SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons : Excuses for not sharing the Gospel.

Print Thread (PDF)

PosterThread
franklin26
Member



Joined: 2007/11/14
Posts: 1


 Excuses for not sharing the Gospel.

Excuses for not sharing Gospel

1. Evangelism is Vocational

What I mean by vocational is that a many believe that the requirement for preaching the gospel is given to the pastors, evangelist, and missionaries. Some would even say that evangelism is a gift and even pastors, Sunday school teachers, are not required unless they have the gift.

When Jesus gave the command, not request, to make “disciples of every nation” and I am with you to the “end of the age,” was it reasonable to expect that every nation have disciples and every creature hear the gospel, before those disciples died?

No it is not reasonable, clearly he expected others that where not present to obey the command as well. Jesus also said to teach them to observe (or do) all that I have commanded you. Clearly they where to teach the last command, make disciples, to all of the disciples they made.

Now if we are disciples of Christ, and where taught to do what Christ taught, then we are required to make disciples. The only ones that are free from this command are those who have their part in the lake of fire.

"… Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16, NIV-UK)

This parallel passage recorded by Mark also implies that the gospel is to be proclaimed all over the world to the whole creation, other versions say “every creature.” Clearly then are we not only to send out missionaries and evangelist but we are to proclaim the gospel to every creature around us.

Many are going to say that Paul listed evangelism as a gift. Therefore, if I was not given the gift, I cannot do it. Let look at a passage that puts the gift of evangelism in perspective.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:(Eph. 4:11-12)

Clearly the bible states that the gift of evangelism is for equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry just like the pastors and teachers. In other words, the evangelist is to teach others how to share the gospel. Their ability to preach the gospel will be supernatural, but what they are given by Spirit they are to impart through discipleship.

2. I do not know how.

This reason is the one I used myself along with the fear of man. I myself once did not know how to share the gospel. I would invite my family to church, have them watch Left Behind or another movie, but I would not share the gospel. I knew the gospel as far as I was a sinner and deserved hell, but Jesus paid the price. I knew that I had repented and asked God forgiveness based on what Jesus had done. I asked Jesus to become Savior and Lord of my life. However, I had no idea how to bring it up, much less present it.

I was also very afraid I would mess it up and become an obstacle, which was worse, to me, than saying nothing.

If you are truly at the place where you know that you are required to share the gospel and earnestly want to learn how, I have some advice.

I have two programs that I will sanction.
Evangelism Explosion will gently walk you into sharing the gospel. You will be part of a team that will visit church visitors or do questionnaires. You will have a trainer that will share the gospel, and as your confidence grows, you will be asked to share one part of the gospel. You will be encouraged to do more and more of the presentation as the 12-13 week program continues. If you do forget a piece or come to a mental roadblock, then the trainer will step in to fill the gap or correct the mistake. I learned how the share the gospel this way, and this has given me a method and practice.

The practice I received by being discipled by my trainer gave me the confidence to share the gospel.

The other method I will endorse is the Way of the Master. This program uses the techniques used by Jesus, Peter, and Paul as recorded in the Bible. I am not implying EE in unbiblical at all, but the Way of the Master uses a different order of presenting the Gospel. You can discover the Way of the Master by going to www.wayofthemaster.com or by reading the book by Ray Comfort using the same title.

The Way of the Master place emphasizes on the Law first, then Grace. The main premise is that if you are not aware of your sin and the severity of that sin you will not truly trust in Christ for salvation. You might ask Christ into your heart to see if it is really as good as all the Christian says it is. You might ask Christ into your heart, or say a sinners prayer, so the preacher will marry you to your fiancé. This I did. Belowis the story.

When I met with a pastor to get married in 1993, He asked if I was saved. I admitted that I was not. My soon to be wife was a professing Christian. He said he could not unequally yoke us. He would not marry us unless I became a Christian. I said I would. He then asked me to kneel with him and pray. I repeated after him those words we are so joyous to hear sinners say.

However, I stood up the same filthy, wicked, unrighteous sinner that knelt down with the pastor that day. I was humoring him so I could get married in the church my fiancé had attended as a child. The pastor never told me of my sin, never told me of the wrath to come. He had told me that I had to accept Jesus to get married, thus I was not trusting Christ for salvation and He was by no means my Lord.

I want to clarify that Jesus was my Lord and I would answer to Him one day, but I did not obey Him or know Him.

Whenever I would hear the Gospel of a “God shaped vacuum in my heart” and all I need was Jesus to have joy, peace, happiness, I would look at “Christians” to see that it was a lie. When they would say Jesus will help you live a good life, I would look at those “Christians” and say no thanks.

I did get involved in business with some men that seemed to have peace and joy when problems occurred. They saw problems as testing grounds and gave God the glory for what they had accomplished. I bought and began reading a Bible. I started in Genesis. It was hard to understand but I did realize that sin brings death. I heard the gospel in New Orleans at a “Free enterprise Day Celebration” I new that Jesus was calling, but I would not go down to the front because I still had sin, or planned sin, I did not want to give up.

I heard the gospel a second time and thought to myself, “I will turn to Jesus once I am successful, then I can give others hope they can be financially successful without God.” I had heard successful people in Amway give God the glory, and I wanted to give non-believers hope. I was also afraid of what my friends would think of me once they realized I was not a Christian

At an Anderson-Cowart Family Reunion in Macon Georgia in 1996 or 1997, I walked down an aisle to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. I no longer cared that my friends discovered I was not already a Christian. I no longer wanted to give people hope outside of Christ, and no longer wanted sin more than I wanted salvation. I was now repentant and chose to turn away from my sins past, present, and those I still wanted to commit.


3. Fear of Man.

Almost every time I choose to withhold the gospel from someone, it is because of the fear of man. I am afraid that they will think I am crazy. I am afraid they will attack me verbally or physically. I am afraid that I will offend them by insinuating they are not a Christian or a good person. I am afraid that if they are atheist, Buddhist, homosexual, or fill in the blank, they will think I am being judgmental. My favorite one is, they know me and will bring up my sins from the past including last weeks sin.

I was on the way to the hospital to visit a friend, Melissa, who had a blood vessel burst in her head. Her brother is one of my longest lasting friends. I had been sharing the gospel, using questionnaires, with an EE team in a public location. I was thinking that it is easier for me to share with strangers than family, and that Melissa and her family would be the hardest outside of my immediate family. I went to the hospital with the plan to pray for her and comfort her family. I had not expected to see Melissa, figuring she would not be allowed visitors outside the family. However, I was allowed to go back and her mother specifically asked that I go and pray for her.

I went into the intensive care unit where Melissa’s bed was. I talked to Melissa and asked if I could pray for her. She said she would appreciate it and I prayed for her. I have a CD by Casting Crowns and one of the songs is a narrative of a person asking God to give him words to speak. He is talking to friend that is slowly fading away (dieing) and they are talking about the weather again. He is asking why it is so hard to tell his friend about Jesus. How can he see what is not mirrored in my own life, and that I will not tell him.

I have loved, listened, and been under conviction by this song for over a year. I had just learned how to share the gospel and was sharing it with strangers. I knew I could not walk out of their without attempting to share the gospel.

I said, “I am dying to ask you two questions?” (I almost stopped here because of the stupid way I used to move into the presentation. Do not use the word dying improperly when talking to a patient in ICU). She said something like ask, or shoot. She answered the EE diagnostic questions in a way that leads me to believe she is not saved. I then ask permission to share the gospel, and she allowed me to share. I shared the gospel up to asking for a commitment. The nurse asked me to leave, because visiting hours was over by 15 minutes not because I was sharing gospel. I am sure that she is still not saved, but I did lead her brother to Christ a few weeks later.(She now knows the Lord)

I now do a Bible study in her mothers’ house where she currently lives. She has not joined us, but I will continue to pray and will talk to her again about the gospel.

Now that I have shown you that you can mess up and still share the gospel. I have shown you that even those who know your worst sins, trust me her brother knows my worst sins, and you can still lead them to Christ The power is in the seed not the sower. The Word of God, spoken or read, works with the Holy Spirit to bring salvation to every creature that will trust in the work Christ did.

My next example is proof of that. I only though that that family would be the hardest. A few months later, I was thinking about how hard it would be to share the gospel with my ex-wife. It would be hard to without her thinking I wanted to change her into a better person. Immediately after thinking about how hard it would be that familiar quite voice in my head let me know I would share with her that day.

I was on the way to her house to pick up my oldest boys. I begged God to send another at first. Then realizing that He had chosen me for this, I begged Him to give me the words and attitude that would not be condescending to her. I begged that He prepare her heart to understand and receive the words.

Like my best friend, my wife and I had been praying for her salvation, protection, and for God to draw my ex-wife and her husband to himself if they where already saved. Also like my friend, I realize now that God had sent someone to share the gospel with them, but that someone had remained quite for almost two years. To make a long story short, she made a profession of faith that day.

On my way home, I just started crying. One reason was that I came to Christ why I was still married to her, and I did not do the most important thing a husband should do, share and show Christ to his wife. The second reason was that God allowed me to fix one of the mistakes I had made in that relationship by telling her the true gospel. The third reason was that now I had reason to believe that my oldest boys would see their mom in heaven one day, and they would not have to worry about her salvation.

Please dear Saints, prepare yourself, pray for oppertunities, then take them. If you arenot sure if it is God's will for you to share the gospel with your friends, relatives and strangers, just read the Bible straight through so you will know it is.


 2008/11/15 4:43Profile





All sermons are offered freely and all contents of the site
where applicable is committed to the public domain for the
free spread of the gospel.