Intentional Encouragement

      It is unfortunate to me that many Christians have a mental picture of using a tract and going through a gospel sales pitch with some unsuspecting stranger on the street or at their front door as we do our best to convince them that the decision to follow Christ will be the best one they ever made.   There is room for tracts…there is even room for confrontational evangelism on occasion, but I am convinced that the real work of evangelism is done on a daily basis as we build relationships with real people.   We develop friendships, learn about others, grow closer to some, discern their interest in what is important to us (spiritual things) and talk with them about Jesus.   Some of them will eventually be moved by the Spirit of God and respond to your explanation.   Others will not.   The point is not the response; the point is your faithfulness to be a good friend and share your faith with them.      Let me continue with the list we began a couple of posts ago:            

     As I continue my thoughts on sharing our faith in our everyday lives, I’d like to build on the idea I shared last time.   If we aren’t involved in relationships with people because we genuinely care about them, our opportunity to share our faith with them and perhaps lead them to genuine faith in Jesus will likely be limited in a significant way.   Relationships are the key to everyday evangelism.   You will occasionally come across someone at just the right time and be able to jump into a full blown presentation of the gospel…and see them turn to Jesus right then and there.   Those times are rare.      In large part, our opportunities to share our faith will come in our daily lives.   The truth is, they probably come more frequently than we realize.   Let me give you a few thoughts about taking advantage of the relationships you have built as a platform to see others join you in your worship of King Jesus. Suggestion #2 (since #1 was last time) : Be purposeful about your

     I was reading a good article this morning about the exclusivity of the claims of Jesus in the Bible.  The point of the article was that, in our increasingly pluralistic society, the idea that there is only one way to Heaven and thus to God is becoming an increasingly offensive view.  You can read the article here .  Toward the end of the article, the author reminds us that we must still engage our culture and share the truth about Jesus.  As I thought about it, I was reminded of a 3 part series of posts that I published elsewhere some time back.  I'd like to re-post them here partly for your encouragement and partly for a reminder for myself.  I'll put them here today and the next couple of weeks.  I hope it's a help to you.      There is perhaps no greater area of conflict within the average Christian than the conflict between enjoying their relationship with Jesus; knowing that friends and family members need to have this relationship and the actual experience