Aug

Oct 7.98: Light For The Day - "How Can I break The Silence?"

by Herb Vander Lugt
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** Index:

- Introduction
- Sounds and Silence
- The Sound Barriers
- The Acts Strategy
Practicing the Love of Christ
Reflecting the Presence of Christ
Proclaiming the Message of Christ
- Friendship Evangelism
What We Are
What We Do
What We Say
- Breaking the Sound Barrier
- Leading Others to Christ
- Four Ways To Explain the Gospel
- Hard Questions

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The Barriers:

1- The Nature of Unbelief.
Many people are unaware of their need of Christ
......
2- The Christian Strategy.
There are times when we are better off not talking
about our faith !!!
.....
3- A Lack of Relationships.
4- A Sense of Inadequacy.
Another reason for our silence is our fear of failure.
5- Life's Distractions. ....

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The Acts Strategy:

1- Practicing the Love of Christ
"By this all will know that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).

2- Reflecting the Presence of Christ.
The first Christians were also effective in evangelism
because their lives reflected the presence of Christ

3- Proclaiming the Message of Christ.

.... the first-century Christians were "communicators."
Some proclaimed the Word of God to large gatherings.
Others used their homes as meeting places.
And almost all of them told the good news wherever
they went. Formal preaching is still an important
way to communicate the gospel. And we are
fortunate to have many outstanding speakers today.

The problem, though, is that relatively few unsaved
people will go to church, attend evangelistic mass
meetings, or change the channel on the TV to listen
to a preacher. We must therefore be more effective
in using small gatherings in homes.

And we must get back to talking about Jesus
wherever we are.

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Friendship evangelism
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F.E. is simply reaching people for Christ by being
a friend to them. It's a very effective way of getting
out the good news. ....

In friendship evangelism, as in so many other
endeavors, your effectiveness will be determined
by
what you are,
what you do, and
what you say.

1- What You Are.

The old saying, "What You Are speaks so loudly
I can't hear a word you say,"

They will see in you the fruit of the Spirit:
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
(Gal. 5:22,23)

2- What We Do.

". . . as we have opportunity, let us do good to all"
(Gal. 6:10)

Actions do speak louders than words.
Ask ourself: It's the "Christian thing to do?"

3- What We Say.

Our speech plays a vital role in friendship
evangelism.

We can scare a person off if we jump in too soon
with a strong appeal to accept Christ.

We can confuse people if we get involved in a
lengthy explanation of difficult Bible doctrines
too quickly.

We can make them angry if we are too blunt in
telling them about the errors of a religious group
they may be involved in.

In all our talk, we must be like Paul who said that
he would be all things to all men that he might
save some (1 Cor. 9:22).

"it takes 9 months to produce a healthy baby and
that forcing birth too quickly produces nothing
more than a stillbirth." T. T. Shields

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Leading People To Christ.
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A- Knowing the Basics.

If you want to have the joy of leading a person to
faith in Christ, you need to know a few basic truths-
and you need to know them well :

1.Every person is by nature a sinner who stands
guilty and condemned before God.

2.Every person is helpless to save himself by his
own effort.

3.In love, God provided salvation for sinners
through Jesus Christ, who became a member
of the human family, lived sinlessly, and then
died on the cross to pay for our sins.

4.Salvation is an individual matter and requires a
personal response on the part of anyone who
wants to be saved. Because God accepted Jesus'
sacrifice by raising Him from death, all who
acknowledge their sin and place their trust in
Christ are adopted as God's children.

B- Being Flexible in Your Approach.

... Be courteous and pray that God will continue
to work in their hearts.

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C- Four Way To Explain The Bible:

C1- THE ROMANS ROAD:

Romans 3:23--Man's Need.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Romans 6:23--Sin's Penalty.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 5:8--God's Provision.
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 10:9,10--Man's Response.
"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from
the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one
believes to righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made to salvation."

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C2- THE ABC'S OF SALVATION

Admit that you are a sinner.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
(Rom. 3:23).

Believe on Christ.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved"
(Acts 16:31).

Confess your faith.
"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one
believes to righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made to salvation" (Rom. 10:9,10).

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C3- FOUR THINGS GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW

1. Your Need as God Sees It
(Is. 64:6; Jer.17:9; John 3:3; Rom. 3:10,11,23).

2. Your Own Helplessness
(Prov. 14:12; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Gal. 2:16; James 2:10).

3. God's Provision for Your Need
(Is. 53:6; John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18).

4. God's Promise to Meet Your Need
(John 10:28; Phil. 1:6; Heb. 7:25; Jude 24).

Therefore, change your attitude toward sin (Acts 3:19).
Put your trust in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
Make your decision today (Rom. 10:9,10).

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C4- THE BRIDGE TO ETERNAL LIFE
Man --> Christ --> God

When Jesus died on the cross, He took our
condemnation and paid the price for our sins
(Rom. 4:25; 5:8; 1 Cor. 15:3). By suffering and
dying as our substitute, Jesus

(1) provided a righteousness that God can credit to
our account (2 Cor. 5:21) and
(2) made reconciliation possible between sinners
and a holy God (1 John 2:1,2).

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HARD QUESTION ?

Ask yourself, "If everybody did as much as I am
doing to reach the lost, how many people would be
coming to know Christ?"

A hard question, but each of us must evaluate what
we are doing to reach the world for Christ.

We must break the silence--our guilty silence--and
bring Christ's message to a dying world.

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"How, then, can they call on the One they have not
believed in? And how can they believe in the
One of whom they have not heard? And how can
they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of
those who bring good news!"

-- Romans 10:14,15 (NIV)