How to Witness to Strangers

I was speaking with an older Christian lady one time about the subject of sharing the gospel and she told me she had tried it but gave it up. I asked her why she'd quit. She said she was in a park handing out gospel tracts and a man came by and she said hello and handed him a tract and he violently tore it into pieces and threw those pieces on the ground.

And she said after that I didn't waste my money on any more gospel tracts if they were just going to be torn up. Well I was sorry that lady got her feelings hurt but if we followed a rejected Christ shouldn't we face the same rejection from time to time? Jesus even told his disciples, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. The title of my message today friends is How to Witness to Strangers and today we'll cover some tried and true ways to share the gospel with those you come in contact with throughout the week.

I've maintained a tract ministry for years. I fell in love with gospel tracts as a teenager when I worked in a bible bookstore and they had hundreds of gospel tracts on racks and racks that told stories of far away lands, of buried treasure, and of pearl diving in the South Pacific and sailing the seven seas. These adventure stories appealed to the active mind of a 14 year old and I literally read every tract in that store I could get my hands on and committed many of them to memory.

Later on in life I would write my own tracts and hand them out but I still have my old favorites that still warm my heart and make me think of my savior. Well my first suggestion in How to Witness to Strangers is to choose a couple of good gospel tracts that you like that speak to your heart that you find in some bookstore or you can order online that you can relate to and share with others. When I hand out a tract to a stranger I hold up the tract and show it to them and I usually say something like this, this has made a real difference in my life friend I want to give it to you because maybe it will help you as it has helped me.

In handing out tracts there are some solid rules to follow. Be convincing, be caring, be committed. Well where do you hand out tracts? Do you have to wait for a stranger to talk to you before you introduce the tract? This is how I've always handed out tracts.

When I'm in the drive-thru at McDonald's I hand one to the cashier at the first window and at the second window where I pick up my burger I hand out another tract to that person there. You'd be surprised many of these people are thankful that you gave them the tract because you cared about them. If I'm at a place of business like getting my flat tire fixed I hand a tract to the man fixing my car.

I look him in the eye and smile and say hey this has really helped me friend it might help you too. I hope you read it. Be sincere but don't ever be pushy or obnoxious.

Let people know you really care about them. I like to hand out tracts in shopping malls. Not so much to the people shopping there but I give them to the people working there.

When my daughter was a teenager she liked to get pretzels at the mall so I would give the employee selling the pretzels a gospel tract. We'd go back later on to that same pretzel shop and the same employee smiled at me and thanked me for giving her that tract. She had shared it with her husband.

It made a difference in their life. You can use any situation in life as a place of witness for Christ and the gospel. Years ago I was driving through the city of Atlanta and I was going too fast and I got pulled over.

When the sheriff approached my car I said I'm sorry officer I didn't know it was speeding. I'm a baptist preacher and I'm on my way to a meeting. I guess I took my eyes off the speedometer.

Well he gave me a ticket anyway but before he left I said officer can I give you something that may help you as it has helped me. And I handed him a gospel tract. He opened it and read it right there in front of me with a serious look on his face.

When he was done reading it I said look I know you have a dangerous job and you put your life on the line every day. How's your relationship with God? He shook his head and said not as good as it could be. Well I reached into my briefcase and pulled out a bible and handed it to him saying let me give this to you friend it can really help you if you read it.

He took it and thanked me and said he would read it. You can turn any situation into a witnessing situation if you keep your spiritual antennas up. Recently I was at a local gas station and a man in a wheelchair was there and he asked me if I would buy him a bottle of booze.

I shook my head no. And he pleaded with me reaching into his shirt pocket he pulled out a twenty dollar bill and said look mister I can pay for it I just can't get up the step there into the store to buy it. I have the money won't you help me? I thought about it and came to the conclusion if I didn't help him the next person would.

So I said okay I'll do it. What do you want? And he described the bottle of liquor he wanted and this baptist preacher bought some booze. When I exited the store I handed him the brown paper bag and his change and then I looked him in the eye and said friend I just did you a favor will you do me a favor as well? He said sure.

I handed him a gospel track and said will you promise me that you will read this? He gave me his word and thanked me. To hand out tracks only takes a little creativity and some determination. And did I mention this you must have a burden for souls.

When I look back on my life I weep over the many times I failed to witness to folks I was either too busy or too preoccupied or I just didn't care at the time. Let me end our lesson today friends with a story. I'll never forget his face.

He was a construction worker on my house and every morning a three-man crew would show up early to do some renovations. One man a young man in his early 30s was always the first to arrive. We would stand in the driveway waiting on the other two and make small talk until they got there.

Well about four months later I was at my kitchen table reading the newspaper and I was reading the obituary page which I always did and his face stared out at me from the top of the page. There was a photo of that young construction worker who had just died tragically. As I looked at his face I cried like a baby and asked God to forgive me for failing to witness to that young man.

Why was I so blind that I failed to grasp how God was getting this young man to my house early before his friends to give me time to witness to him. But I was too preoccupied with other matters of this world and I missed the eternal. His face still haunts me still.

Ever since that day I always make it a priority to hand out gospel tracks to anyone doing any work around the house. Whether it's a mover or carpenter or tree trimmer he gets a track. Make it an ingrained habit friend to always have a gospel track with you in your car.

I've reached the homeless in my community through a gospel track ministry. I'll go to McDonald's and buy meal coupons and put them between a gospel track. Approach a homeless person who's begging for money and say here friend here's some food for you and also here's some spiritual food for you for well.

I hope you read it. You'll do your soul good. You can think of your own way friends to be creative and handing out tracks.

I live in the hood and on the corner of my neighborhood are the same four homeless men three of which are in wheelchairs. Well one day I prayed about it and I got up early and went to McDonald's and bought a bunch of breakfast sandwiches. I went to those men and greeted them.

I said gentlemen I bought you a hot breakfast today and I handed them each a sandwich. Then I handed each of them a copy of the gospel of John and said I hope this can help you as it has helped me and I hope you read it. Have a great day.

The best way to witness the strangers is to have a game plan to make your own life opportunities to witness and then let life itself create its own opportunities as they arise each day. Well I hope this little lesson friend has encouraged you to be a more consistent witness for Christ and the gospel. You can turn any opportunity into a witnessing opportunity if you just keep your eyes open.