In this episode of the Ordinary Radicals podcast, Jonathan Hayashi, and Brandon Boatner talk about winning over wayward Christians.
What do you do when the one you love is wayward? How do you go about having gospel conversation with family members?
Some highlights from today’s episode.
• We sadly see this scenario quite common.
• It is IMPOSSIBLE for us to restore someone to faith. Only God can.
• The modern church movement with A.B.C. of salvation. They have water down the gospel.
• If they truly believe, they will never walk away from the faith.
• Denying the holiness of God in the heart? Takes a constant struggle there with the action.
• People can say, “I do not like you” that can quickly turn to, “I don’t believe in you”
• What is going on? As men, we are taught to absorb our own emotions. That’s a problem.
• Not only men cry, but God cries. So, we should experience those emotions.
• Life is not just a bunch of snap shots of pictures. It is more like a movie clip that moves forward.
• False thinking process, “God allows that to happen, therefore, God doesn’t care for me”
• A person may have genuinely not been born again, or they could have hardened their hearts in sin.
• Dialogue, “Oh yeah, Jesus doesn’t understand pain, betrayal, or hurt cause he hasn’t felt it”
Here’s the breakdown outline from today’s conversation.
1. How Do You Share the Faith to One who has Denied Christ?
– Common scenario: Husband who leaves the faith and wife who stays faithful.
– Is the person in exile? Sojourn? Is it even possible?
– The passage on apostasy (Heb 6:1-5).
– Lordship Salvation & Easy Believism.
– “He who has begun a good work will complete it by the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:7).
2. Empathy with those in Lamentation.
– Psalms, majority of them are not happy.
– Grieving the Holy Spirit that can eventually lead to quenching the Holy Spirit.
– The parable of the Four soils (Matt 13:1-23).
– Hebrews 12:15-16 speaks of the issue of the root of bitterness.
3. What is the Plan to Go about with Wayward Christian?
– Counseling approach by, “Taking time” with the person.
– “Men don’t cry.” Well, the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).
– Let people cry and have a shoulder to cry on.
– “He who gives an answer before he listens, it is folly and shame.” (Prov 18:13).
– Give the benefit of the doubt. “What is going on down in the heart?”
– People don’t overcome problems in just an hour. Give some time to walk through the narrative.
– Every situation is different. You can’t just expect to take two tablets and move forward.
4. Burden person walking into a church?
– Spiritual warfare could be going on. There may be a dysfunction in their theological belief.
– Evangelism & Apologetics comes into the conversation.
– Restoration: The heart of the gospel from the garden and God bringing us back to the cross.
– “Blessed be the God of all comfort and the God of all mercies” (2 Cor 1:3-4).
Resources mentioned in today’s podcast
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