How to begin

Being an empowered, intentional Witness

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

Marching orders given and empowered by God

We are commanded to be a witness-simply telling what we know

We are sent into the area we already are in as well as abroad

There is a major disconnect in the church as they view the work of evangelism as something that is exclusively an event. Evangelism is something that we do somewhere else at this specific time. It requires a program and frequently involves passing out free items to people viewed as of ‘in need’. We can lose track of the being a witness of Jesus in the midst of doing lots of good compassionate things.

We do see missionaries sent out for this purpose (Paul) , much of the evangelism in scripture was in the places people already were at.

Our goal is to be intentional about evangelism in both ‘event based’ and ‘home based’ life. All believers are given this mission

Begin with Compassion

John 4:7–9 “A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”

1.Samaritan woman was rejected by many but loved by Christ

Religious barriers -Jew vs Samaritan divide (v9 and v20)

Israel had been defeated by the Assyrians. There had been an influx of foreigners from Babylon in Samaria. Religious practices changed as pagan worship was introduced.

Gender barriers

Men would not speak to women in public.

Moral barriers

Getting water that late in the day hints at being excluded from society. Having had five husbands (v18) supports that idea

Physical realities to spiritual truths

John 4:10–15 “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.””

Christ used normal interactions to point out spiritual matters

Allow Holy Spirit to convict

need for salvation

Without an understanding of the law of God, we have no need for salvation

Romans 1:18–22 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools,”

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Romans 7:7–9 “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.”

Modern evangelism tries to shy away from the law as it is offensive. The message is typically one stressing the love and joy of following Christ and neglects to point out our need for salvation.

Ray Comfort-

Two men are seated in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put is on as it would improve his flight. He’s a little skeptical at first because he can’t see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight. After a time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact that he was told the parachute would improve the flight. So, he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him, because he’s wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh at him and he can stand it no longer, he slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because, as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie. The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he’s told. He’s told to put it on because at any moment he’d be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on; he doesn’t notice the weight of it upon his shoulders, nor that he can’t sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute. Let’s analyze the motive and the result of each passenger’s experience. The first man’s motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers; he was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he’s concerned it’ll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come, and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he’s saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude towards those who gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude. Now listen to what the modern gospel says. It says, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.” In other words, “Jesus will improve your flight.” So the sinner responds, and in an experimental fashion, puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution. The other passengers mock him. So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ, he’s offended for the word’s sake (Mark 4:17), he’s disillusioned and somewhat embittered, and quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness, and all he got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed toward those who gave him the so-called “good news”. His latter end becomes worse than the first: another inoculated and bitter backslider. Saints, instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the passengers they’re going have to jump out of the plane

law

Christ does not shy away from offense. He did approach this topic in love, but he did prick her conscience about things that she KNEW was wrong.

-work is done by the Holy Spirit

-we define by scripture what the Holy Spirit is already doing in their heart

-are you a good person?

-have you ever told a lie?

-what do we call someone who tells lies?

Take aways

We are empowered by God to be witnesses of Him

Be intentional in interactions both near and far

Be compassionate for the lost

Interject spiritual truths into conversation

Don’t hide from pointing out sin with compassion

Allow the Holy Spirit to convict