Top Ten(-ish) Things You Need to Know About Evangelism

Here’s the evangelism scenario we play out in our minds:

I sheepishly go up to someone to share the Gospel and say, “Do you know that God loves you and…”

I am interrupted by an outraged, offended outburst.

“How dare you push your religion on me! I curse you. You and your whole family. I will never talk to you again. I will tell everyone you know that they, too, should never talk to you again. And they won’t. Be ashamed!”

Then they pull out a megaphone: “Look everybody! A radical religious nut!”

That doesn’t happen. People generally don’t have megaphones on them at all times. But here are 10 things to get you to step off the ledge, and step up to share the Gospel.

1. Evangelism is most often a process, not a sudden event.
   
   Generally the Holy Spirit works over time in a person’s life. When someone actually receives the Gospel, there is usually much that precedes it, both in circumstances and other believers. (1 Corinthians 3:1-11)
    
2. Evangelism begins with a holy lifestyle - people seeing Jesus shine through you.
   
   The New Testament says nothing about how to “share your faith“, but it says much about honoring Christ in your lifestyle and God opening up doors for you to share the Gospel. (1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 4:1-5)
    
3. Evangelism is especially effective when strong relationships are built.
   
   True. I have shared with strangers and friends. Friends know you love them and are often more receptive to what you have to say.
    
4. Apologetics (evidence and reasoning to defend the faith) can be important in penetrating the skepticism of many people today.
   
   Some people will just not know. Some people have only “studied” enough to learn a few “objections” that they believe have no answer. Be ready, but remember you can’t argue someone into the Kingdom. Salvation is the Holy Spirit’s work, no matter how smart you are.
    
5. Once a person sincerely checks out Christianity, it’s only a matter of time before they’ll discover the truth about God.
   
   Let God’s Word speak for itself. It’s like a lion. You don’t need to defend it. Let it out of the cage and it will defend itself.
    
6. Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit.
   
   Oh, yeah, we said that. Still true. Here is a verse for it! (John 16:7-11)
    
7. Nobody wants to be your “project”.
   
   What is your true motivation for evangelism? People can sense your motives. Don’t make someone a project. Love them with the Gospel.
    
8. There is no substitute for prayer.
   
   For boldness, for the right words, for the Holy Spirit to take control of the person’s heart.
    
9. Unchurched people are often willing to visit a church if they are invited by a friend who has already opened up spiritual issues through personal conversation.
   
   Some people are just waiting for an invite to church. Offer one!
    
10. Christians often need to partner with a church (hopefully their own church!) that offers services or events that are evangelistic in nature.
    
    I share the Gospel in some way/shape/form every sermon. Be a part of offering evangelistic services or events with the church / small group.
     
11. The church must objectively examine how they will be perceived by an unchurched visitor – without altering the message!
    
    Many people have bad thoughts toward the church in general, whether it is from a previous personal experience or an experience heard about second-handed. Our job is to remove any obstacle that may hinder the mission. God, let your glory come down on the church. The only thing that really matters in the church service is You showing up!

Deep breath. Evangelism is commanded and empowered. And it is to be more of a natural thing than some people think.

p.s. - I did say 10-ish, right?

You Gotta Have It to Give It

The 4th Pillar of Harvest Bible Chapel is: Sharing the Good News of Jesus with Boldness.

What do you need to do effective evangelism? You have to have the right message (Jesus died for our sins and rose to give us eternal life). You need to have a method to roll it out (an illustration, a bookmarked Bible, etc). These things are easy. Anybody can have those.

But the truth is, something you have to have is something that cannot be taught or learned. You have to have a passion for lost souls. Without this Spirit-inspired motivation, nothing will be effective. The content and means of sharing the message is vital, but a sound message can be possessed by those who are “sound asleep”.

Knowing the message, the methods, and the mandate of the Great Commission does not guarantee that one will go…or go with compassion…or go with enthusiasm…or go with urgency. The great need in evangelism is for the church to recover a passion for souls.

Look at the passion on these famous preachers from the Bible:

• Moses – Exodus 32:32 - But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.

• Paul – Romans 9:3 - For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
   
• Jesus – Luke 19:41-42 - And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

What do these men all have in common? They were men who had a deep relationship with God the Father themselvesfirst!

I could make you feel guilty for not witnessing. I could take you through every passage of the Bible that stresses the urgency. But these things aren’t going to move you.

What will move you is having a love-relationship with the Lord yourself. When you have a close walk with the Lord, your heart starts to be moved by the things that move His heart. And what moves His heart is compassionately extending His mercy and grace to the lost through His Son.

Bottom line: if you struggle with witnessing, the first question you have to ask yourself is: “How fired up am I about the Gospel?”

You can’t give it if you don’t have it.

p.s. - evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread

Mountain, Hills, Everywhere: Three Good Mission Fields

When I was a kid in Sunday School, we sang this song at Christmas-time: Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.

I love that sentiment. Just get out there and belt it out. Go climb a mountain and use that as a platform for preaching. Not just at Christmas, either.

One of the 4 Pillars of Harvest Bible Chapel is Sharing the Good News of Jesus with Boldness. That is, when God gives me opportunity to speak for Him, I will take it. I want to use this space to talk about that over the next few weeks.

Witnessing. Evangelism. Sharing your faith.

For many Christians, just reading those words can stir up some bad thoughts and feelings.

“Oh no, here comes the guilt trip. I should witness more.” Yes, maybe you should. But my job isn’t to book guilt trips. My job is to just say what the Bible says. So we have to start here: Why do we have to talk about this? Why is this a pillar of the church?

Matthew 28:18-20:

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

There it is. All of it. Right there. Why should we be so fired up for evangelism?

1. Jesus’ last command is my first priority.
   
   This was the last thing Jesus said before He returned to heaven (it‘s also in Acts 1). I’m leaving, I’ll be back, here’s your job, get on this. Four commands in those verse, did you see them? Go (Get out there. In your family, in your workplace, in your neighborhood…). Make (Not “Say something.” -- it‘s “Make something!” Make disciples. How…?). Baptize(When they respond to Jesus, let them identify with His death, burial, and resurrection). Teach (It doesn‘t end there, it begins. Teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded).
   
   No asterisk. No footnotes. No exceptions. Have you been touched by the Gospel? Then Go-Make-Baptize-Teach. “Yeah, that’s not really my gift.” Yeah, but it’s your job: Go-Make-Baptize-Teach. “I‘m not really great at it.” Do you know the Gospel? If you are saved, you must know something. So Go-Make-Baptize-Teach. “What if people reject me?” There is no “what if“. Some will. But others will get saved. Results are up to God. Your job? Go-Make-Baptize-Teach.
    
2. Jesus’ power and presence is manifested in this work.
   
   “What give you the right to be going around telling people about this religious stuff?” Jesus said that ALL authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. That’s the top of the ladder. The boss of everything. He said to do it. And… He said He’ll be with us while we do. “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Why in the world would He choose to work this way? Use people like us? Proclaim salvation through fallen people? Entrust the message of heaven to people like me?

I don’t know. But one thing I am sure of: He wants me to Go-Make-Baptize-Teach. And He’ll be with me.

More to come.

p.s. - wonders how people in Ohio “tell it on the mountain”

Five Minutes of Crying

A couple of weeks ago, we had to get blood drawn from each of our kids. We are getting some tests run from a new doctor, and that requires a lot of blood work. Have you ever tried to get blood drawn from 8 and 6 year old autistic boys? Let’s put it this way: time-traveling, finding Bigfoot, and putting spandex on an octopus: all easier than getting blood drawn from an autistic boy. And we have two.

We had to sort of wrap them up in a blanket (one at a time of course) with only a head and arm exposed. Then I had to hold them totally still, in a wrap-around reverse over-the-shoulder leg scissor maneuver that would make an MMA fighter proud.

There was screaming. A lot of loud, panicked, confused screaming. Some of it was from the boys.

My wife Erin went into the waiting room where she saw an elderly woman crying. Erin asked, “Are you OK?” The woman replied, “It just breaks my heart to hear those children crying like that.”

Erin replied, “Five minutes of crying now will lead to something better for them in the future.”

Don’t we miss that lesson ourselves sometimes, fellow believers?

The Apostle Paul writes:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

The pain we experience in this life is described in 2 ways: light and momentary. It’s really not that bad, and the day is coming that it will all be over. You don’t know what I am going through. How can you say that? Because the glory ahead is described in 2 ways: eternal and “weighty” - it’s going to last forever, and it is going to be amazing.

How shall we compare the trials of life with the glory of heaven? We can’t. It’s beyond all comparison.

Going through a difficult trial right now? Keep your head up and your eyes on the LORD. Because five minutes of crying now will lead to something better in the future.

p.s. - only slightly stronger than an 8 year-old