Below are some insights from the class - contact us with any questions!
INSIGHTS FROM THE CLASS AND READING:
As
I look back over the reading and class time, I think the greatest thing I
learned was about my “motivation” to share the Gospel. Through all three texts and the article as well
as the class, I was hit by these three foundational truths: (1) Everyone is on a spiritual journey, (2) God
is already at work in the lives of people, and (3) He wants to use me. If I truly believe these three truths, then I
should look forward with anticipation and expectation to those that God will
send across my path daily. What a joy
and privilege it truly is to be able to help people move “one step closer to
being a Christ-follower” or to help them, as a Christ-follower, to understand
where their “roadblock” is and begin to allow God to help them build a bridge
across that roadblock so they can begin walking daily with Him again. If I truly believe AND put into practice
these three truths it will give me confidence to step into spiritual
conversations with others with less fear and well as less worry about how
others will see me. I am simply looking
for those who are “already prepared for me” and then enjoy the privilege of
walking with them through some part of their spiritual journey. This, I believe, is my greatest “takeaway”
from the entire course.
Another
great “discovery” from the class happened when we discussed the section on
“Recognizing Their Spiritual Process”. I
had always thought of evangelism and sharing the Gospel as just the sharing of
information and then the person having a chance to make a spiritual decision. But this is much too simplistic It really helped me to understand that there
are three parts: (1) Growth to
Understanding – the need of a person to intellectually move from not knowing
the Gospel at all to understanding and then agreeing with the truths of the
Gospel, (2) Awareness of Need: a person
moving from being unaware of their need (for forgiveness and salvation) to
understanding the nature of their need and realizing they are unable, on their
own, to solve the problem, and (3) Willingness to Change: after understanding
and awareness of need, a person must move to a place of being willing to change
in order to give up control of his or her life and turn over that control to
Jesus as their Lord and Master. I think
this will help me, as God allows me to walk in the lives of others, to see that
the decision to follow Christ is a multi-faceted one. I need to be patient and allow each person to
move to in each area to the place where they CAN make a real and deliberate
choice to whole-heartedly follow Christ.
And
a great tool to “test” these are the three questions that were shared in class
that compliment these three parts: (1)
Is this true? (understanding), (2) Do you need and desire Jesus to be your
Savior and Lord? (awareness of need), and (3) Will you trust Him to be your
Savior and Lord? (willingness to change).
Asking these three questions can help a person not just “pray a prayer”
but to more fully understand the decision that is before them and honestly
trying to see if they are truly ready to make that decision.
A
third “revelation” from the class was a very familiar Scripture that hit me
differently, even though I have heard it many times before. Matthew 4:19 says, “And he said to
them, “Follow me,
and I will make you fishers of men.” What hit me was “I will make” - the realization that it is Jesus doing the work in me
and through me. I must be willing for
Him to change me just as a person must volitionally surrender to the Lordship
of Christ to become a Christ-follower. And
what will He make me? He will make me a
fisher of men – the Great Commission – going into the world and making disciples
of all nations. Along with this thought
was another one from the book, GodSpace.
Doug Pollock reminds us, “Did
Jesus call us to fish from the bank, or to swim with the fish, when He told us
to go into all the world? Thank You,
Lord, for revealing Your desire for me to be fisher of men!
GREAT TOOL: A great tool given to
us was the simple but profound question, “What is the gospel message?” But not just what it is but HOW to
communicate it in a clear and concise way as we walk with others as
CoJourners. It is so freeing to know the
essence of the Gospel can be summed up in three questions: (1) Who is Jesus?, (2) What has He done?, and
(3) Why did He do it? We can talk and
talk for hours on end about what the Gospel does in our lives both here and in
eternity but we need to be able to clearly articulate the essence of the Gospel
in a few sentences so that others can hear that life-changing truth. We can always give them “more” if they are
seeking to know more about the Gospel, but sometimes we need to just give them
the essence and those three questions make it both clear and concise.
1 comment:
Great summary. I greatly appreciate that last paragraph where you say that Jesus is doing all the work through us and in us. One of my frustrations with leading the Weekend to Remember team in Corpus Christi is seeing all MY efforts not come to fruition. Despite having a prayer team, and quoting inspirational scripture, I have to ask myself if I have truly let God be in control or if I have been trying to do God's job. I am confident that it is a combination of both. The numbers we have must be what God willed for us because we as a team did everything we were able to. It is all in His hands, and He has a plan for what we have.
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