DO YOU KNOW SO-AND-SO?

When I was young, there was a little country store in a place called Hatchie Bottom, in Goose Pond, Mississippi. It was just down the road from Union Center. The owner’s name was Early Crum, and his wife’s name was Short. No lie. No joke. That was actually their names. They were old even when I was young. They had retired and sold the store by the time I was a teenager. My cousin Tim and I did some work for Early one year while we were out of school for the summer.

Soon summer was over and we were back in school. I had a friend named Lisa Crum. Since she had the same name as Early and his wife, I wondered if she was related to them. So one evening on the school bus, as we were going home, I asked her a simple question. Do you know Short and Early? She said, “No, but I know long and late.” We both laughed until tears came to our eyes. I’ve been telling that story now for over 30 years, and it always gets a laugh.

Many times when I meet someone who has the same last name as another person I know, I’ll often ask them if they know So-and-So. It’s a good conversation starter, and the conversation can go on for a while if they actually do know the person.

When I was a young Christian, our church youth leaders taught us to start a conversation directly to the point by saying, “Do you know Jesus?” Well over the years, I’ve discovered that most people’s answer is yes, even though their lifestyle says the opposite, so I realized that many of them were saying they know Jesus because they know of him or about him. To truly assess the situation, a better question would be “Have you been born again?" 

We don't hear many people talking about being born again, but Jesus told Nicodemus that a person can't go the heaven otherwise (John 3:3). Because Adam sinned in the garden, we are born sinners, so we have to be born again. 

However we want to start our conversations with others, the point is, we do need to start a conversation. We need to be telling people about Jesus in some form or another. If we truly know Jesus, we should be spreading the good news about his love and sacrifice for all mankind.

When Andrew met Jesus, he went and told his brother, Peter, and the Bible says, “he brought him to Jesus” (John 1:41-42). When Philip met Jesus, he found Nathanael, and told him about Jesus, then brought him to Jesus (John 1:43-46). When the Samaritan woman at the well met Jesus, she went back to her city and told the people about Jesus and invited them to “come and see” him (John 4:28-29). That’s the biblical model. That’s what every born-again believer should be doing. When we know Jesus, we should want to tell others about him and bring them to him.

Some Christians are not as outspoken as others, and some have a hard time starting a conversation. It takes practice, but you have to start somewhere. There are many ways to witness to others, and there are many tools to help you start. You can begin by giving them a tract, a book, or a DVD or you can share a link with them to a video or a meme that has blessed you. The key is to share Jesus with others like the people in the Bible did. The more you do it the easier it will become, and you will be blessed by it as well, and many who might otherwise be lost forever may spend eternity in the kingdom of heaven because of you. That would be awesome.

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THE PURPOSE OF AN APPLE TREE IS NOT TO PRODUCE APPLES

Several years ago, I attended a Church Growth seminar. The speaker began by asking us a simple question. “What is the purpose of an apple tree?” We were all sure we knew the answer, and several people quickly spoke up. “To produce apples,” they said. The speaker replied, “No, The purpose of an apple tree is to produce other apple trees.” Then he asked, “What is the purpose of a Christian?” The answer was, to produce more Christian. Although this is not the only purpose of a Christian, and producing other apple trees may not be the only purpose of an apple tree, he had a good point.

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus said,

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.

Here Jesus tells us to go and teach others to follow him. Today, those who follow Jesus Christ are called “Christians.” So, one of our duties as Christians is to produce other Christians. Have you ever noticed that sinners produce other sinners? People who drink and do drugs always try to entice others to do the same, thus reproducing. They’re always talking about how drunk, or stoned they got over the weekend or last night, and they’re always inviting others to join them the next time.

In this way, they draw others into their circle, and another alcoholic or drug addict is born. For many years this has been very effective. As Christians, we need to recognize this. We should be doing something similar. We should tell people about our relationship with Jesus and our experiences at church, and invite them to join us the next time. This is the example shown in the Bible by Jesus and his followers. Too often, Christians try to tell other people what they are doing wrong and why they need to change, but that’s the wrong approach. The main thing we need to focus on is introducing people to Jesus.

In John 1:41, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, demonstrated the perfect model when he first met Jesus. He went and told his brother, “We’ve found the Messiah.” Then he brought him to meet Jesus. Phillip did the same thing after meeting Jesus. He went and told Nathaniel, “We’ve found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Then he invited him to come and meet Jesus, too.

In John chapter 4, the Samaritan woman, who met Jesus at the well, went and told the people in her city about him. Then she invited them to “come and see” him, and they all came to the well and met him there.

You’ll notice something interesting in verses 39 and 41. The Bible says that many of the Samaritans believed in Jesus because of the words the woman from the well had told them, but many more believed when they met Jesus for themselves.

Again, this is the model for fulfilling the great commission which Jesus gave us before he went back to heaven. This is how we make Disciples or reproduce Christians.

Matthew 28:19-20
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6