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Realizing the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom of God.
Personal Mission Field Workshop

Tell the Truth!

They need to know about sin and judgment.

Process and Event (5)

Welcome to the PMF Workshop for October, 2022. I’m your host, T. M. Moore. Each month we provide teaching, encouragement, activities, and resources to help you in working your Personal Mission Field so that you can become more consistent and effective in realizing the presence, promise, and power of God’s Kingdom in your daily life.

This month’s Workshop is the fifth of a multi-part workshop entitled, “Process and Event.” This is Part 5, “Tell the Truth!” Our text for this month’s workshop is Daniel 4.27: “Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.”

Let’s review

Paul wrote that God has entrusted the Good News of His grace to frail earthen vessels, believers like us. He has called us to be His witnesses, both by how we live and by the words we speak. Jesus has sent His own Spirit to dwell within us so that we might have power to fulfill this awesome calling. He has sent each of us into the world in the same way He was sent, to bring the Good News of His Kingdom and salvation to the people we encounter in the as-you-are-goings of our lives.

Every believer, therefore, is an evangelist, a “Good Newser”. In Jesus Christ we have found forgiveness, life, purpose, hope, and joy; and we want everyone to share with us in the full and abundant life He provides. Each of us has a Personal Mission Field where we meet people, befriend them, work with them, serve them in various ways, and look for opportunities to sow the good seed of the Kingdom into their heart and mind.

All this has been given to us as the means whereby the grace of God flows to the world and the salvation of Jesus spreads to more and more people.

But God has not called or sent us to save anyone. We’re not in the saving business. We’re in the sowing and cultivating business. The harvest belongs to the Lord. God does the saving in His way and time with those on whom He has determined to set His grace. Salvation is an event only God can accomplish. Evangelism is a process requiring various activities, spread out over time, and ultimately pointing to a person’s deepest spiritual need and God’s wholly satisfying remedy. Evangelism is our part in the grace-spreading work of the Kingdom of God. Salvation, as Jonah reminded us, belongs to the Lord (Jon. 2.9).

We are examining this process as Daniel and his three friends worked to help King Nebuchadnezzar move from being an enemy of God to an evangelist of His grace. We’ve seen that the process of evangelism involves various activities by which we seek to let people know God’s great secret, that He sees them and knows them and stands ready to come to their aid. We want them to realize that He is good and loving toward them. Like Daniel, we look to serve the people to whom God sends us and to help them understand His attending and caring grace. And, like Daniel’s three friends, we take a firm stand for the Lord when it is called for, and we share our own faith in Jesus clearly and unequivocally. People may not want to hear what we have to say, and they may look for ways to silence us; but we must not refuse to testify when the opportunity arises. It’s what witnesses do.

A final crucial step in the evangelism process can be observed in Daniel’s encounter with the king in Daniel 4.

And then what?
Nebuchadnezzar had another puzzling and disturbing dream, so, based on his experience, he enlisted Daniel to help him understand the meaning of it. You can read about the details in Daniel 4.1-26.

Something about this situation signaled to Daniel that it was time for a fuller testimony concerning God’s dealings with Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel perceived that the king was on a trajectory for judgment. God had borne with him for many years, allowing him to flex his power, indulge his false beliefs, and even take advantage of those who named God’s Name. God had been patient, but now His patience was running out.

Daniel explained that God was warning Nebuchadnezzar by this dream. His conduct was unacceptable; his rule of the nation was tyrannical; and he had overstepped the bounds of decency. He’d made choices and taken actions that were an offense to God, and now God was going to act, so, Daniel insisted, Nebuchadnezzar had better clean up his.

But it was only after the judgment fell that the king came to his senses, confessed his sin, and declared his faith in God (cf. Dan. 4.34, 35). It took Nebuchadnezzar’s experiencing the judgment Daniel had proclaimed for the king to realize he could not stand against Him whose “dominion is an everlasting dominion” (v. 34).

When we tell people the Gospel, that is, when our work evangelizing someone gets to the place where we’re able to call them to repent and believe the Good News, we must not neglect to include in our witness the reality of sin and a warning of judgment. God will judge ungrateful and unrepentant sinners now, in ways clearly outlined in God’s Word (cf. Rom. 1.18-32). And He will judge them then, when Jesus returns to judge the world. Our Gospel is not complete unless we tell people the bad news from which the Good News rescues them.

When the opportunity to present the Gospel arises, don’t give a partial witness only. Tell them about Jesus and how He fulfilled all righteousness and bore all our sins to open the way to salvation and eternal life. Tell them, like Paul on Mars Hill, that God is calling all people everywhere to admit their need, confess their sin, turn away from disobedience and begin to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord. And do not neglect to explain that this sovereign, holy God will not be spurned. Judgment now and at the end of days awaits those who will not receive God’s gift of love in Jesus Christ. If they won’t let Jesus pay for their sins, then they will pay for them themselves. Tell them the secret of God’s love. Take a firm stance on your own faith. And tell the truth about what God requires of those who would be forgiven and saved.



Here are some activities you can practice and some resources to help you in working your Personal Mission Field. 

  1. First make sure your Personal Mission Field is updated, and you have included in your Personal Mission Field worksheet any new people God has brought into your sphere. Keep your map with you, so you can take it out and pray for the people you’ll be seeing throughout the day.

  2. Meditate on Romans 1.18-32. What forms does God’s wrath take against those who turn away from Him? Can you see any evidence that His wrath is already at work in the world? Among the people in your Personal Mission Field?

  3. Pray for the believers in your Personal Mission Field. How can you help them understand what the process of evangelism requires of them?

  4. Pray to have a conversation that moves Godward, first by launching a prayer to the Lord (cf. Neh. 2.1-4), then by listening for an opportunity in your Personal Mission Field. How should you prepare? What can you pray, as you’re in a conversation, to allow you to let your friend in on your secret? I encourage you again to download a free copy of our ReVision study on “The Art of Christian Conversation” to brush up your conversational skills.

  5. Order a free copy of our book, Revived!, and discover how you can help bring revival, renewal, and a great awakening about Jesus to our troubled world. Learn more about this book and order your free copy by clicking here.

That’s it for this month’s Personal Mission Field Workshop. Until next month, for the Fellowship of Ailbe, this has been T. M. Moore.

We ask the Lord to move and enable many more of our readers to provide for the needs of our ministry. Please seek Him in prayer concerning your part in supporting our work. You can contribute online by using the
Contribute button at the website; or you can send a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 360 Zephyr Road, Williston, VT 05495.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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