being intentionally active in sharing God’s Love
Here are nine simple things you can do everyday….
1. Wear a cross or a religious symbol. You may be surprised how many times this will start a conversation about your faith.
2. Pray before a meal, especially with family and friends, but also in public places.
3. Refer to your church, your faith and the Bible in casual conversation with others.
4. Respond "Thank God!" or "God is Good!" when someone shares an uplifting story with you.
5. Say "I will pray for you" when some one shares a personal concern or difficulty with you.
6. Send a card or note of encouragement, offer words of blessing that convey your faith and trust in God.
7. Be courteous and helpful in all public transactions; look for ways to give a verbal and positive witness to the hope that is within you.
8. Ask someone you may have hurt for forgiveness.
9. Be clear that your perspective is informed by your faith and belief in a loving, forgiving God.
Can you think of number 10???
Why not send it to us at office@phlc.org.au
Living in the Year of Evangelism
involves caring for your friends earthly AND heavenly needs
If someone you cared for was in trouble and needed some help what would you do? Ignore them, let them go through the trouble by themselves, or would you offer them some help.
What about if they weren’t Christians, weren’t developing a relationship and growing in a relationship with Jesus? They are headed to only one place hell. Surely you would love for them to have the opportunity to be in heaven, with you and Jesus, so that they avoid hell.
There are six things that help us reaching friends:
1. Understand that sharing Jesus is an urgent. In Mark 13:32 we are encouraged to remain alert because know one knows the time when they will die or Jesus will return.
2. Don’t be conned by Satan’s lies that deter you from sharing Jesus, what He has done and is doing for them. The truth is most people appreciate discovering more about the God who loves them, despite their sin.
3. Look for opportunities, in your interactions and discussions there will be opportunities to talk about God, How great he is, what he has done, and to ask questions about what others think.
4. Just do it: the message we have is simple.
5. Be creative…give them books to read, watch a Christian DVD with them, invite them to a church activity.
6. Love your friends…continue building relationships with them
Adapted from the article: “Friends” by Greg Stier
Living in the Year of Evangelism
affects how you read and hear the news
How should Christians read the news? Like non-Christians, only with a radical sense of belonging to God’s story, insofar as God himself has revealed it. In other words, there’s a huge overlap with non-Christians. We’re all created in God’s image, fallen, and sustained by God’s common grace. As Martin Luther and John Calvin (Reformers of the church) said, non-Christians have a huge understanding of “things earthly”, even if they do not embrace God as he has revealed himself in his Son through the gospel.
More importantly, Paul said it in Romans 1 and 2.
We have to distinguish between the Great Commandment (calling us to love God and neighbour), which is the common commission of all human beings, and the Great Commission (calling us to preach the gospel, baptise and teach). Both are essential, but they’re really different.
The news is a form of the law. It draws on common wisdom and data. Even it’s editorials reflect both the fact God’s general revelation and it’s suppression in unrighteousness. Obviously, this natural law isn’t as clear as God’s revealed will in Scripture, which goes deeper in it’s analysis of our fallen condition. Yet when we read and hear the news, we’re neighbours loving fellow neighbours.
In this era between Christ’s two comings, God sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If he shows his common grace toward all people and a common interest in all affairs, these issues should concern us for more than merely practical reasons. We share with non-Christians in the same joys and disappointments of temporal life.
However it is essential to remember, the gospel isn't announced in the news. For that, we need heralds who bring the most important news of all.
People like pastors, teachers, wise theologians and even you and me who highlight God’s love; informing others that there is more to life than they hear in the news, that God has a love that deals with sin, failure and delivers everyone who trusts Him the gift of eternity.
Adapted from and article in Leaders who last, by Dave Kraft
Living in the Year of Evangelism is about…..
Sharing telling God’s Easter story and your Easter story….
the best story ever!!!
We have the best story in the world to tell. It's a story about life, and love, and God's triumph over sin, death, and the devil.
It's a great story that has been handed down to us as a gift.
Our role in this story is not to hoard or hide this gift but to find new and unexpected ways to share this gift with the people around us.
The story of Jesus dying and rising has been told through twenty centuries. For many it is a story about hope and about what God can do. But for some Easter isn't a source of hope; simply because they don't know the story. And this is where every Christian has a role to play…every Christian should immerse themselves in the story of Easter….this involves
Thinking about:
- Who are you most like in the Easter story?
- What is God up to in the Easter Story?
Jesus was dead and he is risen.
And in telling the story….something amazing happens….all who
believe will have life after death in him.
What does the Year of Evangelism mean?
The story we heard recently in church of the Chinese farmer who had his eyes healed then some days later lead others with a similar condition to the doctor who healed him, sums up what it often means for us to be active in evangelism.
Being involved in evangelism means:
• Sharing with others the good God is doing
• Not having to know it all, or exactly how God works.
• Walking with others, as you lead them to the one who will
bring healing.
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