Posted on 03/20/2020 6:47:55 AM PDT by metmom
"Thy kingdom come" (Matt. 6:10).
Conversion to Christ involves three elements: invitation, repentance, and commitment.
Someday Christ will return to earth to reign in His kingdom. In the meantime He rules in the hearts of those who love Him.
Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus gave us a mandate to evangelize the lost and teach them His Word (Matt. 28:19- 20). When we do, sinners are converted and transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13). That's how His kingdom grows.
Conversion is a work of the Spirit in the heart of unbelievers. He uses a myriad of people and circumstances to accomplish that work, but common to every true conversion are three key elements: invitation, repentance, and commitment.
In Matthew 22:1-14 Jesus, by way of a parable, invites people to come into His kingdom. As an evangelist, you too should not only present the gospel, but also invite others to respond to what they've heard.
In Mark 1:14-15 we read, "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'" Repentance is feeling sorrow over your sin and turning from it (2 Cor. 7:9-11).
True repentance results in a commitment to respond to the righteous demands of the gospel. In Mark 12:34 Jesus says to a wise scribe, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." The scribe had all the information necessary for entering the kingdom. What he lacked was a commitment to act on what he knew. Luke 9:62 says, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." You might know everything about the kingdom, but Christ's rule is not established in your heart until you've made a complete commitment to it.
When you pray for Christ's kingdom to come, you are praying an evangelistic prayer that you take part in answering. Be faithful to proclaim the gospel and make intercession for unbelievers a regular part of your prayers.
Suggestions for Prayer
Pray for unbelieving family and friends. Ask the Lord for the opportunity to share Christ with an unbeliever today.
For Further Study
Read John 4.
How did Jesus broach the subject of salvation with the Samaritan woman? Did He extend an invitation to her? Explain. How did the townspeople react to her report about Jesus?
Studying God’s Word ping
Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus gave us a mandate to evangelize the lost and teach them His Word
“Feed my sheep”
In order to feed His sheep,
1) you have to find His sheep. Not all are receptive, Not all are his sheep. If they don’t have ears, shake the dust off your feet and move on. Don’t invite the earless into the fold sent them down the road, they belong to someone else.
2) His sheep will hear His voice. Don’t tell your stories or repeat what someone told you. Get your Bibles out and read it slowly and let your lips move so it is His voice that comes out of you.
BTTT
One step was left out of the conversion:
Acts 2:38 under the Guidance of the Holy Spirit on the the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit guided Peter to tell the crowds that were gathered to “Repent AND BE BAPTIZED for the FORGIVENESS of YOUR SINS!! Sin was NOT forgiven until ALL of the steps took place!! Jesus had just returned to Heaven and His work on earth was completed and as HE promised in John 14: 26 the comforter was sent to SHOW the 12 ALL things !! Particularly how to tell people how to be saved from their sins!!
Welcome to FR.
Did you join to preach a works based salvation?
And how about visiting the people in prison...And feeding and clothing God's hungry people???
Just because you can read scripture doesn't mean you understand it...
How are you going to repent of your sins if God doesn't help you??? You won't even want to repent but the Holy Spirit convicts you...
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Repent and Be baptized...For what??? For the forgiveness of your sins...Repent and be baptized because our sins have been forgiven by believing on Jesus Christ...
Act 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
You see a command to repent??? How about a command to get baptized??? No you don't...Quit teaching false doctrine...
When Christians panic in a crisis, it is usually a sign of their infancy not maturity in Christ. Maturity, peace, power of convictions, and knowledge are produced by feeding on The Word of God, because the spirit of the born again swells and takes mature shape by infilling from The Holy Spirit within (1 John 3:9). God offers His deliverance now in exchange for faith in His Promises. In the Tribulation, belief will be pressed via the tribulum of the lawless one revealed.
The poster has yet to discern that Peter was preaching to the very same people who shouted for the death of Jesus. That so many were converted (three thousand men, niot counting women and teens!) is evidence of Holy Spirit conviction in the hearts of listeners. Being baptized after being born again is avery important step in the maturation process, but not in the saving of the spirit. Infants in Christ often make this error, inserting a work into the salvation moment that is not supposed to be there. The Judaisers hooked their heresies to this infant weakness.
Eph 2:8-9
Grace.
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