Sharing Jesus- Practical Christian Know How

So I said it was going to be a 4 part series but I like the theme and I think I will keep going! Is that okay with ya'll? (That southern girl in me just has to come out in my writing too??? (= ) So this one I am pretty excited about! I am going to show you how you can witness to someone by remembering ONE BIBLE VERSE!!!!

 I am NOT going to chew you out for not going out and knocking door to door witnessing to people. What I am going to do is teach you how to feel CONFIDENT enough to WANT to share the Gospel. Didn't think I knew that did you? Well we are going to get you on the right track! How do I know it will help you be more confident? Because it helped me! And if you don't keep reading you will not know what pineapples have to do with the Gospel! Now I got you curious! [...]
Now before we can go any further we need to demolish some bad thoughts that we have floating around. When I say sharing the Gospel or witnessing did you picture somebody with a Bible tucked up under their arm and shaking their index finger at you? Well I hope not. If we have this image in mind, no wonder we do not want to witness!

You do realize that you can share Jesus with people without "throwing" the Bible at them, right? You can tell a coworker in casual conversation how God has always been there for you. You can tell someone in passing, "God bless you," and it can start conversations on Jesus- I know cause I have had it happen! You can tell someone about Jesus without even opening your mouth!? How? You can put it on your Facebook or Twitter. I share Jesus with people through these blog posts. You can do it through candy! HUH? Let me show you.

Candy! I made these up to hand out as little "gifts" to people I encounter throughout the day while I am out and about. Take for instance today I went through a drive thru. As the girl handed me my food I asked her if she liked Reese's cups. She looked at me funny and said, "yeah!" I asked if I would get her in trouble if I gave her a gift and she grinned and said, "no!" I handed her one of these bags and told her to have a good day then drove off. I told her about Jesus and did not even mention Him! How?

Inside each bag is a Reese's Egg and two little chocolate eggs along with a tract that is titled, "The Meaning of Easter." I also put a little card in it that says, "Thank you for providing "Egg"-celent service!"

Inside the tract it tells the plan of Salvation and about Christ! Will she read it? I don't know. But I believe that God puts people in my path everyday for a reason. I have NO idea what God has been whispering to her, what she is going through in her life or if she is even looking for God. Maybe she had asked God for a sign He was real and then I have her this tract. Who knows what today's timing had to do in God's plan!  I also gave one out at the bank to the teller. Both people were thrilled that they got something. And I have no idea what happened afterward because I was gone. It was between them and the Lord.

I always ASK if I will get them in trouble, first! Why? Because some places you can truly get them in trouble and second, some places have signs up that says not to hand out materials. By asking you are allowing them to give you permission to give something to them. Satan will try to stop you from doing this so you have to make sure you do not ever do anything that can get yourself into trouble! =) Make sure you ask if you can give them "a little gift" first!

Now for the good part! You can start a conversation at any moment to tell someone about Jesus. How? Its simple! Let me show you.

Let's say you and I are sitting in the doctors office and you sneeze.
I respond by saying God bless you!
You say,"Thank you."
I respond, "You know that is funny how people always say that isn't it. God bless you!? Do you believe in God?"
Let's say you respond with this, "I am not really sure what I believe." So I say..
"Well...., when you die do you know where are you going?"
You look at me a little puzzled this time and say, "Well, I'd like to think that I would go to heaven. I mean I am a good person and try to do good things."
I say, "Okay, well let me ask you this. To you, who is Jesus?
You say, "Well, I've always heard that He died on a cross and rose again but I am not sure I believe that."
(Now here is the key- pay attention here!)
I respond- "Well if any of your answers were wrong, would you want to know about it?"

Did you catch that?? I just asked them if they would want to know if they were wrong or not. I am basically asking permission to show them what the Bible says!!! If they say no, you simply respond with- Okay and then talk about something else. BUT if they say YES, you pull out your Bible and open it up. Here is where you get to watch God at work!

Now before you flip out- hear me out! And stop it with those arguments going on in your head! You know what I am talking about. "But I don't know what to show them! What if they ask me something I don't know? What if they get mad at me?" Its all garbage that Satan is putting in your head to try and stop you from sharing Jesus! You cheat!! Yes you heard me right, YOU CHEAT! How?

You write the answers in your Bible! Curious? Good! Read on!

First of all I have done this in both my study Bible AND in my personal small Bible that will fit in my pocketbook. Why? Well let me ask you this. If you had never tried pineapple before and I wanted you to consider trying it, would you be more willing to try it if I handed you a whole pineapple with the scales and green top still on it or if I handed you a small tidbit that was already chopped up from the can??? Of course! You would take the little tidbit! Same is true for Bibles. If you pulled out your huge study Bible that you had all marked up because you had been doing the Inductive Bible Study Method, you would scare someone to death! Ha ha ha! No. That would be like trying to get you to try tasting that WHOLE pineapple again! Instead I am going to pull out my "tidbit"- my small personal size Bible. Now why have I done the marking in both Bibles? Because I want to try and show a complete stranger the most important points because I may not have a long stretch of time to do it in. Hence using my smaller condensed Bible. Second, if I only marked it in my "tidbit" Bible and they started asking questions I would not have my study Bible ready to go. If at any point they start asking questions and want more information THEN I pull out my study Bible and use it! Of course because you have been studying and you have it all marked up by tabbing it, you know where stuff is! Right!? (Winking face here!) Now to show you what I am talking about.

You only have to remember ONE verse. YES I said ONE!!! Romans 3:23. Once you turn to that page, the rest of them are marked for you!! You CHEAT!

Now here in this picture I have it opened to the ONE verse you have to remember. Do you remember it? Don't you cheat and look up there!

Shame on you! It is Romans 3:23!!

Now you highlight the verse. I have all salvation verses highlighted in pink in my Bible. Then you hand them the Bible and let THEM read it. Just open the Bible, hand it to them and say, "Here, will you read to me what this says?" (Remember they just gave you permission to show them. Remember?) Now why do you let them read it? Why don't you read it TO them? 2 reasons.
First, neither you nor I nor any other human being has the ability to convict someone that they are a sinner. After all we are sinners ourselves. God's Word has abilities that we do not! Second, if you read it to them and they start putting two and two together,realizing they are a sinner, it is going to be like YOU are telling THEM they are a sinner. This makes people put up a barrier and get on the defense. "Who do you think you are telling me I am a sinner and deserve to die!!!!??" (Get the picture!?)  The only person you want to do any convicting is God Himself! Make sense?

After they read it, keep things moving and QUICKLY turn to the next verse. How do you know where to go next? You look at the verse written at the top of your Bible!!! If you see in this picture I have circled it so you see what I mean. I have Romans 6:23 wrote at the top of this page. Once you have them all marked you will always know where to go next! In this case Romans 6:23! Once I get to Romans 6:23 there is another verse written at the top of that page. Remember to flip from verse to verse quickly. No talking in between unless they ask you something. Each time make sure that they read it and not you reading it to them! Below is a chart that has what verses I have marked in my Bible.

Start at Romans 3:23. Highlight this verse then at the top of the page write "Romans 6:23"
Turn to Romans 6:23.Highlight this verse then at the top of the page write "John 3:3"
Turn to John 3:3. Highlight this verse then at the top of the page write "John 14:6".
Turn to John 14:6. Highlight this verse then at the top of the page write "Romans 10:9-10"
Turn to Romans 10:9-10. Highlight this verse then at the top of the page write "2 Corinthians 5:15"
Turn to 2 Corinthians 5:15. Highlight this verse then at the top of the page write "Titus 3:5"
Turn to Titus 3:5. Highlight this verse then at the top of the page write "Isaiah 64:6"
Turn to Isaiah 64:6. Highlight this verse then at the top of the page write Revelation 3:20
At Revelation 3:20 you do nothing except write just beside the verse, "He is knocking at your heart. Do you want Jesus to be your Savior?"

Once they read that last Scripture the Bible basically gives them "an alter call". They are left with making a decision. At this point you do not force anything. Let them lead. If they ask questions you know, answer them. If they ask questions you do not know, tell them you don't know but tell them you will find out. Then FIND OUT and get back with them. Don't force them to pray a prayer of salvation if they do not want to own their own. Sometimes people will not want to do anything. If they do not- remember- you just planted a seed. But who knows! You might have just led someone to the Lord!! And remember some people out there are searching for hope! Some people will want to listen to what you have to say.

The key is being willing. Pray for God to give you opportunities to share the Gospel. He will! Pray that He will give you the right words to say. He will! Pray He will convict peoples hearts. He will! He wants people to get saved WAY more than you do- He just wants to use you to help Him accomplish His work!

Sometimes you may start this process with someone and they come out first thing and say yes they know Jesus. Then you can have a great big praise conversation about how God is so good to us. I have had that happen too. You walk away feeling encouraged and feel they blessed you! Sometimes people will not want to talk to you. That is okay. Just tell them to have a great day and move on. You can sense by peoples behaviors if they want to hear what you have to say. PRAY PRAY PRAY! The Holy Spirit will help you! PROMISE!

To end on a thought provoking note: Today my boys and I were out and about and they seen me give out one of the baggies I described above. Justin asks, "Mom, why are you giving all of our candy away?" I respond, "I am trying to make people's day and tell them about Jesus. There was a little paper in there that tells them who Jesus is." He responds, "But mama all people know who Jesus is!" My heart then felt convicted and I have to respond with a frog in my throat, "No son they don't. Not everyone knows Jesus."

And that is the truth! You may be the one person that speaks up and tells them before it is to late!!!! Let's share Jesus one "tidbit" at a time!! =)

(I got these ideas from a book called, "Share Jesus Without Fear" by William Fay & Ralph Hodge. You can look at the pictures below for purchase information. In fact all items I used in this post are shown below.) Affiliate links included and are provided for your convenience.