Intentional in Evangelism

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Intentional in Evangelism</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id151.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Oriented To People"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id170.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dedicated to Spiritual Growth"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Ministry Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, February 4, 2001</B></div> <bR> <div>      Many things in life don’t happen by chance, such as getting physically fit, getting a college education, acheiving financial health, or finding consistent balance in your use of time. Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ is like that for most of us – it doesn’t happen unless we go out of our way to make sure it happens. It is important for us to first understand how important sharing our faith is to God.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. 2 Peter 3.9: God is patient with us (believers), to lead others to faith in Christ. </B></div> <div>      Peter wrote this in the context of how long it is taking God to fulfill his promise of Christ returning. He wants all people to have the opportunity to repent and trust Christ for salvation. God is delaying his judgment because he wants to show his grace to people who have not yet received it. Judgment will come for those who do not trust Christ, but for now, the offer of grace is available to all. </div> <div>      For this reason, evangelism, which is simply sharing the message, is important to God. God’s offer of grace needs to be heard by those who need his grace! That is why we invest in missionaries who share the gospel in other cultures and countries. And that is why we must share the message in our own culture.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. 1 Peter 3.15: We are to always be ready to share the message.</B></div> <div>      Even in times of suffering, don’t hide the message, but share it. For most of us, we are living in a time of ease, yet we must be all the more eager to share the message of Christ’s love. This presupposes that we are relationally connected with people so that they can see our hope and our trust in God.</div> <div>      “Setting apart Christ as Lord” is recognizing his holiness and his rule over our lives. It means respecting him more than we fear what people think. It is out of our respect for him that we are to be ready and available to share the message.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. How to Get Intentional About Evangelism</B></div> <div> A. Prepare, in order to be clear! </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >     It is wise to know ahead of time what to say to communicate the gospel clearly and simply. In the nervousness of the moment when we have an opportunity, it is easy to muddle the message. Being prepared helps us to be clear and simple. You may adopt the “Good News/Bad News” approach (</FONT><A HREF="http://www.evantell.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.evantell.org"><U><U>www.evantell.org</U></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >) or the “Four Spiritual Laws” (</FONT><A HREF="http://www.ccci.org/laws/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ccci.org/laws/index.html"><U><U>www.ccci.org/laws</U></U></A><A HREF="http://www.ccci.org/laws/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ccci.org/laws/index.html"><U><U>/</U></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >) or the Bridge illustration (from Becoming a Contagious Christian). Choose a brief outline so that you have something to say when God gives you the opportunity to speak up for him. </FONT></div> <div> B. Develop relationships with people. </div> <div>      While we should not view people as our “projects,” we must be close enough to people to show them love and offer them God’s message of grace. If we are isolated from lost people, we cannot possibly share the message with them. </div> <div>      Did you know that the main reason an unchurched person tries a new church is because they are invited by a friend? Do you have friends that you could invite to church, so they could hear the gospel there?</div> <div>      We at the church want to offer various outreach opportunities throughout the year, events that our church family can invite their friends and family members to, so that they can hear about Jesus Christ. It is our desire that our worship service be such that it is easy for our family to invite an unchurched friend or relative to it. We want Christians to have confidence that we will communicate clearly the gospel in ways that unchurched people will understand, and that we will not erect unnecessary barriers or walls to keep unchurched people from hearing God’s message clearly. We call this being “seeker-friendly.” Over half of America’s adults do not attend a church worship service, yet one out of four of those people would go to church if a friend were to invite him (George Barna, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.barna.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.barna.org"><U><U>www.barna.org</U></U></A></FONT>). So invite your friends and relatives to church. They just might come!</div> <div> C. Pray for opportunities.</div> <div>      In our own lives, we often have opportunities to share Christ, his love and his message. We should ask God to make us more sensitive to these opportunities, so that we can take advantage of them. </div> <div> D. <I>Share</I> the love of Christ in <I>words</I>, not just actions.</div> <div>      I realize that fear and nervousness are natural when it comes to speaking up for Christ. It is important that we get around to verbally sharing the message with people who need to hear it. Don’t expect that your lifestyle alone will communicate clearly the message. It is a great start, but it is not enough. So be bold in the power of God, and verbally tell someone about Christ’s love.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>