Confrontational to relational to...Part 3

Paul says in Galatians 6 that “the one who sows to the flesh will, from the flesh, reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” I believe this truth extends into our hearts in sharing the gospel. It is possible to do those things commanded by God apart from God. It is the sin that angered Jesus the most. It was the sin of the Pharisees. It was and is today the sin of religion. It is in this place that I found myself sharing the gospel; sowing to the flesh and reaping the corrupted motives that God despised.

As the Lord revealed this to me, He began leading me further out of the murky waters of this debate that rages on to a single conclusion that rocked my world. As with everything else in our daily lives, evangelism is done best when we walk by the Spirit. I say “done best” because evangelism done as we keep in step with the Spirit of God edifies the soul who listens as well as the soul who preaches. Until the Lord gave me my breakthrough that I have posted of before, I had still seen some fruit in my preaching, but it had been a long time since I had experienced the pure joy it is to share the gospel with the lost fueled by the fruit of the Spirit of God.

A single basic truth that I found was this: It is just as much a sin to go out before the Spirit as it is to lag behind Him.

Like G.I. Joe has shown us for many years, “knowing is only half the battle.” Practically applying this powerful truth to my life has been more enlightening and encouraging than I could have ever imagined. The key to walking by the Spirit is to “pray without ceasing.” A pretty simple concept rarely applied and practiced. Since I have the command of God already to “preach to every creature” I go ahead and assume that wherever I am where others are present that He desires to reach out to those around me through me. After all, “today is the day of salvation”, and “how will they hear without a preacher?”…right? Sometimes I feel impressions to speak to certain people, and other times I just get this joy that causes me to express whatever of God I can to whoever I can just about however I can. The freedom we have in Christ is not just a freedom from the bondage of legalism and the condemnation therein, but the freedom to act on those prayers we offer up on behalf of others. Are we praying for others? That’s the first step. As I have actively prayed for the people around me, I have found that almost every time God moves me to act.

The truth is, as we walk by the Spirit in evangelism there is a TON of room to let our personalities influence our witness and many methods to use as we seek to reach out to those so desperately in need of the gospel we enjoy. The next post will have more concerning how I have found the Lord leading me to reach out to people.