Dear Friends,
Hank was excited about his new method of fishing. He would row out
into the middle of his lake, take a stick of dynamite out of his backpack,
light it, and then throw it into the water. A big explosion would follow, and
immediately fish would rise to the top of the water. Hank then took his large
fishnet and began scooping them into his boat. The local game warden had
heard about the numbers of fish Hank was catching, so he decided to pay him a
visit. He observed Hank's new method of fishing from the shore, and when he saw
how Hank was catching his fish, he motored out to pay Hank a visit.
"Hank," he said, “you can't fish like that. What you are
doing is illegal, and I'm going to have to arrest you."
Hank paid no attention to the warden's words, but instead reached into
his backpack for another stick of dynamite, lit it up, and handing it to the
warden, he said. "Sir. are you going to keep talking or start
fishing"?
The same question might be addressed to the church:
"Are you going to keep talking or start fishing?” Asked another way,
one might query, "Are you going to be ‘fishers of men or just keepers of
the aquarium?’"
Sharing our faith is more important than ever in a
church culture where people are less likely to come to church as frequently as
they once did. As a result, we must become more intentional about taking and
sharing the gospel outside the confines of the church. Believers must commit to
taking the gospel to the streets.
Statistically, less than 5 per cent of all Christians have
ever led someone to the Lord. The church has strayed a long way from the days
of the early church when the gospel spread like wildfire because
everywhere believers went, they told their friends and neighbors the good
news about Jesus. They were gossipers of the gospel.
Today we will spend millions of dollars to support
missionaries around the world, but few believers will even cross the street to
share the good news with their neighbors.
As pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie reminds us, "God
has called us to infiltrate and not isolate. God doesn't call the qualified, He
qualifies the called," and the called are you and me. There is no impact
without contact, and unless we recapture the 'go' of Gospel, and go to our
friends, neighbors. work associates, teammates, how will they ever hear the
Good News?
The last command of the church was given by Jesus who said,
"We are to go into the world and make disciples baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all that I have told you, and remembering that I am with you
always even to the ends of the age (Matthew 28:18-20). Unfortunately,
as someone has sadly said, this last command of the church has often become the
'lost' command of the church.
If you are reluctant to be one of the "goers"
because you feel inadequate, unqualified, untrained. or just plain fearful
about sharing your faith, let me introduce you to one of the most valuable
learning opportunities I know of for doing evangelism. In a five-session video
course, Greg Laurie will teach you how to share your faith. Go online to Harvest.org,
and click on online courses, and sign up for Tell Someone. It's
free, and I promise you, watching his five excellent half hour videos will be
some of the best evangelism training you will ever receive.
And once trained, you can go to your friends and neighbors,
share your testimony, and some of the principles you have learned and be
used by God to lead others to Jesus.
You might ask how do I know this to be true? Because we used
the training in our church, and as a result a number of people who had
previously been 'silent witnesses' for Jesus have already begun sharing
their faith with others.
Don't be one of those 95 percenters who will never lead someone to
Christ. Instead, be a part of God's army of witnesses who is looking to win the
world for Him, one person at a time.
Yours in faith and friendship,
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