The Methods of Evangelism, Part 4 - Lesson 12
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Okay, I just wanted to start this morning by reading from Romans chapter 1, verses 15 to 17, which is a great evangelistic passage. Just thinking about the Gospel in our communication of it, both for believers and for non-believers. Romans 1, verse 15. And just by way of review, Romans is in some ways a lot of purposes that Paul has, but one of them is like a missionary support letter. If you've ever gone on a short-term trip and you're trying to raise support, you write a letter. This is what we're going to do.
09:18:00
This is who we are. And Paul is trying to do that. As he wants to go to Spain, and so he's never met the Romans in person, so he writes a letter. And basically says, here's my theology, here's what I intend to communicate, and I desire to plant new churches in places where Christ is not named, would you support me? And I think if we got this letter, we would be like, absolutely. If your theology is like this, then yeah. So it's like a support letter. So he talks about his desire to proclaim the Gospel, how he's unashamed of that. So Romans 1, verse 15, he says, so I am eager to preach the Gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
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Paul is eager to preach the Gospel, but notice he says, not only is he eager to preach the Gospel to the lost, but he's also eager to preach the Gospel to the believers in Rome, to you who are in Rome. He's talking to the church there. So here's a good reminder for us that the Gospel is not only the message by which we are saved, but leaving initially in Christ, but it is the message by which we are continually sanctified and where we grow more into the image of Christ, where our hearts grow more in love for God and Christ, and less diminishing in our love for sin. As we see the Gospel more and more clearly. I think if you're a believer for any amount of time, certainly your knowledge of the Gospel has deepened, right? And grown. It's sweetness to you has ripened and so over time we understand
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new facets of the diamond, which is the Gospel, and we enjoy it more and more. We see that much more how much of a sinner we are that we didn't realize before, and we see how sufficient the work of Christ is. And so that is certainly encourages our hearts. So I say that in part, I hope to get to talking about someone brought up a question about how do you speak the Gospel to those who might think they're already saved, but there's questions to that. Well, here's someone pointed this out to me once. And I thought that was just a good observation. That true Christians don't mind if you bring up the Gospel with them, right? If someone's truly converted, then you bring up the Gospel and you might say something like, you know, how is your, you know, what is your understanding of the Gospel and how has it deepened over the time that you've been a follower of Christ? Well, a Christian they're like, yeah. I mean, this is like a softball. It's like, whoop, you know. Wham.
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And you're just, yeah, I want to talk about that. I love that. Just write down the middle. And so the Christian the true Christian goes, oh yeah, I've grown in my understanding of the work of Christ in this area or wow, this season I've really been growing in just thinking about Christ's perfect obedience. On my behalf. And that is just so sweet to me. And just these different answers. You know, I've thought about the resurrection more. And Christ's resurrection, what that means for my future resurrection. And they just, they're like a pig in the mud, you know, just wallowing around in Gospel truth, you know, and that's what real fellowship is all about, is really just sharing what God has been teaching us and glorying in that. For the person who would say they're a Christian, and yet they, let's just hypothetically, speak about someone who thinks they're a Christian, but they're really not a Christian, they're really not regenerate. I'm not saying this would happen across the board, but you could imagine a situation where you try to get a Gospel conversation going talking about the riches of the Gospel,
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and they have just no interest at all. They're just like not interested. And so that would be a concern. But notice here how Paul says, hey, I'm eager to remind you guys about the Gospel, to preach the Gospel to you. And then of course he goes into how he's unashamed of the Gospel because of what it is and what it does. It's God's power. It is where righteousness is proclaimed, how sinful people can be declared righteous before a holy God. So when we remember what the Gospel is, it makes us eager to proclaim it not only to the lost, but also to other believers. And for us to remind each other of that. So maybe that takes a weight off of you to think, yeah, that's true. If this person's saying they're a Christian, then I should be able to bring up the Gospel and see what they love about the Gospel. Hey, what do you love about Christ? What in your life in the last year, the last six months, have you grown in your love for Christ?
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You know, what areas? What aspects of Christ have you found to be more sweet as you've read the Bible this year? So those are some things. That we could consider. Okay, so what I'd like to do is look at some of the contexts for evangelism. We could call these fishing holes, right? Fishing holes. The places. So Jesus says, I'll make you fishers of men, right? We've talked about what's the bait. What's the Gospel? It's the Gospel message. We've talked about the Gospel message, its content. And there's of course different kinds of fish we might say. They're all dead fish, you know, but there's different kinds. We'll see in a minute. But there's also different places we might fish for men. Different fishing holes. People have their fishing holes. Sometimes they're really coy about not wanting to tell people where their fishing hole is because they got a really good one. They don't want anyone else to go there, right? So I'm going to reveal all the fishing holes that you could go to.
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Not all of them, but some common ones. Probably the most common what would you think? The most common fishing hole. Maybe you'd not think about it at first, but it's true for all of us. Your family, right? Your home. In the home. Is a great place for evangelism, especially when there's young kids in your home when children are growing up, child evangelism. And this can be done in a number of ways, but here's a good example. Even in a home that didn't have a believing father, Timothy had his grandmother and his mother, Lois and Eunice, who were seeking to instruct him in the Word of God in the home. And teach him. And Paul reminded Timothy, hey, you've known the sacred writings since you were a child. Which are able to give you the knowledge of salvation. So Timothy was reminded of that.
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He not only heard the message from them, He witnessed their conduct but he witnessed their lives. and so he had a powerful demonstration of their lives, but transformed by the Gospel as well as just constant articulation of it. And so he had a great example there. Another passage that would be relevant to this is Deuteronomy chapter 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6, which instructs Israel to be speaking the Word of God to their children. Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear O Israel, Yahweh our God. Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh with all your, Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise. So wherever you're going,
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driving in the car, out of sports event, watching a show, at dinner time, you know, before bed, you know, all these times when just conversations come up. I mean, it's just amazing, you know, with kids in the home, the most random times when a question gets asked. And it's sometimes just like a really profound question. And you're doing something just super random and it's like, and you're like, you know, and sometimes you only have a few minutes, a few seconds really to just kind of give an initial response. But they live in your house, so you can always follow up and keep going there. So sometimes it's just these little touches other times you have a more long conversation that you can have. These are profound opportunities. Paul speaks about instructing children in Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6, verse 1, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right on your father and mother. And then verse 4 is what I'm after. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline
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and instruction of the Lord. So this constant teaching, instruction. So one of the, I think, practical applications of this related to evangelism with our children is to encourage belief in every seed form that you see of it. While also being discerning about ongoing fruit in their lives. Of course, many children are desirous to do what their parents do, to follow after them, to please their parents. And so there can be some challenge in discerning, is this something that they just love me and they want to do what I'm doing or do they really love the Lord? And that will work itself out over time. What we've done with our kids But you just encourage belief. as different ones have expressed a desire to believe in Christ, to turn away from sin, we've just been excited about that and encouraged them in that.
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That's exactly what God calls us to do, is to turn away from our sin and to trust in Christ. And we say, you know, we always remind them, Christians are not those who just believe one time, but they continue to believe. They continue to repent. They continue to believe in Christ. And then so what you're doing is you're just encouraging that ongoing faith like we said before, you know, it's not our job to give assurance we don't know. But we can look at the evidences of God's work in someone's life and encourage them that saying, hey, look, God seems to be working in your life because of X, Y, Z reasons. That line up with what the scripture say. God doesn't a believer's life. And so think about that long term. As you're encouraging them along, watering that seed of faith encouraging them in that, asking them questions about their understanding
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of the gospel and helping them deepen that as well. So encouraging every step of faith along the way. And then just being patient as you with your kids as they struggle with assurance at times. Am I really saved? Do I really know the Lord? To just point them back to gospel truth, to remind them that Jesus will not turn away any who come to him in faith. Go to those sweet passages all who come to me. I will in no eyes cast out. And I think you just draw them back to the scripture. You turn them back to scripture. And I've told my kids before the it's a quote from Spurgeon. I've said it to you many times, but Spurgeon would say, you know, when you're doubting, show God his signature. Show God his signature. You know, God's signature is his promises and his word. You know, he's written his word and he said, this is true. This is my promise to you. Signed on the dotted line, right?
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And so say, well, show God his signature in your prayers. You know, if you're struggling, then talk to God and tell him, Lord, you said that you will not cast any away. Lord, I want to come to you. I want you to give me a new heart. And you call out to him and you tell him that. So what I'm doing and I'm not doing is I'm encouraging them to wrestle with the Lord to continue to persevere in pursuing the Lord, asking the Lord for a new heart. What I'm not doing is trying to prematurely just give them assurance. No, no, you prayed before and so you are okay. Don't ever question your salvation. Now, there are some, and I'm sure you know this, there's a spectrum of people who throughout their lives they struggle with assurance at varying levels. And there's others who don't seem to at all. And so some people, especially in preaching, and I try to be aware of this, but it can't be fully mitigated.
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Certain applications and truths are communicated in preaching and, you know, there might be a heart that is really hard and you're hoping that that truth really is the hammer that breaks that heart open. And that's what you're hoping for. But sometimes what happens is the heart that's already tender but has a really sensitive conscience and maybe struggles with assurance they hear that same admonition or whatever and they just are, oh, am I really a believer? When in fact, let's just, you know, in this hypothetical, like this person is really a believer and yet they receive that admonition or whatever it is, that truth from God's word and they start to question and doubt. Whereas the person who really maybe ought to be thinking do I really know Christ they're just, yeah, I'm good, you know. And so sometimes that's the way it happens and it's not my intent. So sometimes you're walking this fine line
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of preaching the truth in many different people in many different situations in the congregation. And you trust that the Lord just tailor makes it for those who need to hear it. So you want to encourage each of those steps towards faith. Encourage every step towards faith, not knowing which step is saving faith, right? So one of those steps is going to be genuine saving faith and where God regenerates their heart. But you encourage every step along the way. So I think that's a good just general rule to have. I think it's fine and good to especially if kids want to be baptized like really early just encourage them, hey, that's a good desire that you have. But mom and dad, just we want to encourage you in your faith and we want to just watch you. We want to see you grow and see the fruit in your life.
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To confirm that we're so excited for that. And so just trust us and continue to walk in the Lord. And when the time is right for that, then we'll absolutely be so joyful to pursue that together. So that's a whole nother discussion that we can have. But we want to encourage every step of movement towards Christ. Any questions along that line for the we're talking about context of evangelism, different fishing holes. And one of the main ones is in the home. In the home. All right, while you're thinking about that, I'm going to add something that I thought of as well. I think that establishing I think it would be really wise to establish a pattern, especially well, even if you don't have kids in the home, but especially when there's kids in the home of some kind of family worship.
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So find something that works for your family And everyone's schedules are different. what we'd try to do is consistent as we're able is to read a passage of scripture to pray together and then sometimes as well to sing. Now, we don't always get the, you know, ding, ding, ding line up, you know, jackpot. All three. But that's the intent if we can. Sometimes we just read and pray. And sometimes I'll, you know, read something supplemental along with that. Like right now, our family is reading through the Gospel of Mark. And we're reading J.C. Ryle's like thoughts on the Gospel. It's like expository thoughts on the Gospels or something he's got them on all the Gospels. And it's just like three pages for each little paragraph or section. So we'll read that paragraph.
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We'll read J.C. Ryle and then we'll talk about it. Usually it brings up some questions. We'll talk about it just for a very short time. Pray and then that's what our family worship has been. We've read Pilgrim's Progress together. Recently, we've done many different things. We read Ezekiel together. You know, it's like a lot of books and you're like, Ezekiel, Ezekiel's really fun. Let me just say, you got to make it fun though. So the Valley of Dry Bones, we took Legos and we broke them all apart. And they had to scatter them through the house in different rooms. And then we read the section where he says, you know, he's going to gather the bones. So we're like, all right, now get all the bones. Get all the Legos from every room. Put it on the table. Okay. We had all these broken up pieces of Legos. It's like, all right. And we read the next section. And the pieces come together. The bones come together. So all right, let's put them together. And then he breathes life into them. And they come to life. And it's like, all right, now they're alive, right? So we just showing. And that's memorable, right? And of course, that's easier to do for some passages than others.
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I mean, Ezekiel's crazy. He's got to bake some bake bread over dung and so you're like, okay, you know, they're like laughing. We're like, you know, what's up? And so that's like engaging, right? So just trying to connect it, especially when children are younger, that's going to change over time where sometimes it's going to look a lot different when they're really young versus when they're teenagers. And the level of depth that you maybe will have and the kind of questions you might have. I think initially you're just trying to establish a pattern. So regularity is more important than depth. Just being consistent and let's just pray and let's read something together. Another thing that we did for our kids while we noticed that they were just struggling in praying and, you know, how kids are. They just kind of say the same thing in prayer every single time.
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One of our kids would just pray in every prayer, like thanks for the trees. Like, okay, you know, great. So trees are great, you know, but it's like every time. So what we did was we established kind of, you know, acts, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. I changed a little bit because adoration that are in most kids' vocabulary. and supplication are not words So I said, attribute of God, you know, who God is. Thanksgiving, confession, thanksgiving. And then instead of supplication, it was say what you want. Say what you want. Because that's what supplication is. It's beseeching God. It's asking God for something that you desire Him to do. Hopefully your desires lined up with God's desire. But that's essentially what it is. So what we did was we had a little prompt for each one of those. And so we said for attribute of God,
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you would say God, you are and then you fill in the blank. So we would each go around the room and we would pray and say, God, you are powerful. And, you know, sometimes that's all they said. Sometimes they would elaborate a little bit more because we would elaborate a little bit more. You know, God, you are powerful. You have demonstrated that in the storm that we just witnessed, in the rainfall, in, you know, earthquakes and in creating the world. And we're thankful for that. Aspect of who you are. And then the next one would go, God, you don't change. You know, and so they just go through and God, you are. That's the prompt. The second one, confession, God, please forgive me for. And then we all went around and chose something. And those were really precious and sweet times to see into their hearts what's on their heart. Thanksgiving, God, thank you for. That's pretty obvious. And then the last one was, God, please. And then fill in the blank. You know, ask what you will. And so we would do that. And sometimes our kids would request it
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, you know, we would, all right, let's pray. Could we do, God, you are? Because that's how it started. So God, you are means let's pray each of us through the acronym. And so that just was one way to incorporate prayer and help them, even at a young age. And train them on just praying for more praying and incorporating God's character, thanksgiving, confession as well as asking for things as well. So that's some other things you can do. And if you were to commit to just reading through the Bible and reading just consistently for a short amount of time, on a fairly regular basis with your family, I mean, you're going to talk about every subject that you can possibly imagine in the world, right? Or Jolbiki say this. He was saying, you know, if you just make a regular time while your kids are in the home, you will face every subject that you want to communicate to them from a biblical worldview perspective.
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Now, every night you're not going to spend a whole lot of depth on it. And you'll have multiple times to go through because they'll be young, they'll get older, you know. And so, but you'll make those connections. It will touch on all those subjects. So if you're thinking like, man, I wish, how can I make sure that I cover this subject and that subject and maybe I'm going to miss things, you know, to talk about. Well, just read the scriptures and it'll present before you the different issues of life that you want to talk about. So I think that's a pretty relevant one. Where and moms, I think they should be encouraged that they have a great mission field. You know, moms who are at home with their kids, they might feel like, man, where am I going to get to evangelize? I feel like my opportunities have shrunk. Well, you're home is a profound mission field for you that you're just consistently living out and communicating the gospel there. So in the home, in the home. All right. Any other comments, questions? All right. I'm going to move forward if you want to come back on that one. Great.
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In the workplace, obviously that's one. In the workplace, I heard someone say one time like, let your theology come out of your fingertips. And what they meant was like, let like what you do with your hands. You know, it should be practical. It should be relevant to all of life. And so in your work, let your work ethic be born out of the theology that you have that your job as a stewardship from God that you work hard and you establish a good testimony there. And then, of course, over time, as you get to know your coworkers, they get to know you as well. And you look for those strategic opportunities to speak about Christ with coworkers. That's going to vary depending on the nature of the job and when that's appropriate and those kind of things. But there's a powerful, a good fishing hole for many of us. Because you think the home and work, I mean, that's like majority of our lives.
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That we spend. You're either at home or you're at work. Or, you know, you're doing something else. But mostly that's where most of our lives are spent. Besides sleeping, right? Not a lot of evangelism while you're sleeping. Maybe in your dream, you know. I've had witnessing dreams, you know, or sharing the gospel with someone famous or something. So in the home and the workplace with strangers, with strangers. These are sometimes captive audiences, like an Uber driver, you know, they're taking you somewhere. I suppose they could just drop you off, you know, get out. I don't want to hear this, right? I've never had that happen. But I've had some great gospel conversations with Uber drivers. In an airplane, you know, you can strike up a conversation. Sometimes that's harder these days because people just immediately put on their headphones. But sometimes you get opportunities and I've had people who've like tried to talk to me. They're not a Christian, but they just wanted to have a conversation.
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And before long, we're talking about spiritual things. Now, I have a cheat, cheat code. Because they say, well, what do you do? I'm a pastor. And then my line is, if I can't think of anything better, at some point I'll say, well, you know, I'm a pastor. So what kind of pastor would I be? If I didn't ask you about your soul and your relationship to God, what do you think about God? What do you think about Christ? And they kind of laugh it off. They're like, oh, yeah, you're right. You would be a bad pastor. So it kind of like puts it on me. And so then they're like, yeah, I guess I sat next to the pastor. I got to talk to him. You know, it's like, and so you know, you got to find another avenue there. But so with strangers, another with strangers is, I mean, people have done street evangelism. You know, we have examples of the people of God spreading in Acts. And just as they interact with other people, they're sharing the gospel. I don't know if you could call it street evangelism.
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Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. I mean, he is on the road. It's road trip evangelism, you know. And he overhears him reading Isaiah scroll, which is very expensive. But he's in a royal position, a servant and so he starts striking up a conversation. Okay, so I'm just going to give this as a maybe an aside. So John Kratz wrote a book on evangelism And he tells a story in there called Upsetting the World. about a pastor friend of his I just told you this recently. A pastor friend of his who is like he was on vacation or like for maybe like a midweek Bible study type thing. He would go to this pastor to like a liberal denomination Bible study and he would sit in on it and would just participate.
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And so they would talk about whatever they were talking about. And then eventually he would just raise his hand and say, hey, can I share some of my thoughts on this passage? And they would be like, oh, of course. You know, please. You know, tolerance. You know, it's like whatever. And so then they would just share like something from the text. That was true. And but try to get to its connection to Christ and the gospel. And John said one time, I think it was like the church that was available to them while they were on vacation, wasn't a great church. And so they went and he went to the Sunday school. But because they wanted to just go to some church. So in Sunday school, everyone's just kind of sharing pooling their ignorance, you know, about the text. And he just says, well, can I share something? And he shares some gospel truth there. And he said, afterward he was talking to people, after the class was over. And someone asked him, like, would you come here and be our pastor?
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Like, that's how, that's the barrenness of, you know, the famous text about what there's a famine and a land for the word of God. You know, the people who really wanted that were like, whoa, you know, yeah, we want more of that. So the one guy, he said, after a while, they would ask him to teach the class. Because his comments were like, so much better than what everyone else was doing. They're like, well, why don't you teach this? And so he's not even like a member there or anything. And then eventually, I think the whatever leadership would become wise to it. And they would, you know, say, hey, it's probably best you move on. And he would, you know, do that. So I'm not saying that should be your thing. But here's how he got there, this pastor. He said, well, what did Paul do he went to synagogues and he tried to reason with them according to the scriptures? To show them that Christ was the Messiah. And then as they were like, get out of here, then he would go to the Gentiles.
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And so this pastor reasoned okay, well, what's the closest that we have as Gentiles to a synagogue, right? That's not believing in Jesus. Well, it's these liberal churches. And so we go to the Sunday school. I'm not going to become a member there. I'm not going to worship there. But and just participate with these people who have an interest in the Bible. So I'm not necessarily advocating or putting that down. I'm just saying that was a creative way to get the gospel out in what is maybe considered the closest we could have to what Paul was doing in the synagogues there. And making the gospel clear. Okay, so there you go. For whatever it's worth. Here's another fishing hole. Prison ministry. I don't I'm trying to think if I've ever done prison ministry. I've known many people who have. Yeah, I can't nothing's coming to mind. I think something adjacent to that maybe. But there's many examples of prison ministry
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in part because in the scriptures in part because Paul gets imprisoned. I mean, he's in prison. He's an inmate. And so he's there unjustly. But he's getting to share Christ with others. And of course, many have benefited from that. I actually just in God's providence like a week ago or maybe two weeks ago, grace to you, posted a video of I don't remember the title of it. But it was like a five-minute video. About people from associated with grace to you at probably at Grace Church who started prison ministries. And there was different, I think there was like three or four different guys who were inmates who were giving their testimony about how they heard the gospel from the prison ministry and how God transformed their lives and how they were walking with the Lord. And kind of some of their background. It was really profound. So that's another way that evangelism, another fishing hole. Another is at abortion clinics. I've done this kind of evangelism before. Where sit on a street corner and really pled with those who are coming in
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to have an abortion. That they would not do that. That they would not pursue that course and offering literature to them. And other options. And but at the same time, the men who were there for that were really leading, you know, the charge and calling out. And as well as we would just preach the gospel, you know, for a very you have a very short window where people can hear you in earshot. And as well as saying, you know, don't do this. We would also be injecting the hope of the gospel. That as we did that. And so in reasoning with people there. And then sometimes people would come talk to us one on one. And some of the ladies that were there with us would talk to the ladies and the guys would talk to the guys. And we would share the gospel again with them there. So that is another fishing hole. Sporting events. I know many people who have gone to big sporting events
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and waited outside as people are coming in in the right places. You know, that's you got to be strategic there. And you can't be in, you know, private property. You got to find the place that's allowable. And who've ministered the gospel, passed out literature, spoken to people. So that's another thing. At schools, you know, believe it or not, when I was at Faith Bible, I was able to preach the gospel every week at a public high school. That was there because one of the teachers, a math teacher, was a Christian. And the school was allowed to host Bible studies before school if there was a teacher who sponsored it and there were students who wanted to be a part of it. And those students could invite other students as well. And so this teacher asked me if I would come and do this Bible study. And so for like maybe four years, I was, you know, once a week in a public high school. And every single Bible study was the gospel. You know, every single Bible study. Something some new passage always.
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But it was always getting to the gospel. And so that was a great opportunity as well. From house to house. In we had an evangelism class in seminary. And one of our assignments was to make multiple excursions to do door to door. And we would go with another guy in the class and so we went to different spots. I went to Burbank a neighborhood in Burbank, North Hollywood. Which is actually really close to where I lived. I lived in North Hollywood for a while, for about a year. Right near Universal Studios. It was really convenient for fun stuff there. But this wasn't that. This was, you know, sharing the gospel. And so I went to a neighborhood with a friend of mine really close by. And we just knocked on doors. And we had a lot of different ways to begin that conversation. I'm not sure. I think maybe we even said it sometimes, hey, we are pastors in training. At the master seminary. And this is one of our assignments to go and share the gospel with people. And so do you know the gospel? I mean, we're just being honest.
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Not we didn't always do that. But we had great conversations with people. Some people don't want to talk. Some people aren't home. Some people very sad situations where they're deceived by false theologies that they're committed to. And yeah, very interesting people. But we got to share the gospel many times. There. Even maybe more realistic for most people. Not everyone is necessarily going to do that. But having neighbors over in your neighborhood, right? Inviting people over. When there's a new neighbor who moves in, you know, offering some expression of kindness to them. Maybe bring something over to them. Welcome them in the neighborhood. Introduce yourself. Try to say hi to them. Try and reach out. If you're going on a walk in your neighborhood, wave at them. But also hey, you know, would you like to come over for a meal? You know, hey, we're doing this. You know, come on over and get to know your neighbors. And have that be more of a long-term opportunity
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for evangelistic conversation. So that's another way. In your own neighborhood. Other fishing holes. I think this isn't necessarily a particular place. But just personal interactions with people. Personal conversations. Let me ask you this. If you had to say, think about this for yourself. The way the Lord providentially brought you to saving faith. Would you say that was through a gospel track, a book that you read, a sermon that you heard, a church service, or where the gospel was preached, or through an individual who was, or multiple individuals who were speaking the gospel to you? That really was a key aspect of the Lord bringing you to saving faith. And he may have used many of those different things. But what was decisive? What was it that really made the difference in your mind?
09:54:00
Well, if I were to do a show of hands, I'm going to guess. Because I've done this before. That for most people, the majority of people, it's some personal interaction. It's some personal relationship they had with someone. That really made the difference. They may have known things. They may have heard sermons, read books. But it was really someone who was having conversations with them, or interacting with them. In a way that made them really consider afresh where they were before the Lord. And so that should tell us something about what the Lord often uses most is those one-on-one personal interactions. In whatever context they happen. So whether that's a parent with a child in the home, or a sibling and a sibling. Whether that's a coworker with another coworker. Whether that is friends at school sports teams. You know, individuals interacting. Is often what the Lord is using.
09:55:00
Now, other things are being brought in as well. But it's often those one-on-one. And we even see this in the scriptures. In personal conversations. Peter and John with the layman in Acts 3. Philip with Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8. Philip in the eunuch in Acts 8. Ananias and Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9. Peter and Ananias and Dorcus in Acts 9. Peter with Cornelius in Acts 10 and 11. Paul and Elamas in verse 13. Barnabas and Saul with Sergius Paulus in chapter 13. Paul and Silas with Lydia in chapter 16. Paul and Silas with the Philippian jailer in chapter 16. Paul from house to house in Ephesus in chapter 20. Paul with Felix and Drusilla in chapter 24. Paul with King Agrippa in chapter 26. Paul with Publius and his father in chapter 28. Paul in his own house for two years in chapter 28. Talking to people individually. So lots of interactions on an individual basis that the gospel is going forth.
09:56:00
And so we should keep that in mind as we interact. Okay. What I want to do is look at some categories no, wait, excuse me. No, before we do that. Where did I have that? Oh, yeah. I want to talk about and come back to the question of evangelizing people who claim to be Christians. Some best practices. And of course, we can't be exhaustive here. And think about that a little bit more. But I think some we can put some helpful principles down. This is where we live. This is our a common experience that we will have. Of people who would claim to be a Christian and yet there are questions in our minds as to whether they are truly born again. And so here's some potential best practices that you could have when you're interacting with them.
09:57:00
You could simply ask the question at some point, hey, tell me, when did you repent and believe? And I say that specifically. Because it puts it in biblical language. When did you repent and believe? When did you repent of your sin and believe in Christ? That's a good way to stir someone up by way of reminder to say, like, have I repented of my sin and trusted in Christ? And that may get the conversation going. And then, of course, there's lots of ways that you can talk from there. You know, about how that has continued to be significant in their lives. How that's impact well, how has that impacted you, you know, in your parenting, at your work, you know, so and so, such and such. So that's one way that's just very easy. It's basically asking them their testimony. Maybe you just say, hey, you know, I've never heard your testimony before. How would you say the Lord brought you to repent and believe? And if they're claiming to be a Christian, I mean, why would they be offended by that, right?
09:58:00
And then you'll quickly learn kind of what their understanding of the gospel is. And maybe even as they explain that, you just gently say, hey, you know, that's really encouraging. Some of the things that you mentioned in there. You know, I didn't really hear you talk too much about the actual gospel message. What would you say is the gospel message? You know, and you can kind of gently do that. And then, oh, yeah, well, it's this. And then you're into a conversation about what the gospel actually is. You might ask this question. Where do you go to church? Right? Where do you go to church? And some people will say, what? What will they say? I don't go to church, right? Oh, I don't go to church, you know. Now, don't be snarky and be like, you know, I've never met a Christian who doesn't go to church. A real Christian. So but I think you can say, like, well, where did you go to church? Did you have you been a part of a church before? I'm what led you to not being a part of a church? Do you think that's important?
09:59:00
Do you think that's something Christ would have Christians to do? What made you not be a part of a church? And you're just having those questions. You know, what is your church background, right? Like, what kind of a church did you grow up in? What was, like, some of the distinctive beliefs in that? You know, and just talking about those things. What turned you away from going to church? What hey, let me just ask you this. What would it what would it take for you to would you ever consider going back to church? You know, is there something that is a hang-up that if that were dealt with, that you would begin to go? And you're just getting conversation going. You can say, what difference has Jesus made in your life? After asking them, you know, hey, how did you repent and believe? You know, what difference has Christ made in your life in this last year? Or how has something in the Bible comforted you in this last six months or challenged you? Right?
10:00:00
So how have you been challenged or comforted in the last six months by what you've read in the Bible? Oh, I don't really read the Bible. All right, well, now you talk about that, right? And there's obviously lots of ways you could go off there. We don't have time to go down every, you know, detour here. But you're just you're just going to open up more and more opportunities there for you to continue that conversation. How has your view of God and Christ enabled you to face the last year? You know, what about your view of God has really strengthened you or helped you have perspective in what's gone on in the last in the last year for you? And maybe they're like, I don't never even thought about that. And then you just got to be nimble to keep that conversation going in the right direction. Here's another question you can ask. What have been how have you grown the or excuse me, let me rephrase this differently.
10:01:00
What would you say have been the most significant catalyst for growth as a Christian for you since you became a Christian? And they may come up short because they're like, I don't growth. What do you mean growth? You know, it's like, but once again, you're just you're bringing these conversations to bear and maybe they'll have some strange answers. You know, about what has caused them to grow. And then you talk about that. You might ask them this, hey, do you have any favorite preachers that you like to listen to? And why? That's going to tell you a lot about their theology and what they like. Actually worked at Grace to You for for a couple of years when we were living out there and all kinds of callers who call and she was in customer service. Lots of stories. She said, one person would call and be like, oh, yeah, I love John MacArthur. I listened to him right after I listened to Joel Osteen. And it's like, all right, somewhat it's like oil and water here. How are you not seeing him?
10:02:00
So you learn a lot by asking questions like that. Or you might say, what book of the Bible has been most impactful to you in your life? And was it in a particular season? And you're just asking this as curiosity. You know, and maybe like, you know, I haven't read the Bible that much. Huh, you know, well, you know, why is that? Is it because it's hard hard to read? You know, find it hard to understand? Hey, I mean, would you be willing to read the Bible? We want to read a book of the Bible together. What do you think about that? And well, I mean, no, you know, like, or yeah, I guess maybe, you know, it's like, all right, yeah, I mean, we could make this real simple and then you could read the Bible together and yeah, maybe maybe say like, well, how about we just read a chapter each day and then we'll text each other about what what stood out to us, what questions we had about it. And you know, ideally it would be great, like, hey, let's get coffee about it and just talk about what we read. But maybe maybe this person is not going to be up for that. So you just say, hey, why don't we just text about it?
10:03:00
You know, you read this chapter, I'll read this chapter and or let's have chapter one read by the end of the week and and we'll just talk about chapter one of Romans or whatever. And ask and then you're just trying to be strategic in the kind of things you're you're mentioning to them. What have there been any Christian books Most outside the Bible. And what are those? Also, you know, podcasts, you know, you can here's what you can do. You can send someone a sermon and say, hey, you know, that have really influenced you? this was such a helpful sermon for me. On this subject, I would love to know what you think about this. Right. And then they're just kind of leave it open to them. I thought you would find this interesting based on our conversation about, you know, and you send them a sermon or a podcast, a Christian podcast on something. And then you discuss it. And talk about it.
10:04:00
There are a lot of biblical counseling booklets that are really short, but they deal with all kinds of issues like depression or anxiety or, you know, all kinds of things. New growth press association of certified biblical counselors, ACBC, they have like a bunch of these on different subjects. And you, you know, those are great to to give out and and say, hey, you know, let me know what you think about this. This kind of come this is coming from a biblical perspective and love to hear what you have to think about. We talked about this recently. Let me know what you think. So that that's a great one. Here's another one. Invite people to baptism services. When the church has baptism services, we we tell people we're getting baptized. Hey, share your testimony and and try to work in the gospel. We're always going to share the gospel at a baptism service. And you're seeing someone publicly profess their faith in Christ. Those can be great. Hey, we're having a baptism service at our church. You know, man, I haven't been to a church like this before that that makes people read their their testimony and it's really encouraging. You should come. Just just see.
10:05:00
It's a great way to just kind of see our church a little bit. And it's a really sweet time. And just see what they think about that. Here's another thing. I know some have done this already. In the past, but whether you're a Christian or not, fundamentals of the faith is a great way avenue to just grow in some of the basics of like the doctrine of God, attributes of God, how to study the Bible, doctrine of Christ, basically working through systematic theology. But I think every every everyone should do that just to get a good foundation. At some point. But but it's also a great opportunity to invite someone to say, hey, we're doing this class on like some really fundamental aspects of Christianity. I think you would really like it. I find it interesting. Would you? And invite someone to that. And so maybe we'll have opportunity to do that more here at the church as well. So those are some just different ideas on ways that you can approach those who would, I mean, anyone, really.
10:06:00
But especially those who may associate with Christianity, but it doesn't seem to have a vibrant walk with the Lord. And just be patient with them as well. Okay. I'm going to pray for us. Lord, thank you for this time to just strategize and brainstorm about various ways and places that we might share the good news with others. Give us boldness, confidence, creativity in the way that we do this. And we pray that you would make it effective as we have these conversations. Help us to not chicken out when we get these opportunities. But to to find a way to inject the gospel and follow up with people and. We pray that you would use it to to bring them to saving faith. Thank you for using other people in our lives to draw us to yourself as well. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.