Laura, would you close our time with a word of prayer?
Laura prays.
End on time. Do not go long.
Better to have people leave a little unsatisfied and wanting more, than stuffed with too much and wondering—like Jonah in the belly of the fish— “Will I ever get out of here!?”
That’s it. You can be a great leader of small group Bible studies. It is really a joy to be part of an interactive group. God’s Word is “living and active” and will give peace, victory, and power to serve to those who apply it to their lives. Just remember these three essentials:
• Use the Bible as your text
• Ask good questions & let them self-discover. Don’t tell them . . .
• Do not—I say again—do not talk too much!
Question 4
How do I share the gospel relationally?
Telling others about Jesus, many Christians think, is one of the scarier aspects of their faith. It does seem like an intimidating challenge . . . but really it’s quite easy. Like fighting Goliath: scary, but easy because the target is so big. Those without a relationship with God through Christ are all around us. It’s not at all like trying to locate the elusive Loch Ness monster. But we do have to deal with our feelings of nervousness or inadequacy.
So let’s begin with three Biblical facts:
1. People are separated from God, now and eternally, because of their sin.. . . your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. (Isaiah 59:2)
2. God has provided a way for people to be forgiven and enter into a relationship with God—Jesus Christ. But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
3. We Christians need to tell people about Christ so they can be saved. . . . And how shall they believe in Him (of) whom they have not heard? (Romans 10:14)
But there’s a problem that hinders some Christians from sharing their faith: embarrassment! We may feel embarrassed to speak about Jesus Christ to our non-believing friends, family or co-workers because it’s not “cool” or politically correct to be a person who believes in Jesus.
It may have been the same in the first century. Paul says in Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes . . .
Why does Paul say, “I am not ashamed”? He might have mentioned “I am not fearful;” or “I am not unprepared.”
Or the apostles, having been flogged for talking about Jesus . . . went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His Name. (Acts 5:41)
Or the exhortation in Hebrews 13:12,13 . . . Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate (i.e. holy place). Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp (i.e. our comfort zone), bearing His reproach (shame).
Finally, there are the words of the Lord Jesus, concerning people’s embarrassment: For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory . . . (Luke 9:26)
Having determined, therefore, to not be ashamed of Jesus and His gospel, and willing to be viewed as “one of those religious people” in the eyes of the world, we can now consider the best way to tell others about salvation through Christ.
Let’s use an illustration called The Circle of Five.
The circle represents our own sphere of relationships with those who are not Christians, perhaps friends or family members. They’re represented by the names on the left of the circle. Possibly you have a lot more non-Christian friends, but we’ll just consider the five we feel are most open to “religion,”—as they might think of this. What we can pray for is the opportunity to share about Christ, then graciously help them to move toward a decision to receive God’s offer of salvation through Christ.
So let’s assume we’re praying for, and trying to share with, the friends we see to the left of the circle above.
The three sections of this circle represent three stages (for lack of a better word) of you sharing the gospel and helping him or her come to a decision about Christ, either to accept Jesus as Savior or decide not to.
The section on the left, “Getting to share,” and the 1 Corinthians 9 reference, simply represents our prayers and efforts to share the gospel. The little “staircase” (and “HeroJohn”) you see depicts five natural steps to get to present the gospel. More about that a little later on.
The middle section, “Growing interest” describes a person’s desire to know more about God and Jesus. This is not always the case, of course. As Acts 17:32 states, . . . when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, ‘We shall hear you again concerning this.’ It’s the ever-present truth: some sneer; others want to know more. So after you’ve shared the gospel with your friend, you can water and cultivate the seed that’s been sown by maintaining the relationship, and keeping the conversation going. Just simple, polite questions such as “Have you had any more thoughts on that little illustration?,” or “I thought your idea about God being loving was good. Have you always seen Him that way?” We don’t want to be pushy. We just want to keep the matter on the front burner. It is the Holy Spirit who will convict and draw the person to God.
The section on the right, “Close to a decision,” means that a time will come when we sense the person knows enough, i.e. has a clear idea of God’s offer, and is at the point of making a decision about Christ. Mark 4:26–29 is an agricultural illustration that says a farmer’s job is to sow seed and then harvest it. He doesn’t know how the seed grows; he just recognizes when it’s time to harvest. We too can recognize when the seed of the gospel has come to maturity, and we can gently bring the question up: “Would you like to believe in Christ?” This may sound a bit scary, but you and your friend have been talking about Jesus for a while, and he or she will not be either surprised or offended. One person said to me, “I wondered when you were going to ask that.” He seemed hurt to think I might not care enough to ask.
The arrow leading out of the circle to the right to 2 Corinthians 5:17 is what we pray for: your friend has asked Jesus Christ to be his or her Savior. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation . . .
People can “vote out” of moving toward Christ at any time. That’s what the downward pointing arrows indicate. . . . but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. (Hebrews 4:2)
Okay, back to section one of the circle, how to get to share the gospel.
The Scripture mentioned, 1 Corinthians 9:19–22, is the passage in which Paul states his plan for reaching out to non-believers: to bring people to Christ, go where they are. I also title this passage, “How To Be a Godly Phony like Paul.” No, Paul isn’t really a phony, or dishonest, but he does relate closely to whatever group of people he’s with. This isn’t pretense; it’s Paul personally identifying with different kinds of people in order to gain credibility, share the gospel meaningfully, and hopefully lead some to Christ. The
