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Introduction

What is up guys,

I wanted to start off with a story of a atheist.

There is an actor and magician named Penn Jillette. Some of you may have heard of him, but after one of his shows a Christian walked up to him and shared the gospel with him. This man said he loved his work and loved him enough to tell him the truth of Jesus. This did not change his mind, but Penn made a video and posted it on social media.

He said that he does not respect people who do not share their faith.

The quote that he said is “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

He said as an atheist, if someone was standing in front of a car and he knew that they were going to be hit, he would tackle them.

so today we are going to be talking about evangelism.

What it means to share our faith.

We cannot be like Jesus without sharing the Gospel.

Matthew 28:19 CSB

Go.

In this text here we see Jesus who just raised from the dead talking to the disciples.

This is his last conversation before he ascends into heaven.

This is known as the great commission

We will see the rest of the steps here in a little bit.

To make disciples of all nations.

to baptize.

To teach them what the Lord has commanded.

But listen closely.

If we do not go, then there are no people to disciple.

If people are not hearing the gospel, then guess what?! They aren't being saved.

I see all of these shirts that say make heaven crowded.

but what are you doing to make heaven crowded.

You can live your life for Jesus, you can do all the things that he tells you to.

You can be different.

You can be kind.

The people at school might go, man they are a Christian.

But If you want to truly live like Jesus, you must share the gospel.

Again, we are to “go.”

And when Jesus says go he is saying tell them about me.

Jesus did not make his Earthly ministry pop off by sitting in his room reading his Bible and praying.

Did Jesus read the scriptures and pray, ABSOLTLEY! YES HE DID!

But he had to get out there and tell people about how his Father is.

If Jesus thinks anything is important, this is up there on the list.

If you knew what your last words in life were going to be, and you were looking into a crowd of people you would make sure they were impactful.

This is what Jesus did.

He knew that it would be the last time he would step foot on Earth until he returns.

Jesus prioritized this so much.

Without evangelism and people who are completely unashamed to go and talk to people about their faith is the entire reason we are here today.

But how often do we not prioritize sharing our faith.

guys I will be the first to admit that this is something that I have had to work on.

I did not get serious about sharing my faith until college.

Of course things are going to come up naturally at times, but I mean seeking out conversations.

Like looking for them.

Praying before I enter the store for God to lead me into a gospel conversation.

but the things is we get busy.

And I dont even mean busy from all the things of life.

School is busy, work is busy, life is just busy.

but that’s not what I am talking about.

We get busy doing Christian things.

We look at this series as we are getting to the end and go man… God is asking a lot of me.

We get convicted when we do not read our Bibles and know we should.

We can get convicted about not praying as much as what we should.

and we zoom into these, but there are so many Christians who are not sharing the Gospel and it seems normal.

They are not convicted by it.

When the disciples, Paul, the followers of Jesus! THAT IS WHAT THEY DID!

We must GO!

Alright, now we can read the rest of the verse

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

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 everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Again, this is known as the great commission.

We are to first go, but that is not where we start.

We are to both share the Word and show the Word.

We have to realize that these go hand in hand.

When you share the gospel with someone, you are telling them what the Bible says. Maybe it is not always verse, but at least concepts.

But we are to make disciples of all nations.

So it does not stop with just telling people about the Gospel.

If you do not get them plugged into a Church or plugged into community where they can grow they will be like a flower in a field of weeds.

They will sprout up, then die off.

We are to teach people the way of Jesus after we share the gospel with them.

Again, this can be super uncomfortable.

The thing is though. Every single believer is called to this.

The great commission was not just for the disciples.

Do you know how I know this?

Because when they died there were still unreached people.

Today there are still unreached people groups.

We are to keep going in this!

Telling people about the hope that we have.

Every single believer is called by God to share the good news of him.

Jesus from the begining to the end of his ministry made this clear.

Jesus’ introduction to the disciples - Matthew 4: Every follower of Jesus is a fisher of men.

Jesus’ conclusion to the disciples - Matthew 28: Every disciple is a disciple-maker.

From Matthew 4… or Luke 5 which Joel will preach about on Sunday.

Jesus called them and said he will make them fishers of men.

So then he spent that time teaching them.

Now here, share the gospel and teach people.

so if this is such a big command then…

Why are people not sharing more?

There are people who share their faith on a regular basis.

I have friends who do this well, but I have also seen people who are just so in love with God struggle to do this.

but its hard.

I want you to hear it from me, it is hard, it is intimidating.

Man I want to live my life on mission, but I fail too.

I am not perfect.

So I thought I would share a time with you guys that I backed down.

The last time that I went in for a haircut, I told myself I was going to share the gospel with the person cutting my hair. Because that it the perfect opportunity to do it.

They get paid to talk to you and cut your hair. And they are stuck.

So I get in there, and shes complaining about the day she has had, so I am like no not yet, but then I start overthinking it.

But the conversation goes on and she asks what I do for a living. So we start talking about church and where I went to school. and the ball is on the tee, all I have to do is whack it.

but I don’t.

I pay, I walk out. And I am just like why did I not when I said that I would.

so we are going to go through what I believe are the three main reasons on why people do not share their faith more.

They do not know how

We can all agree the Bible is a big book.

I do not know all of the things, stories, verses in here.

It can be a lot to articulate to someone.

But we are going to go through some methods here at the end.

but really it comes down to two things.

The blood of Jesus

and your testimony.

Those are the two most powerful tools that you have.

What Jesus did to save us.

How Jesus personally saved you.

Do not focus on the bad, focus on him.

2. They are afraid of what the person might say.

Again, big book, lots of theology, lots of confusing things.

so people say, “what if they ask me something I do not know”

guess what?! it happens!

In college for a little bit, once a week me and a buddy would go out and knock on doors to share the gospel with them.

I think there are better ways than knocking on doors personally, but I really enjoyed it.

But there was a time or two that someone would bring up something and both of us, a youth ministry major and a missionary major just had to go, “we don’t know, but we can research it and come back if you like”

but it is okay to say that you do not know.

I have knocked on a lot of doors, and we went street sharing in Paris.

99% of people do not have a gotcha question.

I have never had anyone get agressive with me before.

I have had two doors shut in my face, but you do not need to be scared.

If you are saved you have the Holy Spirit.

He will help lead you in those conversations.

3. They do not understand the eternal weight that it carries.

The other two, we can work on.

There are trainings you can do. There are methods you can learn.

There is apologetic resources for hard questions.

This one, is a heart thing.

Thousands of people every day are dying and do not know Jesus.

There are people who are going to hell.

So your friends who are not Christians are going down this path.

Guys I would rather you have an awkward hard conversation, then not care enough to tell someone about eternal life with Jesus.

Its awkward to look at your friend and tell them their fly is down, but guess what you probably would because you love them.

We have to know the weight of what it means to not have your trust in Jesus.

So these are three ways on why people do not, lets look at the Bible and see how it tells us to get ready.

1 Peter 3:15 CSB

but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Lets break down this one verse, then talk about a few methods to share the gospel.

Regaurd Christ as Holy.

Before you witness to a person, you have to be all in for Christ.

Don’t be cussing it up, living in sin, then go talk to someone about Jesus.

Matthew says take the speck out of your own eye first.

So make sure that you are living for him, because then you have the Holy Spirit and can go for it.

Always be ready.

Again, this goes back to being in the Word.

Knowing the things of Christ that will help you talk to people.

Store up scripture in your heart.

In the words of the great theologian Conor McGregor:

I stay ready, so I don’t have to get ready.

Conor McGregor

So we have to stay ready to be able to give a defense.

This is not unnecessary arguments, but a stance on Jesus.

We do this by clearing articulating salvation and pointing the conversation back to Jesus.

Because the last one is for the hope that is in you.

Using your testimony to give this defense is such a tool that you have.

so we have looked at being like Jesus through sharing the Gospel, why people don’t, lets get into some of the methods of sharing the gospel.

How do I share?

There are so many different ways to share the gospel.

There are all different charts, questions, bracelets, Bibles made just for evangelism.

So we could have a whole workshop day just to learning different methods, and we might one day, but lets just cover a few.

Before we do that: you should know one of these might fit you, then you are like yup, thats how I want to share my faith, none of these might call out to you, and thats okay, because there are more:

but

You have to find a way of sharing the Gospel that works for you, so you can get comfortable doing it.

So what I have found is the hardest part is starting off the conversation.

How do you get from what you are talking about to God.

Some people are really good at this and finding connections.

For me, it is just “Hey, do you have a faith.”

That gets the foot in the door, then I just go, hey I don’t want to take a ton of your time, but do you mind if I just ask two questions.

The Kennedy Question Method

On a scale from 1-10, 10 being certain, 1 being not so certain. How certain are you that if you died today you would go to heaven.

If you died today and God said, Why should I let you in, what would you say?

And you can tell them that they can be a 10 based on what Jesus did on the cross.

Friendship Evangelism Method

I have a handout on this method in depth on the resource table if you want it but let’s go over it.

The first step is to have your eyes on Jesus.

Do not just say oh I am friends with them, and this is my evangelism method.

But you have to keep your eyes on the Lord through this entire process.

But this is where you grow close to an unbeliever.

you make them feel welcomed, you do things with them, you show the love of Jesus to them.

but the big thing is you are becoming close to them for when a time of hurting comes or a door swings open and they come to you.

and when that door opens, you cannot hesitate.

Because there will be a day that you get to tell them about Jesus.

Studies show that people are 82% more likely to come to Church if a friend invites them.

People are willing, but they just have to trust you.

I have heard people say oh I have a “one more” or I know you guys have done this before, “who is your one?”

You have a person that you want to get close this to see them come to Christ.

Because sometimes it might take a while.

the average person hears the gospel 7 times before they get saved.

Do not stop praying for that person.

My one that I prayed for, it was a little over 4 years.

I have talked to people who do this with family members and it can take way longer as well.

Again, there are so many methods to pick from, but ultimately we just have to share what Jesus did for us on the cross.

Guys there is the Roman’s Road.

There is the color gospel presentation that you learned in LIT if you went through that.

There is the three circles presentation.

You can mark a Bible and give it to someone.

You can go knock on doors.

There are SO many ways.

But we have to go and share.

We must.

It was Jesus’ last words.