Insight for Leaders - A.W. Tozer, August 30

Literature Ministries International ^ | August 30 | A. W. Tozer

[Sopater]

August 30

Evangelism: Modern Salesmanship

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. --1 John 2:19

In our eagerness to make converts I am afraid we have lately been guilty of using the technique of modern salesmanship, which is of course to present only the desirable qualities in a product and ignore the rest. We go to men and offer them a cozy home on the sunny side of the brae. If they will but accept Christ He will give them peace of mind, solve their problems, prosper their business, protect their families and keep them happy all day long. They believe us and come, and the first cold wind sends them shivering to some counselor to find out what has gone wrong; and that is the last we hear of many of them....

By offering our hearers a sweetness-and-light gospel and promising every taker a place on the sunny side of the brae, we not only cruelly deceive them, we guarantee also a high casualty rate among the converts won on such terms. On certain foreign fields the expression "rice Christians" has been coined to describe those who adopt Christianity for profit. The experienced missionary knows that the convert that must pay a heavy price for his faith in Christ is the one that will persevere to the end. He begins with the wind in his face, and should the storm grow in strength he will not turn back for he has been conditioned to endure it.

By playing down the cost of discipleship we are producing rice Christians by the tens of thousands right here on the North American continent. That Incredible Christian, 116-117.

"Lord, I suspect this is getting much worse even since Tozer's day. In our emphasis on growth and success we may indeed be guilty of producing rice Christians. Deliver us from that error. Amen."

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Today's "Insight for Leaders" is taken by permission from the book, Tozer on Christian Leadership, published by WingSpread Publishers

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This Insight for Leaders devotional is also available in a print-friendly format here on the LMI web site.

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[Sopater]

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." -Mark 4:13-20

[Sopater]

TOZER PING

"Insight for Leaders"
From the writings of A. W. Tozer

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God bless you.

[Vision]

I pray I’m not the kind spoken about here.

[Dahlseide]

The following is the last paragraph of Pink's Exposition of Hebrews Chp 25 Twofold working of the Holy Spirit.

We sincerely trust and earnestly pray that it may please our God to strike terror into the souls of many who read this article, that their false peace may be disturbed, and their worthless profession be exposed. Should some of the more thoughtful exclaim with the apostles, "Who then can be saved"? we answer in the words of our Lord, "With men this is impossible" (Matthew 19:26). Conclusive proof is this, my reader, that no sinner can be saved by any act of his own; and faithfulness requires us to tell you frankly that if your hope of Heaven is resting upon your act of "accepting Christ", then your house is built upon the sand. But blessed be His name, the Redeemer went on to say, "But with God all things are possible". "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jon. 2:9), not of the creature (Rom. 9:16). Then marvel not that Christ said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

[.30Carbine]

"If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." Hallelujah. Amen.