Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 11

Fear. We should also fear. But our fear should be directed not to man but to God. When we don't share the gospel, we are essentially refusing to live in the fear of the Lord. We are not regarding him or his will as the final and ultimate rule of our actions. To fear God is to love him. When the One who is our all-powerful creator and judge is also our merciful redeemer and savior, then we have found the perfect object for the entire devotion our our heart. And that devotion will lead us to share this good news about him with others. We should pray that God will grow in us a greater love and fear of him.
-Mark Dever (The Gospel & Personal Evangelism)

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 10

Love We are called to love others. We share the gospel because we love people. And we don't share the gospel because we don't love people. Instead, we wrongly fear them. We don't want to cause awkwardness. We want their respect, and after all, we figure, if we try to share the gospel with them, we'll look foolish! And so we are quiet. We protect our pride at the cost of their soul. In the name of not wanting to look weird, we are content to be complicit in their being lost. As one friend said, "I don't want to be the stereotypical Christian on the plane."
-Mark Dever (The Gospel & Personal Evangelism)

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 9

Look. Have you ever prayed for something and then been surprised when it comes? I know I have. And I guess that means I really must not have been expecting God to answer that prayer request. It may be the same with my evangelism. Maybe I've prayed for opportunities but then not really looked for them. Perhaps I've careless when they've come.

The way I've been careless can vary. Sometimes I don't see the opportunities because I'm busy. Evangelism can, after all, be time consuming and inconvenient. Or maybe I'm too tired. Perhaps I've used up all my energy on entertaining myself, or working, or on everything other than this non-Christian whom I could talk to. And therefore I don't even notice the opportunity.

Maybe my neglect of opportunities is more habitual. Maybe I'm lazy, caring more that I not be hassled or hurried than that this person hears the gospel. Maybe, when it comes right down to it, I'm simply selfish. I don't see the opportunities because I'm willing to be inconvenienced. I guess that means that I am, finally, apathetic. My blindness to God's provision is voluntary. I don't consider the reality and finality of death, judgment, and hell. So I don't notice the reality of the person and their plight before me. We must not only close our eyes in prayer for opportunities, but we must then open our eyes to see them.
Mark Dever (The Gospel & Personal Evangelism)

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 8

Prepare. Sometimes we don't evangelize because we think we are unprepared or ill-equipped. Maybe we don't know how to transition the conversation. Or perhaps we think that in our ignorance we'll fail at this and actually do spiritual harm to the person by discrediting the gospel in their eyes. We fear our ignorance. We think that it's up to us to make the gospel seem sensible to them or to answer all their questions. And, so , having inflated these expectations, we decide we can't meet them and so neglect evangelism. Instead, we could prepare ourselves by knowing the gospel, working on our own humility, and studying more. Just as we might plan to have time, so we might prepare to be able to use the opportunity well when it comes.
-Mark Dever (The Gospel and Personal Evangelism)

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 7

Risk. Related to being faithful is being willing to risk. Let's obey, even when we are not exactly sure of the response. Maybe you don't evangelize sometimes because you're shy. You don't really enjoy talking to others that much, especially about things that may upset them. It seems tiring and dangerous. Maybe you would rather let someone else, someone who seems more comfortable, do the evangelizing. But could you invite unbelievers to a meeting where they will hear the gospel? Can you share with them a useful book or a story from your own life? Can you befriend them so that you may be able more naturally in the future to share the gospel with them? We must be willing to risk in order to evangelize. Mark Dever (The Gospel and Personal Evangelism)

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 6

Be Faithful. Perhaps we need to re-balance our allegiances. Maybe we are too polite to be faithful to God in this area. Maybe we are more concerned about people's response than God's glory. Maybe we are more concerned about their feelings than God's. God does not like having his truth suppressed, and that's what the non-Christian is doing.

Romans 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth."

Good manners are no excuse for unfaithfulness to God, but we have, too often, used them so.
Mark Dever (The Gospel and Personal Evangelism)

Karma & Religion

These are helpful thoughts exposing the folly of Karma and Religion from a message on the Lord's Prayer by Mark Driscoll Pastor of Mars Hill Church

Imagine that every month God sent you a letter of your outstanding debt…

“Here’s all the sins you’ve ever committed…here’s how in debt you are…

Oh, and by the way, that thought you had at 3 am, I saw that…I’m up at 3…you don’t believe Me…there’s another one (not believing God)…”

You’d think…”I’ve got to do something about this debt!”

“I know…I’ll try Karma…”

Karma makes no sense at all…It says you did a bunch of bad things so come back (for another try in another life)…and do more bad things…that will fix it!?

You see if you sin, die, and come back and sin some more, that doesn’t pay off your debt…it adds to it. All you are going to do is add to your debt! Karma doesn’t make any sense, because if people were working off their Karma, there should be fewer and fewer people…but the population is growing! (Karma doesn't make any sense).

So then what if you try (being) religious…Some people think this way…

"I’m going to go to church… and become very religious… and I am going to stop sinning… I am never going to sin again.”

Then you realize…”Man, I can’t stop sinning. And even if I think I stop sinning, then I (discover that I) am being religious, and that too sin (self trust, self sufficiency, and self righteousness)! So how do I deal with my debt?”

Promise for God's Care for Us on the Mission

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
From Don Sharpe's message "A Closer Look at the Mission"

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 5

Understand. Part of our failure to evangelize comes from a lack of understanding. God uses not so much gifts for evangelism (though there is a biblical gift of evangelism) but the faithfulness of thousands and millions of Christians who would never say evangelism is their gift. Your conclusion that you are not gifted for a particular task does not absolve you of responsibility to obey. You may conclude that evangelism is not our gift, but it is still your duty. Not having the gift of mercy in no way excuses us from being merciful. All Christians are to exercise mercy; some will be particularly gifted to do this in special ways as certain times, but all are to be merciful. So with evangelism. God may unusually bless and own a Peter and a Philip, a Whitefield and a Spurgeon, a Judson Taylor and an Adoniram Judson, but he calls all of us to share the good news.
-Mark Dever (The Gospel and Personal Evangelism)

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 4

Accept. We have to accept that this is our job... let's just acknowledge that sometimes we don't evangelize because we think it's not our job. It's the job of preachers, we think, or someone else who is trained and paid for it. But if we are going to evangelize, we have to realize and admit how we've been dodging our duty and adjust ourselves to accept responsibility of evangelism. We might be the closest Christians to a particular unbeliever. Maybe that person has a Christian aunt, friend, or employee who has been praying for him. Maybe we are the answer to their prayers. We must accept, we may accept, we get to accept the wonderful role that God has for us as evangelists in others lives! -Mark Dever (The Gospel & Personal Evangelism)

An Evengelistic Option for Halloween

Although not everyone will have a clear conscience and different convictions about Halloween...this was passed along by someone that I would respect....

http://betweenthetimes.com/2010/09/28/why-all-good-christians-should-celebrate-halloween/

Love the Lost

A second area of growth in love is love for the lost. A wealthy young man once came to Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. The young man assumed he was in fairly good standing because he had tried to keep the Ten Commandments. But after he asserted this, "Jesus looking at him," reports Mark 10:21, "loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me'" (emphasis added). In showing love to this man, Jesus did not compromise His message. He made it unmistakable that to have eternal life the man must forsake his god (that is, his possessions) and put Christ first. Although there is no indication that the man became Jesus' disciple, Jesus loved him nonetheless. The more we are like Jesus, the more we manifest the fruit of the Spirit and the more loving we will be to everyone, including those who are cold to the things of God. Jesus said we are even to love our enemies, and not just those who love us (Luke 6:27,32). - Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald S. Whitney

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 3

Be Clear. When you share the gospel, think carefully about the language you use. One of the best conversations I can remember about evangelism was with a secular Jewish friend of mine. I was to give talks soon on a college campus about evangelism, and I decided to ask my friend about evangelism... I learned that in my previous conversations with him I had taken the meaning of words for granted. "God", "prayer", "heaven", "good", "moral", "judge", and "sin" are all words that I realized I had not done a good job defining. If I had simply gone through a quick, persuasive sales presentation and gotten him to say "yes!" he would have been saying yes to much that he didn't understand. We need to be both engaging and clear when we present the gospel.
-Mark Dever (The Gospel & Personal Evangelism)

John Piper shares his struggles with evangelsim

Check out this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCqQKrw-nrg&feature=player_embedded

Thanks Tracy for the link!

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 2

Use the Bible. The Bible is not only for public preaching and private devotionals. It can be used in evangelizing. An interesting example of this...is found in Acts 8, when Philip came to the Ethiopian official. The official was reading Isaiah 53, a famous prophesy about the Messiah. Philip, as it says in Acts 8:35, "began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus." The Bible is God's Word and is inspired by God's Spirit. God's message can go out not just through your words and mine, but through his own inspired words. And we can know that he will take a special delight in showing the power of his Word as he uses it in conversions. -Mark Dever (The Gospel & Personal Evangelism)


Note: We will be learning to share our faith with the Bible at the upcoming Launch training this Saturday morning!

FCA Outreach Events

See You at the Pole – Wednesday, September 22^nd – students, faculty, and the community gather around their local school flagpole to pray for their school, communities, churches, and our national. Typically this event starts at 7am. I would like to encourage you all to join with the students and PRAY! You will be inspired and encouraged. For more information, visit: www.syatp.org .

Fields of Faith – Wednesday, October 27^th , 7:00-8:30pm – Harford Tech High School Football Stadium. This is an evening where students gather to encourage each other in their faith. Come and hear great student testimonies and worship – all under the lights. For more information or to start a Fields of Faith for your school/community, go to www.fieldsoffaith.org .

Plan to Stop Not Evangelizing Part 1

Pray. I think many times we don't evangelize because we undertake everything in our own power. We attempt to leave God out of it. We forget that it is His will and pleasure for his gospel to be known. He wants sinners saved. Simply put, we don't pray for opportunities to share the gospel, so how surprised should we be when they don't come? If you're not evangelizing because you think you lack opportunities, pray and be amazed as God answers your prayers. (from-The gospel and personal evangelism -Mark Dever)

Introductory note from Greg

Ambassadors,

My hope in creating this blog is to assist us all in the desire to value the glorious gospel and cultivate a culture of outreach and evangelism in and through our Grace Community Church family!

To do that, I hope to pass along God's Word, encouraging testimonies, prayer requests, ideas for outreach, instruction, and inspiring quotes.

Please send any of the above, along with any suggestions, pictures, or links that you think may be helpful in stimulating us to love and good deeds (as relates to evangelism and outreach) by leaving a comment below.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)

Thanks again for your help!

Grace, Peace, Love and Boldness be Multiplied to us all!
Greg

Join us for LAUNCH!

Saturday, September 18th

9:30 am – 12 noon

~ Learn how to build relationships with non-Christians

~ Learn how to overcome fears and awkwardness

~ Learn how to share your faith and testimony

~ Learn how to run a gospel study (invites & materials provided)