“…but in your hearts honor 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,” -1 Peter 3:15
What do you do when you end up in a completely unexpected situation?
I came across this video a while back. It’s pretty awesome. Guy Goma, a cab driver in England went into the BBC for a job interview. They mistook him for the editor of a tech website and started interviewing him on live TV about recent changes in the area of music downloads. He was caught completely off-guard and just kinda went with it.
Unexpected things happen in life. What do we do when they happen?
In our passage for today, the people this letter was written to were members of the church under persecution. They were told to live their lives for Christ and be willing to suffer for the sake of Christ that His name would be glorified and more people would come to faith. Then, they were given encouragement to know that God is with them and cares for them.
They are also told to be ready.
They were to be ready for those unexpected moments when they were asked why they were living like they were and why they had such hope. Have an answer. Be ready to tell them about Jesus. He was their hope and their salvation and so they were willing to joyfully endure hardship for Him.
He is our hope and our salvation as well.
We may not be under the kind of persecution the early church was, but we, too, should live our lives for Christ and always be ready with an answer for our hope. Jesus is our hope and salvation as well and we want to live for Him.
Have you ever thought about what you would say if someone asked you about Jesus?
I want to encourage you, today, to do that. Think about it. Think about what Jesus has done in your life. Spend some time reading the Bible and thinking about what you might say to tell someone about Jesus and His life, death, and resurrection.
We have been given life and salvation. We have a hope that nothing in this world can overcome. And we never know when we’ll have the opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with someone else who does not have that hope and have the great joy of seeing them given new life in Christ.
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for all that You have done for me. Prepare me to be able to talk with others about You. Give me opportunities to share You with others and, in those moments, give me the words to say that they might come to know Your saving grace as I have.
“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:18-20
The past Sunday we talked about the importance of sharing the Gospel with others. There are several aspects involved in doing this, including…
Prayer
Meeting People
Caring for People
Having Spiritual Conversations with People
This is not a command for just some special people in the church, it’s for all of us. So, I talked about two things we call all be doing to help us to be doing this in our lives. I wanted to follow up with you on those two things both as a reminder, but also so you would have the details where you could use them.
The 10:02 Challenge
The 10:02 Challenge is a simple challenge, but one which is both effective (because prayer is effective) and helps us to obey Jesus.
“And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” – Luke 10:2
The concept of the challenge is this. In Luke 10:2, Jesus told His disciples there are lots of people out there ready to hear the Gospel (the harvest is plentiful), but there aren’t many people to send out to share the Gospel (the laborers are few). So, we should pray earnestly that God would send more laborers, more people out to share the Gospel.
Set an alarm on your phone or some other device for 10:02 (morning, evening, or both). When the alarm goes off, stop what you are doing and pray that God would send people to share the Gospel and that many would hear the Gospel and believe.
Just so I’m being completely open with you…just know, you likely may be one of the workers God sends out into the field. Jesus told His disciples to pray this right before He sent them out to do it.
BlessEveryHome.com
BlessEveryHome.com is a simple way to start praying for your neighbors as well as to start being intentional about meeting your neighbors and having spiritual conversations with them. Here’s a brief overview:
I hope you will join me in this effort. I have signed up and started praying for my neighbors and am going out and talking with my neighbors. You can, too.
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” – 1 Peter 3:15
Are you an evangelist? How about a witness?
My daughter recently found a new show that she really likes. I have seen some of it, but I could tell you a lot more about it than what I’ve seen. Why? It’s because she tells me about it all the time.
It’s interesting how easily we tell others about the shows or movies we watch, the new job we start, the recent football/hockey/baseball game, the new person we’re dating, etc., yet when it comes to telling others about Jesus, we freeze up. We feel uncomfortable and like we don’t know how to talk about Jesus.
Have you ever thought about telling someone about a movie you just saw, but then decided not to because you weren’t sure you would use the right words or be able to answer every question? Probably not. Have you ever decided not to talk about Jesus for the same reasons?
We start to feel these fears and then we reason in our head,
“I’m just not an evangelist.”
“That’s for those special people who are gifted with the spiritual gift of evangelism.”
There certainly are people who are specially gifted in evangelism.
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,” – Ephesians 4:11
However, 1 Peter 3:15 isn’t just talking to evangelists. It’s talking to all of us.
You are a witness.
I like to think of the difference between an evangelist and a witness as kind of like the difference between a movie’s marketing division and the people who go see a movie, become a fan, and tell others about it.
Marketers are trained. They know what words to use and not use. They do more than convey information, they convey feeling and they entice. A fan hasn’t received special training and they don’t carefully weigh every word. They just know they like a movie and want to share that with others.
Evangelists have a gift. The Spirit works through them and they are driven to share the Gospel. They seem to be able to talk to anyone and veer the conversation towards Jesus.
Witnesses still have the spirit, but maybe not a specific spiritual gift for evangelism. They may not be able to veer conversations to Jesus, but they can certainly talk about him when the opportunity arises. They just know they love Jesus and they want to share that with others.
These are just my definitions here, but whether someone uses these terms in this way or not, we should all be able to agree that whether we have the gift of evangelism or not, we all have both the command and the blessing to be able to witness to the love of Jesus when the opportunity presents itself.
It doesn’t require a degree or a unique spiritual gift. You don’t have to have all the answers, but you do need to be prepared. So, let’s start.
Pray.
Write down a short, simple Gospel message.
Write down a brief description of what God has done in your life.
Pray that God would give you the opportunity to share your witness with someone and give you the courage to do it.
“For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” – 2 Corinthians 4:5
Have you ever felt unworthy to talk about Jesus?
Bob ran into a friend from high school one day when picking up lunch. It had been years, but they struck up a conversation and it seemed almost like no time had passed. At one point in the conversation, his friend mentioned some tough times he had gone through.
Bob wanted to respond by telling his friend about how Jesus could help, but he froze. He remembered all the sinful things he had proudly done in high school, things his friend knew all about. How could he say anything and not sound like a complete hypocrite? So, he said nothing.
Have you ever felt like that?
Maybe you felt like your witness was destroyed by the life people knew you had lived or maybe no one knew, but you felt an inward shame and unworthiness. Many people feel this way and it prevents them from ever saying a word about Jesus to others.
It’s OK to admit you are a sinner. In fact, it’s necessary.
The shame described above is, in part, due to our sin, but it is also due to our thinking that when we tell someone about Jesus, we are the focus. We think of it like we are a salesman. If people see how poorly we live our Christian life, they won’t buy the product…Jesus.
What if I told you that you are not a salesman and Jesus isn’t a product? Instead, you are the recipient of a great gift, one that you are wholly unworthy to receive. Jesus is the benefactor who gives freely to all who would receive it.
This is very different.
Now, not only can you admit that you are a sinner, but do so boldly because you are not preaching yourself. You are preaching Jesus Christ. It’s like one beggar telling another about someone who freely gives food to those in need. It’s like one sick person telling another sick person about a place that offers a cure.
If we preach ourselves, it will come to ruin. We don’t have the power to convert a single person and, eventually, the truth about our sinfulness will be shown. When we preach Christ, it brings great blessing. He, alone, can create faith and the truth about our sinfulness only proclaims more loudly the greatness of the grace of Jesus Christ.
Pastors Stand With You You aren’t alone. Sometimes people put their pastor on a pedestal, but the truth is he sins just like you and knows his unworthiness to be your pastor (or hopefully he knows this). There is a prayer penned by Martin Luther for pastors and church leaders:
“Lord God, Thou hast appointed me in the church as bishop and pastor. Thou seest how unfit I am to attend to such a great and difficult office, and if it had not been for Thy help, I would long since have ruined everything. Therefore I call upon Thee.
Of course, I want to put my mouth and heart to use. I shall teach the people, and I myself shall learn and shall meditate diligently on Thy Word. Use me as Thy instrument. Only do not forsake me; for if I am alone, I shall easily destroy everything.”
I think a variation of this prayer fits all Christians. So, let us pray,
Lord God,
Thou hast made me Your child and sent me out as Your ambassador. Thou seest how unfit I am to attend to such a great and difficult task, and if it had not been for Thy help, I would long since have ruined everything. Therefore I call upon Thee.
Of course, I want to put my mouth and heart to use. I shall share Your Gospel with those around me, and I myself shall learn and shall meditate diligently on Thy Word. Use me as Thy instrument. Only do not forsake me; for if I am alone, I shall easily destroy everything.
Amen.
PS – Speaking of your pastor, I saw a meme the other day I thought I’d share here. It said,
“Instead of putting your pastor on a pedestal from where he can fall, put him on a prayer list by which he can be lifted up.”
“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:18-20
One of the primary purposes of the church is share the Gospel with those who do not, yet, know Jesus. Thus, at Faith Lutheran Church, outreach has always been a top priority.
The Challenge Outreach is always a challenge. However, the pandemic has made things even more challenging. Many of the ideas we have tried in the past are either not as effective or cannot be done.
So, we need to come up with some new ways to engage the community around us. We need to think outside the box.
The Team to Meet the Challenge We are putting together a team to pray, do some research, and come up with ideas for new ways to engage our community.
You don’t need to be an outreach guru to be on the team. In fact, I think it would be good for us to have some people who really haven’t ever tried to do this. That may bring some fresh ideas…and fresh, maybe even unusual, ideas are exactly what we need right now.
Will you be on the team?
I did this with the Facility Vision Team and I’m going to do it again here.
I’d like to ask you to stop for a moment and pray…right now.
Pray for the following:
Faith Lutheran Church and our ministry
The Outreach Idea team
Ask God if you should be on the Outreach Idea Team
Pray about this again tonight and tomorrow and the next day.
If you feel led to be on the team, please contact Pastor Kurt and let him know. You can email him, call him, text him, or use the contact form on our website.
May the Lord bless Faith and the Outreach Idea Team, may we reach many people with the Gospel through the ideas the Lord gives the team, and may many come to faith in Jesus through the outreach ministry of Faith.
“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” – Luke 12:11-12
Do you feel intimidated or afraid to talk to others about Jesus?
I remember when I was in middle school there was a girl who I liked. I knew her from school. She was cute and fun. Yep, I liked her, but she doesn’t know it. Why? I never worked up the nerve to tell her. I didn’t know what to say.
A lot of people feel a bit like that when it comes to talking to others about Jesus. They feel like they don’t know what to say.
“I’m not sure what to tell people.”
“I think I can get the basics right, but what if they start asking questions?”
“What if they don’t want to hear it?”
These may be thoughts you have had. Perhaps you’ve wanted to say something, but in the end, never spoke up.
The Words To Say When Jesus told His disciples to tell others about Him, to “acknowledge the Son of Man before men,” He may have sensed their anxiety. The disciples may very well have wondered those very same things we have thought. Jesus, however, encouraged them. He told them not to worry. The Holy Spirit would teach them at that time what to say.
The Holy Spirit still works today. He still teaches us what to say.
The Perfect Pitch Part of our anxiety about telling others about Jesus is that we think we need to “say the right thing”… or at least not say the wrong thing. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that there is no perfect pitch, at least no perfect human pitch. We don’t know what the person needs to hear. We just don’t have that kind of insight. The Holy Spirit does, though.
I can’t tell you how many times people have told me that something I said, something which I thought nothing of (or was even embarrassed by), meant a lot to them. I’ve come to realize that it’s because I’m not the one who is working to convince anyone of anything. The Holy Spirit is the one who works in people’s hearts through the Word. He makes our fumbling attempts perfect.
The Basics You know the basics. We confess it in one of the Creeds almost every week. We are all sinners. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. If we believe in Him we are forgiven and saved. If you can say that or quote John 3:16, you can share the Gospel with someone.
Pray the Holy Spirit would give you the words. Don’t overthink it. Pray the Holy Spirit would work in the person’s heart. Then let God be God. The person’s response is between them and God. If they ask questions and you know the answers, answer them. If not, tell them you don’t know, but would be happy to look into it. Then check your Bible or ask a pastor.
What if we changed what we think about sharing the Gospel to something more like…
“The Holy Spirit knows what they need to hear.”
“I know I can get the basics right and I can answer their questions over time.”
“What if they need to hear it?”
Dear Jesus,
Fill me with Your Spirit. Give me opportunities to talk about You with others and give me the words to say. Even now, begin to work in the hearts of the people I will speak with that they may receive Your Word in faith.
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” – 2 Corinthians 3:6
How do you measure up as a minister?
No, I don’t mean as a pastor, I mean as one who ministers to people in the name of Jesus. As followers of Christ and those who have been made His children, we all minister to those around us.
Sometimes we may not feel like we are doing very well, but what are we measuring against?
Do you measure against the Ten Commandments?
How about the over 600 laws found in the Old Testament?
What if we go with the simplified, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself?
We Are Not Ministers of the Letter If we were ministers of the Law (or the letter), none of us would measure up very well. Sure, it may seem like some others do pretty well, but it also seems on Facebook like all my friends have the perfect job, family, and life. We’re all pretty good at making it look like our lives are better than they are.
The truth is our lives are all filthy with sin.
Thankfully, we aren’t ministers of the letter, but of the Spirit.
That is to say, we are ministers of Gospel, a salvation that comes not from our obedience to the Law, but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, which is a gift from the Spirit. Our filthy, sinful lives have been washed clean by Jesus.
Rather than having to perfectly know and obey the over 600 Old Testament laws or the 10 Commandments or even the 2-Commandment summary Jesus gave, we simply need to know two things:
We are all sinners, every one of us, including you and me.
Jesus died for our sins and so, whoever believes in Him, their sins are forgiven and they will be saved.
If we can do this and try to love others, we’ll do well.
What if I sin badly and others find out?
You might, but when your message is that you are a sinner like everyone else, it’s not surprising that you would…you know…sin. Remember, we aren’t pointing to ourselves for salvation, but to Christ. When we sin before others, we actually get to set an example by confessing and receiving God’s forgiveness.
I’m still not sure I can do it.
If that’s what you’re thinking, that’s ok. Notice the first part of our Bible verse, “He has made us competent ministers.” Yep, you can’t really do it yourself, but God can. He gives us the words to say. He equips us for the things we’ll do. He works through our messy, broken attempts to minister to people and does miracles.
Truthfully, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from a conversation and felt like I totally blew it only to, later, have that person tell me how meaningful what I said was to them. It’s not what I did or said. It’s what the Holy Spirit did in that person’s life through those words and actions.
So, trust me, you are a competent minister…because God made you a competent minister.
Heavenly Father,
You have worked the miracle of faith in my heart through the words and deed of others who shared the Gospel with me. Work through my words and deeds that I would share the Gospel with others and they would receive faith by the power of Your Holy Spirit.
“He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’” – Mark 4:26-29
Who Grows God’s Kingdom?
We often feel responsible for growing the Kingdom of God, but are we really the ones who grow God’s Kingdom? In this parable, Jesus is telling us that while we are the ones who are to go out and spread the seed of the Gospel, we don’t do the growing.
That’s His job.
After all, it is “God’s” kingdom, not ours. We can surely spread the seed of the Gospel, but it is God who works through His Word to create faith and grow His Kingdom.
What a relief it is for us!
We don’t have to figure out which people are good soil or which are bad. We don’t even have to be conservative with the seed. Spread the Gospel all over the place! And, we aren’t the ones who must convince people to have faith. That is the work of the Spirit.
What About Once a Person Has Faith?
That’s God, too. Once someone has faith, we can’t make them grow in their faith. God does that. And that work couldn’t be in better hands. That said, we can do some things to help water and tend to people’s faith. We can continue to share the Word together. We can worship together. We can encourage, correct, and build each other up. However, in the end. It’s still God’s work to grow people’s faith.
So, feel free and unburdened!
You get the easy part. Just love people and tell them about Jesus. Then let the master gardener do His work.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for giving us Your Word and working through that Word to grow your kingdom. Please forgive me for the times I didn’t trust you to do your work and tried to take Kingdom growth into my own hands. Please cause Your Word to go forth throughout the world so that all may hear and believe. And, as you taught us to pray, I pray that Thy Kingdom Come.
“He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!” – Acts 28:31
What hinders you from serving God or telling others about Him?
The passage above is how the book of Acts ends. What a way to end it!!
The Apostle Paul had endured many hardships in his ministry,
He was rejected by his people (the Jews)
Shipwrecked
Sent to prison
Beaten
Threatened with the death penalty.
Through all this Paul spoke about Jesus the same as it describes here at the end of Acts, boldly and without hindrance.
What do we allow to hinder us in our witness?
How often are we timid instead of bold?
Yet, hear the reassurance Paul gave to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1,
“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
Paul isn’t just telling Timothy not to be afraid, he’s telling him the Spirit who lives in him, and in all of us, is not timid or afraid. He’s telling him that the Spirit will embolden us to speak if we let Him. This is significant. Paul isn’t saying, “Try harder!” or “Dig deep and muster the strength.” He’s saying Timothy may be afraid, but God’s Spirit isn’t. Rely on the Spirit and get all hindrances out of the way.
Hindrances prevent us from acting according to the Holy Spirit. These hindrances may be…
Fear
Busy-ness
Sin
Laziness
and more.
What hinders you?
Take a few minutes to pray and reflect on your life. What do you think is hindering you from speaking boldly about Jesus? What can you do to remove those hindrances from your life?
Pray that God would give you opportunities to tell others about Jesus and pray that He would make you bold in those moments, not of your own strength, but through the power of the Spirit.
Dear Jesus, Before You ascended, You said that it was good that You would leave because You would then send your Spirit. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Transform me by Your Spirit, especially in regards to sharing the Gospel. Prepare opportunities for me to speak to others about You and then make me bold in those moments by the power of Your Spirit so that I may speak about You boldly and without hindrance.
“As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” – Mark 5:18-20
Do you feel like you don’t know how to tell others about Jesus?
Telling others about Jesus is one of the greatest things we can do. Sadly, it’s also the one thing most Christians find to be the scariest thing they do (or don’t do).
Why Are We Afraid?
I think our fear of sharing the Gospel usually comes from two things, the fear the message will be rejected and the fear that we will mess up the message.
The Fear That The Message Will Be Rejected: No one wants to feel rejected, however, I have great comfort for you. The Bible tells us over and over it is God who creates faith in people, not the person sharing the Gospel nor even the person hearing the Gospel.
We share the message and God does the rest.
The Scriptures also tell us that God’s Word will not return void. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the person will become a faithful Christian, but it does mean God will work in their heart.
So, we don’t have to fear because it’s not up to us to “convert” the person and we can trust that God will do what He promises.
What if I mess up the message?
The basic Gospel message is actually pretty simple. We all sin. Jesus died on the cross so we can be forgiven. If we believe in Jesus we will be saved.
Sometimes, however, we think the message needs to be more complex. It doesn’t. We can simply share our story and that simple Gospel truth and let God do His work!
Don’t Force Your Beliefs On Me!
We’ve all heard this said. Maybe not in person, but certainly on TV. Sometimes when sharing the Gospel, we can feel like we are overstepping our bounds; but isn’t it interesting that we don’t feel like that when we talk about our favorite movie or band or what we did over the weekend.
These are normal things to talk about as we share our lives with others. So is talking about the most important thing in your life. That’s what the demon-possessed man did in our passage.
Sharing our lives with others can often be the easiest way to share the Gospel. We’re not trying to sell something, just share what Jesus has done. By sharing how God has worked in your life, it can take the “sales-y-ness” away and make it simply talking about what’s going on in your life and how Jesus affects that.
So, what’s your story?
Dear Jesus,
You have done so much in my life. Rid me of the fear of talking about You to others. Help me to feel as comfortable talking about You as I do my weekend plans and may others come to believe in You by hearing about You.