Is Jesus a Hard Sell?

I heard someone mention the other day how hard it is to win young people to Christ. They asked for ideas of how to be more successful at it. Unfortunately there are many youth organizations in the same boat, which is sad, because instead of relying on the work of God they have resorted to gimmicks, and things that are appealing to the world. They have taken Christ out of becoming a Christian.

Let’s get one thing clear! When God is at work you don’t need any gimmicks, or entertainment, or draw of popularity. You don’t have to have the right words, or songs, or sounds. It doesn’t matter who is speaking, or what they are saying. The key to winning young people (and old) is GOD.


Saving Souls 101:

The only way to successfully win souls and defeat the devil is by following the model laid out in Revelations:

Revelations 12:10-12 - Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short." (NIV)

Lesson 1: The blood of the Lamb - It is not our job to “sell” Jesus; that is the job of the Holy Spirit. If it is a “hard sell” for us, it is because we are trying to do the Holy Spirit’s work ourselves, instead of leaving it to Him. Salvation is not a matter of persuasion. It is only the power of God that can save.

Romans 1:16-17 - I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." (NIV)

Romans 8:16 - The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 2:13-14 - This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 12:3 - Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. (NIV)

Lesson 2: The word of our testimony - We are called to be “witnesses” of what God has done for us. A “witness” must only state what they have seen and experienced for themselves, otherwise they are giving hearsay or false testimony. God did not called us for our “expert testimony”; we don’t have the credentials to be “experts”. Salvation is about stating what we know as fact, not giving arguments.

Acts 1:8 - "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (NIV)

Acts 4:19-20 - But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." (NIV)

Acts 22:14-15 - "Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. (NIV)

1 John 1:1-4 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. (NIV)

Lesson 3: Not loving our lives so much as to shrink from death - Salvation is about action, not empty words. We can’t expect someone else to accept something that we aren’t prepared to risk everything for. We must show by the example of our own lives, that living for Christ is worth doing despite possible embarrassment, discomfort, personal sacrifice, or even dire consequences.

Matthew 5:11-12 - "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (NIV)

Mark 10:29-30 - "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. (NIV)

If we follow the model that God gave us, we will never have a “hard sell”.


James :)

Living Forever

I was listening to the radio this morning, to a counseling talk show. The caller was concerned that her 12 year old son (the youngest) was bothered by the likelihood that all his immediate family members would die before him, and he would have to face the pain of every death.

In her counseling, the host made several comments that people living forever would not be a good thing, how it is the shortness of life that motivates people to accomplishment, and how everyone would have boring lives if they didn’t have their pending death to motivate them. I’ve heard similar conclusions from other sources in the past, that it is the shortness of life that enables us to accept the “illusion” of love lasting forever, that “death” is the cure for the “poison” of life. There are even fairy tales about immortal beings envying man’s mortality.

When I hear such nonsense I can’t help but wonder what motivates people to entertain so many delusions. Perhaps that is why some people think they will find peace through suicide…

My friends, do not fall for the deception! From my experience on this earth, there are two things I am more CONFIDENT of than anything else. Mankind was NEVER intended to be alone (Genesis 2:18), and mankind was NEVER intended to be short lived (Titus 1:2). These two facts are irrefutably tied into the very purpose for which GOD CREATED US.

How do I know that the talk show host and the fairy tales are wrong? If you think about it, it really isn’t that difficult to prove. The most painful thing anyone can possibly experience is when their relationship with someone they care for is broken. Whether through conflict or death, the bite cuts deeper than even the worst torture you could ever imagine. And the only thing that can quench that pain is our hope that what has happened is not the end. I know that mankind is supposed to be immortal, because God would never have wanted us to feel the pain of death.

Death came into this world because of sin (Romans 5:12), and it is NOT a good thing.

John 10:10 - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (NIV)

James :)