Different Ways to Share Your Faith

Thank you for listening to this message from the Ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information is on our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

Once a person accepts Christ as King, then they get baptized into the local church, then they begin to learn all that Christ commanded.

You know, start growing, start serving. As soon as Peter and Andrew left their fishing business, what did they start doing?

Did they go back to fishing the next day? No, they stayed at it. They learned and they served, and that's what we should do.

But repentance is the message, so it's turning. You know, you were going one way before, you were a fisherman, you were living your life doing it one way.

Now you have repented, you have turned. Now you're thinking differently, you're living differently.

So I know I stressed this last week, and I stress it a lot, but I need to stress it again because repentance is the message.

Repentance is part of the gospel. It's what John the Baptist preached, it's what

Jesus preached. Three and a half years later on the day of Pentecost, what did Peter preach?

Acts chapter 2 verse 38. He said, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the

Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the

Lord our God will call. Okay, that statement, call.

Remember the disciples are called into full -time ministry, but you as a believer, you realize you're still called?

Every Christian is called. So this is the message, and this is still the message of the

Christian church today. So if you are part of the church, whatever your gifting is, whatever way that you can help out, whatever you can do to add to the ministry, we should all be working together to get this message out to others.

This is called, what's the overarching message? What's the word? E begins with an

E? Evangelism. So we should all be taking part to some degree in evangelism.

You know this is why we're called evangelicals. You ever think about that word?

And I know, I got to be honest, what passes for evangelical these days.

Sometimes I've wondered, do I really want to use this word for myself? So I'll admit that, but the word, it's a good word.

Well, we're called evangelicals because we believe the message, we believe the evangel, we believe the gospel.

So what is an evangelical? If somebody asked you, what is an evangelical, what would you say? Yeah, an evangelical is someone who believes the gospel and wants to see the gospel shared with other people.

The Greek word, Evangelion, it goes through the languages and it comes down to us in English as evangelical.

An evangelist is someone who preaches the gospel. So Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they could be called evangelists.

Have you ever seen those old Bibles? You know, if you have an old King James version of the Bible from like 1902 or something, and it'll say,

St. John the Evangelist. Have you ever noticed that? Most Bibles don't say that anymore.

But yeah, they were evangelists. They were preachers of the gospel. So now let's get into the application of this.

We understand that's what they were doing. We understand what the message is. That was their call that God has placed upon their life.

But what about us? What's the call that God has placed on our life? You know the mission of the work, or the mission of the church, the work of the church really hasn't changed.

The world has changed around us, but our message, our mission has not changed.

Just to start with me, my main responsibility as a full -time minister, or evangelist, or whatever you want to call me, it doesn't really matter.

My job is the same in many ways as their job was, to preach the gospel.

Someone made me into a fisher of men. They were a fisher of men. They made a disciple.

That person made a disciple, and all the way down until today. The former pastor of this church, he was a fisher of men.

He threw out his net, and he caught me. And now

I want to throw out a net, and hopefully catch some other people. But we're all kind of in that net.

We're all involved. So just as a role from a preacher, or a pastor,

I think you understand what I do. I preach on Sunday morning. I teach Sunday school. I preach and teach on Wednesday night.

I teach on the radio. I have an outreach on the internet.

You know any way I can get that we put up billboards, any way I can get the gospel out to other people,

I want to do. And if you have a new way that I haven't thought of to get the gospel to other people, let me know.

We'll probably, we'll probably do it. I've preached at Christian camps, nursing homes, seven or eight different churches in the area.

I'm a pastor, but remember what Paul told Timothy. He said, do the work of an evangelist.

So it's about preaching the gospel. So I'll preach just about anywhere people will listen.

But what about you? So as long as we are faithful to the message of Scripture, and as long as we're all growing in our faith,

God will lead you in the area that you should go. So what can you do?

You know, you might not feel comfortable standing in front of 50 people and preaching, or talking to 50 people, but you might feel comfortable talking to five people.

You know, like going back to what I mentioned to start out the service, you know, you could start a

Bible study with friends, co -workers, neighbors. You could start a small group. You can just share about your life.

If you don't feel comfortable reading the Scripture, you can just, or teaching the

Scripture, you can read it, look at what the commentary says, share about your life. You know, start, start somewhere.

Again, not everyone is called to be a preacher, but everybody is called. A church is most effective when everybody is doing their part.

So we need to learn what our spiritual gift is, and then start using it.

So if you're already doing something for the Lord, keep doing it. If you're doing something, it's not really working out, try something different.

If you're not doing anything, though, and it seems scary, you're just, you're a little timid about it, just remember the words of Christ, do not be afraid.

Step out in faith. That's what Peter had to do. You know, we just read the words, oh, and he let, he followed him, and it seemed so easy.

It probably wasn't as easy as it sounded. That was a big decision for Peter to leave his whole entire life and just step out with something new, but don't be afraid.

I'm telling you, do not be afraid to step out in some new area. One common problem, though, that we have in churches is that a lot of people don't know what their spiritual gift is.

It's like, I want to do something, I just don't know what to do. Well, you can come to me,

I'll give you something to do if you really want. But like, think, what are you good at?

Could be very simple, what do you want to do? Yeah, what are you good at? What do other people say about what your gift is?

Try several things, and if it doesn't work, again, try something else, but try something.

And honestly, simply by being here, I have to say this, simply by being here, being an encouragement, praying for the leadership and other people in the church, giving financially what you can, that is helping.

That is helping. Just by doing that, you are taking part in contributing to the

Lord's work. You realize the church is not the building, the church is the congregation, the church is you.

So just by being here and taking part, you are helping out, you are contributing.

Every time you put money into the plate, it goes to for the work of the ministry, and we send money different parts of the world to support missionaries.

So some of you are already helping to spread the gospel, even if you don't realize it.

But again, don't be afraid to challenge yourself in some new area. Follow, I would just say pray, and follow the

Lord's leading. Say, Lord, I don't know what you want me to do, but I give you my word.

Lord, if you open up a door, I will walk through it. If you pray that and you pay attention, he'll open up a door.

It might not be this afternoon, but he will do it. So we all want to help in spreading the gospel.

Now as far as evangelism goes, that's the main subject. So how can you evangelize personally?

Maybe you're not a preacher. You don't have to be a preacher to evangelize. Marcus, do you have to be a preacher to evangelize?

No? I mean, it is something we can all do. You know some people when it comes to evangelism, they're very straightforward about it.

You know there are just some people who can go up and start a conversation with somebody about Jesus, and it's just super easy for them.

Not everybody can do that. Others take part in what is called friendship evangelism.

Have you ever heard of this? Friendship evangelism? It is what it sounds like. You make friends with people, and as you get to know them, and as they get to know you, they get to learn about your faith, and then you invite them to church.

That is probably one of the most common ways, if not the most common method, that people are added to the church.

So there's not one right way to do it. Some people hand out tracts. Others practice what is called lifestyle evangelism.

They let their service do the talking. So through humble service and good works, they let their manner of life speak for itself.

Ideally, I think it's good to do both. Smile, be friendly, let people know that you care about them.

Let them know that you're praying for them, and then actually do it. You know, you need to actually be praying. Let's turn to 1st

Peter 3. We're almost done. There's one more verse to look at, but we want to take part in this call to become fishers of men, individually and collectively.

I mean, that's why Morse Corner Church exists, to teach the Word of God, to share the gospel, to support missions, because they're sharing the gospel all over the world.

That's why we're here. But you can do this personally. You can share

Christ personally. 1st Peter chapter 3. Who wrote 1st

Peter? Well, yeah, it's the Apostle Peter, the man who is called to be a fisher of men.

Notice when speaking to church members, he doesn't say, hey, you need to be a preacher too. You need to do it the way

I did it. That's not what he says. Look at what he says. 1st Peter 3 15.

He says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

Another translation puts it this way, do it with dignity and respect. I promise you, if you are treasuring

Christ in your heart, and you ask for opportunities, you won't even have to go out and talk to others.

They will come to you, and they will ask you. So when they ask us, what should we do?

Be ready. Be ready. Sanctify the Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense of what you believe and why.

Always be ready to share Christ with others. Matthew 4 19.

He said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Let's close.

Lord, how thankful we are that you called us. Lord, you called us by your gospel into your family, and what a privilege it is to be called by your name, to be called

Christians. But Lord, we also know that with privilege comes responsibility, and you have committed not only to preachers, pastors, but also to every man and woman in the church to be part of the ministry.

Whether a person's gift is preaching or teaching, giving financially, serving in some areas, showing mercy, being an encouragement, helping out where there is a need, whatever it is,

Lord, we are called the body of Christ. Some are the mouth, some are the feet, some are the hands, but whatever we have been called to do,

Lord, help us to do it, and help us to do it, not just with our strength, but with your strength.

Lord, empower us all to do the work of the ministry and to expand the kingdom of heaven.

We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Cornet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, moorescornetchurch .com,

and we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.