Take Your Next Step: Sharing Your Faith

Introduction (Sermon Title Slide) • Today we finish up our current series, Take Your Next Step • Three Sundays ago, we looked at Stepping Together as a Tribe... ◦ What stage or level are we at? 1. Life Stinks... 2. My life stinks... 3. I’m Great (and you’re not)... 4. We’re great... and 5. Life is Great • After that, we looked at taking our next step in the area of DISCIPLESHIP... ◦ 1. Curious... 2. Causal... 3. Committed... 4. Consecrated... 5. Contagious... which level are you and what are you doing to take the nest step up? • Last week, we talked about STEWARDSHIP and what it means to take the next step there ◦ 1. BEGINNER... 2. OCASSIONALLY... 3. FAITHFUL... 4. TITHING (test God, he challenges you to do so)... 5. EXTRAVAGANT in your giving or are you just following the letter of the law? Take Your Next Step: Sharing Your Faith • If there is one thing that the vast majority of Christians I have been associated with throughout my life are hesitant about doing... something that really freaks them out... it is EVANGELISM Reasons we don’t share... ◦ We think we are unqualified... ◦ Our current culture is not always open to truth claims and when you begin to speak anything at all about God, you have entered the arena of truth ▪ Two kinds of truth: objective and subjective ◦ Apathy and a lack of compassion... unfortunately we can end up in this place ▪ There are literally lost people everywhere... we are either insensitive to their plight or we just don’t care... we have lost the compassion for lost people... we become apathetic ◦ Fear... let’s face it... this is the big one... simply put, “I’m afraid to do it!” ▪ Striking up a conversation with a complete stranger is difficult for most people • There is nothing that says evangelism has to be with a stranger on the street ◦ A subset of fear is that sharing comes with baggage... in other words, we don’t want to share because then we are identified with the abuses done in the name of Christianity ▪ Yes, there are some who judge Christianity and therefore, all Christians by the worst examples they can find... the crusades, Westboro Baptist Church, televangelists ▪ In my experience, this is the biggest reason... we don’t want to be “that guy” Focus Verse: Proverbs 3:5-6, NASB 5Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. NASB • We trusting in the Lord, with all our heart, that is: everything we are and we commit all our ways to him... the emphasis is on all our heart... all our ways... this includes sharing our faith Primary passage • Romans 10:9-15... I want to look at this passage in two sections: 9- 15 and then 14-15 • In this portion of our primary passage, Paul is showing what makes one a follower of Jesus... a disciple... a Christian ◦ How incredibly simple the plan of salvation is! Amazing! One person calls it “scandalously simple” • Then comes the second part ◦ Because we have confessed and believed, we have a responsibility... there are others who have not... how are they reached? By us! This is what Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20 ◦ Has Jesus done something in your life? Then publish and proclaim it! You’re preaching! • We are called to heralds of the gospel... to publish and proclaim what God has done in our lives” 5 Levels of Sharing Your Faith 1. SILENT - Don’t share with anyone; keep quiet • This is simply one who just doesn’t share at all... it could be fear, it could be a lack of awareness, it could be apathy... any number of reasons but if you’re at this level, you just don’t share at all ◦ Maybe you are brand new and you think this is acceptable... this is not a level that God wants any of his children at... take the next step 2. OBSERVATIONAL - Share by example but never with words • The one who shares only by example is sharing something but not what Paul talked about here in our passage... we proclaim and publish what God has done in our lives - that is done with words ◦ St. Francis of Assisi is often credited with saying, “Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” It sounds really good until you dig into what it’s saying ◦ Whose life was lived before men and women more perfectly than anyone ever? Jesus, right? And he sure used a lot of words to preach the gospel • If you are at the observational level then I would challenge you to take the next step 3. RESPONDER - Will share a little but only when asked • “I don’t have a problem sharing but I’m not going to be the one that begins the conversation” ◦ You’re beginning to open up to others... that is good... but unless you are asked, you don’t have the opportunity to share... which often means, you don’t get to share much ◦ Why? Because we are taught that things like “religion” and “faith” are taboo topics • This is the timid step... it’s also a step where many Christians camp out ◦ You’re beginning to interact openly but you’re not going to start things... so my challenge is to take the next step 4. COMFORTABLE - Openly share in a safe setting • You are 100% comfortable sharing stories of how God is working in your life... you can give your testimony, you can share stories, you can talk about Jesus and you’re good ◦ But only as long as it is a comfortable, safe setting ◦ You’ll share where it is kind of expected that people would do that... ▪ At church, or at a Bible study where there may be some non-believers... maybe a revival or Christian concert ◦ You’ll share as long as there is someone else with you ◦ You’ll share with some of your family that may not know Christ because they expect it • Like level 3 before it, this is a level where many Christians camp out... ◦ In fact, it has been the experience in my own life and in the lives of those around me that most people are comfortable somewhere in between level 3 and 4 5. INITIATOR - Seek out those to openly share with • At this level, you not only are comfortable sharing your faith, you look for opportunities to do so ◦ You try to weave into your conversations with others things about the Lord... or about your church... and you do that because you’re just sharing about your life • You have an awareness of how lost the lost really are... you know that some won’t accept you ◦ And when it comes to the baggage? You are on a mission to show others that what they have seen and heard about Christians is not accurate... it’s about a relationship with Jesus • You have been practicing sharing your faith for so long, it is just second nature, it’s part of who you are and people respond to you... they want to talk to you even if they aren’t believers ◦ You are held in high regard by non-believers even because even though they may not understand why, they know you care about them • This is where God wants all of us to be Closing • Here’s the Self-Assessment for this week: 1. PRAYERFULLY consider the following.... • Where am I? My current level: ____________ • What is holding me back from taking the next step up? ◦ We talked about the different reasons we don’t share... Unqualified, Not always open to truth claims, Apathy and a lack of compassion, Fear, and Baggage 2. Read these SCRIPTURES: Matthew 5:14-16, 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:48-49; John 14:26, 20:21Acts 1:8; Romans 1:16, 10:14-15; 1 Corinthians 9:16-18; Colossians 4:5-6; Philemon 1:6-7; 1 Peter 3:15 • How do these inform where I am and who will I share with? 3. Discuss your answers with someone else in the COMMUNITY. • What’s your next step? ◦ Will you follow Jesus? ▪ Together... here as a “tribe,” a congregation of God’s people, are you willing to take the next step together? ▪ In your discipleship as you grow, will you take the next step? ▪ Will you take the next step in the area of stewardship? ▪ And, are you willing to share your faith, to proclaim the good things that God has done in your life by assessing where you are and taking the next step?