In my walk with the Lord over the past 3+ years of being a Christian I have talked to a lot of people about Christ and got a lot responses towards the gospel, most of which have been a look or reaction of "thats good for you". I started to think about my approach to the lost with the gospel. I went through an evangelism class called evangelism explosem (sp) and after going through it I stilll wondered if this was biblical in there approach. I do agree with things they say in EE but the principle of EE as a whole I don't agree with at all. In EE they basicily with out bringing any conviction of sin towards God as it says "Godly sorrow produces repentance, that leads to salvation, and brings no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death" (2 Cor. 7:10). Only a sorrow towards God will produce a repentant heart and true faith in Jesus Christ (I don't claim to know when and if someone is saved, only God does; but I MUST share the gospel in a whole with a lost sinner). Again EE has some good points but doesn't give the whole picture of why someone musy be saved. It is all in what I say, not who I say it to. If I tell someone about the love of God, but don't talk about sin and judgment then they are most likley to have no repentance towards God. In the same way; if you talk only about Hell and judgment (all the time) and don't speak about "grace through faith" than you are leaving out important parts of the truth of the gospel; we need to find a balance but also listen to the Spirit for guidence in witnessing. I don't claim to have all the answners, but I do have the best guide for witnessing in God's word. I only brought up EE because it is helpful but it still is not the right approach and doesn't give the whle truth of the gospel and that is "VERY DANGEROUS",because it can lead to false conversions (people that think their saved but really are not). I personaly do use some stuff I learned in EE because as I said it has some helpful stuff. If you look at the book of Acts with the Apostles that had a system that we all should follow (I say the Apostle Paul only because he spoke with non-jews as we do, Jesus spoke with Jews who knew and awaited for the Messiah or Savior). If you speficially look at Paul and the way he preached you will see awesome examples of what we should do. It is all in what you say, not who you say it to! I hope you don't get the idea that all I think is that people are notches in an evangelism belt that I wear, because their not; I care and desire for them to be saved, because I don't know when they will die and face the Lord in judgment. Paul spoke of judgment, repentance, righteousness and sin, we find this in Acts 17:22-31 and in the letters that he wrote to the churches. This is not what I naturaly want to speak of, these are all very offensive and seem to be like I'm judgeing them, But it is not I that judge them only God. If I am in a car and the person that I am with is speeding and I tell them they are breaking the law by speeding, am I judgeing them or pointing out that they are breaking the law, becauses I care about them and their welfare? We do find other ways that people came to faith in Christ, but if I am talk about Jesus we need to tell them everything not just a peice of the gospel. This also includes speaking about God's love expressed through the cross and the ressurection of Jesus from the dead, saved by grace through faith and so on. Paul talked on issues that most Christians want to avoid because they cause contresvery (sp). What are we saying to a lost and dying world, is it the whole truth or partial truth? |