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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on October 23, 2012 at 10:19pm

>>What do we tell them?

 

³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

 

 

However the Spirit of God leads me, that is how i proceed, but after many years, the Spirit has always called me to speak to the world the reality of the enmity between them and God, due to their sin and has guided me to always call them to repentance of their sins.

 

I have found that approach to bring God much Glory.

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Permalink Reply by a servant (Chris) on October 25, 2012 at 1:28pm

Richard

   Maybe it's already been said.  As we share His Love with others.  Share how His Love has impacted our lives.  Tell them how, His Love continues to be a Blessing in our life.  And, how for most of us, this is a Miracle.  To lead them into a relationship with Him.  Even if we may slip and fall, His Love for us never changes.  For His Love is based on a choice He made.  As we accept His Love based on those terms, in Him we are able to Trust even more than ourselves.

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Permalink Reply by Richard L. Broch, Sr. on October 25, 2012 at 9:27pm

You guys are great......

Let me try to sum up what I hear from Charles, David and Chris: We want to take the Holy Spirit's leading in presenting and sharing God's Word, through love and purpose in an understanding way that is real, that people can relate to.

Jesus got people's attention by healing, then teaching them the Gospel. Maybe we can't do that first part....so we approach them with love and frienship.

 

My Brothers.....I thank you for sharing.

 

Grace and Peace.

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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on October 25, 2012 at 9:45pm

What do we tell them?

 

We tell them what Jesus told them as well. Our Lord spoke about hell more than anyone else, he talked about hell quite a bit. We have the church harping on love and scare to tell people about hell, when we should be scare not to tell them about such a horrible reality.

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Permalink Reply by Charles Burwell on October 26, 2012 at 9:31am

David

 

I understand where your coming from as far as avoiding speaking about the realities of hell when presenting the gospel. I t is ,essentially , a part of the gospel as is the preaching concerning the shedding of blood for the remisssion of sins( which many churches seem to be avoiding as well).

 

My only concern(if you could even call it that ) is the overemphasis ( almost to the exclusion of the good news) on the preaching concerning hell that some ' hardline' ( my word only) pentecostal denominations expound.  I have attended some of these churches in my early walk with the Lord. They seem to be shouting and amening when the preacher spoke of the unrighteous 'burning in hell'.

 

While I absolutely agree that Jesus spoke much about the realities of hell , I don''t ever remember reading of Him approaching the subject with a self righteous or 'in your face' attitude . While it is necessary for speak of hell when presenting the gospel in it's completeness there is a real danger of emphasizing the doctrine of hell over the doctrine of mercy and grace.

 

It only makes sense that we cannot appreciate or desire the grace and mercy of God without knowing why we need them. I guess that I have a little different take on the emphasis of speaking about hell , but not on the necessity of preaching about hell.  By a 'little different take' I simply mean that the preaching of hell must be as much a motivater for Christians to witness as it is for sinners to repent.

 

If you haven't ever read the message by Jonathan Edwards entitled " sinners in the hands of an angry God" you should really look it up. It was spoke back in the 1700's sometime. It was said to have brought hearers ( both believers and unbelievers) under mighty conviction. The 'unbelievers ' to repentance and the 'believers' into having a greater burden to reach the lost.

 

I guess that I have heard so much preaching about hell to people with very little ( a least to my observation) true loving concern.  More of a 'you're going to hell and I'm not' type of preaching.

 

I guess that the botttom line (finally!!) of what I'm trying to say is that the preaching of the Love , grace and mercy of God should follow so hard on the heels of the preaching of hell that it tramples the backs of it's shoes. Hell should never be the 'emphasis' of the gospel message but should neither should it ever be excluded.

 

Please forgive me if I seem to be contradicting you ( as I hope I am not) it's just that I have seen the 'abuse of over emphasis' and am a repelled by it as much as many sinners are. Right or wrong , I will ask God to deal with me on that.

God bless you , my friend

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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on October 26, 2012 at 12:05pm

My brother Charles,

 

Jonathan Edwards is one of my old time favorites. I have listen to “Sinner's in the hands of an angry God many times, sometimes one time after the other.  I just love how he and Spurgeon painted pictures with their words.

 

We are in 100% agreement beloved. Hell must be preach, but God's grace must follow that preaching. To preach hell without Grace, mercy and love is to be out of balance in our message and we do not want to do that. We want to rightly divide the word of God.

 

The reason why I brought it up is because the church has gone away from it because of how it has been abused in the past. We should not shy away from any of the truths in Scripture. We should instead be filled with the Spirit, so we can be guided by the Spirit with each individual God places in our lives or so he can guide us when we preach or teach his truths to many. 

 

Love and blessings to you.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Schultz on October 27, 2012 at 1:47pm

I agree with you David.

What do you think of using a different word other than hell? I know the word itself will turn people off.

What if we said something like," Salvation is received by believing in the sacrifice made on the cross. We have to believe in that sacrifice and repent in order to reach heaven and have eternal life. If we do not, eternity will be spent in a place of no rest, a place of eternal separation from God."?

I know it's a softening of the reality but to people searching it may be easier to listen to. When you say you have a choice between heaven and hell you are correct but will it turn or frighten people away?

Is it ok to soften the reality to people searching?

God is so cool

Gary 

 

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Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on October 26, 2012 at 3:17am

Richard,

I try to tell people by how I live my life. I try to show them by letting them see me behaving like a Christian. I tell them what God does for me. I make God  an active part of my life. I never let them see bad things in my life. I don't whine about anything. I am always doing great by His Grace. Humans are envious by nature, and I try to make them envious by showing them exactly what God does for me every day.

And God does do for me every day. I can name some amazing thing He does every day of my life. When others tell me how bad things are, I quote "It can to pass.....". God is so awesome! 

Blessings.....

Rita

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Permalink Reply by a servant (Chris) on October 26, 2012 at 11:42am

Read Psalm 139

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Permalink Reply by a servant (Chris) on October 27, 2012 at 6:29am

The reason I posted Psalm 139 was 

1 O LORD, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

2 You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

3 You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

4 You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, LORD.

5 You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand.

On and on we read how He is and has always been with us.  To me this gives me strength and confidence that He will never leave or forsake us.  When we see His Love and just how BIG it is, we begin to understand how we can do all things through Christ.

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