Predestination (Phase 3)
..... God works in the life of every person in a sincere effort to bring them to Christ, for He is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance and the knowledge of the truth (2 Peter 3:9; Ephesians 1:11-12). He makes a sincere and, depending on the degree of need, even a very powerful effort to reveal Himself to all men, in order to offer this relationship effectively. In Scripture, this working is called ‘predestination’, which we have divided into three ‘phases’ for discussion purposes.
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.... Predestination Phase 1 may be considered the ‘introduction’ as God reaches out to each one of us, in helping us identify with Jesus in His humility. If we respond with an initial humility of our own and glorify Him, He will 'call' us, and move us on to Phase 2. This is the transition phase, which will prepare our hearts for actually coming to Christ and move us from sinner to saint. We discussed this in our previous article. When it is fulfilled we will actually be saved, and 'Phase 3' will follow as an ongoing work of the Lord in our lives.
.... Predestination Phase 1 may be considered the ‘introduction’ as God reaches out to each one of us, in helping us identify with Jesus in His humility. If we respond with an initial humility of our own and glorify Him, He will 'call' us, and move us on to Phase 2. This is the transition phase, which will prepare our hearts for actually coming to Christ and move us from sinner to saint. We discussed this in our previous article. When it is fulfilled we will actually be saved, and 'Phase 3' will follow as an ongoing work of the Lord in our lives.
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.... Even though we have described ‘phases’ in a strictly practical sense, the reader should not lose track of the real heart of this matter: We are talking about a budding relationship as we become acquainted with God through Jesus, and as we are drawn closer to Him over time, leading to a covenant relationship (John 6:44). And therefore, once we've actually become saved, ‘Predestination Phase 3’ is about making that relationship deeper and deeper:
.... "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."
(Romans 8:29)
.... The crucial link between ‘Phase 2’ and ‘Phase 3’ is the gospel presentation and the individual response, which is sometimes referred to as the ‘effectual calling’. At this stage God works through someone who is already a Christian in order to reach the candidate and bring them to a place of committment. He has truly been the senior partner in this entire effort, the Lord of the Harvest, and now He is giving us a relatively small but very crucial role. And as we become His junior partners in evangelism, He wants to work very closely with us as well. We will begin this discussion in our next posting.
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.... Once again, we know that some will consider this whole ‘background’ of election and predestination a major rabbit path from the true basics. But those who are just coming to the Lord will relate to it very strongly because it will help explain the mystical elements that they have experienced in bringing them to this point. Thus, for them, it can offer a powerful insight with a profound and very personalized effect in helping them believe, and in firmly grounding them in their new faith. So we wanted to include a basic discussion in this special module for their sakes.
.... Once again, we know that some will consider this whole ‘background’ of election and predestination a major rabbit path from the true basics. But those who are just coming to the Lord will relate to it very strongly because it will help explain the mystical elements that they have experienced in bringing them to this point. Thus, for them, it can offer a powerful insight with a profound and very personalized effect in helping them believe, and in firmly grounding them in their new faith. So we wanted to include a basic discussion in this special module for their sakes.
You have now completed the Pre-evangelism Module. To begin the Evangelism 1 Module, click here
Daily Bible Reading: Mark 6
posted by loren at 12:15 PM
1 Comments:
I also wanted to mention God’s preparation because sometimes, in evangelism, the candidate themselves will become excited and open up about these experiences. When they do, we’ll have to understand that, to them, this is a very real, mystical, religious experience in which they have perceived the Lord’s hand reaching out to them, and we should be careful not to discourage them. I say this because, on the other hand, it can present older Christians with a problem:
Like many others, I’ve had ‘mystical’ experiences of this nature, which helped bring me to the Lord. Some of those stories are in the ‘comments’ that I’ve posted. But I’ve rarely heard anyone talk about such experiences openly, for example, from the pulpit. Especially, no one has ever addressed them in the form of a doctrine. The result? Eventually, when these people become Christians and grow stronger, they learn to keep quiet about this background in their lives. They hide it. Their walk with God is like a wonderful, happily married Christian couple whom everyone admires, who try to hide the fact that they met in a bar. In a similar way, if they mention this mystical background now, they’re afraid someone will think of them as a weird Christian, and would question their stability in a way that goes all the way back to their roots. Nevertheless, in a quiet way, they all know that it really did happen.
These same persons are further challenged because they can’t find much of this ‘background’ mentioned in the Bible (it is usually too personalized to bear such detail), or else they misunderstand what the Bible is saying on this subject, in its more general terms. (So in that sense I’d agree that, yes, this is a deeper subject. But for the same reason someone needed to take a look at it, and give it as much definition as Scripture would allow.)
Anyway, since no one really talks about this sort of thing in the church, we usually don’t know how to respond when we hear it from the candidate. I actually think that some evangelists regard these mystical experiences as demonic, and respond by downplaying them. But it is really dumb not to build on God’s work to date, capture the momentum He has provided, and use it to bring them on to that great consummation of hearing the gospel, believing, and pressing into the kingdom. Therefore, I have also gone into this background for the sake of the candidate, to protect them from our own short sighted apprehensions.
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loren, at 6/16/2005 12:50 PM
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