The Challenge<\/b><\/p>\n
The Challenge: 100 million adults attend church weekly, most for 10+ years, 49% not even believers. The average Christian in American today will die without ever having shared his faith in Christ with another person.<\/p>\n
George Barna Seminar, Spokane, October, 1998<\/p>\n
The Marks of a <\/p>\n
1. A witness must have a first-hand experience of Christ. Hearsay is not acceptable in a court of law, nor in the court of this world\u2019s opinion. People will listen only to what we have personally seen and heard.<\/p>\n
2. A witness must be able to express himself verbally. We may witness effectively through our lives, our work, our relationships, our attitudes, our suffering and even our death, yet we must still \u201cbe ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you.\u201d We must do so \u201cwith gentleness and respect,\u201d and with the integrity of our lives demonstrating the truth of our words.<\/p>\n
3. A witness will have confidence in the power of God. He relies on the power of the message of Christ and him crucified, and the power of the Holy Spirit. He knows that God can break through any defenses, and change any heart. This confidence will not be brash, but humble and sensitive, marked by much prayer. He knows that without God he can do nothing, but that with God all things are possible.<\/p>\n
4. A witness will have compassion for the spiritually lost. He will care for them as individuals who matter deeply to God: made in his image, redeemed by his Son, and to be indwelt by his Spirit.<\/p>\n
David Watson, Called & Committed: World-Changing Discipleship, (Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton, IL; 1982), pp. 142-143 <\/p>\n
You Wear His Coat Very Well<\/b><\/p>\n
There is a magnificent story in Marie Chapian\u2019s book Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy. The book told of the sufferings of the true church in Yugoslavia where so much wrong has been perpetrated by the politicized ecclesiastical hierarchy. That which has gone on in the name of Christ for the enriching and empowering of corrupt church officials has been a terrible affront to decency.<\/p>\n
One day an evangelist by the name of Jakov arrived in a certain village. He commiserated with an elderly man named Cimmerman on the tragedies he had experienced and talked to him of the love of Christ. Cimmerman abruptly interrupted Jakov and told him that he wished to have nothing to do with Christianity. He reminded Jakov of the dreadful history of the church in his town, a history replete with plundering, exploiting, and indeed with killing innocent people. \u201cMy own nephew was killed by them,\u201d he said and angrily rebuffed any effort on Jakov\u2019s part to talk about Christ. \u201cThey wear those elaborate coats and caps and crosses,\u201d he said, \u201csignifying a heavenly commission, but their evil designs and lives I cannot ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jakov, looking for an occasion to get Cimmerman to change his line of thinking, said, \u201cCimmerman, can I ask you a question? Suppose I were to steal your coat, put it on, and break into a bank. Suppose further that the police sighted me running in the distance but could not catch up with me. One clue, however, put them onto your track; they recognized your coat. What would you say to them if they came to your house and accused you of breaking into the bank?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would deny it,\u201d said Cimmerman.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Ah, but we saw your coat,\u2019 they would say,\u201d retorted Jakov. This analogy quite annoyed Cimmerman, who ordered Jakov to leave his home.<\/p>\n
Jakov continued to return to the village periodically just to befriend Cimmerman, encourage him, and share the love of Christ, with him. Finally one day Cimmerman asked, \u201cHow does one become a Christian?\u201d and Jakov taught him the simple steps of repentance for sin and of trust in the work of Jesus Christ and gently pointed him to the Shepherd of his soul. Cimmerman bent his knee on the soil with his head bowed and surrendered his life to Christ. As he rose to his feet, wiping his tears, he embraced Jakov and said, \u201cThank you for being in my life.\u201d And then he pointed to the heavens and whispered, \u201cYou wear His coat very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, (Word Publ., Dallas: 1994), pp. 101-102<\/p>\n
Resource<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 John R. W. Stott, The Preacher\u2019s Portrait, Some New Testament Word Studies, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1961), pp. 60ff.<\/p>\n
A Plea for Fishing<\/b><\/p>\n
Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there were fish in the waters all around. In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish. And the fish were hungry.<\/p>\n
Week after week, month after month, and year after year, these who called themselves fishermen met in meetings and talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing. Year after year they carefully defined what fishing means, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing is always to be a primary task of fishermen.<\/p>\n
Continually, they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better definitions of fishing. Further they said, \u201cThe fishing industry exists by fishing as fire exists by burning.\u201d They loved slogans such as \u201cFishing is the task of every fisherman.\u201d They sponsored special meetings called \u201cFishermen\u2019s Campaigns\u201d and \u201cThe Month for Fishermen to Fish.\u201d The sponsored costly nationwide and worldwide congresses to discuss fishing and to promote fishing and hear about all the ways of fishing such as the new fishing equipment, fish calls, and whether any new bait had been discovered.<\/p>\n
These fishermen built large, beautiful buildings called \u201cFishing Headquarters.\u201d The pleas was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman should fish. One thing they didn\u2019t do, however: They didn\u2019t fish.<\/p>\n
In addition to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other places where there were many fish. The board hired staffs and appointed committees and held many meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to decide what new streams should be thought about. But the staff and committee members did not fish.<\/p>\n
Large, elaborate, and expensive training centers were built whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish, the nature of fish, where to find fish, the psychological reactions of fish, and how to approach and feed fish. Those who taught had doctorates in fishology, but the teachers did not fish. They only taught fishing. Year after year, after tedious training, many were graduated and were given fishing licenses. They were sent to do full-time fishing, some to distant waters which were filled with fish.<\/p>\n
Many who felt the call to be fishermen responded. They were commissioned and sent to fish. but like the fishermen back home, they engaged in all kinds of other occupations. They built power plants to pump water for fish and tractors to plow new waterways. They made all kinds of equipment to travel here and there to look at fish hatcheries. Some also said that they wanted to be part of the fishing party, but they felt called to furnish fishing equipment. Others felt their job was to relate to the fish in a good way so the fish would know the difference between good and bad fishermen. Others felt that simply letting the fish know they were nice, land-loving neighbors and how loving and kind they were was enough.<\/p>\n
After one stirring meeting on \u201cThe Necessity for Fishing,\u201d one young fellow left the meeting and went fishing. The next day he reported that he had caught two outstanding fish. He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled to visit all the big meetings possible to tell how he did it. So he quit his fishing in order to have time to tell about the experience to the other fishermen. He was also placed on the Fishermen\u2019s General Board as a person having considerable experience.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen\u2019s clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen yet never fished. They wondered about those who felt is was of little use to attend the weekly meetings to talk about fishing. After all, were they not following the Master who said, \u201cFollow me, and I will make you fishers of men\u201d?<\/p>\n
Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who don\u2019t catch fish were really not fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it did not sound correct. Is a person a fisherman if, year after year he never catches a fish? Is one following if he isn\u2019t fishing?<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Challenge The Challenge: 100 million adults attend church weekly, most for 10+ years, 49% not even believers. The average Christian in American today will die without ever having shared his faith in Christ with another person. George Barna Seminar, Spokane, October, 1998 The Marks of a 1. A witness must have a first-hand experience … Continue reading “Witness”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}