Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19970406.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Sixty-Seven - The Old Testament Case For Lifestyle Evangelism
(Psalm 67:1-8)
  1. Introduction
    1. Probably every family unit in Nepaug Church is connected to three to six other family units that are outside of the flock of God, outside of faith in Christ. This fact is accompanied by an incessant, burning desire of Nepaugers to see their unsaved family and associates come to faith in Christ.
    2. However, by now, many verbal witnessing efforts to reach such beloved unbelievers have not only proved to be ineffective, but even counterproductive to the degree the believer tries harder to mouth the truth!
    3. Well, cheer up, there is a solution: the program God had for Israel's being set apart from the nations was designed to win the rest of the Gentile world to Israel's God after it had decided to reject Him! Just how that was to be accomplished is touched upon in Psalm 67, a psalm with the Old Testament case for Lifestyle Evangelism as follows:
  2. The Old Testament Case For Lifestyle Evangelism, Psalm 67:1-7.
    1. When God first called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to form the nation of Israel, it was against the backdrop of the united effort of the Gentile world to turn its back upon God:
      1. After the Noahic Flood, God commanded Noah and his sons to spread out upon the earth and replenish it in the fear and law of God, Gen. 9:1-17.
      2. However, as man began to multiply on the earth, he resisted depending upon God and replenishing the earth, choosing rather to stay collected on the plain of Shinar in Mesopotamia apparently to trust in a false religion of worshipping the stars and Zodiac (11:4a) in place of trusting God, Gen. 11:1-4. This was all done in order to find security and provisions due to faithlessness in the unseen God, v. 4.
      3. Accordingly, God had to confound man's languages, producing many languages and spreading man out over the surface of the earth to slow down the development of apostasy, Gen. 11:5-9.
      4. In an effort to reach a rebellious Gentile world, God chose one man, Abraham, to form the nation, Israel and to bless it with security and provisions so as to make the Gentiles jealous of that blessing they so desperately sought on their own to seek Israel's God for their own blessing, Gen. 12:1-3.
    2. Psalm 67:1-7 is a picture of how that program was supposed to work via Lifestyle Evangelism as follows:
      1. The psalmist expressed his desire that Israel's God would be gracious to the nation and bless it so that God's ways might gain the positive attention of the Gentile communities, and God's saving rescues of people from troubles unto ble ssing might be known in the world, Ps. 67:1-2.
      2. As a result, the world would rejoice and glorify the Lord as they themselves entered this blessing, 3-4a.
      3. In the latter part of verse four, the verb nachah is used of God, meaning "to go before to show and conduct a party along the right way," cf. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, p. 568. The thought is that God goes before to show and conduct the world's peoples along the right path. The way this is done is through God's blessing obedient Israel to whet the appetite of a rebellious Gentile community to change its attitude toward Israel's God for blessing! (Ps. 67:5-7)
Lesson: God's plan of evangelism is to "sell" the world that HE HIMSELF provides the fulfillment they desire, and to do so by EXHIBITING that fulfillment in the "easily read" LIVES of believers.

Application: (1) Merely giving out a host of CLAIMS to an unsaved party on the blessings found in Christ may well ANNOY and even turn unbelievers AWAY FROM the truth as the VOLUME of words themselves can make even valid claims SUSPECT! Learn that the REAL"sell" occurs by means of EXHIBITED BLESSINGS in our LIVES that onlookers can "READ" THEMSELVES. (2) Thus, the most eff ective witness we can have is to make sure our LIVES are RIGHT with the Lord so that we EXHIBIT the blessings of God that are WINSOME to the UNBELIEVER! (3) To evangelize effectively, go HARD on quality LIVING and SOFT on WORDS so the un saved can "read for HIMSELF" God's blessings in our lives and come to Christ! (4) True, there IS a time for WORDING our faith, but ONLY when words really MEAN something due to a credible LIFE!