Note: Please check out my new downloads section in the right column. I’ve uploaded 3 tracks from a speaker about evangelism that has revolutionized my ability to introduce people to Jesus.
It’s funny the notions we have about evangelism. On one side, we often dread approaching friends (or strangers) about such personal matters. When we do, sometimes we feel like we are trying to make the deal sweet enough for them to accept. On the other side, sometimes we feel the best approach is to take such a strong stand for God and His truth that everyone is offended. This behavior is intended to weed out those who would make weak commitments to the Lord so that only those with the most hungry hearts come to Him. Those who do this rationalize it by what is called the ‘offense’ of the gospel. I hope to have more time to write about that later. Suffice to say that I disagree with this method, although this is how I used to operate before attending MSM. In the New Testament, the people we see getting offended with the gospel were only those religious people who were trying to be holy by living up to the Law of Moses. They lived under a spirit of religion which caused them to believe they would have to spend the rest of their lives asking God to forgive them over and over again for their sins. Jesus kind of burst their bubble by finishing up that part and making time for them to actually hang out with God. This was the ‘offense’. How could this dude Jesus ignore and disobey all the laws we’ve created to keep people feeling sorry for their sins?
Evangelism is much simpler and more fruitful than we have come to believe. Before training here, I often shared the gospel at work, but rarely saw any fruit. I prayed and hoped for people’s hearts to change, but they did not. I was trying to fix them before they even invited Jesus into their hearts. But I rationalize the lack of fruit in my efforts by believing that true spiritual conversions would be marked by tears, amazing speeches, radical changes in behavior, and maybe even an angel popping down out of heaven to mark the event! After all, I didn’t want it to be too easy for someone to come to Jesus, because they might not stick with Him if they didn’t have to scratch and claw to get to him in the first place. At that time, I would rather no one get saved, than for someone to get saved and slip back into their worldly way of living.
My perspective changed immensely after hearing a message from a man who has had great success in evangelism. Instead of scaring people with the fear of hell and judgment, he tells them about the destiny God wants to invite them into. He doesn’t argue apologetics with them, but simply gives them the invitation to accept. He has eliminated complicated words from his vocabulary to make the gospel sound as simple as it really is. He has found that many many people would invite Jesus in if they only knew how, and only realized that they could do it right now. The gospel really is good news to a broken world. It’s good news that Jesus wants to come into our lives, take up residence with us permanently, and begin to change us to be more like him. He wants to eliminate poverty, sickness, broken relationships, and many other things that plague our societies. All we have to do is open the door and he comes in to live with us. Amazing! Check out the MP3’s I’ve posted in the ‘downloads’ section (link in the right column). I hope it changes your mind as well.
Ash
