1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NKJV

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Sharing the Gospel

When we who believe in Jesus Christ share the message of the gospel of Christ with the people of the world, or with the worldly church, we must do so under the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, and according to what the Scriptures teach on that subject, in the correct biblical context. It is best if we do not use man-made formulas for how to share Christ with people, for so many of those formulas are not teaching the truth of the gospel. And the “gospel” many are teaching has been altered to appeal to human flesh.

But Jesus Taught

I can recall in my younger years when evangelism was seriously being stressed in the church and we were all being trained in how to share the gospel with people. But they were man-created formulas, and as I later in life learned, many of them were taken from a collection of Scriptures taught outside of context made to say what they do not say if taught in context. And so many people were being taught that if they prayed the prayer to receive Christ that all their sins were forgiven and heaven was guaranteed.

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

But that was not what was being taught in these evangelism training classes and via these gospel tracts or formulas we were given to use to spread the message of the gospel. But “getting people saved” was the goal, and the numbers mattered to church officials for their records. But so many of these evangelistic efforts failed to share the gospel as taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles, and so they gave people a false hope of salvation, and many people who prayed the prayer never gave their hearts to Christ.

Get Into The Word

So, if you are going to share the message of the gospel with other people, do not rely on gospel tracts to get you there. And don’t rely on the gospel message you heard from some preacher or evangelist, or something you found on the internet. And don’t use AI (artificial intelligence), although there have been times when they have had it more correct than most preachers I have heard. But get into the Word yourselves, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit read what the Scriptures teach, in context.

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven (see Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1-3).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Walking in The Light

Based off 1 John 1-2
An Original Work / November 16, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

When I lift up my voice, and
Sing praise unto God,
I will fellowship with my
Lord and Savior, King.
In Him there is no darkness.
He is in the light of truth.
If we walk in His light,
From sin He purifies.

If we repent of our sins,
He’ll forgive us now,
When we humble ourselves, and
Before Jesus bow.
The man who says, “I know Him,”
But does not obey His truth,
There is no truth in him.
In darkness still he’s found.

Do not love the world of sin,
For it is hell bound.
If you follow the world, you’ll
Not in Christ be found.
The world and its desires
Will not last; they’ll expire.
The one who does God’s will,
Receives eternal life.

See that what you have heard from
Christ remains in you.
Then, you’ll remain in Christ, and
In His Father, too.
This is what He promised us –
His eternal life with God.
So, continue in Him, and
You’ll receive a crown.

Not Words of Human Wisdom
An Original Work / June 10, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love