Witnessing to Christians!??!

I know you may be thinking the title must be a typo. I wish it was. So, why would we need to witness and share the gospel with Christians? Don't they already know the gospel, hence the title "Christians"? Sadly because of the modern presentation of the gospel in today's churches, a large majority of Christians have never heard the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have personally witnessed to many professed "Christians" who walked an aisle or "accepted Jesus into their heart" or repeated a prayer that a well meaning Pastor or evangelist had them repeat and the person deemed themselves "saved" or "Christian".  It is a sad consequence of modern evangelism methods that measure their effectiveness by how many people said the prayer or filled out the commitment card. It is so frustrating when I hear these types of messages especially from the pulpit and I have heard my fair share of them. I to was a false conversion due to these kinds of methods and if I would have past into eternity after that I would without a doubt be in hell right now. That is not only sobering for me, but should be for church leaders, pastors, and evangelists out there. The truth of scripture can be a jagged pill to swallow for the unregenerate, but we must speak the truth in love and if they reject it then so be it. All I can do is again speak the truth, urge them to repent and believe the gospel, pray for them and let the Holy Spirit do His work. Its not up to me. That should be very freeing message for the person witnessing. We are to be obedient to the command of Jesus to preach the Gospel to every creature and that's it. The rest is up to God.

So, how do we approach a witnessing conversation when the person says "Oh, I am already a Christian."  Well, as Tony Miano puts it, that is code for "preach the Gospel to me." So how do we "feel them out" to see if they know the true Gospel and have been born again? One of the most effective ways I have found is to give them the 3 minutes to live scenario. If you do not know what that is, I have put some examples and resources at the bottom of this post. Basically you ask the "Christian" to kind of role play with you. They are the Christian and you are their friend the unbeliever. You, the unbeliever, have a knife stuck in your back and only have three minutes to live and are afraid to die. What would you, as the Christian, say to me? Here is where you will get their understanding of the Gospel. You are likely to get all kind of answers. I did this recently with our youth group for the first session of the Way of the Master Basic Training Course. They were all sitting around a table talking and I screamed from behind a partition and came crawling out with a (fake) knife sticking out of my back. I told them I was bleeding out and only had three minutes to live, please tell me how to be saved. I got a lot of blank stares, pray a prayer, or just ask Jesus into my heart. And that is likely what you will hear as well.

And a great way to witness to this Christian is after they have told you what they would say to someone dying without Jesus Christ, you reverse roles. Now you are the Christian and they are the unbeliever about to die. Then you take them through the law and the Gospel. Ask them if they noticed the difference between what they said and what you said. From there I would inquire if they have ever repented of their sins and placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Have they been born again? (John 3:3) 

You are likely to get a lot of opposition from these professed Christians, who grew up in the church and know how to speak "Christianese". But do not let that distract you from getting to the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). 

As a side note, the 3 minutes to live scenario is also very useful to use with Christian counterfeits like Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. 

Listen to Ray Comforts sermon on 3 minutes to live here.

The Great Commission

Did you know 160,000 people die every 24 hours? Sadly, only 2% of professing Christians share their faith regularly. If we as Christians truly believe what the Bible says, that if someone dies in their sins they will spend eternity in Hell, why do we not speak up and share the good news of the Gospel? Fear of rejection? Fear of coming off as some religious nut? Afraid of what they will think of us? Or is it, as Tony Miano puts it, "depraved indifference"?
I see it all the time in the church. People will say "Well, I don't have the gift of evangelism", or "I don't want to force my beliefs on someone". Ever heard this one? "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary, use words." This quote is often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, but if you do some research you will find he did not in fact utter these words and furthermore, simply put, its a cop out.

Ray Comfort once said "Its easier to talk to God about men, than to talk to men about God." There is a lot of truth in that statement. I believe it was Charles Spurgeon who said "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that." How can a Christian be apathetic about the salvation of their friends, family, and even a stranger? The love of God in him or her should motivate them to seek and save that which is lost.

Don't get me wrong I think to be a evangelist is a gift and not for every Christian, however every Christian is commanded to witness. It is not an option, the great commission is a command from Jesus for every believer.

Matthew 28:18-20

Luke 24:46-47

Matthew 28:19

Mark 16:15

If the Great Commission started and ended with the 11 remaining disciples, Christianity would be dead. Thanks be to God the disciples didn't stay in the upper room! And neither should we. We must get out of the pews, outside the four walls and share the Gospel of eternal salvation with this lost and dying world.

Maybe you are thinking, yes I agree we should witness and evangelize, but I don't know how or I don't feel properly equipped. Trust me, I have been there. However you can not just stop at that statement. You must, most importantly, read the Word of God daily. You must read, research and study effective ways to share and defend your faith. That is our duty as a follower of Christ. I like what Oswald J. Smith said, “Oh, my friends we are loaded down with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing and winning the lost is almost entirely neglected.” So where do you start?

That is what I hope to help and encourage you with this blog. I am not original, but I have read and attempted to apply just about every "method" of evangelism out there. So I have done the leg work for you. Let me save you some time. Unfortunately, while I was busy trying these man made methods to share my faith, I was overlooking the greatest source for how to share, which is found in the Holy Bible by Jesus himself.
The great folks at Living Waters breaks it down for you very simply. My first recommendation would be to watch or listen to two very important foundational messages by Ray Comfort. The first one is called "Hells Best Kept Secret", which you can listen here or watch here. The second one is "True and False Conversion", which you can listen here or watch here. The latter one is especially important to me, because it is the message that made me realize that even when I was a professing Christian, I was not truly saved. Just watch it and you will understand. Thirdly, get a copy of the book by Ray Comfort called The Way of the Master. This will teach you how to share your faith simply, effectively, and most importantly biblically....the way Jesus did!

Please check back often for more posts and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. In the mean time please take about 20 minutes to watch this very recent video of my friend Tony Miano witnessing to Brianna on a college campus in California. It is a stellar example of how to share your faith biblically.


Grace, Peace, and Love
Steven