Evangelism : Personal Interaction > Web Presence

We have a blog, website and Facebook page.  That's wonderful!  It's great that we have continued to look for ways to effectively share our faith in this age of technology.  But their is so much more involved in sharing our faith. 

As believers we must be able to speak openly and with compassion to the un-churched.  Our life may be the only Bible they ever read. 

We face a similar problem in with the de-churched.  Often times we teach people about Jesus, baptize them and lose them.  The de-churched heard the Gospel, believed that Jesus is the Son of God, repented of their sins and were baptized.  But for various reasons, they no longer live faithfully. 
Our love for Christ directs us to share our faith and encourage one another.  This is how we will reach the un-churched and restore the salvation of the de-churched. 

While we may reach many with our web presence, our greatest efforts will still come from our personal interactions.  As people we must reach out to people.  Our church will grow when we openly share the Gospel with our family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, the lady at the grocery store, the man we sit next to on the train, and all the other folks we come into contact with.  Church growth studies continue to show that inviting people to study the Bible and to worship is the most effective method of evangelism.

Matthew 28:18-20

My Father's Business

We are all different, and different is good! Each one of us possesses a unique set of gifts, but until we use those gifts to glorify the Lord, we have not begun to fulfill our purpose. Do you know that God created you with purpose? Do you know that God has given you a special set of gifts?   You have a purpose.  You were created in his image.  He knew you before he formed the earth.  It is time that we be about our Father’s business.

Luke 2:45-52 reads, When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. I believe that if we begin to live from a heavenly perspective, being aligned with the will of God as Jesus was- our gifts and His purpose for our life will be revealed to us and to those around us.  The glory of the Lord will radiate from you and everything you do in His name will be blessed.

Luke 2:45-52 

Nothing could stop Jesus from fulfilling His purpose to give us the hope of eternal life.   Not even His earthly parents.

We must be about our Father’s business.  We must ask Him what our purpose is and then we must allow Him to order our steps.  Let’s get busy!

100th Psalm: A Song of Praise for the Lord’s Faithfulness to His People

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

² Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

³ Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴ Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

⁵ For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

--Psalm 100

If you want to be an apple...

In our Wednesday night Bible class, we recently started a study of the Fruit of the Spirit. As kids we sang about the nine behaviors listed in Galatians 5:22-23--how they're not an apple, or not a banana ('nana.) We may have rushed through the song so quickly that we didn't fully grasp how important these 9 traits are to our Christian walk.

For a couple of weeks, we've focused on love. We would love for you to drop in on our Bible study. Learn (or refresh your memory) as we learn (and refresh our memories) about how God wants us to walk.

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16: I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

17: For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

18: But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,[a] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,

20: idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,

21: envy, murders,[b] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23: gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

24: And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

--Galatians 5:16-25 (NKJV)