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Evangelization always begins with proclaiming how the Lord changed your own life.

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_It is our experience with the Lord that leads to evangelization, do not fear talking to people. _

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“When we share the Gospel, we’re not threatening, we’re inviting.”

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Though there were moments of happiness and fun, the purpose of Jesus’ ministry was to tell people to repent and return to the Father, and many, including his own disciples, rejected and denied him. He knew that this would happen, but did not use his power to stop it.

The things most worth pursuing in life (marriage, raising kids, having a deep spiritual life, etc.) are never going to be fun all the time, because love isn’t just fun and warm fuzzy feelings.

The goal of life isn’t to have as much fun as possible before we die, it’s to live a life like Jesus, one that is centered on the love of God.

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“Our goal in relationships is not fun. It’s love.”

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They discuss the surreal experience of seeing the places where Jesus walked and how it changes your spiritual life.

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Jesus said, “As the father has sent, even so I send you.” [John 20:21] God sent his son with the power of baptism and the Holy Spirit, and that is the way we are sent as well.

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Jeff points to Scripture verses from Luke, 1 Timothy, and Matthew to show how we can emulate the good Samaritan and become a blessing to our families and local communities.

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“If you are focusing on the world, who is focusing on your neighbor?”

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There are people who feel that they have a responsibility to pull up the weeds and decide who stays and who goes in their parish … but God’s desire for conversion is greater than the desire for a tidy parish.

SHOWNOTES

Matthew 13:24-30, The Parable of the Sower- He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

5 Reasons to Stop “Weed Wacking”

1. They might need more time.

• Luke 13:6 - And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

• St. Thomas More - “No one, on his deathbed, ever regretted having been a Catholic.”

1. You can’t always tell the difference between weeds and wheat.

• Darnel - a slightly poisonous plant resembling wheat in its early stages of growth. Only when it is fully grown can you tell the difference. The ears of the real wheat are heavy and will droop, while the ears of the darnel stand up straight.

1. We are not smart enough nor do we know the full story of someone else. In other words, it’s above our pay scale.

2. God’s desire for conversion is greater than your need for a tidy parish.

3. We would want others to be patient with us! What if St. Monica had walked away from her son, St. Augustine?

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“Most people say the Bible is the pillar and bulwark of truth. But what does the Bible say the pillar and bulwark of truth is? 1 Timothy 3:15 points out that the pillar and bulwark of truth is the Church.”

SHOWNOTES

1 Timothy 3:15 - “If I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth.”

Resources

• Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua
• The Coming Home Network

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Check out Jeff’s episode, Created for Love, Settling for Likes, for even more Scripture on this topic.

Snippet from the Show
“We can only obey what we know. If we want to be obedient to God, we have to have some plan to get to know what’s expected of us. That’s what Bible study is about.”

SHOWNOTES

Matthew 20:20-28 - “Then the mother of the sons of Zeb′edee came up to him, with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, “Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’ He said to them, ‘You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’ And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”

Matthew 22:36-40 - “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”

John 14:15 - “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Romans 1:5 - “through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations”

John 1:6 - “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth”

Luke 6:46 - “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

Luke 16:13 - “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

John 8:29 - “And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.”

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“Rash tweets are like sword thrusts, but the tweet of the wise brings healing.”

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Jeff talks about what to say to others about God as well as tips for approaching people. When we share the message of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit confirms that message in those hearts. One person plants the seed, another waters it, and God allows the growth.

How do you share your faith with other people?

Snippet from the Show
Sharing Christ with others begins with a personal relationship with the Lord. As St. Peter said, “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you.”

SHOWNOTES
1 Peter 3:15 - Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you.

CCC Paragraph 1 - God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

CCC Paragraphs 1430-1431 - Jesus' call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, "sackcloth and ashes," fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance.

Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of heart).

7 Steps of the Kerygma

1. God loves YOU and has a plan for your life
2. Sin will destroy you and ruin God’s plan for your life
3. Jesus Christ died to save you
4. Repent and believe the Gospel, the “good news”
5. Be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit
6. Abide in Christ and His body the Church
7. Go and make disciples yourself

Jeff’s 5 Tips

1. Get to know the 7 points of the kerygma.
2. Find your way of conveying this kerygma.
3. Practice situational awareness.
4. Ask questions.
5. Suggest a next step or next get-together.

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We hear about fasting, almsgiving, and prayer so often during Lent that the words can become bland and lose meaning.

But these practices are not arbitrary measures designed to make us miserable for forty days. They are spiritual disciplines specifically aimed at three areas of weakness in our souls. They help us overcome sin and become more like Jesus.

Jeff compares biblical figures from Genesis and 1 John to Jesus’ example in the Gospel of Matthew. He also provides some alternate ways of thinking about fasting, almsgiving, and prayer to help rejuvenate our commitment this Lent.

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