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SHARING OUR FAITH:
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SHARING OUR FAITH: WHY? : (Mt. 28:19); “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.”. There are so many reasons why we should share our faith. i. First and foremost is because God commanded it. (Mt. 28:19; Lk. 24:47; Acts 1:8; 2Tim. 4:2). ii. Our love and faithfulness to Yeshua could only be demonstrated by our implicit obedience to His command to us to preach His gospel to the world. (Mt. 28:19; Jn. 14:21). iii. It is God’s will and desire that all people be saved. (2Pet. 3:9; 1Tim. 2:4). But how can people be saved without being told what to do in order to be saved? By sharing our faith people will get to know the way of Salvation and God’s will,will be fulfilled in them as they commit their lives to Christ. (Rom. 10:14-17). iv. Jesus, who is our Lord and Master and of whom we claim to belong; also preached throughout His dwell on earth and we are supposed to be His followers doing as He did, He being our example. (1Pet. 2:21; 1Thess. 5:15). v. The Lord Yeshua is counting on us to take His Gospel of Salvation to all the world having en- trusted us with the ministry to be His ambassadors and emissaries. If we do not act accordingly and fail to honor Him in doing the task, He will never be pleased with us and shall require from our hand the account of the blood of all the unsaved we failed to witness to and to give the opportunity to hear the message of Salvation, for which He personally came in the flesh to accomplish through His death and resurrection. (2Cor. 5:18-20; 1Tim. 6:20; Eph. 6:20; Acts 20:26-28, 31; Ezek. 33:6-9). vi. Someone else witnessed to us with the gospel which led to our belief and salvation also likewise is the onus on us to share the gospel to others too for them to have the opportunity like we did have to be saved by faith in Yeshua. (1Cor. 15:3). It is not an option but a must duty that all Christians should share their faith to the world. If we are ashamed or deny to testify about Him to the world, so likewise will He pay back to us before His Father. (Mt. 10:33; Lk. 9:26). SHARING OUR FAITH: WHAT?: (1Cor. 15:3,4); “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” While we discuss of what to share about our faith to others, it would be appropriate too for us to include the method or how we are supposed to conduct ourselves in doing so. Humility and love is highly necessary as an attitude of a gospeller. No pride or hostile behavior. Force must never be applied to spread the gospel. The gospel is supposed to bring peace and not war. Yeshua is the epitome of peace and it’s prince and this of Him was clearly evident in His ministra- tions. He never imposed or forced anyone to listen or to believe in Him. Hear His statement “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and dine with him and he with me”. (Rev. 3:20). God’s kingdom is not to be advanced by militant or forceful conquest like the method of the Islamists and the Crusaders of the Middle Age practiced. The Spirit of the Holy One (Ruach HaKodesh) is the convicting and the converting power behind the gospel to change sinners’ hearts from sin to embrace Yeshua and the Christian faith. Dependence on the Holy Spirit’s guidance and direction and the ability to convey the gospel of salvation with clarity and understanding is highly desirable for a Christian worker in the field of witnessing. The main hub and central focus of our message we are to share should be centered on Christ as the Redeemer and Savior of mankind and the only way to God’s kingdom and eternal life. We are to let our hearers know and understand the specific steps of faith they are to take to be saved. It should be emphatically make clear to them that salvation is only by faith in Christ and willing invitation to Him to come and live in our heart and to rule completely. That it is not received by works or human effort. (Eph.2:8-9). No religious observances and practices can ever achieve God’s righteousness. It should also be made clearly and firmly that rejecting to accept Christ means rejecting salvation and eternal life which would ultimately and consequently result to eternal damnation and punishment in everlasting fire. (Mk. 16:16; Jn. 3:36; Eph. 5:6; Rev. 20:15). SHARING OUR FAITH: HOW TO PREPARE: (Ezra 7:10); “For Ezra has prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”. To share our faith effectively we need to prepare ourselves adequately to meet the task. That one has received Christ does not guarantee that he can actually and effectively defend His faith. There is need for proper build up of one’s experience, knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles of the Christian faith and basic knowledge of God’s Word. We must prepare our lives as living epistles. (2Cor. 3:2-3; 2Tim. 2:15; 1Pet. 3:15). Here in our key scriptural passage above we read of the skilled scribe Ezra who was well trained in the Law of Moses (Torah). In spite of his training and special skill yet he needed to prepare himself before going out to teach the Israelites. This is recorded in the Scriptures for our example. No matter how versed and knowledgeable we might be of God’s Word, still we need to prepare our hearts and minds and design good strategy to communicate our message effectively before going out to witness. However, this does not mean we should not be ready at every given moment and opportunity to share our faith. This is why all Christians are urged and instructed to be prepared always ready to give reason for his faith. (1Pet. 3:15; 2Tim. 2:15; 1Tim. 4:13, 15-16). Let’s look at some major points we need to prepare ourselves about: i. Firstly is ourselves. We must be clean. Our general conduct of life must correspond with what message we have and intend to share. Clean waters cannot flow out of dirty mud. We cannot be effective to share what we don’t have or practice. (Lk. 6:39, 41-45). Ezra knew he must first practice the Law before he could effectively teach it. (Ezra 7:10). ii. We must prepare ourselves properly to be able to simplify the gospel message to be clearly understandable to our listeners. Not to engage in theological or eschatological concepts that will only confuse our hearers instead of settling their doubts. Philip with clarity and simplicity, explained the Scriptures to the noble Ethiopian eunuch and his understanding led to his commitment of faith and salvation. (Acts 8:35). iii. God’s Word is what we want to share. So we must give ourselves to study it and have basic understanding of it’s truths relying on the Holy Spirit. Human wisdom of words cannot change the heart of a sinner; neither can our impressive and eloquent grammatical expressions be able to convince or convict any. iv. We must prepare ourselves with good tactics and godly wisdom to know how to answer questions to our hearers without digressing or lose focus from our message we intend to share concerning salvation. v. We must learn to appear acceptable, amiable, humble and friendly, so that our hearers could be well disposed to listen to us even when they fail to agree with what we are saying and our message. SHARING OUR FAITH: HOW TO DO IT: (1Thess. 1:5): “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.” To be effective, God’s Word must be shared in power with the direction of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit alone that could empower us to preach God’s Word. Human wisdom and eloquence is inadequate to make the gospel effective. (1Cor. 2:4-5). It is true that one is to prepare himself properly before going to share his faith. But sharing of our faith could also be spontaneous probably emanating from our secular conversation with others. This is why we must be prepared at all times to seize such good opportunities to witness the gospel. (1Pet. 3:15). Let’s look at some practical steps or methods a Christian could apply to effectively propagate the gospel: i. It is helpful for a Christian to always sprinkle his speeches with the mention of God’s name. Letting those that converse with us to get curious as to what we believe and practice is a good way of creating an opportunity to share our faith. ii. During a general conversation with others we could wisely and tactically connote our discussion to relate with our personal life by which we could seize the moment to share a short and precise testimony of an event in our life, striking vitally at the points where God touched us and what life changing experience we gained from Him. iii. We must learn how to present a summary of the Salvation Message in very short time of about five minutes. Within which must have related our message to vital issues concerning sin, eternal death, Christ’s sacrifice, faith, repentance and salvation. iv. When we share our faith we should firm but polite, pleasant, patient, sensitive and prayerful, trusting God’s Spirit to touch the heart of our listener. And we should be sure to offer an oppor- tunity for our listener to decide for Christ. In the situation where our listener fails to commit himself to Christ we should end the meeting with an open appeal to him to have another oppor-tunity to talk again about the subject. SHARING OUR FAITH: WHEN?: (2Tim. 4:2); “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching.”. There is a true life story account narrated in the Open Bible about a certain evangelist at Chicago, USA. He held a revival meeting where he preached the gospel but at the end instead of giving the crowd the opportunity to decide for Christ but he asked them to go home and make up their mind and come the following day at the meeting to declare their conclusion wether to accept Christ. But unfortunately that same very night of Oct. 8, 1871 before the preachers’ next day, the tragic Chicago fire broke out and destroyed many houses and about 250 lives were lost. Among those dead apparently were people who had attended the revival meeting who probably would have answered the salvation call had they been given the opportunity. Upon that tragic event the revivalist being aware of his terrible error then vowed he will never end a meeting without giving people the privilege to exercise their decisions immediately The question of when should we preach the gospel is directly tied to when should a sinner be saved. God has clearly stated when He wants a sinner to submit to Him. God’s accepted time is today and now, not later. (2Cor. 6:2; Heb. 4:7; 3:15). The reason why God wants it immediately is very clear. It is because no human has the knowledge of when death will take him. (Prov. 27:1; Lk. 12:19-21; Jas. 4:14). Thus we are to share our faith and tell the gospel all the time and at every opportunity that come our way to witness. In so doing we could save many who heard us. Our slogan should be “seizing every moment, reaching them at all cost”. Everywhere was a pulpit for our Lord Yeshua during His earthly ministrations. ( Mt. 4:23; Mt. 5:1; 9:9; 14:15; 13:1). The early Christians of the N.T. went everywhere and preached the gospel even under heavy prosecutions. Both in chains and in imprisonment they still shared their faith under those hard conditions. (Acts 4; Phil. 1:12-13; Acts 27:21; 28:23). We must follow and emulate these examples. |
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