Scripture Reference: 1 Peter 3:21-22
Visit the series page: Exiles: A study in 1 Peter
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Sermon Series: Spiritual Exiles
Message: A Guide to Gospel Conversations
Airdate: 10/20 –10/21/26
Programs: 2382 and 2383
Well, I didn't know if I was going to be here today, and I am. So that means that we do not have a baby on the way. I checked my phone between services just to make sure that nothing had happened. But this is the week. So hopefully, we'll have a fun little announcement we'll share with you.
I said to Jennifer, I hope she's not born on Father's Day because I want Father's Day to be about me, right? So if she could avoid Father's Day, that would be great. I said jokingly. But, yes. So we're, we're excited about a new addition to the family.
We appreciate your prayers about that. We really do. I also wanted to give a little shout out to our Executive Director of Operations, Dave Harvey, who I think is in this service. It's his birthday today. And we have this is the guy that we assume so many things around here are operating right and working right in the facilities and all the different things.
This is the guy that's managing all of that. I'm so thankful for Dave Harvey. And today is his birthday, and I think he's somewhere in here. So can we give him a one clap, happy birthday? I'm confusing some of you with that, but happy birthday, David Harvey.
Okay. Today, we're we're this is a message it's kind of an application message, sort of a practical message coming out of last week's study in first Peter chapter three verse 15, this fairly well known passage about being ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. And we're talking about the church as witness. We're talking about the church on mission. And so today, I wanna talk more practically about how do we engage people in gospel conversations.
The assumption is that Christians will do this, but how do we do that? And so I've got some very practical tips today. We're gonna get into that. I'd like to read the text though again. And so let me begin reading first Peter chapter three verse 13, and please listen as I read God's word.
“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them nor be troubled, but in your hearts, regard 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, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good if that should be God’s will than for doing evil.”
I came across this week a an ancient Chinese proverb that I'd like to share with you. It goes like this. Man stand for long time with mouth open before roast duck fly in. It just struck my funny my funny bone. Some of you are still pondering it, like, does that mean?
A man will stand for a long time before a fully prepared and cooked duck will fly into his mouth. There's a truth in there. Right? What is it saying there? That you can sit back and just open your mouth and hope and think that what you're craving and what you're desiring is going to fly in, but you stayed a long time for roast duck to fly in.
It doesn't happen. And our evangelism in the church often is like the Chinese man standing with his mouth open hoping the right thing flies in. And we miss the fact that while God is sovereign over salvation, he works through means to accomplish it. And the means by which he does this is the church, and specifically is the people in the church engaging in gospel conversations with unbelievers. That's the way that it happens.
In fact, if you're a Christian here today, there was somebody in your life that engaged in some short or long term conversation with you that shared the gospel of Jesus with you, and you are a Christian as a result of it. And what happens often is somebody has that conversation with us, and then we turn into the Chinese man waiting for the roast duck to fly in. We sit back, we isolate, we're by ourselves, and we think, oh, some how this happens, I guess. When that's not how it happened for us. Somebody engaged us, and now we're called as Christians to engage other people in gospel conversations so that they can come to know the same Lord Jesus, the same hope that we have.
And so that's where we're going today. It doesn't just happen. Roast ducks don't just fly in. How does it happen? And Peter is writing to Christians who, as we've said many times now in our series, they are in persecution.
They are in crisis. They're in a place hostile to their faith. You might be in a tough time right now yourself. Maybe you're in some kind of season of trial in your life. And you're thinking to yourself, you know, this is a time really I might have to put ministry on the back burner.
When in reality, this is prime time opportunity for you to give the reason for the hope that is in you. And that's where we're going here is how do we do that and when are what are the context within which and how do we cultivate those contexts so that we can have these kinds of conversations? Now Peter says first in verse 13 that lives of kindness and compassion lived out in the world earn the right for us to be heard. It causes the the world to sort of stop and pay attention. Oh, wait.
You're being kind. You're you're caring for people. You're doing this or that. What's what's the deal with you? And we saw last week that the theology behind what Peter is talking about here in terms of kindness, good works done for people that have nothing to offer us, that we're doing purely out of a desire to minister to them, causes people to stop and listen.
And it did in the early church. We saw that in the first three centuries of the early church, the the the way that Christianity rocked the Roman Empire was not because they were great preachers or that they had all these amazing books to read. Most of them couldn't read. How did the early church rock the Roman Empire? Because they cared for widows and they cared for orphans and they cared for strangers.
They cared for the people that the folks that go to the Aphrodite Temple and the Zeus Temple could care less about. That's who they cared about. And it caused the world to go, what is the deal with these Christians? And, again, the theology behind this, we saw last week, is that everybody is made in the image of God. And even a non Christian is an image bearer of God and wired by God for God and for seeing glimpses of God in the world around them.
And we had a diagram, if you put that up a moment, that illustrates how this works and what Peter is getting at here. What is the common ground that the Christian and the non Christian have? It is this image bearing, the fact that we have a conscience within us. And in the world, even even in the world, these things are admired. Moral beauty, love, self sacrifice, compassion.
These are all things that cause people in the world to go, you know what? That's good. Right? That's that's a good thing. And so in the world, if you're about, you know, stopping human trafficking or if you're into caring for children in crisis or something like that, even nonbelievers look at that and go, wow.
That's really awesome that you're doing that. K? It's common ground that we have in the world. So with that said, let's build now on this a guide to gospel conversations. How do we do this?
And the first thing that we see Peter saying here is that unbelievers observe something in us that they don't have. And you might say, is it our haircuts? Is it our clothes? Is it you know? No.
That's silly. It's not those things. That's not what makes Christianity distinctive. It is hope. That's what Peter says.
They come to us, and they ask us about the hope that we have. Now when is hope observable? When everything's great? No. I don't need hope when my life is fantastic and and everything's wonderful.
We talked about this last week that part of our struggle is that we're all the time projecting to everybody else that we're fantastic, and everything's fantastic. And so, you know, we come to each other. We say, how are you doing? I'm doing awesome. How are you doing?
I'm awesomer. Right? Everything's fantastic. I'm good. The kids are wonderful.
It's like I'm living a panacea of wonderfulness all the time. And we project these kinds of everything's going great, and people can't relate to that. Because the reality in the world is that everything is not great. And there might be times where things seem to be, you know, okay and we're doing okay. But generally speaking, we are either entering a crisis or we just got out of one.
And that's true in the unbelieving world. So that, yes, they can common ground is moral beauty. Common ground is is love and self sacrifice. But a huge common ground that we have with the people around us is pain and suffering. Christians have pain and suffering.
Non Christians have pain and suffering. The difference is we have hope in the midst of it, which they don't have. So imagine with me, for example, first century, Asia Minor Christian Frank applies for membership in a, business society, business guild that was gonna help his business and build relationships and stuff like that. He applies for membership in it. The board of directors gets together and they say, I understand Frank's one of those Christians.
Have you heard about these Christians? Yeah. They don't go to the Temple Of Aphrodite. They're not at the Temple Of Zeus. We don't want this guy in our guild.
I say we deny him just because of that. They go, that's probably a good idea. We don't wanna associate with people like that. The board member goes to Frank and says, hey, you know what? You've got a fine business and things look good, but you're a Christian, so you're out.
You can't or you're not in. We're not we're not accepting you. After sharing the news, Frank is surprisingly upbeat. The board member leaves thinking to himself, well, he took that quite well. What's up with Frank?
First century Asia Minor Christian student Sally is at school. Everybody knows that her family does not worship the emperor and does not worship at Aphrodite's temple. Word gets out that maybe she's one of those Christians that people have heard about. The parents warn their kids, don't associate with Sally. The cool girls in the school, they are so ostracizing Sally, but they sense from Sally that Sally's kind of okay with it.
Like, doesn't she know she should be upset that she's not sitting at our table? It's almost like her identity isn't found in what the cool girls think about her. And they don't know what to deal. How what's up with Sally? One more.
You're like, well, he was really creative in his preparation this week. Yes, I was. First century Asia Minor Christian John is at the hospital. He's seeing the doctors. He's seeing the nurses.
They're seeing him. He's one of a, you know, 100 patients that week. He's going through some health crisis, just like everybody else is. He doesn't wanna be in pain. He doesn't wanna be sick, just like everybody else doesn't wanna be sick.
But they sense him, John, that he has something going on in the midst of that. Like he's talking about how he's praying for the doctor. He's praying for the nurse. And that, you know, he's very confident that that God is with him. And they the nurses sense in John something in the midst of his pain that they're all dealing with pain and stuff in their life that they're like, he's got something I don't got.
And I wonder about John. Rich, poor, atheist, agnostic, religious person, educated, powerful, not, everybody suffers, don't we? Everybody goes through tragedy, don't we? We all have things that we deal with. And the difference that Peter is highlighting in verse 15 is that Christians go through these things with hope that the world doesn't have.
But the world observes us having it and wants it as well, even though they don't know where it comes from. And they come to the hope demonstrating Christian and ask, where did you get that from? Where did you get that from? And that doesn't mean that we don't cry and we don't grieve and we don't do things Jesus himself did. It just means that in the midst of that, we have a kind of vertical hope and assurance in terms of God and His presence with us and His promises for us that the unbelieving world imagine, you know, if you've a Christian a long time, you sort of get used to that promises of God and assurance from God.
The world goes through these things. They got nothing. I do funerals sometimes. You know, the funeral home will call and say, hey. Will you come over and do this funeral?
And I'll I'll do the funeral of of family. I mean, there's no faith, and they're like, hey. Can we get this done soon? And you just get this sense that there's just it's just emptiness. Right?
Or maybe they don't want it to get done. They stand at the casket and they're weaving. They don't want to close the door. Why? Because there's no hope of anything.
Once that door once that casket goes closed, we never see that person ever again. And you just sense that. Right? Totally different than a Christian funeral that's filled with hope, the hope of the gospel, the hope of eternal life. And so Peter is bringing this up, and what I am urging us here is that we must live our faith out in the midst of our pain and be honest about it, or the world is never going to observe it in us.
In other words, authenticity. Okay? Authenticity. A great place for that to start, of course, is in the church. And even in the church, we still sort of project this like, hey, I'm like it's like me and Billy Graham.
We're just like amazing, godly, spiritual people. And we all know that's not true. It's not true for me. Is it true for you? So maybe authenticity let's start in the church and just being real with each other.
But it must transfer into the world around us, which we're not good at, are we? But to be honest with our struggles or people are never going to realize the hope that is in us. Because the only time it's like hope's like the stars. When do you see the stars? It's never when the sun's up.
It's when the sun goes down that you see the stars. Hope is never seen when life is fantastic all the time. It's when life stinks that suddenly hope becomes evident. So unbelievers must see the hope that we have, and the only way they see it is when we are real about the struggles that we have. Now all of this is assuming relationship with unbelievers, isn't it?
We're gonna get into that in a little bit. But everybody knows what it's like when work is frustrating. Everybody can relate to a home and family and relationships that has conflict and strife. Everybody knows what it's like to have financial struggles. Everybody knows what it's like to suffer loss and hurt.
Everybody knows what it's like to have such a crazy busy schedule. You feel like you're, you know, the the the not the rat. What's the the hamster on the wheel. Thank you. We all know what it's like to be discouraged.
We all know what it's like to have doubts about life. And one of the most powerful witnesses that God's people have is when we go through those things, all of those same struggles, and yet we say and believe that there is good news found in Jesus Christ. And I have found Jesus to be a powerful help in the midst of my trial. Now we say, why is this so important? Here's why.
And this is kind of part of what I'm saying here is I'm arguing against an approach to evangelism that just uses canned presentations. I don't know if you know what I'm talking about there. And there's a place for them. But when we just automatically go into robo evangelist with people that are going through you know, the person goes, you know, I'm my my I just found out my mom has cancer. And you're like, I'm gonna take you down the Romans Road.
They're like, what? Are you talking to me? My mom's got cancer. And when we just do these canned gospel presentations, it doesn't connect the gospel with real life struggles. K?
Let's go to Charleston right now. Why? Why is the world paying attention to Charleston? Absolute tragedy that happened, and that is evil and wrong in every way. K?
But within a few days, we have we see some amazing good that has come from that as that church steps forward and says, we forgive the murderer. We forgive the murderer. Now the world sits up and goes, what? What'd you say? Because you're supposed to be, like, all about vengeance right now.
You're supposed to, like, get a mob and go and and get the guy and just, you know, beat him to a pulp. You're supposed to be all, like, hateful and angry about this, but you're offering grace and forgiveness. I bet the church is overflowing today, don't you think? And some of them are going to be visitors who are thinking to themselves, if this church can forgive that guy, they've got something I don't have because I'm still dealing with what my dad did to me when I was growing up. I'm going show up here.
Want see what this is about. And you see, it connects the gospel with real life. And that's what Peter is calling us to. K? To give an answer for the hope that is in us.
Where have we got this hope? We have this hope by faith in Jesus and the promises of God becoming real to us by the Holy Spirit and trusting in a God who sent his Son. Romans eight thirty two, “if God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?” If God gave me Jesus, he can give me what I need in this trial, and my hope is in him. That's the Christian response.
And all of a sudden, the gospel hits home in pain and in trials and in suffering when they see how the hope is working in us and they ask us about it. K? So second thing Peter highlights here is the tone with which we speak. Again, look at verse fifteen and sixteen. Always ready to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you.
Some people read that and they're like, that's right. We're arming for bear. Well, I'm going go into that. I'm going to out argue. I can out argue anybody about the gospel.
I'm ready. Oh, just ask me about it. But then Peter adds this, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Gentleness and respect. Some of you can relate to this.
I was raised in in the church and we were raised in a more confrontational style of evangelism, you know, where you sort of get the person by the throat metaphorically speaking and you just pound them with the gospel, and you hope the Holy Spirit saves them. And you have, you know, these answers for these questions. And there's a place for that. Don't get me wrong. But the vast majority of people, that's not our gig.
Right? I don't even got no PhD in Christian apologetics. We're just normal people. Right? And so when we get all confrontational and high how do you respond when somebody, like, confronts you?
It's like, oh, that's what you believe? Well, let me tell you a better way. And that person's like, wait. My mama believed this. My grandma believed this.
And now you're gonna tell me this. And they get all what? Defensive. And how well do we listen when we're on the defense? Right?
So Peter's like, hey, the tone with which you approach people is critical. Be gentle. Be meek. This is the sense that the other person gets as we're talking to them. Stay calm.
Be kind. Listen. It endears the truth that we want to share with them. And you might be like, oh, no. That's not the way that Jesus did.
Wait a second. What did he do with the woman at the well as an example of what I'm talking about? This woman was in sexual sin. Jesus knew it. And who's the only one who actually has the right to be sort of judgmental towards people?
It would be Jesus. And yet does Jesus say, you're a sinner. Let's talk about sin, you know, and your sexual sin living with a man, divorce all these other guys, you're terrible. You need me. Is that what he said?
No. What did he say? He talked to her in a way that drew her in. Right? He drew her in.
He built rapport with her. She sensed that he cared about her. And when the whole conversation was done, what does she do? She runs into the village and says, come talk to this guy. This is amazing.
That's a sign of a really good gospel conversation when they go into their town and say, everybody, come talk to this guy. I've never had that happen, but it would be wonderful if it did. Jesus had a tone of gentleness. And he says, secondly, and respect and respect. Greek word there is phobos.
We get the word phobia from it. The scholars debate whether this is phobia respect for the other person or respect for God, probably for God, but I think it applies. When I have respect for God, I am respectful, you know, with other people. But the whole the point is, I think, similar to gentleness where there is a sense as I am doing this that I am I am respectful of the other person. I'm not an authority.
Like, I'm not coming at this like I got all the answers and down with you. I'm not speaking down the mountain at people. I'm respecting their story. I'm respecting their life. I'm listening to them.
They're listening to me. That's the kind of conversation that wins people's hearts, isn't it? Not victory all, not demeaning, not what's wrong with you because you don't believe this, not let me show you how smart I am with my answers, but a respectful conversation, a winsome one. So towards the goal of doing this, I have some tips. Those are just kind of a practical message.
Right? I've got some tips for how to engage in gospel conversations or what I'm calling a lifestyle of evangelism. And here's the first one, is that we must be intentional. We must be intentional about this. There's a writer named Jonathan Dodson.
I've learned most of these tips are from him, actually. I give him credit for it. But one of the things that he talks about in terms of intentionality is the fact that many, many Christians have no time for unbelievers. By the time I get done doing all my church activities and I get done all my work activities and my, you know, school activities, there's no margin for relationships with an unbeliever. Maybe if I could ask you, is that true for you?
Do you have any intentional margin that you create to have and to build a relationship with somebody that doesn't know Jesus? Because right now, even as I'm talking to somebody, you're probably like, I got no time for this. I got no time for this. And yet, what has Jesus left us here to do? Why did why wasn't it instant rapture?
You know, when you become a Christian, boop, up you go. Why are we still here? Is it so that we can, you know, work and do well? No. We're here to be a witness to Jesus Christ.
Right? And to share the good news of Jesus with as many people as we possibly can. That's why we're here. And so this is partly a matter of prioritizing this and creating margin in our schedules so that we can have relationships with unbelievers. And frankly, I say that to myself as much as I say it to you.
I just said to Jennifer recently, by the time I get done pastoring the church and all this stuff, I feel like I have little time for relationships with people that aren't a part of the church. I feel convicted about that. Maybe you can too. So some practical tips on how to create context for relationship where these things can happen. This is from Jonathan Dodson.
Number one, eat with non Christians. What do we all have in common with unbelievers? We all like to eat, and we all eat three times a day. Some of us, more than that. So but I digress.
Most people are willing to have lunch with a coworker or a neighbor or to grill out, you know, to barbecue with with a neighbor. You want come over for burgers? Most people are like, that sounds nice. And what does it also sound like? It sounds like friendship, doesn't it?
See? Eat with non Christians. It's not like when you sit down and you go, okay. I'm gonna order, and now I take you down the Romans Road. You know?
Be normal. Talk about stuff. You know? Maybe you have, you know, 10 of those before spiritual stuff comes up. Jesus did this.
He Jesus used meals to build relationship with people. We see him doing it often in the gospels. Secondly, he says, walk, don't drive. Walk, don't drive. Is your neighborhood like mine where often it's like this?
People, we live in houses. In the morning, the bridge of the moat goes up called a garage door. And we're in our cars, and we pull out. We're in our bubble. We drive through the neighborhood.
We might wave, little wave there, little wave there, and off we go. And at night, we come home, still in our bubble, right? Maybe a wave, maybe a wave. The drawbridge goes up of the moat, the garage door. And we pull in, the bridge goes down of the moat, garage door goes down.
And I can live in my neighborhood without any conversation, if I wanted to, without one conversation with anybody. And many people do that. Right? Many people do that. Christians shouldn't do that.
Agreed? Who's the best neighbors in every neighborhood? It's the evangelical Christians, I hope. Right? So part of this we have to fight against is to he suggests walking.
Okay? Walk around the neighborhood. Just walk. I would tell you, from based on my experience, get a stroller. It doesn't matter if there's a kid in there or not.
Just have a stroller because a stroller is like it's like instant friendship. You know? Just like, oh, oh, oh, it's so cute. And, I mean, strangers at the mall suddenly are like your best friends if you have a stroller. But the walking point here is that it allows an opportunity to just meet people, to say hi, engage them in some way.
Walk around your neighborhood. Somebody else I read suggested, you know, sit in front of your house, not behind your house. We typically want to sit in the backyard, you know, sort of isolate in our little cocoon. Sit on the driveway and have your little fire pit there and marshmallows and people that are walking by be like, hey, and, you know, front yard conversations. Third, be a regular.
Be a regular. What this means is that if there's a coffee house you like, a cafe that you like, go to that one over and over again because then you get to know the waitstaff, and you get to know maybe the owner, and you get to know some of the other patrons there. And over time, you're able to build relationship. If you're always going to this one, that one, they don't know you, you don't know them, and nothing happens. So be a regular.
Hobby with non Christians. Hobby with non Christians. Everybody's got hobbies, mutual points of interest. So if you like to fish, you know, and there's a dude who lives next to you and you're like, hey, most men can say this, want to go fishing? That's like male love language, isn't it?
That's like that's like women saying, do you want to get a pedicure together? I mean, it's like, wow, I didn't know that we were that good of friends. We're going to fish together and then go fishing or, you know, watch the Bears game or whatever it is. You know, we all have these hobbies. And for men, a lot of those are kind of points of shared interest, hobby with them.
Friendships can form over mutual interest. Here's another, volunteer with nonprofits. This is, again, it's a non kind of confrontational sort of way to engage people. If Habitat for Humanity is building a house in Gary and your neighbor's a kind of handyman, why don't you say, hey, you wanna spend three hours on Saturday and we'll go do this Habitat for Humanity thing? And you get to drive up and you get to do something together.
And serving others might sort of tap a little meaning place in his heart. You never know what might come of that. Participate in city events. No matter what city you live in, all of them around here have cleaning days, and they've got sort of the corn fest or they got this, that, or the other. Be a part of that.
Get your kids off the Xbox and go clean the city for three hours. And you're going to meet other people that care about the city, and they're a part of that, and they see you caring, and you can build relationships with people that you don't know. Here's a big one. Serve your neighbors. Serve your neighbors.
Now the first part is assuming that you know their name. We live in a day where people live next to people that they don't know their name. And I'll be honest, it's not a very big circle around my house that I know people's names. So we say that to some measure of shame. But serve your neighbors.
And this can be big and small ways. It can be, you know, blowing out the snow on the driveway, or it can be helping with raking the leaves, or it can be maybe a more meaningful thing if they're going through a crisis or a trial of some kind where you help them out in some way. All of those things communicate something that ought to be true in our hearts. Right? If we're called the second great command is to love our neighbor as ourself, it communicates what?
Love. And love is a universal language of relationship. Help them out, especially in their times of crisis. It tears down defenses. My wife, Jennifer, is particularly good at this.
She's got a little bit of an eye for it. And we recently we have a neighbor that's going through a terrible kind of long term kind of crisis. And so Jennifer fixed this feast for them. And we showed up on their doorstep unannounced, bags of food. And they opened the door and we're like, hey, we just know it's been a tough time.
We brought this stuff for you. How do you think they responded to that? Slam the door. I told you look out for those neighbors. No.
They were like, really? You know, in the church, that's more been more sort of normal, but in the world, people don't do that kind of thing. They're like, really? Come come on in. And so we stepped in and we got, you know, all the here's this and this gotta heat at 03:50 and here's the dessert and all that.
And by the way, how's it going? And now in that kind of context of care, now the eyes fill with tears, and you we had a really special moment with them. Does it feel any different now when we are, like, waving in the morning? They're like Why? Because they're like, well, that's a house of people that care about us right there.
How? Just serving them. Serve them. A little bit goes a really long way. Do you have a neighbor that you could serve in some practical way that might build rapport with them, might communicate that you care about them?
So take a moment right now and just think through that list. Let me say them again. And maybe you can identify two things here, and we're going give you this list as you leave today, that maybe you could sort of renew involvement in mission work this way. Eat with non Christians. Walk, don't drive.
Be a regular hobby with non Christians. Volunteer with nonprofits. Participate in city events. Serve your neighbors. The next tip I have, and I'm not going spend a lot of time on this, but, is this, is be a story listener.
Be a story listener. Everybody has a story, and everybody's story is sacred to them. So too often, Christians, we we're like, oh, I've gotta be evangelistic. So now I'm again, I'm having lunch with you, and I'm gonna God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And I've got a little booklet here right here I'd like to take you through.
Would you smile as I do it? Point number one, point number two, point number three. And they're sitting there eating their chips going, Am I buying a vacuum when this is done? What's going on? A great starting point with people is to simply ask their story.
Ask their story. Everybody loves talking about themselves. Find out where they're from. Find out what kind of house they or home they grew up in, what their dad did, mom did, whatever. Find out their story.
And as part of that, if you've built if you've, you know, vacuumed their house or blew out the snow or done whatever, they'll share the failures as well. And in those failures then, sort of that conversation moves to that kind of deeper level where now you're sort of communing together. Listen to it. Don't interrupt it and go, well, if Jesus was in your life right there, then this would have been the feeling you would have had. Don't do that.
Why? Because we're not we're in here with gentleness and respect. We're not in here as know it alls. We're we're we're sinners too. Listen to their story.
It tells them that you care about them, which, of course, is the key. And then after hearing their story, tell your story. Tell your story. And by that, I don't mean the how all your kids are wonderful and you were amazing in in high school and what a great athlete you were and, you know, how you're the best employee. Know, take out all the hubris, take out all the pride, and just be a real person and tell your story.
And as part of telling that story, talk about the difference that Jesus has made in your life. Simply that. And don't get all sort of weird as you do it. Sometimes it feels that way, doesn't it, where you can talk about the college you went to, the school that you grew up in, but when you sort of if you say anything spiritual, it's like beads of sweat come down your face, and you know, it's it just weirds people out. Don't be awkward.
Can I say it that way? Just be normal. Be normal. Tell your story. Now you might be like me and think, my story is boring, especially my faith story.
Grew up in a Christian home, became a Christian when I was six, blah blah blah. I wanna encourage you that I doubt, for example, in Charleston right now, they care about when hope came to that church. They just care about how. Right? How?
And this again is where I think the formula approach is unhelpful because the gospel is not a formula. It is a person. The gospel is Jesus. And if we are Christians here today, that means Jesus has transformed our lives. And yes, we go through trials, and yes, we go through troubles, and none of us is super Christian.
But there is a reality to it that we feel in the midst of our sufferings, and we can share with other people who don't have that hope. Just talk about the difference your faith made with when you lost your job or the church or something like that that just kind of connects the gospel with real life, and people will listen to it. People will listen. And, of course, this assumes that hope is a reality in our own hearts. The Bible or the Bible, Spurgeon said, evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.
Maybe you've heard that before. But that assumes that the one beggar actually has found it. Tell them about that. Tell them about how, you know, your dad or that college friend or whatever it was introduced you to Jesus. Talk about him like he's as real as the wind.
Talk about him as a real person. And the world will think, man, this is like real to you, isn't it? Yeah. It is real. It's made a real difference in my life.
I kinda like that. I wish I had some of that hope in my heart. That's what they need to hear. So have it here first. Share it second.
And finally, I would just simply say this, pray for people. Pray for your neighbors. Is there or your coworker. Is there is there anybody currently that you are actively praying for that God would allow you to be a part of them coming to know the Lord Jesus? Are you praying for anybody by name?
Or how about in your neighborhood? As maybe you're having a time of prayer just to pray up for the two houses around you. You know? Pray for opportunities. Pray that God would help you be faithful to opportunities that he would provide.
Pray for wisdom when they come. K? So be intentional. Be ready. Be winsome and gentle.
Be real and authentic. Listen, and then speak and tell your story of hope in Jesus. And the world will listen, and we hope we'll come to believe in Christ as well. Right? And wouldn't that be a great day?
Seeing them people being baptized, starting to disciple them, see them to sort of grow and experience the blessing that we have had in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we want. So I'm gonna ask you to stand with me right now, and let's just pray. Let's just pray this very truth. In fact, I'm gonna give you just a moment to pray for that person in your life.
And maybe you gotta come up with a name real quick right now, but that'll be good. Why don't you pray for one person by name that is in your sphere of relationship and ask God to help you be a faithful witness to them.
* This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.
