GIVE IT AWAY!
II Timothy 4.5
S: Evangelism
C: Do the work of the evangelist
Pr: TELL THE GOOD NEWS!
?: How? How do we do it?
KW: Tools
TS: We will find in our study three tools that help us to tell the good news about Jesus.
Type: Propositional, topical
The ____ tool is…
I. THE GOSPEL
II. YOUR TESTIMONY
III. QUESTIONS
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Know the basics about salvation
• Share your testimony
• Ask good questions
Version: ESV
RMBC 12 August 07 AM
INTRODUCTION:
We all like communication that is clear, don’t we?
We don’t like things to be mixed up.
It is very frustrating.
But sometimes that happens, doesn’t it?
ILL Communication (H)
This happened to a Coca-Cola salesman ...
He had returned from his Middle East assignment greatly disappointed in his performance. His manager asked him why he was not successful with the Arabs.
The salesman explained, "When I got posted in the Middle East, I wanted to make sure that I made a good sales pitch as our product was virtually unknown there. I didn’t know how to speak Arabic, so I planned to convey the message through 3 posters. My first poster was a man crawling through the hot desert sand, totally exhausted and panting. Second, the man is drinking our soft drink and third, our man is now totally refreshed. Then these posters were pasted all over the place."
"That should have worked," said the boss.
The salesman replied, "Well, not only did I not speak Arabic but I didn’t realize that Arabs read from right to left."
Well, that would definitely communicate the wrong message, wouldn’t it?
TRANSITION:
Communication is an important subject in Scripture.
In fact, Scripture is communication.
We refer to the Bible as the revealed Word of God.
It is our belief that these are God’s words to us, to be believed and applied.
In fact, this is one of our stated values:
We recognize the Bible is true and our guide for life.
As you heard in the Scripture reading just a few minutes ago, Timothy, the apostle Paul’s disciple, is being given a lot of instruction.
We want to focus on one particular phrase in verse 5 of II Timothy 4.
The verse reads…
As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
More particularly, we want to consider the phrase…
…do the work of an evangelist…
We mentioned last week, when we were in I Timothy, that the letters written to Timothy are counsel from Paul on how to be a good pastor of the church.
But, I do believe that there is an application to us all since each one of us is called to be an effective minister of the Word.
We are all responsible to be successful communicators when it comes to the Word of God.
So, I think it is fair to say that, for each one of us…
1. We are to do the work of an evangelist (II Timothy 4.5)
The first thing I want us to note here is that if you are a Christian, this is for you.
Nobody gets out of this.
This is not the sole responsibility of those that are gifted in evangelism.
This is not the sole responsibility of those that are trained professionals.
This is not the sole responsibility of those that have been taught some evangelistic program or method.
This responsibility belongs to each one of us.
Some of you may not like the word evangelism.
It has become an unpopular word in the world today, accused of meaning coercion, forcing people to believe something they do not want to believe.
But that would be an inappropriate understanding of evangelism from a Christian perspective.
Not only that, coercion is ineffective, for while you may change behavior, you do not change the mind.
Listen to this, for this is the simple meaning of the word.
Evangelism means the proclamation of good news.
So, in turn…
2. Evangelists proclaim the good news (the gospel).
They communicate.
They tell good news.
They say it out loud.
They live it out loud.
They persuade others about the truths of the Christian faith by what they say and by what they do.
So…
3. We will find in our study three tools that help us to tell the good news about Jesus.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first tool is THE GOSPEL.
The first tool is the good news itself.
Let me first start with a more theological statement.
Here it is…
1. God has acted for the salvation of the world in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Note this…
God has acted!
God has moved on our behalf.
God has not left us alone.
He has come to us through Jesus, the perfect God-man.
This is the Incarnation, that is, Jesus, God the Son, came to earth to be truly “God with us.”
It happens in Jesus’ death, for He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins, covering our sin.
It happens in His resurrection when Jesus defeated the power of sin once for all when death could not hold Him.
Drama: How Not to Evangelize
Well, that certainly is an example of how it is not to be done.
Now, let’s get a simple order of how to explain that theological statement I gave before, with verses that I believe should be in our heart – that is, that we should readily quote at anytime.
2. The Simple Truths:
2.1 God’s Purpose: Peace And Life
God has purpose for us.
He wants us to possess the blessing of knowing Him for all eternity.
He wants us to have life.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 10:10b “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
He wants us to have life that is really life, not just some facsimile.
He wants us to know it in its truest abundance, as He has infinitely designed it, not in how we finitely miscomprehend it.
But there is a problem…
2.2 Our Problem: Separation
It is a problem that each one of us has.
God created us in His own image to have abundant life.
He did not make us as robots to automatically love and obey Him, but He gave us a will and freedom of choice.
He gives us this freedom so that we would love Him because we want to, not because we have to.
What has been true for every human being since creation is that we choose to disobey God and go our own willful way.
We still make this choice today.
We choose to not love Him.
As a result, we are separated from God.
Romans 3:23 …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This last verse is both bad news and good news.
It is bad news, for it means we are doomed.
Because we choose to live without God and go our own way, we will suffer eternal death.
But there is hope.
There is a gift we can receive.
There is a gift of eternal life.
2.3 God’s Remedy: The Cross
Jesus Christ is the only remedy to this problem.
He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
He died on the cross and rose from the grave, paying the penalty of our sin and bridging the gap between God and man.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.
There is no way we can make the proper payment for our sin on our own.
It is impossible.
Only God could do that for us, and He did.
2.4 Our Response: Receive Christ
Scripture gives us ample ways to respond…
Revelation 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
Romans 10:9 …if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
So…
3. How does one decide to follow Jesus and receive God’s gift of salvation?
3.1 Admit your need (I am a sinner).
We call this confession.
3.2 Turn from your sins (repent).
We call this repentance.
It is a deliberate action.
3.3 Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the grave.
These are the simple facts about Jesus.
3.4 Invite Jesus Christ to come in and lead your life (receive Him as Lord and Savior).
He is now in charge.
He leads and directs my life.
He is the One that gives me purpose.
II. The second tool is YOUR TESTIMONY.
I want you to note that after the drama, the words that we used were all ordinary.
There were not theological words.
There was nothing that might be considered technical.
It all was simple, ordinary language.
Now we are going to do something different.
I have asked four people to help me this morning.
[They should come up at this point in time.]
I did not ask them ahead of time because I did not want them to prepare.
Instead, what I am asking them to do is to answer questions about their lives, and more specifically, about becoming and being a Christian.
There are no wrong answers here.
INTERVIEW:
Why did you become a Christian?
What was the understanding about your sin?
Before you were a Christian, what do you think was your purpose?
What were the circumstances surrounding your decision to receive Christ?
What was the good news to you?
Has there been any crisis in your life that has affirmed this decision to follow Christ?
What does Jesus mean to you?
How has your purpose changed?
Did you find those answers interesting?
I certainly did.
This is why your testimony is important.
It is a most effective tool.
For if it is true for you, the listener will think that perhaps it could be true of them as well.
So, never be afraid to use your story.
It is irrefutable.
It belongs to you.
And it is effective.
This brings me to…
III. The third tool is QUESTIONS.
Questions are a helpful tool to get you started.
They are useful, because people like to tell their own stories.
And let people do so.
It is a way to connect.
Now, I am not talking about technique.
This is not about a sales pitch.
If you are trying to sell Jesus and get another notch in your belt, you have a problem.
This is about loving people enough to desire that they know the good news.
So here are some questions to help you get started…
1. What are one or two things that are important to you?
This helps us to understand what a person’s priorities are.
It is a starting to point to determine one’s purpose.
This can lead you about talking about purpose in life and what purpose God has given us.
2. Who are your heroes?
And then you ask, “Why are they a hero to you?”
This is a question about influence.
When you see how a person has been influenced, then you can talk about how Jesus has changed you.
3. What makes you a genuinely happy person?
People are always seeking happiness.
They just want to be happy.
It is here we can introduce that God is no killjoy.
Instead, He wants us to have a full life.
In fact, He wants us to enjoy Him and enjoy life.
4. How does God figure into the way you live?
A lot of people have false beliefs about who God is and His expectations for us.
Let people talk about that, and then explain what the Bible says.
5. Have you ever met a person who impressed you by the way they lived for God?
Many people have come across godly people.
They have been living the gospel.
Talk about them, and then ask what keeps them from living the same kind of life.
6. What do you know about Jesus?
We know that Jesus is the key to Christianity.
Without Jesus, we’ve got nothing.
So take the opportunity to hear what a person thinks (and don’t be surprised to hear some Da Vinci Code influence).
Again, point to the truth of Scripture.
7. What if God had purposes for your life that would make everything fresh and new in your journey?
So many people are looking for a fresh start.
This is the very thing God promises to us.
CHALLENGE:
Please…
1. Do not be ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1.16).
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…
Remember, it is the power of God.
This is not about technique.
This is not about being smooth.
This is about being a vehicle.
Our responsibility is simple…
2. TELL THE GOOD NEWS!
God takes care of the rest.
We just need to be prepared to be used.
[Go down into audience and get verses quoted]
I want us to stop for a moment and pray.
Because…
3. Who are you going to tell this week?
Ask God to lay someone upon your heart that you should be telling.
[Pray]
BENEDICTION:
Here is the challenge this week…
Who are you going to tell this week?
I would love to hear from you over the next two weeks.
Tell me about the experiences you are having.
Let’s see God’s power at work in our midst.
After the service is concluded and the postlude is finished, I will return to the platform.
If you have any need of prayer, I will be available to you.
Perhaps, you have heard the good news today, and you really understood it for the first time; let’s talk and pray together.
Or perhaps, you have a person the Lord has really burdened you with and you want some prayer as you approach them in the coming days.
Or perhaps you have some other prayer need, please feel free to come up.
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to the good news and message of Jesus, to the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.
RESOURCES:
MacDonald, Gordon. "Question Marks." Leadership 27, no. 4 (2006).
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. 3 vols, ed. Colin Brown, vol. 2. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979.
