Spiritual Life

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Spiritual Life Disciplines

• Part 12 Spiritual Discipline 4 Evangelism

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Perspective

• What is the one thing that God commands us to do
  on earth that we will not do in heaven?
• What is the task of all believers according to
  Matthew 2819-20?
• If we look around, we are surrounded by
  unbelievers. Why does God put them in our lives?
• What does Jesus mean by treasures in heaven in
  Matthew 620?

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Evangelism is a Spiritual Discipline

• Bible intake, prayer, and worship are to be the
  regular disciplines of the believer. Evangelism
  is just as essential.
• Evangelism takes three basic forms
• Personal evangelism
• Corporate evangelism
• International evangelism (missions)

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Personal Evangelism

• The Message
• The challenge of definition Christianity is
  essentially part of the southern culture. Of
  course Im a Christian Im not an atheist!
• We need to change our approach
• We need to be able to explain what a Christian is
  and is not
• We need to model authentic faith ourselves

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Personal Evangelism

• The Focus
• The challenge of a man-centered gospel
• The most common form of the man-centered gospel
  is the therapeutic, or psychological gospel

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Personal Evangelism
God/Jesus All-loving, all-accepting cosmic being
People Gods children who live in ignorance of their true worth and in want of all of the blessings God wants to give them
Sin The condition of living in ignorance of your own worth. Problem People are unhappy, unfulfilled, unloved, mostly because of how life and others have hurt them and treated them unfairly
Salvation To show people their infinite worth, God sent Jesus to die on the cross to save people from themselves. Salvation is God making much of people. God accepts them as they are He would never reject them or want them to change
Gaining Salvation People accept Gods assessment of themselves instead of their own. They are worthy, loved, and accepted in Gods sight. In light of Gods salvation, people learn to love themselves, forgive themselves, accept themselves for who they are.
Benefits of Salvation Salvation shows people how God accepts, loves, esteems people. He fills their cup, meets their needs provides the love and acceptance that they long to have. Thus fulfilled, people are able to live positive, emotionally healthy lives of productivity and personal satisfaction.
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Personal Evangelism
The new cross does not slay the sinner, it
redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and
jollier way of living and saves his self-respect.
To the self-assertive it says, "Come and assert
yourself for Christ." To the egotist it says,
"Come and do your boasting in the Lord." To the
thrillseeker it says, "Come and enjoy the thrill
of Christian fellowship." The Christian message
is slanted in the direction of the current vogue
in order to make it acceptable to the
public.   The philosophy back of this kind of
thing may be sincere but its sincerity does not
save it from being false. It is false because it
is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning
of the cross. The old cross is a symbol of
death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a
human being. The man in Roman times who took up
his cross and started down the road had already
said good-by to his friends. He was not coming
back. He was going out to have it ended. The
cross made no compromise, modified nothing,
spared nothing it slew all of the man,
completely and for good. It did not try to keep
on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel
and hard, and when it had finished its work, the
man was no more.
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Personal Evangelism
We who preach the gospel must not think of
ourselves as public relations agents sent to
establish good will between Christ and the world.
We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to
make Christ acceptable to big business, the
press, the world of sports or modern education.
We are not diplomats but prophets, and our
message is not a compromise but an
ultimatum.   What does this mean to the
individual, the condemned man who would find life
in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be
translated into life? Simply, he must repent and
believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on
to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend
nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make
terms with God, but let him bow his head before
the stroke of God's stern displeasure and
acknowledge himself worthy to die. - A.W. Tozer
The Old Cross and the New
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Personal Evangelism
Everything about the gospel is designed by God
not ultimately to make much of us, but to free
us and fit us to enjoy seeing and making much of
Christ forever. - John Piper, God is the
Gospel, 160.
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Personal Evangelism

• Personal Hindrances
• Fear of Man
• Wrong Priorities
• Lack of Love
• Lack of Trust

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Opportunities for Evangelism

• Build relationships with your neighbors
• Make an effort with unsaved family
• Have a ministry disguised as a business
• VBS is coming!
• Go on a mission trip
• Support missionaries
• Pray for opportunities