Featured The Casual gospel

Act 22:1 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.
Act 22:2 (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
Act 22:3 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
Act 22:4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
Act 22:5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
Act 22:6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
Act 22:7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
Act 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
Act 22:10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
Act 22:11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
Act 22:12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
Act 22:13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
Act 22:14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
Act 22:15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
Act 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Act 22:17 And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
Act 22:18 And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
Act 22:19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
Act 22:20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
Act 22:21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
Act 22:22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.

No hint of Paul's glorification. God changed his life because he believed on him. He was saved. He never says a word about "glorification," and thus is his testimony the same and consistent throughout the NT.

 

Oh yes....
His explanation is defective

 

He said he finished the course he fought good fight and it was laid up for him a crown that he looked forward to....
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

 

Your are wrong, if not deceptive.
Here is your original statement:

You should go re read Paul's testimony of his conversion, and of others. Your theory falls well short of the truth.

I quoted for you "Paul's testimony of his conversion." You quoted part of a pastoral epistle written to Timothy just before he was about to die. That is not his testimony of conversion, and you know it!

There is no mention of glorification in his "testimony of conversion" as demonstrated. Now, you are simply trying to save face.

 

Where is that in his "testimony of conversion" quoted in Acts 22? Or did you just insert it?
Have you heard of "rightly dividing the Word of Truth?

 

You make no sense at all. So now when someone tells someone how they were converted they have to go into a theological treatise on all the elements of it and including glorification. Paul had already explained that and the doctrinal writing of the book of Romans that mean every time he speaks are there scripture Accords something he said he has to tack on on by the way glorification is in the future. Stead of rightly dividing the word of truth you wrongly divided and fragmented all the timmg

 

Thanks for the well researched, thoughtful OP. As others have done, it is tempting to find flaws, or thought to be flaws, and demonstrate errors in your presentation. I certainly could quibble with many of your points. But as for the main thrust of your OP presentation, I say bravo. If a person is actually born anew by the power of God, transformed into a new creation, created for good works, and indwelt to provide both insight into righteous living as presented in God's word, and a spur to convict us of our manifest short coming, it would seem likely a changed life would result. And even though it is anecdotal evidence, many of us can testify to the changed life we experienced.

 

Let's make this easy Icon. I introduce you to my friend (hypothetical situation).
His name is Fred.
Fred is not saved. He would like to be saved. Would you please tell Fred how you got saved, and then tell Fred how he can be saved.

 

Half of me thinks some people Don't Share the Gospel and do not know how to proclaim/present the gospel.

 

The more I read on this board the more I'm wondering if some theologies have removed the True Gospel from the Scriptures.

 

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

I guess I'm just stupid enough to believe this in sequential order.(and believe that they were lost before they heard the Gospel)

 

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Gospel...Good news to be Heard and Believed on...extra extra read all about Jesus, Jesus died to give you life! King Jesus died for pagan peasants like you and me! He is worthy to be praised!

Preaching the Word of God has Power, the Name of Jesus Christ has power! The Holy One of Israel has Power...Paul's preaching wasn't in words of man's wisdom but in power!

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

 

When was the last time some of you guys shared the gospel? When was the last time you guys saw anyone saved? When was the last time you personally witnessed some one coming to saving faith?

 

"DHK,

Ok I will play along. He is unsaved, he would like to "be saved".
I would have a few initial thoughts.
If he is your friend I am going to assume that you have perhaps introduced him to some of the bible basics at this point;
The bible is God's word.
Man is naturally in a sinful state.
Sinners need to be saved from their sins
Those who are saved from their sins do not have to die the second death.

Now being he was YOUR FRIEND.....I would have to be very careful how I dealt with him.
Why???? I am aware of what you believe and we have major differences, so I would have to be careful as per Paul's instructions;

7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

I would figure that you had spoken to him along the lines of the romans road, or the 4 spiritual laws kind of approach. Even though I do not care for your teaching, I would NOT undermine you to your friend Fred.
In God's providence he was brought to you first...so I would look to water what had been sown by you, I would stick to the fact that God has purposed to save a multitude of sinners IN Christ.
In fact each and everyone who believes by God given faith will be saved.
At the judgment each person would have to be found perfect, and only Jesus qualifies as he kept God's law perfectly.
All sin will be punished in the sinner or theDivine substitute.
I would stress that each one of us has to personally give account of ourselves to God.
I would explain how the only place of safety from the judgment to come is in Christ.
because without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins.
In short I would take the discussion where it needed to go depending on the responses fred was offering.



.

If fred asked me I would recount it, but I have learned that it is more effective to offer as much scripture and scriptural content as possible as that is what the Spirit is more likely going to use.
As a young Christian, I did not have as much of a command of scripture , so I would offer my testimony...but I see in scripture a stronger and more biblical model of evangelism.
In this case fred was your contact, so I would more look to supplement what you may have offered.

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-5, 11, 17, 23 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

 

I'm 100% all about sharing scriptures, but let us not discount personal testimonies as this is being a Witness in the Truest sense of what Christ our Lord has supernaturally done in our Lives.

Think of the legal Aspect

Who is on Trial? Who is a Witness ?

Who shares the testimony?

Is Christ on Trial? Is the Person on Trial?

Truth in Us, yes scripture and yes the supernatural work of Christ in Us.

Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

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PLEASE! Don't assume anything. I used the word "friend." Sorry. My mistake. Perhaps I should have used "enemy." Maybe "stranger." "unsaved person." or "this person whom I have never talked to before but he says he is unsaved and wants to talk to you"
Just leave me out of it and stop being so biased.

 

Go through Paul's sermons in the Book of Acts. How many of his sermons are recorded?
In those that are recorded in how many of them does he use his own personal testimony?