Are You Ready? (Part 2)

My previous post asked what you might say to share the gospel at a funeral. But in thinking about this post, not much changes for other situations. Why? Because when sharing the gospel, God doesn't need your wisdom added to His gospel. You do, however, need to show love toward your audience. This may require some discretion in how you choose your words.

What would you say if given the opportunity to share the gospel? Would you talk only of God's love? Would you talk of peace and prosperity? Would you share scripture about blessings and long life, or trials and persecution?

I believe the right thing to do is rely upon scripture for the answers, and a great place to start is in learning how Christ shared the truth with those He encountered. One example is found in John 4:7-26. This is probably one of the best known examples on one-on-one evangelism. As you scan the passage, notice several things.

1. The passage describes Christ having a normal conversation with a woman at a public gathering place.


2. In verse 7 He turned the conversation to spiritual topics by relating the natural world to the spiritual world.


3. In verses 16-18, He shared the truth of her fallen state with her by using the Law (the Ten Commandments).


4. When she recognized her hopelessness, He revealed grace to her (v26).

As you study the New Testament, you find that this is the approach used repeatedly by the disciples and by Christ (see, for example, Acts 5 and Acts 17). It's clear this is the same approach we should use when sharing the gospel.

What about prosperity, love, and a better life? First of all, not everyone experiences prosperity, love, and a better life as a Christian. In addition, what do you say to someone who surrenders to Christ, then experiences serious illness or the loss of a job? Where's the prosperity, love and better life? Chances are that person did not surrender to Christ, they desired a better life now. More stuff. More leasure. Fewer worries. That's feeding pride, not surrendering to the Savior.

If you can't share the gospel without talking about prosperity, then you're not teaching a Biblical gospel message. Look what the disciples went through. Persecution, hard life, confrontation, and martyrdom. But, too many Christians today want to talk all about love and prosperity. It's simply not Biblical. Besides, what would you say to someone on their death bed, or on death row? That, "the sun will come out tomorrow!"? As Mark Cahill says, "If it doesn't preach on death row, don't preach it."

In addition, scripture promises that Christians are to be set apart from the world. In the words of Chris Walker, pastor of Hamilton Baptist Church in Hamilton, Virginia, "Conversion is a declaration of war against the flesh, the world, and the devil." In other words, you're in for a bumpy ride. It's a ride where you have the best pilot ever, but it will not be uneventful.

With all that as background, let's get you in front of your funeral audience. What do you say? If you haven't decided yet, allow me to share what I said.

I began by talking about the life of Mrs. Duncan. I noted one of her favorite songs, Amazing Grace, and read a few lyrics from the updated version by Chris Tomlin. Those lyrics are: "My chains are gone, I've been set free, My God my Savior has ransomed me."

I then asked what terms like chains, freedom, ransom... terms frequently used when discussing slavery, have to do with us? Then I turned to scripture, specifically, John 8:34-36, which reads, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.... if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."

I then spent time talking about what sin is, examples of sin (by walking through a few of the Ten Commandments), the price for sinning against a Holy God, and our only hope for redemption... our only hope for a ransom that can free us from the chains of sin that hold us in bondage to sin (repentance and surrender).

If you find yourself asked to share the gospel at a funeral, or if you get an opportunity to share the gospel with a co-worker, friend, family member, or stranger, follow the model that Christ and the disciples gave to us:

1. Talk about the natural world.


2. Turn the conversation to the spiritual.


3. Explain sin by using the Ten Commandments.


4. Explain that without repentance and surrender to Christ, there is no redemption from the slavery of sin.

Until next time: Be ready. Then be bold!

Are You Ready?

Mozelle Duncan passed away December 15th, just twelve days shy of her ninety-ninth birthday. Two days later, my wife and I were asked to speak at her funeral.

If you received this call, what would you say? I don't mean how would you answer the initial question. Of course you agree to speak. My question is, what would you say at the funeral service?

As you think about that question, let's talk for a minute about training.

In small and large communities across the country young people participate in competitive sports. When you talk to these young men and women, you eventually learn two interesting facts:

1. Training is hard work, and they would frequently prefer to skip it.
2. In competition you may face only a few critical moments, but without all the training, you will fall short.

In the same way, many Christians prefer to skip the hard work of daily Bible study, prayer, and learning all they can about their faith. But there is nothing like a sudden confrontation with life to make you realize that obedience to scripture is one way God prepares us for trials and challenges.

First Peter 3:15, for example, commands Christians to always be ready to explain their faith to others. It reads:

"...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence"

To sanctify is to set apart, or to place in a unique (in this case, Holy) position. Christ should be the most important part of every Christian's life. Set time aside, set energy aside, so that you are always prepared to defend your faith and explain the gospel. Do this in concert with the Holy Spirit so that you can do so with love, gentleness, respect.

Is that what you do, Christian? Do you set Christ above your busy schedule? Do you prioritize reading His Word above other activities in your life? Do you study the common objections to your faith?

Or, like most people, do you base your theology on what you remember from Sunday School lessons, or the occasional sermon that you agree with? Do you spend more time watching TV or YouTube than studying God's Word? Do you talk to people at the office more than you talk to the Lord? If so, how can you be obedient to scripture such as 1 Peter 3:15?

Too often I am disobedient, and allow the activities of the day to consume my time and energy. Then, I was confronted with the phone call asking me to speak at a funeral. It was yet another reminder of why God's Word is vastly more wise than my best day-planner habits.

As my wife and I prayed about and discussed what do say, we soon decided that she would speak about memories of her grandmother, focusing on how her love of the Lord enabled so much of her love toward her children and others. Then, I would give a gospel message.

What would you do in this situation? Would you know what to say? Would you spend all your time talking about God's love, ignoring the persistent persecution documented in the New Testament? Would you talk about how God can make your life better, knowing that everyone struggles? What scripture would you choose if you have only one opportunity to share with a room full of people, many of whom you will never see again?

Next time, I will tell you some of the answers I have discovered to these questions. In the meantime, spend some time considering how you would share the hope that is within you if you were to stand behind the podium of a dear relative's funeral.

Do Not Just WATCH The Local Christmas Parade

Yesterday was the local Christmas Parade in our small town.

I suppose it's not that small. We've grown quite a bit over the past few years. The total population is about 5000. Still, we're no New York City, or Washington, D.C.

The closest highly populated city is about 28 miles away, with about 50,000 people. Of course, we normally go there for shopping and events. They rarely come to our town.

This morning my son and I headed to town for the Christmas Parade. Not to stand and watch, but to hand out tracts.

We expected several hundred people to line Main Street and watch the local dog-owner clubs, Girl Scouts, Pee-Wee Football Team, and fire equipment roll past.

We arrived about 45 minutes before the start of the parade, and found no one on the streets. No one.

Our little shopping centers (there are two) were busier than usual, but not a single family or lawn chair lined the street.

Perhaps it was because of the temperature? Thirty-four degrees is cold, but not unusual, for this time of year. Still, the sky was blue, and the air was calm. If you stayed in the sun, you could stay fairly warm without being bundled like Randy, the little brother in the movie, A Christmas Story, who had to waddle to school and could not get up when he fell down.

My son and I decided to stick it out. I had prayed before we left, and I was confident there were people who needed to hear or read the gospel. So, we waited. Surely, someone would come.

Only fifteen minutes before the parade was scheduled to begin, we started walking toward the assembly point. My plan was to walk alongside the parade all the way to the end, handing out tracts as we went.

But as we walked to the starting point, we saw only a few people... perhaps three to five each block. Still, we could see that some people were there all along, remaining inside their cars, enjoying the warmth. The promise of small crowds increased as we approached the drums, bagpipes, and police auxiliary who milled about for the start of the festivities.

As the escort car began to roll down the street, I crossed over. My son would take one side, I would take the other, and we'd meet up at the end.

We handed out Christmas Cash from Custom Tract Source. They were perfect! There is a picture of Santa on what appears to be a million dollar bill. On the back is a wonderful gospel presentation.

All we did was walk along with the parade, say "Merry Christmas" and hold the tracts out. People snatched them up with a cheery, "Thank you. Merry Christmas!"

We handed out over 600 tracts!

Here is some of the work we saw God do today:

• Many, many people appeared!
• Only about six or eight people declined to take the tracts, and some of them were probably just trying to keep their hands warm.
• We arrived at the end of the parade route at almost the exact minute the parade ended.
• I ran out of tracts completely just as the parade ended. My son had another pack in his pocket, but he gave out the last of the open tracts at about the same time I did.
• Just as the parade ended, and my son handed out his last two tracts, he was able to witness to two young men.
• One witnessing discussion my son had begun with a young man stating that God does not exist, and ended with him confessing that he needed to repent and give his life to Christ!
  

Interestingly, we saw several people we knew from local churches along the parade route, watching. While there is nothing wrong with watching parades, if we always watch, who is sharing the gospel? No one.

Next year, consider walking with the parade and sharing the gospel. I can promise you, you will be glad you did.

Two Amazing Witnessing Opportunities - Part 2

As a Christian, I am so very grateful for God's Word. It reveals God's character, answers most of our questions, and provides examples of true discipleship.

I did a search for the word "continually" in the New Testament, using the NASB Bible. I found that Christ's disciples were, at times, continually worshiping Him (Luke 24:53), continually praying (Acts 1:14), continually learning (Acts 2:42), continually loving others (Acts 9:36), and continually sharing the gospel (throughout the New Testament, but see especially the Book of Acts). So, when we share the gospel, the wrong attitude to have is, "Been there, done that." Our attitude should be to continually share.

Unfortunately, too often this is not my attitude. Sometimes I am tired, or upset, or allow my pride to get in the way, or have a conversation that went poorly. Rather than continually renewing myself in Christ, I stop sharing the gospel.

Thankfully, the day I shared the gospel with Beth was not like that. I had set my pride aside, decided that I would not allow Beth's eternal destination rest upon chance, and had a wonderful conversation with a sister in Christ.

That's when it struck me: I don't know if her mother is saved.

My wife and I are part of a support group that enables Beth's mother to work regularly. Some people spend a few hours with Beth, we spend one day each week with her. Beth's mom frequently comes home very late, and very tired. "How," I thought to myself, "am I going to share the gospel with Beth's mother?"

It never ceases to amaze me how inventive the human mind is. We can imagine all kinds of scenarios where a conversation will go poorly, or circumstances will prevent us from sharing the gospel, or how the other person will be insulted, etc., etc. Here I was imagining all the reasons why I would not be able to talk to Beth's mom about Christ.

So, I prayed.

I prayed that God would give me an opportunity. I prayed that my pride would not get in the way, and that I would not allow the opportunity He gave me to slip by.

Just a few hours later, God answered that prayer when Beth's mother walked in the house early, and energetic!

She even sat down to play a game with the three of us.

After a few minutes, I started praying again that I would take the next opportunity to turn the conversation from worldly topics to eternal ones.

Then, something amazing happened. Beth said to me, "Why don't you ask my mom what you asked me this afternoon?"

I did not have to bring up the gospel, Beth did! It was almost as if God was saying, "You want an opportunity? Here you go!"

So, I turned to her and said, "If you died tonight, are you 100% certain that you would go to heaven?"

Our conversation went on for several minutes, and since then Beth's mom has asked some interesting questions about the gospel. I now have an ongoing opening to continue our conversation about the gospel. "Hey, remember that question you asked me?" is a sentence I often use to restart the conversation.

If you haven't witnessed to a friend or family member, please do. Then, start sharing the gospel with the next member of the family, or the next member of your sports team, your club, or class.

And please pray for Beth and her mother.

Two Amazing Witnessing Opportunities

You've probably heard people say that if you are willing to share the gospel, Christ will create opportunities for you, especially when you pray for such opportunities. This became amazingly real to me recently.

Remember: We should be more than willing to share the gospel if we love love Christ and those around us. As Christians, both should be acts of obedience and thanks.

In Matthew 22:36-39, Christ answers the Sadducees question about the greatest commandment. He says, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'"

One way to love the Lord is to obey His commandments (John 14:15), and there are a number of commands in the Old and New Testament about sharing Biblical truth, especially the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Back to my story.

In June of 2008 a dear friend of ours was involved in a serious car accident, and nearly died. For this article, we'll call her Beth.

Beth is a sweet young woman, and we love her dearly. But, we had never shared the gospel with her.

She had attended church, so we assumed she was a Christian. I have learned, however, that this is not a safe assumption. There are many people who attend church every week, but do so out of obligation, or obedience to the parents, or because it's a great place to socialize. I once met a man who regularly attended church because it was a great place to acquire clients for his real estate business.

During recovery, Beth was in a coma for several months. My son and I decided that once she was able to interact and understand, we would share the gospel. We did not want to take another chance that she might die without hearing the gospel.

Now that my son is off at college, the responsibility fell to me. As the weeks went by and she continued to improve, it became obvious that Beth was lucid enough for a conversation about eternal matters. So, as the day approached for a visit, I prayed that I would have an opportunity, and that I would be bold and obedient enough to take it.

We have gotten into the habit of reading from the Bible after each lunch with Beth. So, as lunch wound down, I silently prayed again for an opportunity, and for boldness. We completed reading the passage from the Bible, and followed that with a short discussion. "Now," I thought, "is the time." So, I asked Beth, "If you had died in your accident, what do you think would have happened next?"

Beth smiled.

For any Christians who are reading this and are afraid to share the gospel, read that again.

Beth smiled!

What a blessing you are missing if you don't share the gospel. What a wonderful reward when you share the gospel with someone and they appreciate it, understand their predicament and trust in Christ, or share your love for the Lord.

Beth and I had a wonderful conversation about our standing before God, our need for the Savior, and salvation. I prayed for the opportunity, God provided one, and then blessed the encounter! Even more important, I now know for certain that Beth will one day be in heaven with us.

But, that's not the end of this story. You see, Beth has a mother, and it suddenly dawned on me: I don't know if Beth's mom is a Christian.

Next time... as Paul Harvey says... "The rest of the story!"

What Every Christian Should Know About Gospel Tracts, Part 2

In the first part of this short series of posts, I discussed what a tract is, what to look for in a tract, and where to find tracts with sound gospel messages. I also explained why you should read every tract you plan to purchase or hand out.

This time, I will briefly cover the cost of tracts (and give a couple pointers on how to reduce your costs), describe how to distribute them, and answer the biggest question: Are they Biblical.

Let's begin with the biggest question: Are tracts Biblical?

Yes, you will be glad to know, they are.

Take a look at John 20:31. It's one of the verses that says that the gospel is written down so that others may believe. Another verse I often reference is Isaiah 55:11 says, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Tracts are based on these truths.

For most people, tracts are the easiest way to begin sharing the gospel with others.

You can begin in complete stealth. How? Simply carry tracts with you and always have them around at home.

Begin using tracts by stuffing them into bills or junk-mail return envelopes. When I receive junk mail, I open it, discard all the advertising, stuff a tract into the envelope, and return it. I will even use stamps for envelopes that are not "postage paid". When I send a bill, a tract goes along for the ride every single time. I recently started an on-line business, and every single package I mail includes a gospel tract.

You you travel for business or please and stay in hotels or other lodging, help future guests by bookmarking the restaurants section inside the Yellow Pages. Then, when you check out, leave the maid a tip and a million dollar bill tract in the Thank-You envelope you often find on the dresser or desk.

Next, start taking them with you everywhere you go. I like to keep a stack in the convenient ‘tract slot’ of the driver’s door that every auto manufacturer builds into cars. I’m sure your car has one too - though the engineers mistakenly call them "map pockets". Then, rather than park right next to the store, park beyond the other cars and as you walk slide tracts between the window and the weatherstripping right above the driver’s door handle.

When you pull into a gas station, look for those little “Please take one!” containers and put a tract inside.

My son and I recently went to the grocery store. I did not mind taking an extra minute or two as he walked down the beer aisle and slipped a tract into the convenient tract-deposit slots on the top of beer cases (some people use these slots as carrying handles too!).

Another favorite way to distribute tracts is to leave one with my tip every time we visit a restaurant.

You can also leave them in magazines as you browse the local bookstore (they already have several inserts anyway). Another favorite is to slip them into books that we browse at the local public library. Everyone needs a bookmark!

Once you start carrying them around, you’ll find that the number of places to leave them is limitless. So, start taking them with you everywhere.

Tracts are not very expensive. A typical pack of 100 will cost between $5 and $8 (plus shipping, and possibly tax). This means that it only costs about 5 to 8 cents to share the gospel. An eternity of meaning for less than a dime!

But, there are ways you can reduce your costs.

Shopping on the Internet usually means you don't have to pay sales tax. This can reduce your overall cost by 5 to 10%. The key is that you purchase your tracts from a company that does not have a brick and mortar store (or distribution center) within your state.

If you order in bulk, your shipping costs are nearly always lower. If your supplier does not automatically reduce shipping, send them an e-mail and ask for it. Most companies would prefer to reduce your shipping than see you walk away (or, click-away when shopping on-line).

If you volunteer to coordinate the evangelism effort, or tract distribution at your church, you might be able to arrange to split the shipping cost if you combine your personal orders with church orders. The larger order will probably have lower cost shipping, and you might be able to order larger quantities for greater discounts. You and the church benefit!

Finally, like everything else, tracts do go on sale. Watch your favorite sites, or subscribe to their e-mail alerts or newsletters. Tracts go on sale for a variety of reasons: introductions of new tracts, selling off of old tracts, and the promotion of seasonal tracts. In addition, some suppliers occasionally send out "Thank You" discount coupons to prior customers.

Now we come to the part where most people become uneasy: How to hand tracts to people.

I find that the vast majority of people (probably 80% or more) take a tract and say "Thank you!". How? I think the key is not in what you say, or how you approach them, it is in your heart.

If you have a true heart of concern and compassion for the lost, you will literally be filled with joy when someone approaches who might need to read the gospel. The smile on your face is enough to disarm nearly everyone who would normally walk coldly past.

So, pray that God would give you strength, boldness, and true joy for reaching the lost. Go to a public place (the more people the better). Get a tract into your right hand, and the next person who walks by (or who you walk by) do the following:

• Smile
• Make eye contact
• Reach the tract out to them
• Joyfully say, "Hi, did you get one of these?"
  

Most people will smile back, take the tract, and thank you.

If the person hesitates, just keep smiling, and holding the tract out.

If they don't take it, you might follow up with something like: "It's free!"

If they continue walking on their way, that's fine. It means that this tract is meant for the next person... praise God that you didn't give it to the wrong person!

It's that simple.

You probably now know more about gospel tracts than you need to, and certainly more than most Christians do. I hope you have enjoyed these posts.

Now go get some gospel tracts with a sound gospel message, carry them everywhere, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ!