Comments on: Can a church teach the Bible in such a way that it connects those who believe and those who do not believe to Jesus?

By: Anthony Orzo

Anthony Orzo — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:06:08 +0000

Hey Chuck. I hope our face to face helped to answer this question. If not, please let me know.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:20:36 +0000

This may be a little off the mark but I was reading an article today about preaching the gospel and results. The author talks about Paul preaching to the Romans in Acts 28. He states that although Paul preached from morning until night about a Messiah the Jews longed for, some believed and some didn’t. He asks if Paul could not convince this group of the gospel, where should our hope come from? He then goes on to say our hope could come from Isaiah 6:8-13 where the Lord tells Isaiah to tell the people NOT to hear until the cities lay in waste. Isaiah still went out and proclaimed the kingdom of God. I am confused by this passage. Does this basically say to preach the gospel to everyone and let the Holy Spirit sort them out or am I missing something?

By: Larry Kirk

Larry Kirk — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:11:31 +0000

The longer I’ve been a Christian the more I see how much and in how many ways the core truths of the gospel empower and inspire us for living the Christian life.

The truths we receive and believe to be justified are the foundational truths we must continually connect with to gain the sense of new identity and continual motivation for following Christ. When Paul wrote to the Roman Christians he said, (Rom. 1:15) “I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome”. He clearly says these Romans are believers and saints in the beginning of the book. That means he wanted to preach the gospel to the Christians! So we can preach the Christian life to Christians without compromise and by relating it continually to the gospel as motivation and foundation our messages relate to both Christians and non-Christians. If we do this we will show non-Christians that the Christian life is not just moralism but rooted in the gospel. We will also be honest with them about the ways in which the gospel, when believed leads to a new life to be lived.I think non-christians would get a more holistic presentation of Christianity if this was done in a balanced manner. At the same time Christian get a good diet of Christian life teaching that is rooted in faith with lots of grace and Jesus at the heart of everything.