Sharing God's Gift--Another Update

Once again, I attended Sharing God's Gift today. While the other classes have been good, I thought today's lesson was really good and helped to explain some things. The main topic we discussed today was the matter of giving the person to whom we are giving the Gospel the opportunity to pray for salvation, and all that this step involves.

One critical point Pr. Ron made and emphasised time and time again, is that you don't invite the person to pray to "accept Christ" unless they really seem to be following what you're saying, understanding it, and you feel you are being led to do so. Otherwise, you will be giving them what Pr. Ron called "Christian innoculation."

This particular term is very appropriate. Let me explain: what is an innoculation supposed to do? If you're given a vaccine for something, you are given a little bit of the germ (that is dead)--this is not enough to make your sick, yet just enough to make your body become resistent to the real thing that might come along in the future. In the same way, by leading someone in a prayer to receive Christ without them really understanding or seeing their need for Christ, they will have "prayed The Prayer," yet may not have genuinely received Christ. However, because they did pray--which isn't at all what saves one, rather it is one's belief in their heart that Christ died, was buried, and rose again for their sins (Romans 10:9-10)-- anytime after that, whenever asked if they're saved, they will say "Why sure, I prayed to receive Christ one day."

While we are not the ones to say whether one is saved or not, it is very likely that such a person may truly be lost yet, but because they prayed a prayer, without any sincere belief in their heart, they may live all their life believing that they are headed to heaven, when in reality, they're on the path to eternal death. They will have been innoculated from ever receiving the saving grace of God, unless they allow themselves to open their eyes to the Truth!

Just now, as I was writing this, I realized that such an "innoculation" happened to me: Because I was born into a Christian family, I was surrounded with the Gospel message from little on up. My parents tell me that I made a decision to follow Christ at a young age, but, to be honest, I really don't remember that day. However, for many years, I believed them, and never really questioned my salvation! "I prayed, right? So, I do not need to worry about where I'll spend eternal life!" I truly considered myself to be a Christian.

It wasn't until I was thirteen that a friend of mine asked me the question: "So, Angie, how did you get saved?" I fumbled around for a response, trying to come up with a convincing answer when I couldn't even remember that I had ever done such a thing!

God used her "out-of-the-blue" question to make me start thinking about my salvation. "Am I really saved?" "How come I don't have the joy that other believers talk about?" "What if the reason I really can't share much about my conversion is because I really haven't trusted in Christ?" All of these questions, and others, swirled around in my head. While I cannot say for certain that I was not saved then, I will say that I do not know that if I had died then, I would have gone to heaven. That is kind of scary. Thankfully, God had mercy on me, and finally, after years of believing that I was saved, I came face-to-face with the possibility that my "conversion" probably wasn't genuine. That day, when I was almost fourteen years old, I cried out to God to save me and to forgive me for my sins. Now I know that I've been born again, and will spend eternity in heaven one day!

While it isn't necessary that one understands everything about God and His Word before he can become a believer (no one will ever fully understand God!), it is essential that one understands and believes four things before he prays to receive Christ:

1. Christ died.

2. He was buried.

3. He rose again the third day.

4. He was seen by hundreds (physical evidence and proof that sets Him apart from every other religion, whose leader has died, yet has never risen again.)

And, this He did all because of our sin and His immense love for us!

I am just so excited about this all. My prayer is that in reading this, you have perhaps either been encouraged in your spiritual walk or gently prompted to re-consider your spiritual condition.

In Him,

~Angie

True Worship

"True worship is living in obedience to Christ seven days a week, not just one
hour on Sundays." - Dr. Wayne Johnson

I've always been somewhat unsure in my heart when people say "let us now worship God in our hearts today." I'm not exactly sure how we're supposed to do that during a service. Sure, our hearts need to be prepared and desirous of praising God and worshipping Him for who He is, but sometimes, I wonder how to determine if I actually did that during that half-hour of singing at church. Maybe I'm wierd or different from others and no one else ever has such thoughts, but when Pr. Wayne gave the above definition last Wednesday night, it was like a light-bulb went on in my head! "Yes," I thought, "that is exactly what true worship should be!"

Yes, of course, we should prepare our hearts for that set-aside time of worship on Sundays, I am not saying that is not important. However, God is not only interested in the kind of worship we give Him during a church service when we're together with all the other believers, but He's probably more concerned with the kind of worship He receives when we are at home--alone, with our family, our friends--when we are going about our day-to-day tasks! I believe true worship of God takes place when we deliberately choose to honor, obey, and glorify Him with everything we do, each and every day of our life!

For the last few months--since the beginning of January, to be precise--I've been going through the book Lord, I want to Know You by Kay Arthur, a devotional on the names of God. After studying the names of God during EXCEL last Fall, I guess I've really been intrigued and facinated with the names of God and the amazing facets they reveal about Him, His character, and simply Who He is!

Earlier today, I heard some disturbing news (to me), and, as I often do, I allowed it to go around and around in my head throughout the day. Well, right before I started my devotions, I specifically prayed and asked God to speak to my heart and give me peace through His Word. So, it was very exciting for me to then, after reading some passages in Scripture, open up the devotional book and realize that the very name I was studying was Jehovah-shalom, or the Lord is peace! While I'm still somewhat troubled in my heart, my heart has, without a doubt, been uplifted and encouraged after being reminded that our God is the Author and Giver of peace! Perhaps though, something even more encouraging is how God works to answer prayer--sometimes even immediately!

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your
forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious
for nothing, but in everythig by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses
all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:4-7

~~~~~~~~

On another note, today my family and I had the privilege of having some former missionaries, Uncle Gerald and Aunt Amy Bergen over for dinner (or lunch, for some of you!). They went to Brazil last Fall to minister at the Bible Institute where my dad teaches. It was wonderful to hear about their time there and to catch up on everything! In fact, we even got to see some pictures! Here are a few (thank you Uncle Gerald!):

Uncle Gerald and Aunt Amy (the older couple) with a family that works with us. While they were in Brazil, they stayed in our house, and this picture was taken in our front yard.

The camp my parents ran for eight years and where I spent a lot of my childhood.

It was fun to see this picture of Kitana, our cat! Isn't she cute? :)

While this isn't all that great of a picture, these are most of the students at the Bible Institute. It was soo good to see these familiar faces!

Finally, here's the view that I used to have straight out from one of the windows of my room back in Brazil. I know, I know, it's not that interesting, but it is kind of sentimental. . . :) Oh, and one more thing: if you're at all interested, look closely and you can kind of see some cashew fruit hanging on the tree.

Hope I didn't bore you. . .

"We Must have True Faith" -- By A. W. Tozer

I checked out the book The Price of Neglect by A. W. Tozer from the library at church yesterday, and read the following selection. It was very revealing and convicting, and, as you probably already guessed, I just had to share it with you! :) Please read it!

"To many Christians Christ is little more than an iea, or at best an ideal;
He is not a fact. Millions of professed believers talk as if He were real
and act as if He were not. And always our actual position is to be
discovered by the way we act, not by the way we talk.

"We can prove our faith by our committal to it, and in no other way.
Any belief that does not command the one who has it is not a real belief; it is a
pseudo-belief only. And it might shock some of us profoundly if we were
brought suddenly face to face with our beliefs and forced to test them in the
fires of practical living.

"Many of us Christians have become extremely skillful in arranging out
lives so as to admit the truth of Chirstianity without being embarrassed by its
implications. We fix things so that we can get on well enough without
divine aid, while at the same time ostensibly seeking it. We boast in the
Lord but watch carefully that we never get caught depending on Him. " 'The
heart is deceiful above all things/ and beyond cure./ Who can understand it'
(Jeremiah 17:9)?

"Pseudo-faith always arranges a way out to serve in case God fails
it. Real faith knows only one way and gladly allows itself to be stripped
of any second ways or makeshift substitutes. For true faith, it is either
God or total collapse. And not since Adam first stood up on the earth has
God failed a single man or woman who trusted Him.

"The man of pseudo-faith will fight for his verbal creed but refuse flatly
to allow himself to get into a predictament where his future must depend upon
that creed being true. He always provides himself with secondary ways of
escape so he will have a way out if the roof cares in.

"What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who
are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the
last day. For each of us the time is surely coming when we shall have
nothing but God. Health and wealth and friends and hiding places will all
be swept away and we shall have only God. To the man of pseudo-faith that
is a terrifying thought, but to real faith it is one of the most comforting
thoughts the heart can entertain.

"It would be a tragedy indeed to come to the place wehre we have no other
but God and find that we had not been trusting God at all during the days of our
earthly sojourn. It would be better to invite God now to remove
every false trust, to disengage our hearts from all secret hiding places and to
bring us out into the open where we can discover for ourselves whether or not we
really trust Him. That is a harsh cure for our troubles, but it is a sure
one. Gentler cures may be too weak to do the work. And time is
running out on us."

(from pages 12-14 of The Price of Neglect by
A. W. Tozer)

Sharing God's Gift Update

Hello!

Well. . . it seems like I can never keep this blog up-to-date, now can I? I would like to update it at least every week, but obviously, that hasn't been the case thus far. Maybe that will change (but I'm not making any promises!) :)

Anyway, I thought I would share a little of what has been happening here in my little world, especially in Sharing God's Gift, which I shared about with you all a while back. There are only three weeks left to this ten-week evangelism course, and so far, it has been really good!

A major part of this course is "on the job training" where we divide up into groups of three or four and go witnessing door-to-door. For the first four or five weeks of Sharing God's Gift, I wasn't able to go out with any group (due to the fact that this particular class is unusually big compared to previous classes and there aren't enough trainers to go out with each group), so it has only been the last two weeks that I've had the privilege of going out and get a "taste" for spreading the Gospel!


Last week I went with three others (plus a trainer) to the house of a couple from church to "practice" on them, while acting as if it were the "real thing." I was appointed to do it first, since I hadn't had the opportunity to do it before, so as could be expected, I was a little nervous about doing it all with four other adults watching. However, it turned out to be a really good learning experience! It was extremely helpful to be in such a setting, because, when I wasn't quite sure what I should say next, I could stop and ask my trainer, and he could correct me or suggest something I could've done better. As someone commented earlier that morning, until you actually do it yourself, you don't really learn to do it! While in previous classes I've watched others practice sharing the Gospel and have memorized the specific outline we're learning, I haven't really out-and-out done it myself! Upon actually going through it with someone else as if they were an unsaved person, I really learned a lot! Now, the next big step out of my comfort zone it to trust in God's strength to have courage to do the same with a "real" unsaved person! Please keep praying for me!

As I've already mentioned, there is an outline or specific order of questions and references that we're memorizing throughout these ten weeks. While some would say that such a thing isn't necessary, I discovered last week, even when just practicing, the importance of actually having the references and questions given memorized, because at the time of most need, your mind will draw a complete blank! (That can still happen when you've got it memorized, but it is much less likely! ) Anyway, in this outline, there are several initial "evaluation questions" that are really good and I thought I would share them with you all:

1. Do you have any spiritual beliefs? (It is with this question that you can find out where they stand spiritually. Or, if they say that they do go to church, you could ask them "So what does the church mean to you?")

2. To you, who is Jesus? (This question helps you to determine who they believe Jesus to be--simply a good person, a religious figure, or the Savior of the world!)

3. Do you think there is a heaven or a hell? (Do they believe that such places even exist?)

4. If you were to die tonight, where would you go? If heaven, why? (With their answer to this question, you will find out what they're basing their salvation on--good works, salvation, etc.)

5. If you were to find out that what you believe was contrary to the Bible, would you want to know? (By asking this question, you are first allowing them to say whether they are open to hearing more about the Gospel, and second, showing them that their beliefs are contrary to the Bible, not with your opinion! In other words, they will be arguing with the Bible, not with you!)

It is amazing how well these diagnostic questions work! Even in the few times that I've seen it be used, by the time you get to the second or third question, you can have a pretty good idea as to where they stand spiritually! For example, two weeks ago, when I went door-to-door with three others, we met a man who did go to church. However, upon asking him why he went to church, from his answer that was along the lines of all the good stuff that happens there and the moral lessons, etc., it was pretty obvious that he was probably going to church for the wrong reasons!


Until the next time!
Angie