Proclaim email from Jonathon Sawyer

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison - that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Colossians 4:2-6

As we are walking through the Proclaim material as a care group, we would like to encourage you to share your experiences with proclaiming the good news of the gospel through e-mail with everyone in the group. Though we will have some opportunity to share as we gather in our care group setting,  receiving periodic e-mails from you, Christ's laborers in the harvest, will give every one fresh reminders of God's faithfulness to see his gospel established in the hearts of sinful men.

As we heard in our last session, as believers, we don't have to be gifted in evangelism because we are already gifted for evangelism. This is God's unstoppable gospel. We are qualified to proclaim, because our Father in Heaven "has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1:13-14

Sharing the gospel includes reaching out with our unique gifts and personalities. Some styles of outreach are more direct, others intellectual, testimonial, relational, invitational, or serving. Different situations call for different styles of outreach. 

So whether we have handed out a tract, invited someone to church, had an opportunity to engage in a lengthy intellectual dialogue, served someone evangelistically, or directly communicated the gospel, let's share our experiences. Share what went well and what didn't! Remember that personal rejection isn't failure, but a reason to rejoice (Matthew 5:11-12). As we share stories of our gospel proclamation, let that provoke us toward prayer for the lost, and for each other. 

Zane is a co-worker that I have known for several years. He also used to work with Josh Payne. He identifies himself as a Buddhist. A few nights ago I had the opportunity to engage in conversation about the gospel with him, and to my surprise, he seemed somewhat receptive. He agreed to come to church when he has a Sunday off.

Lupe is a housekeeper at the Hotel at which I work. She has had tremendous family trials lately. I was able to give her a "How Good Are You"  tract. It was one of those encounters that felt very awkward to me, and as she walked away with the tract I thought, "boy, that was ineffective!" Of course, that was my flesh speaking, but I think we can all identify with those awkward moments.

Art works at the U-Haul store off of Main street in Little Elm. I have been at the U-Haul store a few times, and he has been impressed on my heart. Last week I thought about going to visit him at the store with the purpose of giving him a tract. I wrestled with that thought, and decided not to go. This morning he came back to mind. After some time in prayer, I drove over to CVS and picked up a small gift, went to the U-Haul store and invited him to church. We had about a five minute conversation, briefly going over the tract. He was not hostile, but made it known that he was expecting to get busy soon. I was able to get his e-mail address, and will be doing some additional outreach that way.

Proclaim the gospel and leave the results to God.

Comments

[Brandi Silva]

Jonathon:
This is awesome! God bless you for spreading the good news..........the great news!!