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Picture of a hot dog with all the
fixings in a retro advertising style, with the words: Hot Dog!
Saturday Cookout. This image is announcing a Saturday get
together for a local church, a youth group or maybe in
neighbor's back yard.
While the image is not specifically
Christian in any way, it brings attention to one the best ways
Christians have of meeting their neighbors. Inviting
people to church is a wonderful thing. I hope there in not
a single person in America who has not been invited to a
Christian church, prayer meeting, Bible study or retreat.
but let's face it, not every human being on this planet can
automatically see their need for God, prayer or Bible reading.
That's why God placed Christians as witnesses in the world.
A witness is not just someone who
runs around giving out Bible and leaflets. I have been
that kind of witness many times on the streets and sidewalks all
over this United States. I have always enjoyed talking to
people that I meet this way. But such a witness is only
one of many, many ways that God reaches out to people.
Often a much more effective way to
meet new friends and get to know your neighbors is to invite
them to casual gatherings for food, fun or even entertainment.
A backyard cookout can be lots of fun for everyone. A
church potluck or barbeque or hot dog cookout is often a very
pleasant way for lots of people to gather and simply get to know
each other. Kids can meet other kids. Parents can
meet other parents. Singles can meet other singles in
non-threatening or artificial ways.
Whoever knows Jesus has witnessed
the miracle of the new birth in his or her own life. We
have gone beyond the experience of a mere dogma or religion.
We have seen and felt the power of God at work in transforming
our own lives. We know that God answers prayers. We
know that God really loves people, and that He is ready and
willing to express His love in any human life that is yielded to
Him, in any human heart that will open up to Him.
As Christian believers, we have
witnessed God's love and power in our own lives. As people
get to know us, they will begin to hear, see and understand what
God means to us — what Jesus Christ is all about. We don't
have to preach or teach in order to share with others what God
has done for us in Christ. We don't need to pretend to be
perfect or all-knowing or super religious. A cookout
should never be like a sales meeting or a marketing campaign.
We simply meet other people and they get to meet us. We
have a good time. We let them see us for whatever we are,
and then we give the glory to God for what and who Jesus is to
us.
Every community has people.
Every human has to eat. Every Christian group has the
opportunity to share their food, their company, their good times
with their neighbors.
The above graphic may be used by Christian believers in various kinds of
personal witness, for church programs, and other Christian
activities. There is no charge for this use, so long as
the copyright/credit info is included with the image or a link
back to this site is provided.
To use the graphics on this site,
right click the image (Mac users hover the mouse cursor over the
image) and select the "Save As" or "Save Image As" and save the
file on your computer's hard drive. Images not saved to
your computer will not work properly (especially animated GIF
files), or will suffer broken links in a short time.
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