E – Encourage
Carrie had completed more than 25 Discovery Bible studies with my wife and me. I knew she understood the Gospel and that she believed that Jesus had died to pay for her sins. So one afternoon, as we were sitting in the park, I turned and asked her “Carrie, are you ready to be baptized?”
She shot back in chilly voice, “Bob, I already told you I want to be baptized on my birthday”.
I don’t know how I could have forgotten such an important conversation.
Baptism is a huge thing in our multicultural community. It is a declaration to your extended family and friends that you are now going to follow Jesus.
Before I will baptize someone, I let them know that I expect them to invite at least five non-Christian friends to their baptism. They will also need to prepare a to tell the story of how they came to faith.
The day Carrie’s husband was baptized he wrote a five page essay of the quality of CS Lewis and sent it through the internet to his friends all over China.
(image created by fotor.com)
E stands for Encourage a Response. Here are three examples from the Acts of the Apostles: Each use slightly different wording.
- Peter says “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38-39)
- When the Philippian jailer asks, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ Paul responds, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.'” (Acts 16)
- Paul later says: ‘I preached that they [in Damascus and other places] should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.” (Acts 26:20)
How are you going to encourage people to respond to the Gospel?
Here is how the Four Spiritual Laws encourages a response:
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YOU CAN RECEIVE CHRIST RIGHT NOW BY FAITH THROUGH PRAYER
(Prayer is talking to God)
God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. Here is a suggested prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross in my place for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Saviour and Lord. Thank You for forgiving me of my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”
Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?
If it does, pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.
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Read the first line in the section above carefully. We are saved by faith. One way to express your faith is through prayer. In the passages above the apostles suggested other ways to express your faith (repent, believe, turn to God, be baptised).
In some ways E is like when I asked Chris to marry me. Neither one of us can remember the words I used to ask the question. Neither one of us can remember the exact words of her responce. But there was a change in our relationship which led to a wedding and over 42 years of marriage.
And isn’t that what it means to follow Jesus? A relationship. A relationship that grows deeper each and every day. A relationship that is so deep we can never exhaust its depths.
Let’s pray:
“Lord Jesus, thank you that you love us and that some how, some way, some one encouraged us to respond to you. Thank you that you consistantly draw us closer to you, so that we may bask in your love and grace. Now we pray that you will give us both the boldness and the sensitivity to encourage others to respond to you. We look forward to how you will be glorified in this process. Amen.”
Before I go a quick review of the letters we have coverd so far:
- Associate with non-Christians
- Befriend non-Christians
- Create an interest in the Gospel
- Declare the Gospel
- Encourage a Response
E in just the beginning of the relationship. Now we move to FGHI.
See you next week.