December 24. 2008 03:23

Isaiah 6

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

9 He said, "Go and tell this people:
" 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'


10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes. [a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."

While we indeed are compelled to share the Gospel, if the Lord does not, through His Spirit, work in a person's life: no proclamation of the faith, no matter how how reasoned or eloquent will bring a person to faith in Christ contrary to

Rick warren's quote "It is my deep conviction that anybody anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the felt needs to his or her heart. That key to each person's heart is unique so it is sometimes difficult to discover. It may take some time to identify it. But the most likely place to start is with the person's felt needs. As I pointed out earlier, this was the approach Jesus used."

(Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church, pg. 219)

Douglas Belardi

December 26. 2008 08:19

Charles, this video was an encouragement to me. Thanks for posting it. I have a deal with two high school friends to communicate (more) after New Years about faith and religion. One girl has no belief in God and the guy claims to be "in between us", but when he told me his favorite church is the Unitarian Church, well then I think he has one of us in the wrong spot and I am going to throw down him. However, the communication we have had to this point has been positive, open and genuinely enthusiastic. It has also been complimentary in that the gal told me she respected the fact that I wouldn't shy away from the conversation. This video encouraged me to press on and while I feel the gentleness and respect aspects of it are not the challenge, the clarity of words is. I tend to rely on my heart and that which God has pressed into it. I am trusting the Holy Spirit for the words.

I trust you and Pat had a wonderful Christmas with your family. I am delighted to see FOTP is thriving. I enjoy checking this blog and decided this was a good time to stop lurking and say hello!
Elizabeth Mattson

Elizabeth Mattson