I know how that is. I personally want to talk about God's love and His Grace. I want to establish, what they call "Friendship Evangelism." But as I look at the reality of Hell, and the thought of 125,000 people die a day on average and the majority is going to Hell for eternity, I want to warn them about the judgement.
Here is a little illustration that I often remind myself sometimes. Imagine that you see a blind man walking towards a cliff. Would you yell at him and say "Don't go that way. This way is much nicer." I wouldn't. I would yell "Blind man, don't go that way. There is a cliff." We should be warning them about the danger that is to come, just like John the Baptist did in Matthew 3:7 - 8: "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance."
That's a good point.. If they at least know, then ultimately the choice would be theirs to make instead of blindly going about their lives not knowing about the judgement. How would you personally address unbelievers in the judgement as well as the grace of God, and our need of a Savior? What would you say or how would you bring up the topic? I know that, for me personally, it's easier for me to address this online instead of in real life and that can be problematic down the road for me as I need to be able to speak up and that's where Christ's strength comes in.
Well.... for me personally, I am still learning more about 1 on 1 conversations. I prefer open air preaching. But I would ask them if they think they are a good person. Most of the times, they said that they are. Then ask them if they want you to test them. Ask them some questions about if they ever lied, stolen, looked with lust, and so forth. The law speaks to their conscience and they, a lot of the time, agree with you. Once they are broken, then go to the Gospel.
Amen. Lately, I've been..hungering for wanting to help bring others to Christ- to help God save as much souls as possible from perishing in hell for eternity. And I would like to try this. Loved reading your recent post of How to Confront Sinners! Very eye-opening indeed.
Well..... You said that you are hungering for the souls of men, to lead them to Christ as much as possible. And you shall have it. It says if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, you shall be filled. Before we go out to draw the net or to win souls, we need to have a vision and a brokenness to do so. Someone once said, "Before God can use a man, He must break him." The next 10 lessons is solely on the 10 commandments, 1 commandment for each lesson.
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:49 am
Living_for_the_Lord
Well..... You said that you are hungering for the souls of men, to lead them to Christ as much as possible. And you shall have it. It says if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, you shall be filled. Before we go out to draw the net or to win souls, we need to have a vision and a brokenness to do so. Someone once said, "Before God can use a man, He must break him." The next 10 lessons is solely on the 10 commandments, 1 commandment for each lesson.
Praise God for his promises! biggrin Yes, vision is very important. But brokenness..I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. .
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:56 am
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Well..... You said that you are hungering for the souls of men, to lead them to Christ as much as possible. And you shall have it. It says if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, you shall be filled. Before we go out to draw the net or to win souls, we need to have a vision and a brokenness to do so. Someone once said, "Before God can use a man, He must break him." The next 10 lessons is solely on the 10 commandments, 1 commandment for each lesson.
Praise God for his promises! biggrin Yes, vision is very important. But brokenness..I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. .
Brokenness means to be broken, sold out to the Lord, a breaking of our will. Paul was broken for 3 days before he was a missionary. Isaiah was broken in Isaiah 6, causing him to say "woe is me for I am undone and a man of unclean lips in the midst of unclean people." Afterwards he said "Here am I, Lord, send me."
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:59 am
Moved from Bible Study to Evangelism board.
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 9:10 am
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Brokenness means to be broken, sold out to the Lord, a breaking of our will. Paul was broken for 3 days before he was a missionary. Isaiah was broken in Isaiah 6, causing him to say "woe is me for I am undone and a man of unclean lips in the midst of unclean people." Afterwards he said "Here am I, Lord, send me."
Ah, so let His will be done- not mine and to give Him all of us- in all areas of our life.
This reminds me of a hymn that I've heard in Church:
Here I Am Lord Verse 1 I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry. All who dwell in darkest sin, My hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?
Chorus Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.
Verse 2 I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people’s pain. I have wept for love of them. They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone, Give them hearts for love alone. I will speak my word to them. Whom shall I send?
Chorus Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.
Verse 3 I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame. I will set a feast for them. My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide, 'Til their hearts be satisfied. I will give my life to them. Whom shall I send?
This is really exciting, to be honest biggrin I Thank God for answering my prayers some time ago and again last night, especially in helping me to understand how to bring sinners to Him. I very much believe He's sent you to do so. All glory and honor to God : )
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 9:15 am
Spirit Reborn
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Brokenness means to be broken, sold out to the Lord, a breaking of our will. Paul was broken for 3 days before he was a missionary. Isaiah was broken in Isaiah 6, causing him to say "woe is me for I am undone and a man of unclean lips in the midst of unclean people." Afterwards he said "Here am I, Lord, send me."
Ah, so let His will be done- not mine and to give Him all of us- in all areas of our life.
This reminds me of a hymn that I've heard in Church:
Here I Am Lord Verse 1 I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry. All who dwell in darkest sin, My hand will save.
I, who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?
Chorus Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.
Verse 2 I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people’s pain. I have wept for love of them. They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone, Give them hearts for love alone. I will speak my word to them. Whom shall I send?
Chorus Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.
Verse 3 I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame. I will set a feast for them. My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide, 'Til their hearts be satisfied. I will give my life to them. Whom shall I send?
This is really exciting, to be honest biggrin I Thank God for answering my prayers some time ago and again last night, especially in helping me to understand how to bring sinners to Him. I very much believe He's sent you to do so. All glory and honor to God : )
This morning, I actually printed that song out to memorize it. There is also another song that also talk about brokenness.
Take me, Lord, my will I give to Thee, Break me Lord, and set my Spirit free; Even though I cannot understand, How brokenness is a blessing in your hands.
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Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 11:15 am
The Ten Commandments (Part 1)
In this lesson we will look at the First Commandment: “I am the LORD your God, which has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me”(Exodus 20:2,3).
We are to have no other gods before (or “besides”) the one true God. He is to be preeminent in our hearts. Jesus said that “the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment” (Mark 12:29,30).
There is only One who can stand uncondemned regarding this Commandment. Jesus of Nazareth lived a life without sin; He was perfect in thought, word, and deed (see Hebrews 4:15). Everything He did pleased the Father absolutely. The cross not only revealed that He loved His Father with all of His heart, soul, mind, and strength, but it proved that He loved His neighbor as much as He loved Himself.
Those who profess to keep this Commandment would do well to run their eyes over the Westminster Confession of Faith. This was penned by godly men in 1646, and expressed their thoughts (based on Scripture) about the essence of this Commandment:
The duties required in the First Commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God and our God; and to worship and glorify Him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of Him, believing Him, trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in Him, being zealous for Him, calling upon Him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to Him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please Him, and sorrowful when in anything He is offended; and walking humbly with Him.
Someone once said, “It is agreeable to reason that men who have their beings from God, and are upheld in them by him, and are followed with the bounties of Providence; and especially who are made new creatures, and are blessed by him with all spiritual blessings in Christ, that they should give up themselves to him, and cheerfully serve him in their day and generation.”
Sinful humans, however, don’t love God. They don’t delight to do His will. Instead, the Law of sin and death has written its bloody signature across the godless human breast (Romans 7:21–24). Our inborn cry is, “Not Your will, but mine be done!” The devil is our father and his will we gladly do. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law or God, nor indeed can it be (Romans 8:7). See how the Law condemns us. We fail to love the God who gave us life.
The inevitable result is that sinful man will think that he himself is God. His pride takes over his brain, as shown in this quote by Jeremy Rifkin in his book Algeny:
We no longer feel ourselves to be guests in someone else’s home and therefore obliged to make our behavior conform with a set of preexisting cosmic rules. It is our creation now. We make the rules. We establish the parameters of reality. We create the world, and because we do, we no longer feel beholden to outside forces. We no longer have to justify our behavior, for we are now the architects of the universe. We are responsible to nothing outside ourselves, for we are the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever.
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 11:18 am
Living_for_the_Lord
This morning, I actually printed that song out to memorize it. There is also another song that also talk about brokenness.
Take me, Lord, my will I give to Thee, Break me Lord, and set my Spirit free; Even though I cannot understand, How brokenness is a blessing in your hands.
Oh wow.. :0 that's pretty cool. And I'll have to give that song a listen sometime.
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Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:12 am
The Ten Commandments (Part 2)
In this lesson we will look at the Second Commandment: “You shall not make for yourself any graven image ...You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:4–6).
Idolatry is perhaps the greatest of all sins because it opens the door to unrestrained evil. It gives sinners license not only to tolerate sin, but to sanction it, fanned by demonic influence. If you make a god in your image, one you feel comfortable with, you can then create your own moral standards to go along with him...or her.
For example, feminists bristle at the Bible’s statement that God made man in His image. This doesn’t mean that God is a man, or that He looks like man (John 4:24). It means that when God made man and woman, He endowed them with a mind, emotions, and a will. Humans are rational, moral beings with an inherent God-consciousness. However, in revealing Himself to mankind, God describes Himself in the male gender using terms such as Father, Son, Bridegroom, etc. Those who consider God to be female and call Him “Mother” are engaging in idolatry. To change who God has revealed Himself to be is to create a god in their own image.
Some like to make a god that believes in a woman’s right to kill her children in the womb. Others prefer to create a god that rewards the killing of innocent people by granting immortality. The following letter to the editor, printed in Time magazine, epitomizes idolatry (the oldest sin in the Book):
Excellent topic! I truly enjoyed reading “Does Heaven Exist?” I am a devout Christian, and I don’t give much thought to heaven. My spirituality isn’t based on an anthropomorphic, kick-butt God who will throw four generations of children into eternal damnation because some distant forefather ticked him off [see Proverbs 28:5]. Heaven is the flip side of the absolutely barbaric notion of hell that evolved under that kick-butt mindset...To me, God is a symbol for something unfathomable, an utter mystery that fills my heart with joy and my spirit with song.
Notice the use of the words “To me...” That is the key. To be an idolater, you make a god to suit yourself, one devoid of reference to sin, righteousness, and judgment. Make sure he or she likes the things you like and hates the things you hate. If you like lust, so will your god. If your god doesn’t mind lying and stealing, then you can lie, steal, and lust to your heart’s content. Your god will fill your heart with joy and your spirit with song ...right up until Judgment Day.
Take the time to study 1 Corinthians 10:1–14 and see how idolatry leads to sexual sin. So do yourself a big favor: destroy your idols. An idol doesn’t have to be something tangible; anything that takes the place of God in our life serves as an idol, whether it be our job, a person, possessions, etc. Cultivate an understanding of what God is like, as revealed in Scripture. That will put the fear of God in you and cause you to keep your heart free from sin, and at the same time you will have strong motivation to do what He says regarding the Great Commission.
Bear in mind, when you speak with Roman Catholics, that this Commandment doesn’t exist in their catechism. When you mention the Second Commandment, don’t be surprised if they think it is “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” It’s therefore understandable why many sincere Roman Catholics bow down to statues, even though the Bible makes it clear that this is a great sin in God’s eyes. Worshiping images or paying divine honor to any created object (including people) is a violation of this Commandment. Unbelievably, those who formulated the official Roman Catholic catechism took the liberty of deleting the Second of the Ten Commandments, and then splitting the Tenth into two, thus keeping the total at ten. Below is the Catholic version of the Ten Commandments:
1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. 2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 3. Remember to keep the Sabbath Day. 4. Honor thy Father and thy Mother. 5. Thou shalt not kill. 6. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 7. Thou shalt not steal. 8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
Here is their justification for removing the Second Commandment (from “The Commandments of God,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV (www.newadvent.org/cathen/04153a.htm):
. . . the Tenth embraces both the Ninth and Tenth of the Catholic division. It seems, however, as logical to separate at the end as to group at the beginning, for while one single object is aimed at under worship, two specifically different sins are forbidden under covetousness; if adultery and theft belong to two distinct species of moral wrong, the same must be said of the desire to commit these evils.
Yet, notice the explicit wording of the Second Commandment (the deleted one): “You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20:4,5).
First Corinthians 10:19,20 warns us that things offered to idols are actually offered to demons, rather than to God, and we are not to have fellowship with demons.
Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:51 am
The Ten Commandments (Part 3)
In this lesson we will look at the Third Commandment: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD your God will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).
Transgression of the Third Commandment reinforces the biblical case that the mind of unregenerate man is hostile to God and His Law, that they “hate God without cause.” This thought is offensive to idolaters, who strongly contest that they don’t hate God. This is because they don’t hate their own concept of God; they are on congenial terms with the idol they have created.
Using God’s name in profanity is perhaps the simplest, most effective way for man to show his contempt toward his Creator. Godly Jews won’t even speak God’s name because it is so holy, yet unregenerate man uses it to express revulsion.
To slur someone’s name is to insult the very person. Even a foulmouthed, tattooed, hardhearted biker has a soft spot for his mother. He may have a tattoo of the devil on one arm and “Mom” on the other. If you want to get a free facial, insult his mother.
When Moses asked to see the glory of God, notice how God responded: “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you...” (Exodus 33:19).
God’s glory, His name, and His goodness are synonymous. Moses was told that if he saw God face to face in all of His glory, he would die (Exodus 33:20). How fearful it will be for blasphemous humanity to stand before the unspeakable glory of God, in all of His goodness, and give an account for every idle word. God’s goodness will ensure that His justice is carried out.
It is also interesting to note that when a blasphemer is questioned about why he would do such a thing, his reaction will often confirm the words of Scripture that he is taking God’s name “in vain.” He will say, “I wasn’t really using God’s name as a cuss word. It’s just a word.” In essence, God’s name isn’t anything special and isn’t worthy of any respect. His attempt at justification merely adds to his sin. It is hard to understand how the world can hold the names of God and Jesus Christ in such disdain that they can be used to express disgust. Hitler’s name wasn’t despised enough to be used as a cuss word.
If you hear God’s name taken in vain, don’t tell the person it’s offensive; use it as an opening for the gospel. While the Bible instructs us to “reprove and rebuke,” it says to do so with “all longsuffering [patience] and doctrine.” It is therefore important that we don’t alienate the person we are trying to reach with the gospel. Our objective isn’t to reprove someone because he has offended us with blasphemy, but to reach him for Christ. It is wise to try to engage the person in a conversation about natural things with the objective of witnessing to him. Because you know that he has openly transgressed the Third Commandment, when you ask if he has ever used God’s name in vain, you can gently remind him that you heard him do so.
