Got a great comment from Mario Hugo, and thought it deserved a post. Thanks for the comment, Mario.
hi
i love the sermon, but more than that i love the lord. i am also nuts about him question is how do i convince my other fiends about him. i live in South Africa and we have diffrent cultures here. we have started a worship group in our church and maybe you could give us advise on how to talk to our peers to love him as much as i love himyour brother in Christ
God Bless
Francis of Assisi (or St. Francis, depending on your church background) was an amazing teacher, and preacher. But most of all, he was a reckless lover of God. He said, “Preach constantly. Use words when necessary.”
It is not your job to convince. Your job is to love God and love your neighbor. The Holy Spirit does the convincing. Paul says to be prepared to give a reason for your faith. Your love for God and your neighbor should shine in such stark contrast to the selfishness of the world around you that people will come and ask you questions. When they do, speak as honestly and truthfully as you know how, and leave the rest to God.
The biggest barrier to the spread of the good news is Christians trying to “help” God. If it were possible to force people into the kingdom, God would have done it already.
Theme song: “Stand Up Comedy” by U2
This discussion came up (in a way) at our Bible study Sunday. We were wondering how does a Christian look different than the nice guy who doesn’t believe in God? The example given was someone who is very conscious of charities and benefits and caring for others. That person is also very nice and generally behaves. We decided that while St. Francis has a great idea, we do have to speak out about our faith as well.
The fact that we can equate Christians with nice guys reveals the problem. Was Jesus a nice, or was he good? Did he do the social acceptable positive thing to build up the community, or did his words and actions confront the culture and confound authority? If we are touching untouchables, forgiving the unforgivable, and loving the unlovely then we will stand in direct contradiction to the world around us. People will ask us why because they will not believe their eyes.