Friday, March 11, 2011

The Easiest Way to Share the Gospel

Do you share the gospel with your friends and neighbors? I’ve often heard people talk about how we’re afraid to even go across the street and share the gospel with a neighbor. It gives the impression that someone who is afraid to do that is pretty worthless as a Christian and yet many Christians do have a fear of sharing the gospel with a friend across the street.

If you find yourself in that situation, don’t feel guilty. The fact is that God has gifted some of us to be great at bringing up the subject of salvation with people we don’t know very well. Praise God for that! But some of us have other gifts. But just because we’re otherwise gifted doesn’t mean we don’t want to share the gospel and perhaps see someone get saved. What it does mean is that our success at soul winning is more likely to come closer to our comfort zone. When people tell you to get out of your comfort zone, they often mean to get out of your comfort zone and get into theirs. Some distance out of a comfort zone is good, but large leaps just creates stress.

Instead of worrying because you can’t witness to the stranger across the street, look for someone else that God has put in your path. While you may not be comfortable talking about such things with your neighbor across the street, you may not have any trouble at all talking about Jesus with your children, your children’s friends, or the kids at church. Just because they are at church doesn’t mean they have already accepted Christ.

Another thing to consider is the method. People talk about sharing the gospel and they come up with great ideas with names like Evangelism Explosion or the Roman Road. You can’t even remember what you need to buy at the store without a grocery list, how are you going to remember all the steps you need to share the gospel with someone? These things are not without value, so you might want to look closer at plans for sharing the gospel once you are more comfortable with sharing the gospel, but one of the most effective and by far the easiest way to share the gospel is to simply give your testimony. There’s nothing to memorize because you are simply telling a very important part of your life’s story.

My own testimony goes something like this: I was saved on August 7, 1983. I was eight. Having grown up in a Christian home, I already knew quite a bit about the Bible, including what it says about the rapture and the return of Jesus Christ. My bedroom was as far away from where the rest of the family spent most of their time as it could be. At night, I couldn’t hear anyone in the other parts of the house, so every night for several weeks I would lie there in bed fearing that the Lord had come back and I had been left behind. I would yell for one of my parents to come. I would ask for a glass of water, but all I really wanted was to know that they were still on the face of this earth. I can’t even describe the fear I felt because of the quiet. One night, I called for my parents, like I had so many times before, but this time when my Dad came into the room I asked, “What do I have to do to get saved?” To that, he gave the same answer Paul gave the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” There in my bed, I prayed a very simple prayer, “I want to be saved.” It was then that I was able to trust Jesus for my salvation.

If you’ve been saved, you have a story of your own. It is hard for people to argue against the truth of your testimony. They can argue against the Bible. They can argue against religion. But they can’t argue against your testimony without calling you a liar to your face.

In the comments, please share your own experience of salvation.