INTRODUCTION
• I want you to take a look in your bulletin for a moment.
• I would like for you to look on the inside cover if you would.
• On the inside cover you will find a purpose statement. This statement summarizes why we are here as a church.
• When you look at the statement, it really looks good and it realty looks churchy.
• What it says is that we exist to bring glory to God by making followers of His Son Jesus.
• This is a two-part process. Part one involves finding a person who is not saved and sharing the message about Jesus with them. The second part has to do with teaching them how to live for and love Jesus.
• Which of those two things would you rather do? Which is more difficult?
• Today I want to spend some time talking about the first part of making disciples.
• This can be one of the scariest things we are called to do by God?
• SLIDE #1
• Evangelism. We are easily intimidated by the thought of actually telling someone about Jesus. We are intimidated by what to say, how to say it, and by the potential reaction from the one we are trying to share our faith with.
• I really do not think we fully grasp the importance of what we are called to do. There are people who are dying everyday without Jesus. We can wish people into heaven all we want, but the truth is that without an active relationship with Jesus, nothing will get them there.
• There are people who are hurting and people who are living without direction and purpose. It is our job to bring the gospel to them.
• I have three keys that will help us to be successful in our endeavor of reaching a hurting, dying world for Jesus.
• SLIDE #2
SERMON
One key to effective evangelism is:
I. OUR PRAYERS (2-4)
• This is such an important aspect to the success of anything we do in life, but it is maybe one of the most neglected.
• How many times have we tried to say something to another person about our faith without any prayer preparation?
• Do you have a list of people you are praying will be open to receiving and accepting Jesus as their Lord?
• Look at what we are told in verse 2.
• SLIDE #3
• READ Colossians 4:2
• Prayer is something that I cannot stress enough. I know if we would take prayer more seriously, we would see results we never before could imagine.
• How are we to pray? As you look at verse two again you will see a couple of things.
• SLIDE #4
1. The manner of our prayers.
• This passage gives us three things to do.
• SLIDE #5
• First we are to be DEVOTED to prayer.
• This is an issue of perseverance. It means to be courageously persistent.
• We need to all have a list of people we are persistently praying for.
• In Luke 18, Jesus told a parable on prayer that was designed to show us that God loves persistent prayers.
• How many times have we prayed once or twice and then given up.
• Let me ask you a question. Are you glad that someone did not give up on praying for you after one or two times?
• I bet if you ask the person who helped lead you to Jesus how often they prayed for your salvation, it was more than once or twice.
• SLIDE #6
• The second manner of our prayers is we are to stay alert.
• This is kind of funny but the phrase literally means that we are to stay awake. No sleeping while you pray.
• It was used this way when Jesus chastised His disciples for going to sleep on Him as He prayed in Matthew 26:41
• In the context what it means is that we are to be aware of what is going on around us in our world that would require prayer help from God.
• Christians cannot so isolate themselves that they have no clue as to what is going on around them.
• SLIDE #7
• The third manner of our prayer is we are to be thankful.
• Our hearts should overflow with thanksgiving.
• As we see that we are called to pray, what are we called to pray about concerning our evangelistic efforts?
• Let us look at the…
• SLIDE #8
2. The focus of our prayers.
• As we spend a great deal of time in prayer, what are we to focus on?
• SLIDE #9
• READ Colossians 4:3-4
• SLIDE #10
• We are to ask God to open the door for the gospel.
• We must resist the temptation of kicking in the door ourselves.
• If we try to force the seed the gospel into unprepared soil, it most likely will not produce a harvest.
• Farmers do not just throw there seeds indiscriminately; they prepare the soil before they plant.
• We must prepare the soil of the heart with plenty of prayer, prayer that God will open doors for us.
• SLIDE #11
• The second focus of our prayers is that God will guide us as to what to say.
• How many times have we shot off our mouths only to have it drive a person away from God instead of drawing them closer?
• I have done that before, and it was because I said what I said with no prayer, thought or compassion toward the person to which I was speaking to.
• Let God guide you, pray for the words to say and pray for the correct timing.
• SLIDE #12
A second key to effective evangelism is:
II. OUR CONDUCT (5)
• How we conduct ourselves has a HUGE impact on our ability to reach people. Our conduct shows people what is really important to us.
• If I have nothing good to say about the church I am attending, then it will be hard for me to convince another person to come to the church.
• If I am trying to win a lost husband, wife, or children to Christ and my attitude is negative or if my life has very little semblance to what I profess, it will be hard to win them over to a God who makes no difference in my life.
• If I do not have a heart of compassion toward brothers and sisters in Christ as well as those who are lost, well, good luck.
• We do not have to be perfect to be effective. Let see what verse 5 says concerning our conduct.
• SLIDE #13
• READ Colossians 4:5
• SLIDE #14
1. We are called to conduct ourselves with wisdom.
• Living with wisdom is understanding that people are watching us. It is understanding that for many people we are the only bible they will read, we are the Jesus they will see.
• This is why it is so important for those in the church to love one another and get along. If I go home to my unsaved wife and tell her how much I hate people and how I cannot stand someone and then display anger and hatred toward them, do I really think I will have a chance to win her to Christ?
• If I go out and act just like everyone else in the world, do you think I will have much of a chance to win them?
• Be aware that your conduct will affect your ability to reach people. If you stumble, be ready to say you are sorry and ask for forgiveness. It will impress people.
• I know a lot of people in ministry who have been mistreated, never to hear I am sorry or will you forgive me. This is from other Christians.
• SLIDE #15
• Secondly
2. Our conduct should enhance our outreach.
• The way we act should be something that attracts people to Jesus. What we do should bring glory to Jesus. WE are to make the most of our opportunities!
• How we deal with people should help them see we have something they need.
• I really believe that the largest obstacle between the lost and a relationship with Jesus is Christians. We can be our own worst enemies or we can be a real blessing.
• God calls us to live in such a way as to bring glory to God. I have seen what a positive role model can do in way of reaching people for Jesus.
• SLIDE #16
A third key to effective evangelism is:
III. OUR SPEECH (6)
• We touched on this a little bit earlier.
• The way we speak, what we say and how we say it can be either a blessing to our efforts or a roadblock.
• There are two things I want us to consider concerning our speech.
• SLIDE #17
• Let us look at what verse 6 tells us.
• READ Colossians 4:6
• What does this verse suggest to us?
• SLIDE #18
1. Our speech is to be filled with grace.
• In Bible times this meant that our speech would be dotted with witty and clever sayings and remarks.
• What is meant here is that our speech should be the type of language which results from the operation of God’s grace on our hearts.
• Our speech is to be something that seasons as salt. Too much salt ruins a good dish. Not enough makes no difference in the taste of the dish.
• We are to add flavor to the lives of those around us by our speech.
• SLIDE #19
• The second issue concerning speech is:
2. We need to know who we are speaking to.
• I had a revelation at breakfast the other day. I was at a ministers meeting where breakfast was served. I had eggs and sausage. Before I even tasted the eggs, I dumped a little bit of salt from the packet on to the eggs.
• I ruined them because had I tasted them first, I would have known they needed very little to no salt. I needed to get to know the eggs before seasoning them.
• We need to know as much about the people we are dealing with as we can so that we will know how to respond to each person.
• Our effectiveness increases as we know more about the people we are trying to reach. We MUST see things through their eyes.
• We need to know those we are trying to reach so we can better reach them. MARKETING PRINCIPLES???
CONCLUSION
• Telling other people about Jesus can be intimidating. We may have tried it once or many times and failed so somewhere along the line it became easier to not do it.
• Do you have a list of lost souls you are praying for? Are you trying to reflect Jesus in your conduct and is your speech filled with grace as a person who has received the grace of Jesus in your life?
• Let us not be afraid to step into the water and let us be diligent about sharing Jesus. Can you imagine what we could do if all 100 plus of us were to do that?
