EVANGELISM -- THE PUNCH LINE

EVANGELISM – THE PUNCH LINE

DYNAMIC, PRACTICAL & EFFECTIVE

BY DR.MERVYN ABREO

ANSWER THIS BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION!!

                                                          

          Do you believe that Jesus is God because you’re a Christian? Or are you a Christian because you believe that Jesus is God?

          I have often got people scared, or even terrified, when I have asked them this simple question!

          If they answer yes to the first question, (i.e. because they are born into a Christian family, and since the Christian God is Jesus, then their God automatically becomes Jesus), then they only follow their religion, and follow its God, because they are born in it, and have neither conviction nor a personal relationship with their God.

                                     HOLY SPIRIT EVANGELISM!

                                                         

TRIPARTITE MAN IN A THREE DIMENSIONAL WORLD

          Whenever we evangelize to someone we are speaking to his mind or intellect. However we should always keep in mind that evangelism is never only at the intellectual level. There has to be a spiritual involvement. His spirit has essentially to be involved.

                    Many people are either unaware of its importance or feel confident of their ability to convince the other person. They act in the natural rather than in the spiritual, and therefore fail to be the effective evangelists they would otherwise have been!

MAN IS MADE UP OF: A body, a soul and a spirit.

The soul in turn is made up of: an intellect, a will and emotions.

          Sometimes conversion can take place only at the intellectual level. E.g. a person may make up his mind to change his religion for financial gain.

                                                        

          This is only a superficial decision. Because the real change or conversion takes place only in the spirit- and can only happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.

          Or a person may change their religion because he or she may have fallen in love with a person of another religion. Here the decision is based mainly on emotions.

                                                  

          Yet again, a person may be forced to change one’s belief because of religious persecution.

                                                        

          But no evangelism or conviction can be successful without the involvement and power of the Holy Spirit!    

ACTION/REACTION: When you give the Gospel message, one of two reactions have to take place:

          Conviction or condemnation, i.e. either the person accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, and is saved.

          Or the message is outright rejected and the person automatically stands condemned.

          THERE IS NO THIRD POSSIBILITY!!

           THE LORD SPEAKS “so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it,” (Isaiah. 55:11).

ONE GOD/ MANY GODS: Many people believe in multiple gods, but profess that there is only one God, and that these different gods are different forms or manifestations of the same god.

  WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

          “Hear oh Israel that the Lord thy God is one God” (Deutoronomy. 6:4).             

          But in the Ten Commandments God spoke thus: “I am the Lord your God…………..You shall have no other gods besides me.” (Exodus. 20:2, 3).

          Therefore the Bible says that there are many gods, but only Jesus Christ is the one true living God!

                                                         

ARM YOURSELF WITH KNOWLEDGE: Be well versed with the Bible. Know the correct interpretation. You will be challenged by people who will tell you that: Jesus is the son of God. We are all sons of God. So there is no difference between Him and us!

(Read the articles in this blog: “The secrets of the Trinity revealed” & “Scientifically modernizing Biblical language”).

LORD JESUS VERSUS ALL OTHER GODS:

 

                                                   

          The basic difference is: salvation through Jesus is by faith and faith alone (in the provision of the crucifixion and resurrection). (Ephesians.2:8).

 

                                            

 As against ‘doing good for salvation’ as professed by all other religions.

                                                            

GOOD WORKS

          About good works the Bible says: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” (Isa. 64:6).

          Therefore, intellectually we see that we have Jesus on one side (demanding faith in Him to take us to heaven) and on the other side we have other gods, who demand good deeds from us to attain salvation

                                                         

IDOL WORSHIP 

           Therefore we now need to ascend from the intellectual to the spiritual.

          And the only way to know that Jesus is God is by allowing the one true living God to speak directly into our spirit. And after we encounter this mind blowing experience; our conviction is so deep that nothing can shake us.

           I am astounded that there are millions of people on earth that base their salvation on someone else’s experience, without verifying it directly from the Creator.

          These people kill people of other faiths, and even happily die in the process, not stopping to think that they would have done exactly the same terrorist act had they been born in the other faith.

 ‘DEATH BED EVANGELISM’

                                                     

DEATH BED EVANGELISM

           Whenever you give the Gospel message to someone, irrespective of his or her age, evangelize as though the person you are evangelizing to is going to drop dead the very next moment.

          This gives a depth and feeling to your words, and your sincerity and seriousness will greatly help. Also, it may be the only time he or she hears the good news about Jesus and salvation!

HOLY SPIRIT GUIDED EVANGELISM:

                                               

          This is the most effective and best type of evangelism.

          The Holy Spirit leads you to a particular person, puts the right words in your mouth and literally does everything, except appear to that person and speak to him or her personally.

          For this type of evangelism, you need to spend prime time with the Lord. But the results are fantastic, and you truly become one with Him, and enter into His core group, along with Moses and Elijah, and the three disciples, as it happened on the Mount of Transfiguration.   

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Dear friend,

          I look forward to getting your feedback. Do write in to me at:

                                        drmervynabreo@gmail.com

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