Episode 16 - Sharing the Gospel Naturally

Sometimes followers of Christ, especially young Christians may feel reluctant or intimidated about sharing the gospel.  They may want to, but feel they don't have the confidence or knowledge to do so.  We can learn and grow in confidence as we make the effort to share.

But there are ways we all can share the gospel no matter our knoweldge and experience.  We can do so in natural ways.  

In this episode of walking with our Master I want to present some ideas about how we can share the gospel and to encourage all of us to seize the moment God gives us every day.

I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.

Please contact me if you have questions or you wish to share with me something about your walk with the Master. My email is walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com

The Prattville family meets at 344 East Main Street, Prattville, AL. Our web site is: https://prattvillechurch.org.

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Transcript

Hello friends, I'm your host Dave Laton and welcome to the podcast, Walking With Our Master, an outreach of the Prattville Church of Christ designed to inform, encourage, and teach as we daily walk with our Master. 

 Today I want to share with you some ways we can share the gospel naturally.  There are many opportunities to do so as we go about our lives and interact with others.

 In Acts 1:8 our Lord gave the apostles more detail about His will for them in making disciples for Him.  Recall that as Matthew closes out his gospel, he record Jesus telling his disciples to take his message into all the world, to make disciples, and to teach them.  Some have argued that this was a directive for the apostles only.  This is not accurate as we see the early church continuing with this directive beyond the expectations of the apostle.  

 In Acts 1:8 Jesus added the detail of a pattern for this effort.  Just before He ascended into heaven He told His disciples to be His witnesses first to Jerusalem and then to move out to Judea, Samaria, and ultimately, to all the world.  What the apostles did not anticipate was that this would happen but not by their direct efforts.  It would happen through the faithfulness and actions of those they had taught.

 As the book of Acts begins to unfold, we read where the early converts to our Lord spent time immersed in and applying the teachings of the apostles.  That’s in Acts 2:41-47.  Then as persecution began, the early Christians were dispersed away from Jerusalem and scattered throughout the region.  But instead of dividing and conquering as the persecutors intended, the spreading of the gospel were multiplied.  In the opening statements of Acts 8 we read that the scattered Christians took the gospel with them.  They preached Jesus wherever they went.  That’s in Acts 8:4.

 Here's my point.  All of us that carry the name of Christ must continue to teach others about Him as we live our lives.  Some do this as a profession.  Most do it as a natural way of living.  Basically, if a person is living and breathing, they are showing the love and grace of our Lord in the effort to offer the hope He offers to all.

 It is true that for many this is a challenging activity.  Some feel that they are not adequately equipped to preach or teach.  And there is some validity to this.  But as we mature as followers of Christ, we should feel more compelled to show Him to others.  It should be a natural response to our awareness of what He has done in our life.  Also, we can learn.  That’s part of what this podcast episode is about.

 You might feel this desire but perhaps wonder how you can do so.  This is based perhaps in an unawareness of how we can carry out our mandate if we have not been trained, or we feel we are not in a qualified position to do so.  

 I want to share with you some ways we can teach others about our Lord in a natural way.  It doesn’t require academic degrees or advanced knowledge and skills.  It mostly requires desire.  The ways I am sharing are actual natural ways as we live our lives for our Lord.

 The first thing we can do, and one that all of us must do, is to lead by example.  This is a baseline position for all of us.  It is the simplest way to share the gospel and has the added effect of helping us live as our Lord demands.  Not perfectly, but faithfully.  We let our actions and attitudes, our kindness and compassion speak for themselves.  This is putting our faith to work in our own lives first.  Others will see how present ourselves and notice the difference from others around us.  We want to grow to the point that when others see us, they see Jesus.  They might not recognize why, but the recognize what.  Hopefully they will become curious enough to seek to learn more thus giving you an opportunity to plant a seed and guide them to our Lord.

 Be careful here.  All to often we know wonderful and faithful Christians who limit their efforts to living as best they can according to our Lord’s teachings.  But realize this.  At some time, the Holy Spirit will bring a seeker and a teacher together.  We must be prepared to explain to them about the salvation our Lord offers to all, including them.

 Another natural activity we do and can improve upon is to practice active listening.  Active listening goes beyond simply hearing what is being said.  It requires involvement on our part.

 I like to use the acronym, ACT or act to help me be an active listener.  Each letter of ACT stands for something related to active listening.

 The first letter of ACT is A.  It stands for Attending.  By attending I mean that we must pay attention to what someone is saying to us.  We must understand clearly what is being said.  Sometimes someone asks us something but there is another question behind the one they are voicing.  For example, someone might ask why something negative is happening to them when what they really want to know is how I can resolve this situation.  So we pay attention to what is asked to determine what the real question is.  We might ask back to the person probing questions to help us clarify what the true question is.  For example we can ask, “Why are you asking that?”  A person will generally give you more clarification as you continue to probe.

 The second letter is C which stands for considering.  We hear what is being said and we consider the meaning of the statement and, just as importantly, we consider how best to answer.  It is often problematic to just simply state what is on your mind.  We may need to be direct at times, but more often we need to answer graciously.  

 The apostle Paul teaches us this in Colossians 4:6. He says, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

 That leads me to the third letter, T.  This stands for talk.  We speak in reply after we have attended to what is being said so we understand the question.  We consider best how to answer, and then we talk, or provide our response.  

 These three helps make us an active listener.  It helps us know what to say as we seek to share our Lord.  It helps us determine what a person knows so we can help them learn what they may not know.  That’s the educational process.  We help a person journey from the known to the unknown.  

 Along with living and listening, is another way we can naturally share the good news of our Lord and that is to begin with what our Lord has done for us.  We can share our faith by telling our story.  Some call this witnessing.  That’s a good term.  Think about how you can share your story in one or two sentences. And do so humbly.  Also think about this as a beginning point.   

 Another way to spread the good news of Jesus is to offer a helping hand.  We can do this in many ways.  Some have the opportunity and choose to volunteer and serve in their community.  This opens many opportunities to share with others.  I’m reminded of some good friends of mine, Steve and Janet Johnson.  Steve and Janet have participated in several disaster relief activities in the southeast United States following damaging storms.  As they have worked along side other Christians they are in a natural position to show love and compassion along with practical help.  In doing so, they show our Lord by giving God the glory.  

 Others may not have that type of volunteer opportunity.  Instead, they see ways they can quietly and effectively help others.  This is usually the way most help.  It might be preparing meals, offering transportation, caring for children, running errands, and the list goes on.  We simply answer the question, what is in my hands.  This means what can I do.  And they do it, not for personal gain, but to open others to the opportunity to learning about our Lord.  It is sharing by caring.

 I mentioned earlier about the early Christians being immersed in the teachings of the apostles.  As we read in Acts 2:41-47 we see that the early Christians cared and shared with each other.  As a result, they all were strengthened and the church grew as others saw this, received benefits from it, and also became believers.  It was a natural reaction to a natural effort.  All of us have abilities we can use to help others.

 Another way to show our Lord is to be an encourager.  I remember we had an elderly lady in our congregation.  She was over 100 years old.  She was unable to get out like she wanted to.  Each week she would receive the list of visitors to our worship service and send them a card expressing thanks and encouragement.  What a wonderful example.  It is easy to send a card to someone dealing with a challenge or someone seeking answers.  It doesn’t have to be anything special.  In fact, just a simply note is received with joy.  I myself have received cards with encouragement and will always treasure them.  

 Sending a card leaves the recipient with a positive reaction to your example and words.  In turn, they feel a positive reaction to our Lord.

 Another way we can share the gospel is to be the vehicle through which someone learns.  I mean by this that we might truly have limitations in our abilities but we know of others who can share the gospel in a more direct way.  So there are things we can do.  Here are a few to get your own ideas flowing.

 We can host a Bible study or discussion group in our home.

 We can share books, podcasts, or other forms of media with others that speak about our Lord.

 We certainly can invite friends and acquaintances to Bible study and worship.  This takes some effort on our part but it gets easier as we do it.  

 And one more, we certainly can and must pray for others. In James 5:16 we read, The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”  You see, God promises to answer prayers.  When he makes that promise, it is directed to His faithful.  God may chose to answer a prayer of someone not in the family of God.  If so, the we praise God for his grace.  But he promises to answer the prayers of the faithful.  So the faithful must pray.  We should intercede on behalf of others who may not know how to pray or what to pray.  And let someone know you are praying for them.  Oh, and by the way, be willing to pray in the moment as a person is with you.  This takes some courage on our part, but it is a powerful statement about our faith and opens the door for further teaching. 

 In closing, please remember two things.  First, we don’t have to share the complete gospel message every time we want to direct others to our Lord.  We are told by Jesus to plant seed.  Sometimes is a simple word of encouragement done in His name.  Sometimes it is an act of kindness, even done anonymously.  And sometimes it is a conversation where we can share more detail.  

 A second thing to remember is that our Lord does not demand perfection.  But he does demand faithfulness.  We demonstrate our faithfulness as we live our lives for Him and share Him with others.

 Remember, we do so as followers of Jesus devoted to obeying in love and humility the teaching of our Master and bringing glory to God.

 Well friends, I'm your host Dave Laton.  Thank you for joining us in this podcast.  I hope you will continue to do so. If you wish to share with me something from your walk with our Master or you would like to learn more, please email me at:

walkingwithourmaster@gmail.com.

 I invite you to follow our podcast and share it with others as together we walk with our Master.  And until next time, remember, we give all glory to God the Father.