10.26.07 thequest UPdate

thequest family,

We had a rich time last weekend and especially Sunday evening with the Wakens. The teaching time on Sunday night was full of the Spirit's power...and it empowered each one of us. May Ed's words remind us again of the Art of Sharing the Good News:

Many believers have the notion that evangelism is hard, scary and reserved for those who are gifted. The results of this kind of thinking cause us to shy away from spiritual interaction with lost people. After all, we really don’t know what to say, how to say it and many of us don’t know our Bibles well enough to answer the hard questions people ask. This kind of thinking is not at all what the Bible teaches us.

The Biblical principle regarding success in evangelism is always being obedient to share the truth. In short we should be measuring conversations about Jesus, not conversions. We can choose to have conversations about the spiritual with people, but we cannot make people respond to the truth we share with them. That is God’s realm. Success in evangelism must be measured by conversations. Here are four truths that will serve to strengthen our passion to share our faith. At the moment of salvation, these truths are equally true for every believer.

The Authority of God (Matthew 28:16-20). Every believer has Jesus residing in them and therefore has His authority according to the Great Commission. Jesus said, “All authority is given me…”, and I am sending you to share the truth about me with others, make disciples, baptize them and teach them. He ended with “…behold, I am with you always…”. Every believer has the authority to share the good news of Christ.

The Power of God (Acts 1:8). Acts 1:8 specifically teaches us that the power of the Holy Spirit is given to every believer for the precise purpose of sharing Christ with the world. This powerful witness is not reserved or limited to a few, but is given to all (see Acts 2:38-39).

The Mind of God (1 Corinthians 2:16). Paul truly builds confidence in our ability in evangelism when he writes of the believer’s reliance upon the Spirit is a real confidence builder regarding evangelism. The principle is that the Spirit of God knows everything. We have the Spirit of God living in us. The Spirit of God freely gives us thoughts that we are to voice. Therefore, Paul concludes that we have the mind of Christ! The context is all about evangelism (see 1 Cor. 2:1-5).

The Words of God (Matthew 10:16-20, Mark 13:9-11, Luke 21:12-15). These are parallel passages which give us tremendous promises regarding evangelism. Jesus instructs us to not worry about what we are to share or how we are to share it. In Mark 13, Jesus tells us not to worry beforehand about what to say or how to say it. In Luke 21 He instructs us to make up our minds not to worry. In the Matthew and Mark passages, we learn that the Spirit will give us the words and method but in the Luke passage the Word teaches us that Jesus Himself will give us the words and methods to use. The Godhead takes an active role in teaching us that we have no reason to worry; they will instruct us and give us the confidence, words and methods at just the right time. Jesus promises that if you simply speak what is given to you to say, that none of your adversaries will be able to contradict or refute you.*


Let's have our Holy Spirit eyes on as we walk through our days...and share the stories of how God is making you successful!

Press on,
Mike


* From the article Conversations Not Conversions first published in thechurchplanter- full article HERE


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