Weaving the message of Jesus into our words and work:
V. Content:
A. The issue of clarity of the facts...how much do you have to KNOW, in order to have FAITH?
1. Hebrews 11 - the existence of God and His good-hearted ness
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
2. Hebrews 11 - promises of God
All these people were still
living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed
them from a distance...These were all commended for their faith, yet none of
them received what had been promised.
3. Galatians and Abraham: a promise of blessing
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you.” (Gal 3.8)
4. I Cor 15: the message is what Jesus did for us
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5. How much clarity can an unbeliever actually have? How long does it take us to understand the way it all works?!
· Example: Bob Jones, Mark 2, and "If I could just get to Jesus, I'd be okay"
· Example: many people of the Gospels came in faith about one aspect of their life (e.g. illness) and left with much, much more
6. "Jesus, by His death and residency in heaven, cleared the way to God, creating free access to the source of real life and positive change"
7. Hebrews 11: Faith = enough confidence in some unseen reality to be influenced in one's actions because of it (it's a spectrum, though)
·
The
invisible tree stump example
·
"Now
faith is the assurance of things
hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (NAS)..."To have faith
is to be sure of the things we hope for" (TEV)
·
"I
do believe--help my unbelief..." (Mark 9.24)
B. Christian Buzzwords!!!! (Table of Correspondences)
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Salvation |
Having your life salvaged |
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A new start with God |
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Faster recovery from moral
failures |
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God helping soften the
consequences of previous moral failures |
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Redemption |
"Breathing room" from
oppressive negative thoughts and habits |
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Ability to growth beyond past
habits and limitations |
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Letting go the legacy of guilt |
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A growing sense of belonging |
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Committing to a more healthy
set of values |
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God helping soften the consequences
of previous moral failures |
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Sanctification |
Increasing freedom of choice
in moral decisions |
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Increasing ease in 'routine'
moral dilemmas |
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Increasing clarity in
priorities and values |
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Increasing interest in the welfare
of others |
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Justification |
Wiping the slate clean between
you and God |
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A privileged status with God |
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Letting past moral failures go |
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Accepting
Christ |
Coming to understand who He was,
what He did for you, and counting on His support throughout your future |
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Asking Him to become a real
influence in your future actions and responsibilities |
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Recognizing that His efforts
for your life-renewal were powerful and from love, and agreeing with Him
about them |
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Agreeing with Him that His
actions in history for you were necessary, and that His input today needs to
be heeded |
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The Gospel |
Message that Jesus did what it
took to open the way up to life & God for us |
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God's encouragement that
Christ had created a free path to a positive relationship with Him |
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Believing in
Jesus |
Trusting Jesus that he was
sent from heaven to do the necessary work on earth, so YOU could have a clean
start with God |
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Trusting Jesus to make sure
you're in a good place with God |
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Placing your confidence in the
still-alive Jesus, that he will be involved in your life into the future |
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Sin |
Moral failure |
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Moral apathy |
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Being destructively
inconsiderate |
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Destructive choices |
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Destructive attitudes |
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Moral disloyalty |
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Breach of ethics |
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Wrath |
Moral outrage |
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Passion for integrity and
goodness |
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Judicial response to destructive,
anti-community lifestyles |
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Eternal Life |
A life characterized by
stability, development, fullness, and eternity |
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A life that is more than
unending conscious existence, and one heavily influenced by God's ongoing input
for your benefit |
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The Cross |
Christ's death in history,
which solved the 'justice' problem between God and humanity |
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Where Jesus took on the
equivalent of the consequences of all our moral failures--so we could go
'free' before God |
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Hell |
After-death environment of
those who choose to accept the consequences of their own moral failures and
own destructive actions |
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Where some people receive the
treatment they gave to others |
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The after-death state for people
who would prefer getting judged than accepting a free pardon from God |
C. Using scripture verses--modern paraphrases and translations -- 'convert' the buzzwords, put it in YOUR idiom ("I like to think of it in this way--that we all have failed to do the right thing occasionally--sometimes even deliberately-- and sometimes in very important situations.")
D. YOUR story:
· "I don't know about other folks, but I learned ten years ago that...."
· "I don't know about other folks, but I learned when I first had to deal with this that...."
· "I don't know about other folks, but I learned from a wise, old friend that...."
·
"I don't know about other folks, but
my experiences (some painful) led me to face the reality that...."
· TWO/THREE MINUTES, First-person
Elements to include (not necessarily in this order):
1.A description of the
situation: "I was a junior in college,
and had tried all the major fads, trying to find peace of mind..."
2. A statement about the perceived need: "It was clear to me that my life was off somewhere. I felt useless, helpless, and alone. I knew the kinds of things that might help, but I didn't have the personal strength to do them well enough or long enough to pull myself out..."
3. A comment about the
messenger: "The girl I was casually
dating at the time just happened to make a new commitment to the Lord and had a
peace and an inner joy that I wanted desperately--but couldn't seem to
get..."
4. What content you understood
from the message/messenger/literature: "She
gave me this little religious booklet, something and Jesus and intellectuals or
something, and another one with some religious discussion in it. I couldn't
understand much of the wording, but I could glean the basic message that my
life was sort of broken, that I needed Jesus to 'fix' it and me too, and that
all I had to do was somehow face up to Him, thank Him for getting involved in
human history, and ask Him to extend that help to me!"
5. What thinking/evaluation
process you went through in deciding to make that step: "For me it was rather clear: my best efforts at
achieving deep fulfillment, belonging, peace, and contentment were ineffective,
and I knew enough about Jesus to know that He could probably help me see where the problems were, and could help
rebuild my thinking and perspectives in
a way that would address my deepest personal needs and feelings."
6. What doubts you had while you went ahead with the decision: "I knew that I would probably be teased by my
friends for such a decision, but that didn't seem quite as important at the
time--I sensed I was on to something much more important for life."
7. What you expected to occur immediately: "I actually didn't expect any earth-shaking experience when I invited Jesus to become a significant part of my life..."
8. How it helped, or what
changes occurred: "...but I did sense a
quiet change in my heart over the next few days. It wasn't the deep peace I was
looking for--it took almost nine months for that to grow from within--but it
was a conviction, an intuition that something had changed--and for the better.
I somehow knew--in the midst of new intellectual questions and emotional
doubts--that God had now become a major player in my future. I knew that He
would be involved for good in my thinking and circumstances from then on...and
that I would not have to figure life out by myself ever again..."
9. Any personal touches that meant a lot to you: (my "Why aren't you rich" plaque)