Sunday Sermon Starter 9-10-12

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The world is passing away at an alarming rate: 1.78 deaths every second, 107 every minute, 6,390 every hour, 153,000 every day, and 56,000,000 every year.  James warned that life is a vapor (James 4:14) but when you see the actual figures it is sobering to know that this is one statistic we cannot avoid.  Every living soul one day will die, “and after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).  But the question remains, “What are we doing for their souls?”  Every New Testament Christian is subject to the Great Commission.  We must all be active in taking the gospel to the lost, but sometimes we don’t know the best way to approach it.  This week’s sermon starter centers on some practical suggestions for personal evangelism:

Title:  Practical Points for Personal Evangelism

Text:  Romans 10:13-15

Main Point:  Christians are in the unique position of standing between men and eternity.  We must be agents of God’s saving gospel.  But we do not always know the best way to approach this monumental task.  What simple pointers can the Bible provide us for how to be better and more effective soul winners?

Discussion Points:
§        Personal Evangelism Takes Thought – Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:2 that “the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”  The word “heard” implies being taught, but also implies personal study.  It is impossible to carry on an intelligent and rational religious discussion with someone when we are still in ignorance (Hebrews 5:12-14).  If we are going to be active in telling people about the gospel we need to know something about the gospel first, and that takes an immense amount of thought.

§        Personal Evangelism Takes Tact – Sometimes we see Jesus’ approach of the Pharisees (Matthew 23) and assume that is how all evangelism is to be done.  What many do not think about is the amount of background work that was done leading up to that point.  Jesus had spent a significant amount of time debating with the Pharisees before it culminated in blunt truth.  Jesus said in John 12:32 that the cross is the drawing power of Christianity.  Our job is to help people learn to love God, not just fear hell.  Many of the false perceptions that exist about God in society are rooted in people’s untactful way of approaching the world about God.  Let’s be more committed to telling people what’s right with God than telling them what’s wrong with them.

§        Personal Evangelism Takes Time – In a perfect world, every soul would be receptive to the gospel upon their initial approach.  But in reality that does not happen!  People have been taught and trained in particular mindsets all their lives.  Most of them are not willing to forsake all they have known and believed at the bat of an eyelash.  Thus the Bible places a great deal of emphasis on patience:  patience is to be taught to the generations (Titus 2:1), patience is a virtue of Christianity (2 Peter 1:5-6), patience is a required trait of the Lord’s servant (2 Timothy 2:24), and patience is a need (Hebrews 10:36).  Just as the Lord has been longsuffering toward us, we must be longsuffering toward others in their pursuit of truth.

There is such a great amount of responsibility we have as God’s means of reaching the world.  We must ensure that we are using the most effective means possible to accomplish that end.

-Andy Brewer

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