In Jesus' Name

That was the title of Todd's message tonight at Frontline. He based his message on Acts 3 & 4 and the story of John and Peter healing the beggar at the gate. His four main points were:

1. Godly acts should be attached to Jesus' name - Acts 3:1-10
2. Godly acts should lead to our story of faith - Acts 3:11-16
3. Our story of faith requires boldness in the face of opposition - Acts 4:1-3
4. Our story of faith should result in new believers - Acts 4:4

This would create a cycle: Godly acts -> Story of Faith -> Salvation of Hearers -> More Godly acts.

However, he said the main problem is that most Christians are only have a secret love affair with Jesus, but instead He wants an overt marriage available for all to see. Todd challenged us to give a reply, whenever we are thanked for our Godly acts of kindness, that it is because I'm a follower of Jesus Christ is why I (fill in the blank). Not in a weird or holier than thou sort of way, just matter of fact sort of way.

This would definitely take a lot of people, including me, out of their comfort zones. But as Todd said, how are people to know why we do what we do if we don't tell them. Hopefully this blog is accomplishing some of that for me, but I definitely need to be a little more bold in face to face situations.

A guy I heard speak once said that every single person in his high school class of over 200 people heard his testimony at least once over his three years in high school and that not one of them could get away on judgment day with saying they never heard of Jesus' plan of salvation. That convicted me and still does because there are people I've known for the whole 10 years I've been a Christian and I've never once talked with them about Christ beyond maybe saying I'm a Christian.

I know this is an area God is really trying to work on in my life, especially since the Kazakhstan trip. As with everything, it is a process, but I need to really start stepping up to the plate and swinging otherwise I'll never get the ball moving.