Invite Jesus Into Your Heart?

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

 

Any man in the church the letter was addressed to. Here's a tip. Start at verse 1.

 

I am not of the church of Sardis nor any of the local churches of the Book of Revelation and I read and responded to His invitation to me to come to Him while in fact I was not a member of any church. Neither is any human being living on earth a member of the 1st century churches of the Book of Revelation so since that is impossible I repeat - It is written to

Whomever reads it.

 

Hank, you are a nice guy, and you make me laugh, but your ignorance on this is too much to bear.

We can all gain a benefit from ALL scripture, but not ALL scripture is addressed to us.

 

monergism.com

 

And I value your friendship and since you have given me some friendly advice I will return the favor -

Brian get your head out of The Institutes Of The Christian Religion :)

 

Touché! You do make me laugh, Hank.

If we can take any text, disconnected from its context and use it in any way in which we see fit, we have no Christianity. We have chaos.

 

But that is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit - to use whatever He desires (though it may SEEM chaotic) to bring His children home.

 

Oh, Hank. . .

 

I have found in my 50 plus years of walking with the LORD that there is the guidance of the Holy Spirit with the word of God when witnessing and teaching individuals and that sometimes many so called misappropriations of the word of God can be effective (effectual for calvinists) such as Revelation 3:20, Acts 16:30, etc...

Yes testimonial, but true.

 

Yes. I stand corrected.

 

Not having your theological training, my vocabulary, when discussing these things, often fails me. Primary and secondary are not uncommon words, but they seemed out of my reach when I needed them to make my point to Uncle Hank.

Based on my point to Uncle Hank, I would say that there was a primary audience and there is a secondary audience. We are not the primary audience.

 

I've found that I'm always hungry an hour after eating Chinese food.

 

That usually means you didn't eat enough rice.

 

I believe there is also a tertiary application:

#3 As led of the Spirit.

INCOMING! :Biggrin

PS I completely understand your post.

 

No, sir. I think the goal of evangelism is to share the gospel message; it is up to the Holy Spirit to draw men to the Father. My goal is to deliver the message. If the individual desires to pray and trust the Lord, I’m more than happy to be the human instrument (I Corinthians 3:6) that God uses.

Acts 16:30-31 is a great example.

 

So, you proclaim the gospel with no call to action?

 

My goal is not to get them to “say a prayer.” My goal is to give them the gospel. If God chooses to let me be involved when He gives the increase, Praise the Lord! If not, planting or watering is my objective (see reference above).

 

You sound like a hyper Calvinist, Bob.
How about: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”? That was Jesus' method.