NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL
One of my good friends J.J. Brenner just wrote a blog entry about being unashamed for the gospel. He used Ro. 1:16 to explain his point.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
He then went on to say that we should be unashamed for the gospel . . . through the use of some great analogies, he explained the importance of being unashamed. In his final statement, he wanted to have people post some ideas of what being unashamed practically looks like. So, here are only a few that I came up with. Please add to the list by posting comments or emailing me so I can post them for you.
Practical ways of being unashamed for the gospel:
1. Keep sin far from me (Pr 4:23). When we live in darkness, we desire to stay away from the light. For darkness hates the light (Jn 20:20-21) “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” I have recognized that when I am living in sin, I don’t desire to share Christ. However, when I am walking by the Spirit and living in the light, I desire to share the light of Christ.
2.Be sensitive to the Spirit (Acts 8:29). There are so many times that the Spirit prompts me to share with someone, and I neglect this opportunity because I don’t want to go out of my comfort zone. I don’t want to be rejected. I am not sensitive to the Spirit. However, when I am sensitive to the Spirit, He gives me the words to say to glorify the name of Christ.
3. Don’t fear rejection (II Tim. 3:12 and John ) II Tim. 3:12 “12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” John 15:18-19, “18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
4. Live a good life among the pagans (I Peter 2:12).
5. Be eager to preach the gospel (Romans 1:15). Paul was eager to preach the gospel, and that is one of the reasons he had so many opportunities to share. When I pray that God would give me opportunities, he answers my prayers. But there are so many times that I am not eager to share my faith, so I don’t. (Eph. 5:16).
6. Don’t just do what is comfortable (Acts 4:3).
7. Understand the gospel is people’s greatest need (Acts 4:12).
8. Love like Christ (Matthew 9:10-13). Don’t be afraid of hanging with the tax collectors and sinners. Don’t hide under the skirts of being “above reproach.” Christ was persecuted by “religious” people because he showed love to people. Are we better than Christ? If not, then we should love and build relationships with sinful people. This doesn’t mean that we should do this as a means to sin, but as a means to show the love of Christ. I am very grateful to Tyler Johnson for addressing my own insufficiencies in this area, and I am now in the process of sanctification through this area.
9. Be passionate about God (Acts 4:13). No one will be interested in our God, if we don’t see him as the very reason for our own existence. Our passion for Christ should be unbridled. As I was horseback riding last week with Joe Slater, I was extremely happy that I had a bridle on the horse (Doc), cause if I didn’t, Doc, inertia, velocity, and gravity would all have worked against me. I would have ended up in more pain than was necessary . . . besides, it hurt enough as it was. However when we as Christians are unbridled in our passion for Christ, the world can only hold on to the saddle horn. They are left speechless by our God, and they will desire to have the same purpose and passion we have. There is something about passion that makes people respond. (Secular example: William Wallace / Braveheart).
10. Burn for Christ. People love to see something burn. A couple of years ago, my jr high small group and I did an experiment. We looked up to the sky in awe, wonder, and amazement. Why did we do this funny thing? Well, we wanted to see just how many passers by would try to see what we were so intently looking at. Was it a space ship, alien, or plane? NO, we just wanted to prove a point that when we are excited about something, others will be also. . . Indeed, people asked what we were looking at . . . hypothesis correct. Everyone wants to see someone burn for a cause. I want my cause to be Christ, and I want to say with Paul, that I count all else as rubbish except for the surpassing joy of knowing Christ.
11. Get plenty of sleep. This for me is one of the most practical ways to be ready to share the gospel. For me, I have a tendency to stay up really late only to make up for that sleep in some of my school classes. How stupid is that? By my lack of sleep, I am literally dropping my attentive eyes from the opportunity to share the gospel or meet people’s needs.
12. Be prepared to share what you did over the weekend (I Peter 3:15). This idea was actually stolen from Julie Kellso who I just ran into at ASU. She just finished having lunch with 2 non-Christian girls from her class because she told them about her weekend and how God has been using her at East Valley Bible Church in Tempe. She invited one girl to church as a result of their conversation and lunch together. For Christ’s sake, I want to be normal in my response, but I don’t want to shy away from a chance to share about my life for Christ, and that I had an amazing time worshipping God at church. He truly should be the reason we live, and it’s not just Sunday but 24-7.
There are so many more practical ways to be unashamed for the gospel, so I would love to hear from anyone about ways that are practical for yourself in sharing the gospel and not being ashamed. If you don’t know how to post a comment, email me at (brentklontz@yahoo.com), and I’ll post it for you.
"If you know enough to be a Christian, you know enough to share your faith." -Tom Schrader-
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
He then went on to say that we should be unashamed for the gospel . . . through the use of some great analogies, he explained the importance of being unashamed. In his final statement, he wanted to have people post some ideas of what being unashamed practically looks like. So, here are only a few that I came up with. Please add to the list by posting comments or emailing me so I can post them for you.
Practical ways of being unashamed for the gospel:
1. Keep sin far from me (Pr 4:23). When we live in darkness, we desire to stay away from the light. For darkness hates the light (Jn 20:20-21) “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” I have recognized that when I am living in sin, I don’t desire to share Christ. However, when I am walking by the Spirit and living in the light, I desire to share the light of Christ.
2.Be sensitive to the Spirit (Acts 8:29). There are so many times that the Spirit prompts me to share with someone, and I neglect this opportunity because I don’t want to go out of my comfort zone. I don’t want to be rejected. I am not sensitive to the Spirit. However, when I am sensitive to the Spirit, He gives me the words to say to glorify the name of Christ.
3. Don’t fear rejection (II Tim. 3:12 and John ) II Tim. 3:12 “12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” John 15:18-19, “18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
4. Live a good life among the pagans (I Peter 2:12).
5. Be eager to preach the gospel (Romans 1:15). Paul was eager to preach the gospel, and that is one of the reasons he had so many opportunities to share. When I pray that God would give me opportunities, he answers my prayers. But there are so many times that I am not eager to share my faith, so I don’t. (Eph. 5:16).
6. Don’t just do what is comfortable (Acts 4:3).
7. Understand the gospel is people’s greatest need (Acts 4:12).
8. Love like Christ (Matthew 9:10-13). Don’t be afraid of hanging with the tax collectors and sinners. Don’t hide under the skirts of being “above reproach.” Christ was persecuted by “religious” people because he showed love to people. Are we better than Christ? If not, then we should love and build relationships with sinful people. This doesn’t mean that we should do this as a means to sin, but as a means to show the love of Christ. I am very grateful to Tyler Johnson for addressing my own insufficiencies in this area, and I am now in the process of sanctification through this area.
9. Be passionate about God (Acts 4:13). No one will be interested in our God, if we don’t see him as the very reason for our own existence. Our passion for Christ should be unbridled. As I was horseback riding last week with Joe Slater, I was extremely happy that I had a bridle on the horse (Doc), cause if I didn’t, Doc, inertia, velocity, and gravity would all have worked against me. I would have ended up in more pain than was necessary . . . besides, it hurt enough as it was. However when we as Christians are unbridled in our passion for Christ, the world can only hold on to the saddle horn. They are left speechless by our God, and they will desire to have the same purpose and passion we have. There is something about passion that makes people respond. (Secular example: William Wallace / Braveheart).
10. Burn for Christ. People love to see something burn. A couple of years ago, my jr high small group and I did an experiment. We looked up to the sky in awe, wonder, and amazement. Why did we do this funny thing? Well, we wanted to see just how many passers by would try to see what we were so intently looking at. Was it a space ship, alien, or plane? NO, we just wanted to prove a point that when we are excited about something, others will be also. . . Indeed, people asked what we were looking at . . . hypothesis correct. Everyone wants to see someone burn for a cause. I want my cause to be Christ, and I want to say with Paul, that I count all else as rubbish except for the surpassing joy of knowing Christ.
11. Get plenty of sleep. This for me is one of the most practical ways to be ready to share the gospel. For me, I have a tendency to stay up really late only to make up for that sleep in some of my school classes. How stupid is that? By my lack of sleep, I am literally dropping my attentive eyes from the opportunity to share the gospel or meet people’s needs.
12. Be prepared to share what you did over the weekend (I Peter 3:15). This idea was actually stolen from Julie Kellso who I just ran into at ASU. She just finished having lunch with 2 non-Christian girls from her class because she told them about her weekend and how God has been using her at East Valley Bible Church in Tempe. She invited one girl to church as a result of their conversation and lunch together. For Christ’s sake, I want to be normal in my response, but I don’t want to shy away from a chance to share about my life for Christ, and that I had an amazing time worshipping God at church. He truly should be the reason we live, and it’s not just Sunday but 24-7.
There are so many more practical ways to be unashamed for the gospel, so I would love to hear from anyone about ways that are practical for yourself in sharing the gospel and not being ashamed. If you don’t know how to post a comment, email me at (brentklontz@yahoo.com), and I’ll post it for you.
"If you know enough to be a Christian, you know enough to share your faith." -Tom Schrader-
posted by Brent Klontz at 12:50 PM
2 Comments:
Amen. Or as I like to say, a-freakin-men =)
After talking with my mom, she said that a practical way to share one's faith is BY HAVING A JOYFUL COUNTENANCE. When we are joyful, people wonder why, and then we can give a "a reason for the hope that we have." Thanks Mama Klontz for your input.
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