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Winning the World with the Word

 As followers of Jesus, we want to win the world. There is no question about that. But how do we go about doing it? There seems to be a growing trend to either minimize God's Word or set it aside altogether. Some have chosen to lower the bar in hopes that the unsaved will have an easier time jumping over it.

But I disagree with that strategy. If we do not win the world with the Word, we aren't winning them at all. In his insightful book Joy for the World, Greg Forster wrote, "If Christianity is going to have a distinct impact, it needs to rely on what truly makes it distinct--the work of the Spirit in our hearts, minds, and lives." 

Christianity isn't just one way among many that can change people; it is the only true way. When we reduce our faith down to merely being a social influence or a place where people come as they are and feel loved, we are joining a crowded space where a hundred other clubs and religions operate. We must remember we are offering life change, a relationship with the God who created us.

Yes, we want our message to be relevant to people who are hurting or searching for answers, but not at the expense of the message itself. In the name of relevance we are telling people to come as they are and stay as they are, but who they are isn't working; they know something is wrong and they are seeking help, not affirmation of their sinful state. 

Forster continued: "The quickest way of making our teaching irrelevant to civilization is to make it captive to civilizational relevance. As soon as we care more about impacting civilization than we care about teaching the truth, our teaching will become detached from supernatural revelation, and thus it will lose all its power to impact civilization." 

We do not set the world free by patting them on the back, but by giving them a chance to change, to repent and become the people they can be through Jesus as found in His Word. Jesus Himself said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32)." If we really love people, we will give them the truth they need to hear. 

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