Bible, prayer, fellowship and as a natural outgrowth of the growth that comes to you -- go tell. Know Him well (I mean the Jesus of the Bible) and prayerfully make Him well known.
English Standard Version God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
Berean Standard Bible God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.
King James Bible God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
- GIVE ME EYES TO SEE THE LOST WITH YOUR PERSPECTIVE, GOD.
- GRANT ME A SOFT (NOT HARDENED) COMPASSIONATE HEART THAT REALLY LOVES THE LOST LIKE YOU LOVE US/THEM.
- GIVE GUIDANCE WITH A WILL TO GO BEFRIEND EM. YES, USE ME TO WIN THE LOST ..GIVING THEM AN ON-THE-SPOT OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND TO YOU, LORD (FOR YOU ALONE CAN SAVE).
- GIVE ME A NON-PUSHY MOUTH LIKE YOURS.. TO TACTFULLY, BOLDLY, CLEARLY TELL THE LOST ABOUT JESUS. SO MANY PEOPLE I MEET THINK THEY'VE HEARD YOUR GOSPEL MESSAGE.. AND DON'T YET GRASP IT.
Do you have questions? If you're not sure where you currently stand spiritually.. just come to Jesus.
Let's make this and every moment count for God's glory. Don't first clean up your life to come to God, just come asking Him to forgive you. Approach Him with honest repentance, humble faith, and a willingness for the Lord to work inside your heart and mind.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” Psalms 34:8
“So what are you doing to share the most important message ever?” ~ Charles Spurgeon
Choose to be a growing soul winner, an effective reproducing disciple-maker. Red-hot spiritually, not lukewarm or cold blooded religious like the Pharisees were/are. Refusing to change, most of them.. Pharisees are the same yesterday, today and forever. Pray for em, but don’t be like them -- avoid those closed-minded puffed up folk.
Every believer is called to pray and go do tactful evangelism? I mean respectfully.
The New Testament gives us three forms of friendly evangelism:
Mass evangelism, where a preacher or evangelist addresses a crowd
Personal evangelism, where a believer shares one-on-one with another person
Local church evangelism, which is the combination of every member of the church evangelizing through any means possible
Ultimately, evangelism is a daily cooperation between Jesus who is Lord of all (God) and the people He created. It’s the loving intersection between divine predestination and human volition.
Read through the book of Acts cuz it tells us what the church needs to look like even in our day. The early church was a witnessing community and won souls in the temple, in the world and from house to house. They were involved with the Holy Spirit and the word of God in friendly evangelism. They were out Frangelizing if you will. You can do this too. God alone is the One who can forgive any sin and save a sinner, but we can be prevailed to enjoy a loving part in this with Him. We can also have a part in discipleship as well a.k.a. Frencipleship. How’s that for a new word? I am here to gently challenge you toward love and truth, closer to Christ! Yes, to be nice and friendly without any spiritual compromise.. for decisions. For the purpose of winning people to Him.
"And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." SeeMark 16:15, Luke 14:23, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:7-8, Mark 16:15-16
Also see Acts 2:47 where it says that they were "praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."
Here are three characteristics of evangelism:
1. It's a divine work. God can turn your fickle into faithful.. and then into fruitful! Remember how Peter denied His Lord under pressure, but after he received the Holy Spirit he was an effective bold witness for Jesus. In Acts 2, we read that "those who gladly received [Peter's] word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them" (v. 41). Who did the adding? Verse 47 tells us: the Lord. He's the active agent in evangelism. Yes, He uses people's words, lifestyles, and bold proclamation, but He's really the one who does the work (see Romans 8:30).
2. It's a double work. Meditate upon this. "The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (v. 47). He didn't add them to the church without saving them, and He didn't save them without adding them to the church. In other words, salvation and church membership go together. Another way of looking at this is though not everybody in a congregation at one time is saved, all members of the true church are saved people.
3. It's a daily work. Look real close. Notice the Lord added to the church "daily" (v. 47), or day by day. This tells me that the church in Jerusalem didn't look at evangelism as some sporadic event. Every day was evangelism day, and every week was missions week. It was part of the normal, natural outflow of their lives together. When Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15), they internalized that and did it daily, whether on a mass scale or personally.
When it really comes down to it, talking about evangelism won't motivate us until we start seeing unbelievers as lost souls on their way to a real place called hell..... foreeeevver. Many people sadly choose to go there by rejecting God's only Provision for their sin -- Jesus. But we want people in heaven with us instead.. so we persuade men, women and children with the truth of the Bible.
Frangelism, that’s a strange term, but it’s an acrostic! Reminds me of...
"Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe." —1 Corinthians 1:21
“We tend to think of preaching in a negative way, as something that is bad. For example, if someone says something that we don’t like, we might say, “Hey, don’t preach at me.”
Actually, the Bible says that preaching is a good thing, but we don’t necessarily have to do it loudly. The word preach doesn’t mean that we have to project. We can preach quietly. We can whisper the gospel, share it conversationally, or even tweet it.
There are so many ways we can share our faith. The point is to just communicate it.
Romans 10:14 asks, “How can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (NLT).
The primary way people come to Jesus is through hearing the gospel. The Bible tells us, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21 NKJV).
God called Jonah to take the gospel to the city of Nineveh, which was filled with Israel’s enemies. Jonah was reluctant and didn’t go at first. But when he did go and preach the message that God gave him, a great spiritual awakening broke out.
President Abraham Lincoln said, “The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” So share the gospel with your enemies and frenemies as well as your friends, your neighbors, and your family. Go to everyone you can and share the gospel.
Another term I like to use for evangelism is “frangelism.” F is for friends. R is for relatives. A is for associates. And N is for neighbors. Go into all of your world and preach the gospel.” ~ Greg Laurie (I think he made up that acrostic, pretty cool huh)
If your friend has been won to faith in Jesus Christ, then it's time to help them get grounded in God' word. Of course not in some pushy, or pressurized or forced kind of way. You are friends and now have relationship with God in common through Jesus. So be and stay better friends and pray for each other now.. until you both reach full spiritual maturity.
Frencipleship alsoneeds an acrostic too I guess. Here you go...
Faith - build it up in each other
Relationship - grow closer to God and then as sound friends
Evangelize - as an outgrowth of sowing to your faith via prayer, worship, Bible study, Church and small group fellowship.. there will be an outflow of joy and ministry. I'm talking about sharing your faith and personal story (your testimony) of how you came to repent and believe in Jesus.
No - say No to sowing to your flesh, or to this world system. Deny yourself and seek the Lord earnestly.
Christ - let Him rule without rival. Let Him lead you as Lord not just in theory, but day by day. Don't just read His word, obey Him. Most do not.
Intentional - choose to get strong intentionally by meditating and memorizing parts in the word. For use in the battle.
Purpose - to give what God wants you to give, and not give what He doesn't want you to. Give of yourself to Him and then to others daily. Yes, be involved in fulfilling the Great Commission, you have a part to play.
Live - the live in connection like a branch to the vine and produce fruit. Doing your best, commit the rest.
Endure - hardships by the grace of God going the distance with Jesus.
One with One on one world changers all have an active faith, not some passive kinda faith. God gives em this faith.
Listen, if you can’t yet believe God for and pray down a city-shaking or nation-changing Spiritual awakening due to a biblical revival in His church.. then pray and believe Him for this down into you.
One on one faith is given to us to wisely use, to exercise, to flex, to develop, to stretch -- don’t let it just remain static or atrophy. Use it or lose it. Pray in the Holy Spirit, go tell as Jesus leads you, and wisely applying the word of God.
"Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him." Acts 8:35 nkjv
What matters to God? People do. Pursue the things of heaven. "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Colossians 3:2
Don't get all caught up in the things of earth that you lose your primary focus. Jesus. Yeah, don't be conformed to the things of this world. Instead be transformed by the word of God. Live your life as His rep - go one with One first. Go one on one. Stay centered upon Jesus and what really concerns Him.
There's a time to prayerfully listen, a time to ask the right questions. I don't want to miss with my words, with parts of my story or with the whole thing, or with God's Scriptures when sharing with a lost friend! We are livin' in the last days!
Doin' my best, I commit the rest!
"So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective." msg
"Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other." Proverbs 27:17
By faith real friends win their friends to the best of all friends, Jesus Christ. And they non-pushy-disciple-em too, lovingly sowing God's truth into their minds and hearts. Philip went one on one with One leading him in this.
One with One on one world changers have an active faith, not a passive one. If you can’t yet believe God for a city or nation-changing awakening or biblical revival.. then believe Him for this into you.
"One on one" (kind of sports terms here..like in basketball), but these three words can be witnessing terms as well..an activity far more important in our day.
One with One - is far more important to me -- prayer terms. You've heard of initiative-personal evangelism, well I am thinkin' about prayer-evangelism. Musing on allowing the Spirit to guide you tactfully with those verses previously set to memory. During these last days, we can't really afford to miss-apply, or not give sinners and saints what's fitting to help.
One with One on one world changers have an active faith, not a passive one. Are you a faith filled reproducing disciple-maker where those disciples become reproducing disciple-makers? One with One on one can of course go one with One on more than one at a time, but this One (Christ) still saves people one by one.
If you can’t yet believe God for a city or nation-changing awakening or biblical revival.. then believe Him for this into you.
When I see me I see weakness, God sees potential. I feel hopeless just like my story is over, but God doesn’t see that for me.
Today we’ve been seeing the world turning us believers upside down, instead of us turning it upside down by faith.
"But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ‘These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.’" Acts 17:6 nkjv
- World changers have an active faith, not a passive one. Listen, the more you use of your faith the stronger it gets. Faith is like a muscle, the more you properly use it the stronger it gets. Is your faith all show and no go?
- World changers do things with their faith. Abraham obeyed God. A faith that has no works is a faith that does not work.
- World changers
have a faith that can be tested. Christians are like tea bags the strength comes out in hot water. We get faith by hearing, by reading, by grasping or understanding.. and applying the word.
- Faith can make the difference between something good happening or not happening. Remember the lady who appealed to Jesus for daughter.
By contrast.. Jesus could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief. We can stop the work of God in our lives by unbelief.
"So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.’ Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.’" Matthew 13:57-58 nkjv
Without faith it is impossible to please God. He rewards those who diligently seek Him. He wants to work in your life, in your sphere of influence. Apply biblical faith and take wise risks. The mouths of lions can be closed by Him due to your faith. Remember Daniel who daily prayed?.. he didn’t become their meal.
- World changers are indestructible until God is done with them here. Don’t be afraid to die. Better to be in a lion’s den with God than anywhere without him. You.. trust the Lord!
Q. By faith Philip went public instead of always staying private? There's a time for private and alone with the Lord, but there is a time to go tactfully share the gospel with the unregenerate. Do you recall when the Holy Spirit used an angel of the Lord to guide Philip into one-on-one world-changing?He boldly preached Christ in a non-preachy way to a very loved Ethiopian. We each can do that.
"So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. 26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.” 34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing." Acts 8:25-39 nkjv Fish4souls.org .. Photos by Pavel Kononenko, Jed Villejo, Anon. Thanks!
Some world changers are blessed to escape danger they face (like Daniel, Esther, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego) and other ones are persecuted until crippled or unto death (Stephen, Paul, James). In both groups, they are winners in God's eyes. If you're persecuted, believer, just make sure it's for righteousness' sake instead of for just acting like a jerk. Stay faithful. World changers will have their reward.
Real world changers are LOVED, are never alone, and yes they are indestructible until the time when God wants them to come home. So quit freakin' out about the time of your death. Our time for fruitfulness here is limited. Jesus gave us a directive...
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."1 Timothy 6:12 nkjv
Don't let yourself stay down, or get all weary in well-doin' -- press in to know the Lord.
Had what seems like opposition in some really unexpected areas of life lately, believer? Remember, the Christian life is not a playground, it is a battleground.
This is the day to pray, to praise, and to worship the Lord.. first and all through the day. Yes, to pray to our One God in Jesus' Name! Let's keep asking for a biblical revival and an authentic 5th Great Awakening. Can happen! Look around you, this is the day to see God move! Talkin' 'bout the JOY of Spirit-led prayer-evangelism! "And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy." Acts 2:17-18 nkjvYou know that throughout history there've been the so called rock-stars of our historic faith (i.e., Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Esther, Mary, Martin Luther, Jonathan Edwards, Paul, Charles Spurgeon, Dwight Lyman Moody, Billy Frank Graham to name some) that were used of God to do great exploits. They enjoyed close intimate friendship with God and earnestly prayed for people. "When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'" 1 Kings 19:13These ordinary (saved by faith sinners) dudes and women.. were indeed world changers via their supplications and boldly spreading the Message. But there were other world-changers who simply endured harsh treatment and full on persecution. These people were also used of God starting by intercession and graciously sharing truth..... but you can be used as well, world-changer! "Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.." Hebrews 11:36-38 It's time we show love to all sinners, and yet call sin.. sin again. A society is defined by what it now tolerates. Our society in the USA used to not tolerate homosexuality, lesbianism, porn, fornication and pregnancy before marriage, abortions, crimes of looting rioting to send a message or for any reason, violence, but now if you say that Hey, that's actually wrong guess what.. they won't tolerate you. You know the world today won't.
Philip went one on one with One leading him. Sure, he'd first spent some time alone with One who cares about everyone! The One who delights to use each of us, the One who still saves people one by one. This is what happens with real revival!
"Stupid people are happy with their foolishness, but the wise will do what is right." Proverbs 15:21
We will either evangelize or fossilize, believer. It's no time for some lame victim-mentality. Remember, a whole LOT happened to Christ for us.. and He (our ultimate Solution) never took on that kinda mentality. He died and rose again to set people free. That's what he was about and is about. The same yesterday, today and forever. It's time for another outpouring, a 5th awakening, prayer-evangelism. Let Him use you in praying and providing real solutions. No time to just complain about problems some people create.
One by one, "..for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10 nkjv
"The one who practices sin [separating himself from God, and offending Him by acts of disobedience, indifference, or rebellion] is of the devil [and takes his inner character and moral values from him, not God]; for the devil has sinned and violated God’s law from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." 1 John 3:8 amp
What can I do today, practically? It's gotten like never before? Pray.. like never before.
If we've ever needed You, Lord, it is now. We are desperate for Your loving hand, reaching out, reaching out. Through us. Let Your church reach up and then out. Use us, Lord. All You've sent here, poured out before, send and pour out now. Even more so.. like never before. Amen.
Jesus' last command should be our first concern! Jesus' last command should be our first concern! Jesus' last command should be our first concern! Jesus' last command should be our first concern! He said, "GO!" How can we say NO? He said, "GO!" How can we say NO? He said, "GO!" How can we say NO? He said, "GO!" How can we say NO? ~ k
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
“The best remedy for a spiritually sick Christian is to put them on a soul-winning diet.” ~ Vance Havner
“One soul is worth a thousand worlds.” ~ R.G. Lee
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his-own soul?” Mark 8:36
“If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house.” ― C.S. Lewis
“I wanted to be somebody, but God allowed me to be a nobody—sharing with everybody about Somebody who can save anybody." ~ Sam Mings
“Do we pray, ‘Thy Kingdom come, but we never say, hear am I, Lord, send me?’” ~ Freddie Gage
Young people who want true joy and happiness, instead of the temporary intoxications of today’s sinful culture that.. slow or fast.. just destroy people, they should turn to Jesus Christ allowing Him to be Lord of all.
Why? Cuz He can forgive. He alone give you the greatest happiness inside. He can give you the greatest adventure and the greatest thrills you have ever known. What can we each do? You know...seek Him first. And we can daily make Him known. We can prayerfully, so respectfully.. from the heart go tactfully sharing your faith with people near home or in other cities and countries is a thrilling adventure! fish4souls.org
"When your will is God’s will, you will have your will." ~ C.H. Spurgeon"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23
Does a locked down (USA) nation with a wide open border.. even for the Covid-positive.. defy all logic? Uhh.. yeah!
So much gone weird these Covid days -- I mean in these Last Days.
Dear Lord, our leaders in DC have turned whackbrain.. please quickly improve em or remove em because they are hurting the citizens!
So much talk these days, it makes ya think huh. If we can't even have fair US elections any more, then what can we do.?
So many talking heads yacking away -- yes, on a few networks like OANN and Newsmax are telling us there's a huge problem here, but no one is telling us what we can do about it, Kurt. Let's get practical.
Prayer shouldn't be our last resort. An authentic fifth Spiritual Awakening in the USA would help and each of us can earnestly pray for that to happen. The first four times God answered people's prayers for such. And at this point, that's what we can do. Go check from history how that 4th great awakening helped. Check how it affected the US crime rate etc. And while we're at it, let's ask for a biblical revival that brings in the fifth one. And why not ask for a 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th one if there's time enough.
We can intercede, we can prayerfully witness and be missionaries... or like those called to that full time. Yes, where the Spirit daily leads us to testify or witness.
We see that there's a big problem and that hardly anyone seems to be telling us what we can do about it.
You and I, we can't reform people, or save sinners, but Jesus can save. We can earnestly pray and win people who are open to hear.. to Christ.
