Evangelism and the Holy Spirit

Lord, just continue to speak to us and enable us to absorb what we're hearing, put it into practice. Many this day may be willing to make the sacrifice that brings action into reality. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's review quickly in our own minds. Some of you have been taking notes, which is very good, because we're not here just to give you a little challenge, but some basic teaching from the Word and from experience. But let us just review in our minds what we've said in the last two lectures.

Last evening we especially showed from the Book of Acts and other related passages that the Holy Spirit, working in the life of a believer, will produce boldness. That is without question, repeated again and again in the Book of Acts. We especially saw Acts 4.31, when they prayed, the place was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness.

We also saw how the Holy Spirit produced unselfishness in the believers. And this, of course, is one of the greatest needs in all of our lives, to see the barriers of selfishness broken down. The easiest thing in the world is to be self-centered and selfish, especially with our own time.

We saw also that the Holy Spirit brings unity, without which it is very difficult to engage in real, effective evangelism. And we, of course, tried to stress the importance of that. And a number of other things.

Then, flowing in this morning, we tried to see just some of the very basic, basic hindrances, basic false ideas that keep people from evangelism, as well as some of the basic principles, especially this area of accepting ourself, understanding God's mercy and sovereignty, and also what it is to really think positively, and have a positive view on life, and a positive view on yourself, a positive view on evangelism. Now, I want to get very, very practical at this point, because the words that I read this morning are ringing in my ear, that not many are willing to make the sacrifice to bring things into action. You read exactly what that commentator said.

So much of our pity and compassion remains untranslated into action, because so often we are not prepared to make the sacrifice which action involves. Action, for God, generally involves sacrifice. It costs something.

Not just in evangelism. Why are so many of our homes breaking in two? So many Christian separations in Christian homes now. It's just incredible, really.

And oftentimes it's because the husband is unwilling for the sacrifice that will cause the marriage to go, or the wife is unwilling for the sacrifice. Somehow it didn't enter their heads when they got married, it meant sacrifice, or if it did enter, it didn't stay. Marriage is not a matter of just having your own emotional needs met.

Marriage is a matter of giving and giving and giving, sometimes until it hurts. David Wilkerson, in his latest book, the more realistic of all the books, it's unfortunate it didn't come before the others, explained all the struggles he went through as his wife was operated on again and again and again. And he discovered what it takes to be married to a woman who is ill, and the sacrifice that's involved.

And the same is true as we start to give ourselves to others. Sacrifice is involved. I know that I would not be in God's work today if it wasn't for my wife, willing to make the sacrifices of her own time again and again.

She has had to deny herself in terms of the amount of time she has with me so that I can give myself to others. An area where, of course, I must constantly remind myself not to overstep. And I think of especially when we were on the ship and I got involved with a very difficult case.

A young man who was in a very difficult state emotionally, and I determined that I had to spend an hour with this fellow every other day, in counseling, prayer, fellowship, trying to minister to him. And it seemed the only hour was about 10 o'clock at night, between 10 and 11. And yet, this is often an hour that I would have speaking with my own wife, sharing with her, or sometimes just going to sleep.

And we saw the pain of that experience, as it did tend to perplex my wife for a while, and then it began to perplex me. And I thought, well, how can you fulfill all the obligations? Family, children, people who need counseling, plus all the other things you're supposed to be doing. This is why, of course, as we mentioned already this morning, if you don't begin to learn the disciplined life, you're not going anywhere.

And you'd be amazed of how few people do know the disciplined life. Even in terms of their own quiet time. I discovered, even in operation mobilization, where basically it is easier to have your quiet time, than working in a secular job.

And yet, we discover, probably 30% of the people in our work do not have, especially in their first year when they're young, a really good systematic quiet time. They may be having a group study program at 8.30, and so they'll use that to justify not having their own time with God. But to me, as I see it in the Word of God, no amount of group time can take the place of private, quiet time with God.

And yet, without discipline, in the area of getting to bed on time, which is very hard for some people, they just can't seem to get to bed on time, therefore they can't get up on time, therefore they don't have a quiet time, and therefore they develop the accompanying guilt that comes with not having a quiet time, and all the other things that so often can take place. One of the great fathers of evangelism in our age is Oswald J. Smith. He's now 82 years of age.

Some of his books, I think, are there on the book table. But he was sharing with us recently in one of our conferences, that the main source of spiritual power in his life has been his quiet time, daily time with the Lord. And he has hardly missed his quiet time at all since he was a teenager, and he's 82.

And to me, that's just such a wonderful and powerful testimony. So, all along the line, there has to be discipline. There has to be sacrifice.

Some people say, we don't like to use the word sacrifice, because compared to what Jesus did on the cross, we can make no sacrifice. Well, I agree with that. Compared.

But if we use that as an excuse, not to make any sacrifice, because we say, next to Jesus we can do nothing, therefore we do nothing, this is disobedience. And the Lord Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And to me, there in one sense is no substitute for obedience in the Christian life.

Why do we see so many people go into a religious high, in which they seem so spiritual, that they even become preachers at that time, and then later on so many of them taper off into lukewarmness. Why? Because they were living by feelings, and while their feelings were high, they were alright. But when their feelings tapered off, due to some problems or some other quirk, that takes place, they go downhill.

You know, one of the greatest quotations on feelings, from one of Mr. Tozer's books, Root of the Righteous, he said, feeling is the play of emotion over the will. A kind of musical accompaniment to the business of living. While it is indeed most enjoyable to have the band play as we march to Zion, it is by no means indispensable.

We can work and walk without music, and if we have true faith, we can walk with God without feeling. Many people avoid OM training weekends, not that that's what this is, because it isn't, but many people avoid those, because they hear that in the afternoons on Saturday, we actually go out in evangelism. The very thought of it, is enough to cause them to stay hundreds of miles away, because they're so frightened by that.

And as we come to this time of going out, in which no one is going to be forced to go out, you can go home. In fact, we're going to give some options, for people that may want to do something else. But, I think if it comes to this afternoon, or any other afternoon where we say, all those who feel like going, go.

We are going to get a very, very small army. In fact, it won't include me. Because, I generally don't feel like going out in evangelism, when I especially have many other things that I would like to do, and actually some of them are very justifiable.

Because if I don't make some long distance phone calls today, I'm going to have some further problems on Monday, and that brings more problems on Tuesday, and I'll have enough problems next week, without creating more, through procrastination this weekend. But, I believe we have got to operate on the basis of will, so we pray about something. We seek the Lord about something, and then we determine, I will.

Now, the feelings may come. God gives wonderful feelings, and as Mr. Tozer said, that's like the music playing. If it's playing, wonderful.

But, if it's not playing, you have to keep marching, forward for Christ. I think one of the great mistakes we make, in terms of the reality, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit, is to connect the Holy Spirit, basically with the spectacular. We see a great preacher, some of us are exposed to too many preachers.

We need to meet more housewives. Go fellowship with some housewives. Fellowship with some dustbin collectors.

Fellowship with, you know, ordinary Christians. Because, the fact of the matter is, that we tend to think, well, if he's a great preacher, or an evangelist, boy, he needs to be filled with the Spirit. And, preachers tend to spend a lot of their life running around from one conference to the other, trying to get the final dose, so that their ministry can be altered.

Which is a very interesting thing to watch, especially over 20 years as I've watched it. But, I believe with all my heart, that the man working in the kitchen, that man working out in the street, or in the factory, he needs the fullness of the Holy Spirit as much as a preacher. The Holy Spirit wants to work in the ordinary, as well as the extraordinary.

God exists in the routine. You know, it's one thing for me to come in here. My life is very, very different from the life of most of you.

This is a long stay in one place, this weekend, through Friday, through maybe Monday morning. I mean, I am on the move, because this work has grown, and my job involves coordinating this work worldwide. It involves about 50 different nations.

Now, I am, I do stay put in one place for quite a long time. That's where my family is. But, that's not where we are right now.

And, there are many extraordinary things that happen in my ministry. Like the ship two weeks ago, plowing into a ferry in Istanbul, and I've got one week of all kinds of problems trying to handle the legal side of that, which, by the way, probably takes three years to get untangled. But, to me, it is just as important to realize that though God can be with someone like myself in all kinds of extraordinary and different situations, God is just as much in the ordinary, the routine.

The work of OM only goes on because of thousands of ordinary people who do the same thing every day. The same thing, basically, every day. They get up at the same time, they get on the same train, they go to the same office.

I've had a terrific experience talking to some of these people. They're in a totally different world. People that get on the train every morning at 7.35, Bromley South.

Sometimes I'm on that train, too. And they've done the same thing for 15 years. They know every tree, every bush, every station between Bromley South and London.

And it's been a thrill to me, and I read this somewhere recently, that God can be in the ordinary. God can be in the routine. Now, even in the most routine lives of a believer, you can be sure if the person is witnessing.

Because people are the most exciting thing that we can get involved with. But if a man is working eight hours a day, he can't be witnessing all that time. He doesn't say, excuse me, to his boss, and pop out on the street corner giving out tracks.

Actually, when I was a young believer, I tried that once in a job I had in Chicago. I was delivering buttons and he told me to go down to this particular street corner and pick up a big pile of money. Somebody was going to come along in a car.

It was a bit of a funny thing. Come along in a car and give me this big brown envelope with money. And I was always thinking of when I could give out more literature.

So I went down. I didn't exactly hear all the details of what he said, but I thought I knew what I was doing. So I went down, and here I was on the corner giving out tracks.

I thought, boy, this man is late. And pretty soon, somebody came down for me and the boss wanted me and I got told off because I was on the wrong corner. This man with the money was driving around looking for this contact man.

Here I was, praising the Lord, giving out my leaflets on the other corner. Well, this is not the right way. Not the right way.

And I just feel it's important to break down this dichotomy between the secular and the sacred. When I'm giving out tracks, spiritual work, or when I'm leading someone to Christ, or when I'm singing a hymn, spiritual work. But when I'm doing the dishes, or when I'm cleaning the floor, or when I'm working in my secular job, this is unspiritual.

This is secular. This is a deadly dichotomy. We therefore think, for this I need the Holy Spirit to guide me and lead me on Saturday morning evangelism.

But the other six days in the week, I don't need the Holy Spirit. I use my own ingenuity. This dichotomy puts witnessing and relegates witnessing to something we do on alternate leap years, or during special times when Billy Graham happens to arrive, or something else along this line.

So I think that's very important to keep in mind. Let me now get into some of these practical ideas. This is a list of ways that you can be involved in evangelism.

There's no sense this weekend just giving all theory, all nice thoughts that may or may not impress you or warm your heart. We want to get down to practical instruction. I feel that we always need this balance.

I also feel that Christians tend to lack initiative. There are so many things Christians can do. So many things.

Some of them are little things. One lady just came to me after the morning message with a little box. I thought, well what's this? Very heavy.

She's donated some cutlery, some cutlery that she perhaps can't use. I believe she's moving house or something. And this cutlery will be greatly used on some OM team.

Now, most people wouldn't even think of that. It doesn't enter their head. And I'm not looking for a ton of cutlery, you can be sure.

But it's an example. One time I was just recently even in OM, I hadn't seen this before. It was in Bangladesh a year ago.

We were having a conference there were only 20 of us. Not even that many. I think there were 17 of us or something like that.

And the leader had decided we had to eat in two shifts. Two different groups. And this was wasting a lot of time.

And I finally went to him after about the second day. I said, why are we eating in two shifts? And he explained that they didn't have enough glasses and enough cups and enough... I don't think we're using plates we usually use banana leaves but... so... the first shift only 7 or 8 people they ate then they washed up everything and then the second shift and of course it took us twice the time. Maybe they could use this cutlery.

Though Indians and Asians eat with their fingers they've adapted and when they have soup they usually need a spoon. But... quite funny. Initiative.

You know, A.W. Tozer said if any secular institution needed as much raw material to get so little finished product as the Christian church it would go bankrupt in 6 months. And it's true. Really.

When I think of all the challenges we have gospel films slides challenges bible studies home studies prayer meetings conferences conventions Pyley Keswick all of this challenge was a little less produced in our life. People being helped work you know w-o-r-k it's a very dirty word in the Christian world actually being done. You know, you bring into any city a great guitarist bring in Johnny Cash who now knows the Lord bring in some great Christian film and you'll you'll just fill whatever whatever church you want.

One of the latest gospel beat groups whatever else. But you make an announcement in that meeting that the next week on Saturday morning you're going to gather together in a work party you're going to clean the church basement or you're going to do something. You see how many people show up.

You can have your meeting in the vestry and it is so pathetic to see in most churches that most of the work is done by a little remnant. Most of the work is done by a little remnant. In America it has got to the point in many churches where they hire people for everything.

The organist is getting his salary of course no, none of these big churches now have just one minister they have an assistant minister a junior assistant they're all making five, six thousand pounds a year. One church I went to they had a paid man who ran the projector. He was the church projectionist.

He also was getting his salary. He clocked in how many hours a week he worked. He got his salary.

These are evangelical churches. You see this is this is the drift I call it professionalism. The Christians don't want to work they don't want to get off their where they're sitting and get going.

So they hire an assistant minister and another assistant minister and they hire somebody to run the projector also the lady leading the choir she's also getting a salary the man in the organ he's also getting a salary. And so Christianity becomes more and more forms a dichotomy where you have those who are working of course they work they're being paid to work. I can hire unconverted people to do it.

Eighty percent of the ministers in America in any way are unconverted as far as I can see. But how deadly this is. Well in most places in Britain we haven't got that far I don't know whether we don't have the money or what.

But it is basically true that in so many churches it's the same little group carrying the ball. Same group doing so much of the work. And of course sometimes when it comes to evangelism this little group is already overworked and some of them begin to neglect their families when too much of a burden comes on too few it creates problems.

They in turn get caught up in it and pretty soon you've got a church neurotic. And there may be people here this morning your great need isn't to become more active. Your great need is maybe to figure out how you can be home with your family a little more.

Because I have known case after case of men who gave themselves almost neurotically to the church work and perhaps some evangelism thrown in and neglected their own family. Now I have a family with me this weekend and I just didn't feel free about taking my children who already have been in more meetings than you'd ever want to count come here and sit you know like little 19th century stoics as they have to listen to their father again go over the same thing they've heard too many times. My children right now are in the swimming pool.

It's been a long struggle for me to find the balance. Family, evangelism, work, rest, counseling, wife, all these different things. But you know we can find the balance.

Perfect. But we've got to work towards spiritual balance. But in so many cases there's a lack of initiative and lack of what I feel and call sanctified imagination.

There are so many things we can do. So many people come to me and they say oh if we're only young again. He's only 70.

We're only young again. All kinds of people are living to be 100 now. Winston Churchill only got going when he was about 65 or 70.

Then he really moved into orbit. Lindsay Glegg was still blowing all kinds of steam in every direction when he was 75, 80. He's only just been transferred.

And I don't appreciate people coming and saying if only I were young again. Especially since I'm getting older. Because I have seen many older people so-called and in the light of eternity we're all very young.

We're all very young. You're going to have millions of years with the Lord Jesus. You haven't even started on the first fraction of the first percent.

But I've seen many people who are supposedly older having beautiful ministries for God. I think of a man in Switzerland. Maybe with the Lord by now because he's been carrying this on for so many years.

But he couldn't even get out of his bed. But from his bed this man was sending Gospels of John through the post all over the world. He would get somebody to bring in the newspapers.

And he would go through the newspapers anywhere there was an address. Anybody, anything there's an address, he'd copy the address onto an envelope. He'd put a Gospel in the envelope and he posted it out.

He just started doing it in a very simple way. And over the years it built up to a ministry. His life had so much more meaning.

He had more joy and reality sitting in bed than most people have running around looking at the sites. We lack initiative. We lack sanctified imagination.

And then the sacrifice to take the idea of the idea and the imagination and bring it into reality. Here are some areas where we can get involved in evangelism. The first thing I put down was bedside evangelism.

Don't give up when you finally get relegated to a bed. Actually, I wouldn't mind being relegated to a bed right now for a few months. When I was in hospital last July, I found out I could operate from the bedside as good as anywhere else.

I had a few arguments with a nurse. Not nurses, but bedside evangelism. This man sending out gospels through the post.

We live in the age of the telephone. And you can have a phone in your room and talk to people from your own bedside about Jesus Christ. And, in fact, I listed it as the second point here in my little list.

Telephone evangelism. Calling people up. Asking them how they are.

And inviting them, perhaps, to a meeting. Sharing your testimony as the way opens. Especially if you call after one o'clock in the afternoon, it doesn't cost much.

And if you call after six o'clock, it's quite an inexpensive way to share the Lord Jesus Christ. I have heard of very effective ministries in both of these areas. Have you ever had anyone call you and they had the wrong number and they feel a little bad about it? They thought they may have disturbed you? You can say, well, I'm sure that you should have called me because I just wanted to tell someone about the love of God.

Do you know the love of God? Well, at that point, boom, he may slam the phone down. But, on the other hand, you might find yourself having a beautiful opportunity to share the Lord Jesus Christ. The third point I put down here was the losing ministry.

Some of us in certain situations, if we're honest, we really are afraid to give out a piece of literature. Why not, if you're battling that fear, of course, claim God's grace, but try, for at least a while, to just leave literature in various convenient places. I say this because some people are not very approachable.

And when you try to approach them with a tract, their backs go up. They just don't like it. They're not interested.

That same person finds a tract on the train table, no one's looking, he takes it, goes home and reads it. Muslims, for example, within their group and cultural context are very strong against the gospel. But, they are known for taking Christian literature and privately reading it.

And I could give you a list of 30 places where you could lose a piece of literature. And, just beautiful examples of how people have been converted. One man went into the, I don't know what they're calling it these days, WC.

Went into the WC and there was a little tract on the wash base. And he was converted to Jesus Christ, reading that tract. And, an amazing story came to me just recently.

A man was a deep sea diver. And, he was going down into the sea. And, as he was going down, a little piece of paper floated by him, way down beneath the sea.

And, he reached out with these funny claws the divers have. And, he got this paper and he pulled it up to his mask. He was reading it down underneath the ocean.

And, it was a gospel tract and he was converted to Jesus Christ through that tract. I'm not making stories up. My little book on literature evangelism has a number of stories like this.

So, there's all kinds of places on the ship as we went along the coast of China. We had these terrific, modern Chinese gospels in bottles and plastic bags, just dumping them off by the hundreds to float onto the shore of China. People say, what utter nonsense.

Well, we had a man write us from the Philippines not too long ago. His son found one of these bottles and came running up to the beach, you know. He thought this was some kind of a miracle.

The bottle with a piece of paper in it. The whole family opened the bottle and they read the tract. And, that man enrolled in a Bible correspondence course and came to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, it doesn't take the most courageous, bold, dynamic, fast moving, hard hitting zealot to just read literature. And, it's especially also easy to give literature to people who you, you have somewhat done them a favor. For instance, what shopkeeper who wants your business is going to refuse taking from you a tract? Or, say to you, after you spent five pounds or one pound in his shop, we don't want any of your literature.

Well, if he's got any brains at all, and there are a few who don't have any, but if he's got any brains at all, he's going to want to keep you as a friend. I find people are willing to take literature. I find when I leave literature around, people pick it up.

Read it. Enroll in Bible correspondence courses. And, some of them come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's so much can be done with literature. So much. Then, I put here door-to-door work.

This is one of the hardest forms. Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons have, in some ways, spoiled it. And, in some places, it's almost impossible to effectively do it.

But, in most cases, door-to-door work is something that One of the reasons Christians are so afraid of door-to-door work is they seem to be so unwilling to develop any kind of plan as to what they should say. Well, naturally, if I didn't know what I was going to say, I might be a little frightened, as well. But, there are many ways that you can develop an approach in door-to-door work.

One of them is using the challenge newspaper, which we're going to have this afternoon. If anybody lives in Worthing and doesn't use challenge, you ought to be prepared for punishment. Because, of course, it's published right here.

And, it's one of the easiest approaches to use in evangelism. I have used it all over Britain. I go to someone's door.

I don't say, I'm here to preach Jesus Christ. Or, I'm here representing the local Baptist church. Though, that's another approach.

In some cases, that can work. I call that the church approach. But, I say, I'm here just to introduce you to a new newspaper that's published.

I was saying this when challenge first came out. It's not so new anymore. But, it is new to the people.

Because, most people haven't heard of it. Or, I may start at the door saying, have you ever heard of this newspaper? And, just hold it out in front of you. Eighty percent of the people are not going to, at that moment, suddenly react against you.

They're going to be curious. A very important thing in evangelism is curiosity. Now, some people will be too busy.

And, in fact, one of the approaches I use at the door is to say, look, I realize you're probably very busy this morning. But, I'd like to just give you something. Boing.

Give me something. Now, and there are a lot of giveaway programs going on these days. So, people, they're willing to wait at least another quarter of a minute.

And, then you say, well, I have this new paper, this new newspaper, which we're just introducing here in the community. I'd like to give you a sample copy. Then, if you like it, you can subscribe.

Immediately, you relax them because they know you're not trying to get something right then on the spot. You're just giving them a newspaper. And, if they want, which makes them feel relaxed, they can.

Now, at that moment, when I've used this approach, I try to discern whether there's a further opening. Sometimes, that's all I can do is leave them with a paper. But, other times, they start talking.

What is it? Oh, is this a, it looks like the daily news. What is it? Well, I'm going to give you I'm going to give you and then you can bring in something else. Maybe, why you're doing this.

Or, you can say thousands of people all over Britain are now receiving this. And, actually, people have even received changed lives just reading this paper. Then, you'll know when you say something like that whether, you know, you can go much further.

So, there are many, many ways to go about door-to-door work. I've used a calendar approach and got a hold of some Christian calendars. Come to someone's door and said, I'm just giving away free calendars.

And, who's going to shout you down or yell at you for coming to the door and giving them a free calendar? Most people like calendars. And, in the process of their taking the calendar, you can get in a few more sentences which will either open or close the way for their witness. We've also used a church approach.

Saying, we're from a local church and we just would like you to know that we're having a special program this weekend and we would like to invite you to come. You, as you go to the door, and I, tend to be afraid of the people behind the door. But, remember, they are afraid of you.

In some cases, now, people won't even open the door. Some homes now have little, you know, these little holes in the door. They can look at and see you, you know.

So, make sure you're smiling, you know. Don't be there sticking your tongue out until they open the door. Because they may be peeking at you through one of their periscopes.

But people are nervous. The elderly are very nervous. Because they read about this and that and they're living alone.

So, if you can introduce yourself as being from the local church or living locally, I'm so and so, I just live over on the other street. You've got to smile. Most of you here don't look like the average London gangster.

They will eventually open the door. If they don't open the door and there's a way to talk, you may be able to say a few sentences. A lot of doors have these bolt and chain things, you know.

The door opens a crack and then there's a chain. Well, there's just enough room to talk through that and to give literature and to make an approach. We learn as we go.

Eighty percent of the people who've come on OM, by the way, we've had 25,000 people through OM's training. A minimum of a 25,000 all over the world. Probably 80 percent of those people when they came were frightened about evangelism.

Most of them felt they'd never do it. Some of them came, a high percentage of them came in order to learn how to do it. And yet we have seen a very high percentage of these young people learn how to effectively witness.

I think of a girl who wrote me recently. The main thing that she was frightened about when she came on OM was the thought of going door to door. Everything else was alright.

Prayer meetings, Bible studies, gospel meetings, film shows, coffee bar, fine. Door to door. Especially carrying any kind of books.

Cold portage work. And yet at the end of the summer she could testify that she was actually enjoying that kind of work. We have young people who never dreamed of doing this in their life.

Now do it 300 days a year. That's what they do. That's their work.

Going house to house. In France alone as a fruit of this house to house work and street work and other forms which I'm going to talk about, we've seen 14 new churches planted. Because after we go to the homes, we get literature in the home, we revisit.

And then bring people in the Bible study groups and then eventually a church grows out of that. Remember the secret of the Mormons, of the Jehovah Witnesses and other groups who copy their ideas from the Bible. Their secret is not great response.

They get mainly negative feedback. They get much more negative feedback than you would get. They're used to getting 19 out of 20 people who don't even want to talk to them and abuse them.

I don't think it's right the way Jehovah Witnesses or anyone else gets abused. I think that's a wrong thing for Christians. These are human beings.

They need to be respected as human beings created in the image of God. And though they may be deceived, we need to at least, though we can't wish them God's speed, treat them as human beings. They know the law of averages.

They know though 19 may reject when they get one. This is the secret of this kind of work in a local area. You're not in London where it's going to take you 25 years to get to all the houses.

The secret is follow up. The Jehovah Witnesses have an intricate card system and a very high percentage of the cities in the world they now have on a card file. No doubt they'll be putting it on a computer one of these days.

But anybody who responds in any way, and that for them means even taking one piece of literature, they get their name in it. And they go back and they go back and they go back and they find the lonely people. They find those who are upset with the church.

They find those who are confused with certain doctrines like the doctrine of hell. They, of course, they don't have any doctrine of hell. They deceive people on that point.

And I believe in our own work in a smaller community like Worthing, it is very important to realize if 19 people reject you or you don't get anywhere and that's very unlikely, very, very unlikely. One, someone who comes to know the Lord. If I had time to share with you some of the people we've seen converted for this kind of ministry and how they've gone on to win others, who have won others, and to see God's method of multiplication, it would, I know, thrill your own hearts.

Then there's the method I call the casual contact. Anywhere, anytime. We're going to be using this this afternoon.

We're going to go out just as D.L. Moody went out and many other men of God with a prayer, Lord, lead me to one person. This is going to be our goal this afternoon. We're not going to reach the masses of worthy, but we're going to go out available to the Spirit of God to meet one person.

Where are some of the places you find these people? Now, I like to be very simple because some people, they just haven't had any teaching on this. One of the places is the bus station. Wherever people are waiting for a bus, they're ripe.

And as a young Christian, I went right for the bus station. Or the railway station. People are always sitting there.

You can even buy a platform ticket. I know that you may feel that's a waste of money, but if you can get that platform ticket, get into the waiting room, get in somewhere and just sit down next to someone. Maybe read for a little while and then try to open up a conversation.

Or just hand them a piece of literature and say, have you ever read this? You'd be amazed. You may think, as I tend to think, people don't want to be bothered. Everybody is just doing their thing and they don't want to be bothered.

Many people do want to be bothered if it's in a proper way. It gives them a chance to just talk. Pass the time.

Bus stations and train stations, people are often waiting, waiting. They're happy to say a few words. Too many will not be interested, but some may be interested.

Parks. You often find people just sitting in a park. We do a lot of park evangelism.

Of course, here you have the beach and the promenade and the chairs and people are sitting around and you can come along and give them a piece of literature or sit down with them and all kinds of opportunities can open up. I gave a list in my book of so many places where you can meet people. In Istanbul, Turkey, we found a very good place was on the ferries going back and forth.

They're very inexpensive. You just get on a ferry and people are just sitting there. You can talk to or hand a piece of literature to and seek an opportunity.

And remember, the Lord understands as we spoke in this first session, even if you go out and do this kind of thing and everything goes wrong, don't you think God is still on your side? God knows that there are many hardened people today. God knows there is much confusion and people are in some cases upset even hearing the name of Jesus. I find, of course, and we all have different gifts in this area, but I find when someone's upset, once you learn how to do it, they're the best people to witness it.

They're easier than the indifferent, those who get upset. And I often say, look, I fully understand why you're upset. Because to me, religion and Christendom is one of the most ridiculous set-ups that's going today.

It puts people off. Right away they think, well, what's this about? I thought this guy was against me. And now he's for me.

And then I explain, this is a very important thing in witnessing, explain the difference between Jesus Christ and his love and the reality we have in Jesus Christ and religion. I think that's very, very important in our witnessing. Let's quickly move on to some other areas of time.

Other areas of witnessing. Having coffee. Coffee mornings.

Your own home. This is spreading all over the world. Women, just invite other women in.

A couple coffee in the middle of the morning. Very low pressure. Evangelism, get to know them.

Allow that to lead into a Bible study. A lot of women in some countries are having book parties. They invite people in for coffee and they have a display of books centered around the marriage, the home, family, you know.

Rather than, you know, how to be saved as the first title that you give them. And, right, in these days there is a great increase in religious things. And especially books along this line can interest people.

There are all kinds of ways that you can use your home. Your home. One of the things we're the most selfish about is our little home.

One psychologist said for the Englishman his home is his castle. And the bars are very thick. That was written by an Englishman.

So don't blame me. Basically, I have seen that is true in most countries. He probably mainly knew all the Englishmen.

But most people in most countries, they put a lot of money into their home, they've gone out after a terrific argument with their husband or wife and bought a new carpet and this vase that was handed down from grandmother who had it from her grandmother and it's been in the family for 150 years. If somebody came off the street and knocked this off the pedestal and broke it, it would be the greatest crisis in the century. So people are very fussy about their homes.

The average Christian is sinning against God in the use of their home. It's become a selfish thing and they don't have an unconverted person in their home from one year to the next. Except maybe a relative who shows up unaware.

And I believe the home is one of the greatest evangelistic bases. You might be petrified at the thought of having, you know, several people come in for coffee. Why not have one? In fact, the Lord spoke to me this morning to invite this, I just moved into a new flat, to invite this man next door who can hardly walk, a very elderly man, over for a cup of coffee.

I think he has been with my friend who lives downstairs who's a Christian. And another lady down the street already came to our house, she was selling raffles. Is that how you pronounce it? Raffle tickets for the epileptic league or something.

And I, of course, had a beautiful opportunity to explain that I didn't believe in buying these chance tickets, but I would be more than happy to give her a pound. Now normally, I don't even like to do that because I like to put all my money into, you know, into God's work. But for the sake of communicating with that lady, I gave her a pound, just about.

You know, she just couldn't hardly believe it. And now we have an opening with her. What a tremendous evangelistic base we have in our flats, our apartments, our homes.

You may feel your home isn't good enough. Don't think that way. There are so many lonely, lonely people who would be just thrilled to be invited in for a cup of tea.

And you'd be amazed at openings that can come through that. I believe the way into the church is through the home. Most people are not going to come to our churches.

But they will come to your home if you give them a warm invitation and show them the love of God. There's, of course, the film ministry. This isn't something that we're going to have in our homes, but churches have made use of films to bring people to Christ.

There's a ministry of music. A lot of controversy around that. But it's obvious that many, many people will come for a ministry of music.

It's often been a part of evangelism. And it can be wonderfully used. There's a ministry of tapes.

People loaning out cassette tapes. Loaning out books. One church in London that was petrified of the thought of selling books.

You know, that sounds so unspiritual. Selling books. Britain is known as the anti-salesman nation.

You know that. The salesman in this country, the very word has a bad connotation. That's why they, what did they use to call them? Commercial travelers.

What's that word? Instead of salesmen they call them commercial travelers. See, that somehow cuts that stigma of selling. Well, this is one of the reasons the country is in such an economic disaster.

Because though we manufacture good products, we don't have the salesmen, the Germans, the Italians, the Spaniards. So many countries have now bypassed Britain because they have got salesmen just, they just go out across the world selling like, like, like anything. For so many years because Britain had to curb on the market.

You didn't have to have sales. People were begging for the product. If it said made in Great Britain the whole world wanted it.

Well, you all know very well that is God. But I would hope that somehow in the minds of Christians we can get it out of our heads that selling something is unspiritual. We all have to sell.

You have to sell yourself if you're ever going to get married. You say, well I don't use that word. Okay, you don't use that word.

Convince, present, project, you've got to use some word. But it does seem to me that Christian church needs a bit of an overhaul in its attitude towards selling. What if we took the attitude that it was unspiritual to sell the Bible.

Millions of people would never get a Bible because we're certainly not generous enough to give them away. When someone says to me they don't believe in selling, I say, well praise the Lord brother, I'll give away all the literature you supply me with. Usually they change their tune at that point.

In any case, this church felt they were not ready to do any kind of book selling or even taking on a donation basis, which is what we often do. They decided to go around and loan a book out. Went to all the people in their area, loaning a book out if they wanted it.

I think 30% of the people kept the book. They were willing to read it. Of course, when you loan a book out, that gives you an excuse for another visit.

You gotta go back, pick it up. When they went back to pick it up, I think 50% of the people wanted to keep the book and gave them some money for the time. What is it going to take? It's going to take action.

And in Matthew chapter 9 we can receive some inspiration for this kind of action. Sometime you read the scripture in the beginning, we're going to read it at the end of this lecture. Matthew 9 verse 35.

Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. I might put in there a couple of things I didn't have on my list. One is open air ministry.

I don't believe that's completely dead. I believe the way some people do it, it's dead. But open air campaigners and others have proven that you can still engage in open air work in certain places effectively.

And another is a ministry to the ill. Ministry of going and visiting the sick. I was doing hospital visitation some weeks ago and I find that a great ministry.

Visiting people in hospitals. I wish I could do more of it. Visiting prisons.

Not so easy to get into sometimes here in Britain. Visiting people who are in their homes. We need to take initiative to find out where these people are.

We need to be keeping one another informed. And there's just so much scope among elderly people. I don't know how it is here in Worthing but some of the other towns along the coast have an abundance of elderly people.

Well they're just as significant with God. And many of them are very neglected. We have youth for Christ.

We have child evangelism. We have several groups working among collegians. But I've never heard of the international fellowship of the elderly or old people for Christ.

But it seems to me that the elderly people often are neglected. And what an opportunity it is because some of them don't get around so much, you know, they're not running off all over the place. We can find them in their homes and we can share Christ.

There are a lot of nursing homes now where people are literally wilting away of loneliness. Think of the words of Jesus. What you will have men do to you, do unto them.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Someday you're off in some lonely place. Do you want anybody to come and visit you? And why don't you do some visiting while you still have legs that can move? I think that's very, very important.

Well, it says Jesus went into all the towns and villages. He had this ministry of ministering in the synagogues. And it says, verse 36, But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they were faint and were scattered abroad as sheep, having no shepherd.

Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore, that the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Jesus did not just engage in theories.

When? We follow him. He did not Too many people are following Jesus in word only. Tremendous theories, fantastic ideas about sanctification.

Tremendous testimonies. They don't do it. They don't go.

They don't reach out. They don't open their homes. They don't go as the Lord Jesus went.

Moved by compassion, we follow the disciples and we follow Jesus. follow We follow chlorine we We are following Christ with faith and we came Jesus with imagination, which may lead to a few changes in your lifestyle, and believing that God can give you some heaven-sent initiative. We can't sit back and just wait for the unconverted people to come pushing into our churches.

We've got to go out and share with them. Sometimes you may not believe this is true, but sometimes I've been sitting on a plane and I just didn't have it to share. One of the things that keeps me going is I accept the fact that at times I have no love to open, and I didn't know what to do, and I said, Lord, I pray right now.

I don't have it to talk to him. I really want to read this book or do something else, but God, you get him to open his mouth. And lo and behold, ten minutes later, this fellow starts asking me questions about what I'm doing, and of course, it opens all kinds of doors of witness.

John Stott has a tremendous book on the subject of witnessing, and he explains how once going to a meeting down in Wales on the train to speak about witnessing, he discovered that he was without much desire to talk to the man in the version that he opened up and witnessed. It takes action. It takes sacrifice.

But if thousands have proven that it can be done all over the world to varying degrees, you can as well be an effective witness of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this will be one of God's greatest instruments to help you in your own spiritual growth. You may discover sometimes when you're working and witnessing to someone that you end up getting a greater blessing than they do. Most of the young people who come on OM...