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Lifestyle Evangelism: Greatest Challenge Of Modern Day Christians by God2man(m): 8:29am On Nov 09, 2012 |
Lifesyle can simple be defined as a way of living, while Evangelism is an act of spreading the gospel of our Lord Jesus christ. Acts 11:26 " And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called CHRISTIANS FIRST in Antioch." This is a great challenge to the present day believer, the problem of Nigeria today persist because chistians refused to do the right thing. Now, who is a christian? The simplest defnition is christ-like. That's all. So, christians are expected to influence the people around them by displaying the character of the fruit of the spirit, Galatians 5:22-23" But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace,longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temprance: against such there is no law." Let's take a good example from the Bible, Acts 9:36-39" Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. Verse 39, Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber; and all the widows stood by him weeping, and sewing the coats and garments which dorcas made, while she was with them." What will people say about you after you have departed from this world? The message is still inconclusive. I will continue later. God bless you. God2man. |
Re: Lifestyle Evangelism: Greatest Challenge Of Modern Day Christians by God2man(m): 3:57pm On Nov 10, 2012 |
As i have earlier stated that lifestyle can simply be defined as a way of living. What i am trying to establish here is that the lifestyle of a christian is suppose to have a great influence on his immediate environment. Let others see Jesus in u The lifestyle Evangelism can only be demonstrated if we have the fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5: 22-23.Let's start with love, the best definition of love is in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, verses 4-7" Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Divine love, agape, it never fails, it is more powerful than the gift of the spirit, it has an eternal reward, the last verse, "And now abide faith, hope,love,these three: but the greatest of these is LOVE." Let's examine different ways we can define love according to the above Bible verses, 1 corinthian 13:4, love does not parade itself, not puffed up. Humilty, the opposite of pride, not being proud, humble, ordinary, not believing that you are important. A case of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. What a humility! How many christians can do this. I read a book about a young Nun who was desribed as having gifts of prophecy, her great exploit had reached the pope. A man called Philip Neri volunteered to find out the truth about this Nun after consulting the Pope. Philip Neri, a man of rare discernment, went through the mud and mire on his mule to the distant convent. He told the woman in charge of the convent the wishes of His Holiness, to see the Nun. Without delay, the Nun came to see Philip Neri, Philip Neri streched out his leg with mud and desired that the Nun should draw off his boots. The young Nun was angry and refused the simple act of humilty. Philip ran out, mounted his mule and returned to the Pope. Philip told the Pope: here is no miracle for there is no humilty. Another one is, Politeness, 1 corinthian 13:5, does not behave himself unseemly, behaving in a way that is socially correct and shows awareness of and caring for other people's feelings: never rude , being polite with everyone the rich, the poor, the beggar, the small and the great. Still on verse 5,Does not seek its own, here, i am talking about Unselfishness, not interested in your own personal advantage, not thinking of yourself alone, think of others, seek only the good of others. My wife did something that suprised me, i have to be honest here, i am really suprised, she is great woman though, but this one is out of this world. We were coming from a christian outing, i was in the vehicle while she was the one driving, it happened that we came along a woman living in our neighbourhood with 3 or 4 bags of heavy loads, actualy two of those bags were very heavy, she said, let's help this woman, i was like saying no, my second thought says yes, so, we parked and alighted to carry the load into the car. The woman was shocked. It was like a dream to her. We helped her to her house then we proceeded to our house. The woman was just thanking us and started to pray for us. The next morning she was at our door, thanking us again for what we have done. Now, tell me, is this not a better way of Evangelism? Your guess is as good as mine. Let's continue, verse 5 again, not easily provoked, A good temper, an angry man will not be able to gather people, even if he does, they will scatter at the end of the day or he will be destroyed. A man should be able to control his spirit and not be easily irritated or resentful. Verse 6, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, how do you feel when others go wrong? Are you happy? Are you only happy when things is moving according to your desire? Then you are still far from what is called good character. When you see people doing the wrong thing, you should find a way of helping them not laughing at them or mocking them. Do not be fast to expose the weakness of others, be considerate, do not be a fault finder, looking for holes to pick, it is an unchristian like, always be eager to believe the best not the worst. The most popular one is Kindness, that is you are generous, helpful and caring about other people's feeling. A woman came to our house recently, crying and weeping profusely, she wanted to kill herself because of one financial problem, oh! She wept. We were so touched by her predicament. I told my wife, how much do you have? Do you have up to #2,000? She said yes, ok, i will add #3,000, making #5,000. I said, go and give her this money, and that they should not bother to return it. The woman knelt down to thank us. What i am saying on this thread today is not show how magnanimous we are but to teach that lifestyle Evangelism will go long way to change the world. Still inconclusive. God bless you. God2man. |
Re: Lifestyle Evangelism: Greatest Challenge Of Modern Day Christians by God2man(m): 3:59pm On Nov 10, 2012 |
As i have earlier stated that lifestyle can simply be defined as a way of living. What i am trying to establish here is that the lifestyle of a christian is suppose to have a great influence on his immediate environment. Let others see Jesus in u The lifestyle Evangelism can only be demonstrated if we have the fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5: 22-23.Let's start with love, the best definition of love is in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, verses 4-7" Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Divine love, agape, it never fails, it is more powerful than the gift of the spirit, it has an eternal reward, the last verse, "And now abide faith, hope,love,these three: but the greatest of these is LOVE." Let's examine different ways we can define love according to the above Bible verses, 1 corinthian 13:4, love does not parade itself, not puffed up. Humilty, the opposite of pride, not being proud, humble, ordinary, not believing that you are important. A case of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. What a humility! How many christians can do this. I read a book about a young Nun who was desribed as having gifts of prophecy, her great exploit had reached the pope. A man called Philip Neri volunteered to find out the truth about this Nun after consulting the Pope. Philip Neri, a man of rare discernment, went through the mud and mire on his mule to the distant convent. He told the woman in charge of the convent the wishes of His Holiness, to see the Nun. Without delay, the Nun came to see Philip Neri, Philip Neri streched out his leg with mud and desired that the Nun should draw off his boots. The young Nun was angry and refused the simple act of humilty. Philip ran out, mounted his mule and returned to the Pope. Philip told the Pope: here is no miracle for there is no humilty. Another one is, Politeness, 1 corinthian 13:5, does not behave himself unseemly, behaving in a way that is socially correct and shows awareness of and caring for other people's feelings: never rude , being polite with everyone the rich, the poor, the beggar, the small and the great. Still on verse 5,Does not seek its own, here, i am talking about Unselfishness, not interested in your own personal advantage, not thinking of yourself alone, think of others, seek only the good of others. My wife did something that suprised me, i have to be honest here, i am really suprised, she is great woman though, but this one is out of this world. We were coming from a christian outing, i was in the vehicle while she was the one driving, it happened that we came along a woman living in our neighbourhood with 3 or 4 bags of heavy loads, actualy two of those bags were very heavy, she said, let's help this woman, i was like saying no, my second thought says yes, so, we parked and alighted to carry the load into the car. The woman was shocked. It was like a dream to her. We helped her to her house then we proceeded to our house. The woman was just thanking us and started to pray for us. The next morning she was at our door, thanking us again for what we have done. Now, tell me, is this not a better way of Evangelism? Your guess is as good as mine. Let's continue, verse 5 again, not easily provoked, A good temper, an angry man will not be able to gather people, even if he does, they will scatter at the end of the day or he will be destroyed. A man should be able to control his spirit and not be easily irritated or resentful. Verse 6, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, how do you feel when others go wrong? Are you happy? Are you only happy when things is moving according to your desire? Then you are still far from what is called good character. When you see people doing the wrong thing, you should find a way of helping them not laughing at them or mocking them. Do not be fast to expose the weakness of others, be considerate, do not be a fault finder, looking for holes to pick, it is an unchristian like, always be eager to believe the best not the worst. The most popular one is Kindness, that is you are generous, helpful and caring about other people's feeling. A woman came to our house recently, crying and weeping profusely, she wanted to kill herself because of one financial problem, oh! She wept. We were so touched by her predicament. I told my wife, how much do you have? Do you have up to #2,000? She said yes, ok, i will add #3,000, making #5,000. I said, go and give her this money, and that they should not bother to return it. The woman knelt down to thank us. What i am saying on this thread today is not show how magnanimous we are but to teach that lifestyle Evangelism will go long way to change the world. Still inconclusive. God bless you. God2man. |
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