Jump to content
JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Recommended Posts

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness?

Now that we're alive in Christ, if we forget how dead we were in our sins, we may lose the urgency to witness to others who are in our former condition. It's only when we are clear on the true condition of the lost that we are stirred up to share Christ with the perishing. When I think about anyone being separated from God forever and ever and ever, in darkness and suffering, I am bold to share my faith. The phrase "alone and without God in the world" is their condition now, and encourages me to seek them out to introduce them to The One, who will never leave them alone nor forsake them.

A pastor from India once suggested to us in order to keep this in the forefront of our minds, to ask God when we wake up "Who do you want to bring across my path today who needs to know you?", and "Will you give me the courage and boldness and opportunity to share with them." This amazes me! I'm always on the lookout for the opportunity now, and He brings it to me!

Another pastor suggested we write up and memorize our testimony of "what I was like before I met Jesus; How I met Jesus (in a way that shows them how to receive Him as Lord and Savior with scripture), and how He is working in my life today.....which can be given in a casual way in 3 minutes....so on an elevator, or walking to get coffee, etc, we can make the most of the opportunity which may never come again with that person. I did this, and have been amazed at the opportunities I've had to share! I also did this with a group going door to door during Bill Bright's "I found it" campaign, and was shocked at the people who prayed with me to receive Christ...who said "Cult members come to my door regularly...where have you Christians been? I don't go to church...I've been waiting for someone to come and tell me the truth!"

In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

They are dead in their sins, unforgiven and destined to go to hell separated from God for eternity. I don't want anyone to go there!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • Replies 79
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12)

Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness?

In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

We need the Holy Spirit to help us to witness effectively, and being

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12)

Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness?

Without empathy and sympathy or the ability to understand how it is to walk in someone else's shoes, it is difficult to reach them. People know when you care by a simple touch or gesture.

In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

They are without hope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

I live in a town full of a lot of other church-going stay-at-home moms. Whereas I used to associate with mostly non-believers, now I am hard-pressed to name one friend who isn't a Christian! I honestly haven't thought much about witnessing lately for these reasons, and I am rather out of touch with "lostness." I do have many Christian friends who have made some bad decisions and are struggling, lost in their own way. This passage is a good reminder for me to pray for opportunities to spread the word.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? I always wondered why Paul puts so much emphasis, here and in some of his other letters on what Christians were like before they became Christians and how hopeless their position was. To me, it always seemed very negative. This question explains why it is so important to remember what the alternative to Christ is. If we lose sight of where we have come from, then we lose sight of where others still are, and therefore of the necessity to witness to them.

In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ? Wandering aimlessly in a wilderness with no hope and, ultimately, no future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

6a)Newcomer coming into church are daunted or even

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

To me realizing what Christ brought me out of is a key in getting through every day. If we forget that opens up the door even wider for satan to step in and tempt us. Anyone who doesnt knoe Christ is spiritually dead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

I try and help that person, in any way that I possibly can. Without being in touch with the good LORD, how lost and lonely that person must be.

You can not live without the love of GOD...... Bruno J...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

My answer is the same as the previous question... Bruno J.....
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness.

Being out of touch with God and his word means you are lost. How can you witness when you do not know what God's word say.

A fiend or co-worker who does not know Christ is living in darkness. They are lost, lonely and cannot have any hope. I would have to feed them like a babe on the work of God. First, they must learn who God is and this is done by hearing of the word and hearing through a preacher, evangelist or bible scholar who is saved and know Christ.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

1A) If we forget what it means to be lost, we forget the isolation caused by separation from the Father. Jesus experienced this isolation when he cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?". He brought the lost to Himself by suffering the agony and loneliness of separation from the Father whilst having the ultimate separation from mankind, being killed from His own species.

So, we need to remember the fundamentals of our Christian faith; the cross, the selfless cross, and as we do, we will witness out of gratefulness as we recall Calvary. A willingness to witness stems from gratefulness of what Jesus did for us.

1B)Those who don't know Christ are lost to what is in their own well-spring. We are filled from His compassion, His grace, His mercy. We have a connection with the Father, who is creating us to be the likeness of His own Son. The spiritual condition of those who doesn't know Christ is the same as Jesus when he hung on the cross and took our sin upon Himself, that is, forsaken, isolated by the Father, and experiencing the darkness of the world and humanity as Jesus did as the Earth was cloaked in darkness during His death.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

I can easily relate to being out of touch with what it means to be "lost." When I visit a new place and meet with new people who I do not know I feel out of touch till I start to make new friends. This is in the natural and you can imagine what it will be like in the spiritual. People who do not know Christ are out of touch, lost, and alienated. They live in the dark and life is meaningless to them. But once they came to know Christ as their Savior and Lord everything in their life changes.

The spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who does not know Christ is in a danger of death. Even though he is still alive and going about his duties he is like a dead man walking. He has nothing to hang on to and his life is full of meaninglessness and potholes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

I can easily relate to being out of touch with what it means to be "lost." When I visit a new place and meet with new people who I do not know I feel out of touch till I start to make new friends. This is in the natural and you can imagine what it will be like in the spiritual. People who do not know Christ are out of touch , lost, and alienated. They live in the dark and life is meaningless to them. But once they come to know Christ as their Savior and Lord everything in their life changes.

The spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who does not know Christ is in a danger of death. Even though he is still alive and going about his duties he is like a dead man walking. He has nothing to hang on to and his life is full of meaninglessness and potholes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

We may become complacent to the disaster that awaits the world. Thinking we no longer need to worry about what is happening to the world because we know it isn't our forever home.

My coworkers that don't know Christ are dead inside even though they are walking around like they are alive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

When we are “lost” and out of touch then we can’t witness because we don’t know what God is doing for us. Unless we stay in contact with Christ we can’t see what is being done in our favor.

The spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn’t know Christ is lost. He doesn’t have any hope in the real future. They have a hole in them that won’t fill up because it the whole that God puts in us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

It would be difficult, in fact impossible to convince someone that he or she has a need of a savior if they don't realize that they are lost or are sinners.

The spiritual condition of someone who doesn't know Christ is hopeless and depressing; like a boat without rudder on the high seas being blown to and fro by the wind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

As believers we forget what it was to be lost in the world with out God. We find it difficult at times to witness for Christ to unbelievers because we know the attitude they may have toward us and the gospel.

The spiritual condition of friends or co-workers who don't know Christ is quite startling at times. Evidence of their condition is manifest through their speech, gestures, sexual displays and imbibing in strong drink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ? 

 

1.Pride sometimes will hinder us to accept the fact that before we are born again,we are just lost as our unbeliever neighbor.We tend to sugarcoat who we are before being born again,as not as bad as other.

2. Spiritual condition of our neighbor who does not know Christ is dead.And even if He knows Christ but does not believe and accept his complete work in the cross,his spiritual condition is still dead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

A lot of us have been born into Christianity. We have grown up in the same area. We know most of those that worship within out church. We all know who we are and how we worship and connect to out God. We have comfort and we have safety. We are afraid to go to others that are not part of us. We do not feel safe approaching people about our religion. We might work with them or live by them, but we do not want to let them into our inner circle. We do not want to share everything with them.

 

I have a friend that refuses to believe in Christ. She has had a lot of problems in her life. She one went to church by has stopped and taken up the belief of an atheist. She has a very hard heart. She does not let too many people into her world. She is very negative about everything. She always looks at the worse side of things. She is very critical of all actions of others. she seems to lack any hope that things will get better for her or the world around her. My heart goes out to her but I need to walk "on egg shells" around her. It is very hard to talk to her because she takes everything in whatever mood she is in. She never really listens to anything that someone says to her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
On 7/29/2006 at 6:47 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q1. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

When you forget what it was like to be lost, you lose touch with all that you have through Christ .

When you know Christ you live in this world but are not of it and you know not to gat caught up in it so that it won't bring you down, someone who does not know Christ let's it in and it pull's them down  spiritually and physically. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Pastor Ralph changed the title to Q22. Lostness
  • 2 months later...

We have the courage to witness because of the hope we have in Christ. Have been assured of being the Children of God and co-heirs with Christ, then we have something to tell people. Devoid of these facts, we ourselves feel abandoned, hopeless, lost, without any hope, despaired. We don't have the taste of anything good. Bound in these, it becomes hard to witness. What will you be witnessing about? It is God we have that we witness to the people. If the food is good, you have the courage to invite a friend and the vice versa is also true

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Q22. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ? 
We need to recognise the urgent need of the lost in this world today. It is only when we realise that there are so many people in the world today that are without hope and without God, that we will be motivated to witness to as many as possible. Until we come to see this urgent need, we will remain out of touch with reality. I pity unbelievers in our chaotic world of today. Life is difficult enough, and certainly unbearable without our Lord as our anchor in life. They don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus and don’t experience His peace and help/guidance in life. They are spiritually dead, and without God in the world they are in a desperate situation; they have no meaning, no hope, no purpose, and no direction in life. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Q23. (Ephesians 2:14-15) In what sense did Jesus as Messiah "fulfil" the Mosaic Law? What is the significance of that for Jewish people? For us Gentiles? 
The ceremonial law and the civil law created a barrier between Jews and Gentiles. They were alienated from one another and at enmity with one another. By His death on the cross Jesus paid the penalty of the law that had been broken, satisfying the righteous claims of God, for all who are “in Christ”. He became a substitute for their sin and removed the barrier between both Jew and Gentile, as well as between God and man, giving them direct access to God. So that they are no longer under the law but under grace. Both Jew and Gentile can come to God via Jesus; both have the same privileges; both become Christians; they are both members of the body of Christ, one new humanity out of two – the church. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Q22. (Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness?

Only when we really understand what it means to be lost and the effect and consequences of being lost [which is living and dying without salvation] can we see the great need to witness to such a lost one in order to wrestle such a person out from the penalty of dying in such a lost position and going to hell.

In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ?

As said above, spiritual condition of those who do not know Christ is that such individuals are spiritually dead. When the individuals die, hell is their destination. I have a responsibility to witness to my non- Christian friends. So help me Lord.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paul starts out this passage with the words, "Remember ... that formerly you were ..." and then starts the next verse with the same word, "remember."

Remember ... so, what did they forget?

They must have forgotten something. It's easy to forget one's past, to not be able or want to recall what it felt like "before." For some, salvation came so early in life that there are few  memories of life unsaved. For others, salvation was so thorough that memories seem whitewashed, silenced by present grace.

But Paul, here, reminds them to remember. Don't forget, in so many words, your past, he's telling him. Don't forget how bad life used to be. This comes straightaway after Paul told them that they were God's handiwork. Maybe he worried they'd be proud?

Whatever Paul's motive, he's obviously drawing a before-after comparison for the gentile Ephesians:  before ... -- now, after Christ ...   

Paul is also contrasting  two groups, jews and gentiles, in order to show that they're a unified body in Christ, just one, that is.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...