Hello Neighbor, Part 4
As Christians, we know that part of our calling is to share the Gospel of Jesus with those who don’t know Him. After all, someone shared the Gospel with us at one point so that should help us understand the urgency of sharing it with everyone.
But that’s way easier said than done, isn’t it? Why is it that we have the BEST news to share but we’re too scared to share it? If God is who he says He is, why aren’t we telling more people about Him? Maybe we don’t know how to share the gospel or we don’t know how to talk about God and what He graciously has done for us?
Welcome, everybody, to this new and exciting blog series where my goal is for all of us to be a little more motivated to go and warmly say, “Hello, Neighbor.”
Here’s the reality – it doesn’t matter if we trusted Christ for salvation 40 years ago or 4 days ago; most of us have questions about the how, where, and when of presenting the gospel to others. We all have fears and barriers that keep us from talking to others about Biblical truths.
Here’s how I can help you in this blog series:
1. I’ll answer the questions and HELP TO address the fears you have about sharing the Gospel.
2. I’ll GIVE YOU SOME IDEAS how to engage with the people who come across your path every day.
3. I simply want to encourage and motivate you as you live out the Great Commission where you live work and play.
In upcoming episodes, we will talk about many things like:
What it means to be a witness
Cover some barriers we face
How to trust God better
Defining the Great Commission,
The blessings we receive when we share the gospel
Be sure to come back for all of them and share them with your friends.
So, what does that word “evangelize” even mean? We hear the word often used when talking about sharing the Gospel with others. Well, it’s basically to preach the Gospel to the lost.
1. Philip was the evangelist in Acts 21.
2. There are people with such a gift according to Ephesians 4.
3. We are encouraged to always be prepared to give an answer as to why we have hope in Christ, 1 Peter 3.
4. Those who are born again and followers of Christ are also Ambassadors; that means we are to represent and promote Jesus Christs message (2 Cor. 5).
5. And there is absolutely no reason to be ashamed of the Gospel message we have been given (Rom 1).
6. God has given us and is expecting us to carry out the specific work of sharing the Gospel with the lost (Ephesians 2).
Honestly, we think too highly of ourselves and we really embrace our fears way too much! Where is our humility in sharing the Gospel? By the grace of God we all need to learn from the reformer Martin Luther when He so eloquently said, I did nothing - the Word did everything.” In German we would say - ich tat nichts das wort tat alles!
Now, something that’s important to remember is that there is no one way to evangelize.
The way I evangelize might look different from how you evangelize because WE ARE ALL UNIQUELY DIFFERENT. That’s GOD’S design - for a purpose! HOWEVER, the method of how you share the Good News will vary depending on your personality, age, maturity, where you live in the world, etc.
Even though we may evangelize in different ways, there is a major core foundation that doesn’t change – the Gospel is the Good News and we are called to share it!!!
In this blog series, you’ll read about me talking to people and asking them simple spiritual opinionated questions THAT DRAWS THEM OUT and HELPS THEM to OPEN UP – all of which gets us to the gospel presentation platform.
These questions are intended to make people contemplate and articulate their perception of God.
But as I said earlier, there are many other ways you can initiate Gospel conversations, right?
1. Maybe some of you like to write letters or cards to family and friends and share the Gospel that way.
2. Maybe you go to your neighbor’s house with a plate of cookies or coffeecake and trust God to lead that conversation.
3. Some of you are very comfortable with leaving tracts on train seats or with the check as you pay at a restaurant.
It doesn’t matter what appetizer questions or conversations you have, what is critical is that you get to the main course, the wonderful Gospel. The purpose is the same – sharing the Gospel with the lost.
Before we go further let me ask the obvious simple question. Who is our neighbor?
When we first hear the word neighbor, our immediate response is the person who lives to our left or right. This is, of course, accurate, but Scripturally, our neighbor is more than someone we live in close proximity to.
You remember the story Jesus told – it was about a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers attacked him, took his possessions and clothes, beat him, and left him half dead.
The first person who saw the injured man and passed by.
The second person came and did the same.
Then a Samaritan saw the hurt man, had compassion on him, and helped him, even giving money to the inn keeper to look after him while he was away.
Jesus wrapped up the story and asked the simple question, who was a true neighbor?
A man with prestige answered, the man who showed mercy was a neighbor.
Then Jesus told him, "You go and do likewise." You might be wondering, okay great, but what does that mean for me?
Three basic things come from the text:
1. If you see a need and you can meet it, help.
2. It takes time, energy, and resources to help those around you.
3. Jesus’ words where not a suggestion; they were direct and instructive for the people of that day and for us here in 2021.
We too are called to treat all people as our neighbor. Because at the end of the day, we humans are all hurting, broken, and in need of some type of help from others.
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The lovely people with grey hair, those on the subway, someone suffering after a tragedy, the man in the park. There is always a person around you that you can help in some unique way. God gives us these wonderful, unique opportunities.
We are all helpless and need someone to bring us hope. That person is Jesus.
This is the reason I am a missionary here in Europe: people need hope! They need someone to take the initiative to come into their life and offer the ultimate gift, the gift of the Gospel.
As we love our neighbors, we have the opportunity to show them who Jesus is and we will experience God’s blessing in our lives.
So, I leave you with this question - Who is your neighbor?
They’re waiting for you.
Maybe it’s time for you to go and say, “Hello, Neighbor,” and see what God does!