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Fundamentals of Christianity 1
Lesson 10
I. Introduction:
Someone told each one of us about God's love for us. They explained to us that God wants a relationship with us, but sin stands between us and a holy God. They explained to us that out of God's great love, He sent His son Jesus to die paying the penalty for our sin so that we could be born-again and go to be with God when we die rather than being eternally separated from Him in Hell.
Had no one cared enough about us to tell us and to pray for us, we would never have come to know Jesus. Not only does Jesus love you and me but He loves everyone, and He wants everyone to love Him and receive Him as their Lord. If we, as Christians don't tell them about God, who will?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (Joh 3:16-17 KJV)
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Romans 10:13,14
Then he told them: Go and preach the good news to everyone in the world. Anyone who believes me and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe me will be condemned. (Mar 16:15-16 CEV)
Bottom Line: It is the job of every believer to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and to do the works of God. We are motivated by love and love alone, to tell others that there is hope found in Jesus Christ. We don't want people to go to Hell when they die because no one told them the truth about God. Most Christians are not effective witnesses because they simply don't know they are suppose to be and they don't know how to be. Tonight and over the next two weeks we are going to learn how.
II. It is a big job, but we are not alone.
Thank God we are not alone in this. We have God Himself as our partner. We step out by faith being His mouth piece and He will do the heart work. We do not convict of sin, that is the job of the Holy Spirit, and He is very good at His job. We are simply a testament to God's power in our lives. We are truth speakers. We live in a world filled with all kinds of lies and deceptions. God's word is truth. We speak that in love. We are never to be condemning, mean spirited or arrogant. Our goal is to let God's love for man come through us. We are vessels of God's love and His power. God Himself is the supernatural power that accomplishes His work. We are in a holy partnership with God Himself! Our mouth, our hands, our feet, His power! What an awesome privilege to be used by God.
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mar 16:15-20 KJV)
III. How do we be a witness and lead people to Christ?
1. Our Life:
Living a life of love and mercy toward others:
As God's children, we must let our light shine for people to see. We must show God's love to people by doing good for them. We must walk in the fruit of the Spirit; joy, peace, love, long suffering, goodness, kindness, self-control, faithfulness and gentleness. When we do this, we are exemplifying who God is and God will get glory from our life.
Other people pay attention to how we behave. Our life is a testimony to God's love and goodness in our life. If you live your life the way God intends for you to live it, people will want to know why you are so different from other people. They will ask questions and want to hear what you have to say. You will get an opportunity to talk to them about God. You will be able to share your testimony with them and tell them how they too can have a relationship with God. People desire the peace and joy that can only come through this kind of life. They will see God's favor and blessings resting on your life and will want that too.
If our lives are no different from anyone else's, who will want what we have? If we sin as much as everyone else and have as much hell in our life as everyone else, who will want to hear what we to say? No one. The light in our life will draw people to that light, which is Jesus.
If we have truly been born-again and made Jesus our Lord, our lives have indeed changed drastically. We no longer do the things we use to do. Day by day, God's favor and blessing increases on our life more and more. If Jesus is our Lord, we obey Him and if we don't do our best to obey Him, we don't really belong to Him.
And all who believe in God's Son have eternal life. Those who don't obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but the wrath of God remain upon them." John 3:36 New Living Translation
Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval. Romans 6:16 NLT
Obey God because you are His children. Don't slip back into your old ways of doing evil; you didn't know any better then. (1 Peter 1:14 New Living Translation)
And the apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great favor was upon them all. (If we witness of Jesus, His favor will be upon us too!) Acts 4:33
Doing the works of God with supernatural power:
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
(Act 1:8 KJV)We are witnesses of Jesus when we do the works that He did. We must be endued with power from the Holy Spirit or be baptized in the Holy Spirit and walk in the supernatural power of God through faith in Him. We should heal the sick, cast out devils and raise the dead to life again, just as Jesus did. Remember, our hands and feet, His power! We are in a holy partnership to be his witnesses. That will advance God's kingdom in the earth. We can do this not only with our speech and good deeds but also with our works of supernatural power.
2. Our testimonyA testimony is a powerful thing. It is a first hand witness of God's goodness and His power in our own lives. We are to talk to people about God and what He means to us and all the wonderful things that He has done for us and how our lives have changed since He came into it. Every born-again Christian has many powerful testimonies. It is impossible to belong to God and not have many wonderful stories to tell His goodness in our life.
When we tell people our testimony, we are planting good seeds into people's heart and it is God who will cause these seeds to grow and cause the hearers to want to know more about Him. When they do, we are to be ready with answers for them of how they can have God in their life too, or be willing to take them to someone who can share the gospel with them.
When we die and leave this earth, we cannot take anything with us except the work we did for God while on earth. Every good thing we do for God's sake will be rewarded. We will receive a special crown, we will receive special positions of authority, we will receive special honor by God if we spend this life working for Him. Our work is not what gets us into heaven, only receiving Jesus as our Lord by putting our faith in His shed blood for forgiveness of our sin will give us eternal life, but our works on earth will be honored greatly in heaven.
3. Pray Earnestly for those you are witnessing to.
This is where God's part comes in. Remember, God only gets involved in our activities when we invite Him too. We must pray. Pray for yourself and also for those that you are witnessing to.
4. Learn how and be prepared to present the gospel message to people clearly and simply.
5. Learn how and be prepared to pray the sinners prayer with those that you witness to.
6. Learn how to and be prepared to do follow up with your new convert.
7. Learn to and be prepared to make disciples out of them.
Be willing to invest some time into people's lives. Teach them what you know. Take tthem to church with you. New converts cannot feed themselves, they must be feed in order to grow spiritually. That is the responsibility of the person that leads them to Christ to either feed them or be sure they get fed.
8. Provide accountability for them.
Baby Christians have to learn what God expects of them. Their Spirit has been born into God's kingdom but their mind has to learn how to live in God's Kingdom. Gods kingdom is opposite from this world we live in. Everything is new to them.
There is much for them to learn; therefore, they need assistance. They don't need someone to condemn them, but to encourage them, to ask them if they are reading the Bible or to ask them how they are doing with certain areas of sin that is the most tempting to them. Just like a newborn baby needs all kinds of assistance in growing up, so does the new born Christian. They need much tender loving care to become strong and mature.
IV. With God's help you can make a tremendous difference in the lives of people.
Not only can you give people a tremendously better life in this life but you can save them from an eternal life of torment in hell. This life is short but eternity is forever. People must know truth. How will they know unless we tell them? You may feel that you know so little about God, but already you know much more than most people do. Telling others about the gift of salvation is an act of mercy, but we cannot make anyone accept the message. We tell them about Jesus and pray for them, the rest is between them and God. Everyone must accept God willingly for themselves.
V. Conclusion:
We have two more lessons in this discipleship course. In those lessons, we will learn how to write our testimony. We will also learn how to lead someone to God and follow up with them.
God expects every child of His to be a witness for Him. It is not hard. If we will just live the Christian life our self and let God flow through us, He will do the work. Your age, social status, race or nothing else matters. If you will be willing and obedient the sky is the limit on the great and awesome ways God can use your life. I challenge you tonight to set your head and your heart on letting God use you in the lives of other people. There is no limit to the ways God will bless your life if you will.
Weekly Challenges:
Read your daily Proverbs and New Testament chapters.
Spend at least 20 minutes a day in prayer.
Think:
*Am I willing to be used by God?
*Am I willing to live the life God wants me to live so that my life can be a testimony of God's love and power?
*What do I need to change in my life in order to accomplish this?
*How can I begin to be a witness for God, knowing only the things that I know right now?
*Do I have an accountability partner to help me be successful in my walk with God and if not, who might I choose. (Someone that is a stronger Christian than you, someone you can trust and someone that does not struggle with the same sin issues as you do. Pray and ask God to help you choose one.)Do: This week try to ask someone to help keep you accountable.
Operation L.O.V.E. : Tell at least one person this week something that God has done for you. Express your faith in God to them. It can be a relative or a family member or even a member of this group.
Scripture Memorization:
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14