Step By Step

Weeks of 03/15- 03/28:

This week, our topic was Evangelism. Sounds a little scary, but it was not at all :)

Our speaker was Allan Kirchen, a pastor at a church in Brisbane. He was HILARIOUS. He had a wonderful sense of humor and had us smiling and laughing the whole time. He had a way of making us feel relaxed and comfortable. He was also very experienced in evangelism and had a lot of wisdom to share with us. He explained that our only responsibility in evangelism is to be obedient. The Holy Spirit does the rest! That definitely takes the pressure off.

Here are some truths that spoke out to me:

• Matthew 4:19 : Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." The foundation is to love God and follow him- He will teach us how to evangelize (become "fishers of men")
• Effective evangelism- Being used by God through word or deed to influence a person to take one step closer to Jesus. - It does not matter the size of the step! It is all effective. We often fail to see the significance of the seemingly insignificant. Sometimes people just need you to listen and understand there they are coming from.
• When we talk about Jesus, the Church, Christianity, God, etc. people automatically have a picture in their head of how they define those things. Some people have such distorted perceptions of God (from whatever their past experience has been). We need to meet them where they're at and love and accept them as Christ does. Challenge their "image" with the truth. It is good to ask them how they perceive Jesus and Christians before assuming you are picturing the same thing.

• John 4 (The Samaritan Woman): Illustration of evangelism.
• Jesus was deliberate. He actually did not have to go to Samaria, geographically speaking. He went in obedience to the Father. We need to deliberately choose to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. "Lord, I am available when you're ready."
• Jesus came in humility. He spoke with a woman; She was a Samaritan (culturally, Jews were repulsed by Samaritans); He put himself on her same level; Jesus initiated the conversation and relationship; Jesus avoided arguments- He never told her what to believe. He respected her. (Arguments are pointless. You may win an argument but you lose the person. Always keep the person first in love).
• He led her on a journey of discovery (Her perception went from "Jewish man", to "Sir", to "prophet", to "Messiah").
• Jesus did not judge her- He knew about her sin, but did not judge her. We often prejudge people- We think a person may not be open to hearing about Jesus or being prayed for, etc., but it is up to God to move in them and change their heart.

• It is the kindness of God that leads people in relationship with Christ.
• Be careful as you mature in God that you don't lose your complete dependency on God. Jesus humbled the disciples by telling them to have the faith of a child.
• Salvation is not based on intellect or emotion. It is a heart change based on faith.
• Intelligence will never bring about heart revelation. Emotion is the same way- we can stir up emotions, but without an encounter with God, emotions will fade. Christ is the only one who can penetrate hearts. Only God can bring about heart revelation.
• Salvation is of the heart, not of flesh and blood. Only God saves.

• "Traditional" church model: Behave ~ Believe ~ Belong (If you behave the way we behave and believe what we believe, then you can belong as part of our church.)
• Christ's model of the Church: Belong ~ Believe ~ Behave (It is our responsibility as Christians to create a place of belonging. Once they continue to come, they hear the Word of God, challenging beliefs and changing the heart, which by the Holy Spirit will change that person's behavior.
• Our only responsibility is to love on people and accept them as they are. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to work on behavior and the word of God to change beliefs.

I went to Set Free Care (the homeless ministry) on Tuesday and had some good conversations led by the Spirit. I was able to pray with one man about finding a job, which was encouraging for him. On Saturday afternoon, we did local outreach in a park by the beach at Surfer's Paradise. We gave out free coffee and tea, sharing the love of Jesus with people walking by. I had one deep conversation with a man who wanted to hear the Gospel message of Jesus and we gave him one of our Bibles, which was exciting! It is so amazing to witness the Holy Spirit at work.