Latest / Gospel Talks Podcast / #99 - Are You Playing It Too Safe With Evangelism? (Part 2)
Transcript
- 0:01We're continuing part two of risky gospel opportunities and why playing
- 0:06it safe isn't always faithful.
- 0:09~ we talked about this last time.
- 0:11The greatest risk in evangelism isn't rejection,
- 0:14it's burying the opportunities God has entrusted to us.
- 0:18And we looked at the passage of the talents in Matthew twenty five,
- 0:22fourteen to thirty. ~ you know,
- 0:25we
- 0:25We worked through a number of things,
- 0:28~ understanding the parable, defining what is gospel risk,
- 0:34~ what are we really afraid of?
- 0:37Persecution, ostracizing ~ being ostracized from society
- 0:43or rejection. ~ and and then we ended last week talking about risk management versus
- 0:50risk avoidance. You know, businesses talk about managing risk.
- 0:54not eliminating it and that's true in the kingdom of Christ as well.
- 0:58We can't eliminate the risk. As a matter of fact,
- 1:01there's a a a writer that wrote a book about ministry called Dangerous Calling.
- 1:06And I just yeah I think it's this Jeff,
- 1:08you could comment on this. Ministry is quite the dangerous place
- 1:12for any Christian to be.
- 1:15I think it's dangerous on multiple levels,
- 1:17but i if nothing else, just the spiritual battle.
- 1:20We have an enemy who hates what we do and he wants to stop us because
- 1:23he wants to stop ~ the work God wants to do through us and and so as we step
- 1:29out for God, we put a target on our back.
- 1:32Yep. Yeah, we do. And what's amazing is Jesus has said to us,
- 1:37Love your enemies. ~ I don't know how to do that yet,
- 1:41but he says, Love your enemies is what he's commanded me to do.
- 1:45And y relational evangelism is the only strategy that I know of
- 1:51to get the gospel to people who are resistant towards it,
- 1:56who are against us and our message.
- 2:00And it also is a great way of managing the risk.
- 2:03Like we've said, it's a great platform to have repeated gospel opportunities
- 2:08to manage risk because people will know you care.
- 2:11They will know you're invested in them and that you love them.
- 2:13They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
- 2:18And so ~ that being said, we're picking up where we left off.
- 2:22And what we're gonna look at today is what are the opportunities we commonly miss.
- 2:28And
- 2:29~ what gospel opportunities do Christians most frequently bury?
- 2:32But before that, let's introduce the podcast.
- 2:35Welcome to Gospel Talks Podcast,
- 2:38where we help Christians all over the world become more effective
- 2:41in relational evangelism and discipleship.
- 2:44My name is George Binocca, and with me today is Jeff Musgrave.
- 2:46And it's great to be with him,
- 2:48author, founder of the Exchange.
- 2:50Jeff, you just finished writing a brand new book.
- 2:54~ you want to tell us a little bit about that?
- 2:57So Conversations with Jesus Volume One has been out for a while.
- 3:01~ it's the first half of the book of John.
- 3:04And just finished editing and ~ sending off to the publisher
- 3:09~ volume two and super, super excited about it.
- 3:12I feel like I've been living with John for just I mean,
- 3:15literally the person, ~ for the last ~ couple of years,
- 3:19but specifically the last couple of weeks.
- 3:21my wife Anna and I have read through the book two different times and ~ just kind of
- 3:27~ zeroing in on everything, learning,
- 3:30~ seeing ~ the life of Jesus in that last night,
- 3:34watching him restore Peter. ~ there's actually a section of a chapter
- 3:39on ~ what what Peter's restoration looks like in the book of Acts.
- 3:44It's yeah
- 3:44Yeah.
- 3:45super exciting. We're I'm really thrilled.
- 3:48Hmm, I love it. I can't wait for it to come out ~ and we will tell
- 3:53you guys all about it. You won't miss out on that.
- 3:55Well, let's just start with this question that I left off on in the introduction.
- 3:59What gospel opportunities ~ do you feel that most Christians frequently bury?
- 4:07Yeah, I ~ you know, this list that I have in front of me that I'm gonna talk about,
- 4:12you wrote. So maybe maybe the two of us should work on this together.
- 4:16this new neighbors, I am confident you put that on there because when
- 4:22you ~ first moved into town,
- 4:26~ you left all your connections ~ where you were and were kind
- 4:32of with nobody and I
- 4:34I actually told you, I said, George,
- 4:36you're in a brand new neighborhood.
- 4:37There's gotta be people right there.
- 4:38And it took a while for people to move in where you were,
- 4:41didn't it?
- 4:42It did, it did. That ha house right across the street from me wasn't even done yet.
- 4:45The people that moved into that house are Dylan and Emily.
- 4:48They have two kids, ~ and little ones.
- 4:52And they've been actually coming over on Fridays,
- 4:54been doing a Bible study together.
- 4:55~ and so it's amazing.
- 4:59The new neighbor thing is a real thing.
- 5:01When you see a U Haul, you should grab your back brace and your Ben
- 5:05Gay and you should go over and help unload.
- 5:08Yeah.
- 5:09Yeah. And and ~ bring meals. I mean,
- 5:11people need ~ so much in those moments.
- 5:14And
- 5:15Yeah.
- 5:16just make yourself a good neighbor.
- 5:17I mean, that's i we're not trying to buy anything,
- 5:20we're just trying to be a good neighbor and become friends
- 5:22Yeah.
- 5:22because that's what friends do.
- 5:25Yep, that that's exactly right.
- 5:26there are other people on this list.
- 5:30~ coworkers are a big one. Jeff,
- 5:33I I have not worked very long in a secular I've had little short stints
- 5:37in a secular workplace. I don't know if you've had a a stint in a secular workplace,
- 5:41but ~ there I mean, it is hard to be a Christian in a secular workplace
- 5:46and at the same time there's such great gospel opportunity because
- 5:49you spend probably more time with these pe as much time with these people
- 5:53as you do your family.
- 5:54Yeah. I and I think ~ again, the way to reach co-workers is
- 6:00I think first and foremost be be a good worker.
- 6:03~ but
- 6:04Mm.
- 6:05but secondly, ~ just be a good making friends with people,
- 6:09letting them know w I I want to know you personally as a person.
- 6:14I care about you personally. And ~ that relational connection ~ just takes
- 6:20you past ~ accomplishing work together.
- 6:24to accomplishing life together.
- 6:27Yes. Yes. ~ I I agree with you a hundred percent.
- 6:32The next one is also a great one.
- 6:33I love family gatherings. ~ and can maybe I could expand it,
- 6:37Jeff. Helping your family, let's say they buy a new house and they need somebody
- 6:41to come and demolish floors with them and paint and do stuff like that.
- 6:45I don't know how you handle witnessing to family members and things like that.
- 6:50Well, I think it when I do seminars,
- 6:54the biggest question that shows up every single seminar just we just
- 7:00got back from ~ where was I?
- 7:03~ Norfolk, Virginia. And ~ the church that we were in there had three
- 7:09or four people that their family had I mean they one woman said when
- 7:14I first got saved, I really pushed people too hard.
- 7:18And now they don't want to talk to me.
- 7:19What do I do? And so
- 7:21Mm.
- 7:22we talked about that very thing.
- 7:23~ making yourself a loved ~ relative by just simply showing up,
- 7:29being the the person who's always going to care for everybody else.
- 7:33frankly, the only way to get people like that to want to talk
- 7:39to you is to talk about the things they want to talk about,
- 7:42and ~
- 7:43Mm
- 7:43if you're
- 7:44You're earning back the the relationship.
- 7:47The relationship has
- 7:48Mm.
- 7:48been damaged and it didn't mean to.
- 7:50You I I don't I don't think people on purpose burn relationships,
- 7:54but when we recognize we've got a wounded relationship,
- 7:57we have to we have to earn back the we call it pocket change,
- 8:00Anna and I do it's just a term we use to to relationships and and really help them
- 8:07desire to be with you.
- 8:09And what I found
- 8:09Mm.
- 8:10is that when I'm a genuine believer and I am genuinely living the life
- 8:14of Christ and ~ carefully giving people the relationship that they need
- 8:20and and want from a relative, eventually they're gonna want to talk about
- 8:25me helping them because they watch me help other people and they I mean when when
- 8:30they get emotionally, physically ~ ill,
- 8:35they're gonna want us around.
- 8:37Yep.
- 8:38Amen. Amen. I agree with you a hundred percent.
- 8:43And on this list are things that I know we could talk about.
- 8:46We probably have examples ~ of each of these hospital visits,
- 8:49weddings, funerals, crisis moments,
- 8:52waiting rooms, sporting events,
- 8:54any of those that you've
- 8:55Well let's
- 8:57take those all together. ~ the sporting
- 8:59Yeah.
- 9:00event kind of goes into a different category.
- 9:02~ hospital visits, weddings, funerals,
- 9:05~ crisis moments, waiting rooms,
- 9:07all of those are situational. I'm I'm with you because I mean it
- 9:12Mm.
- 9:13it ~ and ~ when we are in those moments,
- 9:17I think that we have to be ever like ~ a wedding,
- 9:21I whenever I
- 9:23go to weddings, I always recognize ~ that that preacher over there is nervous.
- 9:29I need to go talk to him. And you know,
- 9:31they're just people that need help.
- 9:33And ~ I always want to jump in and help where ~ that is is needed.
- 9:39And what you find is that as you're going in and serving,
- 9:43funerals are the same way, crisis moments the same way.
- 9:46~
- 9:47Mm.
- 9:48then you just find these are the people who are open and need
- 9:51ministry. I had a friend who was in intensive care
- 9:58for some time and eventually died.
- 10:00This just recently happened. And ~ I I ~ went
- 10:05to the hospital and went to every single family member.
- 10:09I didn't you know it wasn't like I was checking them off,
- 10:12but I just needed to know how are they doing?
- 10:14What can I do to help? And in the process you find
- 10:18those abilities to to minister Christ to them.
- 10:22Yeah, ~ agreed. ~ those are critical times,
- 10:27those are rare opportunities, but ~ those are times when people
- 10:31are thinking about life and death and all that sort of thing,
- 10:35and so ~ we shouldn't pass those by easily.
- 10:38~ why do you think sporting event yeah
- 10:40That sporting event. I mean y are you are you ready to move on?
- 10:43~
- 10:44I shouldn't
- 10:46jump ~ in.
- 10:49No, you're good. ~ sporting events,
- 10:51I was hope to I was hoping to run away from it.
- 10:52But any I don't know why. I mean,
- 10:54I think
- 10:55this is a thing, but
- 10:57here's the deal. sharing an event together
- 11:04is what's gonna build that relationship.
- 11:05So it's possible
- 11:06Mm-hmm.
- 11:07that it is impossible to actually witness during a football game.
- 11:12I mean, you know, we're cheering,
- 11:13we're you know, and it's like it's not like you can interrupt this moment
- 11:17of look at that touchdown with let me give you the next point of the gospel.
- 11:22But what we can do is enjoy that event together and in the process of doing so,
- 11:27connect us, which gives me an opportunity to be able to speak to him
- 11:32at a different place, a different t venue ~ of about the Lord.
- 11:36So these are events that we are purposely connecting with people.
- 11:41So in other words, I'm not just gonna go there and enjoy the football game.
- 11:45I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna purposely try to connect with the person that
- 11:49I attended with.
- 11:51Hmm. Why do you think that
- 11:57why do you think God entrusts us with these types of opportunities or talents
- 12:02if we borrow Jesus' terminology from the parable?
- 12:05why does God open these doors for us?
- 12:10Yeah, i I I think we have to go back to the meta-narrative of nature of of history.
- 12:15And the meta-narrative of history is that Jesus came to seek and to save that which
- 12:20was lost from Adam's fall to the very last ~ soul before
- 12:26the trump is blown. ~ God
- 12:27Mm.
- 12:28is working to rescue people. He he sent me to
- 12:34Mm.
- 12:35serve him.
- 12:37on this rescue mission. It's not my rescue mission.
- 12:39I don't have to rescue people.
- 12:40He's rescuing them, but he he works with me.
- 12:43And so if that's the case, if he really has sent me to this rescue mission,
- 12:48then the fact is that ~
- 12:52he is also going to connect me with specific people
- 12:59he's trying to rescue. And I I I feel like that's my job is to be looking
- 13:04for those people and knowing that he's doing that.
- 13:07Mm-hmm. I love that. Yeah, being aware of what God is doing around you.
- 13:12that's the one situation where you could say,
- 13:15Don't be scared to read into it.
- 13:17Because God is probably doing something.
- 13:18Yeah. Yeah.
- 13:21we call those divine appointments.
- 13:22And the fact is that we should be looking for them,
- 13:25expecting them, and ~ and read I I love this thought,
- 13:31and I'm really stealing something from later on in our in my our notes,
- 13:36but God is always at work. ~ I mean he's never not at work,
- 13:41but when
- 13:42Mm.
- 13:42he pulled back that veil just a little bit.
- 13:46and allows me to see what he's doing,
- 13:48I personally see that as his invitation to get to get involved in what he's doing
- 13:53and to actually be a
- 13:53Mm.
- 13:54part of it myself.
- 13:56Mm. I love that. I love that. A and
- 14:01I
- 14:01guess the question we could ask is ~ what's the goal?
- 14:05Because let's talk about the word success for a second.
- 14:10~ success, this idea of success.
- 14:14We could start thinking of evangelism as ~
- 14:19an opportunity for our success.
- 14:22You know, were we successful in converting them?
- 14:25but but I don't think that's the goal.
- 14:29When you look at that parable
- 14:31What do you see as the goal of this whole process?
- 14:35I think that pointing back to the parable is really valuable because
- 14:38in the parable you've got three different guys and with three different levels
- 14:44of what we would call success.
- 14:47And the two who serve their master well were both equally commended,
- 14:53equally commended. And in the process,
- 14:56the the the words that we hear that are so beautiful are well done,
- 15:02good, and
- 15:04faithful servant. So I I think those two words,
- 15:07good and faithful, are the words that determine success by God.
- 15:12So I live my life for him in goodness
- 15:18and am faithful to take the opportunities that he puts in my path.
- 15:21So that is success. Success is ~ God seeing me as faithful.
- 15:29So to drill down on that a little bit,
- 15:33~ you know, for my friends who are a little bit more analytical,
- 15:37~ how do you define success in witnessing w because there
- 15:44I mean, because isn't there a failure in witnessing,
- 15:46right? I mean, I like it's the thing I think of is you can't fail when
- 15:50you fa when you witness. So what does succeeding look like with those biblical
- 15:55caveats of it's not what the world would define a success?
- 15:58So how would we define
- 15:59success in in a scenario where we're witnessing.
- 16:02Yeah, I ~ I don't know whether you feel this way,
- 16:05but I feel like when I take the risk,
- 16:10have the conversation, and get shut down.
- 16:14And I mean that it it was a failure in terms of conversion rate.
- 16:21~
- 16:22Right.
- 16:22I go I go away from that and have this sense of victory.
- 16:28I I didn't
- 16:28Right.
- 16:29I didn't
- 16:30chicken out even though the possibility of rejection was high.
- 16:34I I I s I took this the step.
- 16:39I did what God wanted me to do.
- 16:41And ~ I I love the abil the thought process.
- 16:46I'm not trying to win the world.
- 16:48That's God's job. What I'm trying
- 16:49Mm, mm.
- 16:52to do is follow my savior. And if I'm following the savior,
- 16:56then I'm I'm actually successful.
- 16:59I mean I
- 17:00I feel like I have done what I was supposed to do.
- 17:02Now failure in a in a witnessing opportunity,
- 17:06I've certainly had those two. That's when I chicken out.
- 17:10That's when I I sometimes I chicken out by talking about God and
- 17:14not talking about the gospel. ~ sometimes
- 17:16Mm.
- 17:17I chicken out by kind of mentioning that people need to be saved,
- 17:21but not helping a person recognize they need to be saved.
- 17:24Do you know what I mean? I'm I
- 17:24Mm, mm.
- 17:25I'm I'm I'm taking the easy path and
- 17:30And most of the times I go away recognizing that that was a failure.
- 17:34I wasn't faithful.
- 17:37You know, it's interesting because ~ I I think the only way we can fail
- 17:43is to not do what God told us to do.
- 17:47~
- 17:48He he.
- 17:49I mean, really, disobedience is failure for a Christian.
- 17:55~ that's I just I just have to obey.
- 17:58I I just have to live life his way.
- 18:01~ the results have nothing to do with success for a Christian.
- 18:07~ because the results are all God's.
- 18:09He gets the glory for the results.
- 18:11No one gets to go to heaven and go,
- 18:13Yeah, but you're like, you know,
- 18:15I won these people for you and Jesus is standing there like,
- 18:18No, I died for them. You just were a witness for me,
- 18:21but ~ thank you for pointing the finger,
- 18:23you know. because that's what John the Baptist did.
- 18:26He pointed, he pointed, he pointed.
- 18:29I do think though that Jesus is going to
- 18:32~ recognize our intimate service with him.
- 18:38So in other words, when I get to heaven
- 18:39Mm.
- 18:41and and there are people there that I had the privilege of being
- 18:45in the birthing room, you know,
- 18:47I had the privilege
- 18:47Mm.
- 18:48of being part of their their trusting Christ.
- 18:51I I just have ~ a confidence that Jesus is going to
- 18:57purposely acknowledge we worked together to see that one saved,
- 19:02didn't we, Jeff? ~
- 19:03Mm.
- 19:03I just I really believe that there's a companionship with Jesus
- 19:07in witnessing that that is beyond anything we could experience any other way.
- 19:14And you see what Jesus respects.
- 19:16He respects what he loves, what he praises is our faithfulness.
- 19:21you know, in in those things. ~ cooperating with him is a great way to
- 19:27put it the way you put it right then.
- 19:28~ but that and doing that on a big scale,
- 19:32multiplication, which is the thing that ~ I've I remember back when
- 19:37I was seventeen or eighteen when I first took the seminar,
- 19:41you came to our church.
- 19:42I still remember that analogy of the guys who really gifted guys were winning like,
- 19:47what was it? Like a thousand people to Christ every
- 19:49Yeah, we
- 19:50yeah. Versus the guy who's like one,
- 19:52then two, then like it was compounding,
- 19:55Two one person
- 19:55but it was slower to begin with.
- 19:56every six months is what that d illustration is about.
- 19:59Yeah.
- 20:00I love that. By the way, that's how multiplication works in the kingdom.
- 20:04That's how multiplication works with money.
- 20:06That's how multiplication works for everything.
- 20:09Is, you know, it there's this compounding effect over time.
- 20:13~ but any investment like that,
- 20:16we know this as people who maybe invest in the stock market or invest in the future.
- 20:21Risk is the price you pay for opportunity.
- 20:25And there is
- 20:26Yeah, it's interesting, George,
- 20:27when it comes to money,
- 20:29the higher the risk, the the the greater the payout.
- 20:33I mean, it's it's just really
- 20:34Yeah.
- 20:34interesting. I think the same thing is true in the spiritual realm,
- 20:39that sometimes the risk is a little bit you know,
- 20:43that's why we get afraid.
- 20:46Yeah. ~ I mean, and this is a question I'm gonna ~ was gonna ask is
- 20:51is that similar in in evangelism?
- 20:53And you you you kinda already answered it there.
- 20:55It is. how though how do we become bolder in our witness knowing there
- 21:02is risk here? How do we become risk tolerant in evangelism?
- 21:06Yeah. Well, if I if we knew that someone would be saved
- 21:12if we talked, we
- 21:14Mm.
- 21:14would all be talking all the time.
- 21:16I mean that there
- 21:16Mm.
- 21:17there's I I I deal with different I mean,
- 21:20I was in this seminar last weekend,
- 21:22~ we had 50 people plus in our seminar,
- 21:25and I I looked around the room and there was not a single person in that room that
- 21:31that wasn't there because they didn't want to see people come to Christ.
- 21:35They were there because they wanted to see people come to Christ.
- 21:35Mm. Mm.
- 21:37The problem was
- 21:38not that they didn't want to see people saved.
- 21:40The problem was that they is not that they don't know enough.
- 21:43The real problem is they don't know what's going to happen.
- 21:47And we're we're hesitant because we don't know what this foray into evangelism
- 21:53is is going to actually do. It's we don't know what where it's going to take us.
- 21:58~ frankly, I think we're afraid of being asked questions that we don't know.
- 22:02~ I think we're afraid someone's gonna really push back too hard.
- 22:06~
- 22:06Mm.
- 22:08and I I feel like I
- 22:13I was in a ~ store the other day and
- 22:18I saw this statement. It was a it was a sporting schools store and it says,
- 22:23You miss every shot you don't take.
- 22:26Yep. Yep. Yep.
- 22:28And I think I think we have to remember
- 22:31that ~ we we're not gonna see anybody come to Christ if we don't introduce anybody
- 22:36to Jesus. And
- 22:37Mm.
- 22:37~ and so w if we just have to kind of recognize the the only way this
- 22:42is gonna happen is if I take the risk and and not every opportunity is gonna
- 22:48hap is gonna is going to present itself as someone trusting Christ.
- 22:54I know even in the New Testament it says some plant,
- 22:58some water
- 22:59some till and those are all people who are going to eventually trust christ there
- 23:05are people who are eventually going to reject christ we're not every opportunity
- 23:10is gonna pan out but we know
- 23:11Mm.
- 23:12this that if we don't take those opportunities no one is gonna be saved from
- 23:16our ministry.
- 23:17Hmm. ~ w what do you think is
- 23:22the missing ingredient ~ that people don't maybe don't have
- 23:28or don't have enough of that is necessary to have this multiplication mentality?
- 23:34I think I think the real issue is do we believe that God is in the saving business?
- 23:40Do we believe
- 23:40Mm.
- 23:41God will use me? And I that's that's really,
- 23:45I mean, we we close every single session with pray the Lord of harvest that
- 23:51he would send forth laborers. The reason we do that is because Jesus preceded that
- 23:56prayer request with this statement the harvest is plenteous.
- 24:00Mm.
- 24:00And either we take him at his word.
- 24:03~ and and take steps because we believe that's true or or we don't take
- 24:09him in his word and do nothing because it if and faith is really the issue.
- 24:13~ do I believe that God is genuinely in the saving business?
- 24:16And do I believe that he has invested in me because he believes in me
- 24:21and wants to use me?
- 24:23You know, every time I've done an exchange bible study and I get to chapter two,
- 24:28I kind of dread it. And but I am I'm almost never disappointed at by
- 24:34the end of chapter two because here I think I'm stepping into
- 24:37an uncomfortable conversation about the gospel.
- 24:40This is an uncomfortable topic,
- 24:42yet God blesses. I don't know if you have any moment in your life where
- 24:46God surprised you when you stepped into an uncomfortable gospel conversation.
- 24:50Can I just back up and and comment about that before I answer the question?
- 24:54Yeah.
- 24:54~ it's what I love about the Exchange Bible study is that lesson
- 25:01two is coming whether we want it to or not.
- 25:03~
- 25:05True.
- 25:06And so in a conversation, it's really easy to kind
- 25:11of downplay it, to kind of sides it,
- 25:13Mm, mm.
- 25:15to kind of
- 25:16and the nice thing about the Exchange Bible study is number one,
- 25:19it's not me saying it. It well actually it is me.
- 25:22You let the author say it and and you don't have to.
- 25:25~ but it it it's the book,
- 25:29it's the truth, it's the Bible saying these words.
- 25:31Mm. Mm.
- 25:32but
- 25:33number two, ~ it
- 25:35you know, lesson two follows lesson one and and people recognize I've
- 25:40got to get through this. And and you're right,
- 25:43over and over and over we see the outcome that is positive.
- 25:46So you asked the question, what's the most ~ surprising,
- 25:50~ uncomfortable gospel conversation?
- 25:53Anna and I had a long conversation with
- 25:58an atheist and Anna said at the end of the conversation,
- 26:03Jeff, this is not working.
- 26:04We we gotta do
- 26:05Mm.
- 26:05something different. ~ she suggested we get a a a an apologetics type book
- 26:11and and kind of help him with it.
- 26:13And I and I remember the conversation we had,
- 26:17and basically my response was let's just give the gospel a chance.
- 26:23Let's let he had he had agreed to do the four lesson Bible study,
- 26:27and ~ I really wanted to see what was gonna happen.
- 26:30And the the coolest thing is that
- 26:34We didn't even get a chance to get to the third lesson.
- 26:36After we finished lesson two, ~ he came to me and said,
- 26:42~ literally these words, I don't need to study anymore because I'm convinced this
- 26:48is true. I need to make
- 26:49Mm.
- 26:50what you told me about. And ~ I just would love for all of us to
- 26:58To let that phrase go through our brain,
- 27:01let's just give the gospel a chance.
- 27:03Sometimes we ~ forward the the ~ opposition answers before
- 27:09the opposition is even given to us.
- 27:11so
- 27:12Mm.
- 27:13rather than s trying to apologetically convince someone,
- 27:16let's just give the gospel a chance.
- 27:19And as people have real problems with something that's being said,
- 27:24then we can stop and answer those questions.
- 27:26So I just
- 27:28I watching Carleton come to Christ was one of those moments in which
- 27:33I decided I'm gonna give the gospel a chance and I watched the gospel prove itself
- 27:39to me. And we can always do that.
- 27:42Yeah. Yep. Amen. ~ as we get ready to wrap this up,
- 27:48~ let's just do a practical risk assessment.
- 27:53So you just kind of trying to put ourselves always in the shoes of somebody
- 27:57in our audience who's saying, Okay,
- 27:59I want to become bolder and I've got some ideas on this,
- 28:02but Jeff, you go first. What are some low risk,
- 28:04high impact opportunities they can start taking this week?
- 28:10Yeah, I I I love the question.
- 28:13So tell me your story.
- 28:15Hm.
- 28:16most people love to talk about themselves and th you're showing interest
- 28:21in that person and before you know it,
- 28:22you're gonna get to the place where you can help them see Jesus.
- 28:26So I think just my my favorite go-to is ~ so tell me a little bit about yourself.
- 28:32Tell me your story. Where you know,
- 28:34how how did you get to where we are today?
- 28:36And ~ it's just really cool to watch that happen.
- 28:40Hmm. I I I love that. the one one that I love
- 28:45is ~ almost nobody, even an atheist,
- 28:49probably won't turn you down if you go,
- 28:50hey, can I pray pray for you? Is that okay?
- 28:53How can I pray for you? Can I pray with you right now?
- 28:55~ pe people just ~ of all faiths,
- 28:59backgrounds, worldviews, they pray.
- 29:02And so ~ it's kind of an interesting thing,
- 29:05the credence even the world pays to prayer.
- 29:09Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's interesting,
- 29:11~ you you hear about what's going on in Nepal and people say,
- 29:14we gotta be praying for those people,
- 29:17you know, we gotta be thinking about that.
- 29:18Mm. Mm-hmm.
- 29:19And I just think that's
- 29:20really ~ true. I another one that I think is really,
- 29:25really simple is and I I know I wrote the Bible study,
- 29:30I'm supposed to say this, but it is
- 29:32Mm-hmm.
- 29:32so easy to just tell people I have this four lesson Bible study that
- 29:38I really believe the two of us would enjoy studying together.
- 29:41It's just a simple introduction to who God is,
- 29:44how to have a close relationship with him.
- 29:45Use as the
- 29:46Yeah.
- 29:46Bible so that you s see it for yourself and decide whether you believe it
- 29:51and ~ just offer to study the Bible and specifically the exchange bible study with
- 29:57people.
- 29:57Hm. Yeah, I love that. ~ I love that.
- 30:00We've talked about other things before.
- 30:02most people drink coffee. Everybody eats.
- 30:05Okay, so those are easy ones. Inviting them to just common things.
- 30:10every and you talk about this,
- 30:13Jeff. ~ I think in giving the exchange,
- 30:16your testimony is ~ a presentation of the gospel.
- 30:20It's w it's one of the best gospel tools.
- 30:21Yeah, and it is the most
- 30:22powerful tool to get into gospel conversations of anything else we have.
- 30:27~ just telling our own story. So invite their you know,
- 30:31tell me your story. And then the cool thing is when I invite someone else
- 30:35to tell me their story, they usually reciprocate by wanting to hear my story.
- 30:39So that and I'm always gonna tell my spiritual journey.
- 30:43Yeah, absolutely. ~ okay, last thing,
- 30:47lightning round. When we stand before Jesus one day,
- 30:51what do you think he'll care most about regarding our witness?
- 30:55Yeah. I just finished Conversations with Jesus,
- 30:59Volume Two, and in that section we have the ~ denial of Peter.
- 31:04And I just think to myself, when Peter was standing at that fire
- 31:10~ and denied Jesus, the likelihood of him seeing someone converted
- 31:15if he just started witnessing to them wasn't very high.
- 31:18I mean, that wasn't why he was there.
- 31:20What Jesus wanted Peter to do.
- 31:24was to stand with him. And I I really feel like ~ what
- 31:30God is gonna want from me when I get to heaven is not how many people
- 31:36did you lead to Jesus, but did you stand with me?
- 31:39I I think he wants us to love
- 31:45him so much that we have to talk about him.
- 31:48I mean that's that's literally the biggest issue.
- 31:52Mm-hmm. Yeah, did you hide hide your light under the bushel or did you l
- 31:57set it up on a hill? ~ were you ashamed of me?
- 32:00Like you said before, ~ you know,
- 32:03are we wearing it comfortably on our shirt sleeve?
- 32:07~ yeah, I I think that's a great one.
- 32:10anything else before we close this out?
- 32:14You know, I don't know that this will touch other people as much as it touches me,
- 32:20but my friend Mike Reddick and I were in the Philippines together and
- 32:25I was just overwhelmed by the physical needs around me.
- 32:31And I knew that Mike was involved with helping some specific kids make their
- 32:36way through college and those sort of things.
- 32:39And I said, Mike, I said, doesn't doesn't this get overwhelming to you?
- 32:43I mean
- 32:44And I will never forget what he said.
- 32:46Just because I can't do something for everyone doesn't
- 32:50Mm.
- 32:51mean I can't do something for someone.
- 32:54And I think sometimes
- 32:54Mm.
- 32:55we get a little overwhelmed at God told me to go g give the gospel
- 33:00to every creature. And ~ if I think about the overwhelming nature of it,
- 33:05it can kind of paralyze me and and help and not do anything.
- 33:11And so I kind
- 33:11Mm.
- 33:12of love that thought. I
- 33:13I I'm just gonna do something for someone.
- 33:16I I really believe this. God doesn't expect me to win the world,
- 33:21but He does expect me to win someone.
- 33:25And so that's that's that's what I want to just leave
- 33:28Mm-hmm.
- 33:29with everybody. Look, God doesn't expect us to do everything,
- 33:33but He does expect us to do something.
- 33:36Mm, mm. Amen. Amen. ~ yeah,
- 33:39I I I think that's that's a great way to to to end it.
- 33:43That's that's the truth about this situation.
- 33:47And ~ you know, we go into the harvest,
- 33:50we pray this every week with you guys,
- 33:51but we know that some water, some sow,
- 33:54but God gives the increase. and so it's God who wins,
- 33:57and Jesus does win. I mean, read the book of Revelation to summarize
- 34:00the whole book of Revelation as Jesus wins.
- 34:02And so, ~
- 34:04Pray with us as we pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth
- 34:09laborers. We love you guys. Thank you so much for listening.
- 34:11If you haven't subscribed, subscribe to the podcast and share it with somebody.
- 34:16Share it with your pastor or somebody in your church who's who's down about gospel
- 34:21opportunities, who's who feels frustrated by evangelism.
- 34:24And reach out to us if we can be a help to you in any way.
- 34:29my email is george at exchangemessage.org.
- 34:31I'd be happy to interact with you or even pass you on to Jeff if you have
- 34:35a question for him. So ~ we love you guys and we will see you next week.