6.12.8 "God Purifies Hearts"

"God Purifies Hearts"

I Kings 9:1-10:29
Acts 8:14-40
Psalm 130:1-8
Proverbs 17:2-3

"Silver and gold are purified by fire, but God purifies hearts." (Prov 17:2-3)

We are commissioned to go and make disciples, right? So, how are you doing with that? "Well, I have a bunch of Christian friends... and I put up a flyer at work when there's an event...."

So what about this "making disciples" thing? Could you produce a list of individuals that you are discipling in their relationship with the Lord? If not, why? What keeps Christians from charging forward with this?

I think our big issue about the challenge of discipleship is thinking that it means WE need to fix people. If we witness and they don't get saved, WE feel like we've failed. If we pray for healing and it doesn't happen for them, WE wonder what we did wrong. If we are counseling someone and they make the wrong decision, and fall away or fall into sin, we wonder what WE could have done different.

These thoughts reveal an important misconception that we have in the discipleship process. WE can't make a change in the hearts of men. "God purifies hearts." As we begin to realize (personally and then teach others) that ALL we are is a Connection Point to God, it takes some of the self-imposed paralysis away that comes from feeling that WE have to have the answers and WE have to "fix" people.

Too often we create this huge divide between discipleship and friendship. It's almost like our voice and posture, and everything changes to "discipleship" mode when it comes to spiritual matters. We struggle to find something profound to say. That's totally unnecessary.

All we have to do is Connect them to God, and he takes care of the rest. We have to have faith and be obedient, but beyond that we can come up with all the discipleship books & answers we want, but its no good without the power of God. Going back to the proverb analogy, all of our own efforts will only be a fire that might refines silver or Gold, but not the hearts of men.

I'm a person who loves puzzles. I like to solve things. But I'm learning as I grow in Christ that people don't need to be "solved" they need to be put in touch with God. Then HE takes care of it. In fact, if we do it the other way around, we get into BIG trouble. Pretty soon we put restrictions, and man-made obstacles to coming to Christ. I've shared the story before about how when I was a teen-ager I was leading a friend to Christ, but I made him put his cigarette out first before praying with him. I was trying to get him "cleaned up" before "taking a bath". It's GOD who purifies hearts. WE can light a fire and purify silver, but there's NOTHING we can do to change a heart.

We can't "convince" people into the kingdom. Evangelism is not a game show where our goal is to answer every question right & then the prize is they "have to" get saved. We are just here to display the presence of God so others can respond as the Lord directs.

We can't fix people. I think that often we are more interested in changing the lifestyles of our neighbors instead of just creating an opportunity for them to meet God and letting HIM change things in His timing. I have friends who are living a very ungodly lifestyle. I could get after them about that, but I'm much more interested in them coming into contact with the One who can show them what REAL life is like. He'll take care of the rest.

All we need to do is clear the road. We need to connect people to Christ. This is our Mission. We must disciple individuals, and we don't have to be intimidated by the thought that WE have to have all the answers. All we have to do is be available to help people get to a place where they can hear from God.

Your Christian friends? Guess what... they need to be discipled by you... and you need to be discipled by them! We need to be helping one another grow in Christ. We can't fix the problems, but we MUST encourage one another to grow.




Through the Power of the Spirit,
Live the DREAM!

P Greg


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