So, I heard you are coming back this week…are you back yet?! Give me a call when ur in town!

I need to be reminded that I’m just as sinful as that woman in the story. Without the sacrifice of Jesus, I have no hope to stand righteously before God. If any of you can’t live out that “attitude of gratitude” this week you really got some issue….. and you need to go back and listen to this message over again and again until you get it….

Now to the unprepared this might seem like a difficult thing to defend against, as the facts are that there were many self-proclaimed saviors and messiahs or whatnot before Christ. However, this passage shows us even without looking into other sources, that the issue was easily addressed even in the first century. It makes perfect sense that those fake messiahs and their followers all scattered after their leaders’ death and all came to nothing. They were fakes! But with Christ it was different; the gospel spread despite of strong opposition and continues to change people today.

Verses 38-39 said it best:

“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Amen! =)

PS For further studies in this topic and a solid defense against an even more difficult attack (that Christ was a mythical figure copied from prior myths such as Osiris-Dionysus and others), visit the following url:

http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/156

Be sure to read all the way through because the first half deals with many seemingly insurmountable arguments against Christ in light of the similarities between Christ and many earlier mythical characters. But when you get towards the end, I think you will be pleasantly surprised as to how easily we can explain the so-called similarities and relate the reality and uniqueness of Christ nevertheless.

I think this is extremely valuable for us to learn, not only for our own edification, but also because most intelligent thinkers out there today (heck, even any student that takes a comparative religion class) know this and can easily (and rightfully) use this as a reason they don’t believe in Christ as the unique savior and Lord. Let’s be equipped to give a proper defense and give a reason for why we believe that Christ is the real deal!

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15)

Yes, the message definitely challenged all of us to be less self-centered and more God-centered in our thought/prayer lives, so that we are better equipped to go out there and live a lifestyle of evangelism and discipleship!

My favorite part was in verse 12 when Peter saw the reaction from the crowd and acted by seizing the opportunity to address them the good news and reality of Christ in a way that was relevant to their culture and traditions. If we could just make that commitment to address our “crowds” / people in our lives, I’m sure we’ll start seeing endless opportunities all the time!

We really look forward to seeing you, Ting and Ethan over the Thanksgiving holiday.

The point regarding evangelistic obedience is that our spoken words must go along with our conduct (which must be “worthy of the gospel of Christ,” Philippians 1:27, NIV). Our behavior alone is not enough, though. Our words (as you observed above) are required as well.

My encouragement to the congregation was that all of us can present the gospel through our words. (Although I didn’t state it explicitly, the idea is that our presentation of the gospel with our words here would more be in the context of our relationship with people, so none of the 3 methods listed alone—except maybe the 2nd—would be sufficient to present the gospel in its entirety, if that’s even possible to do! Perhaps I need to emphasize that my concept of “presenting the gospel” here is more generic and broad, and not intended to be a technical or specific phrase with a very narrow or focused meaning.)

My encouragement to share our testimonies as a way of sharing the gospel with our words is an acknowledgment that our personal stories of how we came to faith in Christ is a very powerful way to connect our audience with God’s love, grace, mercy, power, etc. Each of us can uniquely relate our personal experience of coming to faith in Christ, so that those who don’t yet know him as Lord can somehow catch a glimpse of him.

When we engage in loving conversation with people, we have a unique opportunity to share the gospel with our words. Once again, this is part of an overall approach to presenting the gospel with our words. It could, however, be said that giving a simple gospel presentation (like the Four Spiritual Laws) needs to be done in the context of conversation, so maybe it’s not such a limiting thing after all—but I digress. The idea here is that in conversation with people, we often have opportunities to express our care for people, along with our personal expressions of faith in Christ. We can share our personal experiences, which definitely should touch upon our understanding of God, sin, humanity, etc. And at the very least, when we listen with compassion to people, our willingness to say, “I’ll be sure to pray for you” (then being sure to follow through and follow up with our friends) can really make a positive impact on our overall presentation of the gospel.

So, the simple, one-word answer to your question is: “Yes!” Sharing our testimonies and conversing with people are ways to maintain genuine relationships with people to whom we desire to share the gospel. They might not be “gospel presentations” in that specific and technical sense, but they are “gospel presentations” in a broader sense. By recognizing these broader categories for sharing the gospel with our words, we emphasize the importance of being in relationship with people. This becomes a significant blessing, especially as we get the opportunity (God willing) to lead people to Christ, follow up on them and help them to become meaningfully connected to a community of faith.