Personal Witnessing - 'How To' Basics (Part 1)

If you knew the basics about how to  witness for Jesus Christ effectively, would you do it? If you were given a few tips that have greatly helped others over the years, do you think you might feel better prepared to dip your toes into the rewarding waters of personal witnessing - sharing your faith with others? Did you know that it is every single Christian's responsibility to share their faith with others? It was never intended to be the responsibility of a certain few.

SIGHT & SOUND
How do you think the Gospel spread so rapidly in the first 100 years of the early Church - post resurrection days? Hundreds of thousands turned to Christ. Was it primarily the result of powerful pulpit preaching by a handful of evangelists? In Acts 8:1, the Christians (excluding the apostles) were scattered far and wide because of intense persecution. Those same Christians that were scattered were used to scatter the happy news regarding Jesus Christ. They went 'everywhere' declaring the good news to relatives, friends and new neighbors. (Acts 8:4) It was a sight and sound production. Pagans, Jews and others saw the beautiful lives of believers in contrast to the hardness and emptiness of their own lives. They heard the thrilling words of hope that came from their lips that Christ can transform their lives too. The combination of sight and sound, led countless thousands to faith in Christ. They saw. They heard. They believed.

MY RESPONSIBILITY AND YOURS
Peter clearly stated that every believer is to be fully prepared every day to answer the questions anyone asks us about our faith and why we have such an optimistic outlook about our future with Christ. (1Peter 3:15) Paul said our responsibility is to shine the light of Christ in such a way that others in the darkness will see the light. (Philippians 2:15) Jesus said that we are to share the Gospel with every single person - regardless of where we meet them on the planet. (Mark 16:15) He also said we are 'the light of the world'. (Matthew 5:14) ... and He went on to say: "Let your light SO SHINE"  (Matthew 5:16) before people that they will see the good works you do and the good life you live and ultimately they will glorify your Father who is in Heaven.

So it is our individual responsibility to be a personal witness for Jesus Christ - every day of our lives.

LEARNING HOW-TO

You already know it's your responsibility! Your hang-up or reservation is, you feel poorly prepared and nervous about your ability to be an effective witness. Over the next few weeks, we will look at the Perfect Example of Personal Witnessing. How did Jesus do it? Would you like to pick up some tips from the example He left for us? We're going to look at how He managed the encounter with the woman at the well in John 4. You will be surprised at how many things perhaps you have missed in studying His approach and technique.

FOLLOW THIS SERIES

We will rely heavily on Paul E. Little's classic book How to Give Your Faith Away. It was first published by IVP in 1966. Well over one million+ copies are in print. For this series of posts, we'll rely on Chapter 3 of the book and any additional tips that we may be able to pass along.

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