Evangelism (part 1)

Bethlehem Bible Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

So, this week and the next two weeks, we will be looking at evangelism.

00:07

Evangelism is one of the subjects that all of us know what it means. All of us, when we look at it from a distance, really love it, know that's the goal of the

00:17

Christian. And when we are right in the middle of it, feels like we are in war.

00:25

In the trenches, bullets flying around and we have no idea what we are supposed to do.

00:30

All training camp stuff is gone. So this is not just a training camp for war.

00:38

I want to focus on three different elements of evangelism in these three weeks that we have.

00:45

Today in particular, I'm going to focus on downtown Worcester. I'm going to use that as an example so you can, those of you who go there,

00:55

Bruce, who regularly goes here from here to, oh

01:00

Pat, so you know, you have some veterans here. So if you want to know more about how to do this or you have questions, please ask them.

01:08

They will tell you what it's like. It's not really like necessarily like being in the trenches, although sometimes it can be.

01:17

But my goal is this. So if some of you have wanted to go downtown, this Sunday School will hopefully give you some preparatory points, you know, what should

01:27

I do before I get out? Is there something I really should be terrified of, you know, as maybe some of you are? And if you haven't thought about it at all, maybe this is something that will get you started to think about, should

01:38

I be going downtown or doing something like that? The category in which this downtown

01:43

Worcester evangelism falls is evangelism to strangers. How do you talk to strangers whom you've never met ever in your life?

01:52

You walk up to them and then you start talking to them about the gospel. When you go and talk to a stranger, you normally don't even talk to them.

02:00

If you're like most people, you just look at them, maybe you smile, how are you doing? And that's all we can manage with strangers, unless you're a very, very good communicator and a person who knows how to open conversations.

02:11

But here in downtown evangelism, that's what we do. We just go there and start talking to them and giving them the gospel and engaging with them.

02:18

How are those things done? So we will see some of that. And next week, I want to look at evangelism of family.

02:25

That's honestly a much more difficult area, if you ask me, compared to evangelism of strangers.

02:31

And you'll find that downtown evangelism is probably the easiest thing you could do when it comes to evangelism, and we will see that in a minute.

02:39

And then finally, the third week, we will look at some aspects of missions and apologetics in evangelism.

02:45

How does the picture of getting out into the world relate to us, those of us who are right here in West Boylston?

02:53

And how are some ways in which we need to engage with people? So that's the goal for the next three weeks, we'll see how far we get.

03:00

To kick off today's material, I want to use a passage from scripture.

03:06

I'd like somebody who can read really loud and clear to help me with this passage.

03:12

It's a longish passage. If you can turn with me to Acts chapter 3, we're going to be reading that entire passage and then looking at some points that we can learn from that passage.

03:23

Acts chapter 3, and I need verses 1 to 26, the entire chapter read.

03:33

So if I have brother Bruce. So as he reads,

03:40

I want you to follow along. This is a narrative. So it's very easy to follow, but just be thinking in your mind, you know, if you were

03:46

Peter or you were John and you were walking, what would your thoughts have been as they go through this whole passage?

04:49

Leaping up, all people saw him walking and praising

05:01

God, and recognized him as the one who sat at them. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to them.

05:13

While he clung to Peter and John, all the people utterly astounded ran together to them.

05:21

And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?

05:28

Or why do you stare it up as though by our own power of piety, we have made him walk?

05:34

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our father, glorify his servant

05:41

Jesus, whom you delivered and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.

05:49

But you denied the holy and righteous one, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.

05:55

And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong.

06:07

And you see and know, in the faith that is through Jesus, has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

06:15

And now, brother, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

06:22

But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

06:30

Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of repression may come from the presence of the

06:38

Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which

06:48

God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said,

06:54

The Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

07:02

And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.

07:09

And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel, and those who came after him, also proclaim these days,

07:17

You are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

07:30

God, having raised up his servants, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your weapons.

07:38

Amen. Thank you, Brother Bruce. I saw some of you enter a little while the passage was being read.

07:45

That's from Acts chapter 3. And if you didn't pick up one of these handouts as you came in, if you could lift your hands, some of the men will bring them to you.

07:55

So if you don't have a handout, just raise your hand, and one will be given to you. So as we get into this passage,

08:18

I want to give a caution. So obviously, this is a passage, a descriptive passage, a narrative passage that happens in the early church.

08:27

Now, there is a difference between the descriptive and the prescriptive. So there are some principles upon which there are certain things that are happening.

08:35

And just because Jesus walked on water doesn't mean we walk on water, just because Peter the

08:42

Lord, through Peter, healed this lame man doesn't mean that's what we need to be doing. In fact, if you were thinking what

08:48

I asked you to do, you'd be thinking, okay, you know, I go down the streets of Worcester, here is a lame man, and zap, you know, he gets his foot restored.

09:00

Come on, that guy's got to believe, right? That's how we normally think when we look at a descriptive passage like that.

09:09

And that is actually not so true. In fact, in Jesus' lifetime, he did many physical miracles like this one, which the people gladly accepted, rejoiced for a moment.

09:22

And then when the gospel came, they were out of there. I mean, they wanted him killed. So it's not necessarily true that a physical miracle will necessarily follow with a spiritual regeneration like it did in this man's life.

09:35

But there is something extremely powerful that we as believers have in Christ, something that we need to give to the lost and dying world.

09:47

And that's what we're going to look at using this passage as our context. Now, this is one thing

09:55

I want to actually give a caution for. There are methods of evangelism, and there are underlying biblical principles to these methods.

10:05

Can you tell me some of the evangelistic methods, people that do evangelism that are really exciting, things that you say, you know, if I was like that person or could do evangelism like this,

10:16

I'd be out there in Worcester every day. Can anybody give me a few examples of ways of doing evangelism that you see people do that you really like and admire?

10:30

Yes, Wes? The fearless approach? Yeah, there are some who are very bold.

10:40

Yeah. Right. They have no... They're not nervous like us. They're not sweating like me with a wet handkerchief.

10:48

They just go there. They are, you know, so easy, natural, casual because they're just not afraid.

10:55

And I saw another hand there. Yes, Bruce? You know, he was what

11:22

I was thinking of. You know, only Ray Comfort can do something like that. But how many of you can do the same thing?

11:30

You know, we'll provide you the ball and the banners and everything else.

11:38

Janet? That's right. Excellent.

12:00

And I was actually looking for her. I was a little disappointed I couldn't see them because I could use them as a good example.

12:05

And she likes Ray Comfort a lot because here is a method of evangelism that Pam and her family are just very comfortable with.

12:16

You know, that's how they are built. They can very easily resonate with that kind of approach, you know, that you can just go out there and kind of throw a few bombs and see how, you know, things settle.

12:28

Yes. Yeah. And what

12:56

I want to talk about is, you know, if you were going to try to be like Ray Comfort, you know, OK, the gospel says

13:03

I need to go and present. The Bible says that I need to go out and present the gospel. And the way I need to do that is like Ray Comfort because, you know, obviously that's biblical.

13:12

It is biblical. You're just going to be in fear and trembling and never get out of your door because what you're looking at is not something that you can actually just do overnight.

13:23

And what I want to discourage people from doing is look at some methods, ways in which people do evangelism and say, you know, that's evangelism and that's what

13:33

I need to do. That is not the goal of the gospel. The gospel is, you know,

13:39

God has done something remarkable, tremendous and supernatural in our lives.

13:44

And we need to have the mindset of saying I need to be about giving the gospel in the with the gifts that he has given me with the opportunities that he presents to me and be about it in greater measure day after day because I'm going to the spirit of God within me is going to equip me.

14:02

But the flesh is going to keep saying no, no, no. And it is our responsibility in Christ to keep excelling in this virtue.

14:10

As long as we have that mindset, you know, I want Christ honored. And how can I do it in the circumstances

14:17

I have today? And like Pastor Steve said, here's a guy who would not even speak the gospel when asked to.

14:23

And at some point in his life now he is doing. I don't know if I can.

14:32

There we go. I was trying to say maybe he's one up on comfort getting crosses through L .A.

14:39

But but the point is, you know, if you just look at what people are doing, you probably never get out your door.

14:45

But if you have the right heart attitude and we'll see some of that in today's passage as we get to it.

14:51

So what actually happens in Acts chapter three. So you have Peter and John going going to the temple.

14:58

A normal activity for the Jew. This is what they do regularly in prayer times. Ninth hour, three o 'clock in the afternoon, doing what was normal.

15:08

Of course, if you look at Acts chapter two, nothing was normal at that time. But here he is going to do what he would normally do.

15:14

Worship in the temple and an opportunity comes by and you are prepared for it.

15:20

I mean, like Pastor Steve said, you know, there are many times in my life when someone comes and throws a softball.

15:26

What must I do to be saved? Your mouth is tied up because I'm not in that mode of mind to say,

15:34

I know I have the gospel and I know how to give it to you. You know, and that's one of those areas where all of us should be equipped at.

15:42

And that handout that I just gave is from grace evangelism. It just gives you a simple way.

15:48

We'll walk through this in a little bit. So you know what the gospel is. I mean, all of us know, but all of us are not necessarily as comfortable speaking the gospel out.

15:57

So it takes a little bit of preparation. If you don't know how to say the gospel to spend some time, read it, look at the scriptures and know what you must say.

16:05

If somebody asks you what the gospel is. So here's Peter and John going about their lives as usual.

16:13

And then they meet this man in verse two. So we read in verse two that he was lame from birth.

16:19

Here was a man who had a certain need. In those days, these men would need arms because they can't work and support themselves.

16:27

And that was one of the means by which the Jewish people supported one another. And in verse three, he not just stood around, he actually asked, he was begging.

16:35

That was his means of getting support. And there is a need there, a physical need.

16:42

And in verse four, we see that Peter directed his gaze at him. He's intentional about this. He could have just given him a shekel, or I don't know, shekel might have been too much, given him something and moved on about his worship that he had to do.

16:55

But he was willing to stop because the gospel was central to what

17:02

Peter and John were doing. And he does focus his attention on this particular individual. And many a time, we walk through life just missing everything that we see because we're just too busy to get to our final destination.

17:14

The gospel was not central in what we were doing in our lives.

17:20

And so that's one of the things that you want to keep in mind. When you go about life, the Lord brings many opportunities.

17:27

Many a time, we're just blind to them because we're just busy doing what we're doing. Let the gospel be central.

17:33

Know what you need to be doing. And then, you know, the spirit of God will give you those opportunities and the courage to do what you need to do.

17:41

Before I go further, I want to talk about something I mentioned earlier. I said if there was a physical need and there was a physical supernatural miracle, all of us would suddenly feel a lot more stronger, bolder, fearless.

17:55

You know, okay, Benny Hinn style. You know, go do something. Okay, everybody starts coming.

18:02

The crowds start to follow. And I think in one sense, that's possibly true.

18:08

So if there was a physical miracle, there would be eyes open, amazement, and wonder. Is there a spiritual need among the people we meet today?

18:19

Yeah. But unlike that lame man, they're not standing out there mostly and asking for alms.

18:25

You know, how do I get out of my spiritual need? Because A, they don't know they're lame. And B, they're not asking for means of getting out of their lameness or deadness in the spirit.

18:37

And so when something supernatural happens, even in your encounters, you're not going to be getting crowds and people, you know, following, and then all of a sudden a huge multitude coming to know the

18:49

Lord, although the Lord has done that before. So just keep that in mind. You know, that's not the focus of what we ought to be doing.

18:56

We understand there is a spiritual need. And deep down, everybody that you meet has needs which are grounded in spiritual needs.

19:07

And that's one of the things you find when you go down in Worcester Common is you meet people who are actually more open to discuss their needs than you would maybe in your workplace.

19:19

In your workplace, they would be very content and satisfied. But when you go down downtown

19:25

Worcester, I would say at least half. What would you say, Bruce? How many people are willing to talk to you about...

19:34

Yeah, there is. There's a lot of people. And people are normally in a state in life where they know they are in trouble and they are glad to talk to you many a time.

19:45

So that's why I said downtown evangelism is a good place to be because when you go there and start talking to people, you'll find people willing to talk to you about their needs.

19:55

Now, in Acts, in verse 6, he says, What I do have,

20:01

I give to you. I don't have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give to you. We could probably say,

20:07

I don't have the means to get you out of your drugs or alcohol or poverty or physical cancer or anything else, but I have something that you desperately need, and I can talk to you about it.

20:23

And the person who will minister to you is able to get you out of everything else.

20:29

That's secondary. But there is something that I have that you need, and that's basically what we do when we go downtown.

20:35

When you go downtown, the dynamics are very different. It's not like you meet somebody on your street and say,

20:41

Hi, how do you do? And walk on. You are going there with a team. You go two by two, and you have tracks or stuff in your hand with a

20:50

Bible. When people see other people walking two by two, I'm sure you've done this to Mormons who walk to you, they would either walk across the street and get away from you if they don't want to talk to you.

21:00

If they're bold enough to walk past you, they know that they're going to get something in their hand, and somebody's going to shake their hand.

21:06

So just going two by two with those tracks will get an opening that you normally don't when you're one by one, unless you're like Pam.

21:15

And you go there, and most people are willing to receive the track, and some of them will stop as you shake their hands, and you start by saying,

21:25

Hey, we are here to give you the gospel, and they're listening. There are quite a few who would be willing to do that.

21:32

So you have an opening here, which is normally very difficult in other places. So I'd encourage you, because this is not as threatening as some of you might be thinking.

21:46

It is an opening where you can actually go out and talk to people who want to hear. Now, with regards to this supernatural miracle, so let's say you meet somebody and he gets saved.

21:56

You're not going to be getting the wonder and amazement of verse 10, because it's probably just that one person who knows what has happened in his heart, what the

22:04

Lord has done in his life, and many a time that happens over a period of time. It's never instantaneous. And the event of meeting and giving the gospel is the first stage of your evangelism.

22:17

We will walk through the process in a little bit, but I want to look at what Peter does here in verses 11 to 19.

22:28

I want you to look at that passage a little closely and tell me how Peter gives the gospel.

22:34

You see, when Peter is talking to people, I'll just give you a little context here. Here are Jewish people. Jesus has just been crucified by the

22:42

Jewish authorities and with a mob support in some sense, and Jesus has now been raised from the dead.

22:49

These people don't know about it, but Peter knows. And here are the Jewish mindset, and Peter fully understands where these people are coming from.

22:57

And with that in mind, he gives them a gospel that is extremely focused on the circumstances in which they are.

23:04

So let's look at the gospel first and then look and see how you would do the same thing if you were in downtown

23:10

Worcester. So verses 11 through 19. How many of you here know the four

23:15

W's? Okay. For those of you who don't know it, you have it in your hands.

23:21

So who is God? Who is man? Who is Jesus Christ? And what must you do?

23:28

So you have the four main elements of the gospel presentation right here.

23:34

Now look at verses 11 through 19 and tell me, after this physical miracle that Peter has done, when he starts proclaiming the gospel, how is he talking about the gospel in this passage?

23:47

Anyone who has, you can just start to raise your hand. Let's take the first one.

23:54

Who is God? Does anyone see that in verse 14?

24:02

And verse 13. Can you say what is it that he's talking about?

24:08

God there, 13 and 14. So he's talking about the attribute of God.

24:18

God is a holy and righteous God. And in verse 13, he sets the framework.

24:23

You know, he's not going to be talking about some event that happens. It is about the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac.

24:29

These are the Jewish people. And he's talking, this is the God about whom we are talking about. This is not about just some justice event that has just happened here.

24:38

We are talking in the context of the God who is holy and righteous. So that's the God. And the Jewish people know who

24:43

God is. He doesn't need to talk a lot more about it. So if you go to downtown Worcester, if you say the

24:48

God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac, you think people will understand what

24:55

God you're talking about? So what would you need to tell them when you go and talk to them about God? What are some of the things that people don't know that you need to remind them of God?

25:05

Yes. That's right. And that's the first thing. Because we live in a naturalistic world.

25:11

Everybody thinks everything evolved out of nothing by no process. And it will keep doing that magically because they have to kill

25:20

God and they have to come up with something else. So you need to start right from there and say, wait a minute, you know, there is a

25:26

God. And that God has created you. He has created everything around it. And you need to kind of tell them because most people don't even hear that.

25:34

I spent this week with a lot of unbelievers and most people had no clue that, you know, this is what the

25:42

Bible teaches. It's like these were traditions that people held before. They don't they don't really understand that this is the command of this is what the

25:51

Bible declares. There is one element here that I'm going to briefly talk about and then we'll continue here.

25:57

What we do when we go downtown evangelism is called presuppositional evangelism.

26:04

What that means is we don't go there proving to people that God exists. OK, you know, so you say that we came from nature.

26:12

I say that, you know, God created us. Let me prove to you that there is a God. We never, ever do that because the

26:18

Bible never, ever does that. We will see a little bit more about presuppositionalism in a little bit. But our responsibility is to tell people what the

26:28

Bible says, because the Bible says they already know it. We will see some of these verses later in Romans 1.

26:34

The Bible says every person knows that there is a God and that they have suppressed the truth. And our responsibility is to bring up to them consciously in there to so that they can acknowledge it.

26:46

That this is what the Bible says. They may not agree with you, but they hear from you what the Bible says about God.

26:52

All right. So second point. Let's talk about the third point first, about Jesus.

27:03

What does this passage talk about who Jesus is? Do you see?

27:14

Just throw whatever you see. Yes, Joni. The righteous one and the author of life.

27:20

So he's talking about some of the attributes of Jesus Christ. He's righteous and the author of life.

27:28

It's very interesting how Peter puts these words together. He says, you denied him.

27:35

He was the righteous one. You put him to death. You condoned his murder, basically is what he's saying.

27:42

And you murdered or took away the life of the one who is actually the one who gives you life.

27:47

And he puts them together so that they will get the weight of what they have done in the context of who

27:53

Jesus Christ is. So Jesus Christ is the author of life. He is the one who can give you life.

27:59

And he is the one who God raised from the dead. So he's talking about all these different aspects of Jesus Christ in a way that they know that this

28:07

Jesus Christ was not just an ordinary man. But he was God himself. And he is the one who can actually give you life because you're the ones who are dead.

28:17

And then questions two and four are kind of mingled here. What? Who is man?

28:23

And what must you do? They basically are merged together. Can you find some verses here that Peter talks about the state in which these people are or what they did that was wrong?

28:40

Yes. So he makes it very clear. Man is separated. He is in a state of sin and estranged from God.

28:47

You are the ones who denied this God that you were supposed to worship. What else?

28:57

Very, very true. I'll come to that in a minute. Yes. Yes. Exactly.

29:10

So he says, repent, therefore. So that's the what must you do. He says that very clearly. And it base.

29:16

But you repent from something that you did wrong. And what the wrong was is some in in 15.

29:23

It says you killed him. You killed Jesus Christ and you need to repent from having done the sin.

29:31

Yes. Oh, was it? There was someone else. Yeah.

29:51

So end of verse 13, it says pilot was ready. And we know that from the gospel accounts pilot was looking for means to get

29:58

Jesus out. But the Jewish leaders and he talks about them and the Jewish mob.

30:04

Yes. And I think, you know, in this case is rather unique.

30:24

I don't think we'll ever have this kind of a circumstance in our life. Here is Jesus Christ. You know, the purpose of all history in one moment in time.

30:32

He's right there. He gets killed by these people. You know, these are the people who were there at that generation.

30:38

And he can directly talk about what they've done in direct relation to Jesus Christ. And he actually brings it on.

30:46

He doesn't say, oh, you know, some of the guys did this thing. And, you know, you were all there is an element of ignorance in the sense that they did not recognize

30:56

Jesus Christ as the Lord or as God himself. And that that was not like the unpardonable sin.

31:04

He says, OK, there was a time when you acted this way. But in verse 19, you have hope.

31:11

You need to repent. And so he brings the sin directly before them. This is what you've done. And and and then he says, this is what you need to do in order to be reconciled with God.

31:21

So that's the context of Peter and John. So if you went to downtown Worcester today, so we just covered point one there.

31:28

What are some of the other three points? What are things that you would need to remind people of? Let's take the first second one.

31:35

What is man? What would you need to tell people about man or the group that group of manhood or personhood?

31:45

That's right. Why do we need to tell them that? Right. Yeah.

32:01

First of all, they suppress the knowledge of God. And then now in relation to that God, they are now free beings.

32:09

They are individuals who could do whatever they want, especially in our society today. There is really no objective, absolute standard of right and wrong.

32:19

It's you know, I feel good and I can do it. If I feel bad, then something must be going wrong with me. It's not about I have offended the laws of my creator or I have violated them in such serious manner, which is with the

32:32

Bible called sin. And people need to be reminded of that. So that's the first element of where they stand that people need to be warned of.

32:46

Let's keep going. So what do you need to tell about Jesus? People use the name a lot, but do people really know who

32:51

Jesus is when you talk to people? And that's one of the elements that needs to be reminded again, that Jesus was not just an ordinary man.

33:15

He was God himself who came down. And what was some of the, one of the things that he did that you have to remind them of?

33:24

Okay. Yes.

33:32

I like the first two that you said, because this is, we'll maybe not today, but we will cover this later.

33:40

Depending on who you're talking to, you will understand that there are certain truths that they do not know about Jesus Christ.

33:46

So if you take, for example, friends of sinners, you know, I don't think that's on most people see

33:54

Jesus as the loving gentle kind, but some people don't. They just think if I come to Jesus, I'll get condemned and kicked out.

33:59

And I don't want to go to that place at all. And we bring in scriptures that talk about the love and compassion of Jesus Christ and talk about, you know, he is a friend of sinners.

34:09

He came to help them out of their sin. So you'll need to sometimes bring those scriptures in. And other times, and most times you would need to talk about, no, no,

34:16

Jesus was not just this, you know, warm and fuzzy guy. He confronted sin. And you would need to talk about some of those scriptures to say, can

34:24

I read this for you? And then read out some of those scriptures. And wait, did Jesus do that? Yeah, that's true. He is both a just God and a loving

34:32

God. And you'll need to sometimes bring that. But the third thing you said, that is crucial. You know,

34:37

Jesus died on behalf of sinners. He came to take away sin.

34:44

And that concept, you know, we assume most people know this. Some do.

34:50

And they are immune to it in some cases. But you actually need to tell people, this is what the Bible says.

34:55

This is the divine exchange, like we hear from the scriptures, from our pulpit.

35:01

This is what Christ did. And that's the good news. That's what Jesus accomplished. And then the fourth point, obviously, we already saw, is repentance.

35:11

We need to do what Peter did.

35:16

I think that you don't have to do anything else. Repent therefore, turn again, and your sins will be blotted out from you.

35:23

And you will have refreshing times from the Lord. So that's a very simple exhortation that God has for them.

35:31

And we are just the mediators. We are just telling them what God has given them to be told.

35:36

So that's basically it. So these four things don't have to be necessarily in this particular order. But those are four elements that are important in a gospel presentation.

35:44

Because depending on who you're talking to, they may know, they may consciously not acknowledge any of these or be unaware of these.

35:51

So you need to just tell them that. But also, let me actually talk about this.

36:00

So sometimes we think of evangelism as data dump.

36:06

You know, I go there and I think, okay, if I give this stuff out, my job is done.

36:11

And in one sense, it is true. You know, there are some people who would not want to, they'd say, and I have two minutes.

36:18

And you tell them, and then they're not asking you any questions, and they walk away.

36:23

And that's basically all you can accomplish, which is fine. Because you've told them what the propositional truth from the scriptures are.

36:31

But other times, I mean, you've had conversations 45 minutes or longer. And people want to hear more, right?

36:40

There are times when people want to understand what those four W's mean.

36:46

They are struggling. They say, no, I don't agree with you. But it's not I agree with you, just leave.

36:53

I don't agree with you, but, and they start talking. And when someone keeps talking, that just means that they're willing to listen.

37:00

And you bring the scriptures to them in those areas that will help them understand what the

37:06

Bible is talking about. And let me actually finish this, and then I'll go to that section.

37:13

So let me actually just finish this, Acts 3. If you look at the rest of Acts 3, it's amazing. He has doctrine.

37:20

He's talking about the breadth of scripture. He's talking about Jesus Christ coming back in verse 21.

37:27

He's talking about, in verse 22, how Jesus is like the prophet that Moses talked about.

37:32

He's talking in, you know, verse 23 about the destruction of those who will not listen to this prophet.

37:39

He's basically, you know, just bringing it on. And many a time when you go downtown evangelism, you'd be thinking, okay, four

37:44

W's and I'm done. And then an alcoholic comes and says, oh, you know, me and Jesus are just real tight.

37:50

And all of a sudden you start talking about one John. You say, oh, you're a believer. You know, this is what the Bible says about believers.

37:56

You know, there's something that's changed in them. They are different. What's different about you?

38:02

Do you know this Jesus Christ? And then you are now talking doctrine that helps that person understand where, you know, he really is.

38:10

And it's not that, and the more and more you know the word, the more and more it gets joyful because you get to talk about those elements of truth that are relevant for that particular person and where he is in that point in life.

38:23

And it is such a great joy because many a time you think, oh, I don't know anything. And then you look at verse 6, right?

38:30

Peter says, what I do have I give to you. Every single one of you here has a lot.

38:38

You have a lot of this in your heart, in your mind. And there is a world that knows nothing of this.

38:47

So every single truth that you have that you are bold enough to just get out there and tell people is like dew.

38:58

It's like rain in a parched and drying land. And there are people in that land who are holding up their bowl and saying, give me.

39:08

And you can actually be part of that great work that the Lord is doing here. I don't see

39:14

Barry here, but Barry is the one who is coordinating this. So if you have a desire to do this, talk to Bruce, Pat, Barry, and there are a few other people who go.

39:25

The next days, Jim and Cindy. These are people who go regularly every Saturday, 10 to 12.

39:32

And what they do is they meet in Worcester Public Library. They pray together and then go two by two.

39:38

So if you haven't done this before, you're very nervous. You may not even have to open your mouth. You may just be praying as the person next to you is giving the gospel.

39:45

And as you get more comfortable, you can actually start speaking. But there is an opportunity and there are many people.

39:50

Some of these are regular people that we meet. So you get to give them the gospel over and over again.

39:56

And you get to pray for them. You get to love them. And some of them have come here to our church from these visits.

40:03

So I'd encourage you to go out and witness.

40:10

Pastor Steve, do I have five minutes or do we stop at this time? Four and a half minutes.

40:16

Okay. In that case, we will just do the Romans road. Because I think

40:22

I've given from Acts 3 some of the points that we have to do. And next week, we'll pick up presuppositional and personal evangelism.

40:29

Some elements of what it is to actually be yourself in one sense.

40:36

I don't like that word much. But you don't have to be Ray Comfort to do it. You can be Chris or Becky and just do it in a way that honors

40:44

Christ. So let's look at Romans road. So if you can open up to the book of Romans. And if you want, you can just mark these verses in your

40:53

Bible so you have them as a reference when you're going out and talking to someone. The four

41:00

W's that we talked about. The first W is what? Who is God? So Romans 1, as you look at, well, basically, you can look at 18 through 21.

41:10

But 20 and 21 give you the aspect of God who is the creator.

41:17

We read, since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen.

41:25

It talks about God as the creator. And you want to, like we said, you know, we want to make sure that we bring that up.

41:32

And the second one is who? Who is man? And we see that in Romans 3, 23.

41:37

I'm sure all of you memorized it for all of sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one who is exempt from this rule.

41:44

And if you if you know the book of Romans, that's very helpful because you'll see Romans 1 and 2 building up the case for Romans 3, 23.

41:51

There is really no excuse for anyone who has sinned, who is a human being.

41:59

Every human being falls in this category. And for some people, as you read that, that's a shock because somehow people think

42:06

I am the exception. You know, my life has been so tormented and yet I have done so much good that God sees me as the one guy who has who deserves of his love and affection.

42:17

And we have to break that bubble. And this verse is a great verse to help them see that. No, not even.

42:23

And your handout has some additional verses. I think it has the one in James. I'm sorry.

42:37

Oh, that's right. Yes, I think we have six. Twenty three is next. Yes. Yeah.

42:45

Three. Twenty three is all of sin. And then in six. Twenty three, you have the wages of sin is dead. But you have the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.

42:53

A lot. And I think it James to attend is what you have in your handout. He keeps the whole law.

42:59

It stumbles in one point is guilty of them all. So this handout will give you some good verses that you could memorize.

43:04

Or if you're like Barry, you can just carry cut them up into four and have them in your hand.

43:10

And, well, the next person is talking. You can look it up and then tell them the Bible says and read it out.

43:15

And that's all you need to do, because you're telling them what God wants them to know. So that's the second point.

43:21

The third point is, who is Jesus Christ? We have two versus Romans five, eight. God demonstrates his love to us in that while we were still sinners,

43:31

Christ died for us. They're talking about the atonement of Jesus Christ. And then Romans six, 23, that we just heard.

43:37

The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. A lot. So it talks about what

43:42

Jesus Christ does for you. And then the final one. What must you do? We see that in Romans 10, 9 to 10.

43:51

Confess with your mouth. Believe in your heart. You will be saved. And we have

43:58

Romans 10, 13. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So those are some of the verses in Romans.

44:07

I mean, there's other ways you can look at it. But this is a quick way. If you've forgotten, you don't have your notes, you have your

44:12

Bible with the Romans stuff marked. You have them right there. Or you have your Acts three marked. No, you have that.

44:18

So you can go to basically anywhere in the Bible to find the truth of the gospel. But you need to prepare yourself for it.

44:25

Because many a time, we are just wandering about life. We know the gospel. But if I had to say it, I'm just not prepared.

44:31

And that's, I think, a shameful thing. I'm not calling every one of us to be Ray Comfort or carry crosses in LA.

44:37

But I think if the Lord would purchase us with his blood by dying on the cross,

44:44

I think spending a little time to understand what the Bible says about the gospel. So if someone comes and tells me, what must

44:50

I do to be saved? I think we need to be prepared to give that answer to those people. So any questions before we close for today?

45:02

All right, let's pray. Dear God, our heavenly father, we are indeed a grateful people for the work of his son,

45:13

Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for the word and for the teaching of the word that we have received.

45:21

And Lord, we are also thankful for you placing us in exactly the same places where you would want us to be.

45:29

Help us, father, to be faithful in ministering to others what you have given to us.

45:38

What you have so preciously bought and given freely to us. Help us, oh father, not to hoard, but to give.

45:46

Help us not to hide our light, but to let it shine. And Lord, I pray for each of these dear people who are here this morning.

45:53

Strengthen them, Lord. May your word equip them. And by your spirit, oh father, use them for your glory.