Which of the following are similar to the ways you've served Christ in your family? [check all that apply]
• Taught your kids to see God's glory in nature
• Washed the dishes without being asked
• Played a board game with your kids
• Encouraged your wife to finish her master's degree
• Attended a child's open house at school
• Worked fewer hours to be with your family
• Set an example of a godly prayer life for your children
• Held a crying child
• Swung on the tire swing with your daughter
• Told your wife why you're still in love with her
• Told your son he's got what it takes
• Coached soccer
• Let you child correct you now and then
• Fixed the vacuum cleaner
• Taught your sons to ride a bike
• Listened patiently to a complaint of your wife
• Taped your child's artwork to your office wall
• Admitted to your kids that you were wrong
• Told your children how Christ entered your life
• Cleaned up vomit
• Taught your children to love books
• Been romantic without expecting sex
• Told your daughter she's smart/beautiful
• Set standards for your kids and stuck to them
• Dealt graciously with a busybody neighbor
• Peeled carrots
• Watched movies together
Weekend Wrap-up Theme of the Week: Witnessing That's Not Weird Saturday, June 26, 2004
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Men of IntegrityMay/June 2004Weekend Wrap-upTheme of the Week: Witnessing That's Not WeirdSaturday, June 2673
"A non-Christian who believes that all Christians are phony, pushy, manipulative, and intolerant will have a hard time ever hearing the gospel," writes Tim Downs in Finding Common Ground. "Who would he listen to?"
Good point. So we face the double task of breaking stereotypes so that our acquaintances will be able to listen, and then making sure they have an opportunity to really hear. In his two letters to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul has a good deal to say on this subject. Here's one section.
Interact with God's Word
2 Corinthians 5:18—6:4a
What is the "wonderful message" that has been entrusted to us? (5:19)How does Paul describe our relationship to God? (5:20; 6:1) To whom is an ambassador sent? To whom does he report?What does Paul say is our assignment? (5:18)How did Paul respond to this assignment? (5:20; 6:1) How have you responded?How (according to 6:3) are unbelievers sometimes hindered from coming to faith? What is required to "fault-proof" our lives?Spend Time in Prayer
Ask God to make you an ambassador who's well connected with the people to whom you've been sent, but also dependable as His spokesman.
2 Corinthians 5:18—6:4a
18All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. 19For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. 20We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, "Be reconciled to God!" 21For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
1As God's partners, we beg you not to reject this marvelous message of God's great kindness. 2For God says,
"At just the right time, I heard you.
& On the day of salvation, I helped you."
Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation.
3We try to live in such a way that no one will be hindered from finding the Lord by the way we act, and so no one can find fault with our ministry. 4In everything we do we try to show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.
If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless.
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