I am not an Evangelist

I really am not an evangelist.  Well, not to an unbeliever, really.  I am more of an evangelist to the believer.  Mainly, I believe God's will for my life is that through me He will speak to the broken, so that the will come to know Him as Healer.  Because He has healed this deeply broken person on the inside.  That He will speak to believer that He has come to set them free from sin, death, the world, temptation and satan.  He has already done this and He wants His children to live from Him- and His finished work.  I believe He wants them to know Who He is- to have intimacy and oneness with Him.  To allow Him to live through them.

I struggle with how we "evangelize".  And I struggle with how we "disciple" new believers.  That's a story for another time but I've really struggled with how we evangelize and how I personally evangelize.  How do I tell other people that without Jesus- trusting and believing in Him and His finished work that they will die and go to hell?  Most don't believe in God anymore and they don't believe in hell.  They really don't want to hear it, actually.  Any of it.

I've been rereading the book of John, oh my what a beautiful book!  I love to read the Scripture and search through the rest to find other verses in other books that go with it.  "I don't read my Bible and pray to get close to God- I read my Bible and pray because I AM CLOSE TO GOD." -  Michael Wells

Tonight, my whole work schedule got messed up so I didn't have to work- I got home around 7 and took my Bible out to the pool to read.

I am reading John 6-7.  Pouring through, filling!  Oh how beautiful the words He alone speaks to me!  Do you know how many times the word "life" and "believe" are in John- over and over and over!

But this verse- HE SPOKE INTO MY SPIRIT TONIGHT!

John 8: 23-24 Jesus says,
23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

Those words struck me to the very heart.  "Unless you believe, you will die in your sins."  Jesus didn't beg.  He didn't plead.  He didn't get mad.  He didn't cry.  He didn't use mind games or scare tactics.  He wasn't being funny or sarcastic.  He didn't do giveaways to draw the crowds to Him.  He didn't sing 20 chorus's of  "Come just as you are".  He simply, truthfully stated, "Unless you believe, you will die in your sins."

What does it mean to "die in your sins"?  First off, everyone knows what sin is- so I am not going into trying to convince you are a sinner.  I don't have to.  All you have to do is ask yourself- seriously- "have I ever sinned?"  and I would bet you would come up with at least ONE sin.  But the truth is, you were born a sinner.  You didn't become a sinner, you were born that way.  When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, immediately something within them died.  Just as God said it would.  "In that day that you eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, you will surely die."  They didn't die physically but the process of physical death began instantly.  They didn't die soulically because they could still think, feel and choose.  So it had to be their spirit.  The part that connected them to God, intimately and in His image.  Their spirit was dead to God but now alive to negative forces.  They now had a new nature, a sin nature.  From here on out they and their children- and so on and so on and so on TO YOU- were born separated from God, alive to negative forces, IN YOUR SINS.

From here on out YOU and everyone else can't help but live independent from God and coping the best you can.  Those needs that God created man with- Love, Acceptance, Worth and Security- well now you try to fill EVERY way in this old world to satisfy those needs.  "Looking for love in all the wrong places", "looking for acceptance in all the wrong places", "looking for worth in all the wrong places", "looking for security in all the wrong places".  Independent.  Self-sufficient.  Self-righteous.  But!!!!!!  The One that created man can be the only ONE that can meet the needs He created man with!  Only God can meet your love needs, your acceptance needs- worth and security.  The world- friends, family, sports, job, spouse, car, new stuff- NOTHING can meet those needs.  God never intended them to.

And then, God so loved you!  He made a way for you to be with Him.  Never again to be condemned or separated from Him.  He gave His only son so that we might LIVE in Him!

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.


The only One who could "save you from your sins"- DID.  Jesus Christ, Savior.

Now the rest, is up to you.

John 8: 23-24 Jesus says,
23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”