And then third: When the opportunity comes, speak up. And I think this is where a lot of people kind of check it off. "Yep. I can pray. I can do that. Yep, I can be kind and loving, so I'm going to do that." But boy, I don't know what to say. Well, and it's okay. Drag them to church, let them hear an evangelist. But you know, there are people that you may reach that I will never meet, or that you will have an inroad with because of a relationship that I will never have. So I'm kind of limiting things to three, but there's three things to note. Number one, know our need. We are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We all are separated from God by sin and we need a savior. Number two, know the gospel. Jesus is that savior, He is the sinless son of God. He died for our sins and He rose again. And number three, know how to respond. Receive Christ. Put your trust in Him. There's nothing magic about words in a prayer, but prayer is the way we talk to God and just acknowledge it. "Jesus. I need you to forgive my sin. I believe in you. I accept you as my Savior. My Lord, come into my heart and my life." It's not a specific set of words like God to say this it's a response. And then right back to number one - pray, pray, pray.
You know, statistically most people need to hear the gospel about seven times before they respond. So we shouldn't be discouraged. I know naturally we are, if we go out and share our faith, and we just kind of get a blank stare. Well, you might just be the first one along the way. Some people only need to hear it once, but there are some who aren't going to need to hear it seven times, they're going to need to hear it 70. At least be one of those times, Pray for God to be moving in hearts, and pray for God to be preparing your heart, pray that You will be salt and light and pray for opportunities.
Ben Poole
Yeah, that's good. And I definitely echo everything you just said as key things to consider, and I want to pivot to some practical things that we can do. There's churches coming together, handing out food. What I would say is don't feel like you have to reinvent the wheel, because our community and our churches are filled with ministries that are outreaching to the community for the gospel. If you're the one that asked us this question and you're going to a church regularly, go talk to your pastor or ministry leaders and ask, "Where can I use these gifts that I have with our body?. And if you're not part of a church, get in one and come visit. You can come to either of ours or any of the preachers that are on Ask The Pastor. Just pick a church that's a gospel preaching church, and get involved and see what you can do.
There's a point where we think these are large scale things - the food ministries, the food pantries, they're reaching large groups of people. But like you were alluding to, don't forget your neighbor, don't forget your coworker that you're with all day long, and the people you're around. Sometimes it's easy to think of reaching people on a bigger scale, maybe like in a church service setting, but there are people who don't necessarily come to church but would love to have a conversation. Most people that I talk to and have talked to who aren't Christian love to talk about what they believe in. And one thing I've struggled with - and probably still do - is that I want to spend more time trying to convince someone to come to Christ, and I struggle a lot with listening. And I think what people really need is for someone to listen to them. That is something that's hard because in your head you're thinking of arguments against everything they're saying, but we have to be careful when we're telling people about Jesus. What we're really doing is we're essentially dismantling their whole belief system, and that affects people emotionally and physically. And it's hard for people to learn what they believed isn't true. And so that goes back to when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, "To love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself." And I think we need to reach people for Christ, whether it's in large settings or in an individual setting where, if this was me that was being talked to, how would I want someone to share that gospel with me? In my struggles, in my unbelief, in my belief of something else, how would I want someone to talk to me about that?
Our church motto or mission statement is very simple: Love God, Love People, Repeat. We've got to invest into our relationship with God. Like you were saying, pray, stay in the Word and then go love people, just like Jesus did. He didn't say, "I'm going to go love those people, but not these people." We've got to get away from that nonsense teaching. He got a lot of grief for the people He spent time with. And He said, "I came for the lost, I came for the sick" - they're the ones that need to be healed. And I think we as Christians need to have that same mindset.
Gary Schick
Yeah. And you brought out two things: one, the need of believers for a church body to be a part of. We'll have individual witness opportunities, but it is as the church that we do this. On the other hand, the longer we're in Christ the farther away from the non-Christian world we become. So while it's important to be a part of the church, it's also important to be in the world, but as the Scripture says not of the world. So there are evangelical Christians who are saying, "Well, I'd be willing to share but I don't know anybody who doesn't know Jesus." Well, maybe you need to go make some new friends. I mean, I'm not saying to go and start doing a bunch of sinful things to be like that. But hey, there's people who don't know Jesus everywhere we go. Just get to know people and accept them where they are. That's the other stereotype Christians have, that we're very judgmental. And we're going to come off that way because, you know, we have turned from a lot of that, but we also have to meet people where they are and say, "You know, I'm not there. I'm not telling you not to be there, but I'm inviting you to know someone who makes all the difference and will turn your life inside out, upside down in ways you never imagined." And those surface things that set us apart from the world - they're there, but they're not even the beginning of the real change that Jesus wants to make inside us.
Ben Poole
Well if you're listening and you are looking for ways to serve, I can openly invite you to pretty much any church in our community. The churches in our community really are making some moves for the kingdom of God here. So we would love to have you join up and get involved in different ministries around the community, see where your gifting is and come talk to us and we can get you plugged in somewhere for sure, because the church really needs people that are going to get out there and get to work for the kingdom of God. And it is not God's desire that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. So the way that's going to happen is through His church that He established.
