God's Road Map for Evangelism Colossians 4:2-6

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As I mentioned in the call to worship I I called an audible this week and instead of preaching from Matthew chapter 4
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I'm preaching from Colossians chapter 4 Verses 2 through 6 as I talked to people during the week, and they
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I kept on having people tell me I'm not gonna be here. I'm not gonna be here, and so I'm thinking okay. Let's let's do something Different and and obviously the weather might play it be playing a role
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As well, so I encourage you to turn with me to Colossians chapter 4
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We'll be looking at verses 2 through 6 if you using a red Bible in the pews. It's on page 11 70 and The reason
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I selected this passage is because it it relates To the passage that we're gonna see next
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Sunday In Matthew, so it's my desire that those who missed today could come back and listen to this one
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If they are able Today's sermon is really focused on how to do evangelism
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Where next week's sermon is focused on? the the plea the urgency in doing evangelism and in fact that the text that I'm that we're gonna be looking at today is the very
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First text that I preached from this pulpit in December of 2016 when
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I wasn't even the pastor of this church yet I was you were deciding if you wanted me to be your pastor at that point so this this passage is very near and dear to my heart and a
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Passage that is is so helpful in understanding. How do we engage with the lost world?
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around us so Colossians chapter 4 Verses 2 through 6 and what this sermon is calling us to do today is to share the gospel with unbelievers
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The sermon title here is if you maybe notice this in your bullet bulletin it says a road map to evangelism
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So we need to share the gospel with unbelievers. We're gonna see four ways how in these verses
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The first way how is by praying for opportunities and we'll see this in verses 2 and 3
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Paul provides the Apostle Paul who wrote this he provides specific instructions in this text about how
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Believers should approach their prayer life prayer is essential when we're talking about evangelism
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At the beginning of verse 2 he says to pray continually This is similar to Paul's statement in 1st
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Thessalonians 5 17 where he tells believers to pray without ceasing so you get the idea here right this this continual life of continual prayer
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It must be a regular pattern in our lives Paul also commands us to be watchful as we pray.
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He says that in the second half of verse 2 here he says being watchful in it with Thanksgiving Watchful is to be vigilant
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We need to pray purpose Know what you are praying for and keep your eyes peeled as you pray
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The same Greek word That Paul uses here is the same word Jesus used in the
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Garden of Gethsemane When he told his disciples to pray Jesus told his disciples to be alert as they prayed
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What you can remember about the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, right, what were they doing they were what they were falling asleep
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They were tired and Jesus says be watchful as you pray
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And so when we think of a prayer what we need to understand is that there's this temptation to be lethargic
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There's this temptation To just go through the motions. I always quease a little bit when
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I hear people say out the Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer is a wonderful prayer. It's in Scripture But it seems like we just do it people just do it ritualistically, right?
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We don't even know what we're saying It's just babbling words And in fact Jesus tells us not to do that and we'll see that pretty soon here in the
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Sermon on the Mount We need to know what we're praying for. We need to know why we're praying We need to be strategic in the ways that we pray.
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So do not go through the motions as you pray We should ask the Lord. What do
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I need to be praying? pray with a purpose so in verse 2
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Paul's two instructions of our prayer are pray all the time right pray continuously and To be alert as you pray
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Now in verse 3 Paul tells them specifically what to pray for and this is where we see the important connection between prayer and evangelism
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Right. It's like peanut butter and jelly. They go together Verse 3 says at the same time pray also for us
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They God may open to us a door for the word to declare
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The mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison So he instructs them to pray for an open door
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And as we think about what is an open door another way to say open door is an opportunity in your prayer life
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Do you look for open doors and do you pray? Continuously for them and that's what this passage is telling us to do.
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We should be in the habit of doing this And we should pray for opportunities for other people that that's specifically what this passage is concerned concerned about in fact is
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Paul is telling them would you pray for me that I would have open doors to share?
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Jesus with unbelievers, but Another conclusion we can draw from this passage is that we should be praying for opportunities for ourself in evangelism
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Remember a number of years ago. I was in Florida with my uncle Who passed away?
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about three years ago and I Knew that my uncle wasn't a believer and You get this
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This understanding as you're going through life that you're not gonna have much more time with him And so I asked
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Florida said Lord Would you give me an opportunity to share the gospel with my uncle and we were on his boat?
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in the Gulf of Mexico and What do you do in your spare time and Right when he said that I knew okay this is the door that God has opened to me because The door was
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I was able to tell him that I was getting more involved in church with with the church in my life And and my pastor was discipling me and all these things and before we knew it we were talking about the gospel
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So typically when you pray for an open door, the person doesn't just say to you. Well, could you tell me about Jesus? It's usually not that obvious but usually there's a little bit of a
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Little bit of a crease where you can get in and start talking about the
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Lord with people This is a prayer that God loves to answer and I know this from experience
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And I will admit to you that I'm going to make it my goal to do this more God works mightily
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Just the other day I prayed for an open door with a specific person and I'm expecting that the Lord's going to do that We need to be expectant that he is going to answer this because he loves to answer this prayer of opening doors
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God will open up those doors for gospel conversations So you see here in these first two verses we need to share the gospel with unbelievers and the first way how is by praying?
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for opportunities the second way how we must share the gospel with unbelievers is
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Speaking your words clearly We'll see this in verse 4 here Verse 4 says this the
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Apostle Paul says this this to the church in Colossae. He says that I may make it clear Which is how
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I? to speak Paul desires that his words would be clear as he shares the gospel
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Have you ever sat through a sermon and were frustrated because the sermon was? Hopefully this sermon isn't that way but I think we can all say
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Yes, I've been there or you read a book, and you don't understand it Or you're sitting in a classroom in school, and I remember sitting in math class and thinking
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I have no idea what I would just learn today You know you have you have experience like experiences like that in life
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One of the greatest strengths as a communicator is clarity People know what you are saying and they know what the message you are delivering they know what you expect them to understand
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I remember in college We had we had one professor who was he was a business professor.
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He was beloved by the whole student body and Because he didn't have a doctorate he only had a master's degree
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They didn't want him to be there anymore And so they got this guy to come in who had a doctorate and he was far less the teacher
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That the guy with the master's was because the guy with the man only in the master's but I mean master's degree is still a lot
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But the guy with the master's degree He was an excellent communicator. He connected with the students everybody loved him everybody learned from him
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The other professor who had a doctorate it was it was the most confusing classes I've ever been in we had no idea what we were supposed to do
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I remember sitting there halfway through the semester I have you no idea what my grade was and and And that's not a comfortable feeling to have as a student and so we did we need to be clear
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We need to be clear when we share the gospel we need to be able to be understood When you're talking with someone we don't want to talk over people's head.
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We want to meet them right where they're at And one of the ways that you become clear and understand in the gospel is by knowing it better Do you know it?
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Well? Do you know it beyond just a surface level This is important to do to understand it
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If you want to make a difference in this world Then know the gospel well There's so much knowledge out there in the world.
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There's so many things We don't know I mean think about all the subjects there are there's you know there's there's math.
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There's science. There's history There's so many other different subjects where you can learn and there's so many things.
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We don't know But do you know the gospel if you do then you can make an enormous?
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Difference in this world you don't need to have a wide range of knowledge to make a difference in this world You just need to know the most important things and the most important thing is
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The gospel that Jesus died on the cross for our sins that he was raised bodily from the dead And that if anybody believes in him that he did this on your behalf, then you have eternal life
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It's important to to know it and to be able to communicate it clearly To people and your communication may be the instrument
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God uses to give another person Eternal life in Christ you can be that instrument
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So do you know the gospel? Do you know it well? On the back table there. I have a gospel tract called two ways to live.
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We did a class on this The ring that I was here, and I highly recommend that track it helps it does an excellent job of explaining
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The story of life and And that's something you can you can give to someone if you have a conversation
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With them and if we run out we will order more of those so please take one as you leave today
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Because when you share the gospel you are delivering the most important message in the world and in our clarity of speech is of utmost importance
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So we must share the gospel with unbelievers and the second way how is by speaking your words clearly as Paul Tells this church that he would do it clearly.
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He's asking them He said he said he says pray that my words may be clear and we need to do that as a church
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The third way how we must share the gospel with unbelievers is by spending your time wisely
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Spending your time wisely verse 5 This is what he says walk in wisdom toward outsiders making the best use of the time
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Outsiders in this passage. This is referring to anybody who does not have a relationship with Christ, so this is any
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Unbeliever a Difficulty we have as Christians is how do we approach unbelievers?
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How do you have a close relationship with someone who does not know the Lord? You will need wisdom with unbelievers because you do not have the most important thing in common
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You may have many things in common many interests in life. I was joking with Lori when she came in today
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She was all because she said there's a big deal on Sprecher's root beer At Menards and so head on down there today if you want to get a good deal on that and and I joked with her
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I said that's one of the many things I have in common with mark. We both love Sprecher's root beer, but if that's all we had in common, that would that would that would be good, right?
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Thankfully we have the most important thing in common and that is we both love the Lord So you may have many things in common, but do you have the most important thing in common?
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And so we need that we need to know how do we spend our time? with unbelievers You specifically need wisdom about how to spend your time
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The second half of verse 5 stresses the importance of making a good use of your time it says it says this let me say this again
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Make the best use of the time You do not want to waste your time on Trivial matters with unbelievers, right?
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You might you may have something in common and when you get together, that's all you talk about Now it's okay to talk about those things but is that all
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You talk about I feel this way with my cousin my cousin and I were both big sports fans
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I only see him twice a year and we probably only spend hours together
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Every year that's it and so what we talk about is so important because if we only spend a few hours a year together and Let's say that we live another you know that That we live, you know several more decades
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We're talking maybe just a handful of days that we are going to be able to spend together before the end of our life
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So the question is how am I going to spend that time? with my cousin There needs to be conversations about Christ mixed in somewhere as We spend that time
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So it's wise to be intentional with Unbelievers your unbeliever unbelieving family and friends may do things to that.
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They may do things that make you feel uncomfortable and You we need wisdom on how to spend time with them
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During this as well You may be led into sin in certain environments. So it's important in your time with them to be different to maintain your integrity in Christ We're supposed to be in the world but not of the world that's that's what
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Jesus teaches in John 17 Philippians 2 14 and 15 says do do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation
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Among whom you shine as lights in the world There's that word that Sean used during the firm phrase shine as lights in the world
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You should not be able to be criticized for an impure life, right? We're not saying that you're gonna live a perfect life, but there should be a difference between your lifestyle and in their lifestyle
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You should be blameless you should shine and stand out you need wisdom because You'll wonder you know, do
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I how do I spend this time with them, right? You want to you want to reflect Christ?
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Well, and you want to talk about? Christ with them. So you want to show Christ right and you want to you want to share
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Christ? I'm wrestling this with you, right because it's hard to figure this out, you know how to do this
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But what Paul says all he says is be wise about it use wisdom
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So we need to pray for wisdom that the Lord would give us wisdom on how to best spend the little time that we have
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Five and six says that if anyone lacks wisdom Let him ask God and let him ask in faith without doubting because God gives that to you
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Generously the Lord will let you know When to speak and when not to and you need to follow
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The Spirit's lead and as you spend your time well by showing and sharing
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Christ to unbelievers you are walking in wisdom The time is short
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And as you go through life you realize right that the time is Not unlimited we have a window of time with each person right imagine that window the window is the window is shutting and It's getting closer and closer
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To shut to closing I mentioned my uncle right little did I know that that was probably one of the last conversations
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I was ever gonna have with him I didn't 59 years old when he died and and it was unexpected
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None of us know when the time will run out and so we need to use our time
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Wisely I think about Billy Graham right he passed away about a year ago and He was 99 years old when he died and yet.
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What is Billy Graham known for? He's known for evangelism the first thing that pops in your mind
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This guy shared Jesus with Millions of people he spent 99 years of his life.
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Just telling people about Christ He spent his time wisely That's a that's a good legacy to leave behind So the best way to spend your time with unbelievers is sharing
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Christ with them right and being being strategic about it doesn't mean doing It all the time it just means finding the right opportunities praying for it
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Showing Christ right Showing yourself as a light that a life that Christ has changed
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So this is the third way how? To share the gospel with unbelievers and that is by spending your time wisely
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The fourth way how the fourth and final way how we must share the gospel with unbelievers is by making your words
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Interesting we'll see this in verse 6 our final verse here Paul writes
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Let your speech always be gracious seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person
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So your words and my words toward unbelievers must be gracious The content of what you speak is very important right the content matters
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However, the correct content with the wrong tone is damaging Strive to be a person who speaks the truth clearly without compromising
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But you and I must do it in a way that people respect you that they will listen and not be turned away
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By your harsh tone. I remember going to a Twins game in Minneapolis My brother and I we were walking into the gate and there was this guy standing on the corner
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Teaching Brimstone saying you're gonna go to hell It I mean that was like the first thing that came out of his mouth
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And as you might imagine Do you think people wanted to listen to this guy? Probably not.
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I I'm a Christian and I didn't want to listen to him In fact, I thought taking him down and saying you are doing more harm than good
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By just teaching a fire and brimstone message here when people they don't even know what you're talking about You need you need to have that have a a careful conversation with people and they didn't know that you love them first Peter 3 18 says always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have but do it with gentleness and respect
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And I'll be honest with you. I think I think with with conservative Baptists like we are
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I think our tradition historically the content is has always been good
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Right, we believe the gospel. We believe the Bible There isn't a lot of air Glaring air that stands out, but I think the weakness of the
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Baptist movement Historically and even in the present day is
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People don't know that you that we love them, right? there can be a harsh tone and That is so Damaging I I think that when
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I think about the evangelical movement today a Bible believing Christians I think the people on the left their big problem is
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Doctrine, there's so many errors there. There's numerous errors that have that are that are very problematic
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But I think on this side the problem where doctrine isn't the problem I think what's the problem is is the tone and and I see that over Over again with even with even with Pastors that I know of I'm just alarmed by the way that they say it
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I'm thinking you just turned off a gazillion people by the way you said it Where if you could have said the exact same thing and said it in a different way and people would listen to you
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So your tone is so Important and my tone is so important people need to know that you love them
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And the second time over six Paul says that your words Need to be seasoned with salt, okay, so people need to know that you love them by your words being gracious But they also need to be seasoned with salt
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All right, this does not mean salty language I had I had that popped into my head when
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I read this. I'm like, okay, that's obviously not what he's saying but season with salt what it means is
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Interesting your words are interesting No one wants to listen to a boring person or someone who is out of touch
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Make your words interesting right the gospel is interesting, but we need to strive
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Say it in a way that you're the people in their context are going to understand it
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So not only do your words need to be interesting to you, right? They need to be interesting to the people that you're spending time with Believers that you're that you're sharing
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Christ with Now in order to do you need to know the person right you need to know enough about them to know how to connect
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So get to know him or her now, you won't be able to share the gospel the same way with everyone
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In evangelism, you should strive to meet right where they're at And this is what Paul writes at the end of verse 6
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That's why he says so that you may know how you ought to answer each person, right?
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So make your words interesting With with the purpose that you'll know how to speak with each person in a given context
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Now the Apostle Paul does an excellent job of modeling this in the
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Bible When he was talking to Jews He talked differently than when he talked to the
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Romans When he talked to the Jews in Acts chapter 17 verses 1 through 3
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He went to the Old Testament right because the Jews would have known the Old Testament and what he did is he took him there and he said
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The Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would come that he would die for your sins and you should believe in him, right?
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So he took him he took him to the Old Testament what they would have known Now if he would have done that with with the
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Gentiles with the Romans, that would have been a horrible idea Because the Romans didn't know the Old Testament So what he did with the
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Romans in Acts 17 22 through 24 is he
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Appealed to them that the God of the Bible is the Creator Right, they didn't they did these were polytheists.
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These are people who believed in many many gods They did not believe in the God of the Bible. So he had to say
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Believe in the God of the Bible He created you he created everything you see he sent his son to die for your sins
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That's how Paul approached the pagan community not the religious community, but the pagan community,
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I think it's helpful for us to think about this too as as Christians living in 2019 soon to be 2020
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We are people who are living in a culture that is rapidly changing right 20 years ago
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Our culture was largely Christian where you could go to the Old Testament You didn't have to start with Genesis because people believed that The one
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God of the universe was the God of the Bible Right on that on the dollar bill when it says in God we trust
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Which God is that referring to in American history? It's referring to the God of the Bible But as we as our culture
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Increasingly changes and becomes more secular when you say God all these different things come to mind, right?
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So we have to take them back to the beginning and say well This is what the Bible teaches that there's one
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God that created everything right? He sent his son To die for your sins and you are a sinner and you need to believe in the
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Lord Jesus Christ And yeah, so that that that's the approach that we probably need to be taking more in our evangelism
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There still are a lot of people right who? Who grew up and grew up in the church and when you say
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God, they're thinking the Bible But we need to be ready to meet those people who are have really been secularized
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As our culture has moved in that direction So we must know the person right know them.
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Well learn how to communicate with each person The content doesn't change right the
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Gospels the same but The angle that you take is going to be different with every single person
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And once you know them, you'll know how to best reach them. And in this way your words will be seasoned with salt so We this sermon here today is calling every one of us
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To share the gospel with unbelievers and we've seen four ways how in our passage this morning.
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The first is by praying for opportunities the second is by speaking your words clearly the third is by spending your time wisely and Fourthly, it's by making your words
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Interesting. So the Lord calls us to make disciples in our time here on earth
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It's one of the last Jesus said before he ascended to heaven after his resurrection What he told his disciples was to make disciples of all nations
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Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is this is the call
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That God has given us and so may we be faithful in it May we spend our life to this devoting ourselves to this most important task
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So as I mentioned in the introduction This morning we were this sermon was focused on the how -to of evangelism and next
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Sunday when we return to our sermon series in Matthew We will see why this need is so urgent and we're gonna see it as Jesus begins his ministry right the very one
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Who is going to save people is going to call people to repent and he's gonna be the one to shine the light and then
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He's going to send his messengers to be that light Wherever they go, so we'll look at that in Matthew chapter 4 next
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Sunday at this time. Would you bow your heads with me? I Don't have a night.
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I thank you for your word. Indeed Lord. It is living and active It is sharper than any two -edged sword
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And as Barb quoted this morning that all scripture is breathed out by you
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And it's it's profitable it profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training and righteousness that we may be
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Competent that we may be equipped for every good work and Lord Colossians 4 2 through 6 is
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Able to equip us Lord to be effective around those who most need
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Jesus Christ So Lord, I pray this morning that we would be faithful and praying for opportunities as a church
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That we would speak our words clearly that we would spend our time wisely and that we would know people
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Right where they're at that we would meet them right where they're at and that our words to them would be interesting and so I Pray for this for this church for everyone here today and for those who aren't able to be here
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Lord But may they do this as well And ask this in Jesus name