Peter spoke about evangelism.
Word association.
When you talk about Christianity what do people think?
When you talk about church what do people think?
Evangelism is a dirty word. It fills us with dread and fear, or others with excitement.
What do you think of when you think of evangelism?
What's missing or late in all the lists of words?
Jesus!
How could he not be the one thing that is first on all the lists.
We can be so distracted with church, Christianity, Christian culture, that we forget the fact it's all about Jesus!
When you talk about Jesus what do people think?
Video https://youtu.be/5MKcFunW2lk
Jargon. Christian culture.
But should our culture not be totally Jesus?
We can do one of two things, Give people jesus, or give them wasted sewage. We can either point the way to the way or confuse them with a load of things that will never feed their need for God. There is a place for doctrines and dogma and science and history and apologetics, but these things are not Jesus - they are just humanly manufactured attempts to make people think that having the right idea is the same thing as loving and following Jesus. P26 Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism by Carl Medearis
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Acts 3 healed in Jesus name.
Acts 4 tried for healing in Jesus name
Acts 5 tried again for preaching Jesus
Tell the story of Isa from the book. P133
Jesus and the stories about him captivate people.
I get myself into trouble for being too open and honest. People say to me I need to play my cards closer to my chest! When it comes to Jesus though…..
The problem is we shy away from being fully truthful.
What did you do at the weekend, or over half term?
I went to church, I went to a festival.
If you went to concert, you'd say I saw….. in concert.
I saw Jesus heal a whole bunch of people.
I met with Jesus and experienced his peace once again.
How different would the conversation be?
We talk about the church a lot. Now she is important, she is the bride of Christ.
But let's not deify the church.
Jesus is god the son.
Let's talk about him. Let's raise his name up.
Sam Poe "We are not introducing people to the 4 spiritual laws, but to Jesus."
Bill Johnson "Jesus, our magnificent obsession."
Francis Chan "Being a disciple maker means you will begin to look at the people in your life differently. Every person in your life is created in the image of God, and Jesus commands every one of them to follow him. God has placed those people in your life so that you will do everything you can to influence them. Following Jesus means you will be teaching other people to follow."
In the book Speaking of Jesus he does not call himself a Christian, and he does not go to a church. He perhaps goes too far, baby out with the bathwater, but it's his reaction to Christian culture.
So how will we do church, small groups, etc, to see our friends, neighbours, work colleagues etc meeting Jesus and seeing lives change?
J John "Jesus sacrificed 200 pigs to save one man. How much would you give to see someone saved?"
Jesus freak
https://youtu.be/kbB0QrBIs9k
Questions for groups
1Cor 2:1-5 “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
What does that look like?
How do we do that?
How should we change church and groups to be more Jesus focussed?
