As Christians, it is our duty to tell others about the sacrifice of Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). In this way, more people can come to know Him and become saved and live a life of freedom. However, it then becomes a bit of a challenge actually telling people about Jesus without being worried about looking overly religious, insane, pressuring, and other things. And there is a worry of saying the wrong thing in such a way that the person would never listen about Christianity again.
We must always, however, trust that the Lord will guide our words. Remember, it isn't us that saves a person, but only the Lord can bring someone to salvation. All our job is is to tell about Him and plant the seed.
So what do we say? It is always best to start off with conversation stuff. How would you normally greet someone? Then, you wait for an opportunity or create one. Tell the person a story of your life on how the Lord has been faithful, and then leave the person with some stuff on how to get saved.
Starting off with conversation will make both you and the person you are talking to comfortable around one another. It doesn't make sense to randomly walk up to someone and say, "Have you ever heard of Jesus before?"
Then, wait for or create an opportunity. Instead of jumping into a talk about God, weave toward it with words. This is sort of where trust comes in. You need to believe that God will guide your words, and if nothing happens, perhaps that wasn't the time for the person to hear. Windows such as talking about afternoon church activities, or explaining why do you pray at lunch time are good examples.
Then finally, leave someone with something to chew on. Begin talking about how you are saved, how God has helped you in your life, and then how they can receive the same hope.
How you tell someone about God is also important. Something we as Christians like to do is say stuff like "saved", "born again", "salvation", and other esoteric words like that. But if no one has ever heard of Christianity before, these terms would be useless. Replace them with more familiar things so that the person can better understand you.
Finally, our lives "say" a lot about Chrisitanity. If you are known to be Christian, and you live a life of misery constantly cussing, lying, or cheating, then people are going to look down upon Christians. Rather, the Bible gives a good guideline of how to live life, and by living that life, you will be a positive influence on others.
References to sermon by Johnny Wolgemuth
Related Lessons
Posted 1251763909|%B %d, %Y|agohover
I have been considering writing a lesson similar to that last thought. A few weeks back, our youth pastor spoke about how the way we live our life, while not essential to our salvation (since we are already saved), is the best way to get the message of Jesus across to others.
LinkSkywalker
Yes, but make sure it is faith without works before God. Faith with works before men.
Not to say put on a different mask between God and man, though.
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;" ~ 1 Peter 3:16
Exactly
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Just to clarify, are you saying that with faith, God can forgive the absence of works, but other people will see no works as a sign of no faith/hypocrisy? If so, that resonates as true.
LinkSkywalker
If you have faith in God, then why wouldn't you want to do works?
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Hm.. Not really.
See, you and I, as humans, have no way to see ones heart. We can see if someone is saved by their works. Granted, I am pretty sure you can accurately tell if someone is a christian or not, by seeing if they have a struggle in their lives. I know someone who says he is a christian, but I don't believe it, because he has no struggle in his life whatsoever.
Anyway, Read james 2:18-26. Faith without works is dead.
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;" ~ 1 Peter 3:16
Here is what my Bible notes say under that passage (which is basically what I was trying to say—evidently, I wasn't clear enough, because you are refuting me by saying what I meant):
"Many skeptics argue that a contradiction exists between Paul's statement that "a man is justified by faith apart from works" (Rm 3:28; cp. 4:5-6; Gl 2:16) and the teaching of James that "a man is justified by works and not by faith alone" (Jms 2:24). However, these positions actually complement one another.
"First, Paul and James addressed different situations. One the one hand, Paul refuted a Jewish legalism holding that one must observe the law's requirements in order to be saved. On the other hand, James opposed an antinomianism that was twisting the faith in Christ so much that no expression of works was necessary.
"Second, when Paul uses the word 'justified', he meant 'saved' or 'declared righteous', whereas James meant 'vindicated' or 'authenticated'. By 'works', Paul meant 'works of the law', whereas James meant works that faith produces."
James's works authenticate the faith; the works serve as an indicator of faith. The law is meant to expose sin and cannot be perfectly followed; God can forgive that. People, however, see a lack of works (as produced by faith) as hypocrisy.
"Works" the way James uses the word is a misnomer because the "works" he talks about are produced by having faith—real faith, not just acknowledging the deity of Christ, the existence of God, stuff even demons can do. Works that are a result of faith are what we should do out of desire, not because we have to; it's not really work.
Does that make more sense?
LinkSkywalker
Almost. When you say forgiveness, you say it as if faith without works is sin. I don't like the word forgiveness there. It leads to the point that you have to have works in order to be saved.
Just my opinion, though.
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;" ~ 1 Peter 3:16
I see what you're saying. I looked back at what I wrote, and where I wrote "forgive", I was sort of shifting topics in my head, but didn't make that clear when I typed it. I have that problem all the time.
Where I said "forgive", I meant God can forgive not always following the law, because obviously, we aren't perfect and can't ever always follow it no matter how hard we try.
LinkSkywalker
IMHO, sin is sin. He won't overlook it.
The difference is, that we were made dead to sin. It doesn't affect us anymore. Not to say we don't sin and there are no consequences.
So I think that there is a difference between following the law, and doing good works. Faith without works is dead. So how can our faith be dead if we don't do works? The same way a plant will die if you don't nurture it. So what is "works" anyway. I don't think you can lose your salvation over not giving to the poor, but faith without works produces no fruit, and so the faith dies.
(not arguing, but rather stating my honest opinion ;-) )
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;" ~ 1 Peter 3:16
Faith, in a way, is contagious. How does it spread? Through good works. By doing works because of your faith, you can spread the faith to others. Without works, it becomes immensely hard for the faith to spread. If faith cannot spread, then it "dies". Faith without works doesn't mean not doing anything denies salvation, but can you have faith and not work? Just a thought…
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Yes, this is true. I apologize for having been absent; homework until 12:00!
I typed this with wii. Cool!
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Deleted repeated post.
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