It's true what Ray Comfort says regarding going out to share the Gospel: "I'm dragging my feet when I go out, and clicking my heels when I'm done." Thankfully last night I was actually excited to GO, and I was so encouraged when it was all over. I ended up going from about 8pm to 11:30pm. In that time I was used by God to share the biblical gospel with close to 100 people. I did some open air preaching and also had great one-2-one conversations.
If you are thinking, "You are so bold, I could never do that" -- trust me, that's not true. All you have to do is learn how to share the BIBLICAL gospel, hand out Gospel Tracts, and learn how to respond to the 10 questions that people usually ask. Ninety percent of the questions are all the same, and the 10% that's different usually don't matter and aren't worth responding to.
Here's an example of a silly question that was asked to me last night. A homosexual tried to disprove the accuracy of the Bible by telling me that the Bible contradicted itself. He stated that the Bible said that God killed all the fish in the flood, but fish can swim. So his logic was that God couldn't have killed all the fish because fish could swim. (Do you see what I mean, the 10% of silly questions you get aren't even really worth commenting on...) But anyways, because I wasn't 100% sure of the wording of the Bible regarding the flood, I just shared with him that whatever the Bible said happened, happened. He wasn't really satisfied with that answer, but that wasn't really the point. Even if I told him that God, the creator of the heavens and earth could figure out a way to kill fish if He so desired, that wouldn't have convinced him that he was a sinner in need of Salvation.
The point is this: I wouldn't know how to be "so bold" as to go out and talk to people if I didn't realize that sharing the Gospel is the power. What I mean to say is that I, like Paul, preach Christ and Him crucified. I preach why Jesus Christ was crucified. The pay the penalty for the sins that we have all committed. I make sure to teach lost people that sin is transgression of the law (See 1 John 3:4). Sin is lying, stealing, adultery, idolatry, coveting, murder, dishonoring your parents, etc. When people understand what sin is, then it clearly helps the good news of "Jesus Christ suffering and dying on the cross for sinners" become good news indeed.
In the coming weeks (TBD), there will be an evangelism training class that you can attend if you want to know how to share the biblical gospel, like Jesus did. The class is put on by another friend of mine Tom Fusco (www.tillthenetsrfull.org) The basics of the class, and teaching, is this: Law to the proud (the 10 Commandments) and grace to the humble (The Gospel).
I'll end with one of my recent favorite scriptures. This scripture is for those of you who wonder why I'm quoting the old testament 10 Commandments in regards to evangelism.
1 Timothy 1:8-11 (NKJV)
But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
By God's Grace,
~ brandt dary