Bread and Water

Everyone committed to a life of evangelism will at times find themselves dealing with discouragement (see this post on hopelessness, discouragement and despair). You might find yourself in Elijah's shoes - God comes through huge for you (1 Kings 18:16-46) but almost instantly you're back to a place of fear and depression, exhausted, tired and running from God (1 Kings 19:1-5). You might relate to the Israelites, who after being freed miraculously, were lost and wandering, hungry and thirsty in the desert. You might be focussed, like Martha, on all that needs to be done (Lk.10:40) and maybe to a degree, like Jesus' disciples, that you have no time to eat or drink yourself (Mk.6:31). Just like God refreshed Elijah with bread and water that sustained him for 40 days (1 Kings 19:5-8) and the Israelites with manna and water in the desert (Neh.9:15), He still desires to satify the thirsty and fill the hungry with good things (Ps.107:9). If you could use some of that spiritual bread and water, remember your source, Jesus, who calls out syaing, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty (Jn.6:35)" and "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him (Jn.7:37-38)." He is calling us, like He did his disciples, to connect with Him (Mk.6:31) and to be satisfied with the one and only thing that matters (Lk.10:42) - Him! Check out more thoughts on that in the MP3 below. Well, I hope that encourages you in the battle and I pray you'll find great joy in evangelism. Have a great day sharing your faith!

Sharing the Good News with delight, pleasure and desire

I just read Phil.1:15-16 this morning in my time with God. It says, "It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel." The Greek word translated "goodwill" is Eudokia (εὐδοκία) and literally means "delight, good pleasure and desire." Paul continues describing these evangelists as being inspired by Agape love and unified with him in sharing the Good News. The main points that stick out to me are 1) evangelism should literally be a "delight, good pleasure and desire," 2) it should be motivated by unconditional love for God and others and 3) it should be done in unity with other believers. Bill Bright said, "there are no happy disobedient Christians and there are no unhappy obedient Christians." His commands are not burdensome (1Jn.5:3) and obedience to Him is the key to the abundant life (Jn.10:10) so this verse seems intuitive; it was just too exciting not to share it with all of you this morning! Before you leave, check out this other post on joy in evangelism and if you have some time to kill, listen to the MP3 below (it's only 7 minutes long). I hope you have a blast sharing the Good News with delight, pleasure and desire today!

Sharing with His Power!!!

Acts 1:8 tells us the Holy Spirit empowers us to witness. It is easy to share in our own strength and abilities but the result is always frustration and failure. Only He can change hearts! Paul mentioned this principle again in Col.1:28-29, saying, "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." If you're tired of trying to share the Good News in your own energy and strength (I think that is the number one reason people get frustrated with it and quit sharing) it is time to do it in His power. There are tons of frustratingly inaccurate ideas about what that entails and I don't have time to go into it all here but want to encourage you to check out the MP3 below for more about what God's Word says about this. Then, keep applying the 27 creative ways of sharing your faith that we've listed here (and any others you have found useful). Have a great day sharing your faith!!!

1600 Salvations in Angola!

I had the opportunity to go to Angola, Africa with the Jesus Film Project for two weeks this summer with 9 other people. We went to Luena, which is a town in the province of Moxico in eastern Angola. While we were there we showed the film 6 times in different villages, we shared our testimonies to crowds anywhere from 500 to 1500 people, over 5400 people heard the Gospel and over 1600 people put their trust in Jesus Christ accepting Him as their personal Lord and Savior! In order to show the film, we would bring in a screen, speakers, a 16 mm projector, lights, and a generator; all of which worked every night. We were the first team to show the “Jesus” film in the Chokwe language! Throughout the trip, I kept thinking about Matthew 9:37, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” This could not have been truer on our trip. The people we met and the villages we went to were so hungry for God. These people have had the complete Bible in Chokwe only since 1990. God has worked in big ways in the hearts of the Chokwe people, but there are still many who haven’t heard the name of Jesus (or as they say, Yesu)! At the last film showing there were about 650 people (which was one of our smaller showings). At the end, the Pastor asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ to come forward. One man practically ran up to the front and then more and more people, about 200, made their way up to accept Christ. The pastor then led them through a prayer to accept Christ, which they repeated aloud. As soon as the prayer began our team realized that people were repeating the prayer all around us, not just the people who went to the front. This was such a powerful moment; all we could do was stand in awe of God at work and praise Him for moving in the lives of the Chokwe people. At the end of the night, we estimated that 350 people accepted Christ! Over half of the audience! God opened my eyes to the way He not only answers prayers faithfully, but He does it with power! My perspective of God has expanded because of what I saw Him do in Angola – both in the lives of the Chokwe people and in the lives of my teammates and I! These stories are just the start of what I saw God do. I hope to have the chance to share more stories and pictures with you in the future.

Erin Mulcare

Idea: Share the Good News with hundreds or more right now!!!

A couple of weeks ago we posted the "share with your whole town" idea (writing a letter with the Gospel to the editor). You can see my example here. Writing a letter to the editor is a great idea but it takes a while and there is no guarantee it will get printed. The idea for today is to find a news story in your local paper that you could transition to the gospel from. Good options would be the economy, terrorism, any type of social issue or a host of others. The more controversial the story the more likely your comments will be read. Be creative and ask God to give you wisdom (James 1:5). Then, read the story, online, and post a comment at the end. You might have to create a login ID or leave your e-mail address but it is well worth it. You can see an example from an abortion article in the Durango Herald last week by clicking here. Read the comments. Look for the comments titled "Nate Says..." You will see my comments on the issue of abortion but also notice I included a presentation of the gospel in one of those posts. This is a super easy way to share the Good News with hundreds or thousands of people in a matter of seconds. Give it a shot and have a great day!!!

Evangelism idea: Your Top 10!

The idea for today is simple but very important! It has been called the "Divine Order." It goes like this, "first talk to God about people and then talk to people about God." Sounds simple but it is not often enough applied. The idea is to come up with a top 10 list. Sit down and brainstorm through your sphere of influence. Then, write out the names of at least 10 people you want to see saved. Begin praying for them every day. The more you pray for them, the more likely you will be to share with them too. "G" has been on my list since February 2008. She recently trusted Christ!!! One of the great joys of having a list like this is seeing those prayers answered and being able to take them off the list or move them to a new section!!! Just a side note: lists are not unspiritual. Paul would often write, as he did in Phil.1:4, "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers." A list is just a memory aide for prayer. Don't make it more important than it is and obviously be flexible to pray as the Holy Spirit directs but do have a memory aide so you won't forget to be praying for those God has put in your sphere of influence! Remember Samuel's words in 1 Sam.12:23, "far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you." So today's idea: write out a list of at least 10 people you will begin praying for daily to come to know Christ. Also, begin praying daily that God would give you opportunities to share with them and others. Also pray daily that God will make you aware of opportunities to share (Col.4:5). I hope you got a lot out of yesterday's posts. If you didn't see them, don't miss the summary of last month's 17 evangelism ideas and make sure to check out the evangelistic  letter to the editor the Durango Herald printed. Click here to get prayer ideas from the "Evangelism Coach." Also, check out the MP3 below for more thoughts on prayer and evangelism.

17 new ideas for sharing your faith!!!

Ashleigh Brilliant, a British author I know nothing about, said, “Good ideas are common - what's uncommon are people who'll work hard enough to bring them about." Our hope is to give you fresh ideas for sharing your faith; that's the small part. The extraordinary part is each of you that are putting these ideas into action. I wanted to put all the ideas from the blog's 1st month into one post for any of you that want to scan through and find some you didn't have a chance to do yet. They are all linked up here. Please feel free to add your stories as comments to any of these posts - let us know how the ideas are working out. The ideas are listed in descending order with the most recent (today's) listed 1st. I hope you'll get a chance to do that one today and I hope you'll have fun reviewing these others and getting to do any you haven't yet. Many of these will have stories of what happened when we applied the idea linked at the bottom. 1 Cor.3:9 says, "we are God's fellow workers..." You and God make a really good team. I hope you'll have a great time sharing your faith today and this week! P.S. I am updating this post with new ideas as we add them! Check the bottom of this post for updates.

Ask someone about their weekend.
Share the Good News at lunch today.
Casual Friday (or any day).
Go witnessing after church.
Movie time (Despicable Me).
Health complaints = open door for the gospel.
Share the Good News with your whole town!
Tell your story.
Are you some kind of a jerk?
Soularium
30 seconds to change eternity.
Using the "F" bomb to share the Good News.
Ask a few good questions.
Are you free?
Movie time (Toy Story 3)
Tell someone at the grocery store that Jesus loves them.
Ask if you can pray for someone.

Updated ideas:

Ask an officer for a ticket.
An evangelism tip.
Share with hundreds more right now.
Your top 10.

I hope these ideas and stories are encouraging you! If they are, please follow this blog (click follow on the left) and share it with your friends (you can click the twitter, facebook and other icons at the top of the page to share a post on your networks). Finally, we'd love to get some feedback. Share any stories, thoughts or ideas you have by commenting at the end of any post. Thanks!

Share the Good News at lunch today!

Lunch is almost here! You got to try this today! So cool.

Joy in evangelism!

I hope you'll get a chance to apply the most recent evangelism idea. If you have any ideas send them over and I'll post them. Also, we'd love to hear some of your stories as well; you can post them as a comment to any of the posts you read. I was reading Philippians 1 this morning and was encouraged again (as I always am) by verse 1: "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus." Somehow it is so easy to view evangelism as a duty and miss the joy of serving God by sharing the Good News with others. 1 Cor.3:6-9 tells us we we work together with Christ growing His kingdom. There is nothing as exciting as experiencing the God of the universe living and working through you (Gal.2:20). One of the greatest joys we were made to experience was that of working together with God. That is the place the Christian life becomes the exciting adventure God intended the abundant life to be (Jn.10:10). My encouragement to you today is to find your identity, value and joy in knowing, loving and serving Him. When He becomes your greatest treasure, evangelism will become your lifestyle; out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Mt.12:34). Check out the message below for more encouragement about having joy in serving God. Have a blast sharing your faith today guys!

P.S. Check out this example of Joy in evangelism (Just a note - the girl Joseph mentions sharing with in this video ended up trusting Christ 2 weeks later):

Rejoice! - April 27th, 2009

Erin and I were listening to the Cardinal game, the other day, when Albert Pujols hit a grand slam. I jumped and yelled in excitement - I rejoiced. In retrospect, I was quite content the rest of the afternoon. I was thinking about this yesterday and it clicked - I don’t think we’re ever commanded to be joyful; joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit working in me (Gal.5:22-23) and I can’t fabricate joy. I can, however, rejoice and rejoicing in Him is the catalyst for a lifestyle of joy. Rejoicing primes the pump of the work the Holy Spirit is already doing in me. Philippians 3:1 and 4:4 tell me to rejoice in the Lord and to rejoice in Him always. Ps.89:16 tells me to rejoice in Him all day long. Rejoicing in God can’t be an issue of passive anticipation (“I’ll probably rejoice in God at some point today”) but must instead be a focus of active application (intentional and thoughtful praise). Rejoicing in Him, and doing so always and continually, is a command and God always empowers me for what He calls me to; in other words, it is possible to live life constantly rejoicing in Him. Rejoicing in God makes me happy and gives me joy (Ps.68:3) and Paul described this ability to be content “in whatever circumstances” (Phil. 4:11) directly after the command to rejoice always. Rejoicing in Him involves being glad and joyful in Him (Ps.5, 9, 32:11, 33:21, 35:9, 64:10, 66:6, 97:12, Hab.3:18, Phil.3:1) and if I’m not glad and joyful, I’m not obeying God. Ultimately, knowing that rejoicing in Him is a command, I realize now for the first time ever that I should confess not rejoicing as sin. Rejoicing in Him causes me to flourish (Is.66:14) and I rejoice that He revives, renews and restores me (Is.35:1-2, Ps.85:6). I rejoice in Him by seeking Him (1 Chr.16:10, Ps.40:16, 70:4, 105:3), spending time in His presence (De.14,16, PS.68:4), reveling in His love (Ps.31:7), meditating on Him (Ps.104:34 and remember Heb.3:1), rejoicing in Him and His goodness (2 Chr.6:41) with all my heart (Zep.3:14), in humility (Is.29:19) and in awe of Him (Ps.2:1), praising Him, declaring His character and acts (Ps.9:2, 63:11, 64:10, 68:4, 97:12) and giving Him glory (Rev.19:7). I rejoice in the hope I have in Him (Rom.5:2), in His promise (Ps.119:62), in my salvation (Ps.9:14, 35:9, Is.25:9, Lk.10:20, 1 Peter 1:6 and remember Ps.51), in all He has done in my life (Jn.16:2) and all He will do (Is.65:18, Joel 2:21), in all He has given me (De.26:11) and all He will give me (Jer.31:12) my inheritance as His child (Is.61:7). I rejoice in the small things (Zec.4:10) and in sufferings (Rom.5:3, Phil.2:17, 1Peter 4:13) knowing God is using each to make me who He wants me to be. I rejoice that He has the victory (Is.13:3), that Christ is being preached and that His Great Commission is being fulfilled (Phil.1:18) and that my reward is in heaven (Mt.5:12, Lk.6:23). I rejoice in obeying Him (Ps.119:14), rejoicing in all that I’ve put my hand to (De.12). This means I have to have good boundaries with the ministry. Ministry can become so overwhelming that at times I forget about the joy I’m promised in Christ, sacrificing it, so to say, for the “greater good” of the ministry, with a 21st century workaholic mentality. I can’t find my joy in fruit in the ministry (although that does bring me joy), but instead I find contentment in having been faithful with what God entrusted to me. I do my part and then trust the results to Him and that brings me joy - my labor in Him is not in vain (1 Cor.15:58). Finally, and very importantly, I am told to rejoice in my wife (Pr.5:18) and taking time to enjoy my wife and family are vitally important if I’m to experience His joy. “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps.118:24). As I rejoice in Him, my joy is made complete in Him (1 Jn.1:4) and no one can take away my joy (Jn.16:22). I rejoice in Him, but He, too, rejoices in me (Is.62:5, Zep.3:17) and that is worth rejoicing in. Phil.4:4 - “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”