Lead to Jesus

Every Step a Witness: Guiding the Lost to Christ

Summary:

This theme emphasizes the importance of our daily actions and choices in leading others toward Jesus. It explores how every moment presents an opportunity to embody Christ’s love and truth, showing that our lives can be a powerful testimony to the transformative power of faith.

Application:

This sermon encourages Christians to evaluate how their everyday interactions can serve as invitations to experience Jesus. It emphasizes that our authentic faith, displayed through kindness and integrity, can have a profound impact on those around us and encourage them to seek Christ.

Teaching:

The teaching conveys that witnessing is not just about organized evangelism but is woven into our daily lives. Every small act of love, compassion, or patience can serve as a stepping stone for someone else to come closer to Jesus.

How this passage could point to Christ:

Throughout Scripture, God’s people are called to reflect His character to others. Christ is the ultimate example of selflessness and invitation, fulfilling the mission of drawing others to God through His life and sacrifices. We are called to imitate Christ in our interactions with others as we lead them toward Him.

Big Idea:

Our daily lives are a testimony of faith; by choosing to live authentically and with purpose, we can lead others to encounter Jesus through our actions, demonstrating that faith is a way of life and not just a set of beliefs.

Recommended Study:

As you prepare this sermon, consider diving into the biblical narratives of individuals whose daily lives influenced others (e.g., the Samaritan woman at the well or Daniel in Babylon). Use your Logos library to explore commentaries on those passages and the theological implications of living out one's faith in a way that draws others to Christ.

Life that Leads

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Great Commission

The final commandment given by Jesus Christ on earth

A command that has transcended generations

A command that includes God’s divine plan

Before His ascension Jesus is giving information to the men and women present

Specifically instructions for life on earth until He returns

These instructions have a central focus for mankind

These instructions share a focus of increasing the Kingdom of God

These instructions were not designed to grow the church

they were not designed to be followed for a brief time and then ceased

these instructions were meant to be followed until Christ’s return

With that command comes a call to obedience

Jesus lists His authority in verse 18

God has given all authority to Christ in this moment

He is giving great commands here

immediately following Jesus declaration of authority

comes a command to lead the world to Him

A command to not just lead the world to Him but to disciple them in the process

Baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit

Jesus command calls action to the believers present and the believers today

A lot of us know this call

we know we are to lead to Jesus

but we just ask ourselves how on earth are we to do so?

Today we will look at 3 simple statements that guide us how we are to lead the world to Jesus

remembering that the last two weeks have been about living like and loving like Jesus

These two truths also must be a part of the 3 statements we will look at this morning

1. Conversations that Convert

John 4:7–15 ESV

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 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.) 10 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.” 11 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? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.” 15 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.”

Here we see a beautiful depiction From Jesus

Jesus approaches the woman at the well

A woman in need of a Savior just like us all

Something different about this woman

She is a Samaritan

Samaritans were despised and looked down upon

Jesus finds the one whom breaks the social norm

He begins to converse

In this conversation is an example of a converting conversation

Jesus takes the water the woman is fetching

Turns it towards a conversation about living water

Bringing up the need for eternal salvation

eternal filling that can only come through God

Recognizing that we do not convert but the Holy Spirit does

We need to be engaging in Conversations that open the door for the Holy Spirit to move

We need to be analyzing our daily conversations and seeking to point them back to Jesus

Jesus being the perfect man He is calls out her transgressions

recognizes her shortcomings

opens a door for her to realize she has committed sin

A realization of sin allows for an action of repentance

Jesus gives an example of how we should be conversing

how we should be interacting in our daily lives

2. Faith that Frees

Acts 16:23–34 ESV

23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

Next we see the Apostle Paul

Paul and Silas have been put in prison

they are at a low time in life at least from the worlds perspective

and admittedly this is not a fun experience

Later on in the same day that they had been beaten

they begin to sing hymns

the remained faithful to their God

These men have been brutally abused in this instance

yet hours later their Faith in God’s plan is shown through action

Their Faith is an example

They show the entire prison who their God is in their Faith in Him

Through the songs they sin

In this dire situation we see a group of persistence

This faithful song that they were singing

was not for their escape

it was for praising God!

They found refuge in the Lord

even in the lowest points!

The great part of this is that the prison erupts and the Lord frees in grand fashion

The prisoners had heard and witnessed true Faith

Faith that moves mountains

and in that Faith Paul and Silas found freedom

as well as the guard

Paul and Silas did not run upon being freed

instead them and the prisoners stayed put

And upon finding these faithful prisoners still within their cells

The jailer sought salvation

The faithfulness of Paul and Silas overflowed to the point where those present recognized the God they served

The jailer then went home and they spoke to his family

and his family came to the Lord as well

In this story we see yet another instance of daily life that leads to Jesus

Paul and Silas were praising the Lord

not to be seen

not to be heard

but to glorify the one whom they served

this faith proved powerful to the ones around them

3. Integrity that Inspires

Daniel 6:16–23 ESV

16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” 17 And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. 18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. 19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

Lastly we move do Daniel

In this book we have a story that many of us know

We have Daniel being faithful to His god through persecution

We have Daniel remaining a man of integrity

a man who focuses on doing what is right

a man who is praising the Lord above all

A man who is sticking to his guns no matter the consequences

Daniel shows here he would not doubt His God

In this passage of integrity we see salvation

Daniel comes before the king for disobeying and order of worshipping man over God

In this instance

Daniel is thrown into the lions den

In this instance man was putting man to death

But Daniel was a man of integrity

the Lord had sought favor on Daniel for his loyalty to God

in this moment Daniel is delivered from the lions

The king and the men around him in awe

and in this instance of sticking with the integrity and loyalty to his God

we see a king come to recognize the one true God

and lead his nation to follow in suit of worship

Daniel leads with integrity that Inspires

We are called to lead to Jesus in the same way

we are bound to mess up

we are bound to sin against the Lord

this will happen for certain

But in this sin against God we must be repentant of our wrongs

and loyal to our God

integrity is having strong moral principles

when we break them we apologize and repent

we are not better than anybody else

instead we handle our actions with humility

Integrity like we see from Daniel is not see in the world

it is seen in men and women who truly follow and worship the one true God

In every aspect of our lives we are called to Lead to Jesus!

And these are only three examples of how we are to do so

i ask you this morning where can you improve in your witness

where can you take a better stand for the message in which you say you believe

Salvation Message