A couple of weeks back I wrote an article entitled We are not Doing Right – some thoughts on 2 Kings 7. The crescendo went something like this:
How silly we must sometimes look from the vantage point of heaven – 50-60 people sitting around a banquet table that could seat 200! … If we are content to feast on God’s Lamb alone, “we are not doing right.”
Like those lepers who were obligated to go and tell their starving neighbors that food had been found, we are obligated to be about letting our spiritually starving neighbors know that the Bread of Life can be found in Jesus! Now we all know that we must share Jesus with neighbors, co-workers, classmates, family, and visitors to our church … but what, specifically, can we do? A few ideas, both bold and simple:
Pray! I hope you pray for various lost people as you come across them. But pray, too, for opportunities to speak of Jesus – at work, on a plane, in the grocery, etc.. God loves to answer those prayers.
Start a Bible Study. What a great use of a lunch hour, or a Friday evening. Just pick a Bible book (probably a gospel) and read a chapter a week, a few verses at a time, talking about what they mean together.
Invite a friend to church. Especially, make use of holidays and the beginnings of new series that might pique their interest.
Take a printed sermon home (or a CD if the printed is N/A at your church) … and pass it along to a friend at work, or through the mail. If you give a sermon every week, someone might actually read (or listen to) it and be saved!
Give tracts or booklets. Sometimes you don’t have a long-term relationship with someone. But if you are visiting the hospital, or making a business trip, give a gospel tract to someone you may not see again soon. There are a few in the foyer table of most every church - probably yours included.
Greet guests at church. Ask their names, where they are from, how they found the church. Sit next to them. Invite them to lunch. And call the church office to get an address so that you might drop a line, or even some cookies and one of those tracts … and maybe have an opportunity to speak for Jesus.
Perform your servant ministry role with all your heart. You never know when an unbelieving guest may show up on a Sunday in your class, at your nursery, as you greet at the door, to hear you lead music. What a difference it will make if you are ready to give them (and the rest of the church, too!) the best you have in Jesus’ name!
Be specific about Jesus. None of the above will substitute for actually speaking the gospel to people. And, as you do that, make sure you don’t just talk about ‘the Lord’ in generic terms; about coming to church or being saved. All those things are good … but are of no avail if they don’t know specifically about Jesus and what He has done for them! So, whatever you do, speak often and well of Jesus!
How silly we must sometimes look from the vantage point of heaven – 50-60 people sitting around a banquet table that could seat 200! … If we are content to feast on God’s Lamb alone, “we are not doing right.”
Like those lepers who were obligated to go and tell their starving neighbors that food had been found, we are obligated to be about letting our spiritually starving neighbors know that the Bread of Life can be found in Jesus! Now we all know that we must share Jesus with neighbors, co-workers, classmates, family, and visitors to our church … but what, specifically, can we do? A few ideas, both bold and simple:
Pray! I hope you pray for various lost people as you come across them. But pray, too, for opportunities to speak of Jesus – at work, on a plane, in the grocery, etc.. God loves to answer those prayers.
Start a Bible Study. What a great use of a lunch hour, or a Friday evening. Just pick a Bible book (probably a gospel) and read a chapter a week, a few verses at a time, talking about what they mean together.
Invite a friend to church. Especially, make use of holidays and the beginnings of new series that might pique their interest.
Take a printed sermon home (or a CD if the printed is N/A at your church) … and pass it along to a friend at work, or through the mail. If you give a sermon every week, someone might actually read (or listen to) it and be saved!
Give tracts or booklets. Sometimes you don’t have a long-term relationship with someone. But if you are visiting the hospital, or making a business trip, give a gospel tract to someone you may not see again soon. There are a few in the foyer table of most every church - probably yours included.
Greet guests at church. Ask their names, where they are from, how they found the church. Sit next to them. Invite them to lunch. And call the church office to get an address so that you might drop a line, or even some cookies and one of those tracts … and maybe have an opportunity to speak for Jesus.
Perform your servant ministry role with all your heart. You never know when an unbelieving guest may show up on a Sunday in your class, at your nursery, as you greet at the door, to hear you lead music. What a difference it will make if you are ready to give them (and the rest of the church, too!) the best you have in Jesus’ name!
Be specific about Jesus. None of the above will substitute for actually speaking the gospel to people. And, as you do that, make sure you don’t just talk about ‘the Lord’ in generic terms; about coming to church or being saved. All those things are good … but are of no avail if they don’t know specifically about Jesus and what He has done for them! So, whatever you do, speak often and well of Jesus!
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