How to Lead Others to Christ

[Music] well tonight I thought it would talk about how to lead others to Christ okay so grab your bible and turn to John chap 4 John chapter 4 now I've told you this story before and if you've heard it uh bear with me but some of you haven't heard it and it illustrates my point right after I became a Christian at age 17 I heard that I was supposed to go out and share my faith but I was very young in my faith I wasn't raised in the church everything I was hearing I was hearing it for the first time but I believe that God wanted to use me to bring others to himself I didn't know enough to even have doubts about that so I went out on the beach at Newport armed with a copy of the four spiritual laws you ever seen that little booklet put up by campus Crusade for Christ I was so new at this I hadn't even memorize the contents of the booklet so I was looking for someone to talk to and I saw this middle-aged lady she's probably younger than me now but or she's younger she was younger then than I am now that's what I meant to say but uh she looked about the age of my mom and I thought maybe she'll be nice to me you know and I walked up I had pretty long hair use your imagination I'm just hair in my eyes the whole thing so I walked up I was really nervous I said excuse me uh but could I just talk to you a little bit and she said okay and so I sat down and I just started reading the booklet to her I'm I didn't even memorize this just like okay well all right page one copyright 1964 campus state for Christ God loves you and is a wonderful plan for your life uh but you're separated from him by your sin and and uh and and I just went through this booklet and as I was reading through it I'm thinking to myself what are you doing you actually think this is going to work this is insane and I'd look up at her and she was just looking at me she didn't seem like she was super excited about what I was saying or rejecting what I was saying she was just staring at me like okay and I got to the end of the booklet and a little question is there is there any good reason why you should not accept Jesus Christ so I I read it is there any good reason why you should not accept Jesus Christ and I looked up at her and she said no I said no can't right I was getting ready to read the next page and it Dawn to me this lady wants to accept Christ right now so I looked at I said so you're saying you want to become a Christian she said yes I do and I'm thinking that's fantastic and inside I am freaking out like what am I going to do now I had not planned for success I had planned for failure so in the most reverent tone I could find I said let's bow our heads for a word of prayer and she closed her eyes and I'm frantically searching this booklet for a prayer and I find one and I lead her in the prayer and even as I'm leading her in this prayer I'm thinking to myself this is not going to work she's not going to really become a Christian it couldn't be as simple as this there's no way I finally get to the end of the prayer in Jesus name amen and she says amen and she looked up at me and she said something just happened to me and and I said yeah something just happened to me too I thought God could use someone like me now thankfully she didn't ask me any hard questions I wouldn't have had the answers but I just took a little step of Faith now why do I tell you that story cuz I only have five stories and that's one of them no I tell you that story to show you any Christian can lead someone to Christ we way over complicate this thing called evangelism and there's a stat that I read that said 95% of all Christians have never LED another person to Christ friends this should not be I'm telling you you can and you should be leading people to the Lord maybe not thousands maybe not hundreds but as the Lord opens up opportunities I believe God can use you in this way and that's what I want to talk about tonight so let's uh let's pray together now father we want to be people that you would work through we want to see men and women boys and girls believe in Jesus so tonight we pray that you will equip us to do just that we commit this time of Bible study to you now in Jesus name we pray amen okay briefly I want to talk to you about the who the where the what and the why and the how of sharing your faith let's start with the who who is to share their faith does anybody have an answer you're right we are Jesus gave his marching orders to his church that's us to go into all the world and preach the gospel and in the original language as I told you before that's addressed to everyone that's addressed to those in so-called Ministry but it's addressed to every follower of Jesus we're all called to do this there are no exceptions number two where are we to preach the gospel where answer everywhere in uh Mark's gospel uh there's a variation on the Great Commission that I just referred to from Matthew 28 he says go into all the world and preach the gospel to personalize that we could say go into all of your world and preach the gospel into your family your workplace your campus your sphere of influence I want you to notice it says go and preach the gospel it doesn't say go and just just be a good example because sometimes I'll hear Christians say well I believe in lifestyle evangelism I believe if I just live the life and follow the lord others will see it and they'll come and ask me about my faith well listen I believe in lifestyle evangelism too I think you should live it and I think it's a great compliment when a nonbeliever comes up to you and wants to know why you're different however that should not take the place of preaching the gospel the Great Commission is not go be a good example the Great Commission is go into all the world and preach the gospel okay so that's a command from God where are we to do it everywhere why are let me come back to another Point some would say well I'm not comfortable doing that I don't want to push anything down anyone's throat okay well wait a second let's just say that you're a scientist and you just discovered a cure for cancer one pill taken one time immediately kills all cancer in a person's body now what are you going to do with that well I hope that you go tell people especially cancer patients but would you say well I don't really know if I should go to a cancer patient and push this on them you know wouldn't that be a little too aggressive no I think they would really appreciate that don't you uh in the gospel even more so don't push it Proclaim it number three why are we to do this because i' as I've told you before God's primary way of reaching non-believing people is through people 1 Corinthians 1:21 and the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe but there's another reason as well and that is we don't want to see people go to hell how many of you believe there's a literal Heaven raise your hand okay good how many of you believe there's a literal hell raise your hand up okay now how many of you believe what the Bible says about hell is true raise your hand okay now if this is the case what are we doing to keep people out of hell I mean if we really believe honestly now that if a person rejects the gospel that they will go to hell wouldn't that make us want to be praying for them and doing everything we can to see them come to Faith I think so number four when are we to preach the gospel answer all the time you must always be open to the leading of the spirit you never know in that door of opportunity will open Paul writes at Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2 he says preach the word of God be persistent whether the time is favorable or not whereas another translation puts it and I like this translation be on duty at all times uh 1 Peter 3:15 says Uh set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always always be prepared to give to everyone an answer always be prepared my wife Kathy and her friend Shelly were out writing their road bikes the other day and they're cruising up PCH and they see this like black sort of book laying on the ground kind of the sort of a little book that a waitress would use so they they wrote a little bit and Kathy thought man we need to go back and and pick that thing up that might belong to someone I think they're in Huntington at this point so they go back they pick it up they open it there's $90 cash in it and there's a uh a little receipt from an Applebee's restaurant and Kathy realizes this belongs to a waitress who's obviously lost it so the waitress's name was not on it so they called the Applebee's restaurant that was listed there and the manager said oh yeah that's uh this girl and oh man she's been going through really hard times lately it would really be great if you know if you returned it to of course my wife and Shel were going to return it to this girl that's what they wanted to do so they got the girl's number they texted her and said we'll meet you back in Huntington so they loop back found this girl gave her this her book back and she said oh thank you so much I you know know this has been the worst month ever all these problems have been happening to me and I want to give you guys a reward and they say no we don't want a reward yeah that that's your money no reward oh but I want to do something for you and my wife says then give us five minutes to just talk to you about something that's really important to us cuz Kathy thought this is a Divine appointment and we're going to take advantage of it now you know she's going to listen to us cuz we gave it back to her it's all good right so they share the gospel with this girl she says it's so amazing you're telling me this because I just cried out and said God are you even there and and here you guys are so they shared the gospel told the girl how to accept Christ and she prayed and gave her life to the Lord right there see that's as simple as that and that girl is now attending our church and so here's my point we're always looking for these big signs from heaven like a you know a a a sign a neon sign an arrow pointing go here now or something and I'll tell you what a lot of times it's just those little open doors you just look for them opening in a conversation looking for those opportunities all right with this in mind let's come to the last question how are we to do this and here's where the rubber meets and this is where it falls apart for many people making that connection with a non-believer and having a conversation there is no better example on how to do evangelism than Jesus Christ himself Not only was he God in human form Not only was he Our Savior and our Lord but he also also was the greatest Communicator the master Communicator he shows us how to do it right here in John chapter 4 among other places so let's read now this very familiar story of the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well he left Judea verse three and departed again to Galilee but he needed to go through Samaria so he came to a city of Samaria which is called sikar taking a drink of water cuz I'm going to read about water and it made me thirsty near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph verse 6 now Jacob's Well was there I just made you all thirsty didn't I sorry Jacob's Well was there and Jesus therefore being wearied from his journey sat thus by the well it was about the 6th hour that means 12:00 noon a woman of Samaria came to drw water and Jesus said to her give me a drink for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food then the woman of Samaria said to him how is it that you being a Jew would ask a drink from me a Samaritan woman for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans Jesus answered and said to her if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you give me a drink you would have asked him and he would have given you living water okay let's go back to verse four he needed to go through through Samaria now you could very easily miss the significance of that statement so a little historical background will help us understand something number one no Orthodox Jew would ever go to Galilee through Samaria in fact he would go out of his way to avoid Samaria why because the Jews as this woman said had no dealings with the Samaritans and the Samaritans had no dealings with the Jews you see racial prejudice is nothing new clear back in these days there was this racial divide among these people but yet we read Jesus needed to go there so I find that interesting that he was willing to overcome a natural boundary secondly this was a woman he was talking to and let me explain why that's significant the Jewish men of this culture often look down on women one of the prayers of that day of a religious Jewish man was thank you God I'm not a gentile but a Jew I'm not a slave but I'm free I'm not a woman but a man guys don't ever pray a prayer like that around a girl you will not live to talk about it now clearly this is wrong okay I'm not rationalizing it I'm just explaining it so he overcomes a second boundary a misogynist boundary if you will where he's willing to go to this woman and read reach out to her and then add another layer to this situation and that is this woman was an outcast morally why because as we will see she had been married and divorced five times and she was living with a man that was before they celebrated this sort of thing it was scandalous super scandalous what this woman was doing so Jesus overcomes a moral boundary he overcomes a gender boundary he over comes a racial boundary effectively he overcomes every boundary because he needed to go to this woman so who should we go to uh everybody in fact the category we are to reach out to is who soever because the Bible says in John 3:16 whosoever believes in Him should not perish you see Jesus needed to go and we need to go where do we need to go whenever to whosoever and and when should we do it whenever so we need to go wherever to whosoever whenever God directs us it's on the screen we need to go wherever to whosoever whenever God directs us see sometimes we only want to talk to people that we relate to man right I want I only want to talk to certain kinds of people you know I remember when I was a brand new Christian uh I was only a few weeks old in the Lord but I felt felt the Lord was directing me to only share the gospel with cute girls and um you know I just thought I think these cute girls need Christ and cute girls do need Christ uh but everybody needs Christ right and I the Lord quickly convicted me of that stupidest thing ever but you need to go to people that Tak you outside of your comfort zone maybe they're older than you maybe they're younger than you maybe they're richer than you maybe they're poorer than you maybe they're A different race than you maybe they're a different culture than you doesn't matter whosoever that's our category so what do we learn from this example of Jesus Point number one and they're on the screen if you're writing these things down we have to go to where people are we have to go to where people are long before the creation of the world it had been settled in eternity that Jesus was going to meet a burned out a moral Samaritan woman that day she didn't realize it but she had an appointment with God and in the same way we need to be praying for the Lord's leading so we will know when those appointments are coming and we want to infiltrate not isolate that's your mission field that grumpy neighbor that inquisitive coworker those unreceptive kids that Mom and Dad who do not yet know Jesus reminding ourselves that it wasn't that long ago that we were a person separated from God so we want to go to these people number two we need to use tact t a tact Jesus the master evangelist used something many Christians seriously lack Tac what is Tac well another word for it is diplomacy sensitivity a tact is to find his skill and Grace in dealing with others I like the definition of tact from Isaac Newton he said quote tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy okay so what does that mean it means when I engage a non-believer my objective is to build a bridge not burn one and a lot of times evangelism ends before it even get started because we unnecessarily offend people or we say really obnoxious things like hey are you saved I mean what does that even mean I know what it means to you but to a non-believer it's like what are you Sav and then we'll even say it we're like are you saved what do you mean say are you saved I don't know what you mean I'd like to be saved from you right now or something really loving like hey do you know you're going to hell now is that true technically well if they're not a Christian it is but is that a good way to start a conversation no I want you to notice is that Jesus engaged in a dialogue with her not a monologue see when I get up here sorry to break this to you this is a monologue I talk you listen uh we're not talking back and forth but when I engage an nonbeliever it's a dialogue not a monologue I know I'm not just I don't have a little pulpit and wheels and go now I want you to sit there and listen to me you know like this it's not that I'm talking with him hey how's it going tell me a little bit about yourself where are you from you know what do you think about this what do you think about that and you have to actually listen to a person and I'll tell you one of the W best ways or to get a conversation going is to ask a person about thems because everyone's favorite subject is themselves it's true people love to talk about themselves so as I listen to a person I I won't like cut them oh I can't believe you just said that no oh listen because what I'm doing is I'm learning about this person I'm getting to know this person because my objective is to appropriately apply the message of the Gospel in their life but I need to get to know them a little bit first sometimes we want to go in there we want to you know blow them out of the water with our gospel guns but that's not the objective the objective is not to win the argument it's to win the soul let me repeat that it's to win the soul not the argument there's a place or point and Counterpoint obviously we're going to defend our beliefs but no one has ever been argued into the kingdom of God we need a tactful friendly engaging approach like when Phillip uh was called to preach to a man from Ethiopia it's kind of funny because the Lord just said to Philip go to the desert and he didn't give any other information go to the desert so you know there's Philip just standing around the desert okay what now and he sees a cloud of dust and this entourages moving toward him and and here's obviously a foreign dignitary uh it happened to be the man from Ethiopia who was the treasur sort of like a state official probably had little you know flags on his Chariot and guys running alongside of it wearing sunglasses like Secret Service right okay but he was an important guy he was a VIP and uh so Philip is standing there and the guy from Ethiopia is reading out loud from Isaiah 53 and so Philip sees the whole scene and he walks up and says excuse me do you understand what you're reading Isaiah 53 is about the death of Jesus and the man said how can I unless someone shows me the way and he invited Phillip to talk to him and Phillip walked into that stepped into that Chariot and shared the gospel with the man from Ethiopia and the man beli but that was a great way to start hey excuse me do you understand what you're reading he starts with an engaging question and makes a connection with this man so many are lacking intact remember I was in Hawaii years ago walking down kakawa Boulevard which is kind of the main Dragon Wy key and there's a guy standing with this big sign and it says the wages of sin are death and he's telling everyone they're going to hell and's screaming and yelling and just kind of watching this guy and thinking this guy is doing a really bad job of sharing the gospel and I walked up to him I said excuse me and he said what and he's like still yelling you know you're saying the wages of sin are death yes I said you know why don't you like on the other side put the rest of the verse that says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord you could kind of show bad news good news flip it back and forth then he told me I was going to hell he was so mad so I beat him up he deserved it I didn't but someone should no not really but you know sometimes we'll take that really aggressive antagonistic approach people will laugh at us or mock us or get mad at us and we'll say oh praise God I'm persecuted for righteousness sake no you're persecuted because you're a jerk and you don't know the basics of communication why don't you learn from Jesus if anyone could have ever stood in a soap box and said you're going to hell it was Jesus if anybody could have said I'm God and you're not it was Jesus if anyone could could have ever blown someone else out of the water it was Jesus cuz he was God in human form and yet we see him taking this approach a humble approach an engaging approach but he gets direct too we'll see that in a moment so he he kind of like wants to get her curiosity going and he says um I'd like a drink of water and she's like uh why would you ask for a drink of water from me a Jud don't don't you know that Jews have no dealing with Samaritans and then Jesus says in John 4:13 hey whoever drinks of this water will thirst again but if you drink of the water I give you'll never thirst and the water I give will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life I love that CU she's saying what are you talking about he's drawing her out Jesus was using the well and its water as a metaphor for her life see the reason she was drawing water at 1200 noon the hottest part of the day was because she was an outcast the well in a city in a village was the meeting place for women they would get together set their pots down talk with one another catch up on the latest gossip she couldn't join them they would have nothing to do with her they would have got up and walked away if she dared to walk in their Direction she she waited when all the women were gone and the Heat of the day and went and Drew her water isolated and Jesus is waiting there for her and he shows his Humanity even a vulnerability in effect appealing to her inner spiritual thirst he doesn't come off superior but humble not as a know it all he was entering her world in lovingly establishing contact he's in essence saying lady listen you're looking to men to fill a void you have in your life that's your problem if you drink of this water you'll thirst again you keep going back to that well don't you that well of of sex that well of men oh the this guy is going to be the guy and it hasn't worked out for you has it I understand that I'm telling you I can satisfy your deepest spiritual thirst well she's kind of sarcastic you know to this because she's been blown off by a lot of guys she's been taken off advantage of by a lot of guys hurt by a lot of men so she's thinking who's this guy saying this to me who does he think he is and and so she says sarcastically verse 15 jump for oh sir give me this water that I may not thirst nor come here to draw Jesus says oh yeah why don't you go call your husband and come here she says I have no husband he says that's true when you say you have no husband you've had five husbands and the guy you're with isn't your husband she says sir I perceive you're a prophet see now the now the sarcasm's gone he broke through he's say no I know all about you cuz she is thinking how does he know that about me he knows details about my life why did Jesus do this well he had to break through and before we can fully appreciate the good news we need to know the bad news and he's saying girl you're a sinner and you need help you know sometimes if you're sharing the gospel with someone they might ask you a question like well if I become a Christian do I have to stop getting drunk and partying and sleeping around and and some would say well no don't don't tell them the answer you know get to that later just say oh just believe in Jesus hey I'm telling you that's not right they ask that question here's the answer yeah you need to stop doing that stuff cuz that's a sin say oh that would offend them no listen they need to know the truth and Jesus is calling her out on her sin but he's not going to leave her in condemnation but he's identifying the sin in her life and now he is going to apply the gospel because part of believing is repenting the Bible says repent and be converted in times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord believing and repenting are like two Wings on a plane one means to take hold to believe to hold on repentance means to let go so when I become a Christian I'm taking hold of Christ but I'm letting go of sin and there are some people that say they believe in Jesus but they're still dragging that sin around well you're not really believing then are you because you have not yet let go you have not yet repented remember the story of the Rich Young Ruler he said good master or good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life and Jesus told him to keep the Commandments the guy says I've kept all of these from my youth up and Jesus says I'll tell you what if you want treasure in heaven sell everything that you have give the money to the poor and follow me now here's the point he was asking that man to turn his back on those things and he never said that to anybody else by the way cuz sometimes people say that that's the message of Jesus to every person to give up all their possessions no it was the message of Jesus to that man and the reason it was a message of Jesus to that man was because he was possessed by his possessions his stuff was his God and the only way he could know the true God was to let go of his fake God his material God so here he is now with this woman he's straightforward with her yet he is loving listen I can satisfy your deepest spiritual thirst she's now uncomfortable so she's going to try to change the subject and this will often happen when you're sharing the gospel it's getting a little too close for comfort and they're going to start bringing up their objections here's her objection verse 20 well our fathers worshiped on this mountain and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is a place where one ought to worship this was an ongoing debate between the Jews and the Samaritans about the right place to worship god of course the Jews believe you were to worship God in Jerusalem and the temple there and the Samaritans had their own alternate Temple and by the way the correct answer to this little debate was the Jews had it right God was to be worshiped in the temple in Jerusalem but I find it interesting Jesus doesn't even get into that he says hey you know what God's a spirit and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth he could have got off in this little Rabbit Trail and debated this all day long was it a legitimate debate sure but was it essential to the main thing here absolutely not so he just says you know let's get back to the main subject uh doesn't matter what kind of building you Worship in God as a spirit you must worship Him in spirit and in truth so you'll be talking with someone and they'll say well uh wait wait wait wait wait uh why are there so many denominations you know Christian J all these denominations you know what's that all about or oh wait wait why does God allow suffering if he's a god of love why would he allow suffering or oh oh how could a god of love send someone to hell or oh I've got one for you what about the person who has never heard the gospel okay now should you answer these questions yes but let me add this do it as quickly as possible keep the ball rolling so I'll say okay well let me just address that for a moment and sometimes I'll ask ask a question to a question you see so instead of merely going in defense mode I'll kind of turn it around and I want you to notice Jesus would do that he would sometimes answer a question with a question they came to him and said well is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not now if he said it was lawful to pay taxes people would get mad because they were over taxed then like we are now but if he said it's not lawful if he said it was not lawful to pay taxes he could be accused of uh Insurrection against Rome and I love the way that he responds well um I need a coin give me a coin so here's a coin say let's see here whose face is on that coin oh Caesar yeah why don't you give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar and give to God that which belongs to God see he totally moved it back to the main message okay so someone says maybe uh what about the person who's never heard the gospel will they be sent to hell wow by asking that question that makes me think that uh you believe there is a hell do you believe that well no if I believe there's a hell no but I mean you said do you let me ask you this do you think anyone deserves to go to hell well yes really who well you know Adolf Hitler okay so some people deserve to go to hell now do you deserve to go no not me no wait a second so you know you use it to dialogue to engage them and uh and answer their question but the way I would turn around is listen the person who has never heard the gospel will not be held accountable for what they don't know but we know this God will judge righteously and fairly and no one wants a person to believe in Jesus more than God but here's your issue you have heard the gospel well I haven't heard it I'm going to tell it to you right now so don't worry so much about that person who's never heard it I'm talking to you right now who is hearing it and you will be held accountable for what you are hearing but my point is simply this we must engage them and get back to the main subject and that's what's happening here we're going to the next level her initial cynicism is given way to curiosity and now it's becoming belief she says in John 4:25 well I know Messiah is coming who's called Christ when he comes he will tell us all things Jesus said I who speak to you am he lose paraphrase girl you're talking to him he's here and I'm him and she believes this you see his compassion his Insight his patience his words all moved her you know you can have a lot of compassion and no words that's not going to help anyone and you can have all the right words and no compassion and no one want to listen to you but if you have the right words with a compassionate heart God can use use you in a powerful way and certainly the Lord did that with this woman that brings us to point number four telling your story is a powerful bridge for the gospel message telling your story I'm referring to what is often uh called the personal testimony it's one of the most effective tools you have in your Evangelistic toolbox see a person can argue the facts about who Jesus is but they can't argue you with you about what God has done for you and sharing your testimony is a great way to preach without preaching see if I say listen I'm going to tell you right now here's what you I don't want to hear you preaching Man Don't Preach to me okay here's another way to do it listen let me tell you about what God did for me just from can I tell you my story here's where I used to be here's how I used to think here's the way I was and here's what happened to me and then as I take them through my testimony I take it through in a way where I'm sort of putting them in my shoes and when I first heard it I wasn't sure that it could be true and I didn't know if I could believe it but then something happened I tell it to him that way in real time sort of as it happened and I try to avoid religious verbage cuz a lot of times we'll use this what I would call christianese christianese and I was just I was lost in sin and I heard about the blood of Jesus and I became a part of the body of Christ and Christ Justified me and I'm living a Sanctified life that you're speaking another language now use language they understand you're freaking them out in fact you washed in blood you're in some weird body what what body so you speak in an understandable way you know it's interesting Paul the Apostle formerly sa of Tarsus the Christian killer was one of the greatest orators ever but yet when he would appear before various officials and others in so many instances he started with his personal testimony hey I was on the Damascus Road I was hunting down Christians I thought it was doing God's work and suddenly a voice spoke to me and said Saul Saul why are you persecuting me wait this is Saul Now Paul you know he had listened to the finest orators he had been schooled in the ways of the Greeks and the Romans and and he could have logically made a great case and he certainly did use logic in his presentations but my point is he so often started with the testimony because that's the bridge builder because what that says is see I wasn't always this way I wasn't always a Believer something happened to change me so when you share your personal testimony here's just a few little tips don't glor GL ify or exaggerate your past don't glorify or exaggerate your past accuracy is important and so is truthfulness I say this because I've heard some testimonies that seem to change with time you know I heard it like 10 years ago and it was one thing and now after some time pass wow it's a lot more dramatic than it used to be are we exaggerating a little bit here and here's another thing don't make your past your past sound more appealing than you're present I've heard some testimonies that make me want to be a non-believer more than a Christian you know they'll talk about the life they had and I was partying and I had the amazing car and had all the money and I had all the women and the drugs and and then then and I I became a Christian and I believed in God and now I carry the old wooden cross Hallelujah now your past sounds better than your present you're an idiot cuz if you think that way you don't understand what God did for you you need to see that other stuff for what it was I love the way that Paul described his past he said in Philippians yeah those things I used to think were important are gone from my life compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ firsthand everything I thought that was going for me was significant now I see it for what it was was dog dung I've dumped it all in the trash so I could Embrace Embrace Christ and be embraced by him that's a modern translation but it's accurate cuz you know read King James those things I counted as gain I now count as loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ Our Lord you know but we don't understand the word that Paul used to describe it was poop okay so that's pretty graphic I mean he's say all those accomplishment it's like you know nothing it's garbage thrown in the trash so don't make your past sound better than you're present here's another thought when you tell your story it's all about getting to his story I'll tell my story here's what happened to me here's who I was but my story is not the greatest story ever told his is so I want to get to the big story and what's the big story the big story is the life death and Resurrection ction of Jesus Christ so I want to make a beline to that story yeah here's what happened to me and this is the message that I heard and this is what Jesus says and then you start turning it toward that person and use your testimony because everyone has one I don't know what your testimony is you might have been an up and outer you might have been a down and outer but you have a testimony I received an email from a man who came to Christ in our crusade in 1991 here's what he says and I quote on that Divine Thursday even evening in 1991 God took this lost suicidal hardened 15-year-old member of the CPS and radically transformed me my life was instantly revolutionized and I've never been the same since next month I'll celebrate 23 years on the Lord by God's grace I've had the privilege of ministering his word all around the world had I not gone to the Harvest Crusade that evening I'm confident I would now either be dead or in prison end quote now that's a testimony say yeah but I wasn't ever a member of the Crips I never serve time in prison okay but you have a testimony CU not everyone's like that see a guy like that would reach certain people but another person might say well that doesn't relate to me you know a successful businessman say well I'm educated and I have you know four degrees and I never did any of those things and I'm glad he found God because now he won't be a threat to me so Along Comes a successful businessman and says yeah you know what I reached all my go goals and I surpassed them and I was living the life and guess what my life started unraveling I was even suicidal at times and I found Christ and here's how he changed me that's a Val testimony and then there's a young person who shares their version and then there's a lady that shares hers we all have a testimony every testimony is valid because guess what there's someone out there like you someone that will relate to you but here's all of our testimonies summed up no matter what your story is once I was blind but now I see it's all the same we all were Sinners saved by Christ that's our testimony so let's not forget that element every story is legit now you got to close the deal and this is where it falls apart for most Christians I mean maybe they get all this stuff down and they build the bridge and they communicate they answer the questions and they get to the end and they don't close the deal or pull in the net years ago I was fishing in Alaska like probably one of the four times I've been fishing I'm not a great fisherman unless you count trapping a tropical fish with a net that's fishing but we were in Alaska fishing for king salmon and I was there with Dennis egog genan and some other friends and and Dennis kept thinking he was getting hit I got to hit got a hit I don't think he ever did get a bite but I was sitting there you know wondering if I would know it when I got a hit or a bite boy I knew it something grabbed my pull and it was turned like this and whoa and I started to reel that thing in and it came around the side of the boat it took a while I almost lost the Reel and Rod that thing could have pulled it right into the water and coming out of the side now was I'm not exaggerating I know people exaggerate these things I'm talking 30 40 lb monster fish and the guy with the net was getting it and boom he broke the little line and swam on off and went n n n he didn't do that but in his heart I think he did he got away that's how it works with evangelism sometimes you get them right up and just hey and maybe we freak out well uh uh I'll talk to you later bye no it's time to ask the question what's the question here it is ready would you like to accept Jesus Christ right now we're reluctant ask that why because they might say no maybe we're really more afraid they'll say yes uhoh and you're like me on the beach years ago when the lady wanted to accept Christ and I didn't know what to do sort of like a marriage proposal remember years ago uh we were in Israel not years ago a few years ago actually we are leading a tour to Israel and we're going to do that again next year if you'd like to join us by the way quick commercial for Israel anyway uh we're on this little tour and there was a young man there named Aaron and his girlfriend whose name was Michelle and it was her birthday and so we're at the Mount of beatitude so having a Bible study he comes up to me and says Pastor Greg I want to propose to Michelle in front of everybody will you like set it up and I said yeah let's do it you know I thought that that's going be fun I hope she says yes of course but I said she's going to say yes I know she'll say yes okay so we ended our service and I said now Michelle it's your birthday today right she says yes and she stands up she thinks we're going to sing Happy Birthday and Along Comes Aaron who gets down on one knee and proposes to her I'm like standing right there watching the whole thing it was great she said yes and it's a great moment everyone went a my wife tells me I never properly proposed she said you never actually asked me to marry you I said well what happened she said we're sitting around having dinner and you said something like well I guess we're going to get married I said really she said yes that I've always been quite the Romantic haven't I well I guess they didn't do too good of a job but I did something right we're going to be married 40 years next year so that's good so here's the point I don't care if you write it in the sky I don't care if it's awkward or uncomfortable pop the question maybe your voice is shaking doesn't matter just say would you like to accept Jesus Christ right now all they can do is say no what if they say no I say well you know what listen to this I want you to just pray and say to God God if you're real make yourself real to me and let me tell you how to accept Christ if you decide to do it and I'll maybe go through it with them and explain what it is to believe in Jesus but uh what do you do if a person wants to accept Christ well let's go back to that sermon of Peter that I mentioned so on the day of Pentecost he gave a powerful message the Bible says that when he said these things they were cut to the heart it's an interesting word it means to be stabbed in the heart so they were under intense conviction from the spirit Peter's words convicted them deeply they said what should we do Peter said every one of you must turn from your sin turn to God be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the Forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit scripture tells us 3,000 believed in that day which clearly means it was acted on because they counted how many did it sometimes people criticize us why do you count the people that come forward cuz God does God keeps records and we keep records and we count every person that comes forward and do everything we can to follow up on them but anyway you say all right well let's pray right now now what is this thing called the sinner's prayer well it's just leading a person in a prayer and by the way you can become a Christian without praying the sinner's prayer quite frankly the only technical sinner's prayer in the Bible is that man that said God be merciful to me a sinner so when I lead people in a prayer where they're asking Christ into their life don't think that is necessarily the moment when they're becoming a Christian it may be it possibly is but actually it may have happened earlier it could be happening to some of you right now before I've even gotten to the end of my message which you're hoping I'll get to soon and I'm almost there but it could be possible that you're just sitting there and suddenly you just believe you're just listening you're going I believe this I didn't believe it when I came in but I believe it right now I believe it just boom like that now we'll help you understand what that means but there's a movement of your heart toward God we taking hold of Christ but I'll lead people in a simple prayer you've heard me pray it many times I don't think I need to go over it again but it's just saying pray this prayer after me and sometimes I'll lead a person in a prayer and I I'll say let's pray right now right here here in the restaurant here in the street here yeah right here just I'm going to pray you pray this after me and I'll lead them in a little prayer and then when we're done I'll I'll uh pray for them and then I'll tell them what they need to do next I'll get a Bible to them I'll do everything I can to follow up on them and so forth but that's what you need to do that's what my wife and Shelly did they LED that girl to the Lord and they followed up on her so they say well that's it right no no that's just the beginning now your job is to disciple them go back to the Great Commission Matthew 28 go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you and lo I am with you even to the End of the Age many times we've got the preach the gospel part down but we miss the make disciples aspect of it what does it mean to make a disciple listen it means to effectively reproduce yourself it means that you as a follower of Jesus are going to help them get up on their feet and also become a follower of Jesus sort of like the directions on your shampoo bottle and I do use shampoo believe it or not not a lot one bottle last me a decade but uh it says shampoo rinse repeat right that's what you're doing you shampoo rinse repeat you proclaim the gospel lead people to Christ do it again share the gospel lead people to Christ do it again share the gospel lead people to Christ do it again you know wash rinse repeat just keep doing it over and over again Paul writes in Colossians 1:28 we warn everyone we meet and teach everyone we can all that we know know about him so if possible we can bring every man to a full maturity in Christ I think one of the reasons we don't want to lead people to the Lord is we don't want to get stuck with this responsibility but let me tell you something you want this responsibility and I'll tell you why one of the greatest things to have in your life is a new Christian you know we have uh five grandchildren as you know four granddaughters and one grandson little Christopher just turned one and he's starting to walk now now and it's just amazing uh how he'll walk around and kind of fall and get up again it's so wonderful to watch a child grow and learn every day it seems like they learn something new and it's so wonderful to see a young believer grow before your very eyes and play a part in that I think a lot of Christians have known the Lord for many years and they've never taken what God's given them and used it in the lives of others and they're actually starting to stagnate God doesn't want you to be a hoarder you know what a hoarder is I'm a little bit I'm a mini hoarder my wife is the opposite of a hoarder she's a throw outter I mean whatever I just throw it out what what did that go I I threw it out I thought you didn't want it but I wanted that I kind of I keep things you know I may need that later but I'm not like crazy hoarder okay we have people that have rooms just filled with stuff and and you know and I think some Christians are like hoarders oh I went to this Bible study I learned this and I grew and look at all the stuff I have man put that stuff to use you're going to stagnate it isn't all about you it's about sharing it with others you know plenty to reach out well I don't know if I could answer all the questions oh please you probably can answer most of them already and the ones you can't answer you can get answers to later but just go out there and take take a step of faith and watch what God will do listen you need the outlet as much as the new believer needs the input they the new believer needs our wisdom knowledge and experience and as mature Believers we need their childlike Simplicity of Faith they reengage us reinvigorate us and we stabilize them we need each other so listen with a crusade approaching think of it as a catalyst it's an event we work toward but don't wait till the Crusade to share your faith share it now look for opportunities now to lead people to Christ I'm telling you it could happen before the week is over if you would actually say Lord I'm open I'm on duty whatever show me Lead Me Guide Me that's a dangerous prayer because God May answer it more quickly than you think he would but I'll tell you what it's a great blessing Daniel 12:3 says those who are wise will shine like the sky and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever you'll be a star a real star not a movie star not a rock star you'll be one who is Shining as a radiant light for Jesus Christ in this Dark World let him use you in this way and let me close with this question for some of you that may be visiting would you like to accept Jesus Christ right now maybe you've come here as a guest uh maybe this is your first time at church maybe you've been before but here's my question has there been a moment in your life where you've said to God you're sorry for your sin and you've turned from it and you've asked Jesus to be your Savior and Lord if not you can do that right now I know I've been talking about how to do this for others but if you haven't done it I want to help you take this step as well so you can believe and you can know that you'll go to heaven when you die because folks all the stuff we've shared tonight is true I know it's true I've Stak my life on the fact that it's true and I want you to come into this relationship with God and he's only a prayer away now in a moment we're going to pray and I'm going to give you an opportunity to ask God to forgive you an opportunity to believe in Jesus and also an opportunity for some of you if you've Fallen away from the Lord to come back to him again so if you need to make this commitment or recommitment do it now as we pray let's all bow our heads father thank you for your word to us now I pray Lord for those who are here who do not yet know you Lord help them see their need for Jesus there's nothing I can say to convince them but your Holy Spirit can show them this and I pray you will and bring them to yourself now that they would be forgiven of their sins while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying together how many of you would say tonight Greg I'm ready to say yes to Jesus Christ I want him to forgive me of my sin I want to know that when I die I will go to heaven pray for me right now if that's your desire if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life if you want him to forgive you of your sin if you want to go to heaven when you die would you lift your hand up wherever you are and I'll Lead You In A Prayer lift your hand up where I can see it and I'll pray for you God bless you lift your hand up if you would God bless you anybody else lift your hand up now you're saying I want Christ in my life raise your hand God bless anybody else raise your hand now I pray for you you want us forgiveness God bless you God bless you anybody else maybe you're in the Overflow I can't see you over there but raise your hand as an Act of Faith as well if you would let me pray for you wherever you are if you haven't raised your hand yet but you want Christ to come into your life raise it now I pray for you God bless you while the heads are still bowed maybe some of you would say hey I'm a prodigal son or daughter and I want to come back tonight to the Lord I want to return to Jesus would you pray for me if that's your desire if you want to come back to Christ raise your hand up and let me pray for you right now wherever you're sitting God bless you God bless you God bless each one of you all right now I want all of you that have raised your hand if you would please to stand to your feet and I'm going to lead you in a prayer a sinner's prayer a prayer where you're asking Christ to come into your life you that raise your hand stand to your feet right now you that want Jesus Christ in your life just stand up that's right you heard me right stand up others are standing you won't be the only one just stand up and I'm going to lead you in this prayer God bless you even if you did not raise your hand but you want to make this commitment to Jesus stand up wherever you are God bless you stand up anybody else stand now you want to make that recommitment to Christ you stand as well and we'll pray together stand up God bless you one final moment if you're going to stand stand now let me pray for you God bless you anybody else one final moment God bless you in the back might be a few more stand now and we'll pray together he will not regret making this commitment to Christ anybody else God bless you all right you that are understanding I want to lead you in this prayer and I want you to pray this out loud after me this is where you are committing your life to Jesus again as I pray pray this out loud after me pray this after me now Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner but you died on the cross for me and then you rose again from the dead now come into my life I turn from my sin now now I ask you to be my savior and my Lord and my God I choose to follow you Jesus from this night forward thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me in Jesus name I pray amen God bless you that just prayed that prayer God bless the [Music] god [Music]

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 435,640

Keywords: harvest, greg, laurie, bible, Jesus, Christ, how too, lead, others, lead others, great commission, church

Id: 3hviN1_s3Vo

Length: 59min 1sec (3541 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 07 2013