4-29-18 How To Evangelize

Fast: Share Stories (10 min.)

I’m going to challenge you to fast again this week, this time one meal out of the week.

Pray for the lost.

Pray for each other. (y’all know your struggles/share your struggles)

Pray on the spot for people. (Jon @ Denny’s, Me and MCs at Buccess)

I want to Pray for you. For any request you dont feel comfortable putting on there, you dont have to. write on this paper two things. An area in life where you are struggling in sin, and a personal prayer request. You can write your name if you’d like, but you dont have to. I want all of you to fill one of these out.

9:30AM = Thankfulness/Prayer Time/Worship

9:45AM = Lesson

Pray

Good morning B.O.C.

Subject (HP):

We’re going over “Living Out Our Faith” in this set of lessons, where we’re going to go over some things that help us live out our faith. We’ve gone over Prayer, Fasting, and this week we’re going over Evangelism.

Sharing the good news of Jesus; sharing the gospel. Explain Gospel.

Turn you Bibles to

Please stand for the reading of God’s word.

Please stand for the reading of God’s word.

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their

5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

This is the word of the Lord.

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Response: Thanks be to God.

4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

What is Evangelism?

Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013), Jn 3:3–8. What is Evangelism?

This is the word of the Lord.

[SLIDE2]

Response: Thanks be to God.

Sharing the good news of Jesus; sharing the gospel. Explain what the term Gospel is.

What is fasting?

So what is the good news of Jesus? I’m asking, can someone here share that with us?

Image:

[SLIDE2]

Let me ask you something:

If you died and where standing at the gates of heaven and God asked you, “why should I let you in?” What would your response be?

So what is the good news of Jesus? I’m asking, can someone here share that with us?

Our stories are critical in sharing Jesus.

If you say anything other than the good news, then I would question if you’re really getting into heaven.

So what is the good news of Jesus? I’m asking, can someone here share that with us?

We talked about salvation a few months ago. And we defined being saved as: when by grace, a sinner is rescued from God’s wrath.

In the Bible it generally is going without food or drink for a period of time.

I want to start here again because in order for you to share what Jesus has done for you, you have to have experienced what Jesus did for you.

Most of of believe it, but have you EXPERIENCED it??

You will NOT be able to share what you haven’t EXPERIENCED.

And if you have EXPERIENCED it, how can you not SHARE it.

This is part of your story. Let me share a brief story that happened not too long ago.

[SLIDE3]

The way i shared my story is very casual and comfortable.

NO ONE can negate YOUR experience or your story.

Our stories are critical in sharing Jesus.

God is on point. Christ empowers us. We participate.

1. Realize the power of your story.

So when I say denial, I mean denial of something and exchanging that something for worship to God.

We’ll go over some examples in a little bit.

2. Choose a perspective.

We see in our reading examples of bad and good fasting.

[SLIDE3]

Running from wickedness or running towards righteousness.

Example of bad fasting

In our example we see the people of Israel and they’re doing their fasts, but then what does God say about their fast? He goes over the first few verses saying all the wrong things about their fasts, and then asks a rhetorical question that “THIS is the fast they’re choosing to do??”

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What’s wrong with their fast? What’s wrong is that they’re DOING all the right things, but their hearts are fasting for the wrong motives. They’re doing it to try and get what they want from God; they thought they could manipulate God.

3. Start with a simple outline.

They were denying themselves without worship. They didnt take their fast and substitute it with worship to God, and God knew that. So he calls them to fast properly.

I was blind, met Jesus, now I see.

[SLIDE4]

example of good fasting 58.6-14

What was life like before Christ.

God defines true fasting, and it entails selflessness and obedience.

So instead of burdening others, he called them to help those in need…this is selflessness.

The circumstances of you coming to Christ. (Encounter with God)

And when we obey God’s word, we do so with the right heart. So obedience with the right heart is WORSHIP!

Good fasting is not just about denying, but it’s about worship!

What is life like after Christ.

Here’s where I want you to take pencil to paper and spend time doing your short story. You'll do this part on your own.

[SLIDE5]

Take 1 minute for each part, and write a sentence or two for each.

What was life like before Christ.

The circumstances of you coming to Christ. (Encounter with God)

What is life like after Christ.

[SLIDE5]

why is fasting good?

4. Six tips to remember.

The main point I want to make about why fasting is good is because Fasting Nourishes your soul.

—stick to the point

When we force ourselves to not do something and replace that with God, this nourishes our soul.

Not too long ago our church finished our fast during the lent season.

-be specific

How many of y’all fasted something during the whole season, and then broke the fast on sunday to celebrate with the church?

So I had the opportunity to fast Fast foods, all drinks except water (drank nothing but water), and social media for full 40 days including sunday.

-be current

Share experience about that and WHY.

Share experiences about doing a Daniel fast and how that nourished my soul.

-be honest

Share experience about fasting secular music during summers.

In the New Testament we see Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. He went without food or drink. He did this so that we would see the reliance he had on God in times of temptation or spiritual warfare.

-be teachable

When we fast, our souls should rely on God more than when we dont because you’re very aware of what you can’t have.

So lets say you’re fasting breakfast every day for a week, you’ll naturally feel more aware that you missed breakfast and can’t wait for lunch, but in that moment you should rely on God and worship him.

-be challenging

When we fast, deny and replace it with worship, we come out stronger and nourished souls.

[SLIDE6]

5. Avoid Christianese

what are some things we can fast?

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Conclusion:

How do we evangelize?

Through our stories wrapped in what Jesus has done for you.

Pray