Is Speaking the 'Word' or demonstrating the Life of Christ more effective in leading people to Christ?

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Permalink Reply by Ron Payne on June 19, 2008 at 11:10pm

Good morning Dan,
If I understand correctly, what is meant by speaking the Word then "YES!"

I have found through the years of witnessing, people will give a thousand words
as to why they can't accept Christ, False beliefs, low estimation of Christians etc. etc.

Talking to them seems get you no where - They have all the answers.
Then a word of scripture come to one's mind and you quote it.

Watching them, it is as though you have slapped them through the face. Suddenly they are listening, taking in every word you say. Many times this leads to their salvation.

I believe the Word given in that instance comes from the Holy Spirit who knows EXACTLY the word they need. Once it is quoted the Holy Spirit confirms it and basically the work is done.

Have a Good day with many blessings directly from the Lord

Your Friend - Ron

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Permalink Reply by christelle on June 20, 2008 at 6:40am

I'm going to have to say that you can speak the Word till your blue in the face, but if your not living with a loving attitude, speaking the Word to people comes off as preachy and judgemental.

I've gotten many people to go to Church with me that others thought would never go, and it was never quoting verse that was the deciding factor...it was always my attitude. If your excited about something..people want to know what and why.

I'm going to reinforce too..a loving attitude, that and practicing what you preach. Don't think non-christians aren't watching, and they notice every time a christian goes out drinking and partying, they notice when christians are practicing sex outside of marriage, they notice when christians gossip and speak badly about and to others. I believe the biggest obstacle we have to overcome witnessing in todays world is the stigma of being a hypocrit. We can preach the Word all we want, but if our attitude, and our actions aren't showing people the love of Christ...what reason do they have to listen to us?

Again, lol, this is just my opinion and I'm sure that every case is unique. I find it more comfortable to tell people how Jesus has helped me than to "preach" to people. I find they are a lot more open to hearing your personal experience then to have someone quote a lot of scripture to them. Of course, eventually that person does need to hear and learn scripture, but I think in the begginning our own personal testimonies speak volumes.

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Permalink Reply by christelle on June 20, 2008 at 6:44am

can't figure out how to get htis thing to edit.....

But I wanted to say one more thing. In the Bible, we see the preachers preach, but we also see a strong example of testimony. The blind man, the lame man, the woman at the well....do you think any of them quoted scripture? Or did they tell everyone they knew what kind of personal experience they had just had with Jesus? And when they told the masses, people were interested, and then people came in mass to listen to Jesus preach.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah78 on June 20, 2008 at 8:02am

I agree Christelle,

I spent many years watching the "Christians" in my extended family behaving worse then the unsaved people, it was quite disheartening...needlesss to say, I am newly reborn (march 08) and do you think my family wants to be around me? not at all, but I know they "hear" about the differences in my life, i.e I don't drink(which is quite a problem in my family) and I choose not to gossip and to encourage instead...my family is like a soap opera...

My actions will prove that something is "different" although my love for them has never waivered, my family is very dear to my heart, it has certainly now only deepened and I am able to forgive them for past hurts- that is a true gift, the love of God. It has changed me!

God Bless,

Sarah

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Permalink Reply by Ron Payne on June 20, 2008 at 8:25am

What you say Christelle:

"I'm going to have to say that you can speak the Word till your blue in the face, but if your not living with a loving attitude, speaking the Word to people comes off as preachy and judgemental."

It goes without saying, that if you are witnessing to others, "Talking the talk, without the walk" is useless.

Both compliment each other.

But there is still a third force required

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Mat 5:44-48

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Permalink Reply by christelle on June 20, 2008 at 8:33am

You are right and maybe I should have specified better...by loving attitude we do need to love everyone and show it in our daily attitude and behavior.

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Permalink Reply by Pastor Bob B on June 20, 2008 at 8:49am

I heard someone once say that people don't care about what you say until they know you care. It is the love of Christ demonstated in a persons life to the unsaved that will give us opertunities to speak to them.

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Permalink Reply by Preston Hall on July 3, 2008 at 9:57am

A non-christian can speak the WORD and get results, the bible clearly shows that as it is about a relationoship not just spoken word or even doing the word because some will come on the last day and say didnt we prophecy and cast out demons in your name, yet He never knew them. So loving God will propell you to know Him first and then to love the world through demonstrations of that love through Power and Grace. Speaking what God is saying in the now moment is going to be more effective thaan speaking bible verses to people. What I mean by this, is if we are listening to Holy Spirit and He tells us to pray for that man in the pickup and tell him that He knows he was abused when he was young and that the Lord wants to heal his hurts, if this is said then the now word of God will be more effective and it can;t be found in the Bible directly but the concept is, loving others and bringing the Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. The Bible says the Kingdom of God is not in talk but in power, and the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians that he no longer talked with persuasive words of man but in demonstration of the Spirit, 1 cor 2:1-, so deomonstarting the life of Christ with power will put action to our words and manifest the Kingdom like Jesus said we would do. John 14:12 Jesus says, those who believe in me will do the works that I do and greater works then these will you do. Either Jesus was a liar or he told the truth. So we must have such a deep relationship with Jesus that we hear and see what He is doing always. When Jesus preached and demonstated the Kingdom He would cast out demons, raise the dead, heal the sick and he said the Kingdom of God has come upon you. Since He wants it on earth as it is in heaven we know there is no sickness or disease or hatred or confusion in heaven so that is His will on earth. It is simple but not often believed. So if we demonstrate this to the world they cannot argue with being healed or touched by God through "experience with Him". We can speak all we want, but until we move from talk to backing it with the power of God and demonstation of His kingdom like Jesus did, we will be misleading people to the fullness of His love and provision. So Demonstating the love and power of Christ is most effective. Blessings

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Permalink Reply by ScribeD on July 19, 2008 at 12:33am

In 21 years as a Christian, I have never found any better thoughts on the subject than these:
"Preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary - use words." (St. Francis)

The older I get, the more I realize the truth of this statement. If I had spent half as much time developing a Christlike character as a younger man, as I did babbling about what I thought the Bible said, I would have been ten times as effective at reaching people for Christ.

My prayer has been for the last 5 years: "Lord, change me. Make me a true disciple. Make me a man of character who glorifies your name." As I have learned to follow Christ more, he has given me many opportunities to be a witness for him. Much more than when I was trying to preach to everyone without the heart and character to back it up.

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