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Weekly Devotional

October 12, 2009

God’s peace be with you all.

Revelation 3:14-22   ¹⁴ "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God's creation:  ¹⁵ "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot.  ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  ¹⁷ For you say, 'I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.' You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  ¹⁸ Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.  ¹⁹ I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.  ²⁰ Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.  ²¹ To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  ²² Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches."

Have you ever looked back on a situation and seen how God was present?  What if you could look forward to a situation and see God’s presence?  That is part of what evangelism is all about.  Evangelism starts with God working through YOU!  Your faith starts to incubate inside of you.  It doesn’t sit stagnate, nor is it forced to premature expression.  Instead, it is as if Jesus is knocking, and God opens your ears to hear.

There are three important aspects to Evangelism that require revisiting.  Like the previous two week’s material, this also comes from Evangelism for “normal” People. 

1.       Evangelism is a slow process, much like your faith incubating inside of you.

2.      People moving toward faith need to be able to relate to Christians, so that they can “study their faces”, see what faith looks like in practice, and how it works in the issues of daily life.  In other words, they need to be able to test the water before they jump in head first.

3.      Part of the process is having the time to ask questions, to have them heard respectfully, and to reflect on thoughtful answers.  Churches serious about helping people find faith need as a priority to provide safe places where that can happen.

As I reflect back on church yesterday, I see that we had people exhibiting #3 above.  We had two visitors at church yesterday.  One has visited us now for a few weeks, and another was a woman from Connecticut who recently moved to Inman.  Evelyn sat down beside her during church and helped her through the service.  After worship, this woman stayed around and enjoyed snacks, and again Evelyn was right there with her.  Evelyn now shares a relationship with that woman and is therefore closer to her than the rest of us.  Simply put, Evelyn made the woman feel welcome by providing a safe place and listening..  That is the heart of evangelism, and I am sure that we will see Hazel again, and perhaps even her husband Charles.  Thanks to Evelyn for providing us with this wonderful example for this week.

In our prayers this week: 

Ann, Doris, Mary Netta, Kim, Lisa, Robert, Evelyn, Michael, and St. John’s Lutheran Church.  Also, for October, we as a congregation and conference will be praying for Reformation Lutheran in Lancaster.
 

God’s Peace,

Pastor Judson