ONE!نموونە

Step 4 - One!Soul

"And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" Matthew 16:26 NLT

"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 NLT

One!Soul is worth more than everything on earth.

One!Soul

Step 4 - Going out to bring One!Name to experience Jesus.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost because He is Love...

There are several definitions of love, the Greek intonations include these four:

1. Philia, often translated as friendship or affection

2. Eros, or sexual passion

3. Storge, love of parents, children, and families, and 

4. Agape, the love of God for man and man for God.

Agape love is the strongest and purest of the four, but any attempt to describe agape love will fall far short. For God’s love is infinite, unfailing, immeasurable, eternal and far beyond our human understanding. God IS love. That’s what He is–meaning that’s what He is made of. God’s love has been extended to everyone who has ever walked the face of the earth, whether they believe in Him or not. It doesn't matter if they’re poor or rich, good or bad, highly successful or dismal failures, kind or cruel, leaders or followers. 

Nothing we do will make Him love us less. And nothing we can try to do will earn His love. It’s a gift and it’s free because Jesus paid the price.

God has loved us from the moment of our conception and will love us to the day we die, whether we acknowledge Him, scoff at and disdain Him, deride Him or deny Him. He longs for us to turn to Him and be born again by His spirit, and to live with Him forever. So He came down to earth to look for us and to reconcile and bring us back to the Father.

Your goal in this step is to go out in the love and power of the Holy Spirit and bring your One!Name to the life-changing love of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Andrew went and found Peter and brought him to Jesus.

Often times it will take more than one invitation to get your One!Name to attend a church program or service or even a face-to-face, one-on-one appointment/meeting/hang-out. The One!Soul step is love in action and involves you going out of your way to bring One!Name to a Jesus experience.

Going out in love to bring One!Name to Jesus.

When One!Name accepts your invitation, you will want to make sure that he/she actually comes to the program, event, or church service. So, like Andrew who went to get Peter, you will need to go and get One!Name; that may mean picking them up from home or school or a cafe that you both know. What is important is that you are willing (if there is a need) to go out and bring One!Name to attend the service or program that will expose them to the word of life and Jesus.

Consequently, prompted by the Spirit and encouraged by the love of God you show,  hopefully your One!Name will attend a program and come into the presence of God...an experience that will deposit the seed of God’s word in his/her heart. (Matthew 13:1-9)

Lots of people don’t give their lives to Jesus the first time they hear the good news. So this may be the first of several of your One!Name's visits to the church or program. Don’t give up; don’t  be discouraged if this happens. Almost everyone had to hear the good news several times before they came to accept Jesus into their hearts and became a living soul.

Introducing One!Name to Jesus by sharing your personal testimony.

There will be moments when after you have invited and brought One!Name to a church service or special event that you have the time to talk about the service and the message. This is a great opportunity to share and reinforce the message of salvation using your own personal experience in three relatable steps.

When you have an opportunity to tell your salvation story, what should you say? 

Whenever you can, share your personal salvation experience with your One!Name using the steps below.

1. Talk about what you were like before you got saved.  

Identify with One!Name. Share examples of the kind of person you were before you met Christ and how your lifestyle was flawed and without God. Paul, in Acts 21:40, does this when he spoke to the Jews, He deliberately spoke in Aramaic to identify with his audience. He stressed the parts of his life that the listeners could relate with.

Because he was speaking to Jews, he spoke about his Jewish background. You can start by sharing with One!Name about your relatable past. You could drive the conversation to salvation with a comment like "You know, I was .........." or "Did you know, I used to ..........".

2. Talk about what happened to you.

It is critically important to talk about what happened to you when you encountered Jesus in concrete terms. The personal details make it real, believable, and powerful.

In Acts 22:1-21 Paul gives a very detailed account of what happened to him on the road to Damascus when he encountered Jesus. He heard Jesus’ voice. Jesus asked him questions and gave him commands. Paul listened and did as Jesus instructed. Similarly, you could share your personal life-changing encounter and spiritual journey with One!Name. Then lastly...

3. Talk about how you have been transformed. 

Flowing from the encounter with Jesus, it is important to say in definitive terms how you have been transformed. You should describe the real ways, that Jesus has changed your life for the better. The story of your changed life is living evidence of God's power to change and transform your One!Name. Sharing your personal testimony gives you a great opportunity to invite your One!Name to a new life in Jesus and you should end your transformation experience with an invitation to One!Name to accept Jesus as Savior. 

Look forward to a positive response and be ready to lead your One!Name into a new life in Jesus and pray a prayer with Romans 10:9-10 as your guide.

And with that done, and the acceptance of Jesus as savior by One!Name, you are at the final step.