Category Archives: Evangelism

The world is the audience: Step carefully.

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“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16). 

“And all the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25). 

You’ve been put on the spot.

Someone is challenging you, daring you, cursing you, or slandering you.  You squirm. Nothing about this is pleasant.  You try to think of an appropriate response.

Before you act, I have a suggestion.

You should always keep in mind one huge factor:  Your response to your heckler is less for them than for the spectators standing nearby, observing this little conflict.  They’re watching you. They want to see how you react, if you can take it, if you will respond in the flesh or show yourself to be a genuine Christian.

Unfair, you say?  Maybe so, in some ways. But in another, this creates an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to do something everlasting.

All He needs is a willing Christian, someone who can take it and come up smiling. He needs someone who understands the wisdom of Luke 6:27–-loving your enemy, doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you.

The Godly have a built-in audience for this.  The world has bought tickets to the show that is you.

They’re always watching.

Outsiders wonder if you are for real, if the Gospel really works, if Christ is among you and alive today.

Ignore their slander and antagonism, if you can.  The main thing to be aware of it they are watching you and listening to you.

They watch our lives, see our churches, know our claims, and wonder if this could be real.

The way you answer the attacker, your response to your slanderer, is not for that one alone.  I suggest you respond to him/her by assuming nothing you say is going to change their mind.  Your response is for the audience.

Take a lesson from the stand-up comic.  He listens to the heckler in the audience and responds.  But his purpose is not to teach anything to the rude interrupter.  Even though the comic addresses the heckler, it’s all for the audience. (Comedians have been known to hire hecklers to attend and do their worst.  It’s all for one simple reason, to provide a target for their best zingers.)

You and I respond to the individual, but we must never forget the world is watching.

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The self-defeating thing our finest people often do

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Churches build these great ministries and put on outstanding programs, then fail in one critical area–

They hide them inside the walls of their buildings.

Here’s  a scripture–

Then a leper came to Him, and on his knees, begged Him: “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out HIs hand and touched him. “I am willing,” He told him. “Be made clean.” Immediately the disease left him, and he was healed.

Then He sternly warned him and sent him away at once, telling him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news, with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But He was out in deserted places, and they would come to Him from everywhere. (Mark 1:40-45)

I’m always struck by the incongruities–the oddities–in people’s behavior, particularly in biblical stories. Consider our Lord’s encounter with the leper:

–The leper felt free to come to Jesus. The law specifically forbade that (Leviticus 13:45-46). Lepers were to shy away from others and to call out “unclean,” lest they be accidentally touched and therefore unclean.

–Jesus reached out and touched him. That was also a no-no. But our wonderful Lord did the unthinkable and touched the untouchable. As always, He was driven by compassion.

–After healing the man, Jesus told him to keep it to himself. Do you find that odd? These were the early days of the Lord’s ministry and the last thing He needed was crowds mobbing Him as a cult hero.

–The man disobeyed Jesus.  He told everyone he met what Jesus had done for him. We can hardly blame him. I’ve sometimes felt half-seriously that the only unfair command our Lord ever gave was telling this fellow to keep the news to himself. Like he could! And like no one would notice.

Those are four strange aspects to this wonderful little story. But they suggest an even greater oddity about the Lord’s people today: Jesus tells us to tell the world and we go home and sit down.

We keep the most wonderful news in the world to ourselves.

Something bad wrong with that.

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I’m angry at some preachers. Here’s why.

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You’ve heard them, I’m sure. Some well-intentioned but thoughtless man of God stands before a gathering of the Lord’s people and in urging us to evangelize our communities will overstate the case.

“Jesus told us to become fishers of men! He did not tell us to be keepers of the aquarium!”

Invariably, especially if the audience is made up almost exclusively of preachers, the statement will be met with a chorus of ‘amen’s.’

The only problem is while that may sound good, it simply is not so.

Jesus did not send His disciples just to reach lost sheep–He certainly did that–but commanded that we are to “feed my sheep.” In John 20, He gave that command to Simon Peter three times.

It’s not enough to reach the sheep. They must be cared for, protected, provided for.  Nurtured.

In Acts 20:28, Paul tells the pastors of Ephesus that they are to “shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.”

And here’s another one, the one that ticks me off.

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Witnessing as Jesus Taught It

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Good evening.  I am standing before you tonight on behalf of your family members and friends.  They are going to be needing you to do two things–

–to live the Christian life before them.

–and then, in time, to explain to them how they can receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  To be saved, born again.

You cannot do the second until you make a good effort toward the first.  No shortcuts.

Here is our text…

Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you and how He had mercy on you.  (Mark 5:19)

After the great Shantung revival in China a century ago, Missionary Bertha Smith returned to South Carolina and wrote the story, Go Home and Tell, the title based on Mark 5:19.

That’s our mandate.  Let’s talk about it.

The Lord wants no secret agents. No undercover man.  We are commanded to go public in our devotion to Him.  We confess Him as Lord, we are baptized, we love the brethren.

There are probably as many ways to bear a witness for Jesus as there are believers, millions.  Place a Bible on your desk.  Speak of Jesus in your conversation.  Give your testimony. Pray for those in need.  Befriend the strugglers.  Give literature.  Give food to the hungry.

I love the story of Al Braca.  Tuesday, September 11, 2001, Al was at his usual job on the 104th floor of One World Trade Center in New York City.  He was vice president for the Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage firm.  Al Braca was a born again believer, he had been saved 23 years earlier.  And since he freely shared his faith among the employees, they referred to him–mostly behind his back–as “The Rev.”  From time to time, those with personal problems sought out Al for counsel, usually when no one else could see them.  

Everyone knew Al Braca to be a born again Christian.  Everyone.  And from time to time over the years, Al had asked the Lord for permission to find other work where his co-workers were godly, were not obsessed with making money.  But no, the Lord said. He was where the Lord wanted him. 

That morning, the planes hit that tower around the 90th floor.  A few hours later everyone above that level died when the tower crashed to the ground.  Al Braca died along with all the others in his firm.  But the fascinating thing is what Al was doing before the towers fell.  

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The surprises of the prodigal son

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“A certain man had two sons.  The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’  And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, where he squandered his estate with loose living….” (Luke 15:11ff.)

The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 is iconic. That means it is typical, it is well-known, and it’s an accurate depiction of a thousand things about this life.  Understand that story and you know a great deal about how life works and what God does.

If you knew nothing more about God than how He is depicted in this parable, you would love him with all your heart.

You and I are represented by the foolish, younger son.

That son, the subject of a few million sermons and the inspiration of almost as many conversions, received a lot of surprises in this story…

One. He was surprised that the father granted his selfish request. Some lessons we just have to learn for ourselves, and the Father was a good teacher.

Two.  He was surprised that the father allowed him to leave.  Surely, he must have thought, I will be stopped.  After all, this is a lot of freedom I’m being allowed.

We are all surprised at the leeway the Father gives us.  Of course, when our decisions turn out to be ill-advised and the harvest of our wild oats are found to be bitter and diseased, we tend to criticize our Heavenly Father for ever allowing us such freedom in the first place. We want it both ways: for us to have the right to do as we please, but God to protect us from the result of our foolishness.

Three.  He was surprised at all the friends he now had.  Previously, back at home, it was just family.  Now, he is the toast of the town.  Surely, he must have thought, this is real life.

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Here’s what those blinded by Satan are not seeing

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But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. II Corinthians 4:3-4

It’s not just that outsiders to the faith have not been shown the way to eternal life, as though they were sitting by the roadside waiting.

It’s not simply that the unsaved need to be instructed and helped, as though they were gathered in a celestial waiting room somewhere, eager for us to appear.

Neither are they simply blank slates on which we may write Heaven’s love-letters to their souls, as though nothing had corrupted their minds or skewed their values.

Those living without Christ are in serious trouble.

A great many have been blinded by the enemy. Not all, thankfully, but far too many.

Satan has done a number on those abandoned to his oversight.

Millions without Christ look at good and see evil, hear Truth and call it lies, see a bit of Heaven and call it hell.

If they see Jesus at all, it’s only as the enemy. If they see the gospel, they call it propaganda. If they receive a kind act from the Lord’s disciples, they grow suspicious and search for ulterior motives.

The enemy has been messing with millions without Christ, and this has left them far removed from the childlike way they entered this world. They have been mistaught by those they trusted most, misguided by those sent to instruct them, and miscast as possessors and protectors of truth while they attack the very ones sent to bring them truth.

In the Greek city of Corinth, the Apostle Paul encountered such enemies of the faith. Perhaps they were not normally mean-spirited people, certainly not murderers or thieves or abusers. Their hostility against the people of God and against the Gospel of Jesus could be explained by one thing: Satan had blinded the eyes of their understanding. They were blind to the greatest reality of all, God.

As a result, Paul said in our text, they do not see: a) the Gospel, b) Christ who is the image of God, c) the glory of Christ, d) the gospel of the glory of Christ, and e) the light of that gospel.

None of this is clear to them.

Once again, the text is Second Corinthians 4:1-6 and it’s well worth a few minutes of your time today.  Thank you.

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Why the world is not breaking down our church doors

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If, as we say, the “Gospel of Jesus Christ” is heaven’s Good News, and if this good news is the answer to mankind’s deepest, biggest, worst problems, and if it’s free and eternal and for everyone, one would think people would be crashing through the church doors to get in on it.

They’re not.

Why not?

Not only are they not breaking down our doors to partake of God’s free offer in Christ, most of our neighbors act as if the church is completely irrelevant to anything that concerns them. And, if and when we do have the opportunity to enlighten them on Christ’s wonderful blessings of grace, some laugh in our faces or even scoff and dismiss us as nuts.

What’s going on here? Why are people not clamoring to get in on this wonderful thing God has made available for all mankind in Jesus Christ?


1. Many do not know.

My neighboring pastor Mike introduced me to a young man named Bill. “Bill was baptized last Sunday night.” When I said that was such good news, Bill said, “I had a real hunger in my heart.”

Later, Pastor Mike explained that Bill, a carpenter, had mentioned to some of his co-workers about that inward spiritual hunger. One of the men, a believer, invited him to church. He was not prepared for Bill’s response.

“How do I do that?”

The friend said, “How do you go to church? Well, you get in your car and drive down there, you park, and you walk inside.”

Bill said, “You mean just anyone can walk inside a church?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Anyone.”

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10 ways we know people are lost

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The Son of Man has come to seek and save those who were lost (Luke 19:10).

Someone asked Daniel Boone if in all his wilderness travels he had ever been lost. “No,” he drawled, “but once I was bewildered for three whole days.”

Bewildered in a wilderness. Sounds like the place to do that.

The great difficulty in rescuing the lost–the assignment God’s children have been handed by the Lord Jesus–is compounded when the subjects do not realize their dire situation.

How would one go about convincing a lost person he was lost? And why do that in the first place?

Clearly, if one is on-board the damaged Titanic and while scurrying to get off the doomed vessel with as many survivors as possible, he runs into partying passengers without the slightest awareness of their situation, he needs to tell them. He will want to alarm them even, and convince them to take action to save themselves. Whether they will listen is another story.

If we know the hurricane is coming and this neighborhood is about to be destroyed, we will do all in our power to alert the residents.

The days of our lives are finite and this world is doomed. Someone needs to tell the passengers.

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Before we tell the world, we must show them

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…so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (I Peter 2:9).

Show and tell. Sounds simple enough.

Every kindergartner knows the process. You bring something to school and then tell the class what it is. What it means to you. How it works.

A few years ago, I sat at the head table when veteran lineman Frank Warren was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame. His agent paid tribute to his star player.

We live in Dallas. I’ll never forget the day my five-year-old son took Frank Warren to his school for show-and-tell. Frank flew to Dallas just to do that for my child.

I sat there not quite believing my ears. This football player went to all the trouble of flying from New Orleans to Dallas for no other purpose than accompanying a preschooler to kindergarten for show-and-tell.

No wonder the agent was still speaking of it, years later. Who would not remember that?

A few years back Henry Blackaby spoke to Louisiana Baptists about post-9/11 life for Christians in America.

After 9-11, business as usual would be an affront to God…. So far, we are not being the salt and light God intended…. We have had very little effect on this society.

It should matter to every Christian that the world around us ignores us, that it does not take us seriously, and even scoffs at our faith.

We have no one to blame but ourselves.

AMC-TV was running the movie “Shawshank Redemption” twice each night. I finally sat down and watched it, the first time since it appeared maybe 20 years earlier. It was easy to see why it’s so memorable and even loved. The roles played by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman wedge themselves in our consciousness and will not turn us loose without a struggle.

As a Christian, however, I was highly offended by the warden in that prison called Shawshank. He quoted the Bible, preached its platitudes, and then was guilty of the harshest brutality and greed. He even ordered murders to protect his criminal enterprise. All the while, Bible verses were displayed prominently and the man’s Bible was a major actor in the story.

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Why I’m angry at some preachers

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You’ve heard them, I’m sure. Some well-intentioned but thoughtless man of God will stand before a gathering of the Lord’s people and in urging us to evangelize our communities will overstate the case.

“Jesus told us to become fishers of men! He did not tell us to be keepers of the aquarium!”

And, almost invariably, the statement will be met with a chorus of ‘amen’s.’

The only problem with that is it is not so.

In fact, it’s totally wrong.

Jesus did not send His disciples just to reach lost sheep–He certainly did that–but commanded that we are to “feed my sheep.” In John 20, He gave that command to Simon Peter three times.

In Acts 20:28, Paul tells the pastors of Ephesus that they are to “shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.”

And here’s another one, the one that set me off this morning.

In trying to motivate church members to get into the community with the gospel, the WIBT preacher* will say, “The Bible in no places commands the people of the world to come to church. It does, however, command us to go into all the world with the gospel.” (*Well-intentioned but thoughtless)

That’s so true, it’s almost totally true. But it’s missing something critical.

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