A couple of words before we go to our phone callers: I want to mention the Christian Research Journal, which probes today’s religious movements, promotes doctrinal discernment and critical thinking, and provides reasons for Christian faith and ethics. It is an award-winning magazine available to listeners just like you. You can subscribe to the journal on the World Wide Web at equip.org, when you write me at P.O. Box 8500 Charlotte, NC 28271, or when you talk to our resource consultants at 888-7000-CRI.
I wrote an article in the Christian Research Journal on “spiritual boot camp.” The Gospel is at the heart of the Christian faith, and if Christians don’t know how to share their faith, they have never really been to “spiritual boot camp.” The gospel should be so much a part of us such that presenting it becomes second nature.
The first thing you need to do is develop a relationship with an unbeliever, which includes using your personal testimony as a bridge into sharing the good news of the Gospel. After a relationship is established, you can move naturally into presenting the Gospel. Then, you need to know how to lead someone in a response to the Gospel and through the basic steps of discipleship and growth as a brand new believer. And I’ll tell you, if you can develop reproducing disciple-makers, you can start to see the possibility of turning the world upside-down.
So often we look at the problem, problems like abortion or homosexuality, and we focus on the problem. But quite frankly, abortion—a classic case in point—is a clean-up problem. Those who have abortions, if not all, know that they are terminating the life of a pre-born child. But why do they do it? Well, it’s a clean-up operation. The real problem is promiscuity. What happens if the heart is changed however? The behavior changes as well. If we want to be salt and light in the culture, we need to become ambassadors for Jesus Christ. If we do that, like the first century Christians, we can turn an empire upside-down, not by might, nor by power, but by his Spirit.
Again I talk about that in the article I wrote in the Christian Research Journal entitled “Spiritual Boot Camp.” The Journal is available through the ministry of the Christian Research Institute. You can subscribe online at equip.org, when you write me at P.O. Box 8500 Charlotte, NC 28271, or when you talk to our resource consultants at 888-7000-CRI.
