Seven Marks of a New Testament Church:

Оглавление

David Alan Black. Seven Marks of a New Testament Church:

Отрывок из книги

Praise for

Seven Marks of a

.....

A second characteristic that stands out when we think of evangelism is its Spirit-dependence. As David Wells puts it in his book God the Evangelist, it is the Holy Spirit who initiates, motivates, and empowers evangelism. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the supreme actor in the book of Acts, and He was the source of power in the lives of the earliest disciples. It was the Spirit who launched the first evangelistic outreach on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38 ff.), and it was the Spirit who stirred up the hearts of the believers in Antioch to begin evangelizing Asia Minor (Acts 13-14). The same theme is apparent throughout Acts. These followers of Jesus lived in total dependence on the Holy Spirit. Nothing was allowed to hinder His power in their lives.

What about us? We know little of the Spirit’s presence and power today. We rely instead on our methods, education, and finances. Perhaps there is no greater challenge to the contemporary church than to repent of our overdependence on manmade evangelistic strategies. The first Christians sought to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) and to obey Him (Acts 5:32). Soul-winning was just that simple for them. They knew that evangelism was impossible without staying in close communion with their unseen Guide. If we wish to see a resurgence of the evangelistic fervor that marked the early church, we must have the same commitment. A. W. Tozer, the famous Bible teacher, is very explicit about the Spirit’s role in evangelism (Paths of Power, p.9):

.....