RE: [TruthTalk] What is a Christian?

[Debbie Sawczak]

My dear Kevin,

 

I believe in the power of God's Word and the ability of the Holy Spirit to convict. I believe you are used by God in the lives of some people. I believe in your integrity, courage (I know what it is to be shy), obedient heart, and love for people. And I agree faith comes by hearing.

 

However, there are many routes that enable people to hear. Routes A, B, and C below are by no means mutually exclusive with D! If only I did more of any of them!

 

Also, I do not believe that, in most cases, the back-stiffening is a result of conviction. Why should we assume that? My back stiffens if somebody steps on my toe by accident. And I still believe that cultural appropriateness matters.

 

Debbie 

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Deegan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 5:23 PM
To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org
Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] What is a Christian?

I believe I can show an abundance of Verses outlining God's way

I have shown some of these verses  on TT in the past.

 

Faith cometh by?

A Building Bridges of trust between one another

B Being friendly
C conversing

D Hearing the word

 

"God save us from living in comfort while sinners are sinking into hell!" Spurgeon

 

I think the number one thing that most all of the people I have talked to leave out is:

Drum Roll please.......................................................

The power of God

Some may think X works best, some Y

But God says & I believe

I believe that the Holy Spirit goes out when the Word goes from my mouth, it will not return Void.

One of the things the Holy Spirit does is convict of sin

This sometimes accounts for the reaction of the hearers Their backs stiffen

Some hate the Light as I preach Jesus Christ the Light of the World

That is the condemnation that men LOVE darkness rather than Light

The Holy Spirit can go in a mans heart at the same time as I preach the word of God into his ears

 

"The soul and eternity of one man depends upon the voice of another" Horatius Bonar

 

Rarely if ever, do I hear of the Holy Spirits part in witnessing.

It is not how friendly you can be.

It is God's business to do the work

If it was how educated or how Friendly, or how caring

Then maybe we should give you the Glory.

God has given me a message to proclaim, I am just the messenger or delivery boy would be a better description.

 

"It is not our strength we want. It is not our work to make them believe. That is the work of the  Spirit. Our work is to give them the Word of God. I cannot convert men; I can only proclaim the Gospel" D. L. Moody

 

It is the word of God and the Holy Spirit that brings conversion

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."

"Preach abroad...It is the cooping yourselves up in rooms that has damped the work of God, which never was and never will be carried out to any purpose without going out into the highways and hedges and compelling them to come in"  John Wesley

Debbie Sawczak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

[Debbie] Don't you sometimes have to get a dog to help round them up? (Does the dog bark? I wonder if the sheep feel pushed or intimidated by the dog, or does the dog make them think it's their idea to go in a certain direction...)

 

I wonder if it's possible that street preaching, while not necessarily passi in any theological sense, is just not the ideal medium for our culture; you have to violate too many cultural norms to do it. I notice we are much more culturally sensitive (or at least we'd acknowledge the value of such sensitivity) when it comes to communicating to cultures other than our own. If, for example, it was kind of rude to give a gift with your left hand, we wouldn't do it, even if the gift was a Bible and our right arm was sore. If it was rude to come to the point about anything without first spending an hour on small talk about our relatives, over tea, we would be sure and do that. But some SPs flout NAm cultural norms fairly routinely and (IMO) unnecessarily. --Not that that's the worst thing you can do, and I'm willing to believe their motives are mostly pure (see rejected analogy below).

 

Maybe in Bible times it was more usual for anybody with a message to shout it out in a public place. Most public shouting in our culture is done by ticket-scalpers, circus-barkers, and certain kinds of political demonstrators. Other public messages are generally delivered by other means.

 

Someone might want to use an analogy of the kind, "What if there's a comet about to hit the earth and you have to tell everybody to head for higher ground?" But the analogy isn't appropriate.

 

Debbie      

-----Original Message-----
From: Slade Henson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 7:11 AM
To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org
Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] What is a Christian?

Au contraire, contraire, preacher! All you have to do is lead...they follow. You never have to udder (hehehe...I know that's for cows) a word to them.

 

Kay, who has raised sheep with Slade

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Kevin Deegan
Sent: Tuesday, 18 January, 2005 22.05
To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org
Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] What is a Christian?

Can't get em by your zipped lip either!

Jeff Powers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

perfect analogy!

----- Original Message -----

From: Slade Henson

To: TruthTalk@mail.innglory.org

Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 20:45

Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] What is a Christian?

What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

Anyone who has raised sheep knows you can't get the lost sheep to come back to the fold by chasing and screaming at her.

- slade

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Deegan
Sent: Tuesday, 18 January, 2005 18.40
Subject: RE: [TruthTalk] What is a Christian?

I have been easy on Dave this go round. 

Would you agree Dave?

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