Going to church and listening to a sermon on how to "Go out and grow the Kingdom of God", or "How to Evangelize." does not in anyway give me what I need to share Christ. Frankly, it bores me to tears. It only serves to give me a reason not to. Why? Because it is missing the two main ingredients of being a disciple of Christ, which are, Faith and a sense of conviction.Listening to a sermon on how to evangelize just reinforces that I cannot do it until I learn how to and I can stay ignorant in this for as long as evangelizing is not comfortable for me or will cost me something I am unwilling to lose.
To share something I must believe in it. I must have conviction in what it has done in my life. That is just how it works for me. So, why not spend more time telling people like myself about the very person we are being told to evangelize about and what He has done and continues to do in Your life. That gets me excited. That is what perks my ears to listen and want what you have. Not bible studies on how to reach out to the community or what I must do to be saved. Tell me why I see this excitement in your face; why you seem to always have this sense of confidence no mater how difficult your life is right now. That is what will get my attention. And once you have my attention, well then perhaps you will gain my trust as well. And my trust in what you have to say will give me interest into reading the bible; maybe. But isn't it worth a try? Aren't we won over by attraction more than promotion? Don't we want to see results before we are willing to give ourselves or money to a cause?
If I am excited enough and believe enough in Jesus it is no problem for me to share why I am with others. It is lack of faith and conviction that keeps me from boasting in the Lord. I cannot share with others something I do not have. And if I do not have a personal, growing relationship with Jesus, if I am not sharing and being encouraged by fellow believers, than my faith grows, but it grows weak. I need to be in the bible, be with other Christians strong in the Gospels, and I need to be talking to God in prayer; all of these must be done on a regular basis. Let me try using an illustration to show what I mean.
Let's use a lady who is a strong believer in a new skin cream she had learned about and tried. After trying it and seeing positive results, she becomes a believer. From her personal experience she believes this skin cream healed her eczema. It has worked so well in relieving her discomfort and she believes in this product so strongly, she just has to share it with her girlfriends. She cannot keep this wonderful news to herself. Or take the man who heard about this new tool that he decided to try out. (Somewhat relutantly of course; after all we are talking about a $500.00 tool). After using it on the job for a few weeks, he becomes a believer. He believes, once again through experience, that the tool he bought is the best he has ever used for a particular job. It has made his life at work so much easier and better, that again, he just has to brag about it to his guy friends. Ohers began to see how happy these two people were and wanted to know why; so the lady and the man shared the reason for this joy. Now then, these two individuals were not professionals, nor did they take a class or hear a sermon on how to share the skin cream and tool with their friends. No, they simply believed in the product! They saw how the product worked in their own lives and had to share the good news. They explained how they came upon it and what it had done for them. These friends then tried it and they in turn saw that it changed their lives as well and so they too had to share it with other friends, who then shared it with their friends. Do you see the pattern? The people who heard about what the skin cream or tool did for these two individuals, saw how it effected their lives and they wanted it! No sermon, no class; just personal excitement.
Evangelism should be the same way shouldn't it? But why isn't it? Why aren't we excited enough about what Jesus has done in our lives that, we have to share it with our spouses, family, friends or co-workers.
This question came to me this morning after reading about the disciples and how excited they were to go out and share the good news. Why wasn't I this excited? Where was my conviction? How strong in my faith in Christ? Is it strong enough to go out there and evangelize? Do I feel as strongly and confidently in it as I do my new sewing machine? Strong enough to share with others? If not, why not?
I do not need to be scholar to share how Christ has changed my inner being. I do not need bible studies to share how prayer has shaped my life. I need willingness. The willingness to be ridiculed and put down for a fool. The willingness to lose family or friends. The willingness to be uncomfortable or go out of my way to serve God. The willingness to be an outcast. All things Jesus says I will suffer, I must be willing to suffer. It is not about "How to." It is about "Willing to."
I continue to get excited when I see God convict me in this way. That doesn't mean I am not scared or uncertain; that I do not need my Christian brothers and sisters for strength and encouragement. It simply means God is once again whispering in my ear and if I listen, I can be confident "He will have my back."
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