Evangelism

It's weird, before I went to Mardi Gras and did my first evangelism outreach I never thought much about whether it was a thing that everyone should do. If you would have asked me I would of looked at you kind of funny and said with a big smile 'of course'! Sure I've thought about whether evangelism is effective or not. Does it really reach out to people and communicate the love of Christ or does it just turn people of from him. The truth is it can do both. Like most things in life there is a right and wrong way of doing it. With the little experience I do have there are three things that really stick out in my mind - that are apart of an integral envagelistic life.

The first and most important is you got to be motivated out of God's heart for the lost. You have to be falling head over heels in love with Jesus and let that love consume your life. Out of this all the other things come. People want to know that they are loved and the only love that is going to satisfy is the Love of Jesus. The last thing people need to hear about is another religion - they need to know and experience the Love of God. You can tell instantly when someone says 'God loves You' out of their own love and when they say it out of the love of God that is bursting within their heart. Evangelism becomes pointless and damaging when people aren't motivated by God's love. They can be motivated by passion and zeal but miss the heart of God. I am convinced that when we fall in love with Jesus we fall in love with the lost.

The second thing is honesty. Don't candy coat the gospel. It doesn't need our help - we need to really believe in the love of Jesus and tell it how it is! The gospel message has become so complicated and crowded with religion. Doctrine and Tradition as well as Emotion and Hype have choked out the simple message of the gospel - Jesus' Love is the way of forgiveness and eternal life. You don't need to sound like you have all the answers for every problem in the world - you need to sound like Jesus has changed your life by his grace.

The third thing is boldness and excitement. If this gospel is really good news we need to act like it. Let it radiate off our faces. Like the girl who just got engaged or the proud mother who just found out she is pregnant - we need to let the excitement and joy of the Holy Spirit in our lives radiate from our being. When we approach someone to share out faith we must be excited about what we are about to tell them. People are looking for a good time. Many are going from party to party looking for fun and pleasure - they aren't interested in a sober, quiet, reserved, religous little man or woman. They want something that is exciting and Jesus is exciting - so we got to show it when we are talking about him!

What does authentic evangelism look like to you?

Mardi Gras

On Feb 4 I went down with 12 other people to St. Louis to do some street evangelism on the streets of Mardi Gras. I heard about the outreach in the summer and right away I knew I wanted to be apart of it. There was something dangerous, something radical, something incredibly right with telling people about Jesus at one of the biggest drink fests in the US. This missions trip wasn't a service project, it wasn't helping out churches it was for the purpose of winning souls for Christ and raising up life-time soul winners.

When I hit the streets for the first time I was excited, nervous, passionate, and I thought ready to do this thing called evangelism. For the first 2 hours of trying to talk to people I felt like I had gotten no where. My partner and I had started many conversations but none of them were getting too far. It didn't make sense - I prayed for hours, fasted, listened to sermons and thought about this moment for so long but nothing was happening. I finally started thinking maybe I can't do this, maybe my effort isn't doing anything. I knew I had to let God lead and speak through me right from the beginning, but it wasn't until I started doing it that I realized how much of my own efforts and flesh was standing in the way of the Spirit of God. A little discouraged but still trusting in God we hit the streets again for the second round of the night. This time conversation opened up to Spiritual matters almost every time without fail. I talking to people about God, morality, Jesus and praying with them right on the streets. The beer was still flying around and profanity echoing in the background and girls exposing their flesh for beeds, but the Spirit of God was working in my conversations with these people!

I lost all my romantic pictures of what evangelism was, but I began to understand and feel the heart of God. It wasn't about me - It was about Jesus! I've never felt such a desire to be around the lost people as when we finished our outreach for the night. Ya my flesh wanted to get into a comfty bed and warm house, but there was a bigger cry in my heart for these people to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've never felt so alive in my faith and so fulfilled in being a witness.

The battle is relentless. Back at school the charged atmosphere of a missions trip isn't always there and my focus seems to be on a hundred other things. The flesh never wants to stop and surrender but it doesn't really have a choice went we yield it to the Holy Spirit. The Gospel must be preached - the message is simple and the effects are enormous. We must not suffocate this message any longer. People need to hear it and experience it for themselves. It's going to take more than just smiles and morality - it's going to take a yielded heart that has fallen in love with Jesus and is recklessly abandened to that love.

Q: So where do we go from here?
A: Everywhere - university campus, malls, grocery store, family - everywhere there is a battle going on for peoples souls.

Disillusioned

Many Christians are too disillusioned to be dangerous...
That is, dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. Somehow in the midst of consumerism, sexual lusts, idolatry, fornication, debauchery, crudeness and material indulgence we have forgotten how our lives, shaped by the ressurected power of Jesus Christ, are to be different! How can this be when the spirit of God demands purity, demands righteousness and demands holiness? How can a life that has been changed by the power of Christ, demonstrate so little of God's Kingdom and so much of Satan's Kingdom? This cannot be! Our lives Must look different! Our lives must manifest the Kingdom of God, by the empowerment of His Spirit! When God's Kingdom is manifested, Satan's kingdom is defeated! There are two spirits at work in this world, the spirit of Christ and the spirit of Satan. Satan, the great deceiver has disguised the idols of the flesh, deceiving Christians into accepting them as permissable. Somehow we find ourselves laughing at fornication, being motivated by consumerism, delighting in sexual lusts and idolatry, coveting our indulgences and embracing debauchery.

This is not an attempt to tear down the integrity of the church but rather a call to tear down the masks of dissillusionment that keeps us from seperating our lives from the kingdom of darkness and embodying the manifest glory of God! It's a call to sincere, fervent repentance! We must humble ourselves and receive, by the grace of God, His spirit to carry out His call to live in His Kingdom. By emodying the spirit of God, the call of God, and the Kingdom of God, we manifest the glory of God in a world largely held captive by sin.

What is the manifest power of God? It is when lives are changed from darkness to light, from death to life, from deceived to enlightened. Marriages destroyed by pride and sexual lusts are restored by humility and pure, love. Businesses driven by consumerism, are transformed into compassionate, socially responsible enterprises. Lives controlled by cultic practices are set free from the oppressive forces, to worship God in spirit and in truth. Young men and woman motivated by debauchery and indulgence are changed into disciples of Christ that are motivated by Christ's compassion and his mercy.

Christians are children of God, vessels of light in a dark world! We are to be Different not disillusioned!

Jesus is my witness

I'd like to call to the stand the ONE...
Who was there when the universe was called into being, in it's matchless complexity and order, who saw the masterpiece of man being formed out of particles of dirt, and saw mountains of water being held back under thousands of tons of pressure, the one who saw fire consume an entire city, who saw one man defeat hundreds of armed soldiers, the one who saw terrifying storms stop at the command of one's voice, the one who saw blind eyes open, who saw dead men walking, and saw decayed bodies restored, the one who saw food mutiplied, and crippled bodies made whole, the one who saw men possessed of demons set free, and entire tribes and people turn from the pagan religion, who saw people walking on water and the earth stand still...
Ladies and Gentlemen I'd like to call to the stand the one who has seen GOD!

Jesus Christ is my Witness! My first and my last! He was there in the beginning and it was through him that all these things happened, without him none of these things could have taken place! I need no other alibi, the works that he has done testify to the things he says! If you do not believe in what he says, at least believe in what he has done!

Jesus Christ is our Witness as Christians. There is nothing that can be brought against Him can't be beaten. His experience is unmatchless, His power overwhelming, His love unconditional, His wisdom unsurpassable. I trust in the name of Jesus!

Imagine this... Jesus is put on trial because he claims to be a King. Actually he claims to be the King, the Lord of all! Jesus calls you, the church to the stand as his witness. He tells his accusers to "examine the life of the church... examine there works and words - there life is a testimony of my claim to be Lord of this universe!"
The truth is we are called to be a witness of Jesus Christ everday! If our lives don't reflect Christ's power and authority as Lord of All, then why should we be called his witnesses?
Are Christians missing the importance, the responsibility, the command of Christ to be witness of the Power of His Ressurected Life?!
If Christians are to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, our lives should resemble that of His works and teaching.