Billions of people will wake up today, and they’ll eat, drink, work, play, read and love and live.
They’ll laugh and cry.
They’ll marry and divorce.
They’ll hug and fight and hold hands.
About 150,000 or so will die.
I might make the last sentence stronger, but there's not much to disagree with on Chuck Webster's devotional. Click the link above and read his devotional for today.
Anyone who tries to teach another person the gospel is a successful personal evangelist. Anyone who does their best to get a fellow human being to accept God's word and obey it is a success in God's eyes. "Stephen, do you mean that even if I don't convert anyone, but if I'm out sowing the seed, then I'm successful?" That's right. We don't measure success in evangelism by the number of conversions (or at least we shouldn't). We can't make anyone respond to the plan of salvation, but we must give them the opportunity to obey it. Yes, we want them to obey since that is the desired result, but we are successful if we faithfully teach the word to others in an effort to get them to respond to it. Don't ever forget that!
Stephen Bradd does a tremendous job on his website, daily audio or text for Bible study.
Is it too much to read–between–the–lines and wonder if Peter was not widening his appreciation and deepening his understanding of the Savior who promised He would be lifted up and “draw all men unto Me?” (cf. John 3:14-16). Jesus received tax collectors and sinners (Luke 15:1-2). He “deigned” to talk to a Samaritan woman (John 4), and even made a Samaritan the hero of a parable! (Luke 10).
Maybe, just maybe we see here an indication of Peter’s maturing faith, his rejection of pride and narrow Jewish elitism. He stayed in the home of Simon the Tanner. The Pharisaic spirit that laid heavy burdens on others and would not lift a finger to help (Matthew 23) held no attraction for a generous, more compassionate and sweeter spirit.
My reading of this verse is much the same as Grady's. A step in the right direction for Peter. The barriers are coming down, slowly, but surely.
We can always be more evangelistic and there will always be missed opportunities, but saying, “Well you should come to services” is not real evangelism. We need to be active in preaching and teaching the Gospel, engaging people in Biblical discussions and studying the Bible with them, not throwing out an invitation and hoping it sticks.
Amen to that!
A careful assessment of our own spiritual blessings in Christ, coupled with an unvarnished look at the world around us should lead us to the conclusion that there are still too many without the hope that we have. That should spur us on to try to reach others with the gifts of the gospel.
Misunderstanding a sentence in an article leads to a reflection on guilt and evangelism.
It's a good article from Gospel Advocate and, I hope, a good post that will provoke reflection.
We now turn our attention to an “evaluation tool” which is sorely misunderstood and frequently abused. This tool or test may be termed the “numbers test.” It takes various forms and is spoken of in a variety of ways, but one basic attitude prevails. “How many baptisms do they have each year?” “How many congregations are being established?” In reality, if you ask faithful veteran missionaries, they will readily admit that this mindset often comes out in “mission reports” more as a numbers game, rather than a true test. I heard from the lips of one church leader the statement: “We choose a work where we can get the best bang for our buck!” There was no mistake about it – the only determining factor to him was – number of reported baptisms.
Read it once, and cry. Read it again, and get angry. Read it a third time, and change your ways!
Tragedy tends to bring opportunity, opportunity most often met with physical provision. Will we be satisfied to send money, food, water, and clothing?
This tragedy should remind us of the opportunity to help people prepare for the ultimate destruction of the earth. It will be an event exceeding 8.9.
My point exactly over on my personal blog at http://randalmatheny.com/2011/03/14/tweets-quotes-truths-and-a-prediction/