A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Dr. Larry Ollison)
Scripture for the Day – April 16, 2019
“The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
As a pastor, I have had many dedicated Christians ask me how they can influence a lost family member or friend to become a Christian. Some ask if I have a certain formula, teaching, or method that can be used as an evangelistic tool that will bring their friend or relative to a place where they will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Once I had a young man tell me of all the scriptures and teaching that he had piled onto a coworker over a period of years and he was distraught because now the coworker simply avoided him. While this young man had been trying to explain spiritual things, his friend had actually become confused and pushed away. How could this be?
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that the natural man does not understand spiritual things and it goes on to say that not only does he not understand them, but to him they are foolishness because they are discerned spiritually. This tells us that someone who is not born again does not have the capability of understanding the deep spiritual things of God.
So with this being established as a biblical truth, how then do we bring lost people who do not know Jesus to a place where they desire to become a born-again Christian? Here’s the answer.
As a Christian, your best witnessing tool is your ability to walk in the fruit of the Spirit. Every Christian receives the fruit of the Spirit inside of them when they receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit moves within your spirit to live and brings with Him all of the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
A Christian is empowered to walk in joy, to walk in peace, to be kind, and has no excuse for unkindness. Why? Because the fruit of the Spirit is within every born-again believer. For a Christian to pray to receive joy, or to receive peace, or to receive self-control is a misguided prayer, because a Christian already has these things. It’s not receiving the fruit of the Spirit that is the problem; it is the release from within that is the issue. There is no excuse, it is a choice, and the choice is yours.
What I am saying is this. If you will live your life walking in love, joy, peace, kindness, and self-control, others will be attracted to you and to what you have. They will be drawn to you and desire what you have that has created this lifestyle. Jesus put it this way. He said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). If you will live your life walking in the fruit of the Spirit, the light of the gospel will shine from you and the Father and His Word will be illuminated. As you are led by the Holy Spirit, you will know when the time is right to ask the question, “Would you like to become a Christian?”
To become a Christian requires two things: the grace of God (His power) and faith (your belief). “For by grace you have been saved through faith…” (Ephesians 2:8). God’s grace is ever present for salvation and God has dealt a measure of faith to every person to be saved. Our desire and belief moves our faith to activate His grace, and all of this is a result of your light shining and illuminating the darkness.
Theological debates and the reasoning of man are not what bring the lost to Christ. It is the light shining in the darkness that is the result of a Christian walking in the goodness of God (Romans 2:4).
