[geologist]

“Calvinists are planters and waterers. We are not ones to try and take on the role of God by forcing growth where there is no growth. There are people who will accept the gospel and people who will reject the gospel. Whether the gospel is accepted or rejected, we strive for that gospel to be proclaimed in all of its truth. If we are to be messengers of the king, how can we be good and faithful servants if we do not proclaim the message we have been given?”
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Excellent!

I have often considered how fruitless I am. I have had a circle of friends that are mostly ‘new age’. For a time I drifted along rather influenced by them. Attended their church etc. Really knowing they were in the dark but interested in knowing their beliefs. ‘We are God’. Is the main center. A bit obscured, of course.

During a time of family medical crisis ..
I returned to the one true God and prayed for forgiveness.

Now in regard to the friends, I feel I am weak in their regard. I know how they think and how they belittle ordinary main line religion. They are not Bible readers and yet they do excerpt a few verses that suit them.

In fact I mostly avoid them now. Even friends of 30 years. I feel guilty and a bit of a loss about it. I do miss the good parts of our relationships. One of the reasons I stay away is I feel inept to preach the gospel to them as they have already discarded it. God forgive them; truly, ‘they do not know what they do’. Amen.

I am living for Christ. I love Jesus Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit. And feel like a failure in their behalf.

I often have thought that Missionaries go abroad to peoples they do not know as there is no personal connection to anyone there.

Our own families are often the hardest to reach.

Do you struggle with these same issues?

Read the Bible ... God will meet you there.

[Gamecock]

Thanks for sharing that.

A prophet is never received in his own town.

Might I suspect a book by a < sarc> cold heartless Calvinist? < /sarc> (Sarcasm is not aimed at you)

Tim Keller wrote a book titled The Reason For God. It might help you with your discussions with friends and family. You can see him on Youtube going into the belly of the beast so to speak. He has given lectures at Stanford and the Google campus. I find the quite winsome and disarming towards the skeptic.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Lovely post. Some days the best witness to anyone is a joyful life lived by and for and through Jesus Christ alone.

Eventually, people will wonder why good things seem to work out for you, or why you don't succumb to the bad times.

Then you can smile and tell them the reason.