The Bridge to the Kingdom- Fully Equipped- MONDAY
The Bridge to the Kingdom
by
Rocky Fleming
Monday -Fully Equipped
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."
(2ndTimothy 3:16-17 ESV)
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As a ministry, I think Influencers is doing a good job with certain aspects of discipleship. Our goal is to get followers of Christ to a closer relationship with Him. This is what The Journey is about. However, I am not satisfied that we are adequately equipping our guys and gals with a resource for leading spiritual refugees to God's Kingdom. I truly believe that the disciple Christ forms in our close proximity with Him will understand how to make other disciples. It is our call, and our mission to share Him. But the process of gracefully sharing our hope with an interested non-believer is sometimes hindered by our uncomfortable and cumbersome methods. I do not want to share a rigid track for evangelism, but rather a simple understanding of where all mankind begins (our condition), the consequence of this condition (complete separation from God, death, hell), the solution to this problem (Jesus), and the hope we are given with a new life (abundance). I want to use my devotional series this week to provide a simple and clear understanding of the Gospel for you, and an effective way for you to communicate it. I believe many of you guys are a little reluctant to share your hope in Christ,only because you do not know how to present it. Hopefully before this week is out, you will have a Gospel tool to use and it will be effective for you, for it connects with what is going on in your heart and allows you to express it naturally. This is when sharing our hope in Christ gets easy and fruitful, for those we touch with it sees our words as authentic because they come from our heart.
The Journey to the Inner Chamber is a Gospel tool. But I didn't realize it when I first wrote it. When I wrote the book I did so with only believers in mind, not for non-believers, for my personal call is to make disciples in the Church. However, I have said all along that the book is God's work and I was only the writer as He inspired it to me. Therefore, I am not surprised that there are more insights in the book than I realized when I wrote it. Over the last few years I have been told by other readers and by its ministry use that many readers have actually come to know Christ for the first time because of the clear way the process of becoming a disciple unfolds in the book. It shows the condition of mankind (RefugeeCamp-Lost People). It shows the solution (DrawBridge-Christ). It shows the process of spiritual growth (Banquet Table-God's Word and its application to our life). It shows the transformed life in the future of a disciple (Inner Chamber-Influencer/Influence). Some of the readers came to realize that they had assumed they were Christians for various false reasons only to discover that they had never crossed the Bridge. They realized that they were still a "Refugee"and needed to begin their life as Christ's disciple by receiving Him into their life.
For all of us in our spiritual journey, it begins at the point of salvation and goes from there. But it has to start there and will not go forward without this entry point. Therefore, if we are to be Influencers to our world of the lost (Refugees in the Refugee Camp), we need to know how to lead people to theDraw Bridge of Jesus Christ. After this, we can move them forward in their discipleship process. This is where having an understanding of how to share our hope and the conversion process becomes important.
I would like to include a short quote from The Journey to the Inner Chamber to make my point, for it illustrates where our discipleship process begins:
(Excerpt) BY THIS TIME INFLUENCER AND REFUGEE had gone on, so I rushed to catch up. When I had caught up with them, Influencer had already helped Refugee off his horse. They were talking intently. Influencer was motioning toward the drawbridge that crossed the mote. I noticed that the bridge was up. As I watched them, Influencer stopped talking. He and Refugee embraced, and Influencer backed away and closely watched Refugee. Next I watched Refugee fall to his knees, clasp his hands under his chin and start to pray. I couldn't hear his prayer, but as he was praying, the drawbridge began to be lowered slowly. When Refugee opened his eyes and saw the drawbridge down before him, an indescribable smile crossed his face. Influencer was beaming. It looked as if the relationship of Influencer and Refugee changed before my eyes. I was no longer seeing strangers who had become friends and were embracing each other. I was now seeing brothers who had been estranged but were back together. Both Influencer and Refugee were weeping. But these were not the tears of pain or heartbreak. They were tears of unspeakable joy.
After a brief celebration, Influencer and Refugee crossed the drawbridge arm in arm and proceeded into the castle.
"Oh, sir, what have I seen here?"I asked. "This is the most touching scene I have ever seen."
Messenger answered, "You have just seen the birth of a new child to God's kingdom. Refugee has crossed the Bridge and is now in God's family."
"The decision to cross the Bridge had to be made by Refugee alone. Influencer had explained the process to Refugee. He walked Refugee all the way to a point of decision, but it was Refugee's choice to make. Coming to God cannot be attained through parents, friends or well-wishers. A person may grow up in church and have a family legacy of belief in Jesus, but the decision is still up to him. The Father has no grandchildren, only children. This is the reason you saw Influencer step away from Refugee when the time came for the decision. It was between Refugee and God."
"Refugee recognized the gift that was being offered to him through God's provision. Influencer had done a good job, by his life's example, of getting the point across to Refugee. But the decision was now in Refugee's hands, and he made his decision. When Refugee prayed to the Lord, he said he recognized that he was a sinner and was lost. He said he was aware that he didn't deserve His love or the salvation that was being offered. He was tired of the life he was living and wanted to give it to God to do with as He saw fit. Refugee said he wanted to receive the provision that had been made for him and become God's child. At that point, the Bridge was lowered and you saw what happened."
So here are a couple points:
- "Influencer had explained the process to Refugee. He walked Refugee all the way to a point of decision, but it was Refugee's choice to make."
- "Influencer had done a good job, by his life's example, of getting the point across to Refugee."
What do you think Influencer was sharing with Refugee? It was the hope he himself had found in Jesus, and he gave a clear understanding as to what Refugee needed to do to enter into this same relationship with God. My hope with this week's devotionals is that I can give you a message that you can whisper to someone in the Refugee Camp in your world. As was required of Influencer to live a good life example of how a Christian looks and acts, it is also required of all of us so that our witness will be credible. But knowing what to say when the time is right is what I wish to share with you this week. Tomorrow we will start your first step in understanding how to share the Gospel by understanding the condition most of mankind is in, which is not good. In fact, it is hopeless for them unless they find Jesus. That is where the Gospel comes to the rescue and what you have to offer to this world.