I am preaching again tomorrow at our church. I am not sure how many times I have preached this year, maybe once every 4-6 weeks.
At our church we do our roster up for three months at a time. In that period I am usually on twice. Every now and someone asks me to fill in for them as they will be away.
Tomorrow I will be looking at two passages. The main one is James 1:3-12. I have three verses I want to highlight and talk about. They are verses 3, 5 and 12.
The other passage comes from 2 Corinthians 4:8-11, 16-18. This passage is to just give us some final encouragement before closing.
If you are interested I will put the full text and audio up here tomorrow afternoon.
Last week we held our church service in another town. It is about 50km from where we live and regularly have church. We loaded everyone in to a bus or in cars and headed out.
We started doing this as an outreach and because we have some people who live in Westonia who come to our church each week. It makes it easier for them to invite their friends to church.
After a nice service we had a Fathers Day picnic at the local undercover area. We sat, talked, ate and had a quiz. It was a really nice way to do church.
So far this year we have done it twice that I have been to. Both times it was really fun. It is something I hope we continue to do as a church.
If you are interested you can watch the service above.
Today the title of my message is, “Be Prepared: Taking the fear out of sharing your faith”.
As a new Christian, and a number of times since, the thought of evangelism has been a pretty scary thing. I was told that I needed to share my faith so I could reach other people for Christ. And the more people I reached, the sooner it would be for Jesus to come back. This made me very nervous. It was something I wanted to do, but I felt terribly under-equipped. From talking to others, I found I was not alone.
We have all heard those verses that say, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-20) and “And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it” (1 Peter 3:15). For some this is very exciting, for other this brings fear to their hearts!
Over the years I have found that I have learned a lot about sharing my faith. I found there were certain things that helped me be a little bit more prepared. This took a lot of the stress out of sharing my faith. Today I want to share some of those things. As I go through them I am going to share some of my successes and some of my failures.
I want this message to be really practical and helpful to us and hopefully give us some pointers to sharing our faith.
1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to move in people’s lives
The first key we need to understand to be more effective in sharing our faith is praying the Holy Spirit to move.
John 16:8 – And when He comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgement.
It is the Holy Spirit’s role to do the work of salvation.
When I meet new people I always pray and ask God if this is someone I should share my faith with. If it is someone I need to talk to, I usually find I have the desire to pray for them and opportunities to talk about spiritual things tend to open up in a natural way.
When I am praying for someone I ask the Holy Spirit to move in their lives. I pray five general things.
God would bless them and protect them.
That the Holy Spirit would draw them to Jesus Christ
That the Holy Spirit would show them their sin.
That the Holy Spirit would make them aware of the need for a Saviour.
That they would accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
So this might be an example of how I pray for someone.
Dear God, I pray for __________. I pray that You will bless them, protect them and watch over them. I pray that the Holy Spirit would move in their lives. Holy Spirit please reveal Jesus to them. Open their hearts and minds to Him. I pray that you will make them aware of their need for a Saviour. Please show them their sin and the need to deal with it. I pray they will trust Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Amen.
I have found that if God puts someone on my heart to pray this for, before long they are talking to me about spiritual things and they have a tract and a Bible in their hands.
2. Prepare a Testimony
A testimony can bring the Bible to life. I have found that people love hearing stories of how God has done great things for you. When I share about my testimony I touch on three main areas. These three things really help me to structure my story and how Jesus’ story impacted and changed my life.
My life before Christ – I share things like how I felt, my illness, my upbringing, what sort of things I was in to, and the sense of emptiness I had inside. These things set the scene.
My conversion – I then share how I came to Jesus. I talk about how I was feeling in the year before coming to Jesus, the people who helped me and the story of Jesus coming to die on the cross for me.
How my life has changed – In this final section I share how knowing Jesus personally has changed my whole life and outlook. I talk about the love, acceptance, hope, joy and purpose I now feel inside.
For some of us we can not think of a time when you didn’t know Jesus. You can share things some of the things that God has done for you. I actually have several short testimonies that I share with people depending on the situation.
I have had times when someone has simply said, “Dave you are a Christian right? Why do you believe?” And I have shared a short testimony and a few days later they are saved.
3. Know relevant Bible verses
Knowing some relevant Bible verses can be really helpful when sharing your faith. Especially if it someone who has had previous exposure to the Bible or shows and interest in reading it.
I have found that if you just read the Book of Romans with someone you could explain God’s plan of salvation for them.
“Romans road” is a great place to start –
The Natural State Of Man – Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one”
The Reason – Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”
The Cause – Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned”
The Penalty and Gift – Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”
The Love of God – Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Remedy – Romans 10:9-11 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
The Decision – Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Work out a simple presentation by putting a few verses together and memorise them. You might like to write them in the back of your Bible so you can refer to them easily. If you can’t remember them all, remember the first one and put references to the next one in your margin of your Bible.
4. Have some evangelistic tools handy
There are a variety of evangelistic tools that you can use to reach people. Sometimes people seem to want to talk about things at the strangest times. Having something on hand can help in those situations. Here are a few examples –
Tracts – You can keep one handy in your purse or wallet just in case an opportunity arises. They are very handy if you don’t have much time or perhaps are a bit nervous about sharing your faith. You can even put a library pocket in the back of all your books. Instead of a library card, put a tract in it!
Websites – Look out for websites that may help you to reach your friends. Many websites have a “refer to a friend” page that sends an email message on your behalf bringing the site to their attention. You can also share things on Facebook for a wider audience.
DVDs – The “Jesus” video is a great way to reach people. In just over an hour you see the whole life of Christ and at the end if gives the opportunity to receive Christ as Lord and Saviour. You could buy one for yourself and one to give away! These days, it is available online to stream at www.Jesusfilm.org,
The most effective three things I have used is tracts, my website passionaustralia.blog and the Jesus movie. I have given away thousands of tracts and hundreds of Jesus videos and many people have been saved as a result. I have had millions of visitors to my website.
As an example, one Jesus video was viewed by 66 people and many got saved. We gave one to a lady and she watched it and got saved. When her husband got home they watched it again. He got saved. When the kids came home, they watched it again and they got saved. The lady took it to her work and the residents of her nursing home all watched it. Many prayed to receive Jesus.
So one resource in your hand can make a huge difference. Like the fish and loaves in Jesus’ hands.
5. Learn the sinner’s prayer
The sinner’s prayer is a simple prayer that you can go through with someone to make their connection with Jesus Christ. It gives the person the opportunity to confess their sin to God and invite Jesus Christ into their lives as Lord and Saviour. There are two examples below that you can use or memorise.
From Billy Graham
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Saviour. In Your Name. Amen
From Campus Crusade for Christ
Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Saviour and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. Amen
Closing Summary
Today I wanted to encourage you in your evangelism efforts. The main point I hope you got is that you can be more effective in your efforts if you think and prepare beforehand. As we saw there are five things we can do.
1. Pray for people
2. Prepare a testimony
3. Learn key Bible verses
4. Have some resources ready
5. Learn the sinner’s prayer
Closing Prayer
Dear God, I pray that You will use me to reach others for Christ. Please help me to be effective in sharing my faith. Please help me to know whom to talk to and I pray that You will give me the right words to say when the time comes. I pray for all my family, friends and neighbours. I pray that the Holy Spirit will draw them to Jesus and make them aware of their need for salvation. Please use me to lead them to Christ. I also pray Lord that when people come to You that You will help me to teach them about You and how to follow You each day. I pray that I will help make disciples. I ask this in Jesus’, Amen.
Over the last few weeks I have been doing my morning devotions from the Book of Ephesians. I have really enjoyed looking back into one of my favourite books of the Bible. I have been working my way through the major headings. The first heading is “Spiritual Blessings in Christ” and as you can see I have picked out three of the blessings we have in Christ – Chosen, Redeemed and Sealed by God.
Bible Reading – Ephesians 1:3-14
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Message points
Today I have three main points I want to share from this passage.
1. God has chosen us and adopted us
A great truth of the Bible is that we who are in Christ or Christians are chosen.
Verse 4 of the text says, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.
In this simple verse there are four great truths.
Before the world was made we were on God’s mind
God loves us
We are chosen
God sees us as faultless in His eyes.
Paul tells us that God “chose” us to emphasize the truth that salvation depends totally on God. We are not saved by our own good works or because we deserve it, but because God is gracious and loving and chose to freely give us salvation. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross to pay the price for our sin and our faith and our faith and trust in who He is and what He has done, we are saved. And the good news is that because we are saved and in Christ, we are faultless in His eyes.
Verse 5 of today’s text tells us that, “God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.”
Again, verse five has a number of great truths.
God decided in advance
We are adopted into His eternal family
It was His idea to save us
Our salvation gave Him pleasure
God has adopted us into His eternal family. He decided in advance to do this. We are now His children. John 1:12 says, “But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.”
So, we are chosen, saved and adopted by God
2. We are redeemed by God
Verse 7 tells us, “He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins.”
Redemption is an important word in the Christian faith. Redemption is about the buying back or release of an object or person. In the Bible redemption refers to God’s ransoming of believers through the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross and to all the benefits that this brings. So, Jesus paid the price on the cross to redeem us back to God.
Why did we need to be redeemed? We needed to be redeemed because we could save ourselves. When we talk about salvation we see that in our natural state without Christ we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that this sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2).
Some people and some religions think they can redeem themselves by good works. They think if their good deeds out way their bad deeds, then God will accept them. The Bible tells us that salvation is not by good works, so no-one can boast. It is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9).
This is where Christ comes in with His work on the cross. In Christ we have been freed. Through His death on the cross as a payment for our sin the price has been paid.
Colossians 1:13-14 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
1 Timothy 2:5-6 tells us that, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time”.
Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many. It is by Christ’s shed blood that our sins are forgiven. We celebrate this each week in communion. His death opened the way to God. He is the one mediator between God and mankind. Our redemption is 100% totally and completely paid for by the death of Christ.
3. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit
Verses 13 and 14 of today’s text tells us. “And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.”
Again, in these two verses there are more amazing truths.
The good news of Christ saves us
God identified us as His own by giving us the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that we received an inheritance and we are His own people.
Ephesians 4:30b says, “Remember, He has identified you as His own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.”
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 also says, “It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, 22 and He has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first instalment that guarantees everything He has promised us.”
Romans 8:23 says, “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us.
The Bible describes the Holy Spirit as a deposit, a guarantee, down payment of what we will receive.
The Greek word used for sealed is sphragizō. This means to stamp (like with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation. In the ancient world seals were very important. If a letter was stamped with the King’s seal, or Caesars seal, it carried the full weight of the King. It has power. Much like a letter written on the letterhead of the Queen or the Prime Minister carries weight today.
The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee, His stamp, His seal, that we belong to Him and He will do what He has promised to do in our lives. As believers we can look forward to the great day when are freed from our bodies and we will live forever with Him without pain, suffering or sin.
Because the Holy Spirit is our seal we can know we are saved. We can know we belong to God. We can know without doubt God will do all He promised.
4. Our salvation is all about God
Just before I finish and summarise my message today I want to share some points that really jumped out at me as I read this passage.
V4 – He chose us before the foundation of the world
V5 – He predestined us to be adopted
V7 – In Him we have redemption
V7 – In Him we have forgiveness of sins
V9 – And He made know salvation to us
V11 – In Him we were chosen and predestined
V13 – In Him we are sealed by the Holy Spirit
Our salvation really is about God and His desire to save us, forgive us and adopt us into His eternal family. We truly are chosen, redeemed and sealed.
Closing summary
So today we looked at Ephesians chapter 1. It is a great passage that assures us of a number of things. The three that we looked at today are…
The church I attend works off the Lectionary for their sermons. These are a list of Bible readings that are on a three year cycle that line up with the seasons of the church year. It generally has a reading from the Psalms, a Gospel reading and one from another place in the Bible.
In saying this though, we do have the freedom to preach on another passage when it is our turn to preach. We can chose our passage based on what we feel God wants us to preach on for the week. Most times when I do this, people tell me that God spoke to them through the passage. Last time one lady told me that sermon was just for her and it felt like no-one else was there.
When I was a Pastor I would generally seek God at the start of the year and ask what books of the Bible or themes He wanted me to speak about. Most years I would get 2-3 Bible books to work through and a couple of themes that would go for about a month. The other sermons would be one of sermons that I felt to preach on that week.
Now I am a school chaplain I only preach now as a lay preacher every two or three months. I usually look at the Lectionary readings for the day, but most times I feel God wants me to preach on something else. I seek God and just ask “What do You want me to preach on?” Within a few days I find I am drawn to a passage and ideas start to flow.
This Sunday I am preaching and it will be this way again. I looked at the readings for this week and nothing really jumped out at me. I then prayed and asked God. He led me to a passage in Colossians and I had a couple of other little confirmations while talking with others and reading other things.
So I guess if you asked me the question “Do I use the Lectionary for my sermons?” I would have to say no. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like or appreciate when others in our church do. I have been really blessed by the preaching through the seasons of the church year.
On Sunday afternoon our time I would put my sermon online here and our church may have some video too.
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