How Evangelsm and Baptisim Come Before The Body

Key Objectives:

To ask the Question, is the phrase “come as you are ” a biblical phrase.

To Look at the steps one must follow if they are to join Christ body.

To make aware that God is always in complete control.

Diagnosis:

Many times we have heard the old saying come as you are. We live in a society that promotes that God accepts in any condition that you come in. Although God is not man, he has designed mankind to operate in ways that are similar to his. Society is trying to produce an all inclusion type of lifestyle, in which no matter what your condition is you can still be accepted and most behaviors tolerated.

Passage:

2 Kings 5 :1-19 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused. Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD. In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter.” He said to him, “Go in peace.”

5 Crucial Steps Before Coming Into the Body

The Call: Even with a Choice it is still God who does the using in the Choosing, and God can use and choose who he wants. God does the choosing and the appointing John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” For who are who to question God.

Proper Evangelism: Once the Call is answer, God sends someone to give the lost sheep more answer. In most cases this person who is sent is already a believer and instructs the lost in the Gospel. However, In this case it is a Young girl who points Nam-man towards the prophet Elisha. For Example Phillip was sent to the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8: 26-40).

The Search For Answer’s: This is the area were most of us get stuck; even after many are introduce to Christ, they chose to continue to search elsewhere for purpose, answers, and life’s meaning. This has happen to so many, this step has lead so many people to an false salvation. However, this step is crucial in Faith building, coming to the realization that Christ has all the answers and this is exactly where he wants you to stay, in which you put all faith in him.

Trust in Him: In many cases people ask themselves is there nothing else to salvation and can one man actually save me from the Pit’s of hell. Excitedly the answer is yes. Once the answer's you searched for are answered; you must now put your trust and the one who answered.

The Strip: Pride Kills Faith, God refuses to work with Pride. Most individuals never experience the power of God because the still have many things that they are not willing to give up. Pride pollutes faith and stuns the growth of faith in many believers, because faith is tied in with your will. The more you are willing to do your own will, the faith that is needed or the that faith that is already there will not grow, or worst of all you find out you never had genuine Faith. The fall of Judas and his betrayal is the perfect example of Pride consuming a person.