SHARE THE LOVE HOW TO BUILD BRIDGES TO JESUS Pt.2 Sunday August 28, 2016

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Kristina Ford
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1 1 Scripture Reference: 1 Peter 2:9 Intro. SHARE THE LOVE HOW TO BUILD BRIDGES TO JESUS Pt.2 Sunday August 28, 2016 A. Let me begin today with our scripture text which comes from 1 Peter 2:9. But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 (NLT) 1. Last week we began talking about how we can begin to build bridges to those who do not now know about God s love for them. If you were here last week you will recall that I asked to you consider your response to the phrase God Loves You. I said last week that we all respond to those words differently because we all come from different places in life and we all have different ideas about what it means to be loved and most of us have transferred the feelings we have about human love to the way we see that god loves us as well. The most important truth I think we need to take away from this is the fact that the ways we can most effectively share God s love with others is also going to vary based on who we are talking to and what their concepts of love are. 2. Let s look again at what Paul told is us in 2 Corinthians This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, Come back to God! 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (NLT) We are Christ s ambassadors and Christ is making his appear through us! That is a power, amazing and also probably also a little bit

2 2 frightening. You have heard me say this many times, there is no plan B we are it. If the world is to know about God and His love for them then it is up to us who have received this grace and forgiveness to pass this message along to others. So last week we began to look at the various examples in the Bible of how to do this. Last week we looked at Peter and what we called the Direct Approach. This is the approach used most by those who have the spiritual gift of evangelism. Now let me make clear that just because I might not have the spiritual gift of evangelism does not exempt me form being God s witness. I may face a few more challenges when it comes to sharing my faith then the person who has this gift but God did not provide this gift so that only a select few could be witnesses, we ALL have this calling from God. That is what the Great Commission is all about. Now if you were not hear and you need to know more about this approach then either listen online or through our app or pick up a CD. Trans. Today I want us to look at the other five biblical approaches for evangelism. So here we go with number two. I. THE SIX LANGUAGES OF LOVE A. The Intellectual Approach Paul 1. Don t raise your hands but I wonder how many heard the title of this approach and immediately thought That s not me? Well it just might be, let s see. If you have this approach then you are probably one who likes to give logical and reasonable approaches to sharing your faith. You are probably someone who likes to sort of lay out a case like a lawyer would do for a trial. Here is a key to the effectiveness of this approach. Most of the time for this to be effective it has to be done through your relationships. Now again with all of these approaches there is no cookie cutter model, but there are ways that each of these approaches will generally work the best. 2. As I noted Paul is a great example of this approach. We know from his own testimony that he was a scholar and was taught by one of the Pharisees premier professors Gamaliel. A great example of this approach is found in Acts 17. In Acts 17 Paul arrives in Athens and as he moves about the city he sees idols everywhere and not to just one god but too many gods and it deeply troubles him. So one day he is

3 3 invited to meet with them at a place widely believed to be Mars Hill where Paul is to present his case for Christ to the entire group. Listen to Pauls opening words. So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: To an Unknown God. This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I m telling you about. Acts 17:22-23 (NLT) Paul does something here that I spoke about when I was finishing my series on our mission statement. One of the things we need to try to do to build these bridges to others is by finding common ground. Notice that Paul does not begin his agreement by starting an argument. He doesn t start off by telling them how stupid and ignorant they were for worshiping all these different gods, no in fact he complements them on being religious people. Then in V.28 he even quotes some of their own poets showing that even their own people agree with him. 3. You know there are some people who feel that to become a follower of Christ you need to check your brains at the door. Paul shows us this is not the case. The fact is the Bible even tells us that faith is based on evidence. I have faith in God has the creator of the universe because each and every morning the sun rises in the east and each and every evening it sets in the west. The evidence says there must be a creator behind this, this is too big to be just by chance. 4. Now last week I told you that we will consider the strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches so let s do that. The strength of this approach is that you are able to give people some of the so called Hard Evidence they need to put their faith in God. The weakness of this approach is that if we are not careful we can become sort of that lawyer who feels they are about winning an argument. If this is your approach you will need to be careful that you don t feel the need to do this. You just need to present your case and let the person decide what to do with the evidence. 5. OK now I want to ask you to rate yourself on this approach. On the scale of 1-10 where do you see yourself fitting into this approach? If you enjoy reading people like Francis Schaffer or Lee Strobel then you might be closer to a ten. If you hate to read at all then you might be closer to a one.

4 4 OK let s look at approach number three. B. The Testimonial Approach The Blind Man 1. Now let me tell you that next week s message will be totally about this approach. It is my opinion and you have heard me say this, that this is the nest method any of us has for sharing our faith. I personally think and that will come across next week that we all need to learn this method even if we are a ten in one of the other areas. The great reason for this is because people can argue the Bible with me, they can argue my doctrine and my theology, but they cannot argue my testimony. No one can take away from me what God has done for me and how He has transformed my life. 2. I use the Blind man found in the gospel of John chapter 9 as my example of this because it so clearly shows the power of personal testimony. I am sure you know the story but let me share a brief background. Jesus and his disciples encounter this blind man who as it turns out had been born blind. To make a long story short Jesus heals him, but he did it on the Sabbath which of course was against the Jewish laws so the Pharisees got angry with him. They call the blind man in to give an account of what happened and even when he tells them they still will not believe. They call Jesus a sinner and then they ask this man what he thinks of Jesus and his answer is just classic. Here is what he said I don t know whether he is a sinner, the man replied. But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see! John 9:25 (NLT) Talk about unintellectual, not that this guy wasn t smart he may well have been but his approach had nothing to do with doctrine or theology it was just a simple testimony that these so called religious leaders could not refute. I was blind and now I see. Dealt with it! That s the Pastor Boyd paraphrase. LOL 3. Now even though you have heard me say that this is your most effective means of sharing Jesus I will also add that the effectiveness of your testimony is increased tenfold when it is used right after your find Jesus. That is because at that time the reality of your transformation is most apparent. People who knew you one way now see you living a new way and the transformation is very apparent. It is more difficult for me to tell people what I was like before I came to Christ some 48 years ago. They didn t know me before so the before and after picture is not as clear.

5 5 4. OK let me quickly give you strengths and weaknesses then you can rate yourself. The strength again of this approach is because it is personal and real for you. It is also very easy to share because it is you talking about you and there is no one we like to talk about more than ourselves right? The weakness of this approach is because it is about you and if we are not careful your testimony can become a personal brag session and trust me on this people are smart enough to know if you are glorifying God or glorifying yourself. Now rate yourself on a scale of OK let s look at approach number four before my time runs out. C. The Interpersonal Approach Matthew 1. This is a little bit like the last approach because this approach has much to do with relationships. This approach will be very effective for you if you have the spiritual gift of hospitality. Do you like having people over to your home? Do you love the summer because it means you can fire up the BBQ and have neighbors over for hot dogs and hamburgers? Are you the person who is the first to knock on the door of the new neighbor that just moved in? Then this could well be the way God designed you to share His love. 2. Again use Mathew as an example because he did this perfectly. Remember that he comes to faith in Christ then the first thing he does is he gets a bunch of his low life (sorry but that is what they were considered then) he gets a bunch of his low life friends together for dinner and invites Jesus along. I want you to hear something Jesus said in this incident because as you know the Pharisees were upset that Jesus was having dinner with these low life s. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus disciples, Why do you eat and drink with such scum? 31 Jesus answered them, Healthy people don t need a doctor sick people do. Luke 5:30-31 (NLT) What was Matthew doing? He was gathering together a group of people that at this point in their lives would never darken the door of a church, but they would come to his house for dinner and there he could present Jesus. 3. In the first message in this series I mentioned a preacher named Chip Ingram and a story he told. Well he tells another story about a situation like this. He said he had this guy in his church who definitely had this evangelistic approach and he said one

6 6 day he came to Chip and told him he was having this BBQ with some of his friends and he wanted Chip to come over while he was doing it. Chip said he was hesitant to do it but he did and when he arrived this guy introduced him to everyone and told them if they had any questions about God or religion they could talk to him. Seems a bit awkward but it worked out and Chip was able to share faith with several of the guys there. So if you have a BBQ like this don t forget to invite me. That s the morale of that story. 4. OK quickly again here are the strengths and weaknesses. The strength of this approach is that you are building relationships and there is no better way to be able to have those spiritual conversations than with people with whom you have built a relationship. The weakness is that this can just become an excuse to party. The party is great, but you need to party with purpose if you know what I mean. Ok don t forget to rate yourself on a scale of OK let s look at approach number five. D. The Service Approach Dorcus 1. This approach is for those who just love to serve others. You see a need and you run to fill it. You are not someone who wants or needs applause or credit you just want to see the needs being met. We read about Tabbatha or Dorcus ion Acts 9. Here is what is said about her. There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. Acts 9:36 (NLT) A great way to open a door to share the love of God is through service. Especially if you provide a service to someone in a time of crisis. In these times most people want to share they want to talk to someone. The doors to sharing God s love are wide open during these times. 2. Now the strength of this approach is of course the simple power of love demonstrated. This is about as difficult to refute as a testimony. The weakness is for this person to realize that service is not enough or all there is. What we do is important but what we say is also important. It is like the notion that some used to have about witnessing. Some use to feel that all they had to do is let their lives do the talking. The last person who was able to do this for real got crucified. Rate yourself 1-10.

7 7 OK now the last approach. E. The Invitational Approach - Samaritan Woman 1. Again I think we all know this story so I won t go into a lot of detail, but you will recall that after this woman meets Jesus at the well in the middle of the day she realizes he could be the Messiah so she goes back into town to tell the people about who she had found. Now remember this was not a woman who was well thought of in town, but she also has a testimony that cannot be ignored and when she begins to tell others they see the change and they accept her invitation to come a see this Jesus. 2. This approach is a lot like what I talked about in the very first sermon in this series. What do you do when you find something you really like or have fallen in love with? You tell someone, you invite others to join you. 3. Now the strength of this approach is that everyone can do it. We have Back To Church Sunday coming up September 18 th and Family Day September 17 th. These are two events that you can easily extend an invitation to. In fact as you know we have invitation cards printed up and ready for you to use for this very purpose. Now the weakness of this approach is that like some other approaches there is more we need to do. We also need to keep growing in our faith and being able to answer some of the questions people might have about our faith. [] I will never forget something that happened to me when I was in High School. I remember I was going to a water polo game that I was playing in and I had a bumper sticker on the back of my VW that said, Ask me about Jesus. Well sure enough I had one of the guys ask me and I didn t know what to say. I just sort of laughed it off. We need to prepare ourselves as best we can to give an account of the faith we have. Conclusion A. Let me close with these thoughts. I have said several times in these messages that there is no cookie cutter way to share our faith. What I have endeavored to do these past two weeks is give you some general approaches taken from different people in the Bible. You may be very strong in one of these approaches, but that doesn t mean God won t use you in another approach. As Paul told Timothy we need to be ready in season and out of season.

8 8 1. As I suggested the first week I would use that rating sheet I gave and I would go to someone I trust and ask their opinion about the way you rated yourself. It could be that you are stronger in an approach than you thought. As I mentioned we have a big outreach event coming up in just a few weeks so I hope that all of us will employ the invitational method and simply invite our Oikos to a fun day at Cornerstone.

YOUR STYLE OF EVANGELISM

YOUR STYLE OF EVANGELISM God has given each Christian a unique personality, set of experiences, and style, that allows us to reach out to others in a natural way. God wants to use the unique you to reach