Dr Greg Bahnsen - Evangelism Seminar: The Methods of Evangelism (Part 5)

Lord, we want to begin by again thanking you for the goodness of the news you've brought us in the Scriptures about Jesus Christ, how he has indeed spanned the gap between us and reconciled us to you. We thank you so much that he is willing to give up his life for us. And we pray that our lives might now be given to him, that we might indeed, being united to our Savior, live fully for him and through him and by his power. We pray, Father, that as we have an appreciation for the Gospel and what it has done in our lives, that you might give us the motivation and the power, the boldness, the encouragement we need to share that news. And we ask, Lord, that as we do so, we would do it in a way that is pleasing to you. Not only because we are faithful in the message we present, but because we are also faithful in the way that we present it. And we pray, Father, that our understanding of the methods with which we communicate the Gospel would be improved and perhaps corrected as a result of our study tonight. As to that end, we pray, asking forgiveness for our sins. In Jesus name. Amen. Okay. We come this week to a discussion of the methods of evangelism. We have in the past been studying the motivation for evangelism. First of all, we have some reasons why we should get out there and evangelize. We've studied the various forms of evangelism, corporate and personal evangelism. We've studied the qualifications for being an evangelist, the kind of life that is necessary for it, and then also the key to boldness in evangelism. That basically being prayer. And of course, a godly life. Daily forgiveness and then a vigorous life of prayer. Prayer giving us boldness. And last week we went over our little evangelism booklets just so we'd understand some of the ins and outs of the message of evangelism. Evangelism is basically bringing the good news. To understand the good news, you have to know the bad news, of course, that man is a sinner. He's in need of salvation. The good news is that God has supplied that. That it is God's salvation.

It's.

It is his gospel. We have to be faithful in presenting it fully. And a number of other things were discussed last week as well. But now tonight, we come to what is going to be the dominant theme in our whole course. And that is the method of evangelism. The things that I've said heretofore, I think have been necessary, but perhaps not nearly so crucial as the remaining 2/3 of the course. Most of you know in some faint glimmer of a way, I'm sure, the message of evangelism. And even though you may not have outlined it as neatly or as systematically as I did. You have some motivation for evangelism. But where we fall down. In addition to the fact that we tend not to be as prayerful as we ought to be. Where we fall down is then in executing the task of evangelism. And that's why we're going to be studying the approach or the technique of evangelism for the next few weeks. And to introduce us to this subject. I want to begin by reading two passages of Scripture to illustrate two points. First of all, turn with me to Philippians the first chapter. Philippians, chapter one. I'll begin reading at verse 12. Paul is writing these words. And he's writing from prison in Rome. And he says, now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the Gospel. So that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian guard and to everyone else. The praetorian guard was that unit of Caesar's soldiers. That was in charge of guarding prisoners awaiting trial. So this is what Paul's talking about. He says that his imprisonment has actually turned out for the progress of the Gospel rather than its hindering. He says, verse 14. That most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment. Have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife. But some also from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition. Rather than from pure motives thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. It's interesting. Paul says that as he awaits trial in Rome. There are people who are actually preaching the gospel. To try to stir up the crowds. He says, there are people who are trying to make it worse for me. As I'm waiting for my trial to come up. There are people who are preaching out of the wrong motivation. To increase the strife for me. And not doing it out of love. One might think that Paul boy go right to the heart of this. And he's going to say, that's wrong. You don't do the right thing for the wrong reason. But he doesn't say that. In verse 18, he says, what then? Which is his way of introducing. How shall we evaluate it? What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth. Christ is proclaimed. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Paul doesn't rebuke then those who are preaching the gospel out of the wrong motivation. Paul says, I'm just glad that Christ is being proclaimed. And if it increases my bonds, my afflictions, so what? I'm convinced that God is going to supply my needs, then I'm going to be alright. I'm glad that Christ is being presented. And so I've read this for you tonight to point out that in one sense, motivation, methodology and those sorts of things are not the number one priority. We should never get it into mind that somehow, well, we may not be fully giving the gospel, but at least we're doing it in a nice way and that pleases God. The most important thing to God, as reflected in the words of Paul here, the most important thing is that Christ is presented. And even if we do it in a bumbling, stumbling and less than winsome fashion, even if we do it out of ill motivation, even if we do it out of hatred for the Apostle Paul, the fact is that Christ is presented. And that is the most important thing. That Christ is being proclaimed, that the claims of Christ are being clearly heard. And so I say this just so that we don't ever make the mistake in making methodology our number one priority. But on the other hand, methodology is important. Many Calvinistic Christians, especially who have understood that methodology is not the be all and end all of evangelism, have gone to the other extreme of saying, well, who cares about methods? Because after all, it's the Holy Spirit that has to change the heart. So it shouldn't make any difference at all whether we insult people or whether we have bad breath or anything like this. Our methods are just irrelevant to evangelism. That isn't true any more than it would be true to say, well, since God is the one who in the end providentially supplies our daily needs, then it doesn't make any difference whether I go to work and do a good job at work or not. The important thing is that I pray that God will supply my daily bread and if he comes through, that's all that counts. We know very well that we pray that God will supply our daily bread and then we get up and we go to work and try to do a good job in Christ's name. Where we work, we are expected to follow up our prayers with a responsible lifestyle. We pray to God that he'll convert the hearts of men. But we ought to follow up those prayers with a responsible methodology. We ought to be concerned for the way we approach people. And I think we see that illustrated in John, the fourth chapter. Let's turn there now. And I begin reading at the fifth verse. John, the gospel of John 4. 5. So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied from his journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour, that is to say, about noon. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, how is it that you, being a Jew, asked me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Now already you see that Jesus is concerned for the way he approaches the woman. You notice that Jesus doesn't say, I'm a Jew, get away from this well. Or Jesus doesn't say, well, it's really something that I allow you to approach this well, since I'm a Jew and you're a Samaritan. Moreover, Jesus doesn't act in a, it seems to me, superior way, saying, you're a woman, and I won't talk to you in public. As you will see later. At the end of this passage, the disciples are surprised in verse 27. And at this point his disciples came. And they marveled that he had been speaking with a woman. Yet no one said, what do you seek? Or what, why do you speak with her? The disciples didn't want to voice it out loud, but they all wondered, why would he talk to a woman, and a Samaritan woman at that? So Jesus is concerned for the way he approaches. He could have come on very strong. He could have been very offensive. He could have been very much holier than thou. He is holier than she is, after all. And he is a man, and she is a woman. He is a Jew, she is a Samaritan. But you see that he is very interested in the way he approaches her. Moreover, when he gets to the point of indicting her for her sins, and he gets to that point, you notice that he doesn't just come right in there and brashly say, woman, you know you're a harlot. You deserve to go right to hell. Now let me tell You. You need what I'm presenting. No. Jesus talks about her coming and needing water, and then he talks about what he supplies as, quote, unquote, living water. Well, that interests her. Of course, she wants to know about that. And when Jesus indicts her for her sins, he does it by asking a question about her husbands. She says, well, I haven't got any husbands. Jesus says, well, that's right, you don't. You have six. And so, although, as we say, the knife blade finally gets in, it's very deftly done. Deftly with skill and dexterity. Jesus is concerned for the way he approaches her. So we see that illustrated in John, even though we know that that is not the highest priority. As Paul tells us, the important things that Christ is presented in one way or another. So let me begin then, tonight's lesson on technique and method in evangelism by discussing how we should evaluate the various methods and and means that are often suggested to us, or that we come up with. What are we to make of the four spiritual laws, or the evangelism explosion approach, or this, that, or the other convenient technique that's supplied to us? What are we to make of the ideas we have in our own heads about how to approach people? I want to give us some things to think about in terms of our methods in evangelism. First of all, evangelism is essentially an act of communication with a view to conversion. I want you to keep that little formula in mind. What is evangelism? What are we doing when we evangelize? We are communicating for the sake of conversion. It's an act of communication with a view to conversion. The aim is the man's conversion, and we do this by means of communication. And the only means by which we can bring about. We don't bring it about. The only way that we can facilitate the conversion of a person is to explain and apply the gospel of Jesus Christ, looking then for the response of faith and repentance on the part of the person to whom we speak. The only way to evangelize is to explain and apply the gospel. Does that mean that we evangelize because we drive nicely on the freeway? I don't know how many rationalizations I've heard. Well, I don't say a whole lot for my Christian faith, but I evangelize by my lifestyle so that we don't cut people off on the freeway. Now, for the life of me, I don't know how that's going to help anybody to see that Christ is the only way of salvation and they need to reflect faith in him. The only way to evangelize is to communicate, to talk. Evangelism is talking with a view to conversion, and it's applying and explaining the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, there's only one agent of evangelism, of course, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, who works through the Holy Spirit to enable his servants to explain the gospel truly and to explain it effectively. And the Holy Spirit is the only one who can open men's minds and hearts so that they'll receive that gospel. Thus explained and applied. The only true agent of evangelism, then, is the Lord Jesus Christ working through the Holy Spirit. So what is, in the broadest sense, the only method of evangelism? The only method of evangelism. All the rest that we're going to say our remaining study is nothing more but talking about subclasses of this one General Comment the only true method of evangelism is faithful explanation. I'd like to be able to come back next week and have you tell me that what is the one faithful and true method of evangelism? Faithful explanation. We have to explain the gospel. That's evangelism. And what should be the key principle, then, in judging any strategy? Will it in fact serve the Word of God? Will this strategy, as a matter of fact, serve the word of God? Is it calculated to be a means of explaining the gospel truly and fully and then applying it deeply and exactly? In taking the approach that I do, in using the technique that I use, will it, as a matter of fact explain the gospel truly? Will it explain it fully? Will it apply it deeply to the life of the person, and will it apply it exactly to his life? That's the key principle then, of any strategy, the one true method of evangelism. Faithful explanation of the gospel. Gospel and the principle the key principle in any strategy, then, is will this strategy in fact serve the word of God? That is calculated to be a means of explaining truly, fully and applying exactly and deeply the word of God. I'm going to give you five questions to follow up that little introductory paragraph or series of remarks. Five questions that we should ask about every single method that comes into mind for evangelizing. And by the way, I want to remind you that as much as I've got my lecture notes and that sort of thing ready to go, I want you to stop me and break in at any point with your questions, say, I don't understand that, or I'm not sure about that, or well, what about this? And ask about illustrations, anything you Want. This is intended to be a discussion, but all of my experience as a lecturer tends to make me get going and laying out this material. I don't want to leave you behind. You ask anything you want at any time you want. Anyway, here are some questions asked. Now, as you look at any strategy that you have in mind, these are questions that should discipline our approach and make sure that really is conforming to the word of God. Question number one, about our method of evangelism. Is this way of presenting Christ calculated to impress on people that it is a word from God? The way that you're approaching the person, is it calculated to impress on that person's mind that this is a word from God? Obviously, you can't change the heart of the person. You can't give that person conviction that it is the word of God. But is it calculated to give that impression? Are you presenting this just as well you have your opinion, I have mine, or is it presented in such a way that he knows that at least you are claiming thus saith the Lord? Well, our way of presenting Jesus Christ must be with a straightforward and unaffected simplicity, it seems to me, so that our sole concern will be to call attention to God and not to exalt man, not to exalt the messenger. And that's a remark that really comes out of my own personal experience, because so often my evangelistic opportunities tend to be apologetical opportunities, that is, people who have philosophical or some form of intellectual difficulty with the gospel. And that's what I've studied and that's what I teach. So I see a lot of that sort of thing. But, you know, the difficulty in presenting the gospel in that context is that so often it becomes a matter of intellectual chess. You make this move, I can, you know, check you here. You make that move, I can checkmate your king there. When you get into that situation, whether it's apologetical or emotional or what have you. But anyway, when we get into these situations where it tends to be a kind of manipulation of the other person, I'm afraid it draws attention to us the cleverness of the messenger rather than the unaffected simplicity that God says it. And that's why I'm presenting, men should learn not to admire us as the messenger, but rather to bow before the Lord. It may very well be that in the way we present the gospel, we're going to be ridiculed and thought to be intellectual charlatans or dumbbells. But in the end, if people learn to bow the heart and the mind to Jesus Christ, even Though they have not thought well of us in the process. That's much better than maintaining our dignity in the eyes of people, but then never bowing before Jesus Christ and his authority. So let's make sure that our approach is calculated to impress on people that it's a word from God. So that means unaffected simplicity, in some sense is going to be called for. Secondly, we ask this question of any method that we are thinking about. Is this way of presenting Christ calculated to promote or to impede the work of the Word in men's minds? Is this way of presenting Christ calculated to promote or to impede the work of the Word in men's minds? Is our approach emotional only? I see opportunity enough to present the gospel to people who are upset about something, say they're having financial problems or some relative is sick. Let's say they're very emotional. Well, we could present a very emotional gospel to suit that kind of situation. But we have to ask, will this advance and promote the gospel in their minds, the Word of God and its work in their minds, or will it in fact be a numbing, paralyzing, stultifying effect on their minds in terms of the Word of God? Is our approach emotional only? Is our approach clarifying the gospel, or is it obstructing the gospel? A call to the truth, you see, is to be heard when we talk to people about Christ, forcing men to think and to think hard about God and their relation to Him. We shouldn't present the gospel just as something that feels good or tried on, and if you like the way it goes, then keep it. We should say this is the truth, and you're challenged to accept the truth, to submit to it, not to live a lie. You're challenged to think, think hard about God and your relationship to Him. We should put people, it seems to me, on the alert and awaken their minds rather than put them to sleep and suggest they could just kind of ease their way into Christianity or just be lulled into it, as I've suggested, through some emotional approach. So the first thing is we have to make sure that we're impressing on people this is a word from God. Secondly, we must be presenting Christ in a way that's calculated to make them think, to promote the work of the Word of God in their minds. Thirdly, is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey to people the doctrine of the gospel, and not just part of it, but the whole of it? Is it calculated to present the doctrine of the gospel, all of it, rather than just the first portion of It I couldn't begin to tell you the number of evangelistic techniques that I've studied about or read of or heard of in my career. And I would imagine that well over 50% of them have, as one of their motivating features, one of their principal key constructing goals, the thing that forms the outlook and the method used that we shouldn't get into controversial areas. We should only present certain things. And so it's actually calculated to present only a portion of the gospel. Let's not get into tough things like maybe the miracles or the virgin birth or about predestination or eternal damnation or what have you. Let's just present to people that Jesus Christ is a savior and they need a savior and they need a heavenly friend. And let's just keep it as simple as we can. Half truths I want to suggest will leave people, however, with an incomplete understanding. And to the degree that people have an incomplete understanding of the gospel, to that degree, we have to wonder whether they have the gospel and whether they truly are converted. If they say that they believe, which we have presented, our method must not be calculated to present only a truncated version, but it must be calculated to present the doctrine of the gospel in its completion, the whole of it, and not just in part. Fourthly, is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey to people the application of the gospel, and not just part of it, but the whole of it? What's the difference between that question and the previous one? Previous one is, is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey to people the doctrine of the gospel and not just part of it, but the whole of it? This question, is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey to people the application of the gospel and not just part of it, but the whole of it? It's a difference in. In those two questions. What's that? That's right. The word application. The first question had to do with the doctrine. Are we presenting the whole doctrine? And now I'm asking, are we presenting the whole application of that doctrine? Nothing must be glossed over. If we gloss over anything in the application of the gospel to the life of that person, that's going to lead to a distorted impression as to what becoming Christian will mean for them. We have to be careful, you see, to walk the narrow path between easy believism and good resolutionism. Those are two pitfalls in evangelism that are seen when we don't present the whole application of the gospel. Easy believism, the idea that if you just have a little thing happen in Your head, you'll be saved. If you just go through this belief process, understood as some ghostly experience somewhere behind the eyeballs. If you just say in your head, yes, that's true, okay, the Bible says Jesus died for sinners. Do you believe that? Person says, yes, that's true. Aha, you are saved. That's easy believism. Conversion is much more than something that takes place behind the eyeballs, something more than what takes place in the head. Conversion is a complete change and renovation of the person's life. And for that reason, it's a commitment to Jesus Christ. It's not just saying I do to Jesus. It's actually now committing yourselves well, throwing yourself upon the mercy of Christ and committing yourself to walk the Christian life. On the other hand, we can go to the extreme of presenting the application of the gospel to the life of the person so that they get the idea that this is good resolutionism. What everybody goes through on New Year's Eve, year by year, right? We have this resolution that we're going to lead a better life. We're going to do this, correct this bad habit. We don't want to give people the idea that becoming a Christian means, well, I'm going to resolve to be more faithful in going to church, or I'm going to resolve to cut down on my swearing, or I'm going to resolve to tithe more. I'm going to resolve to do this, that and the other. That isn't conversion. As much as we must be committed to following Jesus Christ, conversion isn't simply a matter of having a do gooder approach to life, this having good resolutions. So there has to be this caution that I'm talking about exerted so that we don't have easy believism and we don't, we don't have good resolutionism, but we actually do have an application of the gospel to the life of the person. So that person knows their sin, knows the consequence of their sin, knows what they must do to turn from their sin, to put themselves into Jesus Christ, to cast themselves upon his mercy, commit themselves to following him by the power of his Spirit. Well, my fifth question now as we evaluate methods is, is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey gospel truth in a manner that is appropriately serious? Appropriately serious. Note two words there at the end in the question. One, serious. The approach must be serious, but it must be appropriately serious. Not all soberness, somberness in presenting the God gospel is appropriate seriousness. I don't want to suggest that there's no room for laughing or lightheartedness. At some points in presenting the Gospel, it may very well be that we have to laugh at our foibles and admit our failings. We may have to see the foolishness of unbelief for what it is. But nevertheless, in the end, our overall approach must have about it a seriousness that compels attention and makes people, it seems to me, sober about understanding the presentation of the Gospel. People must see that we are facing a matter of life and death when the Gospel is presented. They must feel the greatness of God in our presentation, and they must feel their dire need for the grace of Jesus Christ. They must know that it's a matter of life and death. They must feel the greatness of God in all of this. And they must see the dire need they have for Christ's grace. That means that our approach has to be serious. Our presentation must not cheapen the Gospel. It must not trivialize the awesome truth of scripture. And I don't want to use too many local illustrations for fear of stepping on toes or being unnecessarily offensive. But you see, people are not converted by talking horses or by karate for Christ or by gospel blimps. People are not converted because we give out balloons and that sort of thing. The Gospel is a matter of life and death. It's a matter of the awesomeness and the majesty, the greatness of God and our dire need for Christ and His grace. Now, I've said, however, that that question talks about seriousness, but appropriate seriousness. It doesn't mean that we have to put on an affected solemnity or a mock seriousness. I know an individual who teaches theology I won't mention by name, might be known to some of you as well, who in my mind is a perfect example of this thing. And I hate to say that because I'm sure that I have my own problems with this too. We all do. That's why I'm presenting the question. But I see in this person the illustration that I'm looking for here. This person can be so light hearted, so interested in the mundane things of life, chit chat, the daily news, financial affairs matters, having to do with car and family and everything else that occupies our minds. But a minute a theological question comes up with the issue of evangelism, this person becomes almost a stuffed shirt. It's a very high and dignified calling now to be a minister of the gospel. And it's something that calls for kind of a strange tilt of the head and kind of a weird affected tone of voice. And that, frankly, in another Christian seeing it turns me off. But I'm thinking to myself, if I see that, doesn't the unbeliever see that too? You mustn't present the gospel in some kind of fake seriousness. All of a sudden, when we talk about religious things, we have to talk in a different tone of voice. No, people are going to catch onto that. And they're going to get the idea that the gospel. Then it's just one little, very fake, artificial area of life. And so as long as we're doing all the normal things, we act one way. But then when we get into the area of the gospel, then we act another way. We don't want to present that idea. So let's not put on errors. Let's not have a mock seriousness in our presentation. What I'm asking is that we be really natural in the presentation of the gospel. And that naturally, if you understand the gospel, that's going to make you serious. So be natural. Be yourself. But obviously, if you are yourself and you understand the gospel, you're going to be serious about what you're talking about. Realize what's at stake in this message. I want you all to think about a method you've used in evangelism in the past. If you've used any at all. If you haven't used any of your own, I want you to think of one that at least has been presented to you as an alternative approach to presenting the gospel to people. I want you to think through this, get it firmly in mind. What do you do now? What are the steps A, B and C? 1, 2, and 3, if I'm going to evangelize in this way, what am I aiming to accomplish? What am I supposed to say at this point? Where do I begin? How do I treat the person? Now you get this method in mind. You have that method in mind. Ask yourself if they this method. Now these questions. One, is that way of presenting Christ calculated to impress on people that it is a word from God? Two, is this way of presenting Christ calculated to promote the work of the word of God in men's minds, to make them think seriously? Three, is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey the doctrine of the gospel in its wholeness, not just in part? Four, is it calculated to present the application of the gospel in its wholeness and not just in part? And five, is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey the gospel truth in a manner that's appropriately serious? I hope you'll remember these questions because they'll help you keep a think on the proper path in evaluating the methods that we're going to be talking about in the use of these methods in your own life. These are good questions. You'll find these questions reviewed for you if you would like to look at them sometime in J.I. packer's book, evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, an excellent little booklet that I'd like to have you all read sometime. But keep these things in mind. These are five good questions to be asking ourselves. Now, what questions do you have about my questions? I'm not saying don't evangelize in emotional circumstances. I'm saying don't make your evangelism emotional. I don't go out. I see.

I just let it happen.

Well, I'm going to be teaching you how you can go out and seek evangelistic opportunities. But you're right in terms of it happening naturally. It usually does take place when there's an emotional crisis in the life of somebody. And that's perfectly fine. That's an appropriate time for people to think about their need of Christ. However, what my question was trying to get across is that we shouldn't match their emotional need with our emotional punch. You see, we're not coming through. You see this on TV so much. I really can't avoid saying you have people in the audience who are weeping and wailing or coming up this or that problem, and the preacher just plays right to that and talks about Jesus life loving you and being concerned for you and all that. That's not evangelism unless it's the love of Jesus seen in his sacrificial death and the need for your repentance, that sort of thing. All I'm saying is when people are emotional and we present the gospel, let's make sure it's something that is calculated to challenge their minds and make them think hard about their relationship to God and not simply to soothe their feelings. Jesus is with us everywhere. Right? Well, I mean, we can tell that to people who are feeling lonely. But I mean, it just isn't true. And in one sense it's really cruel to say that to somebody who's going to hear from Jesus someday depart from me. So what I'm saying is let's just not try to match the emotional need with an emotional message. Let's make it the faithful message, the mind challenging message of the gospel. One thing that we might need to look at is what is the real problem? You know, you can have an emotional problem in your life, like you have a divorce or something like that, but that's still not as great a problem as whether you're going to heaven or hell. And sure, Christ can meet the needs for the emotional problems too, but, you know, the more graver, more serious problem is the heaven or hell type situation. Yeah, I think that's true. However, I think I would put it this way, if I can just reshape that a little bit. It's not that that is a more important problem in the sense that, look, we'll get to your Uncle Charlie is going to die problem once we get you taken care of in terms of whether you're going to heaven or hell, because that's the most important thing. What I would like to show to people is that your worry about your Uncle Charlie is tied to this question about heaven and hell. And therefore we can't get to that problem until we go through this one. So I want to show that they're connected. There's an inner relationship between those two. And I think that's true of all emotional problems. I mean, God has provided a perfect way to deal with every situation. And to the degree people aren't dealing with it his way, it's because they're sinful and they need the grace of Christ. So I think we can use that. But I just want to make sure that we don't pander to people in terms of their emotional crises with a gospel that is less than whole and intellectual and mind challenging. To them. You're speaking. What good is it going to be.

For me to say this is from.

God's word, John, such and such. Who's John? You know, what's Corinthians? Well, you tell them if they don't, if they don't know at all that those are both books of the Bible. You can say in the book of the Bible named John, it says such and such and such and such. Now they may not even know how to go about finding it or where it is in the Bible. Well, I don't think it has to sound calculated. The point there is to let people know that it's coming from the Bible and it's not coming from yourself. I didn't. I didn't dream up this idea. I want you to know that it's in the Bible. Now, you may not be able to check it out as yet. It may take a while to learn how to find things in the Bible, but I'm going to let you know where these addresses are so you have a way of you say something that really hits the spot, that sticks with them. It's good for them to know and when she said that, she also said something about a Bible verse. So that they're not saying, boy, I was really impressed with that philosophy Rita came up with. No, it's, boy, what she said the Bible says is what impresses me. Yes. I can't witness christ, Let them know it's from the word of God. Now, there are different ways of doing that. It doesn't always mean. And it says in John 3:16 this, and it says in Romans 6:23 that. But I think you do need to intersperse your time of saying, well, the Bible says, and we'll see in the New Testament that it says. And Paul says in Romans, you know, you don't always have to have the addresses there, but you have to let people know this is God's Word. And at least it's your understanding of God's word that's being presented and not just your own private philosophy of life. Well, method. So you think about method. Let's think about an analogy Jesus used for his disciples. Being evangelistic, he told his followers once that he would make them fishers of men. They had been fishers of fish, and now he's going to make them fishers of men. Well, that suggests, of course, that there's some analogy between the fishing occupation and the evangelistic task. Evangelists are fishing. And just as fishermen must be skilled at their work, requiring a knowledge of how to catch, cast out their nets and how to catch the fish and how to pull them in, so in being fishers of men, we need to know something about how to cast out the net and to catch people and to draw them in. I don't want to suggest, and I hope you've already caught the point by now, I don't want to suggest that this matter of method can be reduced to an algebraic formula. You know, eventually we're going to get to the point where I say step one is, and step two is, and step three, and then you do this little procedure and you say your prayer and then you have finally done your evangelistic work. I don't believe in algebraic formulas as an approach to the methods of evangelism. Evangelism has to be a matter of the heart. It has to be more natural. And the more natural it is over. Against a calculated step one, step two, step three approach. The more natural it is, the better. I don't think our method should be a formal, stilted or professional method, but rather should be and should appear to be spontaneous. But for all of the spontaneity trying to creatively deal with every situation and every individual as they come into our lives. There are qualities and guidelines that everyone should possess and try to follow in their use of a particular method of evangelism. The first thing I think you should keep in mind if you're going to be a fisher of men as you try to develop a method of evangelism, is remember what your task is. Remember when I played basketball in high school, we had a coach who was an all American at UCLA under Johnny Wooden. We were all in great awe for basketball football coach. He had a great deal of ability and we'd all seen films of him play. And he was really something. And I remember sitting three seasons under him and his opening lecture every year was the same one. The name of the game is penetration. He said, no matter what you're doing out on the court, the one thing you should be thinking about is penetrating the court pen. Penetrating to the basket doesn't make any difference whether you're trying to run the screen, whether you're trying to rebound, whether you're trying to shoot, whether you're passing. You don't want to pass backwards. Obviously, our goal is to step by step, inch by inch, if need be, move toward the basket. Something we need to teach our soccer players sometimes, too. They have to remember that the name of the game is penetration to the goal. So we have to remember as evangelists too, that no matter what we're thinking about, should we pray at this point? Should I ask a question? Should I indict the person? Should I explain further? The overall thing that you're trying to do is penetrate, get that person to the goal. You have to know what the aim is. Now, here are some factors that are going to affect different approaches that each of us will use as individuals. First, first of all, we have to ask, what is our own disposition? What kind of person are you naturally? Are you a direct sort of person? An aggressive, confrontational sort of person? Are you a more soft spoken, indirect sort of person? We all have different personalities. And what I would do in an evangelistic situation, I wouldn't expect to be entirely duplicated by just anybody in this room. Because not anybody in this room has my personality. And I wouldn't expect you'd be looking for me to imitate yours. So you have to know your own disposition. You have to know your particular gifts. You have to know what you can accomplish most and how you can best be effective in presenting things. So you have to know your own disposition. Secondly, you have to know your particular situation. The worst thing about the Four spiritual laws and other canned methods is that they are calculated to treat every situation as though it were identical, but it's not. No situation is identical with another situation, just the nature of the case. But the relevant differences are so big that, and I'm not sure that you can, can in fact can a method put an algebraic formula on this. You have to know how much time is available, how much knowledge is to be found in this person. Have they been exposed to the Bible? Have they gone to church all their life? Are they totally ignorant of the Bible? They not even know there is a church. I'm going to ask whether you can see in this person evidence of, say, remorse for sin, evidence that they now understand something better than they did before. Is there any evidence that anything is going on in their life in their mind that could be attributed to the Holy Spirit's working with them? Is the situation such that a thought about God can spontaneously be presented, or is it going to be forced? You have to know the situation. You have to know yourself. You have to know your situation. And then, of course, thirdly, we have to understand that in all of this we need the leading of the Holy Spirit. I could easily give you another hour. Now, on what I mean by that phrase, the leading of the Holy Spirit, one of the spookiest phrases in modern Christendom, the leading of the Spirit. I don't mean what should I say next? Then the Holy Spirit says, oh yes, now this is the sentence to use, or should I offer a cup of coffee? Oh yes, now I'll offer a cup of Nobody should be expecting, expecting the leading of the Holy Spirit in that sense. But on the other hand, we shouldn't think that what we're doing, we're doing in our own strength, with our own wisdom. We're asking the Spirit to make us sensitive, to see the right things to do the appropriate things to do, and to see how the Bible applies to our situation. That calls, of course, in the first place, for having a general walk in the Spirit as a Christian, having the fruit of the Spirit demonstrated in your life, being a person who of prayer, being sensitive to the needs of people and to the truth of the gospel, being a person that has spiritual wisdom. So know yourself, know the situation, and be a person who is led by the Spirit of God. That's going to affect the differences in all of our evangelistic methods. Now I'm going to break down the evangelistic method into four steps. I don't mean by that this is what you do first. This is what you do second, but there's four aspects to just about any evangelistic presentation. And I realize that there are many ways to cut a cake. And I'm cutting it this way tonight for the sake of convenience. And my teaching method is not the only way to think of it, but it's a convenient and I hope, a helpful way to think about it. First of all, there's the approach or casting the net. How do you approach the person? Secondly, there's the instruction you give the person. Actually, if you will, giving them the story they need to know about evangelism. There's the aspect of appeal, or what we might call the bait for fishing that we use, what appeal we use. And then finally pulling in the net or the follow up, what last week I meant to call closing in salesman's terms, but couldn't think of the technical term, even though I said I was going to. We have our approach. How do we approach the person? What kind of instruction do we give? Secondly, thirdly, what bait or appeal do we use? And fourthly, how do we pull in the net and follow it up? I'll explain those four very briefly and ask for your questions and we'll call a night. Then next week when we come together, I'll elaborate on each one of these aspects in more depth. I have plenty more notes on this aspect that I want to give to you. Okay, there's first of all, our approach to the person. How do you get to the topic? And that's probably the most difficult thing for most of us. You know, once somebody starts asking the right questions, you probably can give. I think most of you in this room can give basically correct answers, but how do you get them to ask the right questions? You know the old story, it's one thing to get a horse to water and another thing to get him to drink. Well, for us the problem is getting the horse to the water. Most of our people are thirsty enough, they'll start drinking. But how do we get them there? How do we approach it? How do we get to the topic? Well, it's a matter of beginning down the appropriate path and getting the attention of the person. So I'm going to talk next week about approach. How do we approach the subject? And secondly, what kind of instruction should we give? Well, our instruction is always a matter of educating sinners. As I've said, evangelism is when all is said and done, evangelism is what? Faithful explanation of the gospel. Faithful explanation of the gospel. And so we want to educate sinners to make them see their position before God. Not necessarily to let them see all of the goodies that will come if they become Christians, but to let them see that they have a certain position before God. We want to get the message across clearly, to teach the truth, and if nothing else, to lay a foundation. We should never get the idea that as we instruct people that instruction must be a three year course in systematic theology. That isn't our goal. Our goal is to at least lay one plank upon which we can build. If we get another opportunity or another five minutes or somebody else comes into their life later, we want to clearly lay a plank for the truth and then another, and then another, and then another. So we have our approach, our instructions. And then there's the question of our bait or appeal. As we move toward a conscious and committed decision for Christ, one that seeks action, this person will in fact repent of sin, trust in the Savior and commit themselves to lead the Christian life. How can we interest them in doing that? After we've approached them, we've educated them, how then can we put the bait down that was going to make them finally move and do that? And then finally, how do we follow this up? How do we pull in the net? That was being asked last week, what do I do when the person says, yeah, that sounds right to me. Now what? Well, to make sure that the decision is made and made in the proper way that the point of salvation and the message of salvation has been duly reached, it's necessary that we help the person complete this process of conversion and to give them growth and instruction and guidance for what they do next. The natural question after a person prays some form of prayer of conversion is, now what? Well, it may be that it's five o' clock and it's time to put the dinner on the table. Maybe the very first thing a person does as a Christian is one of their mundane duties. It doesn't mean the first thing they are going to do is for the first time in their life, sit down and read a Christian book. I think it is great if you can get your convert to read a Christian book. That may not be the first thing they do. The first thing may not be that they go to their neighbor and talk about Jesus. It may not be that they go to a prayer meeting. So how do you pull in the net and how do you give them instruction? Now where do you go from here? Want to talk about those things too? Last week I learned my lesson about waiting till 8 o' clock and then seeing if you had any questions and then I couldn't possibly fulfill my promise of getting you out on time. So I'm going to stop early tonight and let you break in here. You haven't been nearly pushy enough about getting me to stop and asking your questions. You're all too polite. That comes from my demeanor, I suppose, but also from the fact that you're used to hearing me preach in the pulpit. You wouldn't want to stop me when I'm preaching. But on our Wednesday night studies, I hope you will feel free to break in and ask questions. Here's your opportunity. I'm going to stop talking. What do you want to know? Yes, I said that the two extremes we can fall into when we're not giving a full application of the gospel would be easy believism. Let's say I present the full doctrine of the gospel, but then I don't say, and let's say I'm talking to a neighbor of mine, that that person has to know that there are specific sins that he has to repent of. It's not just easy believers. You know, Jesus is the Savior, Jesus will be your heavenly friend. Don't you want to get to heaven when you die? That isn't applying the gospel. Applying the gospel is, you know, you have a terrible temper and Christ can control that. That's a very pointed and particular application. But my point is it's not just easy believism. I have to point out to him that you've got to repent. You've got to turn around and change your lifestyle. On the other hand, full application. I want to make it clear that in his repentance you can't save yourself. And you mustn't think that Christianity is a matter of just a bunch of goody two shoers. You know, we aren't just saying let's have good resolutions, you know, let's all be better neighbors and good American patriotic citizens and we'll all go to heaven. We're not talking about that either. A full application of the gospel. It shows him just exactly what repentance is, why it is necessary in his life, and what it's not doing as well. There are other ways of putting it. But that's the kind of illustration that comes to my mind. A full application means dealing with the person's life. It isn't applying the gospel just to say God made people once who now are sinners. Jesus died once for sinners. Those sinners who want to go to heaven have to do the following things. I also want to say in you Mr. John Doe are such a sinner, and you know that you're a sinner for these reasons, and this is what you must do and what it will mean in your life. So you see, I want to personalize the gospel. That's another way of putting it. Applying it means personalizing it. Don't let me scare you. Just a second. That doesn't mean that you have to be going around saying, boy, you've got this sin, you've got that sin. But it may be that with some friends you're close enough, you can, you know, that is one way of applying it.

LINDA well, I was just thinking about the last time that I shared this with my and then I go through these steps and I can see that actually I think I must have skipped over number three. And when it got to number four, closing, I was talking to a man and I I had, you know, spent several about two hours talking to him, and then I got really intimidated because I was a woman to close it, you know, I really thought, well, what should I do? You know, and plus, following up, going back and checking on it, I just get scared, I think, you know, because I did talk to him about a woman and, you know, biblical and so and yet here I am. I feel like queeling and dealing, trying to get him to come to this point. So yet I don't want to feel I mean, I don't want to feel like it every time I see a man in me, that I just have to turn my head and not offer any of those.

No, you don't. But you do need to think through, and hopefully we can help you in this course to think through. How can I, as a woman dealing with a man, be a little more assertive and close this thing at the end and not just leave it up in the air, you know, reflect. If nothing else, I'm not going to answer your question tonight, but reflect on Aquila and Priscilla. Priscilla, in some sense, helped close the instruction given to Apollos. The two of them, the Bible clearly says instructed him. And so there is a place for a woman dealing with a man. It's not in the congregation, as we know. That's not the question you've raised, but because of our natural reticence as evangelical Christians about women in the church and that sort of thing, and the woman's subordination to her husband and all that submission to her husband, we tend to think that in generalized terms, women and men have to relate that way. But that's not the case. You have to have the same kind of deference and respect you'd have for any other person in your society. But the fact that you're a woman doesn't mean you can't close this as effectively as a man could. Other questions? Well, essentially what we've done tonight then is I've laid out for you the parameters for dealing with and evaluating methods of evangelism. And I'm going to talk about the development of this method more next week. Week. And we will eventually get to the point where I'm just going to basically go through here's one way of doing it, another way of doing it and all that. And if it helps you, great. And if it doesn't, throw it out. Okay, Here are sentences you can use. Different people.

Touch.

Yes. And different circumstances under which you meet these people, too, in time. As you can see, the lecture technique is there. You start with the general questions and principles and work down to your applications. And that's where we're going. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, please bless our time together tonight and make it effective so that the kingdom of Jesus Christ might indeed grow and grow right before our eyes. For it's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.