Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
March 25, 2012 - W1213

His name was Bud Wilkinson.  He was a former coach of Oklahoma, and many years ago he’d said something that I have never forgotten when I read it in a book.  He said this, “Football is simply a combination of thousands of people in the grandstands desperately needing exercise watching twenty-two people on the field desperately needing rest.”  I thought that could describe our church today in many ways because there are so few actually in the game sharing their faith while the rest could be in the grandstands watching.  If the truth was told and you are a follower of Christ, you and I are called to share our faith.  Acts 1:8 says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Here’s the deal: Even though Jesus expects us to share our faith, many followers of Christ find it difficult even scary.  If that describes you today, I want to offer you a word of encouragement that in spite of your weaknesses and fears, you and I can be effective witnesses for Christ.  You can share your faith and it’s actually a little easy if you follow these steps:

1.  Be convinced that everyone is waiting for a touch of God.

They know that God is around somewhere.  They may deny it or try to sear their conscience, but deep down everyone is waiting for a touch of God.  You have to be convinced of that.  God put that in the heart of every man.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 puts it this way, “God has made everything appropriate in its time.  He has also set eternity in the heart of every man…” You have to understand that God put that yearning of eternity in every man and woman and child.  There is a yearning there that is God-ordained and God-instituted.  When you start to see that, you start to get the same passion that Christ has for the lost.  Luke 8:40 says, “The crowds welcomed Him because they had all been waiting for Jesus.”  Everyone is waiting for a touch from God.  You’ll pass right by them, and not know it.  It could be the waitress at the restaurant that you go to.  Everyone needs a touch from God, but we have to understand that and believe that.  People aren’t waiting for religiosity or a church slogan.  They’re waiting for God.  Even though their lives may be topsy-turvy and they don’t even know that they need God, God is close to them.  God is ready and preparing people for you to be close enough to give them a touch from God.  In fact in the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1:2 says, “The earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep, but the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”  Everything was formless and void.  Everything was chaotic and looked like it was in trouble, but the Spirit of God was “hovering just above the waters.”  You see, He’s so close.  Even when someone is in pain and turmoil, the Holy Spirit is not far from them.  God is preparing everyone and He is asking you to deliver His message.  No, not make Him accepted, just deliver His message and once you do that, you’re done.  The Holy Spirit takes over.  Some of our fears are wondering if they will reject.  Then we feel like a failure.  I did that once. I tried to share Christ and the guy rejected me.  I went home and thought what a failure I was, and the Lord whispered to me, “Wayne, failure is not when they don’t receive Christ, failure is when we give them nothing to respond to.”  So, give people something to respond to, and let that be their responsibility between the Holy Spirit and them.  Second step is:

2.  Pray for specific people you know. 

Specifically pray for certain people you know.  Jesus did just before He chose the twelve disciples.  “It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray…and when day had come, He called His disciples to Him and He chose twelve…” (Luke 6:12-13).  He was praying because God was zeroing in on a few.  Start with a few that you have a relationship with.  Pray for them.  They may not know Christ but start to pray for them.  That’s why here at New Hope we call that friendship evangelism.  The reason for that is because the generation that we live in is so different from the past.  The generation today is so much more cautious than ever before when talking to strangers.  So, sharing the gospel with someone you already know, makes it so much easier to get the message across.  Start with people that you know—family members, friends, fellow workers, or maybe your neighbor.  So, when sharing you need to:

·     Be authentic

You can’t come across like you know it all.   2 Cor. 13:4 states, “For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God.  For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed towards you.”  The Lord is saying here that we are weak and frail.  Most people can identify with the ordinary real experiences that you have had in your life where you have failed.  So, be authentic because people will know that you love God, and that you are a human being.  See, you can’t win your enemies to Christ, you can only win your friends.  We’re not there to judge or blame, but to be a friend first.  Once they know you love them just as they are, then they warm up to you because you’re a friend to them now.  So don’t be afraid of people who have different faiths or lifestyles, be a friend to them first.  You’re not endorsing what they are doing, but you want to be simply a friend.  Remember, no one has ever won their enemy to Christ, they’ve only won their friends.  Because of  Easter coming up, the third point is this:

3.  Invite them.

John 1:40-42 says, “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.  The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ and he brought him to Jesus.” 

A poll was taken and it was found out that 79% of the people who have come to church was because of a personal invitation.  Can I encourage you for the next two weeks that everyone jump in and invite someone to service? You’ll be surprised what one invitation can do.  It’ll change someone’s life.  Over the last eighteen years, not only this New Hope but counting all our New Hope campuses collectively, 150,000 decisions for Christ were made.  One-hundred and twenty-four churches were planted.  If you take all of our New Hope plants around the world over the last twenty something years, 500,000 decisions for Christ came through New Hope.  Let me conclude by saying this: I believe that the Spirit of God is hovering over your neighborhood, your workplace, and school.  Some of us are so defeated in our witnessing efforts before we even start, because we’re not convinced that people near us are being prepared by God for a touch.  Our Lord told us in John 4:35, “Do you not say, “There are four months and then comes the harvest? Behold, I say lift up your eyes and look on the fields, they are ready for the harvest.” 

Be convinced that the Holy Spirit is preparing people over these next two weeks.  Be prepared.  Start praying for a few right now that you know are your friends.  Pray that God will open the doors, and then invite them to Easter. Let’s be people who get off the grandstands and into the playing field!

Discussion Questions:

1.   Who are some people in your life that you know are waiting for a “touch from God?”

2.   What is keeping you back from reaching out to them through your witnessing?

3.   How can you be authentic in your “friendship evangelism?”