It's worth remembering that until what we now call Pentecost, even those closest to Jesus were unclear on his status and how to proclaim it. A lot of evangelism is more about the evangelist than Jesus, and that's what makes it cringy.
I agree, so many misunderstandings about becoming a Christian are culturally based. I had a preconceived idea about Christianity and so lived my life without Christ for 50 years. Glad to say evangelism saved my life. Share your story. You may save a life.
Today is the 280th anniversary of Jonathan Edwards historic sermon, ▪️SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD▪️ It was preached in the town of Enfield Connecticut, on July 8th, 1741. The very same town in which I was raised and spent the first 19 years of my life.
@@derekallen4568 @hwd71 I indeed like Ray Comfort's approach to evangelism. It is well thought out and Biblical in nature. Thought provoking rather than emotionally based. I see the various approaches to evangelism from different evangelists, not as competing, but rather as complementary. Like tools in a toolbox...some jobs require a screwdriver while others require a wrench or hammer. The right tool for the right situation.
We should not do pragmatic ways to do evangelicalism. But always depending on God to change the heart in regeneration sharing the law revealing sin, stating the consequences of sin, then giving the gospel, gospel meaning Christ died on a cross was buried and raised from the dead on the third day, depending on God to change the person we are communicating with at that time. Your thoughts?
Lots of good stuff here.I found it interesting because my ministry teaches basic counseling techniques (open ended questions, affirmations, and reflection statements) to pastors and lay people. We use this to evangelize those in recovery. I think there's an interesting parallel to other things Jesus said. If you want to save your life, lose it. If you want to be great become a little child. If you want to be first, be last. So it stands to reason that if you want to talk about Jesus, listen.
Yeah. We target people in recovery like doctors and nurses Target people who have fevers. And like psychologists target people who are depressed. The difference is that we don't charge people to see us. They voluntarily come to meetings we have and meet other people in our church who are in recovery--form friendships, obtain jobs. when they first come in they are often feeling a lot of guilt and shame. Instead of judgement, fear, and rejection they get welcomed. And if they don't come back people reach out to check in on them, offer support. If they don't want to come anymore, we wish them well and assure them they are welcome back any time. We're monsters.😊
I think a churchfather in the Catholic Church said something like: "it is important to evangelise, and if you really have to, also use words". I think he spoke of real depth... if we act kindly and lovingly towards others, that IS evangelisation.
@@PjotrII That sounds nice but is not a biblical thing. It suggests that the preaching of the gospel is dispensable as long as we treat people nicely. The gospel is a *historical event* that Jesus did (not something I can "live") and people come to faith in Christ by hearing (and hearing by the word of God). If being a christian supplanted the preaching of the gospel the apostles certainly didn't know it because they lived (and died) to preach and encouraged others to do the same. We are to be 'salt' and 'light' in this fallen world but at no time does our christian witness negate the need for preaching the gospel.
@@solideomusical Life is not black and white, nor did my quote aim to give a theological explanation for evangelism through all history in all cultures. Nor do I think the churchfather intended that also. However, it is more of an IMPORTANT reminder, that if we preach the gospel like crasy to everyone, but do NOT have time to love and care, a LOT of the preaching will go to nothing. I remember a video of some guy telling that he had a friend, that he helped when he could and so on... after some years he was going to say something about Christianity to this friend, but the friend happened to comment to him... You´ve never said it, but I suspect that you are a Christian. THAT was the same kind of preaching the Church father talked about. Sure we need to discuss our belief in God, but we don´t have to be like annoying salesmen about that. It puts more people off, than who are willing to listen.
@@PjotrII Agreed, that we are not to be like annoying salesmen when presenting the gospel. Your anecdote is noted but that person's good works could have just as soon been interpreted as those of a Buddhist, Jehova's witness or Church of Scientology member. All of the above, *while none are christian,* would likely be indistinguishable from those of a christian. The person who made that observation, even though it was correct, would die in their sin short of hearing and believing the gospel. Can good works improve the likelihood of someone you know being receptive to the gospel message? Of course! If they think little of you because of your poor testimony they probably won't give you the time of day. 'Friendship and family evangelism' is nice but biblical evangelism not dependent on how likeable or unlikeable your audience perceives you as - or that they even know you at all. In fact, many times your audience consists of total strangers who would not be privy to the nature of your previous works. Regardless, they need to hear the gospel to come to saving faith. My christian works may serve to facilitate an audience but not to save anyone. I think this is an important point and FYI I used to be sympathetic to the more 'wordless' gospel presentation.
I agree with you.... wholeheartedly. Do you hold to eternal salvation based solely on the doing and dying of Christ on behalf of His sheep? both in his obedient life and willing death to both pacify the wrath of the Father and fully pay for sins and thus bring real satisfaction as well as the imputation of his very righteousness to their accounts and that that is faithfully revealed by their Good Shepherd in time via God given, blood bought faith???
Anyone who is familiar with MLMs will see their 'recruitment' process uses the exact same predatory tactics. Get them on their own, exploit their vulnerability, gather your tribe.
Yeah let’s just put facts and evidence on the bottom and try to highjack their plausibility framework by exploiting human cognitive bias… nice. Although this was really fascinating, it’s hard to believe they would actually record and broadcast that.
@@rubygriffin2558 I would want to live eternally with Him if he’s real, I just don’t have good reason to think so. If He’s good like you believe though then I have nothing to worry about as a person sincerely seeking truth.
Lol this does sound barking mad as he shares it at 9:40, but there are actually good historical reasons to conclude that Jesus did indeed live, die, and yes, rise again. Given all the historical evidence, it’s not unreasonable.
Your friend doesn't try to sell you Herbalife, they don't sit around thinking about how they can get past your mental defences and "under your skin", any " friend" that does this is better cut away. Yeah, it's pretty much the same thing.
Complaining about a few bad representations of people who call themselves “Christian” is like going to a country meeting a few people and saying all the people in this country are like this.
How is it that this video talks about pragmatism and bearly talks about what is the gospel? The book of Acts and the Gospels gives Christians biblical ways to share the gospel. So why is pragmatism king?
Because bible verses don't mean anything to non-believers, just like Koranic verses or the Vedas don't sway you. Hence they opt for emotional or social manipulation.
@@heteroclitus Good morning. In the first century, the Apostles used Old Testament verses when speaking to the Jew and the Greek. Some were saved by the power of God 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and some were not saved by God. We don't change the message because of pragmatism to convince unbelievers. We understand that God and God alone saves not our words but His power to regenerate the sinner to enable then to believe John chapter 6. Trust God and His word to change the unbeliever, His power not our power. Your thoughts?
@@allofchristforalloflife8437 I appreciate your point quite a bit. As of late I have been convinced that most evangelism is sort of gimmicy and misses the center of the gospel which I hold to be the good news of eternal salvation based solely on the merits of Christ's doing and dying for sinners chosen in Him from all eternity, and His very righteousness imputed to their account and revealed in time to them via God given, blood bought faith. He fulfills all the conditions necessary for them and all the blessings they end up having flow from the cross ALONE...
just annoying everybody by making every conversation about Jesus/getting twisted into being about Jesus by bizarre associationist word play makes the typical evangelical 'that' girl/guy - 'that guy' meaning 'the religous monomaniac' everyone is wary of. So not being that girl/guy is also known as having actual social skills
Mr Chan.... Why is it in your gospel presentations thus far you make salvation dependent on something that proceeds from man, as if God's eternal salvation for His people can be thwarted somehow?? The materials I have seen mention the 4 spiritual laws... why does it state multiple times that God has a wonderful plan for everyone's life when it is quite true that He has two distinct plans that most surely be executed exactly as planned (some to be saved and others to be destroyed). To state or imply otherwise is a travesty. Please make pains to declare Christ to be a perfect savior, a savior that indeed saves His people absolutely by the merit of His doing and dying for them and His imputation of His righteousness to their accounts. Please be sure that folks understand that it is only Christ that can meet the demands of God's inflexible justice.... Salvation is 1000 percent of the Lord.... It is GOD WHO CHOOSES His people... not sinful men choosing God, otherwise grace is no longer grace but is works. It grieves me that the local church I attend is swallowing what you are dishing out...
as of yet I have not listened to the whole thing.... but I do hate the view that since a lot of folks believe something that the numerical amount of folks can sway someone not yet in the group... yeah I hate that idea BIG TIME...
Ok, trying to figure me out to get under my skin. Isn’t that what con artist do. Let me make a point, I left the only organized religion that I belong to because of the blatant, grade school defined, propaganda techniques. If you are approaching me with similar techniques I’m just going to blow you off as a Charleton. The USA is not all racist all the time, this is a mischaracterization. My wife is not my “race” (but it’s hard to really figure out why Asians are really different from caucasians), nor is she my religion. I work and play around people of all races and religions, it really doesn’t matter to me. The only thing I know is that it easier for me to relate to other people if I am not religious and ignore my race as a trivial definition. Variety is the spice of life. And just to let you know, I live in one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in one of the most racially diverse counties in the world, which is right next to the racially most diverse counties in the world. It is extremely unfair to judge everyone in the US what happened on a given street in a given city in a given state. If you want to travel around the US looking for problems you can find them, we don’t place the highest premium on social education in the world, the last 2 presidential elections demonstrated that quite easily. But we were the first to really make democracy work in a stable and reproducible manner, and we do manage to rescue the world when it gets its arse in trouble, particularly when it comes to legacy conflicts involving royal status, religion and social identifications. We are not perfect, but we are still meaningfully evolving. I don’t need your Christian morality to tell me what is ethnocentric. Christians have exhibited, as a group, some of the most repressive social stratification of any people. If you want a justification for antebellum slavery just look at Exodus 21, Deuteronomy 15, Leviticus 25. Racism in America because Christians could, through their religion and in contradiction with the ideas of their own constitution, justify enslavement of people captured as war slaves in far off lands, kidnapping. So don’t even start positing Christian fellowship as a guard against racism. Religion is the basis of institution racism in India, it is a major contributing factor in the Middle East, it is still a major factor in the US. How many pastors jumped on the racist trump bandwagon in the last election. We have new age false prophets still claiming how trump won. Enough of your attempted indoctrination, ignorant belief systems are a major reason why people leave religion, as it should be.
In one of the verses you cited, it says that kidnapping is bad, and then in the same paragraph you erroneously claim that the Bible promotes kidnapping 😅 Ex 21:16 "He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.” There’s your condemnation for antebellum slavery lol
@@BaniLogrono Not exactly, because the Bible did not specifically say taking a slave of someone elses war it left it open for a third party to literally kidnap children, and adults, sell them to a party and sell them to Christian buyers. Again, did the Bible say, you can’t get involved as an agent in someone else’s war for the sole reason of bartering and purchasing slaves, nope, it left that avenue open. Worse, in the south as endentured servitude transformed into slavery, some southern states allowed the capture of freed black men for slavery and the theft of property. The Bible nowhere says you cannot take a man for slavery simply because of his race. When you create allowances for slavery, you bear the onus of the unforeseen consequences that the policy creates. The Bible also allows men to take the wives and adolescent female children of war enemies and treate them as concubines, when they were tired of the concubines, they were under no obligation to take care of them. This is virtually indistinguishable from rape, which is exactly what happened in the antebellum south and is a major reason why the percent of european DNA is considerably higher than records suggest. Reading Material for the interested. Atheist Handbook to the Old Testament. Volume 1 Chapter 6. Joshua Bowen, Digital Hammurabi Press, 2021 I should say also from the compilation of the first canon to the last council of Nicaea, the church could have prohibited slavery outright as unpious behavior in Christiandom. It could have prohibited also discrimination based on nonbelief and other ethnic differences. Instead the church was decidedly antisemetic. Likewise the early Protestant churches, such as the Lutheran church was also antisemetic. This bolstered the spread of antisemitism that spread through the Pale of Settlement causing massive westward movement creating the “Jewish Problem” in Central Europe ultimately leading to the Holocaste. More importantly the ethnocentric manner of treating descent within the Jesus followers virtually eliminated 3 or the early lines of followers and in particular the line which James and Peter belonged to, replacing it with a Johannian/Pauline orthodoxy.
@@rubygriffin2558: Because of our cellular makeup. Cells require water, and loss of cellular function is a downhill ride to a miserable death. There are other reasons, but that’s the main one. Are you saying evangelism is analogous to drinking water?
@@seans5289 Jesus was at the well with the Samaritan woman who had 7(?) husbands. He asked her for a drink of water and then offered her water that she wouldn't have to come and draw water again. He was talking about himself so in a way you have hit the nail on the head. (If you believe. If you don't OK.)
