Presenting the Gospel

We have finished looking at The Principles of Soul Winning - the specifics of the Gospel message for the purpose of gaining a firm understanding of it. What are they?

#1: Man’s Problem

#2: God’s Remedy

#3: Man’s Choice

Opening: Now, we want to look at probably one of the most crucial aspects of this whole topic and that is…

How do we get from “point A: Hello, my name is” to “point B: May I share with you, from the Bible, how you can know Christ?”

Text: John 4:6-7; 25-26

Always look for opportunities to share the Gospel.

As I stated this past Sunday…

Consider every place you are to be a mission field; your mission field.

As you do, you will find yourself in many different situations – none of them alike – when you are able to share the Gospel.

John 3 – Nicodemus came to Jesus at night.

John 4 – Jesus was at a well.

Acts 2 – Peter and the other disciples did some “street preaching” on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 3 – Peter and John were on their way “to church” when they met the lame man.

Acts 4 – Peter was in a courtroom.

Acts 10 – Cornelius made a house call to visit Peter.

Acts 16 – Paul was in the county jail.

Acts 17 – Paul was at the Athen’s “city hall.”

Always go into every situation positively and with every intention of sharing the Gospel!

Going to the grocery store.

Eating out.

At the DMV.

Seated in the doctor’s office.

Now, let’s look at some of the specifics of Presenting the Gospel!

The Introduction – The First Few Words

"Be Friendly" – Pastor Jack Trieber

Introducing Yourself

In a recent message to the teens, where I was preaching on this very same topic, I shared…

We cannot share the gospel unless we make contact with people.

Every relationship presents an opportunity for us to reflect Christ.

Now…

Because of the fact that you will find yourself in different situations, you will also find yourself with varying amounts of time.

You may find yourself in a situation where you have quite a bit of time to present the Gospel.

You may find yourself in situations – the convenience store – where you only have a few moments.

Be sensitive to that and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you.

So, how do you introduce yourself? (The following assumes that you are out on “official” soul-winning for the church such as on Soul Winning Saturday.)

Find out the prospect’s name and the use it.

Using a person’s name shows interest.

Communicate your own name clearly as well as your partner’s name.

State the name of the church clearly.

State the reason for the visit.

Ask the listener for a few moments of their time.

Each situation will be different. You may not have a few moments of time.

Introducing Yourself

Starting the Conversation

So, you have introduced yourself. Now what?

Remember, your goal is to, at some point, be able to share the Gospel message.

But that likely will not happen immediately after you have introduced yourself.

Ask questions.

I like to use a method that I learned in college. It is an acrostic built on this word: F.O.R.M.

Ask questions…

about their family,

about their occupation,

about their religion.

Since most people think in terms of “religion,” it’s a good place to start. But, eventually, we want to share with them a “relationship;” a relationship with Jesus Christ.

As much as possible, be positive and complimentary!

Colossians 4:6 KJV 1900

Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

That doesn’t mean you agree with them but you must also not be rude, dismissive, or argumentative!

Illustration: “The Catholic Church is wrong!” “Where in the world did you get an idea like that?!?!?”

Now, you’ll notice, if you were paying attention, that I haven’t mentioned what the “M” stands for in the acrostic.

I’ll get to that in just a moment.

Continuing the Conversation

After you have asked questions about the other person’s “religion,” this is the perfect time to share your own testimony of salvation.

You don’t need to go “in depth” about your sinful background or other things but simply give the basic information about how you got saved.

One of the main things to point out is that at some point you came to realize that you could do nothing to save yourself.

And that includes religion!

Also, finish this by stating that you now are sure that you are on your way to Heaven and that Christ - not religion - has made a wonderful difference in your life.

While you don’t want to “easily be stopped,” you must also, with the Holy Spirit’s prompting, be sensitive to those who don’t want to continue.

Illustration: You’re speaking with a busy mother who has several children that she is trying to keep an eye on while also trying to make sure that the dinner she is making doesn’t burn!

You always want to leave the door open for individuals in the future to have the opportunity to present the Gospel.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 KJV 1900

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Leave them with a way to contact you if they should decide they would like to know more.

The Introduction – The First Few Words

Introduce yourself,

Start the conversation,

Continuing the conversation.

Then…

Turning the Conversation Toward Christ

The last letter in the F.O.R.M. acrostic stands for: Message.

At this point, the soul winner has asked about the individual’s family, occupation, and religion.

Now it is time to begin the process of leading the person to Christ.

Two Important Questions

This first question will turn the attention from the soul-winner (who has just been sharing their testimony) to the potential convert.

“Are you sure that when this life is over, you will spend eternity in Heaven?”

There are 3 possible answers to that question: Yes, No, or I don’t know.

Even if a person answers, “Yes,” you still want to find out what it is that they are placing their trust in for salvation.

Regardless of their answer, the second question to ask would be:

“If you were to stand before God and He were ask, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven,’ what would you tell Him?”

This leads us to…

The Heart of the Message

The specific goal for each soul-winning call is to present God’s simple plan or salvation to the prospect and to encourage them to accept Christ as their personal Saviour.

This is where we’ll pick up next week.