The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 4

February 3, 2007 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009). Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (559)

Part One of this series. Audio of the whole sermon.
Part Two of this series.
Part Three of this series.

How Do We Pursue the
Proper Role of the Bible in Evangelism?

So far we have seen why the Bible has a role in evangelism
and what that role is. But how can we pursue this role? How can we make
application of this to our lives? I believe there are three closely related
ways we can do this:

1)      First
and foremost, we must dedicate ourselves to personally studying and meditating
on the rich truths found in God’s Word. This really is the point of this Sola
Scriptura series. The Bible is true and authoritative in and of itself, but its
purpose is to be proclaimed and applied to our lives.

If we want to understand the
trustworthiness of the Scriptures, we must investigate what it says. If we want
to have a fully functioning community that glorifies God, we must treasure
God’s Word together. If we want to live lives that reflect God righteousness,
we must apply His Word to our lives with humility and without hesitation. And
if we want to evangelize in a manner that will best communicate the Gospel to
our fallen world, we must study the message of the Bible and discover how it
directs our means for evangelism.

2)      Secondly,
we must seek out experienced Bible teachers to guide us through the difficult
passages we will find. Not many of us here, if any, know enough Greek and
Hebrew or historical contexts to understand everything the Bible has to offer.
We must adopt the discipline of learning from those who have more knowledge and
wisdom than us in order to make the most of our time spent in the Bible.

3)      Thirdly,
we must hold each other accountable to what is taught in the Scriptures. As
members of Christ’s body we each bear the responsibility to sharpen one another
according to what is required of us by God’s Word. In this way, we live out
what we saw in Colossians as the foundation for Biblical community: teaching
and admonishing each other according to the rich words of Jesus Christ.

Related posts:

1. The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 3
2. The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 1
3. The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 2
4. Book Review: Is the Bible Intolerant? By Amy Orr-Ewing
5. ETS 2007: How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It by J.P. Moreland
6. Book Review: Choosing a Bible by Leland Ryken

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