How Did Jesus Want the Gospel Preached and Evangelism Done?
- Thread starter presidente
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
I am in favor of complete presentations of the Gospel. But if someone leaves out the burial or details of the atonement--I see those issues missing in certain presentations of the gospel.
Peter told the crowd in Acts 2 about their killing the Prince of life on a tree. He did not mention the atonement... or not in the text in Acts 2. He could have said it without it being included. I do not see all sermons like this as exact quotes, but as inspired summaries, and if they were spoken word for word, the speakers could also have said other things as well.
I want to be holistic. I want people to hear the full message. But if someone did not hear one detail that one apostle preached...then can I say they are not saved. Often, they repeat prayers and learn more later.
What I really do not like to see are these tag-on altar calls or challenges from the seat where the preacher gives a speech on some modern hobby horse, like how bad the word 'religion' is--using some definition of the term evangelicals probably picked up from some carnal 'spiritual but not religious' folks who hated organized religion in the 1960's, a definition the unbeliever doesn't understand-- followed by an unexplained comment on how important relationship is.
Then it may be followed by a vague unexplained prayer about accepting Jesus into their life. Sometimes they might repeat a confession that they are a sinner. Sometimes they might repeat something about Jesus dying on the cross. It seems like the resurrection is usually missing from either the sermon, the mini-tag on altar call/challenge, and missing from the prayer also. I grew up around prayers that focused on Lordship and the resurrection.
It seems like evangelical, some of whom might turn up their noses at the religious ritual of repeating the apostle's creed in church, have come to treat this repeating-a-prayer ritual as if it were holy. The sinner's prayer ritual is probably 70 years old, and he preached Christ dying for our sins and His resurrection. The prayer used to include confessing one was a sinner, faith in Christ's death for our sins, and the resurrection. The thing is, the apostle's creed is codified and stays pretty much the same. But the Gospel content fell out of the "sinner's prayer" over time in most cases I've seen it in recent decades. And if someone really understands and repeats the Apostle's Creed in faith (we can put 'whole' or 'universal' in there for Catholic maybe), he's going to get a lot more Gospel than some of these 'repeat-after-me-things.
Someone who has a video on YouTube said that this practice is 'easy repeatism.' It isn't easy-believism, because the preacher is not telling the sinner much of anything to believe in them. The way the practice works, it seems the belief is sinner's are saved by repeating a prayer after the preacher, no matter how little is said.
Maybe some of them think any prayer with the name of Jesus in it is calling on the Lord. But I suspect this is what some call a 'monkey-see monkey-doo' type phenomenon, where the preacher has seen it done that way for decades, and does the same thing. And if you asked him, he might say that you have to believe Jesus died for your sins and rose again to be saved. But when it comes to altar call time, they go from rote memory and do what they've seen. Or else maybe they just sort of assume without thinking about it that their audience grew up in Sunday school or just knows all this stuff without them having to preach it.
Do me, it doesn't make sense to not think carefully about what you are preaching. I understand people can misspeak, mispronounce, lose their train of thought. But this sure seems like a big systemic problem, not a little one-off mistake.
Adding all this other stuff to the Gospel and treating it as sacred orthodoxy, like adding 'personal' to 'Savior'-- usually with no explanation for the cheesy-sounding extra verbage, and then religion versus relationship speech, using their own definition of 'relationship' that most unbelievers have never heard makes it harder to communicate. These evangelical cliches become traditions that are treated holy like scripture by many church people.
I have not done a lot of face-to-face evangelistic preaching in a church setting. I did sort of follow the cultural rules the last time I did so. I had them do a profession of faith in a prayer as I recall, after explaining the cross, the resurrection, the Sonship of Christ, that He is Lord. I did not declare them saved. I told them to be baptized. I also do not think I should assume that someone who comes up front, stands up, squeezes a neighbors hand does or does not believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Giving some people who go through the ritual of confessing some space to hear the word and come to faith if they haven't already may be helpful. If they hear, understand, repent and believe the gospel, then they should be baptized.
I also think it is important to focus on the 'according to the scriptures' aspect, even with Gentiles. Here of late, I've been focusing on Abraham being God's portion, Christ fulfilling God's promise to Abraham, God promising the nations to the Gentile, Jesus being given all authority on heaven and earth, that Jesus is Lord, and the obligation of the listener to recognize that Jesus is Lord and that Christ has authority over all nations including the hearer. God let Gentiles worship idols and go after other religions in times past, but Christ is risen and has all authority, and God is calling all men to repent. The sinner has sinned against God. The sinner who does not believe the Gospel sins with his unbelief.
Peter told the crowd in Acts 2 about their killing the Prince of life on a tree. He did not mention the atonement... or not in the text in Acts 2. He could have said it without it being included. I do not see all sermons like this as exact quotes, but as inspired summaries, and if they were spoken word for word, the speakers could also have said other things as well.
I want to be holistic. I want people to hear the full message. But if someone did not hear one detail that one apostle preached...then can I say they are not saved. Often, they repeat prayers and learn more later.
What I really do not like to see are these tag-on altar calls or challenges from the seat where the preacher gives a speech on some modern hobby horse, like how bad the word 'religion' is--using some definition of the term evangelicals probably picked up from some carnal 'spiritual but not religious' folks who hated organized religion in the 1960's, a definition the unbeliever doesn't understand-- followed by an unexplained comment on how important relationship is.
Then it may be followed by a vague unexplained prayer about accepting Jesus into their life. Sometimes they might repeat a confession that they are a sinner. Sometimes they might repeat something about Jesus dying on the cross. It seems like the resurrection is usually missing from either the sermon, the mini-tag on altar call/challenge, and missing from the prayer also. I grew up around prayers that focused on Lordship and the resurrection.
It seems like evangelical, some of whom might turn up their noses at the religious ritual of repeating the apostle's creed in church, have come to treat this repeating-a-prayer ritual as if it were holy. The sinner's prayer ritual is probably 70 years old, and he preached Christ dying for our sins and His resurrection. The prayer used to include confessing one was a sinner, faith in Christ's death for our sins, and the resurrection. The thing is, the apostle's creed is codified and stays pretty much the same. But the Gospel content fell out of the "sinner's prayer" over time in most cases I've seen it in recent decades. And if someone really understands and repeats the Apostle's Creed in faith (we can put 'whole' or 'universal' in there for Catholic maybe), he's going to get a lot more Gospel than some of these 'repeat-after-me-things.
Someone who has a video on YouTube said that this practice is 'easy repeatism.' It isn't easy-believism, because the preacher is not telling the sinner much of anything to believe in them. The way the practice works, it seems the belief is sinner's are saved by repeating a prayer after the preacher, no matter how little is said.
Maybe some of them think any prayer with the name of Jesus in it is calling on the Lord. But I suspect this is what some call a 'monkey-see monkey-doo' type phenomenon, where the preacher has seen it done that way for decades, and does the same thing. And if you asked him, he might say that you have to believe Jesus died for your sins and rose again to be saved. But when it comes to altar call time, they go from rote memory and do what they've seen. Or else maybe they just sort of assume without thinking about it that their audience grew up in Sunday school or just knows all this stuff without them having to preach it.
Do me, it doesn't make sense to not think carefully about what you are preaching. I understand people can misspeak, mispronounce, lose their train of thought. But this sure seems like a big systemic problem, not a little one-off mistake.
Adding all this other stuff to the Gospel and treating it as sacred orthodoxy, like adding 'personal' to 'Savior'-- usually with no explanation for the cheesy-sounding extra verbage, and then religion versus relationship speech, using their own definition of 'relationship' that most unbelievers have never heard makes it harder to communicate. These evangelical cliches become traditions that are treated holy like scripture by many church people.
I have not done a lot of face-to-face evangelistic preaching in a church setting. I did sort of follow the cultural rules the last time I did so. I had them do a profession of faith in a prayer as I recall, after explaining the cross, the resurrection, the Sonship of Christ, that He is Lord. I did not declare them saved. I told them to be baptized. I also do not think I should assume that someone who comes up front, stands up, squeezes a neighbors hand does or does not believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Giving some people who go through the ritual of confessing some space to hear the word and come to faith if they haven't already may be helpful. If they hear, understand, repent and believe the gospel, then they should be baptized.
I also think it is important to focus on the 'according to the scriptures' aspect, even with Gentiles. Here of late, I've been focusing on Abraham being God's portion, Christ fulfilling God's promise to Abraham, God promising the nations to the Gentile, Jesus being given all authority on heaven and earth, that Jesus is Lord, and the obligation of the listener to recognize that Jesus is Lord and that Christ has authority over all nations including the hearer. God let Gentiles worship idols and go after other religions in times past, but Christ is risen and has all authority, and God is calling all men to repent. The sinner has sinned against God. The sinner who does not believe the Gospel sins with his unbelief.
Simplicity is the key to spreading the gospel IMO.
Most all ppl have heard of God and Jesus.
What we must do is offer in humbleness the same gift that was offered to us.
Ppl can be choked if you try to witness from Gen.2 Revelations. They will ask questions.
John 3:16 simplifies the mission of the Son,which was to provide redemption from our death curse and open an avenue to have a relationship to the Father!
If the HS has blessed our witness and it is fruitful ( which we may not get to observe ) that means he has gone before to prick that person of their condition and upon hearing the word if they repent and believe they will be saved.
Most all ppl have heard of God and Jesus.
What we must do is offer in humbleness the same gift that was offered to us.
Ppl can be choked if you try to witness from Gen.2 Revelations. They will ask questions.
John 3:16 simplifies the mission of the Son,which was to provide redemption from our death curse and open an avenue to have a relationship to the Father!
If the HS has blessed our witness and it is fruitful ( which we may not get to observe ) that means he has gone before to prick that person of their condition and upon hearing the word if they repent and believe they will be saved.
-
1
-
1
- Show all
I believe the proper method is preaching in public and from house to house.
Acts 20
20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 20
20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Um no not at all that’s part of it for sure it’s all the gospel the whole gospel from his birth to his ascention to heaven where he still sits advocating for believers and everything in between
we don’t say I believe and know all of it though the gospel is something we learn over time a more complete understanding of we hear and believe and grow into maturity
babies don’t know what adults know and don’t have the same responsibilities and accountabilities each of us are at a different point of what we understand is the thing
sometimes we try to measure others by what we know we need to
Measire our own self according to what we know and walk in those things allowing others to walk in the amount they know
we don’t say I believe and know all of it though the gospel is something we learn over time a more complete understanding of we hear and believe and grow into maturity
babies don’t know what adults know and don’t have the same responsibilities and accountabilities each of us are at a different point of what we understand is the thing
sometimes we try to measure others by what we know we need to
Measire our own self according to what we know and walk in those things allowing others to walk in the amount they know
-
1
- Show all
The issue of 'what do they/we need to know to get baptized' is an important one, IMO. There is a message of reconciliation that we should present that I believe includes the cross, the resurrection, forgiveness and repentance of sin through His name that requires some understanding of Christ's Messiahship and Lordship. That last sentence is a 'reduced' summary, also.
There are also examples in scripture that are profitable for doctrine. Pre-ascension, Jesus preached 'Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' A tower had fallen on some people, and apparently some blood had been shed by someone in political office. Jesus had many things to say against sin. He also told the apostles to preach 'repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Sin is one of the things of which the scriptures mention repenting. John the Baptist warned his listeners about God's judgment.
One-on-one, Jesus told a woman she had had five husbands, and the one she then had was not her husband.
After the ascension, Peter told a crowd they had crucified the Prince of life. One aspect of Peter and John's preaching that the Jewish authorities did not like is that they did not want the apostles to make them out to be guilty of 'this Man's blood.' Felix trembled as Paul spoke of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. Jesus had said that the Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and of judgment.
There are also those who view Romans as a very long explanation of Paul's Gospel. It argues that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and focuses in depth in the issue of sin.
Stephen's preaching certainly focused on the sin of his audience there at the end. Paul himself while preaching to pagans, told them that they had worshipped idols, but now God is calling all men everywhere to repent.
And of course in Luke 24, we read that it was written that Christ had to suffer, to rise again, and that repentance and remission of sin be preached in his name to all nations.
Paul included 'Christ died for our sins' as part of his summary of the Gospel in I Corinthians 15.
Some people may need to learn what sin is and that they have committed it to understand what the Gospel means.
One-on-one, Jesus told a woman she had had five husbands, and the one she then had was not her husband.
After the ascension, Peter told a crowd they had crucified the Prince of life. One aspect of Peter and John's preaching that the Jewish authorities did not like is that they did not want the apostles to make them out to be guilty of 'this Man's blood.' Felix trembled as Paul spoke of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. Jesus had said that the Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and of judgment.
There are also those who view Romans as a very long explanation of Paul's Gospel. It argues that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and focuses in depth in the issue of sin.
Stephen's preaching certainly focused on the sin of his audience there at the end. Paul himself while preaching to pagans, told them that they had worshipped idols, but now God is calling all men everywhere to repent.
And of course in Luke 24, we read that it was written that Christ had to suffer, to rise again, and that repentance and remission of sin be preached in his name to all nations.
Paul included 'Christ died for our sins' as part of his summary of the Gospel in I Corinthians 15.
Some people may need to learn what sin is and that they have committed it to understand what the Gospel means.
Jesus Christ is the Light and Life of Men
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:27-29 KJV
-
1
- Show all
When Jesus ate dinner with "Tax Collectors and sinners" He was being a friend to them. Not once was Jesus telling those who were indeed sinners to "Stop stealing, stop whoring", or anything else like that.
Jesus was a Friend To Sinners.
Jesus didn't tell Zacheus to do anything... Zacheus offered.
Somehow people already know right from wrong.
The word "Gospel" literally means "Good News" .
How bad a person is in God's view is NOT good news. And it's not my job to tell them. It IS MY JOB to tell them how much God has done for me and how good God is. AND how a personal relationship with a loving and kind God is always good.
That sounds more like good news that how I have screwed up over and over again.
Jesus was a Friend To Sinners.
Jesus didn't tell Zacheus to do anything... Zacheus offered.
Somehow people already know right from wrong.
The word "Gospel" literally means "Good News" .
How bad a person is in God's view is NOT good news. And it's not my job to tell them. It IS MY JOB to tell them how much God has done for me and how good God is. AND how a personal relationship with a loving and kind God is always good.
That sounds more like good news that how I have screwed up over and over again.
-
1
- Show all