How do you eat an elephant?
August 6th, 2009 Posted in OC, Pastor's corner, essentials, sermons | No Comments »I am speaking tonight at our Bible study in Orange County. I will give the second of a two-part message on effectively sharing your faith.
I want to talk about how to use your personal story, also known as your testimony. Finally, I want to share with you how you can actually lead a person to Christ.
For more info on the study, click here.
Did you know that 95% of Christians have never led another person to Christ?
You might protest, “But I’m not gifted as an evangelist!” That may be true, butevery believer is called to evangelize.
I know the idea of evangelism seems daunting, overwhelming. We wonder how can we do it?
One bite at a time
The answer to that question is that same as the answer to the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” One bite at a time.
How do we fulfill the Great Commission? One bite at a time.
Go into all of your world
In Mark’s Gospel, we have a variation on this Great Commission: “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
The same could be said for world evangelism: “Go into all of your world and preach the gospel.” Go into your family, your workplace, your campus, your sphere of influence.
But what are we to do specifically to share the gospel? Let’s go back to Matthew 28:19-20: ”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Simply put, it means to teach them to observe what He has commanded. It means to live out our faith in this world, and also to share it with others–to teach it by word and model it by example.
Putting it all together
The full concept of “going into all the world and making disciples” is to share our faith, to seek to lead people to Christ, and then to help them mature spiritually to the best of our ability.
Colossians 1:28 says, “We proclaim Christ! We warn everyone we meet, and we teach everyone we can, all that we know about Him, This we do that we may bring every man to his full maturity in Christ.”
Evangelizing and discipling not only changes others, but it changes you! I have a Disneyland story, featuring my granddaughter Stella, to illustrate that tomorrow.
But today, let’s look for opportunities to “go into all of our world” and preach the gospel.
