REACH OUT AND TOUCH

#1 · September 14, 2005, 10:33 am

Quote from Forum Archives on September 14, 2005, 10:33 am
Posted by: henkf <henkf@...>
REACH OUT AND TOUCH PEOPLE

Do you ever question why Christians try to convert people of other faiths to Christianity? I'll readily admit that doesn't set well with many people. "You have no business sending missionaries to Africa to change ancestral religions." "The people of the Far East have been served for centuries by their religion. Who do you think you are to try and change them?" "The Jewish people have suffered so much. How dare you insult them by trying to make them Christians?" "Hands off!" And so it goes.

Maybe you get even more upset when Christians say that there is a heaven and there is a hell and the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. The person who rejects Jesus Christ is destined for hell. Well, "How does anyone dare to think that they have a corner on the truth?"

There was a time when the apostle Paul was upset with Christians for promoting their faith as the only saving faith. You may remember that Paul, or Saul as he was called, hated our Christian message. Do you know what so infuriated him? What angered Paul was that the Christians were proclaiming that the crucified Jesus Christ was the Savior promised by God in the Old Testament. Paul had been looking for a Savior. That someone from Nazareth named Jesus might be the Savior didn't anger Paul.   What upset Paul was that this alleged Savior had been crucified. What kind of Savior is it who suffers and dies? In Paul's opinion saviors are supposed to be glorious, not executed! A crucified Savior didn't fit Paul's job description for a real Christ. So Paul (Saul) persecuted the Christians for saying that there is no other way to be saved than by the crucified Jesus Christ.

Trying to stop the Christian mission led Saul to Damascus. "Sometimes God has to knock you off your horse." That's what God did to Saul. As he was traveling to Damascus to stop the Christian mission, God "knocked him off his horse," as the saying goes.

Let's hear Paul's own description. It's reported in Acts chapters 9 and 26. "On the way (to Damascus)...at noon I saw a light brighter than the sun, flashing from heaven around me..." Paul "fell to the ground and reported," 'I heard a voice asking me in Aramaic, "Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? You are only hurting yourself by kicking against the goads."'"

"I asked, 'Who are you Lord?' 'I am Jesus,' the Lord answered, 'whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet. I showed Myself to you to appoint you to serve Me as a witness of what you have seen about Me and of what will be shown to you by Me. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, in order to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a share in the inheritance of those who are made holy by believing in Me.'" (Acts 26:12 18)

When Saul got up from the ground, he opened his eyes but could not see. He had been blinded! His companions led him to Damascus. Paul remained blind for three days until God restored his physical sight (Acts 9:8 9). The restoration of Paul's physical sight was nothing compared to the light that had now poured into his soul. His hatred for the Christian mission was unbelief that the crucified Christ is the Savior of the world. That is the most terrible that Paul or you or any human being can ever experience.

Jesus Himself struck Paul with the blinding truth, the truth that the crucified One, yes the crucified One, lives and the Christian Church is His Church, the Christian mission is His mission, and opposition to that mission is opposition to Jesus Christ. That light of Christ drove away the darkness of Paul's misplaced religious ideas. He, who had so hated the Christian mission, had the eyes of his soul opened and he became the greatest missionary of the early church. The rest of Paul's life was the fulfillment of Jesus' commission to open people's eyes and "to turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a share in the inheritance of those who are made holy by believing in Him."

Every person in this world needs to have their eyes opened. I'm not talking here about physical eyesight. I'm talking about God's light coming into the darkness of our own souls. This is a world of sin. Evil, hatred, greed, betrayals, jealousy, slander, crime, destruction...these things are all about us. You are a part of this dark, sinful world.   John says, "If we say that we are not sinful, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).

Now you may or you may not know the truth. John says that truth is not automatically within us. The idea that all religions are basically true, that one world religion is finally no better than another, rests upon the notion that religious truth is a common property of all peoples.   But John says it is possible that the truth is not in you or me. The Bible says that the truth is not in you if you do not admit to your sin. Avoid confessing your sin and you are not in truth, not in the light, but rather you are deceived and you are in spiritual darkness.

Paul was enlightened by the Gospel and was sent to turn people "from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins."   That spiritual sight comes because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of sinners. On a dark Good Friday Jesus died on a cross and endured the anger of God against your sins. Christ on the cross was punished with the fury of hell so that you need never experience God's wrath. He endured the greatest darkness of all, eternal death, so that you can now live in His light and be illumined by His Word. The terrible darkness that shrouded the world on that Good Friday gave way on Easter morning to a bright light. On Easter God raised His Son Jesus from the dead. He restored Him to life. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God brought life and immortality to light. By the resurrection, God showed that the crucified One truly is the Savior, who alone is the light of the world. By raising His Son, God vindicated Jesus' Words that the Christ had to suffer & rise so that repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached throughout the world.

The message of Christians to people of other faiths, the message that we Christians continually would share with one another, the appeal I make to you now is to trust God's Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. John says, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

Although some people are offended by the missionary nature of Christianity, that's the way it is. The Bible is very clear on this. Talking about God and heaven, Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except by Me" (John 1:6). That's very clear. The apostle Peter said “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That is also very clear.

So, yes, we are out to convert people from other world religions to Christianity. And yes, we are out to convert to Christianity people who practice no religion. And yes, we are out to convert people who think of themselves as Christians but are blind to Christian truth, nominal Christians who don't know who Jesus Christ is and what He's all about. Yes, we are a missionary religion because Jesus told us: "Go and make disciples of all people by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and by teaching them to pay close attention to everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19 20). Some people say "Hands off", but we want to touch people with the story of Jesus Christ.

We want to touch people, not clobber them. One reason why you may advocate a "hands off" policy is because of past abuses. Many people became Christians (at least, Christian in name) because some conquering army invited them to become Christians at the point of a sword. You can probably cite other cases where someone was bullied into Christianity but in fact their heart was never touched.

Yes, we Christians are a missionary group.   We have been commissioned by God to share His light with the world. In Luke 24 the resurrected Jesus told the disciples, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:46 48).

Our God is not perverse, ours is not a God who takes sadistic pleasure in afflicting us or in sending anyone to hell. Yes, there is a hell but God doesn't want anyone there, especially you. God is good and God wants every person in the world to be saved and go to heaven. The Bible says, "God wants all people to be saved and to come to know the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). And God especially wants you to know His light, to enter His heaven. He wants to open your eyes as He opened Paul's. He wants all people to be touched by the light of Christ

…..
  ************************************  Weekly messages of hope and comfort for those who want to learn more about Jesus and His glorious plan for our lives.  To find out more about our ministry go to : worldoutreach.ca/sotn.htm  visit our "Cartoon Site"  www.worldoutreach.ca/DearGod/  *************************************                                                                            --  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: sermonsonthenet-unsubscribe@welovegod.org  

Posted by: henkf <henkf@...>

REACH OUT AND TOUCH PEOPLE

Do you ever question why Christians try to convert people of other faiths to Christianity? I'll readily admit that doesn't set well with many people. "You have no business sending missionaries to Africa to change ancestral religions." "The people of the Far East have been served for centuries by their religion. Who do you think you are to try and change them?" "The Jewish people have suffered so much. How dare you insult them by trying to make them Christians?" "Hands off!" And so it goes.

Maybe you get even more upset when Christians say that there is a heaven and there is a hell and the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. The person who rejects Jesus Christ is destined for hell. Well, "How does anyone dare to think that they have a corner on the truth?"

There was a time when the apostle Paul was upset with Christians for promoting their faith as the only saving faith. You may remember that Paul, or Saul as he was called, hated our Christian message. Do you know what so infuriated him? What angered Paul was that the Christians were proclaiming that the crucified Jesus Christ was the Savior promised by God in the Old Testament. Paul had been looking for a Savior. That someone from Nazareth named Jesus might be the Savior didn't anger Paul. What upset Paul was that this alleged Savior had been crucified. What kind of Savior is it who suffers and dies? In Paul's opinion saviors are supposed to be glorious, not executed! A crucified Savior didn't fit Paul's job description for a real Christ. So Paul (Saul) persecuted the Christians for saying that there is no other way to be saved than by the crucified Jesus Christ.

Trying to stop the Christian mission led Saul to Damascus. "Sometimes God has to knock you off your horse." That's what God did to Saul. As he was traveling to Damascus to stop the Christian mission, God "knocked him off his horse," as the saying goes.

Let's hear Paul's own description. It's reported in Acts chapters 9 and 26. "On the way (to Damascus)...at noon I saw a light brighter than the sun, flashing from heaven around me..." Paul "fell to the ground and reported," 'I heard a voice asking me in Aramaic, "Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? You are only hurting yourself by kicking against the goads."'"

"I asked, 'Who are you Lord?' 'I am Jesus,' the Lord answered, 'whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet. I showed Myself to you to appoint you to serve Me as a witness of what you have seen about Me and of what will be shown to you by Me. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, in order to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a share in the inheritance of those who are made holy by believing in Me.'" (Acts 26:12 18)

When Saul got up from the ground, he opened his eyes but could not see. He had been blinded! His companions led him to Damascus. Paul remained blind for three days until God restored his physical sight (Acts 9:8 9). The restoration of Paul's physical sight was nothing compared to the light that had now poured into his soul. His hatred for the Christian mission was unbelief that the crucified Christ is the Savior of the world. That is the most terrible that Paul or you or any human being can ever experience.

Jesus Himself struck Paul with the blinding truth, the truth that the crucified One, yes the crucified One, lives and the Christian Church is His Church, the Christian mission is His mission, and opposition to that mission is opposition to Jesus Christ. That light of Christ drove away the darkness of Paul's misplaced religious ideas. He, who had so hated the Christian mission, had the eyes of his soul opened and he became the greatest missionary of the early church. The rest of Paul's life was the fulfillment of Jesus' commission to open people's eyes and "to turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a share in the inheritance of those who are made holy by believing in Him."

Every person in this world needs to have their eyes opened. I'm not talking here about physical eyesight. I'm talking about God's light coming into the darkness of our own souls. This is a world of sin. Evil, hatred, greed, betrayals, jealousy, slander, crime, destruction...these things are all about us. You are a part of this dark, sinful world. John says, "If we say that we are not sinful, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).

Now you may or you may not know the truth. John says that truth is not automatically within us. The idea that all religions are basically true, that one world religion is finally no better than another, rests upon the notion that religious truth is a common property of all peoples. But John says it is possible that the truth is not in you or me. The Bible says that the truth is not in you if you do not admit to your sin. Avoid confessing your sin and you are not in truth, not in the light, but rather you are deceived and you are in spiritual darkness.

Paul was enlightened by the Gospel and was sent to turn people "from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins." That spiritual sight comes because of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of sinners. On a dark Good Friday Jesus died on a cross and endured the anger of God against your sins. Christ on the cross was punished with the fury of hell so that you need never experience God's wrath. He endured the greatest darkness of all, eternal death, so that you can now live in His light and be illumined by His Word. The terrible darkness that shrouded the world on that Good Friday gave way on Easter morning to a bright light. On Easter God raised His Son Jesus from the dead. He restored Him to life. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God brought life and immortality to light. By the resurrection, God showed that the crucified One truly is the Savior, who alone is the light of the world. By raising His Son, God vindicated Jesus' Words that the Christ had to suffer & rise so that repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached throughout the world.

The message of Christians to people of other faiths, the message that we Christians continually would share with one another, the appeal I make to you now is to trust God's Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. John says, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

Although some people are offended by the missionary nature of Christianity, that's the way it is. The Bible is very clear on this. Talking about God and heaven, Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except by Me" (John 1:6). That's very clear. The apostle Peter said “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That is also very clear.

So, yes, we are out to convert people from other world religions to Christianity. And yes, we are out to convert to Christianity people who practice no religion. And yes, we are out to convert people who think of themselves as Christians but are blind to Christian truth, nominal Christians who don't know who Jesus Christ is and what He's all about. Yes, we are a missionary religion because Jesus told us: "Go and make disciples of all people by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and by teaching them to pay close attention to everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19 20). Some people say "Hands off", but we want to touch people with the story of Jesus Christ.

We want to touch people, not clobber them. One reason why you may advocate a "hands off" policy is because of past abuses. Many people became Christians (at least, Christian in name) because some conquering army invited them to become Christians at the point of a sword. You can probably cite other cases where someone was bullied into Christianity but in fact their heart was never touched.

Yes, we Christians are a missionary group. We have been commissioned by God to share His light with the world. In Luke 24 the resurrected Jesus told the disciples, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:46 48).

Our God is not perverse, ours is not a God who takes sadistic pleasure in afflicting us or in sending anyone to hell. Yes, there is a hell but God doesn't want anyone there, especially you. God is good and God wants every person in the world to be saved and go to heaven. The Bible says, "God wants all people to be saved and to come to know the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). And God especially wants you to know His light, to enter His heaven. He wants to open your eyes as He opened Paul's. He wants all people to be touched by the light of Christ

…..

  ************************************  Weekly messages of hope and comfort for those who want to learn more about Jesus and His glorious plan for our lives.  To find out more about our ministry go to : worldoutreach.ca/sotn.htm  visit our "Cartoon Site"  www.worldoutreach.ca/DearGod/  *************************************                                                                            --  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: sermonsonthenet-unsubscribe@welovegod.org