Choose To Share The Good News! Series

Do you try to avoid conflict?

Most of us will not enjoy conflict in our lives.

We simply want to avoid uncomfortable situations.

Often, it is within uncomfortable situations that we find our deepest levels of faith.

Christians are often unprepared when it comes time to share their faith with other people.

The opportunity comes for us to witness or evangelise - to tell someone the truth about who Jesus was and is, to tell them the good news of the gospel.

We open our mouths and either nothing comes out, or we stumble over our words.

Too many of us are unable to speak about who Jesus really is and why it is important to be in a real relationship with Him.

If we believe the truth of the Words given to us by God in the Bible,

If we believe Jesus is the only way of salvation,

If we believe salvation is the free gift given to all who place their faith and trust in Jesus.

Then part of being a dynamic disciple involves sharing the truth of who Jesus is with others.

We have a message of hope, a message of love,

a message of eternal consequence and we remain silent.

Sharing Jesus with others is a mark of true discipleship and a direct command from Jesus.

The words of Jesus recorded in in Matthew 28:19-20 are: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus calls us to be active participants in making disciples.

Being a disciple of Jesus is more than turning up in church for a couple of hours on a Sunday if it fits into your schedule.

Being a disciple of Jesus requires more from us than just turning up for a church service, God is meant to have the central place in our daily lives.

Being a disciple of Jesus is more than just reading your bible once in a while or praying when you need something, it requires a real relationship with the God who loves you.

Discipleship is the way we show that we take Jesus – His Incarnation, His works, His words,

His person, His exemplary life,

His commands and His commissions – seriously.

A Christian who takes discipleship seriously is a Christian who takes Jesus and the Gospel seriously.

Jesus commands us His disciples to tell others the truth, to share, to speak, to witness, to evangelise,

whatever you want to call, choosing to share the Gospel is an essential part of our lives.

The word evangelize comes from the Greek word ’euangelos’, meaning ’a messenger bringing good news.’

Have you ever given good news to someone?

Isn’t it a good feeling to know that you have just brought news to someone who really needed to hear it?

Have you ever read a good book or watched a good movie and then told your friends about it?

If you go to a really good restaurant, you do the same.

And when you tell others just how good that book, movie or the food was you don’t really care if someone disagrees with you, do you?

You don’t even give it a second thought.

So, why do you panic when the thought of sharing Jesus with others goes through your minds?

Many Christians seem scared of witnessing or evangelising because they don’t really know what it is or what it means.

Some are hesitant about sharing the truth of Jesus with somebody else, because they are overly focused on what other people may think.

We are not told to recruit people into religion.

We are told to lead people to a personal relationship with the living God.

Let me explain it this way:

Religion is something we try to stay away from because religion was written by man and for man.

It has man’s agenda written all over it.

Religion never got anyone into Heaven.

The not-so-secret secret about evangelism is just sharing with others what you personally have experienced in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

You don’t need to make a big show out of it,

you don’t need to spend hours rehearsing.

When your words leave your lips they are not meant to come out like you are reading lines from a script.

Just share some honest and personal feelings.

The best witnessing or evangelism is, when you can share some of your own feelings about Jesus with others who also need Him.

If you are asked questions you don’t know the answer to, be honest and tell the person you don’t know everything.