It is very exciting and satisfying as a pastor to hear that so many of the people of Living Hope are sticking with their reading and are walking in the Word. We have gotten a handful of reports that there are people outside of our church that are listening online and walking in the Word as well.
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I know that God is going to do something amazing in and through the lives of the people that invest in reading the Bible. God makes the promise about what His Word will do in Isaiah 55.11, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty.”
I know that God is going to do something amazing in and through the lives of the people that invest in reading the Bible. God makes the promise about what His Word will do in Isaiah 55.11, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty.”
When God’s Word goes into a person’s life, something divine comes out. God’s Word accomplishes good things. Things we can’t plan for or know before they happen.
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One of my prayers is that God’s Word will produce an opportunity to share the Gospel with our lost city. Over 65,000 people within a ten mile radius of Living Hope will not be in church on Sunday. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, we know many of them.
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It is fortunate because we can do something about it. We can INVEST time, prayer and truth in them and then INVITE them to attend church or to know Christ.
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How does this work? A school teacher eating lunch with her fellow teachers was catching up on her reading and was asked what she was doing. She shared how we were walking in the Word and invited those who don’t attend church to come. A landscaper was reading his Bible during break and a coworker asked what’s up and he invited him. A solon worker shares with every person who comes into the shop.
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Someone might say, “well, I’m not outgoing or well versed in the Bible.” The key to inviting someone to worship or to know Christ is the same as inviting them to a restaurant you like. You share your previous experience, how you enjoyed it and how it blessed you. You could then say you ought to go and leave it at that, but if you are truly invested in the person with time, prayer, and truth you would say, “let’s go together.”
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On Sunday February 11th it is my prayer that every family of Living Hope will be in worship with an unchurched guest they’ve INVESTED in and INVITED. Just imagine the excitement and joy as we lift our voices in praise to our God and sit under the teaching of God’s Word knowing that eternity for hundreds or more could be changed. Remember God has said that His Word “will not return to me empty.” If we will share the Word, God will bless the listener.
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Let’s each one reach one!
2 comments:
I have almost finished reading a book by Bill Hybels titled "Just Walk Across the Room." I highly recommend it to everyone, but especially to people who may be hesitant about sharing their faith. Like you said, sharing our faith should be totally natural - as easy as recommending a restaurant or a movie that we enjoyed, but yet many of us feel inadequate. The book is an easy read, but very empowering. He shares many stories of how a person's eternity was impacted by another person taking the time to leave his/her "circle of comfort," walk across the room, show interest in the other person and begin developing a relationship with them, often leading to the person to Christ - sometimes early in the relationship, sometimes after years of relationship building. He also reviews practical tools to use in sharing, like the bridge diagram, etc.
His point is the same as yours - we must invest our time and ourselves in reaching others for Christ. A person's eternity can be changed with a beginning as simple as walking across the room and introducing yourself.
When Jesus left us with the "Great Commission" in Matthew 28:19-20, I believe this was meant for all people, local, national and international.I support international missions, but my heart aches when I think about all the local people who are unchurched and don't have a relationship with God. Last year, I read a book called "Becoming a Contagious Christian" by Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg. In this book, they focused on how God loves people and that people matter to God so they should matter to us. They also talked about different styles and approaches to sharing our faith. I truly agree with Terry , that sharing our faith should be totally natural. Our love for Jesus should be so contagious that others should want what we have or at least ask questions about it. As I have stated before, I truly have a passion to pray for lost souls and to see lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and I trust God to complete the work that he begins in people's lives because his word does not return void. It is exciting to invite and invest in others for the advancement of the kingdom! I tend to loose some of this enthusiasm when I don't see results quickly, but I am encouraged that it is God's job to change hearts, it is my job to scatter seeds of hope, joy, peace and love and share my faith, sometimes by actions instead of words!Random acts of kindness can go along way in kingdom building.
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