What is the role of an evangelist in a universalist universe?

[MVincent]

I'm an evangelist - what can I preach on if I can't preach on hell?  lol

Actually, I have never felt comfortable speaking about hell to people, the message I share with people is about God's goodness, kindness, love and grace.  Does the work of an evangelist change with US?  If they will be saved anyway, are evangelists even needed?


(Actually, I think I know the answer to this - people still need to be saved from the hell on earth that many people live with addictions, insecurities, sickness etc.  )

Am I right?  Is there another dimension to it?

Thanks,

Mike

[ded2daworld]

I think you're right Mike
If people knew they had an option to actually have the living God living inside of
them while in this mortal life or not knowing him and being truly alone,,,

[Lazarus Short]

This is what you can preach on: 

faith, hope, love, and a glorious future in the presence of God.  :dsunny:

[micah7:9]

Did Paul preach about hell? What did Paul say about hell?
Preach the Good News 1Co 15:3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

16 For thus God loves the world, so that He gives His only-begotten Son, that everyone who is believing in Him should not be perishing, but may be having life eonian. (CLT)

[jabcat]

I'm an evangelist - what can I preach on if I can't preach on hell?  lol

Actually, I have never felt comfortable speaking about hell to people, the message I share with people is about God's goodness, kindness, love and grace.  Does the work of an evangelist change with US?  If they will be saved anyway, are evangelists even needed?


(Actually, I think I know the answer to this - people still need to be saved from the hell on earth that many people live with addictions, insecurities, sickness etc.  )

Am I right?  Is there another dimension to it?

Thanks,

Mike

Good question Mike. "Rescue others by snatching them from the flames [I believe, spiritual/consequential flames] of judgment."  Jude 1:23   

IMO, according to the scriptures, God still saves when people "hear", and how shall they hear without a preacher [proclaimer]?  (Romans 10:14,15)      So I believe God still uses us as He brings who He ordains into the kingdom.   He is gathering together the ekklesia, which He will continue to use even in the next age, so as Paul said, "be ye reconciled to God".  Also, as I Timothy 4:10, "we trust in the living God, Savior of all men, especially of those believing.  DECLARE THESE THINGS AND TEACH.

People [still] need the Lord.  He is seeking and saving the lost.  How beautiful are THE FEET of those bringing the good news!

Blessings.

[micah7:9]

Amen! :dsunny:

[eaglesway]

I'm an evangelist - what can I preach on if I can't preach on hell?  lol

Actually, I have never felt comfortable speaking about hell to people, the message I share with people is about God's goodness, kindness, love and grace.  Does the work of an evangelist change with US?  If they will be saved anyway, are evangelists even needed?


(Actually, I think I know the answer to this - people still need to be saved from the hell on earth that many people live with addictions, insecurities, sickness etc.  )

Am I right?  Is there another dimension to it?

Thanks,

Mike

I think we have a message of hope for the hopeless. God loves you. Jesus died for you. He is rescuing all of us from this pain and vanity. He loved your Grandma that never went to church, but she couldnt get the healing for her bitterness and pain, but she will, when she sees Jesus Christ and His awesome love her heart will break and she will praise God and she will come back to you and join you in worship.

But TODAY, you can be healed. TODAY, you can have YOUR LOVE RENEWED. TODAY, you can have a hope that enters within the veil and be CONFIDENT that love will make a way.

Jesus is a better friend to you today than you can ever know while your feet are stuck upon this earth, but look up, look in, see Him smiling and beckoning you, the little lamb that wandered off. He will carry you home and He will bring to into a BANQUET THAT NEVER ENDS, sitting with the best of friends around the table with Abraham Isaac and Jacob, sipping from the fruit of the vine of heaven and eating the bread of life.

And while you are waiting for that glorious day, you will begin to see it grow within you like a gas lamp that needs a little priming before it burns bright. He will give you something to share with someone who is in need once in awhile. A word to lighten their load. A hand to help them cross over. A contagious drop of eternal life from the I AM- the love of Jesus Christ, who died for you, was raised from the dead, and who is reconciling the whole creation back to the Father by the blood of the cross.

Rejoice!!!!! God loves you!!!!! There is GOOD NEWS of GLAD TIDINGS FOR ALL MEN!

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
(Eph 4:11-13)

What does an evangelist do but equip the saints with the good news!

[shawn]

I'm an evangelist - what can I preach on if I can't preach on hell?  lol

Actually, I have never felt comfortable speaking about hell to people, the message I share with people is about God's goodness, kindness, love and grace.  Does the work of an evangelist change with US?  If they will be saved anyway, are evangelists even needed?


(Actually, I think I know the answer to this - people still need to be saved from the hell on earth that many people live with addictions, insecurities, sickness etc.  )

Am I right?  Is there another dimension to it?

Thanks,

Mike

We are to be a voice that calls those living in Gehenna into the gates of the Kingdom.  We are to teach love by example.  We are call people into living the full beautiful lives God wants us to have in Him.  We might not be trying to save them from eternal hellfire, but we are calling them out of living the hell of serving and worshipping self.

[shawn]

Whew eaglesway that was a good word today.

[ded2daworld]

Great EW. .. But... what about the next sermon? :laugh:

[eaglesway]

I got a couple others saved up for the proper time ;o)

[Deena]

But people who trust in Christ still experience addiction, insecurities and sickness--or at least I do. I cling to A verse in Isaiah: He is the God who made me, bears me, carries me to gray hair, and delivers me. Since I still experience the afore mentioned things, I am compelled to believe the deliverance may not take place till I am dead and resurrected with Him. Everybody dies of something (pick one of the three mentioned). I'm just trying to make sense of the disparity... In my experience, believing does not make the other things go away and I cannot with a clean conscience tell others that believing in Christ will make it so. What I can tell them is God will have the final word and reconcile, restore this life of vanity and futility to something glorious, and the seed of Christ in us is the promisory note. This is the foundation of our hope. IMO

[micah7:9]

And i personally agree with your opinion. Jesus said, Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, `Simon, Simon, lo, the Adversary did ask you for himself to sift as the wheat,
Do we ever stop to consider how long that will take? Did the adversary quit the sifting for a time and then come back to the work? days? years, many years?
And the parable, Luk 15:17  `And having come to himself, he said, How many hirelings of my father have a superabundance of bread, and I here with hunger am perishing!
How long before that revelation? days? years? many years?
I also will cling Isaiah's words, " I cling to A verse in Isaiah: He is the God who made me, bears me, carries me to gray hair, and delivers me. "  :HeartThrob: :dsunny:

[Deena]

I like how Martin Zender put it on a piece posted recently here. (Paraphrased) He says that what Christ did at Calvary, reconciling man to God, was a factual happening. It is done. It is finished. Believing it and living out that truth is the reaction from hearing the message. Believing it releases us from the fear of God and the fear of death.

[eaglesway]

I think Peter was still being sifted when Paul came around and Peter and James had been cowed into submission by the Jewish believers. I don't think the sifting ever stops.

"His winnowing fork is in His hand. He will separate the wheat from the chaff and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor. He will gather the wheat into His garner and He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire"

I find it interesting the way Jesus characterized the process, "The adversary has asked permission to sift you like wheat".....

Going back to Job, it is like the Lord holds up a testimony, "Behold my servant Job.....Behold my servant Peter......etc"

The adversary says, "Anh, he/she ain't all that righteous, let me have at em, and I'll show you(accuser of the brethren) they arent so righteous...."

But God knows the hearts, and the fire of trial only makes the gold shine more brightly from within.

1 Peter 1:4 This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, the spirit's of righteous ones made perfect.

Ephesians 3:8-11 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Everyday, in every one of our lives this testimony is replayed.... we often wonder, as did Job, "What did I do to deserve this?" But as the fire grows hotter the grace of God is more abundant and the gold begins to glow and it is seen in the heavenly realms and does the work of testimony IN WAYS WE ARE NOT AWARE OF, NOR CAN WE FULLY UNDERSTAND.

Revelation 6:9
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

Rev. 12:11
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb
    and by the word of their testimony;
they loved not their lives unto the death.

For this reason we can rejoice in trial because three things(at least :o) are happening.1) We are testifying that we trust God, when we have failed, when we have been wounded through no fault of our own, even when we don't understand the storm that rages against us. 2) Our faith is being purified so that the image of Christ the image of God will shine through like a lamp on a lampstand.
3)Our souls are being delivered from the influence of, and connection to this world and attaining a ministry of grace, priesthood and sonship in the kingdom of God

We are all evangelists in some measure, and we will understand it better by and by :o)

[MVincent]

Thanks for all your replies - EaglesWay, your post #6 says it.

Regards,

Mike

[Ken]

Hello Mike,

What the Bible says we should be preaching on is the Kingdom of God. Few understand it...and few preach it:

http://ernestlmartin.com/kingdomofgod-firstresurrection.htm

Ken

(http://ernestlmartin.com/images/kogpng.png)

[jbertonbounds]

But people who trust in Christ still experience addiction, insecurities and sickness--or at least I do. I cling to A verse in Isaiah: He is the God who made me, bears me, carries me to gray hair, and delivers me. Since I still experience the afore mentioned things, I am compelled to believe the deliverance may not take place till I am dead and resurrected with Him. Everybody dies of something (pick one of the three mentioned). I'm just trying to make sense of the disparity... In my experience, believing does not make the other things go away and I cannot with a clean conscience tell others that believing in Christ will make it so. What I can tell them is God will have the final word and reconcile, restore this life of vanity and futility to something glorious, and the seed of Christ in us is the promisory note. This is the foundation of our hope. IMO

Deena, that's it!!!

That's the glorious Gospel of Victory!!! :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny:


Awesome! Thanks!

[eaglesway]

Hello Mike,

What the Bible says we should be preaching on is the Kingdom of God. Few understand it...and few preach it:

http://ernestlmartin.com/kingdomofgod-firstresurrection.htm

Ken

The kingdom of God is the Lordship of Jesus Christ under the canopy of His love.

[jbertonbounds]

Hello Mike,

What the Bible says we should be preaching on is the Kingdom of God. Few understand it...and few preach it:

http://ernestlmartin.com/kingdomofgod-firstresurrection.htm

Ken

The kingdom of God is the Lordship of Jesus Christ under the canopy of His love.

Love it! :thumbsup:

[jbertonbounds]

But people who trust in Christ still experience addiction, insecurities and sickness--or at least I do. I cling to A verse in Isaiah: He is the God who made me, bears me, carries me to gray hair, and delivers me. Since I still experience the afore mentioned things, I am compelled to believe the deliverance may not take place till I am dead and resurrected with Him.

Only God knows the struggles I have endured just trying to stay out of trouble.  :sigh: I fall, get hurt and dirty, and Jesus picks me up and loves on me anyway.  :HeartThrob: No matter how I've tried to live a pure life, I still keep messing up.  I do so love God's precepts, but I find it impossible to keep them blamelessly.  Sometimes, it feels like I have no control over myself when I face temptation.  I cry out to the Lord, but then I sometimes fall anyway.  And I don't even have any addictions.  Just pure self will beating me down into the gutter.  I don't always do what I want to do (God's will), and I sometimes do what I don't want to do (disobey). :doh:  That's why I need Jesus!  I need Jesus every hour of every day.  I need his cleansing power and forgiveness.  I need his TLC!  :Pray: Oh Lord, I'm sorry; just walk with me this day and hold my hand, and we'll take care of tomorrow tomorrow! :Pray:

[anna274]

Thank you all for such encouraging posts... I learned much from each one of you...

I have been thinking, praying, rejoicing, thanking, praising, and, yes, sometimes fretting ... for a couple of hours since I started reading this thread as well as The Anti-Christ thread as I began to think of my own eagerness to "preach" and how sometimes being prevented to "preach" because I am so aware of my own shortcomings/failings... and then eaglesway's post on The Anti-Christ thread re:  "God is not judging us, but He is calling us always in, deeper in, to the fellowship and discipleship of His Son" led me to a few Scriptures that spoke to all the posts and brought great comfort to my mind and heart.

Acts 5:41-42  The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.  v 42 And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message:  'Jesus is the Messiah'.

Acts 9:16  For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name's sake.

Phil 1:29  For you have been granted [the privilege] for Christ's sake not only to believe in [adhere to, rely on, and trust in] Him, but also to suffer in His behalf.

2 Cor 7:5  For even when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no ease or rest, but we were oppressed in every way and afflicted at every turn -- fighting and contentions without, and dread and fears within. ...

2 Cor 4:7-10
v 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
v 8  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
v 9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
v 10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Phil 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made comformable unto His death.

Again, thank you all... for your willingness to share.

[jbertonbounds]

Thank you all for such encouraging posts... I learned much from each one of you...

I have been thinking, praying, rejoicing, thanking, praising, and, yes, sometimes fretting ... for a couple of hours since I started reading this thread as well as The Anti-Christ thread as I began to think of my own eagerness to "preach" and how sometimes being prevented to "preach" because I am so aware of my own shortcomings/failings... and then eaglesway's post on The Anti-Christ thread re:  "God is not judging us, but He is calling us always in, deeper in, to the fellowship and discipleship of His Son" led me to a few Scriptures that spoke to all the posts and brought great comfort to my mind and heart.

Acts 5:41-42  The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.  v 42 And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message:  'Jesus is the Messiah'.

Acts 9:16  For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name's sake.

Phil 1:29  For you have been granted [the privilege] for Christ's sake not only to believe in [adhere to, rely on, and trust in] Him, but also to suffer in His behalf.

2 Cor 7:5  For even when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no ease or rest, but we were oppressed in every way and afflicted at every turn -- fighting and contentions without, and dread and fears within. ...

2 Cor 4:7-10
v 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
v 8  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
v 9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
v 10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Phil 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made comformable unto His death.

Again, thank you all... for your willingness to share.

This, too, is encouraging! :thumbsup:

[jabcat]

But people who trust in Christ still experience addiction, insecurities and sickness--or at least I do. I cling to A verse in Isaiah: He is the God who made me, bears me, carries me to gray hair, and delivers me. Since I still experience the afore mentioned things, I am compelled to believe the deliverance may not take place till I am dead and resurrected with Him.

Only God knows the struggles I have endured just trying to stay out of trouble.  :sigh: I fall, get hurt and dirty, and Jesus picks me up and loves on me anyway.  :HeartThrob: No matter how I've tried to live a pure life, I still keep messing up.  I do so love God's precepts, but I find it impossible to keep them blamelessly.  Sometimes, it feels like I have no control over myself when I face temptation.  I cry out to the Lord, but then I sometimes fall anyway.  And I don't even have any addictions.  Just pure self will beating me down into the gutter.  I don't always do what I want to do (God's will), and I sometimes do what I don't want to do (disobey). :doh:  That's why I need Jesus!  I need Jesus every hour of every day.  I need his cleansing power and forgiveness.  I need his TLC!  :Pray: Oh Lord, I'm sorry; just walk with me this day and hold my hand, and we'll take care of tomorrow tomorrow! :Pray:

Amen.   http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=7LKKLGNX   (Randy Owen [Alabama] and the Isaacs - country version)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2w3y3iT3NlU  (Jars of Clay - contemporary)

[MVincent]

I just read through the thread again - thanks for all the new posts - there is much encouragement here.

Blessings,

Mike