Puppy Lesson 2: Evangelism or Discipleship

As I was walking the puppy (12 week old German Shepherd) and the dog (4 year old terrier-mix) yesterday morning, I had time to think and reflect.  I realized (again) that “Stormie” would mentally be a puppy for three years.  The weight and responsibility of training her for three years hit me again.  At less than 30 pounds, she is easy to physically control….now.  But it won’t always be that way.  When she is full-grown, I may not be able to beat her in a physical struggle.  I MUST TRAIN HER!  In order to have a well-behaved and likeable and SAFE pet, I must be diligent to train her.  And if I do (which I gladly will), I will have a great adult dog—one that people will like, one that will protect our family, one that will bring us years of enjoyment, etc., etc.  If I were training her for service, she could be a seeing-eye dog or a police dog or a great sheep herder, but only after years of training.

In Matthew 28, Jesus did not say, “Go and evangelize.”  He said, “Go and make disciples.”  And then He explained Himself, “baptizing them and teaching them to obey.”  When did we as Christians think that our responsibility to the lost was to quickly offend them with the message of salvation or eternal damnation and then move on to the next lost person?  Jesus commanded us to “disciple” which comes from the Latin word meaning “learner”.  We are to create students.  Evangelism means to “preach, share, proclaim.”  We need to evangelize, but we need to do more than that.  We are to share with people and then be willing to show them by our example.  Jesus spent three and half years with His disciples, teaching them how to live.  Like Jesus, we need to invite others to share in our lives and thereby learn by what we say and by how we act.  There are no shortcuts.

It is going to take me three years of effort to develop my puppy into a well-behaved, dependable German Shepherd Dog.  It may also take me years of spending time developing a genuine friendship with my non-Christian neighbor before they will become the kind of Christian God wants them to be.

If you want to see non-believers become believers, are you willing to spend years (if necessary) in the process?  Are you willing to invest in the lives of those that don’t share your beliefs?  Or are you too busy with your Christian friends and your other ministries and your whatever?

Let’s “seek first His kingdom” (Matthew 6:33).

-PK

Pray in the Spirit

“But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” (Jude 20 NIV)  “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:18a NIV)

The Apostles through the Scriptures encourage us to pray in the Holy Spirit.  Paul briefly explains this in two other passages:

·         Romans 8:26 (NIV) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

·         1 Corinthians 14:14-15 (NIV) For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵ So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

There is value in praying in the prayer language of tongues that you received when you were baptized with power in the Holy Spirit.  Pray in the Spirit!  Get alone with God and allow the Spirit of God to intercede for you in a supernatural way.  Jude says that we are to build ourselves up.  We all have days when it seems that we or someone is tearing us down.  We need to be built up in our faith.  The spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible reading are important, invaluable.  But also take the time to “Pray in the Spirit” and allow God to minister to you.