Ecclesiastes 7:20
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20
This is the first verse that I mentioned last Sunday. The verse reminds us that all have sinned. This is echoed by Paul in the New Testament when he says, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24
I wish I could say I was perfect, for this fits by perfectionist personality type. But I’m not. Actually, I’m quite far from perfection. So what’s the big deal. If all have sinned, aren’t we all in the same boat? You bet. When you stack up God’s holiness next to our sinfulness, we all fall short. We all need to be saved if we are to have a hope of being in God’s presence. We’ll talk more about this in the next few posts.
Until the next post…
Presenting the Gospel Verse Overview
So it’s been a week or so since I posted about my current memory verses. Here’s a list of what I’m working on right now (each is related to presenting the gospel):
1. All Have Sinned – Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20
2. Sin’s Penalty – Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned- Romans 5:12
3. Christ Paid the Penalty – “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” I Peter 2:24
4. Salvation Not By Works – However, to anyone who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. Romans 4:5
5. Must Receive Christ – for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
6. Assurance of Salvation – My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:27, 28
Over the next few days, I hope to elaborate more on my thoughts related to each of these verses.
Until the next post, press on…
Steps in Sharing Your Faith 6 of 6
Step 6: Expect a Response
Verse: We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20
My first though when I read this verse, is wow! God has chosen me to be His ambassador, His representative. What a privilege it is to be chosen in this way. The next thought that immediately crosses my mind is how in the world am I an adequate representative of the one true God? That’s when it’s important to review the previous five steps. One, pray! Two, depend on the Holy Spirit. Three, associate with people. Four, arouse interest by life. Five, stimulate interest by testimony.
God’s not expecting us to go at this whole sharing our faith thing alone. He is right there cheering us on and supporting us. Knowing we have this backup, how can we not expect a response.
So what kind of response can we expect? Hopefully, our faith sharing steps will result in positive steps forward for the recipient. Should we always expect a positive response? I say yes. For one, I’m a “glass is half full” kind of guy. Secondly, I truly believe God wants everyone to be saved and so should we. Will we always get a positive response? Probably not. People can be pretty stubborn and their hearts can be pretty hard. I do believe that my sharing our faith with others, we will grow. God is good!
Until the next post, think positive…
Steps in Sharing Your Faith 5 of 6
Step 5: Stimulate Interest by Testimony
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25
This verse comes from the end of a two part story in John 9. In the first part, Jesus heals a man who had been blind since his birth. The second part of the story finds the pharisees investigating the healing.
Whether your introduction to Christ was dramatic or not, we all have some basic common aspects to our transformation:
1. Before we met Christ, we were all “blind.” Our pastor spoke about this on Christmas Eve service – click here for the podcast. It’s kind of like trying to find your way out of a dark cave without any light. Before we meet Christ, we are groping around in the darkness.
2. Once we’ve made a decision to follow Christ, we all have a testimony to share. We who make Christ our leader and forgiver have been transformed. We have Christ to share with those who don’t know Him. As mentioned in the previous posts, we share this testimony not only in our words but through our actions.
3. While we will all continue to make mistakes, we have grace and we have continued transformation that takes place in our lives. Romans 12:2
Until the next post, think about this, what’s your testimony…?
Steps in Sharing Your Faith 4 of 6
I took a day off for Christmas, but I’m back now. So what’s the next step in sharing your faith?
Arouse Interest by Life
Here’s the verse:
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives. I Peter 3:1
At first glance, this first my seem a bit sexist; however, I think the message here is not just for wives. We need to be people of action when it comes to sharing our faith. This reminds me of a quote that I’ve heard a few times, “Preach the word at all times, and if necessary use words.” This quote fits in with what this verse says. I can gain a much better platform for verbally sharing my faith when I live it out through my day to day actions.
One of the other things that this verse seems to point out is that marriage by a follower of Christ to a non-believer can be tough. While it is not recommended (do not be yoked together with unbelievers – 2 Corinthians 6:14), this verse seems to give a message of hope to those who find themselves in a marriage that lacks this common compass point. God can use spouses who are believers to impact the lives of their non-believing partners.
Until the next post, live it out loud through your actions…
Steps in Sharing Your Faith 3 of 6
Okay, I don’t know about you, but this verse blogging thing is actually helping me to commit these verses to memory. I’ve got the first two verses down.
To review, here are the first three step in sharing your faith:
1. Pray (Romans 10:1)
2. Depend on the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 2:4,5)
3. Associate with People (I Corinthians 9:22,23)
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. I Corinthians 9:22,23
I cannot share my faith if I stay in a cave and pray and depend on the Holy Spirit. I need to get out and rub shoulders with people who are far from God. In my opinion, this requires an appropriate balance. While I need to be doing things that put me in touch with people who don’t know God, I also need to be hanging around with strong followers of Christ. These are people who will hold me accountable and who will make sure I stay on the “straight and narrow.” I have struggled with this balance over the years. Honestly, I lean to the accountability group side of the balance beam. I have been challenged more recently to make sure I’m hanging with non-believers as well. Here are some suggestions for doing that:
1. Work – what can I say, I work in an industry that can sometimes be brutal. The people I work with need to find Christ.
2. Kids’ Activities – this is a great place to find common ground with other parents who are cheering on their own children. Recently, we have been enjoying Isaac’s basketball games which provides a great place to associate with people.
3. Gym – Another great location for associating with people. I see the same people day after day, week after week. As time goes on, I am able to talk more with many of my fellow gym rats.
4. Neighborhood – Read Making Room For Life by Randy Frazee for more info on this one.
5. Poker Table – This has been a new one for me. I honestly struggle with how this fits into the equation, but the more often I play (which isn’t very often), I’m convinced that God can use conversations around the poker table for drawing people closer to Him.
I’d be curious to hear your thoughts and ideas on this one.
Until the next post, have a Merry Christmas…
Steps in Sharing Your Faith 2 of 6
Now that I’ve got the first verse/step down, it’s time to move onto step/verse number 2. The second step in sharing your faith is to depend on the Holy Spirit. Here’s the verse:
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. I Corinthians 2:4,5
I like to be in control. I like to know that I am having an impact. I like to see people’s lives being changed. I want to be a change agent. I, I, I, me, me, me. This verse is a great reminder that I (Jon Stolpe) can’t do it. I alone cannot change people’s lives. I must depend on God to do this. It’s a good thing that I can depend on Him, because I’m great at screwing up. I’d like to say that my words and actions are always perfect, but they’re not. This is why I’m thankful that God is in control, and I can depend on the Holy Spirit to change the lives of those around me and to continue to change my life.
This step is a natural follow-up to the first step that I posted about a day ago (Pray). It seems to make sense that these two things would be the first steps to sharing my faith.
Until the next post, I’ll be working on I Corinthians 2:4,5…
Steps in Sharing Your Faith 1 of 6
I’ve been working with a gentlemen at my church to memorize a group of 24 verses that have to do with the topic of evangelism. One method that may help me memorize them is sharing them on my blog, so I’m hoping to do this over a series of posts which will give the verse along with a little comment or introspection on each verse. (I previously memorized 24 verses related to The Word, and I’ve found that the discipline of scripture memory is a worth while endeavor. Having said this, I could do a much better job of this. I’ve been sitting on these next verses for some time.) At any rate, here goes…
1st Step in Sharing Your Faith – Pray
“Brother and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” Romans 10:1
This verse comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans. It’s a reminder that prayer is the foundation for being able to share our faith. I should be praying that God would give me a heart for the lost, that God would use me to influence others for Him, and that God would soften the hearts of those I come into contact with who are far from Him. The Bible provides other verses which charge us to pray.
“Pray continually.” I Thessalonians 5:17
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18
More than anything these verses remind me that I alone cannot change anyone. They also remind me that I need to be in a position of humility before God.
Until the next post, try prayer; it works…