Posts Tagged ‘friendship’

“If we were able to rewrite the script for the reputation of Christianity, I think we would put the emphasis on developing relationships with nonbelievers, serving them, loving them, and making them feel accepted. Only then would we earn the right to share the gospel.” – Andy Stanley
While I agree with Pastor Stanley’s emphasis on developing relationships with non-believers, I don’t believe it is necessarily a prerequisite to sharing the gospel. As believers, we are called to be “salt and light” in our dark world. This involves both loving people and sharing the gospel. The two go hand in hand and balance is key. As we love and build relationships with people, God may give us the opportunity to share Christ at any time. It could be in the first five minutes or it might take months to get to that point.

In addition, the gospel itself is the “power of God unto salvation.” Anytime we share the gospel, it alone is enough to lead someone to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. I have seen people come to Christ by hearing an evangelistic message, reading a tract, or watching an evangelistic film. In all of these situations, the question was not whether or not someone earned the right to share. The message alone was enough. “Faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17), and anytime we communicate the gospel, it has the potential of changing someone’s life and eternal destiny forever.

Spirit moments are those moments when God calls us to cooperate with Him in the work that He is doing.  That is often expressed in a burning invitation to do some kind of action on our part: speak a word, offer to pray, share a word of knowledge.

In personal evangelism, the Spirit moment might occur where the person will take a giant step forward in their quest to find faith.

Other times, it’ll be at that moment when a person is ready to surrender their life to the Lord.

I had an appointment with a friend, but he canceled it.

He changed his mind, forgot to tell me, and showed up anyway.

While drinking coffee with him, he began talking about his spiritual life.

He started it.  I listened.

He described the emptiness he felt inside.

He described how he wanted to know God, even prayed, but still felt very empty.

He talked about a new yearning to read the Bible and was having a growing admiration of Jesus.

As I listened and asked the occasional question for clarification, I recognized the advance working of the Holy Spirit.

It was one of those moments where the Holy Spirit had prepared this man:  all elements were in place.

• Spiritual restlessness
• Spiritual dissatisfaction
• Reading Scriptures in search for the answers
• Self-awareness of his own separation from God
• Prior experiences of knowing God’s sacred presence and wanting more.

One skill we can grow in our personal evangelism is recognizing those God given moments.

When we see these moments, evangelism is as ordinary as breathing.