How To Intentionally Share The Gospel

Pardon me for me for jumping right into the deep end here, but I have a question for you. Are you intentionally building relationships with men and women who are lost, wondering or feel disenfranchised from the church?

• Lost means the person will die and go to hell

• Wondering means the person who is drifting away from their relationship with God

• Disenfranchised is the person who feels they wouldn’t be accepted back into the church for various reasons. 

At the very moment you committed your life to following Jesus by saying “yes” to Him, you became His ambassador/representative. You were entrusted with two things, the message of the gospel and the ministry of reconciliation to those who are not at peace with God.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

- 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

At the time you gave your life to Christ, you may not have realized this, but your entire identity and ministry shifted. At that moment, you became responsible for taking the message of Jesus to lost people in your life - the same way the person who shared with you was responsible for that ministry.

This is the new ministry of reconciliation that you and I have as followers of Jesus.

But it’s more than that. You and I also have the responsibility of learning, and teaching others, what it means to be an entrusted leader and servant of Christ. In the same way we share the Gospel, we work hard to make disciples and teach people to be like Jesus in every way possible.

This isn’t an option, it’s our God-given responsibility.

Now back to original question. Are you intentionally building relationships with others who are lost, wondering or feel disenfranchised?

More than that, do those people even enter your mind?

I often ask Christ followers if they have any friends that do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. By friends I mean real friends, not acquaintances. Most christians do not have friendships with non-Christians. And if they do, they very rarely bring up the Gospel story with them, let alone ask if they have a faith story or background at all. 

Did you know you are 100% responsible for sharing the gospel message with people who do not know God? They are not at peace with God and you - yes, you - have been placed in their lives because you have the ministry of reconciliation.

Do you know what happens to someone who is not at peace with God when they die?  Read the verses below and I would encourage you to substitute the personal pronoun with your lost friend’s name. Allow that to settle in your heart and mind.

“In flaming fire, inflecting vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,”

- 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

Let’s be honest, it can be very intimidating to share the gospel. Fear sets in hard. Not knowing what to say or how to say it is embarrassing.

But we can also be honest that most of the time, it’s not fear that prevents us from sharing the Gospel. It’s simply that the lost person never really enters our mind.

We’ve gotten comfortable, we assume people already know, and we get busy with the worries, cares, and “seeking of pleasures” and it’s caused us to be distracted from our God-given mission and ministry.

But let me assure you - you can overcome all of that fear and distraction.

If you don’t feel equipped to share the gospel, or your own personal testimony of how you came to Jesus, Sharpening Ministries can help you.

Your role is to pray, step out in faith, deny the fear, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak through you. This is the way it is designed by God himself.