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Theology and Practice of Evangelism - Lesson 7

Case Study 1

You will gain insights into the experiences and reflections of an individual in various ministry situations. You will explore how faith, prayer, and ministry can help you navigate emergency situations that are bigger than yourself. You will also learn about the power of personal testimony and baptism stories and how they can provide comfort and hope to those in need.

Robert Tuttle, Jr.
Theology and Practice of Evangelism
Lesson 7
Watching Now
Case Study 1

I. Overview Outline

A. Introduction

B. Tough case discussion

C. Personal Testimony

D. Emergency situations

E. Baptism stories

F. Ministry vs. theology

II. Summary Paragraph


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Transcript
  • In order to share the Gospel, you must know what it meant, and how people are understanding what you are saying. The gospel core is the least you can believe and still be a Christian. If the least you can believe is sufficient to get you saved, then the least you can believe is the most you can require of anyone.
  • Christianity is the only world religion with an understanding of grace. Your most important ministry will be helping people understand how much God loves them. The heart of the gospel is that God loves you. Sin happens when we attempt to live as if there is no God. God, since the fall has done everything he can to establish relationship. God wants to make himself known to you in a way that you can understand.
  • At the Fall, Satan gained control of the world. Jesus takes it back in Revelation 5 because he meets the qualifications. The core elements of the sermons of the apostles are authoritative proofs, prophecies fulfilled, God’s activities described, apostolic eyewitnesses and miracles proclaimed. You will be heard with authority to the degree you are willing to put your life on the line. You die spiritually when you rationalize sin. Wind moves from high pressure to low pressure. We access the power of the Spirit by repenting and believing. Two sins mentioned throughout scripture are self-reliance and oppressing the poor.
  • The lesson tells the story of a professor who faces personal struggles and overcomes them with the help of faith, healing, and learning to overcome sin, ultimately showing that it's possible to prevail over life's challenges with God's guidance.
  • Through this lesson, you learn the core components of the gospel message, its theological themes, and how to effectively communicate it for evangelism purposes.
  • In this lesson, you gain insight into leveraging your personal, church, and wider spheres of influence to effectively share the Gospel, overcome challenges, and expand your evangelistic reach.
  • Gain insights into ministry experiences and the power of faith, prayer, personal testimony, and baptism stories to navigate emergency situations that are bigger than yourself.
  • You will learn from this lesson that you are uniquely equipped to minister to those in your sphere of influence and that the church is indispensable for your survival. By treating others with respect and recognizing each person's importance, the church can become the living, breathing body of Jesus Christ.
  • In this lesson, you will learn that people are often hurting, angry, lonely, or tired, ministry requires dependence on God and rejection is important, preaching the text is key, our weaknesses can be our strengths, and close community is crucial for doing the work of the kingdom, while leading someone to Christ without providing ample opportunity for growth and nurture is a mistake.
  • In this lesson, you will learn about Charlie Haley, a man with a pastoral background who is currently involved in retreat ministry and considering going into the mission field abroad. The lesson covers topics related to evangelism and ministry, including tract ministry, follow-up and discipleship, and the importance of love and forgiveness within one's sphere of influence. The lesson also discusses the importance of building relationships and addressing felt needs with spiritual solutions.
  • This lecture begins as Dr. Tuttle is relating a story about a lady he met on an airplane. Jesus chose people as disciples that he could demonstrate by showing and telling them, and then depend on them to reproduce what they had been shown and taught. When Jesus gets too close, we raise the religious question to change the subject. As a result of the sin in the garden, we lost our ability to perceive reality beyond the senses. The Holy Spirit came, not to compensate for the absence of Jesus, but to guarantee his presence. We hold the truth, but the world sets the agenda and has the right to ask its own questions.
  • Often, it is implied that once you commit your life to Christ, all your problems are solved. The Hebrew concept of soul is body, mind and spirit. The Greek concept is that soul and body are separate, and that soul is good and body is evil. Prophecy and spiritual gifts are essential for the body of Christ to function. In the teaching in mainline churches, there is sometimes a disconnect between faith and life.
  • Trusting the Spirit of God is the key in this lesson. By remembering and trusting the Spirit, one can be utterly dependent upon God and do the hard work in preaching. Dr. Tuttle shares his personal experience of trusting the Spirit and provides context for Paul's second missionary journey, including Paul's conversion and early ministry, Peter's vision, and the conversion of Gentiles. The Spirit of God also taught Saul how Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah.
  • Through a deep exploration of Wesley's Methodism and Calvin's Reformed tradition, you gain an understanding of their respective theological frameworks, evangelistic strategies, and lasting influences on modern evangelism.
  • Through this lesson, you grasp the significance of Wesley's Societies, their organizational structure, theological practices, and the lasting impact on modern church practices.
  • By exploring the Ethiopian Eunuch story, you gain insights on divine guidance, Scripture's role in evangelism, and early church inclusivity, while learning to apply practical evangelistic lessons.
  • Through this lesson, you learn to effectively share the gospel through action evangelism by understanding its theological basis, applying key principles, employing various methods, and overcoming common obstacles.
  • You gain insights into action evangelism's importance, principles, and various methods, while learning to overcome fears and obstacles, and equipping others for effective Gospel sharing.

Dr. Tuttle teaches three critical points around evangelism: how to share your faith story, what evangelism is and how to approach it, and that God has more invested in evangelism than we do – He is in control. God is at work. He wants us to, "show up and pay attention [to the Spirit]," and to care about people enough to "press" them by asking probing questions about what they think and what's going on in their lives.

Evangelism is essentially about the core of the Gospel, ministering in your sphere of influence and sustaining those you reach.

Recommended Books

Can We Talk: Sharing Your Faith in a Pre-Christian World

Can We Talk: Sharing Your Faith in a Pre-Christian World

Those who serve on mission fields in areas where Christian faith is not the dominant religion quickly come to understand a central truth: when one is sharing the gospel, one...

Can We Talk: Sharing Your Faith in a Pre-Christian World

Dr. Robert Tuttle, Jr.
Theology and Practice of Evangelism
TH610-07
Case Study 1
Lesson Transcript

[00:00:01] Okay. Are we all here? Yeah, we are. Okay. Let's talk. What do you think? And after we've had a chance to chat, I'll tell you what happened as my case. It's really nice. Well, look. Huh? What? You can stop. Correct. That be me? We. We'll tell you the right answer and then you will have all the time. Wow. What do you think? It was a tough case. What would you do? Not known if he was able to talk. He was not able to talk. Was not able to talk. He was lucid. Probably saying to you, I have 10 minutes to spend with you. I'd like to share with you what's on my heart. Probably share some alien testimony because the real issue from, like I said before, is he said no. He said at a time in good time. All in good time. We'll discuss. Jesus. I would just pray share my personal testimony about John 36. So I was not depressed through a belief in whole. And it is true. And it's good. You know, then as regards to the spirit and to the healing, we said certainly don't take the doctor word for it and, you know, give up on healing. Medically and then spiritually. Right. Both. And they did say that that we needed to address, you know, there was physical and spiritual. And I think they said that spiritual definitely trumps the physical because it has a much longer impact on it. So we're praying for spiritual and physical healing. There's a chance the parents are going to lose their son. And you're right. You got to have compassion because they're your parishioners, too.

[00:02:41] You're also your responsibility. You need to be ministering to the parents as well as to pay. Oh, you only hear what I did. I got to tell you, I loved his parents. We didn't agree on all the things, but they're really good people. I loved his parents. I knew where they were coming from. I was not surprised. Obviously I did not commit one way or the other. Listen carefully. Was sympathetic. Deeply hurt because her son was dying. He died in the morgue. Remember? I'll never forget. I walked in and he opened his eyes. I'll never forget this. I was overwhelmed. Feeling incredibly inadequate. And I said to him, Hey. I know you're hurt, but this thing is bigger than I am. I'm going to pray for your healing. But I can't. I cannot do it on my own. It's bigger than mine. You're going to have to help me. We've talked about faith. But if I'm going to pray for you the way I know I need prayer, you're going to have to put your faith with mine. You're going to have to repent of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus. So. We can pray that. Whatever it means that the Spirit of God can bring healing. Will you help me? That's all I ask. This is bigger than I am. It's just so. I don't know what to do. You're going to have to help me. Are you willing to help me? And he was willing to help me. He was willing to. He was willing to help. He knew what was going on. I just. I was just honest with you. Man. This wasn't this wasn't a game. I wasn't making something up. I was being honest with this kid.

[00:04:50] I said this thing bigger than I am. You're hurt. I know you are. And I'm sorry. But if I'm going to pray for you the way I know I need to pray for you all. I'm asking you to put your faith with mine. Help me here. You know, we've talked about this. Repent of your sins and renew your faith and trust in Jesus. And I'm going to pray. And I pray that the Spirit of God would bring healing into his life, whatever that meant. I believe God healed him. And when I went out to his parents. I simply shared with him how I prayed for his healing, which I did. When he died. How did they respond? The way you prayed for? Drew I'm not sure I told him exactly how I prayed for him. I may have. I forget things. I was I walked into a hospital room one time. A Korean couple. To celebrate the birth of a little baby, Susanna. And when I walked into the room. Whoa! I could tell something was really wrong. That little baby was dead on her mother's breast. And between the door and the bedside. I'm saying, God, this is an emergency. I always expect to celebrate this little baby's life. Instantly, I realized it was Saint Francis Hospital and everything. A little honor. Forget it. Long as I live and Soak. Was her name. Korean. I said, God, this is an emergency. 5 seconds from now, it's too late. And as I approached the bed, I got an inside. I felt God was saying and suck. And Chung Nam Jong Nam is his name. They were crying. I said, I tell you what we need to do. We need to take this sweet little baby.

[00:07:06] And put that baby in a basket. In our minds. And put that basket on the river of life. And watch that basket flow. Down the river of life to old Abraham. And watch Ole Abraham stoop down and pick up that little baby out of that basket and clutch that baby to his bosom and hear him say these words. I get the raise? This one. You get to raise the next one. And I looked at her cos she was crying. You know what I did? I ran my thumb under her cheek and baptized that little baby. The mother's tears. And two years later. I baptize the next one. And you will not believe this. Jong Nam got up and said, this is actually our second child, that Dr. Tuttle was baptized. And you know what? I did not remember doing that. I've had people call me a liar. You would not forgive something like that. I've got a cardiologist friend at Atlanta who's called me a liar. I said you would not forget. He told me that story. I was in the moment. I was panicked. I did not know what I was doing. I'm sure it happened the way he said it happened. I remember being stricken. I remember. Saying something. But I'll tell you, folks, that was bigger than I was. But. I sense healing. Come into that room. You're in for a lot of situations like that, folks. I baptized a bunch of dead babies. Didn't do the bad babies any good. Specially if you're in a Catholic neighborhood like the South Side of Chicago, because that baby goes to limbo. I didn't do the baby any good, but I did the parents a whole lot of good. Sometimes they'll come a time where you need to stop doing your theology and stop doing start doing ministry.

[00:09:37] I go to the Jordan River and to remember our baptism. I love doing that. And I had this woman, £400 woman. Saved her money to be baptized on the River Jordan. And when we got there, she went up to her pastor was with us. She went up to her pastor and said, I'm ready. And he said, Why don't you baptize the baby? And she said, Well, yes, he said, I'm not peptides and we don't be baptized in the United Methodist Church. She was sobbing. Oh, Bob Tuttle took that old boy to the side and said to him. Sir. It's time for you to stop doing your theology and start doing ministry. And I tell you what we're going to do. You're going to get on one side of that woman and I'm going to get on the other. And we're not going to put her down once, but thrice, once for the father, once for the son, and once for the Holy Ghost. Do I make myself clear? He said, Yes, sir. We took it. We took her into the wild. And let me tell you. Woo! You down to woo, boy? She came out. I don't know what she was taken, but I didn't recognize the language. Oh, the Spirit of God came on her. And the spirit of God came on her brochure. There comes a time when you'll have to stop doing your theology. I am a theologian. Theology is really important to me. You do know that, don't you? But there's going to be a time when you're going to have to stop doing your theology and start doing ministry. We'll do a lot of things. I've done a lot of things in my life. But just what? I didn't have a whole lot of theology for it.

[00:11:45] I was just desperate. Many a time I prayed the prayer of God 5 seconds from now to late. I need help right now. I am dead meat. 5 seconds. If you don't help me right now. You'll be called in into situations. And you have already, I'm sure, many of you. It's just bigger than you are. You better know how to pray. You better pray every day that God will help you. Give you wisdom beyond your own understanding. And a love for the people.