2016.7.17　礼拝

2016.7.17　礼拝

250th Life Church Service

2016.7.17 Mark 4:14-20 “Putting Evangelism into Practice – 3”

God wants to have a relationship of love with each one of us and wants us to love Him. Basically, we need to be connected and be in relationship with someone. And we find joy when we have a relationship of love with Jesus. Therefore, it becomes our desire to share this joy with others by telling them about Jesus and His words. We would want others to experience the same joy of having the relationship of love with Jesus.

➀ Knowing that evangelism is a time-consuming task by nature

Mark 4:14 The Farmer sows the word. – It takes times for the word to bear fruit.

Today, we live in the world of speed and people expect immediate results and solutions. Fast food has become a must and life without e-mails and SNS would be impossible to imagine. However, we must understand that it takes time for a seed to grow and bear fruit. Likewise, time is needed for the gospel to bear fruit.

➁ Sowing the seeds of the word.

Mark 4:14 The Farmer sows the word. – We shouldn’t expect the fruits without sowing seeds, which is the word.

Unless we plant the right seed, we cannot expect to reap the fruit we expect. Giving the Bible as a present is one way of showing the way to the word we wish to share.

➂ Sowing the word so that it bears fruits.

Mark 4:20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.

We should understand that not everyone responds favorably from the beginning. It would be good if the person was willing and ready to listen. If not, we may have to take time and wait for the situation and timing to improve.

➃ Knowing some unfruitful patterns. Knowing the difficulties and failures will allow us to approach at a more favorable time.

Mark 4:15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

There could be interruptions when we try to share the gospel. It would be necessary to overcome such interference and remove the obstacles.

Mark 4:16-17 16 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky place, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

There are people who tend to move away from Jesus after hearing and accepting the word when difficulties arise.

Mark 3;18-19 1818 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word making it unfruitful.

Our daily life is full of worries and temptations that take our minds off from the love of Christ. We forget that God is aware of all our needs and there is no need to worry ourselves but put Jesus first and love God.

Some practical solutions.

・Sowing the word on good soil. Be able to judge if the timing or the situation is right to share the word.

・Telling them that they are not bearing fruits. It would be difficult to a tell person straightforward, especially something negative．However, it is necessary and important to do so, although it would be good to select the words we use.

・We need to remain connected and be able to encourage each other so that each of us ”having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”（Luke 8:15） To overcome our worries, difficulties or temptations, we must keep fellowships in small groups and stay connected to the church which is the body of Christ.