Arminian Today

“I just don’t agree with sharing your faith like that.”  This is the typical statement you’ll hear from some folks about a style of evangelism they don’t like such as confrontational evangelism or street preaching or passing out tracts.  I once was stopped by a guy at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee when I was sharing the gospel with some teenagers waiting in line and he pulled me off and said, “I am a Christian and I am here on my vacation and though I appreciate what you are trying to do, can’t we just have a good time without you forcing your religion on everyone around you?”  I said to him gracefully, “If you claim to be a Christian, what type of evangelism would you do here?”  He gave no reply.

You see you may not like the style of say Ray Comfort and The Way of the Master or you may not like the style of Jesse Morrell and street preachers or perhaps you don’t like the style of Bill Hybels but in the end, what style of evangelism do you do?  Jesus told us to preach the gospel (Mark 16:15).  Are we to disobey Jesus?  Jesus told us to make disciples in every nation (Matthew 28:19).  Are we to ignore His command?  Jesus told us that as He was sent from the Father, so He was sending us (John 20:21).  Are we not to go and proclaim His gospel as He commanded?  Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would empower us to share our faith (Acts 1:8).  Are we to do nothing with the gift that Jesus has given us?

I don’t care if you pass out tracts or share Jesus with your co-workers at lunch or you stand on a street corner and preach the gospel.  I don’t care if you go to Africa and preach the gospel.  I All I want to see is the lost saved.  I want to see people repenting of their sins (Acts 3:19).  I want to see the Lord Jesus and His gospel go forth as He commanded it to be.  I want the glory of God to fill the nations (Psalm 2:8).

The other day I was working and considering prayer.  I was pondering how much time do I pray for the lost?  Am I truly burdened by the fact that 133,000 people a day die without Jesus Christ?  Am I burdened by the fact that most of the nations have yet to hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ?  Am I burdened that most of the folks in my own city are lost without God?  Does it bother me that so many people around me are dying in their sins without Jesus?  I must say that these thoughts moved me.  I begin to pray, despite being very tired at the time, and cry out to God to move in power to show His glory and His salvation.  I begin to pray for the gospel to go forth and that the Holy Spirit would help me to share the gospel with the lost around me.  I begin to pray for the tracts that I have passed out, that they would have fallen into the hands of people who are being drawn by the Spirit (John 6:44).  I begin to pray for disciples to seek to preach Christ in every circumstance they find themselves (Philippians 1:20-21).  Oh to have the heart of Paul the Apostle who said in Romans 15:20 that his desire was to preach Christ not where He had already be preached but to those who had not heard His name.  I pray that my heart would beat that way as well.