Category: Practical

4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism – Part 2

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Practical6 Comments

Stumbling Block

In my last post, I explored ways we can build relationships with non-believers and then engage them with the gospel.

Today we continue exploring what keeps us from modeling Paul’s activity in Athens — reach out, build relationships with folks, and then engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis.

4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism and How to Remove Them

(2) Our Idea of Christian Growth 

It’s a common idea in the church community to equate growing in our knowledge of the Bible with Christian growth. Growing as a Christian, however, doesn’t just mean growing in biblical knowledge. It is that, but also much more. It involves us growing in our love for God and others. As well as it involves us growing in our ability and desire to serve others and spread the gospel.

Since we often equate Christian growth with growth in biblical knowledge, we fill our schedules with church events, Bible studies, and meetings with other Christians.

While those things are good and necessary, they can hinder everyday evangelism. You see, if we are always meeting with Christians, we aren’t going to have the relational capacity to meet non-believers, nor are we going to have the time.

Don’t Load Your Schedule with Church Activities 

So one way to make some time is not to load our schedules with church activities. I, and the other teachers and leaders at my church, put a lot of effort into the things we do every week. As much as I want all these things to be well attended, I would rather a member say no to some of them so they will have time to hang out with a non-believer and build the gospel into their lives.

So if our schedule is so full of church activities that we don’t have time to meet any non-believers, or minister to them, then we need to pull back a little bit.

Being a disciple isn’t just about attending church, being a disciple is instead about making disciples.

Making disciples is what God has called us to do. If we have the opportunity to make disciples, then we need to take the opportunity given and skip the church activity.

Now, I have to be careful here because I don’t want to give you the impression I am advocating anyone quit attending church altogether, nor for you to start skipping church events so you can sit home in your recliner. We need to be involved in our churches. We need each other. We need Christian community. We need to learn God’s Word, so we shouldn’t completely blow church off. However, we shouldn’t let church activities consume our life so much so that we don’t have time to engage non-believers, build relationships, and speak the truth of the gospel into their lives.

Question for Reflection

  1. Do you agree that too much church can hinder us from making disciples?
  2. How do you find the balance between church activities and making disciples?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon: Spread the Gospel – Growth Through Discipleship – Week 5

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4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism – Part 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Practical9 Comments

Stumbling Block

In my last post, I talked about the need for us to model Paul’s method of evangelism in Athens — reach out, build relationships with folks, and then engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis.

But often we don’t do what Paul models for us. We don’t engage people where they are on a daily basis. Why? Why don’t we do that? Well, let me offer you:

4 Stumbling Blocks to Everyday Evangelism and How to Remove Them

(1) We Don’t Have Relationships with Non-Believers 

As Christians it is easy to focus our entire lives around the church. So much so that everyone we know either goes to our church or another church in town. When you only have relationships with Christians, however, it is hard to engage the lost on a consistent basis because you don’t know anyone who is lost. Everyone you know already believes in Jesus as their Savior.

So one stumbling block to everyday evangelism is not knowing enough lost people, which means we need to build some relationships. I would encourage you to start building relationships with non-believers because I believe:

Relationships are the key to being able to spread the gospel consistently.

You are more likely to talk with a friend about Jesus than a complete stranger. Think about it, how many of you are actually going to approach a random stranger on the street or go knock on a door. Unless someone makes you do it, most of you are probably not going to. So if we are going to do everyday evangelism, we need to look for people to build relationships with.

Plus, I believe relationship evangelism is more effective. Research tells us that 43% of people come to Christ through a friend or co-worker. I believe it. At the last Conference I attended, the host took a poll as to how people came to Christ. The largest part of the 7 or 8 thousand in attendance said they came to Christ because someone they knew told them about Jesus.

Now I am not saying street evangelism or evangelistic events aren’t effective. People get saved through those avenues everyday. The most effective way, however, seems to be through relational evangelism. So we need to focus on building relationships with folks.

You Have the Time to Build Relationships with Non-believers

You may not think you have the opportunities to do that given your schedule or life stage. But you do. You have the opportunity in the things you already are involved in each and every week. Think about about.

(1) Extracurricular Activities

Most of you have kids or grandkids who are involved in sports or some other extracurricular activity. These activities are an excellent opportunity for you to build relationship with other parents or grandparents. You already have something in common — your child plays on the same team or participates in the same activity — so the hard part is already over. Now, you just have to work on getting to know the other parents a little better.

(2) Work

Another place you have an opportunity to meet non-believers and build relationships with them is at work. This is one thing I miss about working in the secular world — the ease with which I could build relationships with my co-workers who weren’t believers and then speak into their lives.

One way I got to know my co-workers well was by going to lunch with them. Now I didn’t do that everyday. Eating out is expensive, but I did go out with them every now and again. I would encourage you to do the same.

If lunch doesn’t work for you, invite a person in the office over for dinner, to watch the game, go golfing, hunting, or whatever else it is that you do.

(3) Neighbors and Re-Connect with Old Friends

Still another way to meet and build relationships with non-believers is your neighborhood, or for you to reconnect with your non-Christian friends from school.

Cookouts are a great way to meet your neighbors or reconnect with your old high school buddies. Invite them over one Saturday afternoon and just hang out, get to know them, or find out what they have been up to, in the case of those you haven’t seen in a while.

(4) Shift the Setting You Do Things In

Often times as Christians, we like to do things in Christian settings. We play sports in a Christian league, drink coffee at a Christian coffee shop, look for books in a Christian book store, or hold Bible studies at the church instead of out in the community.

However, if you isolate yourself and live in a Christian bubble, you aren’t going to meet any non-Christians. Instead of isolating yourself, find a way to do the things you normally do out among non-believers.

For me this means spending some of my day working from the coffee shop. I could spend my day in the comfort of my study, but I don’t. Instead I spend most of my afternoons at Starbucks.

Through the years I have had the opportunity to talk to a number of people, to build relationships with them, and to speak the gospel into their lives. I am not even aggressive at getting to know others. I just go, do my work and every so often God places someone in my path that I don’t know, we become friends, and we end up talking about Jesus every now and again.

Another example is our church’s Friday Morning Men’s Bible Study. We have that at IHOP every Friday at 6:30am. The reason we do that is so we can have breakfast and coffee together, but also so we can be a witness for Jesus in our community.

So there are a number of ways to build relationships with folks, we just have to do it.

Question for Reflection

  1. How do you build relationships with non-believers?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon: Spread the Gospel – Growth Through Discipleship – Week 5

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Engage People Where They Are With The Gospel

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Evangelism, Pastoral, Practical5 Comments

The City

Acts 17 provides one picture of how Paul evangelized the lost. In the city of Athens, we learn he went to the synagogue to engage the Jews on the Sabbath, and the rest of the week he went to the marketplace to engage the more secular minded.

The Market Place was this huge open air area in the middle of town where everyone gathered for business, arts, buying and selling, or just to hang out with their friends. We don’t really have anything like it today. Technology has allowed us to spread out and do all these things from the comfort of our office or home.

However, in Paul’s day, the Market Place was were everything happened. It was where everyone gathered. I would imagine Paul walking around the Market Place, getting to know folks there, and then engaging small groups here and there with the gospel.

Today we should do the same.We should reach out, build relationships with folks, and engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis. Our Market Place might look different than Paul’s. Instead of everything huddled into one area, it’s spread out. We work in one part of town, shop in another, eat and drink our coffee someone else.

Even though our Market Place looks different than Paul’s, I believe the principle still applies. We should do what Paul did — reach out, build relationships with folks, and then engage them with the gospel where they are on a daily basis.

Question for Reflection

  1. How do you build relationships in your market place?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon: Spread the Gospel – Growth Through Discipleship – Week 5

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How are We to Love Others? – Part 3

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical2 Comments

Love others

As disciples, our love should imitate Jesus loves for us. But what exactly does that look like. In other words, how are we to love others as an imitation of Jesus’ love?

How are We to Love Others As an Imitation of Jesus’ Love?

(3) Jesus’ Love is Continual

It’s not temporary. He doesn’t love us for a time and drop us. He doesn’t fall out of love with us. Nor does He trade us in for a new model after a few years. Jesus’ love is continual. It never wanes or goes out. It always burns hot for us.

Likewise, our love for others should be the same. In 1 John 3:11, John commands us to

“Love one another.” (1 Jn 3:11b)

The Greek Grammatical category for love John uses is a customary present. It is important to know that because it tells us our love, just like Jesus’ love, should be continual. It should never go out. We should never fall out of love with someone. Instead, we should continually love them no matter what they do or how they act.

One really awesome thing about a lot of the couples in my church is that they have exhibited this type of love. There are a lot of couples who have celebrated 30, 40, 50 years of marriage, which is a great testament to continually loving someone over the years.

I mean in 30, 40, or 50 years a lot changes. Not only physically but also personally — people’s likes and dislikes, what they want out of life, and how they act — change. So to love someone despite those changes is a real testament to true love.

In the same way many of in my church have loved their spouse, we are supposed to love others — continually. Despite what they do and how they change. We are to love them.

Question for Reflection

  1. How have you loved someone continually?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon Love Others – Growth through discipleship – week 3

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How are We to Love Others? – Part 2

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, PracticalLeave a comment

Love others

As disciples, our love should imitate Jesus loves for us. But what exactly does that look like. In other words, how are we to love others as an imitation of Jesus’ love?

How are We to Love Others As an Imitation of Jesus’ Love?

(2) Jesus’ love is unconditional

We know Jesus’ love is unconditional because Jesus sacrificed Himself for us even while we were His enemies. In 1 John 4:10, John writes,

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 Jn 4:10).

So John tells us that Jesus came and died for us while we were His enemies. He died for those who sinned against Him. He died for His enemies because His love is unconditional.

As Christians, we are to imitate Jesus’ love, which means our love is to be unconditional. It can’t just be reserved for those who love us, or for those who have or can do something for us. Instead we should love others regardless of their love for us.

A Story of Unconditional Love

It has been a few years now, but you might remember the story of Atheist Patrick Greene who brought a lawsuit against the city of Athens, TX. The city allowed a nativity to be displayed at the courthouse  and Greene wanted it removed.

While he was waiting on a court date, his eyes started bothering him. I don’t remember all the details, but he ended up needing to get eye surgery to fix his problem. To save money, he dropped the lawsuit against the city. But before he was able to save enough for his surgery, his eyesight worsened. Since he was a cab driver, he could no longer work, which meant he could no longer save money for his surgery.

One of the churches in Athens, TX found out about Greene’s condition. Instead of celebrating, instead of saying he got what he deserved, they started to send him money so he could pay for his surgery. After they started doing that, other Christians in other churches around the nation started sending Greene money for his surgery and bills as well.

All these folks did this even though Greene was an atheist. Even though it was his mission to have that nativity removed from the courthouse. Even though he was persecuting them, they cared for him, they loved him.

Their actions didn’t go without notice. Greene’s heart was softened to the point where he used some of the money he received to purchase a star for the top of the nativity. He even said he was planning to move to Athens and start meeting with some of the folks from the church to discuss the Bible after his surgery.

So as Christians we should not only imitate Jesus’ self-sacrificial love, but we should also imitate His unconditional love by loving everyone we come into contact with no matter how they act towards us or what they can do for us.

Question for Reflection

  1. How have you loved someone unconditionally?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon Love Others – Growth through discipleship – week 3

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How are We to Love Others? – Part 1

On By Dr. Casey LewisIn Discipleship, Practical2 Comments

Love others

As disciples, our love should imitate Jesus loves for us. But what exactly does that look like. In other words, how are we to love others as an imitation of Jesus’ love?

How are We to Love Others As an Imitation of Jesus’ Love?

(1) Jesus’ Love is Self-Sacrificial

Smack dab in the middle of the verse 16 in 1 John 3, John says:

“[Jesus] laid down his life for us.” (1 Jn. 3:16b)

Then John goes on to tell us, based on what Jesus did, we ought to lay our life down for others. When he says that, he doesn’t mean we should all go out and kill ourselves for the benefit of others. While Jesus gave up His physical life for others, He gave up much more than that. He also sacrificed His desires, what he could have been, what He could have done, for our benefit; for our good.

So when we talk about loving others self-sacrificially, we aren’t talking about us offing ourselves for another. Instead we are talking about something more. We are talking about dying to self for the good of others.

When I think of someone who sacrificed for another like this, I think of Lloyd Latimer, who is Jen’s granddad. About 8 or so years ago, his wife Ruth, who just recently passed, suffered a stroke. She survived but was physically limited. One side of her body was paralyzed.

This happened when they were in their 80’s. But even though he was getting up in age, he didn’t want to put his wife in a nursing home, so he committed to take care of her. For about 8 years he did. He cooked all their meals, got all the groceries, cleaned the house, took her to all her doctor’s appointments. He bathed her, took her to the bathroom, and even dressed her. Everyday, 24 hours a day, he took care of her.

In order to do that, he had to make some sacrifices. He had to give up his wants, his comfort, his desires for his wife’s. He did that — he was willing to die to self — because he loved his wife.

So when we talk about love being self-sacrificial, what we are talking about is dying to self for the good of others, which tells us love is more than a feeling. Love is an action.

Question for Reflection

  1. How have you loved someone self-sacrificially?

Resources

Post adapted from the sermon Love Others – Growth through discipleship – week 3

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