We’ve all agreed that becoming a spiritual success is what we want to see happen. And we have seen that the steps involve reading the Bible daily, praying constantly, fellowshipping at the right church, giving of yourself and and your money, and now the final step in becoming a true spiritual success is shining and sharing your faith.
WE ARE CHRIST’S BILLBOARDS
As you drive along the motorway you see billboards, and they are designed to capture your attention. They are easily seen, and often have a sloga...
We’ve all agreed that becoming a spiritual success is what we want to see happen. And we have seen that the steps involve reading the Bible daily, praying constantly, fellowshipping at the right church, giving of yourself and and your money, and now the final step in becoming a true spiritual success is shining and sharing your faith.
WE ARE CHRIST’S BILLBOARDS
As you drive along the motorway you see billboards, and they are designed to capture your attention. They are easily seen, and often have a slogan in them that intrigues, shocks or otherwise makes you look.
Most people in our nation will never enter a church building apart from maybe a wedding or funeral. They will never read the Bible. You and I are the only Bible they will ever see, the only contact with a church they will ever experience.
Romans 10:14-15 (ESV Strong's)
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
You are the billboard, you are the one who is sent and you, church, not the pastor, not the guy with evangelism as their spiritual gift, you and I are the ones to show Jesus and preach the good news to them!
Spiritually successful Christians make others look, even if they themselves are quiet and unassuming.
And remember, kindness, love, respect, miracles, signs and wonders, all of these are links in the chain of salvation, but none of them actually save people.
Ten million signs and wonders would not make this world turn to Christ, because belief is a choice. Ultimately people choose to either accept Christ, or reject Him. You’re responsible in sharing your faith, but you are not responsible for the decision they make.
WE ARE ALL CALLED TO SHINE
John Stott said, “We should not ask, “What is wrong with the world?” for that diagnosis has already been given. Rather, we should ask, “What has happened to the salt and light?”
Matthew 5:13-16 (ESV Strong's)
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Every one of us is called to shine for Jesus, to be salt and light to a world that is a mess. Whether you fancy yourself as an evangelist, whether you have that gift or not, sharing your faith starts with you shining for Jesus. Very often it’s what you do rather than what you say that is the most important thing in reaching out to others.
Uncle Erick story… On his way to church in his Sunday suit and saw a neighbour digging out his grease trap. He went home, changed into his overalls, skipped church and got down and dirty and smelly in the hole with the man… a few weeks later that man came to Christ.
If you are not living a life they respect, why should they bother to listen to you? If you’re gossiping, exploding in anger, manipulating people or holding grudges, your words carry little power. If they see you as honest, stable and kind, someone with their life together, they will listen to you, I promise you! Especially if their life is a mess.
But don’t think you need to be a stellar Christian to share your faith. I’ve seen drug addicts lead other drug addicts to the Lord. You don’t have to be perfect to shine, but you cannot influence others for Christ if you do not have the right to speak into their life. When they see a change in your life, you earn that right.
And the reality is, you need to be sharing your faith as much as they need to be hearing about it? Shining for Jesus builds builds upon your credibility as a person, but you need to couple shining with something else… sharing your faith, or speaking about Jesus.
Check Dr Billy Graham being interviewed by Woody Allen on out Facebook page…
https://www.facebook.com/ignitechristianchurch
DON’T BE THE DEAD SEA
If you are alive in Christ you should be sharing your faith.
The Dead Sea in Israel is the lowest point on earth, more than 400m below sea level. It is renowned as being deadly because of the lethally high salt content. Why is it so poisonous? The river Jordan flows into it, but nothing flows out, that’s why it is dead. And so many Christians are like that… we get plenty of teaching, tons of input but give nothing back.
Greg Laurie said, “Input without output is hazardous to our faith.” We become like the Dead Sea.
2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV Strong's)
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
If you are getting good teaching, if you are growing in Christ reading His Word, start using it, start handling the Word of truth correctly. Let God’s truth flow through you to others, don’t be a typical Christian and stagnate!
SHARING YOUR FAITH EFFECTIVELY
I would like to run a seminar to detail how to effectively share your faith. Please don’t be put off by this, it is a very simple thing. The gospel is simple, not complicated. It is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV Strong's)
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Sharing your faith should be natural and reflect our relationship with Christ. I don’t want to Bible bash people, I don’t want to offend them or manipulate them into a decision they are not actually making. Jesus made you the way you are so that you can gently and naturally share your faith in a way that sits right with your personality.
So what are the steps to sharing your faith effectively, even for a non evangelist?
1. CONNECT WITH PEOPLE
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I’ve been involved in all kinds of evangelism around the world, and have travelled with Dr Bill Newman across the globe, but he would tell you that the mass evangelism campaigns we have are just a platform for personal evangelism.
Romans 12:15-16 (ESV Strong's)
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Aussies hate arrogance, so don’t be superior, don’t be self absorbed and don’t preach at them. Step one is to just connect with people, where they are at.
Brett plays in a band and often tells people about his faith in the club where they are playing. Some of you mums share with other mums at school. Glen shares Jesus from his Harley. Some of you builders talk to tradies on the building site. I often talk to people who come for an eye test and get the gospel as well. Last week I spent half an hour sharing my faith with one of my staff.
Whenever you meet people, the first step is to connect with them, and love them with gentleness and respect. Don’t Bible bash them, take the time to talk to them, connect with them, listen to them about their life and their struggles…
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV Strong's)
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
If I meet a salesman who pitches vigorously in my face… I feel disrespected. If I meet someone I can trust, someone who listens and seems to care about me, I am more inclined to respond positively.
2. KNOW THE WORD
When Peter preached the first sermon in Acts 2, he quoted Scripture. Now you don’t have to quote verse and reference, but you ought to have enough of the Word in your life so the Lord can quicken it to your heart as you need it sharing your faith.
Artists know their brushes, builders know their tools, musicians know their instruments, so you should know your tools. Your tool is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and God promises this…
Isaiah 55:11
So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
I have memorised, learned and studied the Bible, and so as I speak to people I find verses popping into my head, quickened to my spirit as the bible calls it.
Hebrews 4:12 (ESV Strong's)
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Word of God is living and active, and it penetrates people’s hearts, and divides or separates good from evil, right from wrong, sin from righteousness. That verse says it discerns, which in Greek means judges, the thoughts and intentions of their heart.
Using Scripture as you talk to others penetrates more than the best of your words or your fine sounding arguments.
You can not argue someone into Heaven, only the Holy Spirit breaks the yoke, and only the Holy Spirit can save a soul, and He uses the Word of God.
Ask the Gideon’s, who have countless testimonies of people coming to Christ just by reading a bible in a hotel room or prison cell.
Salvation is a spiritual act. You may feel that people need convincing, but behind it all there are demons and principalities that need to be overcome, and your words do not cut it. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, and if you don’t know the Word, you are fighting with bare hands with your sword still in its scabbard!
3. BE CHRIST CENTRED AND CLEAR
There are so many issues people talk about, and you need godly opinions, but don’t get diverted, keep the main thing the main thing. You will not win people to Christ arguing about same sex marriage, creation science or the Shroud of Turin. Facts may be part of the journey, but they alone will not save people.
Titus 3:9 (ESV Strong's)
But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
2 Timothy 2:23-24 (ESV Strong's)
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,
If you want people to come to Jesus, talk about Jesus! You might have an opinion on various issues, but getting on Facebook and offending people about non salvation issues will not bring them to Christ. You might win the argument and send them to hell for eternity, is that a good deal?
You can share your testimony, you can share your experiences by all means, because a person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with an argument.
Why not memorise a few verses about Jesus and the gospel, like John 3:16 or Romans 5:8?
4. CALL THEM TO REPENTANCE
We rarely hear about repentance these days, even sadly in gospel preaching, but for people to come to Christ they must acknowledge their need of Him.
How can people agree to be saved when they have no concept of what they are being saved from? They might look at their life and be sorry for what they’ve done, but that’s not the same as repentance.
Remorse is being sorry. But repentance is being sorry enough to change.
2 Corinthians 7:10 (ESV Strong's)
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
People are generally sorry not for what they have done, but they are sorry for being caught or suffering the consequences.
In our modern society, we have a huge tendency to pass blame for our bad behaviour or decisions. We abdicate responsibility, we blame others, we always have. Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake, and the snake didn’t have a leg to stand on!
So often today we excuse bad behaviour because we’ve convinced ourselves it is someone else’s fault. I only did this because you did that to me. My sin is because of my parents, my partner, my upbringing, my circle of friends, my church, my job and anyone else… except me!
Here’s the top 7 ridiculous lawsuits won, all from the US…
- I tripped over my own toddler in your furniture store and broke my ankle… $750,000
- I spilled hot coffee on my lap and burned myself… $2.5m
- I locked myself in your garage while robbing your house and could not get out because you were on vacation… $500,000
- Your chained up beagle bit me after I climbed your fence and fired pellets at him… $14,500
- I slipped on the soft drink I threw at my boyfriend in your restaurant and broke my tailbone… $113,500
- I burned myself on an uninsulated wire while trespassing on your property… $24m
- Red bull didn’t give me wings… $13m
Listen, regardless of upbringing, relationships, friends and the tough life you’ve been dished, at some point if you want to change your life you need to acknowledge your guilt, and step up to take responsibility for your decisions.
Ezekiel 18:20 (ESV Strong's)
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
In other words, man up and take responsibility for what you’ve done or become!
And so it is with the gospel… when people have the revelation that they are sinners, destined for hell, but that Jesus paid the price for them and died in their place, then they are truly ready to receive Christ.
And we need to understand that too. People out there are lost. We call them sinners, unchurched, unbelievers, non-Christians, but the reality is that they are lost. If they die tonight, they face judgement and eternity in hell, so we need to find the best way to reveal that fact to them.
5. ASK THE QUESTION WHEN YOU SHARE YOUR FAITH …
If you talk to someone about the Lord, if you share you faith and don’t ask a question, it’s like a preacher who preaches well but never asks for a response. At Ignite that doesn’t happen, because I always preach to a verdict, to a response. It’s like a salesman, who does the greatest pitch ever then fails to close the sale by simply asking, “Do you want to buy it?”
I will often ask people to pray to ask Jesus into their lives in church. Often no one responds. I’m not embarrassed. It’s God’s problem, not mine, I just need to keep faithfully asking as I feel led.
So don’t be afraid, just ask and let God be God. We are responsible to ask, but we are not responsible for their reply to that question. Peter said,
Romans 10:9-10 (ESV Strong's)
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Peter spelled out exactly how to be saved, and challenged the crowd, and 3,000 came to Christ that day. Be bold, be courageous and just ask. The worst that can happen is that they say no or not right now. The best is that they accept Christ and live with Him for eternity!
BE A LINK IN A CHAIN
When people come to Jesus it is usually a long and convoluted journey. Long before they meet you or anyone else, the Holy Spirit has been working in their life, preparing the soil for a harvest of salvation. You might be the first Christian they have ever talked to, you might be one of many in their journey, or you may have the privilege of leading them right through for the Lord.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (ESV Strong's)
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
In the chain of their salvation you could be the first link in the chain, the middle link or the last link.. Just don’t be the missing link!
You do not have to force every person you talk to into making a decision to receive Christ on the spot. Just be faithful, take them a little further on the journey, as far as they are prepared to go, and believe the Lord to complete the rest.
You cannot save them, they have to make the decision, and God’s grace is there for them…
Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV Strong's)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Arthur Stace was a quiet, unassuming ex-alcoholic who walked the streets of Sydney before dawn every day for 37 years, and never led one person to Christ personally. But every day he wrote a single word in the pavement in yellow chalk, and that word led to the conversion of thousands of people to Christ… the Word was “Eternity”.
WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?
Remember, ultimately a person is responsible for their own decision to accept or reject Christ. It is the Holy Spirit’s responsibility to save souls, and our job is simply shining and sharing our faith.
Ultimately, salvation is a choice, and it is a choice they make, not you. Only the Holy Spirit can draw people into the Kingdom, not you, so we do not need to see a result or try and make people get saved… those are the Holy Spirit’s lines, not ours.
Our job is to shine, but to shine brightly in this dark world. Yet we must not fool ourselves or compromise our witness for Christ.
St Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times, and where necessary use words.” What he is suggesting is that you let your life shine for Christ, but I believe He is wrong on the second part… you must also use words. Otherwise, they think you’re a nice person and a great guy, and Christ isn’t honoured, you are! So couple your shining with words that tell them the reasons why you act in such a noble way…
Let me finish with 2 verses we have already used…
Matthew 5:16 (ESV Strong's)
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV Strong's)
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
THE SHINING AND SHARING CHALLENGE
If you have never asked Jesus into your heart, now is a great time to do it. The Bible says we have all sinned, the Bible says we are all guilty and are destined for hell. You don’t need to be good enough to be saved, you just need to be humble enough to accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation.
Think of one person you know who doesn’t know Christ, and then pray for an opportunity to shine and to share. It’s not enough just to do good and shine, and it’s not enough just to tell them you’re a Christian, you need to do both!
