DAY 12: THE MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION

PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL

30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM

September 12, 2023.

Topic: THE MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Verse for Meditation: 2 Corinthians 5:19 NIV

That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Every new man in Christ has a message and a ministry; both the message and the ministry is about reconciliation.

From our devotional text, the love of Christ constrains us; it constrains our desire not to sin. And the reason is because of the conviction and the revelation we have that the sin nature is dead, and our living is for the One, Jesus Christ. So the revelation of what Christ did to give us victory is the revelation of His love that always constrains us.

Hence, what stop a man from sinning is not the do's and don’ts. And to start with, we were not given some new regulations, but a new regulator, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace (Zech. 12:10), and our teacher (Jn. 14:26; 1Cor. 2:13; 1Jn. 2:27). When Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, “For the grace of God... teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts...” (Tit. 2:11-12), he was referring to the regulator, the Holy Spirit.

So are we saying that we should keep quiet when we see believers thriving in sin? No, that’s not the point here. The point here is that we should not subject anyone to some kind of regulations, because it bears no fruit of righteousness in themselves (Col. 2:20-23). Terrifying someone about the wrath of God has never constrained anyone from sinning (Rom. 1:32); what really constrains us from sinning is the understanding of the love of Christ (2Cor. 5:14).

Now this is very important because that is our message; not to point out their sin, as though they didn’t know- they know. But to point them to Christ; yes, revealing their helplessness and also revealing Christ’s willingness to help them out by His love.

Many of us know John 3:16, but the next verse is as important as verse 16.

John 3:17 NKJV

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Christ was not sent to bring condemnation, but salvation.

On the cross, God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ. And by so doing He cancelled every record of man’s sins against them, and the forgiveness of sins was made possible (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14). Now people don’t go to hell because of their sins, but they do because they failed to believe this gospel and receive the forgiveness of sins (Acts 17:30; 26:18).

Men should be without excuse of not hearing the gospel, that’s why it is our sole responsibility to tell them about Jesus. It is for this cause that God committed to us this message of reconciliation.

Soul winning business is not for some set of people; it is for all believers, and it can be learnt. And also with time you can get better at it. By the way, you are not as shy as you think, it just requires some little practice and confidence to do it.

Here are some approaches I got from one of Apostle Emmanuel Iren’s message on evangelism;

1. Indirect Approach; like in the case of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4. Go to people and make friends with them, and if you find it difficult in making friends, I recommend you get some pragmatic knowledge from Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people. Also you can offer to pray for the sick. And be bold to manifest in the gifts of the Spirit, especially in the demonstration of Word of knowledge, it works a lot.
2.  Direct Approach; there are people you meet and you immediately tell them about Christ. This is because you might never see them again and this might be their last opportunity to hear the gospel.

PRAYER:

FATHER, PLEASE HELP ME BY YOUR SPIRIT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL EFFECTIVELY.

DECLARATION:

I PREACH THE GOSPEL IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON.

Bible Reading Plan: John 10:22-11:19; Romans 12; Proverbs 12