A woman walked into her bathroom at
home. As she did, she saw her husband weighing himself
on the bathroom scales, sucking in his stomach. The
woman thought to herself, "He thinks that he will weigh
less by sucking in his stomach." So, the woman rather
sarcastically said to her husband, "That’s not going to
help." Her husband said, "Sure it will. It’s the only
way I can see the numbers."
Often this time of year, after the
overindulgence of the holidays we make resolutions to
change our habits and our way of life. A new year gives
us an opportunity to start fresh and better ourselves.
But by the middle of January we somehow forget our
resolutions and go back to our old ways.
There is, however, one resolution
we cannot forget. And that is the resolution we as a
church made to be passionate about telling people about
God’s forgiveness through his Son Jesus Christ. This
church makes no bones about the fact that we are
actively trying to share the good news of Jesus Christ
with others.
So here’s the New Year’s resolution
I want to encourage Lincoln Christian Church people to
make for 2012. LET’S RESOLVE TO SHARE JESUS CHRIST WITH
SOMEONE.
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you.”
How can we best share Jesus with
another?
Be Authentic
There is nothing that turns people
off to the gospel more than phony Christians. A major
temptation for us is to try to cover up, to act pious
and religious...to pretend we are more holy than we are.
Rick Warren suggests that there are
four ways that Christians can treat people. First he
says you can treat them like, "I’m okay, and you’re
okay." The second ways is, "I’m okay, but you’re not
okay." The third way is, "I’m not okay, but you’re
okay." The final approach he suggests is this, "I’m not
okay, and you’re not okay." Rick concludes, "The New
Testament teaches that: I’m not okay, you’re not okay.
But because of Jesus that’s okay."