For years, masterfully orchestrated Capital One credit card commercials have produced 30-second persuasive sound bites—from creatively using cheeky Vikings raiding modern scenarios to Samuel L. Jackson’s sleek, suited appeal asking the viewing audience, “What’s in your wallet?” Each commercial connects the audience’s emotional ties to greater financial success with the rewards and/or interest rates of this or that card and in mere moments, these commercials convince many people that a void in there financial portfolio exists that can only be filled by the adding of a Capital One credit card to their wallet.
Admittedly, the gift of salvation is free to all who believe on the name of Jesus Christ—the Son of God. A Christian witness is not akin to door-to-door salesmen, but similar to television commercials, it is critical to present a clear and direct Gospel presentation during each witness opportunity. The messenger carrying such an important word to a lost person need not beat around the bush, but should state their business and jump into the Good News as soon as possible. The gospel doesn’t need gimmicks or smoke and mirrors, but an honest effort on the part of the witness of Christ.
In this post, I want to draw what I believe to be important observations about evangelism from the account of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian official in Acts 8.
Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is not as complicated as some may assume. Few Christians in the “Bible Belt” share their faith—if ever, but even then, they usually lack confidence in the message of the gospel that comes from seeing God at work and spending time consistently in the Bible. Acts 8:25 states, “So, when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.” In this verse, we read that Phillip, Peter, and John are continual witnesses for Jesus Christ. Their experience having been affected by the gospel led them to testify to the grace they had experienced. They testified to what they had seen, heard, and done in Jesus’s name.
1. Make your appeal personal
A personal testimony with Scriptures woven throughout can be an effective witnessing tool. Every born-again believer in Jesus Christ has a unique story. A personal appeal to a lost person by simply sharing how you came to saving faith in Jesus Christ may steer conversations into a full gospel presentation and invitation to trust Christ.
2. Allow the Lord to interrupt your plans
Witnessing encounters often come as a complete surprise to the believer. God sometimes interrupts good works being done in the name of Jesus in order to turn our attention to a greater need. Phillip and his companions were busy in the region of the Samaritans sharing the message of the gospel, but the Lord chose to send a witness to one in need of hearing the message of God’s grace. “But an angel of the Lord spoke to Phillip saying, ‘Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a desert road.)” God often interrupts and prompts believers to share the gospel with someone merely crossing their path. Phillip was sensitive to the Lord’s leading in his life and and willing to be obedient to the Lord. The Bible says nothing about a moment’s hesitation, but rather indicated that he got up and went to the place where God had directed him. Just as Phillip was prepared to allow the Lord to redirect his steps, so we too must be prepared.
3. Be willing to be obedient
Witnessing is to be the main task of the whole church in the whole world. . . . We can never expect the world to come to us. We must go to it. -Roy Fish
Jesus expects his followers to be obedient and to carry the gospel message to the ends of the earth. He empowers his witnesses for this task with the Holy Spirit. Phillip had been filled with the Holy Spirit and was sensitive to his leadership in evangelism. Jesus is a personal savior and each individual receives his gospel message personally.
Phillip met the Ethiopian eunuch on the road and was instructed by the Spirit to “Go up and join this chariot.” Often during community outreach programs by local churches, witnessing teams will encounter many negative responses at homes and find themselves discouraged and ready to give up for the day, only for the Holy Spirit to prompt them to visit one more home or person. And many who proved themselves willing to heed that prompting receive an opportunity to present the gospel message and invite that person to trust Christ as their Lord and Savior!
4. Draw the gospel message from the Word of God
Engaging the lost is frightening for many because of all of the questions they expect to receive. Generally, the lost have some familiarity with misunderstood, or worse, blatantly false messages concerning the teachings of Christianity including the Triune Godhead and the way of salvation. In addition to their personal testimony, Christians need to be able to explain the Bible to the lost. Such knowledge of the Scripture comes only from consistent study in God’s Word. During a witnessing opportunity, the witness must stay rooted in the Words of Life (1 John 1:1). I have found it to be beneficial to allow the lost person to read the Scriptures aloud for himself, thereby allowing the Holy Spirit to affect his heart with the power of the gospel. Many evangelists have used different gospel presentations, including, Steps to Peace with God, by Billy Graham or The Four Spiritual Laws. While these presentations are many times very effective, they can never overshadow the value of reading and explaining the Bible. Instead, they should be used in addition to it.
Witnessing is not difficult; nor is it the responsibility for a select few within the church. Everyone called by the name of Christ is responsible to proclaim the name of Christ. As Charles Spurgeon wrote so long ago, “Every Christian . . . is either a missionary or an impostor. Recollect that you are either trying to spread abroad the kingdom of Christ, or else you do not love him at all. It cannot be that there is a high appreciation of Jesus, and a totally silent tongue about him.”
Reader, what’s in your witness?
Follower of Jesus. Husband to Christa. Daddy to One. Evangelist. PhD Candidate @RoyFishSchool @SWBTS. Prof @ http://www.lucent.university
Nicely done Beau!