1st Base
Yesterday we began to talk about the pure book of Acts gospel message and I left you a printout that would help you visualize where to go when sharing the gospel. I have called it the 4 Bases.
http://www.citytaker.com/tools/4-bases.pdf
Today we are going to continue talking about 1st Base. How do you show someone who thinks they are pretty good that they need your Jesus. How do I show people that without Jesus they are in the utmost of danger? Haven't you seen people that are ho hum when you talk about Jesus like he is their pet dog. They've heard it a million times. It's like he is old hat to them. They must see they are in need before they will ever reach out and grab the lifesaver himself Jesus Christ. Let me share a quick story to make my point.
Let's say your whole church has taken an exotic Caribbean cruise. As you are on the top deck having a Pina Colada(virgin of course), you realize your family member who joined you and is not saved has fallen overboard into the deadly ocean waters. You frantically call out SOS and quickly throw the circular life preserver to them but to your dismay, they have no interest and are even blase as they proceed to do the backstroke through the seas(of sin). Isn't that how many sinners are when you tell them they should give their life to Jesus. No thank you. Not now!
However, as soon as they hear or see the shark fins and the Jaws music from the 70's begins to ring in their ears, their attitude towards the life preserver becomes very different. See people who are self righteously swimming in sin and people who see the danger that they are in treat the Lifesaver Jesus very differently.
So how do we show your work associates, neighbors, and even your family over the Thanksgiving holiday that they are in danger and desperately in need of the rescuer of life, Jesus Christ?
We show them that instead of comparing themselves to Saddam Hussein, they are going to be compared to the perfect law of liberty. We show them that compared to the 10 commandments, they are not as good as they might have originally thought through their self righteous, pompous attitude, but that the wages of swimming with sin is knocking on their doorstep. We use the 10 commandments to preach about sin. Look at Jesus who used the 10 commandments when preaching to a self righteous rich young ruler.
18:18 And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 18:19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 18:20 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" 18:21 And he said, "All these I have observed from my youth."
What should I do to inherit eternal life? Can you imagine someone asking you that question. What would most people say? Bow your head and pray this prayer with me. Not Jesus. He used the 10 cannons of the law to attempt to humble this young boy's self righteousness. If it is good enough for Jesus the master evangelist, it is good enough for me. How about you?
So in conclusion for today, we talked all last week about How do I start sharing my faith. (You can read last week's blog) and now we are talking about where to begin when someone has told you the reason they think they should go to heaven is because they are a pretty good person. Now we are touching 1st Base which is the preaching of sin and the guilt and judgment there of. We are showing the power of using the 10 commandments to show your listener who has been doing the backstroke in sin, that they are not that righteous. That is one of the purposes of the law.
3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
Romans 3:19 show us one of the purposes of the law is to stop or shut up the self righteous mouth and show your listener that they are swimming in the dangerous waters of sin.
We'll continue tomorrow on preaching 1st Base on the road to hitting a homerun with your listeners. You can go to www.citytaker.com and get equipped to be an effective witness.
Do you think sinners understand the depth of their need when you just blanketly share, all of sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? (Rom 3:23) |
