Regardless of whether the door opens or not, our motivation has to be love and obedience to share the Gospel as much as He’ll let us share it. That means if the door stops, we have to respect that. Our goal is always to show Jesus to people, and that might mean not sharing the Gospel or our testimony at a given time. We have to be sensitive to people and to the Holy Spirit. Carry God’s Word With You It is also important we have our sword at hand any time we enter a conversation where we may have the opportunity to evangelize. We can sharpen our sword by spending time in the Word and knowing it better. Having Scripture memorized and readily accessible allows us to better supplement and support our testimony and more effectively share the five Biblical aspects of a Gospel presentation...that God is holy; man is sinful; sin deserves punishment; Jesus took the punishment; and faith is necessary for salvation. As with martial arts, that doesn’t mean we should go around throwing karate chops (or our message at people unnaturally, as those with megaphones do). Instead, we should rehearse and practice our testimony and those five points so much that when an opportunity presents itself, our response is very natural...just as martial artists are prepared if they do, in fact, need to defend themselves. We should prepare ourselves for the best-case scenario in which every person every day wants to hear the Gospel from us. Many people won’t be open to hearing it, and they’ll make that clear to us. When that happens, we need to be okay with that and not feel guilty for not banging the Gospel over their head when they don’t want it. But if the door does open, our ignorance about what to say or our lack of preparation is not an excuse to forfeit the opportunity. Because we are commanded by Jesus to evangelize, we should be well prepared and rehearsed with a process in place that allows us to go into autopilot. This will help eliminate nerves and ensure we deliver a strong Gospel message. What To Do When They Accept Jesus A Gospel conversation should ultimately lead to a time when listeners accept or reject Christ. Through the conversation, if the people with whom we’re sharing are lost, they should know how to be saved if they choose. So our conversations should lead us to ask, “What will you do with Jesus?” Once the point of decision is reached, if our listeners choose to be saved at that time, they must be able to explain, true to Scripture, how they know Christ and personally accept His payment for their sin. Or, they must know they are without Him and be aware of how to be saved if they would choose to do so in the future. If listeners choose the former and can explain how they know Christ, the “sinner’s prayer” is a wonderful tool to confirm, verbalize and clarify what has taken place in their hearts through faith. It is important they know, however, it is faith, not the prayer, that saves them.
The sinner’s prayer can be prayed word for word, or we can guide those who have been saved through the prayer and allow them to put it in their own words. For instance, we can lead converts in the following way:
Tell God you’re a sinner. Ask for His forgiveness. Thank Him for accepting and loving you. Give thanks for giving His life by allowing His blood to be shed on the cross and conquering death so you can know Him better forever. Thank Him for allowing you into Heaven when you leave this life.
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