The Problem With Evangelism

[Saint Steven]

I'm at a loss on how else to extrapolate your words. You've repeatedly disparaged my advice to wait prayerfully upon the Lord. You've insinuated that my approach automatically spells ineffectiveness.

We are still waiting to hear about your results. How is it going? Report please.

 

[JAL]

Really?
So, you want to sit inside the walls of the church and pray that God sends someone else? - lol

"Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Mat 9)

I don't understand why you would be so quick to disparage Christ's teaching.

 

[JAL]

We are still waiting to hear about your results. How is it going? Report please.

Revival doesn't necessarily come overnight, especially if the church at large isn't postured for it. I thought we discussed this already?

 

[Saint Steven]

"Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Mat 9)

I don't understand why you would be so quick to disparage Christ's teaching.

I'm baffled as to why you would take that teaching as a call to inactivity.

 

[JAL]

Why do you think you DON'T have "a clear appointment from God to preach the gospel"?

1 Peter 3:15
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

That's not self-initialized evangelism. That's responding to someone who asks you question, for example a co-worker, or a neighbor.

Are we all supposed to get out there and evangelize? If I were to preach as often as the typical pastor counsels, I would end up contradicting James' advice:

"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry" (James 1)

 

[JAL]

I'm baffled as to why you would take that teaching as a call to inactivity.

There you go again. Waiting upon the Lord, in your estimation, is tantamount to inactivity. Prayer is essentially worthless!

You'll deny this, but you make it very difficult to extrapolate your words otherwise.

 

[JAL]

Do you understand that God created us for fellowship, that is, to talk to HIM, not because He was in need of evangelists?

 

[Saint Steven]

Revival doesn't necessarily come overnight, especially if the church at large isn't postured for it. I thought we discussed this already?

Like I said at the beginning. This is a proposal of yours, an untested theory.

Prophetic evangelism awaits you. Jesus said his sheep hear his voice. That's really all you need. Could you obey that voice? Have you trained yourself to hear it?

Brad Jersak - Tuning in to the God Who Speaks - Part 1 ("Call, and I will answer, Really!") - February 8, 2013 Brad teaches that anyone can learn to hear God's voice through the simple practice of "listening prayer." Those who begin to listen will find out that God's love will heal wounded hearts and empower them to heal this broken world.

 

[Saint Steven]

There you go again. Waiting upon the Lord, in your estimation, is tantamount to inactivity. Prayer is essentially worthless!

You'll deny this, but you make it very difficult to extrapolate your words otherwise.

Waiting on the Lord should lead to action. How long have you been talking about this and still no action.

 

[JAL]

Recall that Luke is theologian of prayer. He lends us a nice example:

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. e She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.

But in your estimation, she was ineffective. When you've convinced me you're a prophet, I'll be happy to hear you tell me all about her ineffectiveness. Meanwhile I'll focus on Ex 17:11:

"As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning."

 

[JAL]

Waiting on the Lord should lead to action. How long have you been talking about this and still no action.

Moses was 80 years old when he led Israel out of Egypt.

Again, why are you so obsessed with my personal life? I'm more interested in what you can demonstrate from Scripture.

 

[Saint Steven]

Are we all supposed to get out there and evangelize? If I were to preach as often as the typical pastor counsels, I would end up contradicting James' advice:

"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry" (James 1)

That's ridiculous.

 

[JAL]

That's ridiculous.

The scripture I cited is ridiculous? Nice.

 

[Saint Steven]

Moses was 80 years old when he led Israel out of Egypt.

Again, why are you so obsessed with my personal life? I'm more interested in what you can demonstrate from Scripture.

Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

 

[Saint Steven]

The scripture I cited is ridiculous? Nice.

Your interpretation was ridiculous. James wasn't prohibiting evangelism. That should be obvious.

JAL said: ↑
Are we all supposed to get out there and evangelize? If I were to preach as often as the typical pastor counsels, I would end up contradicting James' advice:

"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry" (James 1)

 

[JAL]

Your found paradigms aren't worth 20 cents if you don't get out there and do something with them.

The point is that the prophet doesn't just "go out there" and do it. He KNOWS by direct revelation when Jesus has SENT him to go out and do it. Let's take an example from Acts - after all that textbook is supposed to be our evangelism handbook:

"Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them." (Acts 16).

THAT's the paradigm. He SENDS. And what about healing the sick? Should we all just "get out there and do it" ? In Luke 9 and 10, Jesus SENT the disciples out to heal the sick. Was it effective? Quite so. Now imagine the disciples had self-initiated that endeavor. What then would have been the likelihood of success? Good luck with that approach.

I'm not saying God will never heal or save on other terms. He is determined to have a church after all. But what I want to see is revival, I want to see a MAXIMUM of conversions and healings. And such requires fidelity to the biblical paradigm, even if it doesn't yield the sort of instant results that you seem to want.

 

[JAL]

Your interpretation was ridiculous. James wasn't prohibiting evangelism. That should be obvious.

JAL said: ↑
Are we all supposed to get out there and evangelize? If I were to preach as often as the typical pastor counsels, I would end up contradicting James' advice:

"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry" (James 1)

Strawman. That's wasn't the nature of my argument.

 

[JAL]

Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Don't confuse sanctification with evangelism.

 

[JAL]

Your found paradigms aren't worth 20 cents if you don't get out there and do something with them.

This is a follow up to post 136. Get out there and do it? It's pretty rare that Jesus repeated the same lesson or illustration twice. When He does, therefore, we ought to be paying special attention. Jesus twice repeated the illustration of harvesting fish, and I firmly believe He did it precisely to refute the "Get out there and do it" mentality.

What was Peter's role in this twice-repeated illustration? He followed the "Get out and do it mentality" - he was out there fishing (evangelizing). And he had caught - nothing! Then Jesus COMMANDED him to let out the nets one more time. And the result? Revival!

That's the biblical paradigm. As much as possible, we WAIT upon the Lord, until He SENDS us. That is how we honor Him. That is how He gets all the glory. Any success will not be associable with our man-made tactics and ministries, but only with His divine fiat, to His glory alone.

 

[Saint Steven]

Don't confuse sanctification with evangelism.

Seriously? - lol

Saint Steven said: ↑
Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.