Evangelism Training Seminar

All right, well, good afternoon. I have the sign-up sheet here for the Rituit Fair for anyone who wants to assist sitting at our table and talking to the folks that come up and giving them pamphlets and all the things we do there. It's a really good time and there is no cost to you. So if you want to be a part of it, we will pay for your entrance. We already purchased vendor passes at a discount.

We just kind of reuse those all day. And it is awful empty still. So if you'd like to volunteer, we need you to sign up. And I know a lot of you probably do what I do where you think, well, I'm not going to sign up. I'll just wait and see what slots are there and then I'll fill in. And if we all do that, we just end up with lots of empty slots.

And believe it or not, I will pull my hair out on Wednesday. That's a joke, but in order to try to be there. I love being there. I have a fun time there. It's a good fair. If you ask anyone from Richwood, they'll say it's the best fair in Ohio.

So if you open your Bible to Romans 1, we are going to try to simply discuss evangelism with a particular focus on the how. Now, some real, tangible, practical ways that you can walk out of here like an hour from now or 45 minutes from now and actually have something to hang your hat on where there's something maybe you didn't know or couldn't have done before. So the intention is to be very practical.

And to get to that point, I want to talk a little bit about what evangelism is and why we would evangelize. I want it to be somewhat interactive. I'm up here probably just because it's easier. This isn't a sermon. This is more of a Sunday school style where I want feedback. So first I just want to start with Romans 1.

Read a couple verses and get you to see Paul's focus. And there's a particular word he's going to reuse, and that word is gospel. So Romans 1, reading from the Brand Standard Bible in my case, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God. The gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

And then if we look down to verses 15 to 17, You'll see this word gospel repeated. Paul says, The righteous will live by faith. You're good-newsing people. And so, can somebody tell me what the word gospel means? When we say the gospel. Good news, that's right.

And so it's good news about what? Go ahead, speak up a little bit. About salvation, that's right. That's right. Forgiveness from sin. Redemption in Christ.

It's more than just sharing any good news, but it's good news about Jesus. What is the good news about Jesus? What are some specific details that we would need to tell people to actually tell them the gospel itself? I would agree that we need to tell people that, but I'm going to say that's not part of the gospel necessarily. The good news is not that you're a sinner.

We're saved. Yeah, we can be saved from our sins. How? Faith in Jesus. Okay. Is there anything people have to believe about Jesus?

That he's the exclusive only way, right? Yep God in the flesh What did you say Micah They have to believe he God Right What was that He conquered death Sits at the right hand of the Father Yep, stood in your place. He's substitutionary atonement. So yeah, those all true. He died for sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried, rose again according to the Scriptures.

These are all things that we need to believe about him. We can also keep in mind that even the demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They were the first to identify him. Well, maybe John the Baptist, but demons know who Jesus is, right? And demons are not saved. And so now what are we saved from?

What Jans already said, right? We can be saved from our sin. So what's sin? Separation from God. What did you say? Separation from God.

Separation from God. I would say that you're on the right track. Sin separates us from God. That's true. But what's sin definitionally? Missing the mark, Andrew said.

Transgression of God's law, or transgression, that's 1 John 3. Rebellion against God. Any other definitions of sin? I can think of three definitions of sin. One is that it's a transgression of God's law. That's in 1 John 3.

The second one is that anything that is not done from faith is sin. That's Romans 14. That's slightly different. And then in James 4, James says that if anyone knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. And so transgression is a little bit different than omission of a right thing. But so if a person is going to be evangelized by you, as John's already brought up, They're going to have to know what?

Yeah, otherwise, the good news is not going to mean anything. Are the pamphlets here? Oh, wow. So in Sharon's office, there is a stack of handouts for people. Okay. Do you know what they look like?

Well, I hope she does. I just realized, like, nobody's looking at their notes. Yes. Yeah, well, ignorant of the fact that several copies were made for your benefit, so you could go home and you could research these things. But, yeah, so missing the mark, breaking God's law. And so if somebody, so this is the next point, is nobody takes medicine that they don't need.

All right, so imagine somebody came up to you and said, hey, I've got this ibuprofen and just handed it to you. You're not going to just take it, right? And even if they said, hey, this will cure a headache, if you don't have a headache, you're not going to take the ibuprofen. And similarly, we can distinguish the gospel, the good news. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came in the flesh, was born of a virgin, lived the perfect life that you and I could not live, and he suffered, died, and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance to the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven, he's seated at the right hand of God the Father, and he's got all authority on heaven and on earth. And unless you personally believe that you are in need of the forgiveness that he says he offers if you believe that gospel, you're not going to believe it. And unless you know what sin is, unless somebody helps you to see that, you're going to, I wouldn't say it's impossible, but you're going to be drastically less likely to believe the gospel in any saving way to really rest and trust in Christ if you don't see anything you're fleeing from.

Do you understand? And so I will agree with the Reformers that the gospel and the law are two different things. That the good news that Jesus died is not the same thing as telling people they're a sinner. But if you're going to be a person that delivers good news to people, whether it's your family, whether it's people you run into at the store, Whether it's when you're counseling somebody, we all are in different environments where God's put us.

If you're going to be a person who's going to be able to give the good news to people in the real hope that they'll receive it and rest upon it for their soul's salvation, you probably are going to need to be ready to help people to see that they are a sinner one way or another. And that's sometimes the harder part. And I'll tell you that when you get in conversations with people, it's often not very difficult to tell them Jesus something or other.

Jesus did this. Jesus did that. A lot of times people know enough about Jesus that they're offended just hearing about him. But a lot of the times when you talk to people, it's when you start to make it personal that they are sinners in the eyes of God and they personally need that forgiveness. That's when it can become difficult. So what a person must know about himself before the good news means anything to him.

A couple ideas. That he's dead in his sin. That he's worthy of God's judgment. Can you think of any other things that you think people should understand before they'd be able to trust Christ? Paul? I need to express.

My own experience has been people will readily accept that they're sinners. They're not perfect. I'm a nobody, I can't buy us that kind of thing. They also recognize that Christ is forgiving And I think where they fail to fall is that they can continually forgive for sin as they commit And I think there's a lack of understanding as to what repentance is more than anything.

I've experienced it. They don't understand. They think, oh, well, I'm just saying I'm sorry for who we go and I don't know what they're doing. That's a really good point. And so in a lot of ways, that's helping people understand God's justice, I think, is letting people see that it's actually right for God to punish sinners. It's not something that he sits back and wishes he didn't have to do.

It's actually part of his nature to hate evil and to love what is good. That's good. Anything else? Because, Kelly kind of brought up the point that they have to believe Jesus is the only one, right? Earlier. And so what, if a person knows they're a sinner, like if they agree with you that they're a sinner, and then their response is, okay, I'll just, I'll stop sinning.

What would you say? You still need to be forgiven. You still need to be forgiven, right? So even if a person could stop, let's say you met a person that somehow was able to stop. We all know that's silly, but to the non-believer, they think they can atone for their own sins one way or another. Oftentimes, they think they can come to church.

It's one reason why I think it's, although I think it's wonderful to invite people to your church, and I think it's a good thing, That's not evangelism. That's inviting people to church. And a lot of people will come to church to assuage their own conscience. It makes them feel better to put a little money in a basket, to take the bread and the cup. They think something's happening because of the outward actions they're doing.

And so we need to be careful that we teach people that they can't atone for their own sin. So without knowing the bad news, people have no reason to believe the good news. So we're on, if you have notes finally, we're on the movement 6 or movement VI. And so they don't want to hear it. So one of the things that keeps us from evangelizing, one of the things that keeps us from talking to people, Now we're particularly focusing today on preparing to go talk to people that maybe you don't know at a fair.

But you have the same problems when it's your unbelieving brother-in-law, when it's somebody at work, when you're at a park and even maybe you started to strike up a friendship with someone. There's always the same kind of difficulties and obstacles. Sometimes they present themselves differently. So what are some reasons that people don't want to hear about the bad news?

What are reasons you think they give? Like what makes it hard to try to help someone that maybe you don't even know, or even someone you do know, to convince them that they're a sinner if they think they're not? Catherine? They think you're judging them? They think you're judging them. That's a really good one.

That makes it difficult, doesn't it? It's pride to believe that they're already on the path. Pride? They don't want to hear you tell them a different way than the path they're already on. Right? It's very offensive.

They might have to admit they're wrong. They might have to admit they're wrong. Yep. Yeah, they don't want to hear it. Something that just makes them feel bad, right? Someone they know they love.

Someone they know that they love died. Uh-huh. It's based on the fact that God will allow a bad thing to happen to someone else. They don't want to hear about the gospel. Yeah, if they realize somebody they know is already dead without Christ, it's hard for them to hear about God's judgment on that. Lydia?

It must be 80% of the people who have a grandfather that was a pastor. Yep. And now it's a grandmother. So we have a new problem in the 21st century. Lydia, did you have something to add? They don't want to give up their sin is another reason.

People don't want to hear about their sin. It makes them feel bad. They feel judged. They blame you for judging them. It's also possible that they've genuinely seen hypocrisy in the church. Have you ever heard of the phrase church hurt?

It can be a bit of a victimization thing, but there are people who have been actually hurt by evildoers. And there's been people that have been hurt by, I think, well-meaning people in church as well. We've had conflict. And so a lot of people don't like to hear bad news. Because in particular, they're at a fair, they just want a thing of popcorn, a cotton candy, maybe a beer, ride a couple rides, and they want to watch a rodeo.

And now you're making them think about, oh, one day you're going to die. And they don't want to think about it that day. And so that's part of what we're doing is we're intruding into their life. So some people believe that God forgives everybody. But to love your neighbor as yourself would mean that you need to tell them what they need to hear that you know they need to hear.

And you will be called arrogant for that. And we been doing that in Sunday school We been talking about these objections to Christianity And one of them is how can you think you know the answer And the answer is we really messengers for God We believe his word. So we need to say the true thing, even if it makes people angry. Not telling people the truth would be, for us, sin, since we know we ought to do it.

So Movement 7, who told us to do this? Who told us to evangelize, to gospelize? Christ did. He said it himself in Matthew 28, right? Go make disciples of all nations. You have the authority of God.

So just like when men in the Old Testament preached the truth, Like Isaiah and Jeremiah, we would say they were commissioned by God. We've been commissioned by God as well. And so turn to Romans 10. It's important that we understand this. Paul works backwards from salvation to how a person would ever even begin the path of salvation, humanly speaking at least.

So Romans 10, 9, a lot of people have this verse memorized. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. And he says, for with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved. And so there's just this simple formula. It's bigger than this in general, because we know there's such a thing as false conversion.

But the simple formula is, when a person trusts Christ, they believe in their heart that Jesus is Lord, they believe he was resurrected from the dead. This is why we have to give people true information. We can't just say the name Jesus and expect people to get saved. You have to teach them the whole counsel of the gospel. But they get saved. And then Paul asks the question in verse, well then he continues, As the scripture says, anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.

There's no difference between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord of all. And he says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10, 13. But then, Paul says, how can they call on the one in whom they have not believed? So he's working backwards.

He's saying, if somebody's going to believe to be saved, how are they going to call on them? Verse 13, everyone who calls on the name will be saved. How are they going to call on him if they don't believe him? His point is it's impossible. It's a rhetorical question where the answer is supposed to be obvious. It won't happen.

Nobody is going to call on the Lord who doesn't believe in him. And then he says, and how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? Nobody is going to believe in Jesus if they haven't heard of Jesus. And from a gospel standpoint, that's going to include all the information necessary for the gospel. That he lived a perfect life, that he died and rose again.

I think those are things that are essential beliefs. You don't have to know every detail of his life, but there are certain details of his life that, even if you didn't know them, you certainly shouldn't deny them. I think a person could get saved hearing about Jesus without knowing he was born of a virgin. But I think if somebody found out he was born of a virgin and then denied it, we say, well, you're not following.

So some stuff's essential to understand. They have to know who he is, though. But then he says, how can they hear without someone to preach? So now he's going back further. So people have to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. They have to believe in him in order to call on him.

They have to hear about him in order to believe in him. And now somebody has to actually gospelize them. Somebody has to tell them the gospel. Somebody has to explain to people who Jesus is, what he did for sinners, and then in a sense compel them to repent and believe. And then he says, and he says the word preach here. Here I think it's implied that there's going to be some people that do what would be characterized more as preaching, and then there's other people that would just maybe talk to someone.

I don't think this is excluding that you could write the gospel in a note to somebody and give it to them. And in fact, we have hundreds of these little notes, we call them gospel tracts now, that you can hand people and give them the gospel that way. And then Paul says, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. That's Isaiah.

And he says, not all of them welcome the good news. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? And then Paul finishes the argument with, consequently, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. So in order for anyone to exercise faith in Christ, they have to have heard of him and know who he is. You can't just give people a generic Jesus.

They have to know who the real Jesus is. Paul? I believe that verse 17 is a very powerful verse because it also speaks to the order of salvation. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing comes through the word of Christ. That, to me, is the power.

If you evangelize long enough, I think it doesn't take long to figure out that this is not man's work. This is the work of God. Amen. And Paul starts Romans 1 with he's eager to preach the gospel to all those who are in Rome because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. So we need to get to the gospel with people. I wouldn't belabor the law point for very long.

Some people think we ought to. I think we can, but people need the gospel. They need to hear of Christ. So, no page numbers on my notes. That's not helpful. All right.

If not everyone is elect. Yeah, all the elect will be brought to face is the last thing I had under there. So if not everybody is elect, why should we preach to everyone? So if that word bothers you, this church holds to God's election. And so if people are elect, they are eventually going to hear the gospel and believe. If people are not elect, we don't believe they would believe the gospel.

And so why would we preach to everyone? Any thoughts on that? Paul? We don't know who the elect are. There's also the act of worship too. So it's worshipful.

And beyond that, God will use you to Amen. Did everybody hear that? Could you restate it, or would you like me to? I'll do it. Andrew said evangelization itself is in itself worship. So you're worshiping God when you evangelize, even if you don't get the results you were hoping for, which would be the person believing.

But also, even if the person doesn't believe, God will use your evangelization to them as part of their judgment. And that is to God's glory as well. Did I summarize it right? Good. That was a very good point. That wasn't in my notes.

That's why you ask people to share. Yet we don't know who the elect are. And frankly, do you have any idea what wickedness we would do with that information if we did? If you know your own heart at all. God wants us to give the gospel out indiscriminately to everybody without trying to sort them out. It's not your job to try to figure out if you think somebody's ready for it or not.

Wow, it's not, there may be tender moments where you think you can say, wow, this person really seems ready. But, you know, there's been people who were on their way to Damascus to murder Christians who got saved in a moment's notice because that was the time that God had appointed for that person. And there's been people who you've seen year after year coming closer and closer, being drawn and then eventually getting saved.

Some of you have stories about people, you know, like that. And so we proclaim that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And we tell that to people indiscriminately. And when they do believe, then we can say, well, we count you as one of God's elect. But we don't determine those things. We observe the results of what happens in time.

So we don't withhold it from anyone, and particularly not because we dislike them. Or we don't withhold it from people just because we've judged them too far gone. So we all know that guy, just like he's so hateful, you know, or he's so blasphemous. And now Greg's one of the elders, you know, right? Some of you could have given up on Greg, right? It said about Paul, he who used to persecute the church is now proclaiming it in Galatians 1.

Also, there may not be a next year. We could belabor this point for a while, but I want you to consider the urgency of this. Every person that you meet at the Rituit Fair, at Thanksgiving dinner, wherever you happen to go, They're all going to die and stand before God. It's appointed to everyone to die once and then the judgment. And James 4 tells us not to presume that we are going to have this time next year to go and do these things.

You can read it yourself. It's about James 4, 13. Don't say to yourself, we're going to go to such and such a place a year from now and we're going to make money. He says you're arrogant because you're presuming that you have time that you do not know that you have. And the same thing applies to everybody you know. You do not know if that person is going to be end of life five minutes from now.

And so to withhold the gospel from people because you don't see it as an urgent need is another form of error. And so, you know, obviously we're not, you know, you take time to take a bath and you take your kids to soccer and you do different things in life. That's how God has planned everything. So the urgent need isn't just stand on the street and nonstop just preach the gospel.

That's not how God designed life. But you should have a sense of urgency that the people that you know are all headed either to hell, which is the default position that we're all headed to from our moment of conception because of our sin in Adam, or they're already a Christian, in which case you presenting the truth of Christ to them should be a joy. It should create an instant friendship with them.

And so you don know that you have time to reach people It saddens me to say this you know kids die too right You look at a kid sometimes and you think, oh, well, they have time, right? Kids die. People come up to the tent at the fair and they don't come back. You don't know if you'll get another chance with people. So especially, I would say, in a situation that is intended to be a gospelizing situation, sitting at your church tent for the fair, step out in faith and try to get those conversations going with people.

And it'll be good practice because a lot of you, and there's nothing wrong with this, you're supposed to love your own. A lot of you have family members and friends that you have been afraid to open that conversation with. Because you know it can cause difficulty. You know that it can cause conflict. And it's okay that you have this heart for them. And so sometimes talking to somebody you don't know as well is easier.

It's less risky. You're risking less if they decide they hate you when it's over. And it's good practice for you to be able to open the conversation with loved ones. There's a lot of verses about the brevity of life. And I think most of you know a lot of them. But, you know, when you think about other people, and you think about it from the perspective of it's like there's a burning building, God says save others by snatching them out of the fire.

I think that's an evangelistic verse. It says that in Jude. I think that when we think about it from the perspective of urgency, it will change the way that you think about conversations with people. So it's true that people are already dead in their sins And that they may not have much more time to hear the gospel. So now, the ways in. So Movement 10, Part 2 of all this.

How do you start a gospel conversation? So at this point, my hope would be that everybody in this room, at least if you're led by the Spirit of God, has become utterly convinced or more convinced than before, or at least just inspired, that you should urgently have a desire to give people The actual good news of the gospel and that you recognize that the good news of the gospel is distinct from preaching law to people, which is also an important aspect of helping people understand that they are sinners. You see that?

Anyone see it? Yeah. And that the law, when we give it to people, their temptation, and there's a line I have in your notes that says the law is a mirror, not a ladder. Their temptation is going to be to say, well, I'll just do better. That's most people's temptation. And so as you talk to people, it now becomes incumbent upon you to be that Proverbs 20, verse 5, wise person who's able to draw out of other people's hearts like deep waters and to start to understand what makes them tick.

Not everybody's a sinner in the same way. Okay, some people's sin is actually a desire for self-righteous pride. And they actually live really good lives from outward perspectives. Some people are into all sorts of debauchery and they actually know it. They just don't care. And so you helping sinners see where they're at is how you need to help them.

And so there's a few ways in, and I think I listed them on yours. Proclamation is one of them. So that's like next Saturday, I'm going to go to the Buckeyes game and I'm just going to stand and preach. And so people will walk by and they will have no option but to hear the gospel for however long they're walking close enough to me. That's one way that you can get people's attention.

And it is a biblical way that people can hear the truth. That is not what we'll do at the Richwood Fair. At the Rituate Fair, we will be more likely to ask questions of people and just have conversations with them. And one of the best ways in is to ask them a question. So in the same chapter, Acts chapter 8, Philip went down to Samaria and proclaimed Christ in Acts 8.5.

But then later in Acts 8.30-35, he goes up to the Ethiopian in the chariot and he asks him if he understood what he was reading and then used that as an open door to explain it. In the same chapter, you have multiple ways to talk to sinners. So our most likely way is going to be asking people questions and asking them things about their life. I've got some sample questions in here.

So, asking people do they go to church is a very easy question that gets right to a spiritual thing. There's a fun game that we could play sometime if we want to continue this kind of lesson called the spiritual transition game. And I'll just briefly explain it to you. It's where you hang out with a friend and one person brings up a topic. So, you know, Jans, throw a topic out there.

Ohio State football. Ohio State football, right? And then the other person's job is to try to talk about that topic, but then come up with a way to transition it to something spiritual. And you just practice saying things like, you know, Ohio State functions a lot like the church because they're a brotherhood, they protect one another, and their goal is to go out and get victory, and the church is going to be victorious.

You know, you can just have fun with it, And then the ultimate goal is to figure out how to take almost anything that another person could bring up and figure out how can I try to direct that to the gospel How can I direct it to spiritual talk at least And so and there some really funny fun ways that that all turns out actually That's great. I remember we were at Menards, and the guy was holding this rusty pipe, and he was looking for a place. And he just walked right in and said, you know, you should be storing up your treasure.

Yeah. The laws of rust won't destroy you. That's great. I remember also thinking, Jim, I'm not going to work a 16-hour day today. Let's keep this moving. He was really good at it.

That's great. And what I want to share with you is you can practice it. So some people... I was there once where they had... Someone had medication for a headache. And he was like, you know why you have headaches, right?

Yeah. That's great. And you know, any of us can do that. Not just Jim. He was looking for the opportunity. He was spirit-filled, spirit-led, right?

And so you can practice those things if maybe you think to yourself, I'm not as naturally gifted at that as others or even spiritually gifted. You can practice these things. So you can talk to people, ask them questions. Another form of evangelism that's often overlooked is overheard worship. And so you think about the Apostle Paul worshiping with Silas, it was, right?

In the Philippian jail. And they're worshiping the Lord. And the jailer ends up getting saved. And since I understand the order of salvation, That Paul was bringing up earlier. The jailer heard the gospel. He heard it preached by the servant girl of the sorcerers throughout the week or whatever.

But he heard Paul and Silas singing the gospel. And I can guarantee you the hymns they were singing were gospel saturated. Just like the ones we sing, many of them. Do you know when we go out and do Christmas carols, that however many of us there are, you're all literally preaching the gospel for the entire... Like every song we sing preaches the gospel.

And some of you may think you're afraid to share the gospel, and yet all you'd have to do is share, you know, Joy to the World lyrics with a friend and say, let's talk about this. You know, it's okay, you can do it. So in Matthew 5.16, we're told to let our light shine so that they'll see our good works, glorify our Father who's in heaven, And I'm going to tell you that I don't think anyone is going to see your good works apart from hearing of Christ and glorify the right God.

I think that it's actually implied in Matthew 5, 16, that the only way anyone's going to glorify the right God in heaven is that you have to also be telling them which God you're serving with those good works. Mormons do good works. Catholics do good works. There's a lot of people who do good works that you can do. So we need to open our mouths. Let's see here.

I had a lot of notes, and they're not all necessary, but I have more to tell you about if you like. So some possible questions you could ask. Let's go there. One thing you can do is just give people the tracts. So we have gospel tracts that were made for our church. And specifically, they look like a 6x9 card that just tells you about the church.

But then also on the back, it has the whole gospel written for people. And so it's an easy way to introduce people to that and to try to start a conversation. Some people are going to be in a hurry, so you just give it to them. So at least they have the information that they can read later, and then they can get saved. And if you're interested in stories of people who've been saved by tracts, there are so many.

And they're the neatest stories in the world. People find them under a trash can, like it's the weirdest thing. But God will use them. They're called paper missionaries. But some questions you can ask. Well, here, I'll ask you first.

What do you think are some questions you could ask or statements you could make to introduce a conversation with someone? We'll say like a person at the fair that you've never met. They walk up to the table. What's something you think you could say to them? Do you know the gospel? Do you know the gospel?

That's a good one. Lydia? What do you think happens when you die? Very good question. Michael? Do you have a Bible?

Do you have a Bible? Good question. Oh, you're all Michigan colors today. Week one. Do you go to church anymore? Do you go to church anywhere?

It's a really good question. Especially out here. It's interesting, I'll note for you that I used to live in Pickerington, which would be really the city compared to where we are now. And the number of people that went to church was amazingly low there And then I come out here and the questions I ask people to get conversations are so different now Because everybody out here goes to church I'm going to say everybody, I'm using hyperbole, I hope you all know what that means.

Everybody out here goes to church, knows Jesus is the Son of God, knows that he died on the cross for our sins and rose again. Like, everyone knows all these historical facts about Jesus. And it's actually very challenging. It was a big challenge to me for a couple of years to try to figure out, like, how do I actually really discern where people are at?

Because you meet people that can affirm all the truths of the gospel. They've been baptized. I meet people that say they go to LaRue Baptist Church, and I've never met them. And so how to discern what are they really hoping and trusting in? So you can ask them, what do you think happens after we die? Would you say you're a good person?

Where do you go to church? I like to ask people when they tell me where they go to church, I like to ask them, well, why? What do you like about that church? You know, what keeps you there? Your goal ultimately is find out what people's motivations are. What do they like?

You know, is it, oh, they got a lot of kids programs? If that's their first response to where they go to church, that's, I'm just going to tell you, that's probably a really bad sign. Now, it doesn't mean they're unsaved. But if people's first response is good kids, why did you marry that woman? Well, she looked like she'd be a good mother. Really?

Must really love her, you know? Like, come on, right? We don't treat anything in the world like we treat church, you know? How many people have had a bad experience at a restaurant? Did you go back, right? Right?

You go to church, you have one bad moment, and all of a sudden people are gone for 20 years. I'm not going there. Just keep going to Raising Cane's. So you don't need the right personality, you just need a first sentence, you need a question or a declaration and the willingness to say it. So for some people, this is what I want you to be able to hang your hat on, For some of you, come up with those questions that you feel like you're comfortable asking.

Right? The ones that you think are going to be able to get you where you want to be and you're going to feel comfortable when they answer, that you're going to be able to keep a conversation going. And just start with the same one every time. It doesn't have to be scripted, but it's okay if it is. Jason? One way that's really effective is sharing a loss.

See, I just lost so-and-so. You know, it's just a pet. You see, someone's going to open up about their loss. And then you have a segue to the gospel. How are you handling that? How are you coping with that?

Do you have any hope now that that's happened? How do you move forward? And that's going to determine what they think about eternity or the state after death. Now you have a segue to the gospel, the good news. That's good. It can be kind of goofy too.

You know what I do? I ask people how to spell their name. And I actually think it's kind of neat because we have a million different spellings of very simple names now. So it's fun. But people love their own name. People love, well, except your mother, but most people do.

And they love talking about themselves. And I don't even mean that in a narcissistic way. It's just normal. And so when you're interested in a person's name and you ask them questions, It's almost like just get the juices flowing a little bit so it feels more natural if you do change the topic. So find comfort. Ray Comfort, you know who Ray Comfort is?

So Ray Comfort came up with somewhat of a scripted way to go ahead and give the gospel to people. He calls it the way of the master and he patterns it after a number of ways Jesus gave the gospel, Which is basically meeting people, giving them God's law to help them see that they're sinners, and then asking them if it concerns them. And then when they say, yeah, it's concerning, he explains the gospel to them.

And he's got hundreds of hours of videos on it. And I would actually recommend it as a starting point for somebody that's maybe a little nervous. Maybe you find it hard to remember things to say. It's okay to sort of script it a little bit if it gets you out there doing things. And don't be afraid of not having all the answers. So when someone says, why is Islam wrong?

You don't have to know all the details. It's okay to tell someone, I'm not sure of the answer to your question, but I know Pastor Bebe knows the answer. Right? Right? We want that confidence, right? But you know what I mean, it's okay to say I know people who would help answer that question.

And also we need to learn to think categorically. If somebody has another religion, I don't have to know the details of their religion to know that if it's not my religion, it's wrong, right? Like I don't have to know the name of your new religion even to know it's already wrong if it's not salvation in Christ alone. And so be confident that you have the truth and be humble enough to just tell someone, you know, I'm not sure that answer, but I know you need Christ.

So, point 11, use the law lawfully. I put some verses here that you should have, but a lot of it is just this idea that you want to let people know that God does have a standard. And it's very easy. See, most people have heard of the Ten Commandments, especially in an area like this. It gets a little watered down in some of the big cities. But most people have heard of them, so you can go through commandments with people, and you can remind them things like, hey, have you ever murdered anyone?

And most people will say no. And then, sadly, in... In 2026, we can look at most women now in America and say, well, you have about a 50% chance it seems like that you've murdered a child. But even putting aside abortion as actual murder that people don't want to hear about, Jesus said that if you hate your brother from your heart, if you call him a fool, like if you're being angry with him, that you've already committed murder in your heart and that God sees it that way.

Jesus says that if you look at a woman with lustful intent, you've already committed adultery with her in your heart. And most people you talk to, like those two, just get them real quick, everybody's done those things. You know, people have coveted what wasn't theirs. They've been greedy at some point in time. Even if they don't think they steal, they've coveted more than what God's provided.

And so we help people to see that not only have they broken the commandments, but oftentimes they see how God's standard was higher than they ever realized. And they broke the commandment in their heart before they ever did an outward action. Oh, he's adorable sleeping there. So cute. So sometimes you can tell people they're a sinner if you want. Some people would say try to lead them in that direction so they realize it.

So it's one thing to just proclaim, hey, did you know you're dead in Adam? Some people will be like, okay, yeah. Some people you help them along by showing them how they've broken God's law. And often it softens the blow when you share something personal. Like, hey, you know, I've done those things too, and I needed Christ's forgiveness. That sometimes helps people to see that you're not just standing in judgment over them.

You're sharing with them that you happen to already know the judge and you got forgiveness and now you're trying to give it to them. So get to the cross. There was a, I think it's a phrase that Kirk Cameron taught me, be cross-eyed. You always want one eye on the cross when you're evangelizing people. And it was Kirk Cameron, if you're as old as I am, he was your hero.

I don't know when you were a kid. So anyway, but Kirk Cameron became a famous evangelist with Ray Comfort after being a famous Hollywood guy. And I remember him teaching once. He said he was at a, he was somewhere, and he ended up arguing with these two guys about Islam for like an hour. And then it was all over, and everybody had to leave. And I don't know if somebody looked at him or he realized it himself after that.

He argued an hour about the fine points of Islam and Christianity, but he never actually shared the gospel. So whatever the apologetic endeavor was at the time. So try to make sure you get people to the cross. That's what's going to save them. You're not going to save them. You compelling them to come in might be a good thing.

It's not going to force them in. You have to get people to the foot of the cross and then let Jesus handle his relationship with that sinner. And your job is to get enough information to them that they know what they need to do. And the Holy Spirit, in a sense, has all the materials that he's told us he wants available when he decides to regenerate someone and save them.

So make the announcement, issue the call, but it's not your job to secure the outcome. The duty is ours, but the results are up to God. Remember that. And then when it comes back to you. First, 2 Timothy 2.24 is a good verse that helps us. We can get frustrated easily.

2 Timothy 2. People sometimes will say mean things to you. Remember Paul said he was filling up. Well, let me find it. Colossians 1. Kind of an interesting verse here.

I already told you to go to 2 Timothy, but in Colossians 1, Paul says, now in 24, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you. Paul says, I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the church. People cannot attack Christ anymore. And so they will attack his body. And so when you put yourself out there to evangelize people and to proclaim Christ, the truth of Christ, his kingship, his lordship over everything, the fact that they need to bow their knee to him, they will attack you.

They will accuse you of wrongdoing And so be ready for that And then in 2 Timothy 2 The Lord servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone correcting opponents with gentleness and God may perhaps grant them repentance And so we're hoping that God will grant people repentance. So this doesn't mean that every single moment is always perceived by everyone watching as gentle. All right.

So there are times that sometimes, especially with men, we speak what in 2026 is considered harsher. But in general, we're trying to win people over to the gospel through adorning it by good works and the types of behaviors that most people recognize are Christian. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, things of that sort. All right.

If somebody tells you they're a good person, what would you say back? Catherine? Do the great comfort thing and ask them, well, have you lied? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever done what was the commandments and they've done everyone? Yeah, that's a very good response.

Yep. What's another way you could respond to that? God says otherwise. God says otherwise. Yep. Michael?

When you're at age 21 to 21? You would ask them that? Yeah, that's a good question. Another three-word answer you can say for a lot of moments that can frustrate people, though, is you can just say, by what standard? Right? And all the answers given were a form of that.

So sometimes just let people talk themselves into hell, almost, by explaining what their standard is And a lot of times people will start to realize they don't have an objective standard. What if somebody says God would never send anyone to hell? He says otherwise. Go ahead. That actually is kind of a problem. When people hear about a God who puts in things to help them, they're like, well, then he must not be a good God.

That's a problem anyway. So that is another problem that's kind of a recent thing. A little history. Tom Carver said, God is going to be successful. Yes, good. I guess I would ask him if he read history.

And, you know, hearing about Hitler and you can go on and on. Yeah. Yeah. People love to know about justice. They like justice. There's a comfort in knowing that justice only serves.

And so, if you can get them to admit that they didn't mean harm, that God is just, that the way out of God's order is just, Yeah. Good point. It's important to point out, so you're saying, why do you want to be judged at all? What's those big things when they say, no, they should be judged? Then the trick is to get them to see that while you're sitting in service as well.

Yeah, I was thinking a question I could ask back is, Would you send anyone to hell? Because most people have the list of people they'd send, right? You know? How about, why? He said his son there for three days, so he's starting to do his sins. Yeah, if he didn't spare his own son.

Right? Yep. Okay, here's a question people will ask. You tell them that they have to believe in Christ, that it's exclusive, that they need to know Christ suffered, died for them, and rose again. And then they say, well, what about people who've never heard the gospel? That's not fair.

How do you respond to that? Can you say it louder, Steve? Or is that? Romans 1. Yeah. Aaron?

Okay but people might agree with that that people but they say it not fair that they don get to hear the gospel and get a chance Paul? The missionaries, if the heathen who have not heard the gospel don't go to hell, then the last thing we should do is send an official. Amen. Amen. You understand what Paul is saying? From a Christian apologetic standpoint, if it was true that people who didn't hear the gospel could make it to heaven, then God would be a really terrible being for sending missionaries anywhere.

So we have to know, is it going to be John Hinch or Romans? Yeah. Romans is a good book. We don't necessarily have to address this. We're talking about you. We're talking about the person that's right in front of you.

You're the one I'm concerned about. I hope you care about others enough. You would hope that they would hear about the gospel too, and you can share it with them, but let's start with you. Sometimes you can get lost in the weeds and never share the gospel like you were doing. Yeah, it's just an excuse in their mind I look at people, I say, repent of your sins, get saved, quit playing video games, go be a missionary to all these people you're so concerned about.

Seriously. And then we brought up this one earlier, when people say, you're judging me, how could you respond? Yeah. Good. Yeah. And each of you has been individually gifted.

Oh, go ahead. God's judgment will be worse. Yeah. I tell people on the day of judgment, you're going to wish it was me just still preaching to you. John says they're condemned already. Condemned already, yep.

That was good. Yeah, so people are going to come up with their excuses and they're meaningful to that person. And each of you has been equipped by God not only with natural abilities, but there's supernatural giftings that we all have that are different in different ways. And so you have to discern sometimes, is the person honestly asking a question that they need an answer to that would really help them?

Or is the person just kind of making their argument against God in the form of a question? And you may deal with those things differently. And if you're new at it and you're anything like I was, you'll constantly think, wow, I did that one wrong, and then you try it different the next time. One of the beauties of grace is that we can go out and actually kind of mess up, and we don't have to worry that we actually messed anything up.

God will take care of us and the other people. So remember Romans 1 16. The gospel is the power of God and we're not ashamed of it. So always get there. Never be ashamed of it. And then really feels like it's getting a little long here.

So I think it's important when we talk to people about the gospel that we include a call that they need to be members of the local church. So obviously they have to be saved first, so we don't just say come join tomorrow. We're not baptizing people in Richwood Lake. That'd be fun. But the point being that some people are so zealous to make converts, we'll say, that they fail to see the centrality of God's plan of the local church in how he's doing everything since Christ ascended, literally.

And they want to make converts, but they're not actually telling people, oh, by the way, you're compelled to join a local institution. You need to come to church and be submitted to pastoral authority and other people in your lives. And so you can feel like you're putting the cart before the horse if they're not saved yet. But I think it's part of the conversation, especially if somebody believes.

If somebody says, wow, I believe what you're saying, it shouldn't be, well, this is great, see you later. They're like your child in the faith at this point, and they have no idea what they need. And there are far more places that they could find that are going to be harmful to them spiritually than helpful And so you need to be willing to say and we shouldn be ashamed to say come to LaRue Baptist Church Because frankly if Amen This is the probably most important part of the discipleship and teaching people how to follow Christ.

And I'll tell you, you know, there's different giftings, there's different proclivities people are going to have. Jason, can you say something? I have one question. Like, real quickly, what would be your encouragement to someone who, they want to do evangelism, but every time, if this isn't the right time, what if this happens, what if they never share the gospel?

What's your encouragement to someone who's always succumbing to fear and never sharing the gospel? My encouragement to that would be to get surrounded by people that will do it with you. Because the peer pressure, this is what I'll tell you my experience was, it can be a fearful thing. But when you're in a group where it's like, hey, we're going to share the gospel today.

And then you're out there and all your other buddies are doing it and you're not. You're like, I kind of don't want to be the one that's not. So get people around you who will help you do it. And I think some of that, sometimes you just have to face the fear. But if you're alone a lot, it's harder. If you're with somebody else, Jesus sent them out in twos, right?

Or was that Noah? Whatever. They both had pairs, right? That's a good question. No, I want you to be willing to go sit at a table with another church member and be surrounded by this gospel literature and ACBC books and all the things we're providing freely to that community. And the fish are like jumping in the boat.

It's not like I'm asking you to go to a Buckeyes game. Of course, if you want to go to a Buckeyes game with me Saturday And talk to random people that some of them don't want us there. You're welcome to come with me. But at the fair, people are walking up and asking a question, and they know it's a church already. And so it's an open door, and you'll have a person with you who will encourage you and be able to pray with you and help you if you get stuck.

Sure. But hopefully you're compelled to do it. Hopefully you're equipped with the knowledge to do it. And a little bit of practical means of how it can be done. So practice with your spouse, practice with your kids, practice, Andrew or me, we'd sit and pretend to be the non-believer and let you go back and forth and practice things. It's kind of fun to do.

And it exalts Christ. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your word that never returns void. We thank you that each of us has been uniquely equipped by you for the providential moments of our lives that no other person in this room will have. And that we know that some of those are for your intention that we would proclaim your name among the nations.

And so we ask you to give us souls. None of us in our hearts wants to be a preacher of judgment. We want to be people who find people who are suffering the effects of their sin, find people who are suffering from the difficulties and afflictions that arise in this life, and we want to be able to bring them into your church and show them the joy that comes in knowing Jesus Christ.

And so we ask you to use us in that way to lead people to us and cross our paths where we can share the gospel, where we can get better at it, and where we can constantly feel a sense of urgency that other people who are no less deserving of your grace than we are, are in great need of it. Help that be forefront on our minds, and it's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.

Alright.