Tag: evangelism

Sinner’s Prayer in the Bible? (Hosea 14:1-3)

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

The “sinner’s prayer” is a hotly debated subject in evangelical Christian circles. It is a prayer that is taught, often with the intention of being repeated, when someone trusts Christ for the first time. It is modeled by the person sharing the gospel with someone and showing them what to pray to express their faith in Christ. It goes something like this, “Father, I recognize that I am a sinner and that I need a Savior. I believe that your Son Jesus is that Savior- who lived, died, and rose again so that I may be forgiven of my sins and reconciled to you. I confess my sins to you and I place my trust in your Son.”

Some versions of the sinner’s prayer ask Jesus to come into the heart of the one praying. This is known as “asking Jesus into your heart.” This phrase is debated, too, because it is not clearly mentioned in the Bible (see JD Greear’s Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart, for example). However, John describes believers as “receiving” Jesus (John 1:12) and subsequently receiving the Holy Spirit to dwell in them (John 14:17). So in a way, “asking Jesus in your heart” can be biblically justified, if it amounts to confessing faith in him and asking him to send the promised Holy Spirit to live within. However, to be theologically accurate, we should technically be asking the Holy Spirit to be the one to live in our hearts!

What about the rest of the sinner’s prayer? Why is it debated? As with asking Jesus into our hearts, it is argued that the sinner’s prayer is not biblical, primarily because none of the calls to repentance and faith in the New Testament include a prescribed prayer that must be repeated. Consider Peter’s call to “repent and be baptized” in Acts 2:38. No specific prayer is mentioned.

However, there are a couple examples of sinners’ prayers throughout the Bible. Consider the tax collector’s “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” as one such prayer (Luke 18:9-14). I noticed an interesting one this morning. It is a prayer that is actually prescribed! In Hosea 14, God calls wayward Israel to return to him. He tells them through Hosea to “take words of repentance with you and return to the Lord” (Hosea 14:2).

Hosea then proceeds to tell them what to pray, as if saying “repeat after me.” He tells Israel, “Say to him [God], ‘Forgive our iniquity and accept what is good, so that we may repay you with praise from our lips. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, ‘our gods!’ to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion from you’” (Hosea 14:2-3).

Continue reading “Sinner’s Prayer in the Bible? (Hosea 14:1-3)” →

How to Share Christ Effectively (Colossians 4:2-6)

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Colossians, Imago Dei ClassLeave a comment

As Paul moves towards the conclusion of his letter, he asks the Colossians to partner with him in his life’s calling: proclaiming the mystery of Christ. He invites them to play their role in God’s mission by praying for and supporting him in his mission field (now prison), but also by engaging in their own mission field. He writes in Colossians 4:2-6,

“2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way that I ought to proclaim it.

5Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Your speech must always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” (NASB)

There are two primary commands in this section. The first is to pray for opportunities to witness and the second is to take advantage of those opportunities. I use “witness” here as the term to define any opportunity we have to share Christ with those who do not know him. Let’s consider each of these commands in turn and consider how they apply to our lives.

We Must Pray for Witnessing Opportunities

It is important to note that Paul begins this section by encouraging prayer. And not just any kind of prayer. Paul encourages the Colossians to missions minded kingdom expanding prayer.  He doesn’t give them a list of his physical needs, but asks them to pray that he (and they) will be effective in reaching the lost. Effective evangelism always begins with prayer.

Paul asks the Colossians to pray for God to open up a door for the word. In Acts 14:27 and 1 Corinthians 16:9, God is the one who opens the door for the gospel. He does this through providing opportunities to share Christ and opening the hearts of those who hear. Paul, now in prison, asks for the Colossians to pray that God will continue opening doors for him to preach Christ.

Continue reading “How to Share Christ Effectively (Colossians 4:2-6)” →

The Power of Prayer

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn DiscipleshipLeave a comment

Prayer is a vital aspect of the Christian life and one of the highest privileges of God’s children. But it can be difficult! How then, are we to pray? And how can we persevere in prayer? By remembering the power of prayer. This power is found in the One to whom we pray. It resides the throne room of heaven, where God our Father sits eager to hear and answer the prayers of His people.

Manuscript:

This evening we will be continuing our series Mere Evangelism.[1] For the last few weeks we have been talking about the practice of evangelism: how to communicate the gospel, use imagery, handle objections, and expect opposition. Tonight we are going to discuss one of the vital organs to this body of evangelistic living: prayer.

Without prayer, our evangelism will be plagued by self-dependence, a deadly disease which weakens and kills any effort to serve God. Yet it is not only necessary for evangelism, but for all of Christian living. Someone once asked Charles Spurgeon which was more important, Bible-reading or prayer, to which he responded, “which is more important, breathing out or breathing in?” Prayer is an essential component to any life of faith, any relationship with God, and subsequently, any attempt to do something for God. We must pray.

But prayer is very difficult. Though it should be natural to us to speak to our heavenly Father, we all struggle with when, how, how often, or how long to pray. We need constant encouragement to remain faithful in this spiritual discipline, and we are given such encouragement in the Scriptures! I want to consider several of those tonight with you and look at prayer from a birds eye view and then take a specific look at how it applies to evangelism.  We will look at four aspects of prayer: The privilege of prayer, the pain of prayer, the power of prayer, and the practice of prayer.

Continue reading “The Power of Prayer” →

Mere Evangelism- The Stirring of Uneasiness

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MinistryLeave a comment

Do you want to hear the bad news or good news first? Have you ever been asked this question? Are you a good news first or bad news first kind of person? Whichever camp you may fall in, when we share the gospel of Jesus, we have to share the bad news first. Why? Because without the bad news, the good news isn’t good news.

So what’s the bad news? And how does it make the good news good? How can we stir up the uneasy feeling that the bad news creates and prepare people not only for good news, but the best news in all the world? In C.S. Lewis’ words, how can we open wounds so that we can heal them with the gospel? That is the heart of this message, The Stirring of Uneasiness.

Four Reasons the Sermon on the Mount is Relevant Today

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Miscellaneous1 Comment

In January, I started studying and writing on the Sermon on the Mount. A family wide bout of Covid-19 delayed my study for a little bit. But alas, God has allowed me to return to it! This week I want to share something I read from Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Sermon. I am summarizing his comments under the title, “Four Reasons the Sermon on the Mount is Relevant Today.” Here they are:

1. Jesus died to enable us to live the Sermon on the Mount.

As I argued in my previous blog, the Sermon on the Mount is a description of the Christian life. Thus, Jesus died for us to be able to live out the principles of the Sermon. He died to “purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). The principles contained in the Sermon are a part of these “good works.” In fact, God has planned from eternity past for us to walk in them (Eph 2:10). Because of Jesus’ death and the new life it has brought us, we can be zealous for doing the good works He expounds in the Sermon

Continue reading “Four Reasons the Sermon on the Mount is Relevant Today” →

A Review of Richard Bauckham’s “Bible and Mission”

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Book Reviews, MiscellaneousLeave a comment

Summary

BibleandMissionIn Bible and Mission, Richard Bauckham seeks to respond to postmodernism’s rejection of universal metanarratives in favor of particulars by demonstrating that the Bible consistently moves from the particular to the universal, and thus, particulars are the means by which God achieves the universal. In other words, Bauckham wants to show the reader that the Christian faith is not just another universal truth claim that can be dispensed with in favor of particular or diverse expressions of religion, but that the Bible contains a series of God-ordained particulars that open the door to His universal kingdom. By establishing this movement from the particular to the universal in the Bible, Bauckham hopes to provide the reader with the ability to read the Bible in a way that takes seriously its missionary direction by taking both the particular and universal seriously, and achieving the latter via the former (11).

Continue reading “A Review of Richard Bauckham’s “Bible and Mission”” →

Putting on the Armor, Chuck Lawless

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Book Reviews, DiscipleshipLeave a comment

 

puttingonthearmorBefore reading Putting on the Armor, I must confess that I often viewed the “armor of God” passage in Ephesians 6 as somewhat irrelevant. In a way, I knew it was probably important, but it seemed to be no more than a descriptive metaphor for walking with God, something I could easily skim over and get the point. I remember hearing a small handful of sermons or talks on the subject that seemed to trivialize the description of the armor. These talks of “praying on the armor” or “which piece of the armor are you missing?” trivialized the concepts of the passage so much that it had a negative effect on how I viewed the relevance of the verses. Dr. Lawless’ book has changed my view on the concept of the “armor” by providing me with an accurate view of the passage as a whole, helping me understand each individual piece of armor, and walking me through how to “wear” the armor in everyday life.

Continue reading “Putting on the Armor, Chuck Lawless” →

Six Key Benefits of the Necessary Evangelism Component in Discipleship

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn Discipleship, Miscellaneous1 Comment

Yes. I am afraid. Every time I begin to share about Jesus with someone, millions of thoughts run through my head about how I may offend or be received wrongly. Have you ever felt the same?

This is the log jam in the discipleship process and to fulfilling the Great Commission: evangelism. Sharing our faith. Why? Often times it is because we haven’t seen it modeled, or haven’t been taught “how.” Even in our rigorous attempts at discipleship have not fixed the problem, because discipleship has come to be regarded as a practice without the necessary component of evangelism training or practice. However, treating evangelism as a necessary part of discipleship helps to grow mature disciples, and is absolutely necessary. I read a great article recently highlighting 6 reasons why. Here they are: Continue reading “Six Key Benefits of the Necessary Evangelism Component in Discipleship” →

Missions Exists Because Worship Doesn’t

On By Jarrett Ray FletcherIn MiscellaneousLeave a comment

“Missions Exists Because Worship Doesn’t” -John Piper

missions

This semester, the Lord led my fiancée and I into a class called Perspectives that our church was hosting. The class is basically a college-type class set up to give believers a fresh “perspective” on the world christian movement, and to give a glimpse of what God is doing around the world. The first week we learned how God has been a missionary God from the very beginning, in his promise to Abraham to make him a blessing “to the nations.” But this week, we talked about the main point of missions-to bring worship to God and to bring him the glory and honor he deserves. One of the main quotes from the lesson was, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t” originally coined by John Piper. I just want to share a quick quote from our reading, and a conviction that I was confronted with.

This is the quote from this week’s reading, “The Story of His Glory,”:

“Humanity does not deserve the love of God any more than you or I do. We should never be Christian humanists, taking Jesus to poor sinful people, reducing Jesus to some kind of product that will better their lot. People deserve to be damned, but Jesus, the suffering lamb of God, deserves the reward of his suffering.”

I was convicted because of this: most of my evangelism and missions-mindset was just to save people from hell, and to show them the full life Jesus wants for them. However, Its not all about what we are saving them FROM but what we are saving them FOR- the worship of a worthy Savior.
We don’t just labor to save people from an eternity in hell, we labor to win our Savior the crowns he deserves for his life and sacrifice, and to bring Him the glory and worship that he deserves for all of eternity!

Thus, our neglect of evangelism and participation in missions is not only unloving to the lost, but it is a refusal to bring God the glory, worship, and honor that he deserves. And our participation in missions and evangelism is not only loving to the lost, but is obedient to God’s plan for our lives: to bring Him worship from every tribe, tongue, and nation!

We take part in missions because there are still tribes and people groups, friends and coworkers, family members and strangers, who do not worship our Father. We labor in part because of our yearning for them to avoid eternal punishment, but our main incentive should be drawn from our own love and adoration of the Father! We know how worthy he is of praise and worship, and we must devote ourselves to winning it for him from the people that do not know him.

The Father sent his only son, Jesus, who, through his death and resurrection, bridged the gap between our sinfulness and God’s holiness, so that we would be reconciled to God (1 Peter 3:18) and worship him! He extends grace and love to us, that we would return love and worship to him. This is the desire of his heart is to receive worship from his creation. This is what was broken in the garden of Eden, the ability to worship the Lord in truth and have a relationship with him. But now, through Christ, we are more than able! Not only that, we are entrusted as his children to win him the worship and glory that his mighty name deserves!

The question we must ask ourselves is this: What is my part in winning the blessed Savior this worship that he is so deserving of?

May the Spirit guide you as you commit yourself to his eternal purpose!