Posts Tagged ‘way’

There’s obviously always fear in evangelism. Sometimes fear comes because we are expecting things from people. That, interestingly enough, never happen.  People seem to want to talk about spiritual things. They simply want to be approached in the right way. By that, I mean that people will be most interested in what you want to tell them when you come to people with

1. A caring spirit
2. An attitude of grace, and
3. A genuine concern.

I often tell people that it’s not that they don’t’ want to be approached. They simply want to be approached in the right way. Sometimes when people seem uninterested, it’s because they feel like it’s being “jammed down their throat”, or forced upon them. That rarely ever works. But when you come “up from underneath” them, and they sense sincerity about you, it’s amazing how open they are to talking. As you talk, it’s easy to find one way or another to talk about spiritual things, and ultimately the Gospel. In our day when people fear cancer, terrorism, and the uncertainty about the economy, they’re even more open and approachable.

I encourage each believer I meet to just begin a conversation with non-Christians with the objective of hopefully talking to them about Christ. Take it one step at a time and show your genuine concern in them. When they sense they’ve met a friend, they might be interested in talking about your Friend!

Most people don’t think they can share the gospel with someone who will actually believe it and trust Christ for their salvation.  Many have a misplaced expectation that comes from being results-oriented.  We don’t think our job is done unless someone believes.  Not so.

Here are five things we can do:

1. We can share the gospel simply and clearly with someone who knows us; it’s not hard to learn.  Go get some training on how to witness.
2. We can tell them what we believe.  What our life was like before we understood that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead.  How we learned we were forgiven, that we could have an actual relationship with God in our life right now and go to Heaven when we die.
3. We can tell how our life has been changed.  We show them the Bible verses. We can ask if they would like to trust Christ too. We can all do that.  If we let go of the responsibility for their belief.
4. We can be faithful to do what He told us to do.  We love Him.  We tell His story.  We smile at the mercy and grace He gives us every day.
5. We are an ambassador carrying the message of the King.  We deliver it.  The one who receives the message must make the decision with Him.

Being a witness of Jesus Christ is a mindset. If you haven’t already done so, go to Gethsemane, drop to your knees, sweat great drops of blood at the thought of sharing your faith, and then say, “Not my will but Yours be done.” That will give you the mindset to deny yourself and daily pick up the cross. You only have to bear the reproach of the cross for a short time. The day will come when you will exchange it for a crown. So if you have dealt with your fears in the garden, every time fear knocks at the door, you can send faith to answer it. When your cowardly cringing heart says, “You can’t do this,” you simply ignore its whispering and say, “I dealt with you in the garden. Now I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

When a telemarketer calls your home, you will be tempted to get rid of him by saying, “I’m busy at the moment, so give me your home phone number and I will call you back later tonight.” But you resist temptation and think of God’s will, not yours. No doubt these poor folks get abused and hung up on, on a regular basis. So, let your little light shine through the phone. When he says, “My name is Greg. I have a real deal for you. It won’t cost you a thing. All I need is your name and address.” Say, “Hi Greg. It’s good to hear from you. Have you been having a good day?” Listen to his reaction. Your genuine warmth will probably shock him. Then say, “May I ask you a few questions (he’s been trained to be congenial and will no doubt react positively)? Do you consider yourself to be a good person?” If you mess up, say, “Gotta go. Thanks for calling,” then hang up.

Don’t stay in the tomb of dead silence. Ask God to send His angels to roll the stone of fear away. Then come out of the tomb. Please. You are needed. It’s not as hard as you may think. Let me share with you a typical witnessing encounter.

A friend and I were recently in an appliance store. The assistant was very helpful. While he was serving us, I gave him a few tracts, for which he was genuinely grateful. One was “101 of the World’s Funniest One-liners.” He laughed as he read the cover. He also loved my business card. It is a tract that looks like a business card but it says, “Department of Annoyance…Director.” The back is in reverse, so that you have to go to a mirror to read it. When he looked at the back and turned it upside down to try and read it, I said, “Annoying huh?” He laughed again.

As we walked across the store, I thought, “If I care about this man, I will witness to him.” In came the excuses: “You can’t to this. You don’t have time. You shouldn’t do this in the store. He will be offended…blah, blah, blah, etc., ad infinitum.” I ignored the whisperings and said, “Those things I gave you were Gospel tracts.” He said, “Huh?” So I said, “They were Christian tracts. Have you had a Christian background?” He said, “Catholic.”

So I asked, “Do you consider yourself to be a good person?”

“Yes.”

“Can I ask you a few questions to see if that’s true?”

“Sure.”

“Have you ever told a lie?”

“Yeah.”

“What does that make you?”

“A liar.”

“Have you ever stolen something?”

“Yes.”

“What does that make you?”

“A thief.”

“Jesus said, ‘Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart.’ Have you ever done that?”

“Yes.”

“Will you be innocent or guilty on the Day of Judgment?”

“Guilty.”

“Will you go to Heaven or Hell?”

“Somewhere in-between.”

“There’s no such place.”

“Hell then.”

His eyes were wide and his face was sober, so I said, “Do you know what God did so that you wouldn’t have to go to Hell?” He said that he didn’t, so I took him through the Gospel. When he heard about God’s forgiveness, and His gift of everlasting life, his facial expression changed, and he said, “Wow!” There was no offense. None of my fears were realized.

I asked him if he had a Bible, and then left him with some more literature. All this happened in about two minutes.

Join me at my next class of way of the master @ Warehouse 727 Church and you can learn how to do this and see how easy it is to do!