7 ways to effectively reach people
By : Ng Wah Lok
Text : Acts 3:1-11
Recap : Acts 2:42-47
V42 – And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers….
V47 – Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Habits of the early church that led to maturity:-
In Act 2: 42-46, the early Christians committed themselves to :-
a) Apostles Teachings study the Bible - SCD
b) Fellowship – Maturing in Fellowship - Join a Cell Group
c) Breaking of Bread – Observe the Lord’s Supper
d) Prayer – 9 benefits of prayer – Join Prayer Meetings.
Results of these habits
a) Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles – v43
b) Needs were met – V45 ( How do we meet practical needs)
c) Souls were saved – v4
Today , we will look at the aspect of reaching people. Why did the early church excel in reaching people ? Here are 7 ways to effectively reach people.
1. Be a Healthy Disciple
For Peter to meet the need of this beggar, he had to be a healthy disciple. Remember that the early church was strong and healthy as they practiced healthy habits in Acts 2:42.
If we focus on Church Health, Church Growth will come automatically. Mature believers birth spiritual children.
You cannot take a person where you have not been.
2. Select the right time.
Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
Don’t be a bull dog and bull doze into people’s life. If person is not ready, he will never be opened the Gospel. It takes a lot prayer for a person before he can be saved.
If you force a bud to open, you will only destroy the flower.
Parable of the soil – Hard, Thorny, Rocky and Good soil. – The soil has to be ready before the seeds can grow.
How do we get a soil to be ready ?
Pray for rain to soften the soil .
Don’t call your pastor at 1 am in the morning unless it is an emergency.
3. Meet people’s needs and not their wants.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
This man was lame from birth. V2. He was at the temple to ask for alms.
Acts 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple.
It appears that this man was used by others to be a professional beggar. But money was not his want and not his need. His need as healing.
If a gambler has a debt of a million, giving him a million will solve in immediate problem. But it is a matter of time before he will gamble again and create another million dollar debt.
When Jesus died, he said, “It is finished”. Jesus met the need of the human race which is the forgiveness of sins. Yet when he dies, there were still so many sick and poor people in Jerusalem.
4. Point People to Jesus
V3 – In the name of Jesus Christ …
The lame person asked for money, but Peter gave him Jesus.
The Andrew Principle
John 1:41-42 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).
Simon Peter was saved because his brother Peter pointed him to Jesus.
If you want to feed a person for a day, give him a fish.
If you want to feed him for a life time, teach him how to fish.
If we want to secure a person’s eternal security in life, we must give them Jesus.
5. Follow up on extended leads.
Acts 3:9-10 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Many people who knew this lame man got saved. Peter shared with this group of people a second sermon in Acts 3:12. Acts 4:4 mentions that 5000 were saved.
Old Christians tend to have very few non Christian friends. New Christians have many potential leads. Follow up on them.
A new believer has the potential to introduce many more people to Jesus.
6. View people as opportunities and not problems
Whenever you have people, you have problems
The 5000 principle.
Imagine looking after 5000 people
- Clean toilets
- Change toilet paper
- Feeding them
- Housing them
When Jesus fed the 5000 people, the disciples viewed the people as problems and wanted Jesus to send them away. At that time, they thought that people were always intruding into Jesus’ privacy.
Luke 9:12-14 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here." 13 He replied, "You give them something to eat." They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish-unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." 14(About five thousand men were there.)
Now in the book of Acts and with the power of the Holy Spirit, they were changed. As a result of preaching Jesus, they went to jail. But going to jail did not bother the disciples. As a result , 5000 people were saved because they no longer viewed people as problems.
Acts 4:3-4 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
Hole in the doughnut or horse in the field principle ?
7. Reach people where they are but never leave them here.
We must reach people at their level.
Example – Reach people with their
a) Language
b) Music
c) Intellectual level
d) Wealthy or poor ?
Even if a person has bad habits like smoking, drugs, don’t dress well, keep long hair, wear right, we must remove our prejudices and reach them. Then our goal is to change them to the image of Christ.
Practical points on how to improve people skills
a) Be in touch with people regularly
b) Reply e mails, phone calls, messages promptly
c) Remember their needs
d) Send them a note at appropriate times especially if they have shared some difficulty with you.
e) Meet people at their level.
f) Be sincere.
Conclusion.
1. List down the people you want to invite to your cells, worship meetings, Y4k or praise kids.
2. Pray daily over the names.
3. Be in touch regularly with them.
4. At appropriate time, invite them to a meeting.
