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Lesson 11: Evangelism and the Believer · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord God, for just being an amazing and an awesome and holy God. Lord, I just thank you for everybody that's here tonight. And for those that couldn't be here, I just ask that you'll be with them and just watch over them and bless the rest of their week. Lord, just help us have a good week. Bless this time together in fellowship, Lord, and just speak through me, God. And I just pray that you'll bless this time together in your name. Amen.
• 0:29
  So evangelism and the believer, this is actually a topic that I love because as I was studying this lesson, I realized it was about evangelism. And evangelism is something that, I love evangelism. I really believe one of the things in ministry God has called us to do, but I feel led to do is evangelizing.
• 0:59
  Evangelism can take, in my mind, many forms. This is just me talking. It might mean preaching around different churches or it could mean just meeting with different people and Bible study one-on-one. Evangelism isn't, to me, it's kind of a broad array of sharing the gospel of Christ to other people. It's sharing the gospel. That's what it is. It's witnessing. It's kind of like being a missionary.
• 1:27
  It's a form of evangelism. So, you know, I'm thinking about that. A lot of times when it comes to sharing our faith, we tend to be afraid to do so. It's so easy to be afraid to share our faith. And I think about that in my own life. There's plenty of times I could think of where I knew I should have shared my faith with someone, and I didn't. I was afraid to. I was afraid of being ridiculed. I was afraid of them making fun of me.
• 1:58
  I could think of a time when I was afraid they'd just reject the gospel and make me feel bad. But we have a tendency to be afraid to share our faith. And sometimes it's difficult for us as Christians to witness to other people. Can you guys think of a time in your life when you knew you probably should have shared your faith with someone and you didn't? I think it's easy to think about. People who are introverted might have a harder time sharing their faith sometimes.
• 2:30
  just because they are uncomfortable with talking to people. If you are afraid to get up and talk to people in public like I am, you're going to have a hard time sharing your faith at times. But I think that we have to remember that, you know, God will give us the strength if we rely on Him to do that. You know, one of the reasons why I think it's hard for us to share our faith is sometimes sharing Christ with others.
• 3:00
  Christ with other people might seem foolish to them. And it might be offensive. And I think sometimes, especially in today's society now, we're afraid to offend people. We hear that word all the time. I'm offended by what you have to say. And I think sometimes even we might get caught up in being afraid to offend people because we don't want to hurt people's feelings. So that might be a hindrance to sharing our faith. God's Word says in Matthew 7, 13-14,
• 3:34
  And I'll pull it up real quick. The one thing I did this time is I actually created notes in my phone so I can find the verses faster. But it says in Matthew 7, verse 13 starts off with, Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.
• 4:08
  and those who find it are few. What does that verse mean to you guys when you talk about that? What does that mean? What is the small gate, I guess? We'll start with that. One way to Jesus, and that small gate being hard and narrow, to me that is God's way of saying being a Christian isn't going to make life easy for us. Life isn't going to...
• 4:42
  Always be easy. It's not always going to be easy to serve God. I mean, I think in the United States we've had it easy for the most part. But if you look at people who live in places like the Middle East, try being a Christian in Iran right now. You want to talk about having to go through a narrow gate to know Christ. Being a Christian in Iran can cause you to be killed. That's a death penalty. That's something to think about. And I think...
• 5:11
  there's a chance that we're going to see that in our country someday if things keep going the way they're going towards the end of the days. And the white gate leading to destruction, we know that's referencing hell. And it says it's broad. I was actually having a conversation with a friend not too long ago, and we were actually talking about the rapture. And I was telling him about this online series I was watching called Apocalypsis.
• 5:47
  It caused me to think about the rapture because they're discussing this. And I think their first video, there's four videos. And I started really thinking about it. And out of all the people who are alive on the earth today, which is probably three or four billion, I think, if I remember correctly, I really wonder how many out of that will end up in heaven. If it's one-third of the population, one-half, one-quarter.
• 6:13
  I really think that, as the Bible says, it's going to be fewer. But if you take the whole world population at once at the time of the rapture, and you account for more than likely kids will be raptured out who are under the age of understanding. I know that's kind of controversial. But you take out all the Christians, I think you're still going to have more than half of the world's population left. I'd say maybe one-third of us will be gone.
• 6:43
  And I think, you know, that might be a lot of people when you're talking in terms of billions of people. It still might be a lot of people, but in reality, if the majority of people are left here, they're left behind. Think about how many people throughout history are going to end up in hell. It's a lot to think about. It's a lot of people to think about. There's going to be a lot of people in heaven, but definitely God's going to have to make...
• 7:10
  Hell and the lake of fire are so much bigger than heaven if you think about it, to fit people in it. So think about people that you know, your friends, neighbors, maybe people you work with. Do you know what path they're on? Do you know if they know Christ? And have you ever shared the gospel with them? And I'll be the first one up here to confess, I haven't always shared the gospel with people in my life. It's easier for me to share the gospel with friends, but where it's really hard for me, where it has been really hard for me, is at work.
• 7:48
  That's where it usually gets harder. And in the line of work that I've been in in my career in law enforcement, it gets hard because it's such a macho road working in law enforcement. It's machismo. There's peer pressure. It's like being in high school, only you're older. Really, you look at it. I always look at a police department. I'm like, oh, the SWAT guys, that's the football players of the police department.
• 8:17
  Then you have the guys teaching DARE and school resource. That's like your nerds of the police department. I was more of the SRO guy. And then there's the guy who sits on the crisis intervention team or he's the crisis negotiator. He's like your football manager. He's kind of half a nerd, but he tries to hang out with the football guys. That was always me too. No, I haven't changed at all.
• 8:48
  But I laugh because I think about those. Work was always a hard place for me to share my faith. As I grew in my career over the last 20 years, maybe I wasn't always comfortable with being like, hey, officer so-and-so, let me tell you that you're going to go to hell if you don't turn your life over to Jesus. I may not have done that, but where I really started gaining an understanding is how I lived my life outwardly.
• 9:18
  Not in a judgmental, I'm holier than thou way, but just, you know, if they ask me, hey, we're all going to go out on Friday night as a team. Do you want to go? If I went, to make sure I wasn't caught up in drinking and rebel rousing with them. Or sometimes just saying, no, there's more times than not. If somebody said, hey, we're going to have a party at so-and-so's house this weekend. I'd be like, okay, I'm out. I'm not going to go. I'm not going to be there with my family or my wife.
• 9:48
  You know, and when they'd ask why, I'd just be like, because that's not the lifestyle I want to live. I have a greater purpose in life. And I said, you know, if you guys want to live that, that's fine. You know, I'm not going to tell you not to because half of them are Christian anyway, so no matter what they did, they're still rejecting God. And the ones that were Christian, I'd be like, you understand why I'm not going to go. And you have to decide between you and God what's right and wrong. I can tell you that it's not right.
• 10:17
  But you have to decide for yourself how you're going to live your life for God. So, you know, in this world, most people are dying without Christ. Jesus has a heart for the lost. And part of his purpose for coming was because of that. I mean, that was why he came, right? It was his heart for the lost. He wept over us. He wept over the lost. Somebody would like to read Luke. We have 1910 and then 1941 to 1942.
• 11:17
  Okay? So he came to seek and save the lost. I mean, that's pretty poignant. That's direct. That's why Jesus came. And then if anyone wants to read 41 to 42. So Jesus, and that verse was talking about how he wept over the city because of how they were, he knew what was coming and he knew they were going to betray him. The city, they were going to reject him.
• 11:58
  But he knew what was coming and he knew that as they were rejecting him, he wept over them because his heart hurt for them. Because he knew what ultimately was going to happen to them if they didn't repent. And then in 2 Corinthians 12.15, if somebody wants to read that real quick. So this was Paul talking to the Corinthian church. And basically he was...
• 12:47
  expelling to them or telling them that he has a heart for them. He has a heart for the lost. Paul had a heart for the lost. That's one reason why he did such a good job of evangelizing as a disciple of Christ. Because when he came to know God and he did on that road to Damascus and he realized who Jesus really was, he wanted everybody to know Jesus the way he did. So ask yourself, do you have a heart for the lost?
• 13:17
  It's a question we should all ask ourselves. Do we have a heart for the lost? Sometimes we may not feel like it. I can tell you I've met a lost person now and then that I look at him and I'd be like, Lord, if he never gets to know you, that's no skin off my back. Somebody who may have wronged us or somebody who may have done harm to us. Is that the right heart attitude to have though? It's not. We should be concerned for everyone's eternity.
• 13:51
  Ted Bundy was in prison before he was put to death. Dr. James Dobson met with him. And ultimately, it's been said that Ted Bundy accepted Christ while he was in prison and asked God to forgive him. And there are some people who, when they hear that, they are angry about that. And they're like, why would God allow him into heaven? He deserves to be punished for that sin that he committed for killing all those people. But I've always responded with this.
• 14:23
  None of us deserve to go to heaven because our righteousness is so wrong. We talked about that several weeks ago, that we all deserve death. So who are we to say that if Ted Bundy truly accepted Jesus and came to know Christ, that he shouldn't be allowed into heaven? Salvation isn't by us, it's by God. And if Ted Bundy's in heaven because he accepted Christ, then we should be celebrating that. His crown of thorns, his crown of...
• 14:53
  James might be more of a crown of thorns in heaven or a crown of wood. But you know what? He might have a small house. But if he's up there walking the streets of gold, worshiping Jesus, then he's up there. And we should be rejoicing in that. So we have a call to evangelism. Christ has called us to be a witness. He's actually commanded us to do so. If you look at Mark 16, 15.
• 15:28
  How many of you know Mark 16, 15? Mark 16, 15 is also known as the Great Commission, if I remember the phrase correctly. So what were the disciples supposed to do according to that? And if you guys want to fill in the answers to question 1A, you can. Go into the world and preach the gospel. That's what Jesus told the disciples to do, that they are to go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation. And then they were also told,
• 16:35
  But there are three aspects to make disciples. If you look at Matthew 28, 19, and 20. So Jesus told the disciples to go and make disciples, baptizing in all of the nations and teaching them.
• 17:22
  basically as we apply that to today, is we are to go out and preach the gospel. And he wants us baptizing and he wants us teaching. He wants us discipling. When I look at evangelism as a whole, it's not just sharing the gospel with people and walking away. We can't just do that. I started a ministry, it's like in the infancy stages, and it's called In the Trenches Ministry.
• 17:58
  And in the mission of the ministry that I have is to share the gospel of Christ, to go into the trenches to share the gospel. And trenches could mean going to places other people won't go. Maybe to the jails, to gang members, to police officers, going to parts of society where other people maybe can't reach or can't get to for whatever reason. But to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, if they know Christ but have turned their...
• 18:29
  their life away from God and are not walking with God, to go to them and share Christ with them to remind them of who they are in Christ. And for those that are serving God, to disciple them and teach them and train them. It's a three-part evangelism ministry that I'm trying to build up now. And it's because it's more than just sharing the gospel. Now, sometimes that's all we can do is share the gospel and then pray that God sends someone else.
• 18:58
  to water that seed and to disciple them if they come to Christ. But sometimes we have people in our life where we may have evangelized them. They have come to know the Lord, but we have to be the ones to step up because if we don't, they'll fall aside. They'll fall away. When I was working for Brighton Police Department, we had a sergeant there that he wasn't serving the Lord. He didn't know the Lord. He wasn't saved. And he lived a very wild lifestyle. Very wild. He was a womanizer.
• 19:29
  was a drunkard, was always partying. He was one of the cool guys on the SWAT team. Very wild. But I got to know him very deeply. And one day, before he accepted Christ one day, he told me after briefing, he held me in the room and he goes, Danny, I've been going through a lot. And he shared with me what was going on in his life.
• 19:53
  And I flat out told him, I said, listen, Kenan, you know that I know Christ. And I've shared the gospel with you. I know you know Jesus is the answer. I told you he died for you. He rose again. You have to accept him. Ask him to forgive your sin. Accept him in your heart. And get to know him that way. And he said, I know. One day I will. One day when I'm ready. I said, I'm telling you right now, if you don't do it one day, one day it might be too late. Well, eventually he accepted Christ.
• 20:23
  He came to know the Lord. And I saw an instant change in his life. I saw it. I watched this man who I knew. And it was like in a 24-hour time frame. He went from this party animal lifestyle to this guy who was so hungry for God. It was amazing. And he always told me in all my tenure there that I was his personal chaplain. He always told me that. And after he accepted Christ, actually he came up to me. We were working the night together.
• 20:53
  And he's like, I need to meet with you. And I said, alright. So we met up at a location. He goes, I accepted Jesus as my Savior and I just want you to know that. And I'm just on fire for God. And to this day, he's still serving the Lord. I've watched him grow in his church where he goes. I've just seen the change in his life. He now has a Christian wife. He's serving God emphatically. And I've watched him change. And there was me and another Christian guy that worked with him.
• 21:22
  constantly ministered to him and discipled him in the Lord. Constantly. Even when he didn't realize it sometimes, I think. I would just go into his office and I'd just disciple him. And I felt like I needed to. That was part of evangelism on that part for him. The gospel is a sacred trust. 1 Thessalonians 2.4 talks about this.
• 21:53
  And I'll read it real quick. But just as we have been approved for God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. So how did Paul view the gospel based on this verse? How do you think Paul viewed the gospel and treasured it? And he knew that God entrusted the gospel to him and to us. God trusts us with the gospel. He knows that we are capable of going out to do that.
• 22:36
  And I think that's so important to think about. To fully understand that we are entrusted with the gospel is a big responsibility, but I think it's also a big honor. And it's something that we should be happy about because God trusts us to share our faith. Charles Spurgeon wrote, No one of us can be exempted from the work of spreading the gospel because we are engaged in some other work. Good as it is, though it may be very...
• 23:11
  intimately connected to the kingdom of Christ, yet it does not exonerate us from the work of endeavoring to bring sinners to Christ. There is nothing whatsoever in the whole world, the compass of Scripture, to excuse my mouth from speaking for Jesus when the heart is really acquainted with His salvation. We are all called to make Jesus known if we know Him. Let us trust in the divine energy of the Holy Ghost and speak the truth in reliance upon His might.
• 23:43
  Now Charles Spurgeon said that in a very old English way. But really what he's saying is. We have a duty to go share our faith. We have a duty to bring people into heaven with us. And I tell people all the time. I don't do it because I have to. Or because God says you got to go share your faith. I do it because I want so many friends in heaven. Because for me eternity is a long time to be up there. And I'm going to have an eternity to get to know a lot of people. So the more people there.
• 24:13
  the more fun I'm going to have. I'm going to be able to have a group of friends to go worship at the feet of Jesus with, and a thousand years later into heaven, I'll have another group of friends I could be hanging out with. Now, there are hindrances to witnessing. We just touched on some of those a minute ago. And sometimes Christians, after they're saved, it's just hard to, I guess, express that.
• 24:53
  Especially when you're a new Christian. But even as you go down the road, sometimes it might be hard to express how God changed your life or how He saved you. A lot of times we just don't know what to say or how to say it. I think that's why it's real big for us to just make sure we're living a godly example in our lives. Because sometimes it's easier if we can get people to ask us why we live the way we live. Because then you strike up that conversation and go back and forth. When I worked,
• 25:23
  Because there was a rule you can't proselytize or outwardly share your faith, although I violated that rule a lot. There was times I would find ways to get people to ask me. Because if I can get them to open the door, I can step through it with no problems. I'd arrest somebody in a patrol car. I'd put on K-Love or another, you know, Way FM or whatever.
• 25:52
  I had one guy tell me one time, I don't like hearing your Jesus music. And I go, then quit getting arrested. Music for getting arrested. This is my car radio. I play the music I want to play. But I told him, I said, maybe Jesus is trying to tell you something. I said, I'm sure you'll find him in jail. He's there all the time.
• 26:27
  I was a guy I dealt with off and on, and he actually started asking me about my faith every time I'd run into him. But it was a witnessing tool for me to play Christian music all the time, or Christian talk radio, even if I was playing like maybe Charles Swindoll was on the radio. I'd play something so that they would get the gospel in my patrol car. So it was kind of funny. So if we're under divine order to share the gospel,
• 27:01
  Why do you think we hesitate? If God wants us to share the gospel, and I think he even gives us the strength, why do you think we hesitate? Anyone got any answers for that? I kind of touched on them a minute ago.
• 27:58
  Is that kind of what you're going to say? Kind of a judgmental, holier-than-thou style.
• 28:21
  Or they were pushed when they weren't ready. And so I struggle to be like, I definitely know this where I got it so obviously, like this now and this is what you say. But in terms of a long-term relationship, like with our neighbors and stuff, I struggle with knowing how much and when. And if there's doors, I'm going to walk through it. But as far as, I don't want to turn them off by...
• 28:50
  The timing being wrong. You don't want to pre-tell fire and brimstone and then shove them away. You want to be building the relationship and it's just when you go all in. And I think that those are all different ways to evangelize because those are issues that we do have to think about, I think, at times. Having the discernment to know when and how to evangelize. And I could see that being a hindrance if you're trying to figure that out. It can be.
• 29:22
  I've talked with a lot of church leaders and pastors who even struggle with, it's easy to share Christ from the pulpit. I mean, I can go do an outreach and preach a message at a youth detention center and not be afraid to share my faith and share Christ in my testimony, doing those kinds of things. And yet, if I were to walk into just a room full of people, say a store at the mall or something,
• 29:50
  I would be very terrified to walk up to someone that I don't know and just be like, hey, can I share Jesus with you? I have a brother who, my brother in California, he could go out and preach on any street corner as a street preacher and do a fantastic job. Not me. That's not my style of evangelism. And that's probably something I should try to do one time in life just because it is so hard to do. But my brother was good at that.
• 30:20
  And, you know, so it's funny how we all have these different fears and struggles. Like I talked about, I feared it at work. When was it appropriate to talk to another officer about Christ? And, you know, if I offended them, would they complain to the supervisors? And, you know, could I lose my livelihood over it? And that kind of thing. And those are valid fears. And I think we do have to, especially in those relationships, when do we approach our neighbors?
• 30:50
  I can tell you I have a neighbor. I've never shared Christ with her, and she's like the total opposite of me politically. She is atheistic and very liberal, and I have yet to walk up to her and just say, Hey, Amanda, can I talk to you about Jesus? Maybe I should. I don't know. But I think peer pressure, that comes back to peer pressure. What if we're not accepted by our peer group?
• 31:21
  You know, we all have, we still face all that even as adults. I tell kids all the time, just because you grow up don't mean peer pressure stops. You know, so the fear of not being accepted. And as my mom put it just now, ignorance, you know, in a sense. What if I don't have all the answers? What if I don't know all the answers? It's easy for somebody who's studied and learned, but a new Christian or a Christian who just struggled with it, they may not.
• 31:50
  be comfortable. If they get asked a question, that's too much for them. And so they're afraid to go through that. I think that we don't need to be intimidated. It's not what we say, but it's the Spirit of the Gospel that gives it power. The Holy Spirit gives the Gospel the power. That's where it comes from. So sometimes I think we fear what we say. You look at what Moses did when God sent him into Israel.
• 32:23
  He told God several times, I don't want to go. I'm not a good spokesman. And even though God sent Aaron in with him finally, God's like, all right, I'll send Aaron with you. God kept telling him, I will speak through you. I will give you the strength. The gospel is powerful on its own. It says that Romans 1, 16, and I'll just read 16 and 17 real quick. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.
• 32:55
  for the Jew first and then also for the Greek. For in the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, that just shall live by faith. I think Paul really does a good job of explaining, first of all, the gospel is for everybody, for both Jews and Gentiles there. And it's the power of God unto salvation. God gives us that power. Paul himself said he wasn't ashamed of it because it was the power of God. And I think that
• 33:29
  The other thing that we need to do is just pray that God gives us the boldness to speak with the confidence that we have in Christ. It's so easy to lack confidence, but I know even for myself, when I pray and ask God for that boldness, He gives it to me. He really does. God's Word says that it's really God who converts us. It's not the messenger. It's not us. It's not us doing the job. We don't convert anybody.
• 34:10
  Give them the message. Our job is to give them that message. And it's not our job to convince them. And I'll do this. If I share the gospel with somebody and they refuse to accept Christ, then I just give it to God. And I've learned, because it was hard, but I've had to learn in my life to say, alright, their faith or their rejection of Christ is on them. And if they choose to reject Him, then when they meet God, they meet their Maker. And He's going to remind them.
• 34:41
  Of all the people who shared Jesus with them. And he's going to show them all the times they rejected Christ. And that's on them. That's not on us. That's on them. That's the Holy Spirit's job to save them. And the Holy Spirit's not going to do it if they reject him.
• 35:36
  She always hurt her face. She would send me, one time I remember she sent me a letter and she puts in there, Dear Hito, I'm sending you these gospel tracts.
• 35:55
  because I expect you to go put them on people's cars or give them to people. And she sent me like 30 tracks on this mail package. And she said, and I want you to call me and tell me when you've handed them all out. And I'm like, okay. So my grandma sent me on a mission. There I was. I took one of my friends with me, and I'm like, we're going to King Soopers. Start putting them on cars.
• 36:27
  It's funny. As Christians, we need to know what the message is. The big thing is not knowing what do we say? How do we witness to people? What do we tell them? What are the essentials of the gospel? Does a person have to understand it? Sometimes people may not understand everything, but to me it's so simple and basic to share the gospel. And some might say, well, you've done this for a long time, but really God made it so simple and basic for us.
• 37:00
  As the mystery was revealed to Paul, he made it so simple for us to know the message. You know, again, it's not by any words. People just need to know that they're sinners, especially before a holy God, that they need a Savior, that it's Jesus who can save them from their sins, and understand that God, through His sacrifice, by sending Christ to die on the cross,
• 37:30
  That's what saves them. And it's not just his death, though, because sometimes people get stuck on that. It's not just his death. It's his resurrection. That is the key. His death paid for our sin, but his resurrection cleansed us from our sin. And that's what we've got to keep in mind. Paul preached this good news. I'm just going to kind of step away from my notes here and just say a real simple way that my dad taught me how to share the gospel.
• 38:07
  And I'm going to have you guys look at this since I'm running out of time. It's real simple. And my dad taught me this, and he learned this from another pastor who now preaches in Arkansas. I don't see too many preachers doing this, but it is so simple. And I've seen my dad do this, and I use it now, especially when I preach in outreaches. And I've seen it since I was little.
• 38:36
  Danelle would probably agree. My mom would agree. But my dad would say, this is a wallet. This is a hand. This is a hand. This wallet represents sin. This hand represents you and me. This hand represents Jesus. What is this hand? Jesus. Then my dad would respond with, no, that's actually my hand, but it represents Jesus. This hand represents you and me, and we are part of the Adams family.
• 39:26
  But we as people, we have sin in our lives. It's on us. It's in us. You know, it's like if I have coffee in here, but if it was clear, you can move it all around, turn it upside down. It's inside of us. Sin is in us. And that's what this wallet represents, a sin. But Christ, he came to this earth, and after he's done with his ministry, he died, and he took that sin upon himself.
• 39:52
  And He buried that sin, took it away from us, buried that sin. And in three days He rose again without that sin. And if we accept Him, He takes that sin upon Himself. It gets buried. And we get resurrected with Him in newness to life without that sin in the eyes of God. The Bible says, and it's in your lesson, it should be, Romans, I might get them mixed up here, Romans 3.23.
• 40:22
  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The Bible says in Romans 6.23 that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ our Lord. Now, do we still physically die? Yes. At this time in history, we will physically die, but spiritually, we are made alive in Christ, so we spiritually live forever. The Bible says in Ephesians 2.8-10 that it's...
• 40:51
  For by grace we are saved through faith, and not of ourselves, but it's God's gift, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Those are key verses to learn. There's other verses you can learn. Romans 10, 9, and 10. Romans 10, 9, and 10 talks about confessing with your mouth and believing in the Lord.
• 41:21
  that Christ raised Him from the dead. And I'm going to pull it up because I always mix that up when I try to quote it. It is so key to understanding our relationship to God in relationship to our sin, in relationship to our salvation. And it says, and I'm reading from the ESV, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
• 41:59
  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Verse 11 goes, I actually love reading this whole passage. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between the Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call upon him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
• 42:29
  These are key verses to memorize and know because those are the simple, basic messages in evangelism we need to share, to share our faith, to teach people how to know Jesus as their Savior. I break it down to that simplicity. When I preach at outreaches and I'm trying to tell somebody who's never maybe read the Bible before these Bible verses, but I tell them, know that you're a sinner.
• 42:57
  That Christ died on that cross for you and he rose again. If you believe that he died for you and rose again. And you confess and tell him that. And you believe that in your heart. You'll be saved. And we ask Jesus to come into our heart. But in asking him to come into our heart. We have to make sure they understand that. We are assuring with him that we believe he died first and rose again. We want him to forgive us of our sin. So that he will accept us into his family. And I make it that simple.
• 43:27
  And when I share my faith with people in public, when I'm out in private talking to people one-on-one, I share those key basic concepts. And sometimes when I get asked a question, a hard question, one of the hardest questions I ever get asked is, well, if God's such a loving God, why does He let bad things happen? Why is there terrorism? Why is there people starving in Africa? All those questions. But in this series that we've gone through, you can answer some of those questions.
• 43:57
  Take it back to free will. We did a lesson on free will. Go back to that and study it. God allows bad things to happen because sin brings forth death. And because sin brought forth death, there's decay and death and destruction in this world. That's why our bodies decay and we get sick and we have diseases. We can pray for all the healing in the world, but sometimes God doesn't heal us and we die. It's time for us to go.
• 44:24
  It's not anything we did other than we live in sinful, mortal bodies. Period. Sinful, mortal bodies. God allows famine because man has chosen in this world to not take care of things that allow the breakdown of society and the breakdown of food. They choose to live in areas where there's not a lot of rain. There's reasons why famine happens. There's wars. That's because man, in their depraved heart, goes to war.
• 44:53
  Those are all choices that men make because we have free will. That's what I tell people. That's how I answer that. It's because God gave us the freedom to accept or reject. And when we reject and we reject and we reject and we live in sin, live in sin and live in sin, it creates all those problems for us. And that's how I share my faith. That's how we can apply Christ in sharing our faith.
• 45:22
  It doesn't have to be hard. Sometimes we make it harder than it really is. We just have to remember to keep it simple. If somebody kept it simple for us when we accepted Christ, we just have to remember to keep it simple. Any questions? You must have seen that illustration before.
• 46:05
  Yep. Exactly. All right. Well, if there's no questions, I'm going to go ahead and close in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this time of fellowship. And Lord, just thank you for this time to speak about evangelism and sharing our faith. Lord God, we know it's hard. And Lord, I even have to ask you to forgive me for those times that I fail you.
• 46:34
  And sharing my faith. And I'm sure there's going to be people who may not go to heaven. Because I failed you. And I just ask that you forgive me in that. And help me to recognize Lord that I'm not perfect. And sometimes I don't do what I ought to do. But just help me to have the boldness that you give us. To make sure I share my faith with the people around me. Even when I find it extremely hard to do so. And I pray that for everybody in this room. That you will help us to share our faith more.
• 47:05
  people will know You the way You want us, the way we know You. And we thank You, Lord, for all of this. Just help us to have a good rest of the week. In Jesus' name, Amen.