RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Evangelism – 11
Sammy Tippit: I want to welcome you back to our conversation, where we’re talking about how to share Christ with others. We started off with some deeply spiritual things, the power of prayer, the role of the Holy Spirit. We moved into sharing your testimony, and then we began to talk about developing friendships, and then how to start a conversation in our last session.
I’m with Wayne Jenkins. Wayne has been a friend for a long time. It has been great some of the things we’ve been sharing. We talked about using gospel literature or maybe a website. You had a little thing about a website people could go to in our last session. One of the great things we can use and ought to use is the Bible itself, a New Testament.
For those of you who don’t know, the New Testament is the part that is about Jesus. The Old Testament talks about the prophets of old, but the New Testament presents the person of Christ, who he is, what he did, and it really tells the wonderful news, the wonderful story. This is one way in which we can really share with people. It’s maybe the greatest way, because what we have to say isn’t going to last, but what God’s Word has to say… Talk to me a little bit about how to use the New Testament in sharing Christ with others.
Wayne Jenkins: There are several ways, and it depends on what country you’re in and what’s accessible. Some places, like in the United States, can use it for mass distribution. We can go to an event, and we can give everybody a marked New Testament. It tells them what page to turn on. It tells them what Scripture, and it’s underlined. They just go through a gospel presentation, verse by verse. That’s if you’re just handing them out.
A second way is you can use it as a gift. I’ve had people mark a New Testament that wasn’t marked, give them a New Testament, mark it in a worship service, and then they commit to give it to a particular person as a gift. They go and give that to them and say, “Listen, I’ve marked some verses in here. I want you to read those when you get a chance.” Again, back to those relationships. “Look, when you get through reading it, I’d like for you and me to sit down and talk about it.”
Sammy: Let me share a story, if you don’t mind, from Tehran, Iran. I have some friends who used to live there. They no longer live there. They’re in the United States now. They became Christians through this very method. What happened was there was someone who was unloading some materials, bringing them into the house, and this guy was walking down the street.
He saw this person unloading this thing, and he said, “Do you need help?” He said, “Yeah.” So he helped him bring those things in. The guy who was unloading the materials said, “Thank you. I really appreciate this. Could I give you something?” He said, “Oh no, no, no.” He said, “Well, you helped me. I’d like to give you a gift.” He said, “Okay,” so he gave him a little New Testament.  The guy, who was Muslim, went home and began to read the New Testament. He wasn’t a reader. He was reading it all the time, and his wife said, “What are you reading?” He said, “This is the Holy Book of the Christians.” She said, “Let me see that,” and she was kind of angry with him. She started reading it.
They started arguing about who was going to get to read it. Finally, they said, “Well, let’s go see if this guy has any more.” Anyway, the whole family ended up becoming Christians just by this gift. For instance, in Iran and in many countries you may not be able to give out New Testaments, but if someone does something for you, you can say, “Could I give you a gift?” And there it is.
Wayne: The third way you can use it is actually sitting down with that person and saying, “Look, I have some verses I want to share with you that come straight from the Bible that tell about Jesus, and I’d like to read them to you if you don’t mind. It’s just a few verses.” Make sure it’s five or seven verses. You might be reading five or seven, because most people will think, “It’s only going to take a few moments. I’ll give you that time.” You’ve built this relationship with this person usually.
There are some things to remember. You already said it. What’s important is not so much what we say but what has already been said. The Scripture said in Isaiah his Word will not return to us void. You’re giving them the Word of God, and you have that promise when you do it. The Word does not sleep. I may sleep, but I’ve left the Word of God with that person. It doesn’t sleep. He may pick it up at 2:00 in the morning in the midst of depression. It’s always there.
Sammy: We’ve heard a lot of stories like that, where someone got a New Testament and just put it on the shelf, and then later on they come and read it, and God takes that and uses it in their life.
Wayne: I wish I had time to tell you one or two of them. I know we don’t, but that’s true. The other thing it does is it guides you in sharing, if you use that marked New Testament or sitting down with the person. It may get in a home that you never will. I may never get into that house. I may knock on the door, and they may say, “No, we don’t want anybody,” but I’ve given them that piece of literature. “Would you mind taking it?”
They will take that, and they will have it in their home. Then we have an opportunity for that Word to speak to them and that God will prompt them. Again, remember, it’s the Holy Spirit who does the drawing, and he prompts them to pick it up. It is translated in so many different languages, so in most of the places we’re talking about you will have access to it in your language. They’re still having to do some in some language tribal groups.
Sammy: One of the things, speaking of that… In this app, we have the Bible in many languages. There are online free Bible things, and you can point a person and say, “If you would like to read the New Testament, here’s a website.” We were talking about a website where you share your story, but there’s also a website where there’s the New Testament. Tell them, “Just go in. When you put on search, type in ‘John,’ and start reading right there.” So you can encourage them through online ways to read.
Wayne: We’re going to put on the screen some Scriptures they can mark. We’ll not go through them because we don’t have time, but we’ll have that screen that’ll show how they can mark a New Testament if it’s not marked. Some places you can buy them already marked for you. It’ll just be basic gospel Scripture. It tells you what page to turn to. After that one is read, it makes a comment and then tells you to turn to the next page, and so forth, until you get through.
At the end of a marked New Testament that’s purchased, there will actually be a prayer where they can pray that prayer and ask Christ to come into their life and yield themselves to the Lord. That we’ll have on the screen so they’ll have access to that. They can use that to mark one. They can use that to mark in one that they will have that they can give as a gift and say, “Here’s Scripture.” So it’s good.
Sammy: Let me just say that some people may be afraid of writing something in the Bible. It’s okay. It’s all right. It’s God’s Word. God speaks to us, and God wants us to devour that. That’s our spiritual food. He wants us to understand it. It’s all right. My Bible is filled with marked things, not only to share with others but for my own personal use also.
Wayne: Yeah, you’re not damaging the Bible at all. You’re gaining an understanding. In fact, I have markings in mine. I even have sermon notes that somebody said about a particular passage that I’ve written down, maybe something that helped me…
Sammy: Help you remember or understand.
Wayne: Yeah, in my personal study, I’ll write something in there.
Sammy: So these are the things for taking the New Testament and opening it up. What it does is it gives you what they need to have. Just remember this. Keep this in mind. It’s not my words that are going to change somebody. It’s not Wayne’s words. It’s not our cleverness of speech. It’s not our sales ability. It’s the Word of God.
The Word of God, the Bible, has a way of going deep into a person’s heart and dividing the spirit and soul to go into the deepest part and speak to their deep innermost being. So getting the Word into their hands, into their hearts, may be one of the most important things you’ll ever do.