Last night I had dinner with a friend at school because he is interested in learning about Christianity and understanding my core beliefs. We agreed to go through Romans two chapters per week and discuss them, which is awesome! Well, we had a wonderful discussion that included a review of Saul/Paul's experience and objectives, the context of the letter to the church at Rome, a summary of the Gospel (beginning of Chapter 1), and of course, the pervasive problem of sin (Chapters 1 and 2). At the end of the discussion, he told me that he is not coming into this series of discussions with the intent to become a person of faith, but he isn't coming in with a closed mind, either. I sincerely appreciate this attitude, because I believe that as I pray for him, the Lord will open his eyes to the truth of the Gospel and its personal relevance - so that he will believe and obey, to the glory of God. Consequently, I was frank with him that I was praying for him that he would believe so that he can experience the wonderful, fulfilling, and abundant life of love, joy, peace, and hope in Christ that I am experiencing.
Indeed, this morning's Scripture from 1 Peter 1 is relevant to my situational context:
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. ... 8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. ... 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. ... 21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. 22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. 23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for purchasing my salvation through the shed blood of Christ Jesus. Lord, I pray that you would turn the lights on in my friends heart and mind. Lord, please help him understand the Gospel message of faith and obedience in Jesus Christ alone. Lord, may you demonstrate your love to him through my life, and may I do everything possible so that he can enjoy his implicit destiny of a relationship with you, for your glory. I pray this in the only name that has power to save, Jesus Christ. Amen.
have you noticed that when pastor says the word gospel, he pronounces it "gosfull"? i still need to muster up the courage to ask him why he says it that way.
ReplyDeletei've been chatting with a college buddy, who was cornered by some humanist; he couldn't answer their questions, so he left his faith.
anywho, we'd been chatting for about a year now, and he has been questioning my belief the same way he was, and i've been answering him.
about a week ago, it came to a point where he said, "you say these things like they are absolutes! there are no absolutes, and that is what makes christianity wrong." so i replied to him, "if there are no absolutes, and we are all here by 'random chance' with 'random thoughts, lives, and meaning,' then who are you to tell me what i believe is right or wrong? isn't that statement in itself an absolute? by what standard are you measuring right/wrong, rational/irrational, reasonable/unreasonable, etc, if there are no absolutes? you are a hypocrite by your own standard of philosophy.
what you present as 'random' fact, is based on the presupposition that there is no god. the answers to the questions you've asked me, are based upon my presupposed truth that Jesus Christ is Lord, His Word is infallable, He is absolute truth, there is a Heaven, and there is a Hell."
i haven't heard from him yet. i think i rattled his cage a little. so pray for him.
but out of all this, i came up with a joke.
there was a creationist and an evolutionist walking together down a path, joking and talking with each other. they came upon a fossil graveyard, and the creationist looks at the evolutionist and says: "what do you presuppose that is?"
That is great! I love your logic and your joke!
ReplyDeleteI'll pray for your friend and you pray for mine.
-that we will lift up Christ and He will draw men to Himself