Prayer and Share

It may seem obvious that our efforts to share should be accompanied by our efforts in prayer. However, many believers don’t commit the effort in prayer before, during, and after their effort to share. Paul said in Romans 1 that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, while in Philippians 4 he said that we should (in everything), by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made know to God. When we bring these two together we can see that through prayer we are asking God, with thanksgiving for the power, to bring the power of the gospel to bear on those with whom we want to share the good news. Notice the words “in everything.” In evangelism that means your words, actions, attitudes, and feelings. In other words, commit all of your evangelism efforts, and all parts of your evangelism efforts to Him.

So, when you feel scared to share your faith… pray. When you lack boldness… pray. When you say you don’t know any non-Christians… pray. When you don’t know what to say… pray. When you have compassion for a lost friend… pray. When you need an open door… pray. When you can’t answer the question of your non-believing friend… pray. When you have shared over, and over, and over again… pray. During your gospel presentation… pray. After sharing the gospel… pray.

Prayer is the place to start, the place to continue, and the place to end in evangelism. Those who share consistently are in prayer persistently.

When is a Disciple Not a Fisherman?

Are we really fishers of men if we never put our hook in the water? Mennonite Pastor, John M. Drescher, wrote a rather convicting article entitled, “The Fishless Fisherman,” in which he asked this same question. We spend a lot of time reading about the best evangelism lures, poles, and equipment, but we never go to the water and put our line in. And if we never go to the water and put our line in are we following Jesus?

Here’s perhaps a different perspective on being a fisher of men. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” This was the first thing that Christ taught His disciples. Isn’t that interesting? How important was evangelism to Jesus? It was the first thing He taught the disciples and usually it is the last thing we teach new believers, (or mature disciples for that matter), isn’t it? This is not an indictment, but rather an observation… why do we not make the first thing we teach new followers of Christ, the first thing Jesus taught them?

This all comes down to the plain and simple truth of obedience. Think of it this way, when your knees begin to knock at the thought of sharing the gospel - greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world, AND, He desires all men to be saved! With those two boundless truths, obedience becomes easier because of Who is on your side and Who wants your friend to know Him!

With the Lord on our side desire our friend to be saved, we need to be obedient to go to the water and put our line in. It’s only as we make important to us what was important to Him that we will truly be followers of Jesus and fishers of men.

The Compassion of Jesus

Let’s look for a moment at Christ’s life. Beyond the disciples, who did He spend His time with? Tax collectors and sinners. He had a heart and a compassion for those who were lost. His time was not only spent behind the walls of the local synagogue or temple, but was spent out where the people were. His attitude was not “come and get it”, it was “go get them!” He went where the lost were because He had compassion for them and, as a good shepherd, did not want them to be without the directions to find Him.

Do we truly have compassion for our friends and neighbors and relatives? Compassion enough that we are willing to risk fear, rejection, being misunderstood, and having the tough discussions? Do we see them as Paul did in Ephesians 2:1 where he described them as literally “walking corpses.”

A friend of mine told the story of a conversation he was having one day at a table with another Christian friend and a mutual friend who was not a believer. The discussion was rousing and pointed at Christianity, when the unbeliever turned to my friend and said this about the other Christian. “Do you know what my friend here thinks about me? He thinks I am in a burning building and he wants nothing more than to show me the way to safety. Though I disagree with him, it means a lot to me that he cares that much about me.”

The compassion of Christ says we see our friends as they truly are and want desperately for them not to stay in that condition any longer. If we lose sight of the fact that they are still in a burning building, then we lose the compassion for them that motivates us to share the exit map. The old saying is true, “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. No matter how they might view you, compassion says, “Go get them” and show them the way to Christ.

by: Mark Rae

Lifestyle Evangelism or Lifestyle Discipleship?

Lifestyle evangelism is exactly what it sounds like – as you live the life of Christ, you share the Christ of your life. It has always seemed strange to me that we only associate this concept to evangelism. Why don’t we call it “lifestyle discipleship”? We don’t because it is assumed that our lifestyle is showing the life of Christ in us. In other words, what we learn about Christ, we live out in our daily lives. The same should then be said of evangelism. What we learn about Christ we share with others in our daily lives.

James 1:22 says that we are to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves.” A strong statement that should be a motivation for every believer. James is sounding the warning loud and clear that plagues evangelism today – we love to hear and learn about evangelism tools techniques, and resources, but if we don’t do something with them, our lost friends remain just that – lost.

That’s the idea behind lifestyle evangelism. Like discipleship, evangelism becomes so much a part of your life that it is a natural extension of who you are as a believer. As you live the life of a follower of Christ, so you share the life of Christ with others. Yes, through your actions, but through your words as well. For if they see Christ in us but never hear about Christ, then they don’t know who it is that has given us this life and they don’t know how to find Him.

The emphasis in James is not on being the hearer, which is the easy part, but on being the doer of what we hear. One way to “do” is to develop lifestyle evangelism… a life that not only lives Christ, but shares Christ.

by: Mark Rae