A Bit to Consider

Wednesday night, September 17, 2008 [a cool 680],
Realizing that I am probably throwing more at you than you care to read, I do hope you will read the following and follow-up with your comments, question, etc:

1. The gospel is the power of God for salvation, not the shenanigans (even the best efforts) of man.

2. The gospel is not for everyone; therefore, the masses cannot be evangelized.

3. The gospel is for the elect of God and ONLY for the elect of God; therefore, only the elect of God can be evangelized.

4. The antics (including best efforts) used to evangelize the masses actually offend the elect; whereas, the gospel offends the masses.

5. No one, not even one the elect, can come to the Father (be evangelized), unless He grants it and unless He draws them to Himself.

6. When the Father draws one of His elect to Himself, he/she will come to Him and that in His time.

7. The Son gives life to whom He wishes and only to whom He wishes.

8. God did not design evangelism to be some complicated, manipulative effort that man carries out; instead, He designed it to be something that He accomplishes through the power of the Holy Spirit.

9. The effectiveness of evangelism is not determined by the efforts of man—the one who wills or the one who runs—but by the power of God, who has mercy and lavishes grace.

10. What we win them with is what we win them to; consequently, we should never attempt to win anyone with anything other than the preaching of the gospel. Actually, we never win anyone because He has reserved that for Himself.