Various Sharing the Gospel: Leading someone to Christ

Have you ever shared the message of Christ with anyone? What was the experience life? What method of sharing the gospel did you use?

1. What are reasons we don’t share the gospel?

a. Fear of people, Wanting to be liked, Not have a plan, A wrong view of the sovereignty of God, Distracted with the busyness of life, etc.

One of the reasons we are scared of sharing the gospel is that we have made it too complicated.

2. Other things may become important even though they do not in themselves result in salvation.

a. Attending church – hear the Word of God / place to grow as a Christian

b. Straightening up your life – the Christian will desire to straighten up their life after salvation – can’t do it beforehand – can’t satisfy God by life, because we never can live up to God’s standard – Is critical that someone is willing to turn from sin (repent) as part of salvation

c. Saying a prayer – we typically show God our desire to trust Him in a salvation prayer, but the prayer alone does not save (think Catholic ritual prayer), it is the heart of a person responding to God. Prayer is merely a way to tell God of our desire to respond to Him.

d. Committing myself to God

1) Can’t be done without the Spirit. Paul committed his life to God, but without success until he trusted Christ as Savior.

The gospel itself is very simple. What two questions you need to answer?

3. What do they need to know to be saved?

4. What do they need to do to be saved?

Let’s take a few minutes and look at some simple ways to present the gospel.

Pray.

I. Sharing the gospel – John 3:16

Benefit: A single verse

Simple 4 point outline that one can use to share the gospel from John 3:16?

(ESV) John 3 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1. God loved – even when we did not

2. God gave His Son – Died in our place

3. Believe in Him – Put your trust in what He did for you.

4. Have eternal life – Will give you an eternal relationship with Him, starting right now

B. God loved

1. Loved us when He created us

2. Still loved us even when we fell into sin

3. His choice – loved us even when we did not love Him

C. God gave His Son

a. We were separated from a holy God because of our sin so our sin penalty had to be dealt with first for us to have a relationship with Him

b. Jesus who was/is God came to die in our place / He paid the penalty for our sin on the cross

c. Now God can pursue us – He has dealt with our sin – He can offer us life

D. Believe in Him

1. Means more than just know it but to trust in Him

2. Depend upon Him and what He did on the cross for us

3. A choice that must be made

E. Have eternal life

1. Means living forever wityh Him– all live forever

2. Means the quality of life – living a life in God and with God forever / enjoying Him and gaining the benefits of life with God forever

I. Sharing the gospel: Bad News, Good News An easy to remember approach / with illustrations

Intro question: May I ask you a question? Has anyone ever shown you from the Bible how you can know for sure you are going to heaven?

Four things you must know to go to heaven.

A. Bad news … We are sinners Romans 3:23

(ESV) Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

1. Illustration: Miss the target / throw a rock to the North Pole

B. Bad news (even worse) … The wages for sin is death Rom 6:23

(ESV) Romans 6 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1. Illustration: Wages to do a job / speeding ticket

C. Good news … Christ died for our sins Romans 5:8

(ESV) Romans 5 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1. Illustration: Take your cancer cells into my body

D. Good news (even better) … You can be saved through faith in Christ Ephesians 2:8-9

John 3 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

(ESV) Ephesians 2 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

1. Illustration: Sit in a chair to show you trust it

II. Making the decision

Question: Is there anything keeping you from trusting Christ right now?

A. Just tell the Lord your desire to trust Him as your Savior

B. Lead them to pray

1. I have done wrong and the penalty is death

2. I know that Jesus died for me and I want to trust Jesus as Savior

C. Give Assurance …

1. Have them read John 5:24

(ESV) John 5 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 3 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Did you hear God’s Word? Did you believe God / trust Jesus as your Savior? So what does the verse say you now have? (eternal life)

2. Have them read John 1:12.

(ESV) John 1 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Those who believe / trust in Him become what? So what are you? (child of God)

D. Pray for them

Final thoughts

1. It is the simple message itself that is powerful – Christ died in our place and offers forgiveness because of His sacrifice if we choose to trust in Him

2. The most important thing we can do for anyone is give them the simple truth of the gospel whether we take 2 minutes or 45 minutes. It is the message itself that has power.

3. Someone does not have to have all their questioned answered to be saved. Don’t get lost in the details. They will ultimately have to choose by faith to trust in what Christ has done for them.

4. Decide on a favorite method that you can become so familiar with that you can easily and confidently share it at a moment’s notice.

5. One of the most common mistakes is to share the truth but never invite someone to choose to trust Christ. Once they have been give the knowledge of what Christ has done, it is always appropriate to invite them to trust Christ.