A witness

• has first hand experience of Christ
• can explain it in words
• has confidence in the power of God
• has a compassion for the spiritually lost that just spills out when we bump into people

An evangelist

• can explain things clearly
• appeals to the will
• has a God-given faith that things will happen

Being a witness is God’s command to all of us, – being and evangelist is God’s call on some of us.

• Communicating as a witness applies to the whole gospel, not just the first step >>>

We all do it – quite naturally and without realising it

• E.g. Parking token – free meal at McDonalds on the back
• I’m a minister – and if I know I can get a free meal I’ll be there like a shot!
• So I said to my friend Rob – Hey Rob – if you park in the swimming pool car park you can get yourself a free meal at McDonalds
• he says “really?” – “Yes, really – look here it is”

That’s secular evangelism – and we do it all the time!

• I’m telling my friend about something that I’ve experienced that will benefit him in the hope and anticipation that he will experience it too!

This is what Jesus did in the gospels with the disciples “Go into the towns ahead of us and say ‘the Kingdom of God is near you’ Pray for the sick (not Christian sick but any sick) and see what happens …”

• and Luke says “his followers returned with great joy saying ‘You’re not going to believe this – but even demons were subject to us when we prayed in your name!” [ish!]

Poem

Accept him with your whole heart

With one hand reach out to Jesus

and with the other bring a friend.

At the very heart of being a Christian is a desire to share what we’ve already got with people we already know.

I’d even go so far as to say that if there is not some level of desire in you to share what you have in God (however inadequate you may feel about doing it)

• then you should question the validity of your discipleship

I am worried by the tone of some Christian teaching that I heard on the subject in the last 5 years or so.

• We have become anaesthetised into thinking that if we just live a consistent Christian life,
• displaying the kind of attitudes that the Bible talks about and keeping our noses clear of wrongdoing
• then people will see it, understand it, want it and somehow figure out for themselves how to get it

My dear friends – I think in our heart of hearts we know that they won’t

• because if we were in their shoes I don’t think we would!

You see – I know the kind of lives that many of us live

• we’ve got to know each other well enough over the last 14 years to know that most of us do seek to live consistent Christian lives.
• we do keep ourselves free from wrongdoing
• Of course I know we have our off days and each has our Achilles heel – let’s just be gracious with each other about that for now!

But overall I think I can confidently say that most of us here live reasonably consistent Christian lives in the worlds where God has placed us –

• your workplace, your college, school, factory, office, home – wherever.

My reasoning is this

• if that is all it takes to effectively evangelise our friends
• if that’s all it takes to bring them to a place where they can have the same transformational experience of God that you and I have had
• then we would be seeing people turning to Jesus – in droves!

Links in a chain – strong as it’s weakest link

Know Christ for yourself

Intimacy with God

The greatest joy in the Christian life be the fact that we have an intimate and genuine relationship with the Lord!

E.g. Witness at a RTA – needs to be first hand testimony to be valid

Have you got a first-hand story?

If not, let me help you take the first steps to come to faith.

Like people genuinely

Meaningful love for people

E.g. Vanessa Harcastle >>>

Jesus allowed Woman of Samaria to meet his need >>>

Go to people personally

This has to do with our proximity to people.

Maybe you need to be where they are!

E.g. IW giving our Christmas publicity in our car park.

All of us have a network of people we know and that is where Jesus started when it came to talking about what God was doing.

• and that network could be almost anywhere – “anyone I get on well with”
• To be sure Jesus had an ongoing debate with the religious experts of his day but the accusation was often levelled at him that he “ate with tax collectors and sinners”

Why? – Because they need God!

Here’s some homework for you! draw a network and pray for them >>>

Talk to people authentically

While a consistent Christian life is usually insufficient to facilitate someone having a transformational experience of God – and becoming a Christian

• an inconsistent Christian life is guaranteed to stop God’s work in their life dead in its tracks!

Student “do you love because you want to convert me or do you want to convert me because you live me?” – a telling question!

At some point we do need to break the sound barrier!

We break the sound barrier in different ways

• Some of us are highly directive – we’re not afraid to confront people with the question about where they will be five minutes after they’re dead!
• Others of us are more reasoning in our approach
• we like to sit down over coffee (or whatever else you drink) and talk through

Time, time, time

To come to Christian at have a transforming experience of God doesn’t come overnight!

Some people do become Christians very quickly but they are the exceptions rather than the rule.

We talk about Paul’s conversion being a “Road to Damascus experience” as if ti was a sudden change

actually the scriptures record several interactions and influences on his life that had a profound impact before he ever became a Christian on the Damascus road.

e.g. Murder of Stephen. Influence of Gimaliel

Reaching our friends and colleagues with the message of God’s love for them and power within them is going to take time.

• they will have to go on a spiritual journey which, I pray, will bring them to full faith in Jesus and a life-changing encounter with God the Holy Spirit

Those of you who know me will by now be wondering what on earth our Bible reading has to do with this

• why read a historic account of an ancient siege of a town?

The story is simple

• The Arameans had laid siege to the city of Samaria
• price of food had gone through the roof!
• people were starving and some had already died.
• But God promised a way out

Living outside the town were four lepers. – Outcasts, living outside the city because they were not allowed inside for fear of infecting other people with this terrible disease

• I want you to imagine yourself in the shoes of one of these lepers.
• you’re trapped! If you into the city you’ll starve, if you head out of the city you’ll get taken by the enemy
• What do you do? If you go to the city you will die, if you go to the enemy you might die
• … so they go to the enemy with the intention of giving themselves up and hoping they’ll be kind to them
• As you head out to the enemy camp you can’t believe your eyes! the camp is empty – not a soul >>>
• You start to eat ravenously at all the
• tearing into it with both hands – you can’t believe your luck!
• But the something begins to stir inside you – a sense on increasing unease
• Here am I eating and drinking all this wonderful food and still in the town are my friends
• they need all this every bit as much as I do

Here’s the reason for the reading …

9 Then they said to each other, “We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.

Stand to pray

Go down list – is there one link that’s weaker for you than any other

ask the Lord for his help in developing that area this week