Title: Necessity-centered evangelism (Proverbs 25:21-22)
Contents
The venom of the rattlesnake that lives in the desert is truly terrifying. When bitten, no animal can survive and soon die. For research on rattlesnakes in the desert, with a project, a team went to the desert to do research. Move the camera to follow the rattlesnake. However, when the rattlesnake bites, almost all of them die. But strangely, a rattlesnake bites a squirrel and it doesn't die. Surprised, I did research and found out that the squirrel was a pregnant squirrel. All the other squirrels that had only their own life died, but the mother squirrel that was carrying the young did not die because of the life of the young. It was not that he was not dead, it was that he could not die.
Necessity soon creates miracles. It was necessary to save a life, so the rattlesnake did not die when bitten. That is why the missionary does not die until the mission is completed. A person must have a mission. That way you will be healthy and not die. Even if a disease comes, we will overcome it, and even if we die, we will live. The moment we miss our mission, we are the weakest.
We have a mission. We are also living the three major works that the Lord did. The three major works of the Lord are “teaching,” “preaching,” and “healing.” Among them, the ministry of preaching the gospel that we are going to deal with today is the greatest of our missions. The point of contact is very important for evangelism. There must be a point of contact for the gospel to be transmitted. There must be a bridge for the gospel to cross. The bridge through which the gospel is transmitted is a relationship. The gospel can be crossed by contacting unbelievers through relationships is.
We need to make a point of contact with unbelievers, and that point of contact is the need of unbelievers. Everyone feels a need, from a small need to a big need, and lives with a desire for need. When your needs are met, you feel better and happier. However, if the need is not met, it is annoying and life is not life-like and unhappy. So by understanding this need and meeting the need, we can win the hearts of unbelievers and plant the gospel in a corner of their hearts. We may only be able to fill in a very small part. But there is someone who can completely satisfy the needs of all life. He is Jesus Christ. Those of us who first discovered Him who meets our needs should promote Jesus Christ who meets the needs of our lives.
The famous preacher Charles Spurgeon metaphorically described evangelism as "a beggar who has already obtained bread, tells another beggar where he can get bread." Spurgeon's parable is that both the preacher and the hearer are like beggars in need of bread. The only difference is that one has already got the bread and knows where the bread is served. In this way, meeting the real needs of life is need-centered evangelism.
Today's verse says, "If your enemy is hungry, give him food, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. This is like putting coals of coal on his head, and the Lord will reward you." The same verse is also found in Romans 12:20. “If the enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink.” Even the enemy was told to feed him when he was hungry, and to give him water to drink when he was thirsty. It's about filling a need. What more to say about family, acquaintances, colleagues, and neighbors? He said that filling the need in this way is to put the charcoal on his head. What does it mean to put a pin charcoal on your head?
The secret to making your enemies your friend is to treat them with kindness. It is to satisfy their needs. If that does not change his attitude, his guilt and punishment will be aggravated. This means that it would be an act of heaping up coals of fire burning God's wrath on his head.
In the Old Testament, in 2 Kings 7, there were lepers outside the city of Samaria in northern Israel, which was besieged by the Syrians. When the city of Samaria was besieged by the Arameans, the lepers outside the city could not even hear the crumbs falling from the city. Who will bring them food? After several days of starvation, I decided to surrender to the Syrian army and went to Aramdundae. But God had already driven out all of the Syrian army. The lepers were frantically gathering food and valuables, and at some point they came to think of their starving compatriots in Samaria. Even though the compatriots considered themselves lepers, they were forced out of the city by isolating them from society and taking their needs into account. So, saying, “It is not right for us to do this,” he went into Samaria and delivered the good news.
Today is a vision project to build a healthy church, the 7th out of eight qualitative characteristics of a healthy church, “needs-oriented evangelism”. Now this epic project will be finished next week.
What is Need-Centered Evangelism? It starts by identifying the problems of unbelievers and meeting their needs. Need-focused evangelism refers to the process of intentionally developing close relationships with potential believers so that they become committed disciples of Christ with full participation in the church and community. To make unbelievers part of God's family, churches need to develop appropriate ministries to unbelievers and close relationships with unbelieving neighbors. What are the greatest needs of unbelievers? Of course, it is the gospel. It is the victory of the cross that Jesus Christ achieved, the blood-stained gospel of the cross, and the victory of the cross that solved all problems in our lives. Fish cannot survive without water, and trees cannot survive without land. Likewise, man cannot live apart from God. All the problems in our lives are problems that stem from leaving God. Now we must meet God. We need to help you meet God. We must give the shock of the gospel to the souls who go to church but wander because they cannot meet God.
There are times in life when things get tough. The love of family, relatives, friends and neighbors who warmly hold hands at such moments gives us strength and hope and lifts us up. Like the lower neck that warms the body in the cold winter, love and hope melt the difficulties of life. Through the house ministry, we, Christians who believe in this role first, play this role.
What really matters is that we have the answers in life. We who have realized the Gospel have the answers to life. If you have the answers, you should have compassion and help the unbelievers. Compassion means feeling the pain of others as your own and sharing it. The answers to all life's problems, the solutions to all unresolved problems, and the gospel have them all.
All Christians are evangelists. Indeed, all Christians have a responsibility to use the specific gifts they have been given to carry out the Lord's Great Commission. It is the duty of all Christians to use their gifts to serve unbelievers with whom they are personally acquainted, to help them hear the sure gospel, and to help and encourage them to connect with nearby churches. Searching for new unbelievers is important, but first you need to make use of irrigation with existing unbelievers. The key to church growth is that the church's evangelism focus is on meeting the problems and needs of unbelievers.
The need-centered evangelism ministry is house ministry. This is home work. It's a work job.
There is a saying that unbelievers must be born again in order to live in the church. It is said that after hearing the gospel and being regenerated, they must be born again in the culture of the church. The walls of the church are higher than you think. Because of the high walls, it is difficult for new believers to settle in the community of the church. Therefore, before bringing new believers to the church, they first gather at home to share the gospel and learn the basics of faith, so that they can settle down more easily when they go to church. Like farming, building, like a child is born and grows up, it is to gradually build trust and lead. The reason why the church's new believers' settlement rate has been falling in the meantime is because they brought them to the church right away from the world and created a cultural heterogeneity. After going through the sound process of house ministry, each member of the church takes the lead and fulfills his or her vocation, which naturally becomes a process of knowing happiness and love in life.