart?
Do you see where it’s been broken?
Right there, where it’s still unhealed
Some think it came from lost love
But they don’t know me that well
Ask me, I’ll tell you, all my life
As long as I can remember
Life has been filled with sorrow
But yet every day, I find strength
Every day I grow, because of faith
Faith in love, life and God
For all I know, tomorrow could be
The day I write in celebration!

1 Samuel 12:20-25

Then Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

I would not call myself a "people person"

Lately I have learned an invaluable lesson. People do not care what I think, they don’t care about my opinion nor do they want my advice. They especially do not want my advice. Let me give you the reader some advice; do not give advice. Yes I advise you not to give advice. People really only want someone to listen. Or to be more honest about it, they only want to give you their opinions, advice and tell you what they think. To me, the fact that I have to pretend to care about someone else’s problems is a slap in the face insult to my intelligence or lack thereof. I have learned that 95% of social interaction is showing people that you care. But herein lays the problem. I don’t care. Sorry, but it’s true. Surprise, I have problems too. Side note: People do not want to hear your problems either they just want to tell you theirs. But I deal with them as they arise and I don’t go blabbering to everyone about it. Well, at least not all the time. Right now you are probably thinking that I am such a jerk. “What a cruel and harsh person.” I can hear you saying it. At least I am being honest. Like me or don’t for it doesn’t seem to matter much anymore. But here’s the thing, I don’t always don’t care. It’s usually when I am tired, hungry or haven’t had coffee yet. Or maybe I am facing a seemingly weighty circumstantial situation myself , then I tend to not care. Now this is where it gets good. A true friend or a truly caring person will not care that I don’t care and will continue to care even though I don’t. My thoughts and opinions and views will be important to them even if theirs is not important to me. They see me for who I am. Just a regular person. Someone who gets out of bed and has to look in the mirror and accept myself for who I am everyday just like everyone else does. At a point you have to throw away the cliché of accepting people for who they are and accept them for what they are; a regular imperfect person, just like you and me. They are someone who deserves and demands just as much grace as you and I do. When we can achieve this level of acceptance and Christ-like character, we have done something truly, truly amazing. The important thing here is not agreeing with the concept or even believing that it is true. The important thing is that we do it. We can know all we want and we can believe all we want but until we actually do something we have not made a difference. We have not made an impact. You can make an impact with a hammer, but to do so requires physically swinging that hammer. Don’t just think about the hammer be the hammer. Make an impact. Be different. Be yourself. For clarification purposes I want to mention one last thing. This is meant to make us all look at ourselves and see just how we interact with those around us. I am positive that there is at least one person who can agree and be encouraged with these thoughts. It was written for all to enjoy and ponder but it is aimed at those who have been mentally and emotionally beat up all of their lives, like me. Those of us who have hardened our hearts to other people and their problems because we are not able get over ours. May the peace of God be in all your hearts.

Precisely

Seemingly, it seems all is not what it seems but it seems that it could seemingly be as though it could seem to be seemed, so to speak.

An Inquiring Prayer

Father, I always say that I want to be a positive influence. I want to make a positive impact and leave a lasting impression in time for Your glory. But how can I influence for Your glory if I’m not seeking You? If I’m not seeking to be like Christ, how can I do anything for You and Your glory? If I feel wronged and then I turn around and wrong back or if I’m verbally lashed out at and I lash back then how am I going to be an influence for You? If I am not speaking love and positive reinforcing words into someone else’s life then how am I ever going to be an influence for You? How can I ever impact the world for You if I don’t attain to be like the One You sent to teach us how to live? So Lord help me to speak love, when others speak hate. Help me to speak life, when others speak death. Because if I am not building someone up in the name of Christ, I’m tearing them down in the name of the destroyer. Lord I want to build. Help me to fortify those within my grasp with Your Spirit, Your truth, Your words, Your promises and with Your love.

• “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1Corinthians 13:13 NIV)
  
• “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19 NKJV)

Coming soon!!!!!!!!!!

Thought provoking ramblings will soon appear.