Today’s sermon passage is looking at Jeremiah being commissioned to preach God’s word to the nations. This is surprisingly similar to the Great Commission, given to ALL Christians. But if someone were to ask ‘what must I do to be saved?’, or ‘I want to know more about Christianity?’, would we know what to say?
Having a pre-prepared answer is crucial if we are to fulfil the third of our evangelism goals; ENGAGING people in the word. Our evangelism strategy is ‘as easy as P.I.E.’ Prayer, Invitation and Engaging in the Word. Unless we know what to say when those golden opportunities are dropped in our laps, they will simply go to waste. So what do we do?
There are many resources available to Christians today to help them preach the gospel. Examples are (i) John Chapman’s book ‘Know and Tell the Gospel’, (ii) ‘Two Ways to Live’ (http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl), or (iii) the video training series ‘Just Start Talking. But if you wish to get started immediately, here are two other options that may appeal:
The four ‘R’s (from Eph 2:1-10)
(1) Rebellion (v. 1-3): We all have rebelled against God, and he will judge us for this, (ii) Rescue (v. 4-5): In his mercy, God has saved us from judgment in Christ, (iii) Resurrection (v. 6-7): Christians are no longer cut off from God; we’re raised to a new life, and (iv) Response (v. 8-10): We access this salvation through faith.
(2) A B C D
A is for ‘Admitting’ we have rejected God and his wish for our lives; B is for ‘Believing’ that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins; C is for ‘Considering’ the cost of following Jesus; and D is for ‘Deciding’ whether wewant to enter God’s kingdom or not. We do this by asking for forgiveness and submitting to Jesus’ rule.
Let us be prepared to give an answer for our faith (1 peter 3:15).
