Greetings to all of you in the name of
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. This last Friday, April 27, 2007 we
finally got back into another Friday Night Apologetics study and chat.
Unfortunately the last couple weeks we have missed a few, my apologies
to you all. This FNA concluded the Colossians theme study and it was a
good one! Not as many people showed up for this study but we definitely
did not lack in discussions!
In the conclusion of our Colossians
theme we discussed 3:15-17 and 4:2-6. Our discussions focused highly
upon Colossians 3:16 and Colossians 4:5-6. I will share just a couple
thoughts from our discussion below and welcome those of you who were
there to comment, and those who may listen later.
· Colossians 3:15-17 states: 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be
thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and
admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever
you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (New American
Standard Bible)
--->If we were to go for the next two years without having any
access to a Bible, commentaries, or Bible related material, how would we
do spiritually with the Word that we have in us right now? In other
words, if all you had to for the next two years for spiritual truth is
what you have memorized, how would that affect you? How would that
affect the world?
Personally that is a hard to deal with for majority of those who are
Christians. Most of us do not truly take the time to get into the Word
of God, study, memorize, meditate, or things of that nature. Most
Christians (at least most in North America) do the weekly Sunday visit
and typically that is it. (in general terms) We are instructed
by Paul and others places in Scripture to have the Word within us, to
study, to meditate, and live by the very Word of God. What are your
thoughts, if any?
· Colossians 4:2-6 states: 2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being
watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door
for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for
which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I
should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of
every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace,
seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone
(New American Standard Bible)
--->In our discussion I shared how a friend of mine
named Dave and I have been witnessing to some Mormon missionaries,
though they don’t know they are being witnessed to, ha! When witnessing
to Mormon missionaries it is different then witnessing to Jehovah’s
Witnesses, UPCI, etc. Mormons are typically feelings based when it comes
to what they believe. Very few Mormons actually know the Bible very
well. (this could also apply to many Christians, hmmm.) Mormons
typically know what they have been taught from the Book of Mormon, The
Pearl of Great Price, Doctrines and Covenants, three sacred books of
theirs additional to the Bible. They also have modern day prophets, (not
true ones) and they get inspiration and doctrine from them as well. All
those who have led the Mormon church from Joseph Smith until now are
considered modern day prophets and on the same level as Scripture.
So with all of that I shared how we are meeting with some LDS
missionaries and we have had 3 meetings thus far. Colossians 4:5-6 are
very profound verses for sharing the faith. We must be wise in how we
conduct ourselves, otherwise we may miss some solid opportunities in
sharing the faith. One thing I have learned over the years in witnessing
to Mormons is learning how to ask questions from what they share with
me, and seek God and pray for seeds to be planted. In many cases
learning how to listen, be patient, and ask key questions when the time
is right can be very effective in sharing the faith. Of course there are
times when we will be the ones answering the questions, and we need to
be prepared for those times as well. What are some experiences
you have had in sharing the faith with non-Christians and how did it go?
New topic for the month of
May! For this month we will be discussing a bit deeper the subject of
what is called “Arminianism”. Some of the key issues will be addressing
what it means to be saved, in Christ, eternally secure, and how that
relates in the body of Christ today. Following up after that in June we
will address the other side of the coin, “Calvinism”, oh yea! The next
couple months should be very interesting. God bless you, thank you for
your interest in apologetics and growing together through the Word of
God.
