Sharing Jesus with Others, Part II

Hi Friends-

Thank you for your patience.  My back is still not back to how it was feeling a month ago, but I feel I am on the road to recovery.  Thank you for the your many prayers and thoughts.  You are appreciated much more than you know.  Please remember that I am here to lift up your prayer needs should you choose to let me know.

You may recall, I was sharing from the book titled, The Case for Christ authored by Lee Strobel.  If you didn't see this post...it is right after the one that it called, Not This Week. It would be beneficial to take a look at it first.  It's really a great book. 

In the book Lee Strobel, "retraced his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, cross-examined a dozen experts with doctorates from schools like Cambridge, Princeton and Brandeis who are recognized authorities in their own fields."

On November 8, 1981, Mr. Strobel "talked with God in a heartfelt and unedited prayer, admitting and turning from wrongdoing, and receiving the gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus.  He told him that with his help he wanted to follow Him and His ways from here on out."

He went on to say, "There were no lightning bolts, no audible replies, no tingly sensations.  I know that some people feel a rush of emotion at such a moment; as for me, however, there was something else that was equally exhilarating; there was the rush of reason."

 He believed, 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."  Mr. Strobel went on to say that, "over time as he endeavored to follow Jesus' teachings and open himself to his transforming power, his priorities, his values, and his character were (and continue to be) gradually changed.  Increasingly, he wants Jesus' motives and perspective to be his own.  To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., "he may not yet be the man I should be or the man, with Christ's help, I someday will be--but thank God I'm not the man I used to be!"

He stated,  "Looking back nearly two decades, I can see with clarity that the day I personally made a decision in the case for Christ was nothing less than the pivotal event of my entire life. "If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." (John 8:24)  Those are sober words, offered out of authentic and loving concern.  I cite them to underline the magnitude of this matter and in the hope that they will spur you to actively and thoroughly examine the case for Christ.

He sounds determined, "I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God."  That is one of thing we must not say.  A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic...or else he would be the Devil of hell.  You must make your choice.  Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse.  You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.  But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.  He has not left that open to us.  He has not left that open to us.  He did not intend to."

 

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 What was your spiritual journey like?  Were you born into a Christian family and never came to question your beliefs?  Fortunate I say.  Did you have friends invite you to church where you heard something that made your heart leap and give you hope?  Maybe you read a Bible hoping to prove it wrong...like I tried. lol  Only to be shocked that it all made sense...more sense than I ever imagined!

 

2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." Was very clear to me. My former friends did not want anything to do with the new "goody-goody" version of me. Some family did not want to believe that my conversion to living for Christ would last. Eventually my family came around. And, looking back, I am so much better off without certain "friends" in my life, because they often tried to pull my from my new life, with a daily relationship with Jesus the Christ, in exchange for a time of supposed fun, which was sinful and caused distance in my relationship with Jesus. Some of you may be in this part of your walk with Christ Jesus, and you have some decisions to make.  Who is your better friend, the one who takes you to places in your past and tries to keep you there--sinning?  Or is Jesus your better friend?  Always there, always forgiving, always loving...with a gift of eternal life in Heaven. Easy choice, if you ask me. I made the decision for Christ when I was 29, I'm 48 now. I am so glad I did. 

 

Have you made that decision? How about sharing in the comment section?  If you are still making that decision, perhaps you have questions that we can answer together.

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Winners of the He IS Able Blog's Cards of the Week are...

 

 Caterina and Becky!

 

Since I was unable to share a post last week, I promised to send a card to a person from the Sharing Jesus with Others, Part I, and another comment from the post called, Not This Week...  That's why we have 2 winners this week! Congratulations Caterina and Becky!  Thank you for sharing your comments. Please send me your current address via email, or an address to someone who lives in the US, and I will send it to them on your behalf.  Or, I can send them to a charity where I send cards.  Your choice, please, just email me before Tuesday. All of my former addresses are under a room full of scrapbook and card materials since I am trying to slowly empty my art room, so I can rearrange it...and, I don't know if you have moved, so an update would be fabulous.  And, sadly, if I don't receive your email by Tuesday, I will need to put your card back in the He IS Able Blog's stash, to be used again.

Caterina's comment was randomly chosen from the post titled, Sharing Jesus with Others, Part I.  Here is her comment:

Anonymous March 6, 2014

Thank you for such a beautiful uplifting post. Have heard of Lee Strobel's book yet have not read it. Sounds like a good one.

May God continue to bless you and enlarge your territory within your ministry.

Love, Caterina

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And, here is Becky's comment from the Not This Week...post: 

Becky  March 14, 2014

So sorry to hear about your back. I do pray you get well soon. hugs.

 

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So, did any of you take the challenge and share about Jesus with strangers?  I called it

 S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G the muscles that it takes to share with strangers.  As with any muscle, it is best to keep using it to keep things going well, like a greased wheel.  If you work out and stop for 6 months, it is like starting over when you get exercising again.  So, it is best to start sharing about Jesus and keep sharing...and never stop!  If you tried sharing recently...how did it go? Even if the person didn't accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior this time...don't give up on them.  You have helped to plant a seed...put the thought in their mind.  You may get to help water this seed by sharing again, or perhaps someone else will take over from there!  We never know when that person will accept Jesus...we just need to do our part.  It's exciting!

 

He IS Able!

Traci Starkweather