Life can be hard and I can be out of touch.

Posted on October 31, 2007

I got an opportunity today see real life from a different perspective.  I visited a house where a group of people live that are trying to be made clean.  They have lived a life of drug use and crime.  Now they are trying to sober up.  Looking back on the visit I am ashamed that I have insulated myself so long that I have become calloused to real people going through real problems.  I have realized that I don’t have time for petty, stupid problems that flood my life as well as the church’s life. 

9 As  Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew,  sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow  Me!” And he got up and followed Him. 10 Then it happened that as Jesus  was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners  came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why  is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those  who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 ”But go and learn what   this means: `I  DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I  did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

If we don’t have any lost friends that are really messed up we need to get some.  I know I don’t have time for the petty and the people that I know who are going to hell sure don’t have time. 

Be encouraged and be intentional about who you hang out with!

Witnessing can “Generally” be easier.

Posted on October 29, 2007

Have you ever considered how hard it is to witness?  You know, you start to think about how maybe the person has never even thought about God.  Or the whole sin issue.  You think about how hard it is going to be to to try and convince someone that they have done something wrong, they deserve hell, they are not “right”, etc. 

 Well I have good news about the Good News, the person you are witnessing to already knows that there is a God.  The person already knows there is a “right and wrong”.  I am encouraged to know that God has already paved the way for people to recognize “something” (God) greater than themselves exists.  When we approach someone with the Gospel they already have the concept of the existence of a greater power and the core belief of wrong and right. 

When we witness we can be confident that God has already generally revealed Himself to all people.  The revelation that we have in nature  and within ourselves is general in the sense of inclusiveness as well as information.  God generally manifests Himself to all people.  God also manifests Himself in a general way not specifically through nature or a humans inner draw to a moral code.

We can be encouraged to know that God will not be completely foreign to the lost and we can be bold to speak to a person about Someone Who has already introduced Himself.

 Go, share your faith specifically to a general population who is going to hell!

Romans 1

¹⁸ For the ^R36 wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress ^R37 the truth in ^F12 unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that ^R38 which is known about God is evident within ^F13 them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For since ^R39 the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being ^R40 understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not honor ^F14 Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile ^R41 in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Professing ^R42 to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged ^R43 the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling ^F15 creatures.

Romans 2

 ¹⁴ For when Gentiles who do not have the ^F33 Law do instinctively ^{R82 F34} the things of the Law, these, not having the ^F33 Law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ in that they show the ^R83 work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, ¹⁶ on the day when, according ^R84 to my gospel, God ^R85 will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

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