Purpose of SUYNL with Jesus

​

WHAT IS  THE PURPOSE OF EVANGELISM IN OUR LIFE? HOW DOES IT CHANGE OUR LIFE?​

Mar 5th 2016 , 9:58 AM

Now "evangelism" is the announcment, proclamation and/or preaching of the gospel , the good news of and about JESUS CHRIST. Therefore, the gospel is a communictaed message -  communicated in  verbal and/or written form.

The English word “evangelism” comes from the Greek word euaggelion. Most literally translated in the noun form, euaggelion means: “gospel” or “good news.” In the verb form (euaggelizesthai), the meaning of the word changes slightly to “announce” or “bring good news.” The Greek word in its various forms appears fifty-five times in the New Testament. In ddition to the before-mentioned translations, the Greek word is also translated as “preach.”

Evangelism, the communication of the gospel message, includes a warning, an explanation, and a call. Evangelism includes warning people about sin and the consequences of sin (John 16:8; Acts 24:25; Revelation 20:11-15). It includes an explanation of God’s remedy for sin—the gospel (Acts 8:29-35; Romans 3:21-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21). And it includes the clear call to repent (to turn from sin and to turn toward God) and believe the gospel, by faith (Mark 1:15; Luke 13:1-5; Acts 17:29-31; Romans 1:17; Romans 10:9-13).

Reference :

About the Author Matt Slick President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry

The True Interpretation of God as Spirit (Jn.4:24) If we can ever come to the knowledge of what spirit beings are like, then we can begin to comprehend God as Spirit. There are hundreds of plain Scriptures which help us to gain such knowledge. Note the following facts in Scripture: 1. The Bible declares that there are heavenly and earthly bodies and that there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:35-58). We learn from this passage that all things in creation have separate bodies from all others—bodies for grain, fish, birds, beasts, man and every living thing on earth—bodies for the sun, moon, stars, and all material things in the heavens—bodies for angels, cherubims, seraphims, and all spirit beings in the spirit world. No exception is made here or anywhere in the Bible to the effect that God alone of all beings in the universe does not have a body. When Jesus said, "a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Lk. 24:39), He certainly did not want to leave the impression that spirit bodies were not real and tangible. He simply taught that spirit bodies were not composed of earthly flesh and bone. He could not have meant that God does not have a real spirit body, for He taught elsewhere that God had a voice and a shape (Jn. 5:37). He showed John in Rev. 4 and 5 that God had a body and could sit on a throne as well as anyone else. The Greek word for "shape" in Jn. 5:37 is eidos, meaning form, appearance, shape, fashion, or sight, and refers to outward form or what can be seen with the eyes, as is clear from Lk. 3:22; 9:29; 2 Cor. 5:7. 2. Moses declared that man was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6). The Hebrew word for image is tselem, meaning shape, shadow, resemblance, figure, bodily form, as proved in all passages where it is used (Gen. 5:3; 9:6; Ex. 20:4; Lev. 26:1; Ps. 73:20; 106:19; Isa. 40:19-20; 44:9-17; 45:20; 48:5; Jer. 10:14; 51:17). The Hebrew word for likeness is demuwth, meaning model, shape, fashion, similitude, and bodily resemblance, as proved in Gen. 5:1, 3; Isa. 40:18; Ezek. 1:5, 10, 13, 16, 22, 26, 28; 10:1, 10, 21-22. The Fenton translation of Gen. 1:26-27 reads, "Let us make men under our shadow, as our representatives . . .So God created men under his own shadow, creating them in the shadow of God." Anything to have a shadow must be real. Paul said that man was "the image and glory of God" (1 Cor. 11:7). The Greek word for image here is eikon, meaning likeness, profile, statue, and bodily resemblance, as proved in places where it is used (Mt. 22:20; Acts 19:35; Rom. 1:23; 8:29; 11:4; 1 Cor. 15:49; 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb. 10:1; Rev. 13:14-15; 14:911; 15:2; 6:2; 19:20; 20:4). There is no question about man being made in the moral and spiritual likeness of God, but none of the above passages refer to this idea. They refer to bodily form and shape. If man was made in the image and likeness of God bodily, then God must have a body, and an outward form and shape. One might as well argue that image and likeness, when used of idols, mean moral and spiritual image and likeness, and not outward bodily shape, as to argue this about God; for the same Hebrew and Greek words are used in both cases, as seen in the references above. That it refers to what can be seen with the natural eyes is clear from the above passages as well as from Gen. 5:3; Isa. 40:19-20; 44:9-17; Ezek. 1:5-28; Acts 19:35; etc. 3. Bible writers not only stated that God has a body, but they also testified that they have seen it with the natural eyes. Abraham made a dinner for God and two angels and they actually ate food (Gen. 18). Jacob had a physical wrestling match with God all night (Gen. 32:24-30). Moses talked with God face to face (Ex. 33:11-23). Seventy-four elders of Israel had a banquet with God in Sinai (Ex. 24:9-11). Joshua and all Israel saw God with a sword in His hand (Josh. 5:13-15). Gideon (Judg. 6:11-23), Manoah and wife (Judg. 13:3-23), David (1 Chr. 21:16-17), Job (Job 42:5), Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-13), Amos (Amos 9:1), and others saw God standing on the ground, sitting on thrones, and having bodily parts like man. Ezekiel saw God on a chariot and described Him as having an "appearance of a man" with loins and the upper and lower parts of a body like a man (Ezek. 1:26-28; 10:1, 20; 40:3). Daniel saw both God the Father and the Son of man as two separate beings at the same time and at the same place. God was on a throne and had on white clothes, and His hair was white. The Son of man also had a body, had clothes on, and had hair on his head (Dan. 7:9-14; 10:5-6). Stephen saw both God and Christ at the same place with the same eyes (Acts 7:56-59). John saw God on a throne and Christ symbolized as a lamb and the Holy Spirit symbolized as lamps of fire and seven horns and eyes, all at the same time (Rev. 4:2-5; 5:1, 5-7). 4. The Bible predicts that all the redeemed will see God’s face (Greek, prosopon, countenance, outward appearance, surface, person), with their eyes (Rev. 7:9; 14:5; 21:3; 22:4-5). See the word "face" in Mt. 6:17; 18:10; 26:39, 67; Acts 6:15; 20:25, 38; 1 Cor. 13:12; Rev. 4:7; 6:16; 10:1; 20:11. The word is used in these passages of both God and man, so both must have a face. Are we going to call all these witnesses false just to be in harmony with modern interpreters who never once saw God? Would it not be best to take the word of men who saw God and who know what they are talking about than to take the word of men who know nothing of God and who claim that God cannot be comprehended? Modern writers of doctrine books about God assert that no man can understand God; that no man has ever seen God; and that God has no body with parts and passions to be seen. I quote only from prominent men who have had a wide ministry in our large denominations. We personally admire these men for their great work, but this does not lessen the fact that they are wrong on this most important subject of God. It shows the modern trend to make God too mystical to understand. One writer says, "It is clearly revealed in Scripture that God is one being constituted by three persons. We give this complex Person the name Trinity . . .It would be folly to seek to explain this startling revelation . . .We can only say that we believe it because we do not comprehend it . . .The doctrine of the Trinity bewilders the most astute and is frankly beyond the comprehension of the most learned." We quote from books on the great doctrines of the Bible that are widely used: "God as a spirit is incorporeal, invisible reality; has no body or parts like human beings; nothing of a material or bodily nature . . . God cannot be seen with the material eyes; nothing on earth to resemble Him; without parts, without body, without passions . . .God cannot be comprehended by the senses, but by the soul; and is above sensuous perceptions . . .The image of God consists only in intellectual and moral likeness; when God is spoken of as having hands, feet, eyes, hair, and other bodily parts, these are figures of speech and mere human expressions trying to convey some idea of God." Such statements are foolish and unscriptural, to say the least. It is no wonder that these men cannot comprehend the Trinity of God as they declare. They make such ridiculous propositions about God that it is impossible to comprehend them. If we will take the Bible instead of these statements we can comprehend God. The Bible does not say that God is one person constituted of three persons. This could never be, but God can be three distinct persons as separate and distinct as any three persons we know of in this life. This is comprehensible but the other is not, for there can be no such thing as three persons in one person. It is no wonder that such an idea cannot be explained. It is folly. God Himself could not comprehend it or explain it in this way, for this is not the way He has explained it, nor is this the way He asks us to understand it. Neither does the Bible say that the bodily parts of God are figures of speech or mere human expressions trying to convey some idea of God, or that they do away with the reality of God’s body. All figures of speech emphasize and make as real or more real the ideas they express than if literal language were used. There can be no true figure of speech to convey an idea unless the idea conveyed is real; so if God’s bodily parts are mere figures they are true figures of the real bodily parts of God. Since we do not have God’s authority that He is a spiritual nothing, and since we only have the word of man, let us forget the doctrine of the unreality of God and let us believe the Bible literally about God as we do about other subjects. Such statements as those quoted above directly conflict with the Bible. God can be seen and has been seen with the eyes. God does have a tangible body that can be handled and that can do all things any other body can do. God does have bodily parts and passions, as we shall see below. God can be comprehended by the senses, for the senses constitute the soul. God does consist of more than intellectual and moral likeness. The expressions which tell us that God has bodily parts are real and literal and not figurative, as will be seen below. 5. The Bible teaches that angels, seraphims, cherubims, and all spirit beings have bodies, souls, and spirits like man, as we shall see in the next two lessons. Here we may state that angels have been seen with the eyes. They have always appeared as men in real spirit bodies. They have bodily parts and can do all things that men can do. They can wage physical combat. They can be bound by chains and confined to material places. They have feelings and passions. They drive horses, keep gates, and do many things, as we shall see in Lesson 6. If they are spirit beings and have bodies, soul passions, and spirit faculties, why could not God have a real spirit body with soul passions and spirit faculties and still be a divine being? 6. Paul makes it very clear that men can understand God. He gives us a simple illustration of the Godhead. He says that even sinners can comprehend God, "Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Rom. 1:19-21). If the invisible things and the eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen by the visible things that God has made in this world, then all we need to do is to use a little common sense in connection with plain statements of Scripture to find out what the Godhead is really like. If sinners can understand God, certainly saints ought to be able to do likewise. There must be some clear and visible thing or things in this world that will help us to understand God so that we can be without excuse for ignorance. The Scripture certainly does not harmonize with the opinions of men quoted above that no man can comprehend God. It does not sound as if God is such a mystery. If He can be clearly seen by something visible in this world, what visible thing on Earth gives us a visible picture of the invisible God? Man would naturally be the visible thing that clearly illustrates the Godhead. Man has a body, soul, and spirit; so if he is the visible thing that clearly illustrates what God is like, then God also must have a personal body, soul, and spirit. If the Godhead consists of three separate and distinct persons, as plainly stated in 1 Jn. 5:7-8, then we are to believe that each person has a personal body, soul, and spirit, as is the case with each man. If there are three persons in the Godhead and they exist as one, we must understand this oneness to be the same as in the case of several men being one—one in unity, as in Jn. 17:11, 21-23; Mt. 19:5; Heb. 2:11; 1 Cor. 6:17; Acts 4:32. What is there hard about this to understand since we have concrete examples on Earth of every fact stated here? What is there hard to understand about three persons in the Godhead being three separate persons in the same sense we can conceive of any other three persons? What is there hard to understand about three persons being one in unity as we can conceive of any number of persons? Do we have to believe that three persons must become one person in order to be three in one? Is this the case with three men who are one in unity? If not, then this is not the case of the three separate persons in the Godhead. Is it necessary for all persons who are one in unity to lose their own personality, their own bodies, souls, and spirits, and all get inside one person in order for them to be one in unity? Cannot any number of persons retain their individuality and still be one in unity? Could not this be true of the Godhead? Could not God exist as three separate persons with three separate bodies, souls, and spirits, and still be one in unity? Why, then, would we have to claim that such could not be comprehended, since we have concrete examples of the unity of the Godhead in this world? Do we have to believe that the Trinity is such a mystery? Do we have to believe that it bewilders the most astute minds and that it is beyond the comprehension of the most learned? Do we have to believe that God is only one person in the Godhead when the Bible says there are three? Do we have to believe the other foolish statements in our doctrine books? If we did have to, then we could not believe the plain Scriptures. But thank God we do not have to believe something that is not stated in Scripture. We don’t have to believe something because we do not understand it. From another standpoint, we can believe that "one God," "one Lord," and "one Spirit" literally mean one in number in some cases, as is plainly stated in 1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:3-6. These passages refer to single persons of the three persons in the Trinity. Just as we can speak of three men being one in unity and then single out each of these three men as one in number if we want to speak of them as individuals, so it is with God. There are three persons in the divine unity and three separate persons in the divine individuality. It is not proper to say "one person" in speaking of the whole Godhead any more than it would be proper to speak of the whole body of Christ as one person when we know it is made up of millions of individuals. It is proper to speak of "one person" if we refer to one single person of the three that constitute the Trinity, just as it is proper to speak of single persons making the body of Christ. All three are God and Lord, and each one could be called God or Lord. To be literally honest with all Scripture, the rule to follow is the same as when we speak of any three men we might have in mind. Where only one person of the Godhead is plainly referred to in a particular passage, as in Gen. 32:24-32, only one person should be understood. Where two persons are referred to and clearly seen and the language is clear that two persons are referred to, as in Gen. 19:24; Dan. 7:9-14; Acts 7:56-59; then two persons should be understood. And where three persons are clearly spoken about and where the language is clear that three persons are referred to, as in Mt.  33); rides upon cherubs, the wind, clouds, and chariots drawn by c