Palm Springs Drive Church of Christ

Series: N/A

Service: Sun Bible Study

Type: Bible Class

Speaker: Brian Messerli

Question #1:  What do 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6 mean?

1 Peter 3:18-20

• Now, whatever answer we give here 1) has to be consistent with the rest of Scripture and 2) has to fit the immediate context.  Some have tried to use this text to teach that Jesus went a preached to dead people, giving them a second chance to go to Heaven.  But 1) that doesn’t fit with the rest of Scripture and 2) that wouldn’t fit in the immediate context.  In context, Peter is speaking to Christians who are suffering unjustly and may even be facing death threats.
  • 1 Peter 3:13-14 - They’re afraid of being harmed and there are people trying to scare them and intimidate them because of their faith in Christ.  But Peter not only reminds them God will be with them, but that there’s great power in suffering for doing what’s right.  He wants to make sure they don’t lash out against their persecutors by doing evil, because then their suffering would be deserved.   
  • 1 Peter 3:17 - God’s will is that if we’re going to suffer, it needs to be for doing the right thing, not the wrong thing.  And that’s why he brings up Jesus in v. 18, because He’s the ultimate example of someone suffering unjustly, even to the point of being put to death!  Yet what happened to Jesus after He was put to death?  God raised Him by the power of the Holy Spirit!  So the point is, if these Christians stay faithful to God, even to death, God’s going to vindicate them in the end and resurrect them just like He did for Jesus!
    • So whatever Peter means in v. 19, it’s meant to give these Christians hope to stay faithful in suffering by reminding them they can be victorious even in death!  It wouldn’t make any sense to think Peter totally switches gears and starts talking about Jesus giving people a second chance to go to Heaven by preaching to dead people.  That’s way outside the context.
• v. 19-20 - But the next million dollars question are, “When did Jesus make proclamation to the spirits in prison, what did He preach or proclaim, and who in the world are the spirits in prison?”
  • 1) This most naturally sounds like this proclamation happened after Jesus’ resurrection.  After the point at which He was made alive in the spirit.
  • 2) This word “proclamation” is almost always used in the context of proclaiming the gospel, or the good news that Jesus is king!  That’s why some versions say He went and “preached” to the spirits in prison.  But keep in mind, the proclamation that Jesus is the victorious King doesn’t mean He was preaching salvation to them.  It can also be a proclamation of judgment on the wicked.
  • 3) But who are the spirits in prison?  All we can tell here is that in v. 20, these spirits he’s referring to were once disobedient in the days of Noah.  That leaves us with a few options:
    • A) Evil human beings who lived during Noah’s day, but who have all died and are now living in the spiritual realm until the final day of Judgment.
    • B) Evil, demonic spiritual beings who influenced the human beings to sin during Noah’s day.
    • C) Both.  I actually lean towards both.
      • The Jews believed, based on Genesis 6, that evil angelic beings came to the earth to intermarry with women, and their evil influence was what led to the most evil period in history before the flood.  There was a book written by the Jews during the intertestamental period called 1 Enoch.  It wasn’t inspired by God, but it helps us know how the Jews thought.  There’s a scene in the book where these evil angels from Noah’s day make an appeal to Enoch to intercede for them to God for the horrible disaster they created on earth, but this was God’s response.  “You will not be able to ascend into heaven unto all eternity, but you shall remain inside the earth, imprisoned all the days of eternity.” (1 Enoch 14:5-6).  Peter himself mentions evil spirits being held by God in pits of darkness.
      • 2 Peter 2:4
      • Jude 6 - Now, it’s also true that evil humans are kept in darkness reserved for the day of judgment too, so Peter could have both evil angels and the evil humans from Noah’s day in mind here.   

But in what way did Jesus proclaim the good news that He’s king to both evil angels and humans from all the way back in Noah’s day?  Well, when He ascended to Heaven after His resurrection to sit at the right hand of God’s throne, it was a proclamation to everyone, the living and the dead, angels and humans, that He is the true King!  It wasn’t an offer of salvation, it was a statement of judgment because they rejected God and His king.  And Peter even mentions His ascension in this context.

• • • 1 Peter 3:22 - Jesus has victory over all evil, including evil angels and all evil human power structures that have exalted and aligned themselves against Him.  Now, what does this have to do with the context?  Well, the point is, even though Jesus was killed in the flesh, Jesus’ resurrection by the Spirit and ascension to Heaven gives Him victory over ALL evil.  He uses Noah’s day because that was the time when evil was the most rampant it had ever been on the earth; so bad God destroyed the earth with a flood!  So every evil angel and every human being going all the way back to worst of days pre-flood have been defeated by Jesus!  The same disobedience demonstrated by the angels and humans pre-flood was the same disobedience that put Jesus on the cross, AND the same disobedience that’s now persecuting these Christians in 1 Peter.  Yet because Jesus conquered them all in the resurrection, so will we if we stay faithful!  There’s no power of Satan strong enough to defeat Christians if we’re faithful to Jesus.  Even death itself can’t defeat us, just like death couldn’t defeat Jesus, and actually Noah himself defeated death by his faith too!
      • 1 Peter 3:20-21 - Death flooded the earth by water in Noah’s day, yet Noah was brought safely through death by the ark.  Likewise, the waters of baptism are like the new flood waters of death that save us by putting our old self to death and washing away the evil of our sins, yet the ark which brings us safely through the water is the resurrection of Jesus!
        • So do you see what a comfort this would be to Peter’s audience?  They don’t have to fear death anymore, because they’ve already died and been resurrected in baptism, a preview of their literal death and resurrection later!  They’ve already been brought safely through the flood waters of death, so now there’s nothing man can really do to them!  Even if they’re killed for their faith, they’ll be resurrected in victory over all the powers of evil like Jesus was!

- Follow-up questions/comments before we get to 1 Peter 4:6?

• 1 Peter 4:6 - Now I think this verse is tricky because it sounds like it’s related to 1 Peter 3:19, like it’s talking about the same thing.  But it’s not.  1 Peter 3:19 was about the gospel being proclaimed to wicked dead people and angels, but this is about the gospel proclaimed to dead people who are righteous like Jesus.
  • We know that because just like Jesus was judged in the flesh and made alive in the spirit, so too are the dead he’s talking about here.  These are people who lived righteously and justly like Jesus, so they’ll be vindicated in the end.
  • 1 Peter 4:3-5 - These Christians are being maligned for not participating in evil like they used to.  Now, part of this maligning could be like our modern equivalent of calling them goody-two-shoes and saying, “You think you’re too good to party with us now?”  But actually, in this context, it seems like part of their maligning had to do with the fact that Christians were dying just like everyone else.  Their opponents may be mocking them saying, “What good is it to serve God if he doesn’t even prevent you from dying?  You’re trying to live for Him and say no to all this fun stuff, but for what?  You’re just going to end up in the grave like everyone else!”
    • Interestingly, there was another book written by the Jews in the intertestamental period before Christ called The Wisdom of Solomon.  And in this section, we see how some of the Greeks maligned the Jews for being righteous because they died like everyone else.
      • “But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them.  In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace.  For though in the sight of others they were punished, their hope is full of immortality.” (Wisdom of Solomon 3:1ff)
• So if they’re being maligned for dying, Peter is assuring them that’s okay, because they heard and obeyed the gospel before they died, which means even though in the flesh they’re judged as mere men, as mere mortals like everyone else, they’ll be made alive in the spirit for all eternity just like Jesus was!
   
• Follow-up questions/comments?
• Note:  I used to hold that the verse meant Jesus went back and preached to the wicked people during Noah’s day.  In 1 Peter 1:11 it says the “spirit of Christ” spoke through the prophets, so Jesus was condemning the wicked in Noah’s day through Noah.  The problem is, that has nothing to do with the context.  How does that encourage Christians who are suffering at the hands of the wicked to know Christ preached to the wicked thousands of years ago in Noah’s day?

Question #2:  Why does Jesus teach us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation” if God doesn’t tempt anyone?

- Matthew 6:13

- James 1:13 - I always appreciate situations like this, because anytime there seems to be a contradiction in Scripture, there’s always an answer.  If the Bible were a man-made document, there’d be contradictions all over the place and it’d be hard to explain them, but because this is God’s word, any contradiction we think we’ve found is just a reflection of our own misunderstanding.  So how do we reconcile these verses?

Well, the word for “temptation,” in the Bible has two meanings depending on the context.

1) To entice to sin. James describes it this way…

- James 1:14 - “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”  This is not the kind of temptation Jesus refers to in Matthew 6.  Jesus isn’t telling us to pray, “God please don’t entice us to sin.”  God would never do that.

2) To Test our faith.  The same word Jesus uses for “temptation” in Matthew 6 is translated “testing” or “trials” in other verses.  For instance…

James 1:2

1 Peter 4:12

Now, while it’s certainly true God never tempts us to sin, He absolutely does test our faith in several ways.  Question:  What are some ways God tests our faith?  1) Through difficult requests.  When He asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Moses to confront Pharaoh, and Jesus to go to the cross, those were all tests.  When God asks us to make sacrifices, will we choose obedience or comfort?  That’s a test.  2) Through confusing requests.  Sometimes God asks us to do something we don’t understand.  When He asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, it wasn’t just a difficult request, it was a request that made no sense at all!  He waited decades to finally have a son, yet now God wants him to kill him?  It’s a test to see if we’ll lean on our own understanding, or trust Him even when we don’t get it.   3) Through difficult circumstances.  Think about Job.  God tested His faith through extreme grief and loss.  The apostle Paul was tested when he was beaten, shipwrecked, hated, and falsely imprisoned.  Sometimes we face brutal trials in this life, health problems, financial problems, family problems, and it all tests our faith.  Will we trust God even in the trial?  Will we serve God for nothing?  Or will we abandon Him in times of adversity?  3) Through Satan’s temptations.  Sometimes, the testing of our faith and enticement to sin overlap.  God Himself doesn’t tempt us, but He does allow Satan to tempt us.  The difference is in the motive.  God is testing us, Satan is trapping us.  God uses Satan’s temptations to make us stronger, Satan uses them to make us weaker.  Notice, in the book of Job, God allows Satan to afflict him, but Satan’s goal is to tempt Job to sin and curse God, but God’s goal is to test Job’s faith and make him wiser.

So when Jesus says to ask God, “Do not lead us into temptation,” He’s saying, “Don’t lead us into a test!”  Why?  Because tests are painful and hard!  Now, it’s true James says to consider it joy when we encounter various trials, and that sounds like another contradiction.  But that joy James talks about comes from knowing the result of the test, “…knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” (James 1:3).  But there’s a difference between the joy of knowing the test is bringing you stronger faith and actually ENJOYING the test itself.  Thinking about the result produces joy even in the pain, but going through the test is not enjoyable at all!  It’s why Jesus cried out in Garden, “Let this cup pass from me!” (Matt. 26:39).  He was saying, “Don’t make me go through this test!”  But of course, He also said, “Yet not as I will, but as You will.”  Jesus was teaching us if it’s God’s will that we be tested, we should accept it.  But we shouldn’t WANT God to test us.  We should ask Him NOT to test us because tests of our faith can be brutal!

Hence the second line in Matthew 6:13, “But deliver us from the evil one.”  Credit to Tim Mackie at the Bible Project for helping me see this connection.  In line 1, Jesus asks, “Don’t let me be tested,” but line 2 acknowledges sometimes God won’t grant that request, and He’ll test us anyway.  So we’re asking, “God, if you do decide to test me, don’t let the devil win!  Deliver me from the evil one so I pass the test instead of succumbing to the temptation to sin.”  That’s exactly what God did for Jesus.  God tested Him greatly in the wilderness for 40 days through hunger and Satan’s temptations, He tested Jesus on many other occasions, culminating in the final test of the cross — yet God delivered Him every time, and never let Satan win.

• Follow-up questions/comments?
  • Note:  This is why we should be careful asking God for patience, because we’re really asking God to put us through a test that will result in patience.  We don’t phrase it that way; we don’t say, “God please put me through something difficult to develop patience in me.”  We just want the patience.  In other words, we want the result of the test, but without the test.  And it doesn’t work that way!  God knows even if we ask Him not to test us, He may anyway because it’s for our good!

Question #3:  Is there a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation?  Is it possible to forgive without being reconciled?

• Matthew 5:23-24 - In this passage, Jesus shows that there’s a difference between reconciliation and forgiveness, but they’re related.  To be reconciled means to restore the relationship.  There’s been a breach in the relationship because one or more parties has sinned against the other.  And the only way to restore the relationship is if the sinful party is willing to ask for forgiveness, and if the other party is willing to forgive.
  • So forgiveness is meant to lead to reconciliation.  The same thing is true in our relationship with God.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:18 - God reconciled us to Himself through Christ!  He restored our relationship with Him! How?  By forgiving us of our sins!  And now Paul calls preaching the gospel the ministry of reconciliation.  He’s going out to convince everyone to be reconciled to God through the forgiveness of sins.
    • Question:  Wouldn’t it be weird for God to say, “I’ll forgive you, but I don’t want a relationship with you?  I’ll forgive you, but I’ll just hold you at arm’s length and I don’t want anything to do with you.”  That would COMPLETELY miss the point of forgiveness!
    • Likewise, our goal in forgiving people should always be the restoration of our relationship.
• But the question was, “Is it possible to forgive without being reconciled?”  The answer is yes, but only in rare cases.
  • 1) If the person who wronged you is no longer alive.  It’s not possible to be reconciled to them because they aren’t around.  In this case, the forgiveness is more for your own sake to release yourself from the bitterness of holding a grudge.
  • 2) In the case of adultery.  If a man cheats on his wife, and she forgives him, she may still decide to divorce him.  When Jesus says the only exception for divorce is adultery, I don’t think He’s implying that if she divorces him, it means she hasn’t forgiven him.  No, if she withholds forgiveness, she’ll have to answer to God for that.  Jesus says if we don’t forgive others, we won’t be forgiven by God.  But in her case, she may forgive her husband, but her trust in him has been irrevocably destroyed.  I believe that’s why it’s the only exception Jesus gives for divorce because He knows it can do irreparable damage to the relationship, even if he or she’s repentant and promises to change.  Now, do I think she should absolutely be reconciled to him again and stay married to him?  Yes, but if she just can’t bring herself to do it, I don’t think we can judge her as sinful for that.  That’s even more true if he’s done this multiple times!
  • 3) If the person who wronged you refuses to repent.
    • True Biblical reconciliation through forgiveness is only possible if the guilty party is willing to repent.  If not, you can forgive them for your own sake so you’re not holding a grudge against them, but it’s going to be hard to reconcile with someone who is completely unwilling to accept that they sinned against you.  This is kind of like when Jesus asked God, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Jesus was forgiving them in the sense of releasing any bitterness or grudge against them in His heart, but He certainly wasn’t able to reconcile with them.
    • Note:  We need to be careful not to treat every sin against us as the end of the world and if people don’t repent of every little wrong they inflict on me, then I’m not going to have a relationship with them!  Sometimes we may take things too far in our pride and think we’re one of the exceptional cases where reconciliation is impossible, when in reality we could just be overly sensitive, our pride and ego may be hurt, or we’re holding people to far too harsh a standard.
      • Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 - The truth is, we probably don’t repent of every one of our sins against God, and of every one of our sins against others.  Yet God and others give us grace we don’t even realize we’re getting sometimes.  So we should be VERY generous with our forgiveness and VERY quick to reconcile with others.  We shouldn’t be holding every little infraction over people’s heads and we definitely shouldn’t be looking for loopholes that allows us to forgive someone without reconciliation, because again reconciliation is the GOAL of forgiveness, and it reflects the heart of our Heavenly Father.

Series: Cultural Issue

Service: Wed Bible Study

Type: Bible Class

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

Series: N/A

Service: Sun Bible Study

Type: Bible Class

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

Series: N/A

Service: Lord’s Supper Service

Type: Lord's Supper Talk

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

Series: N/A

Service: Praise and Preaching Service

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Brian Messerli

1 Corinthians 3:6-8 - I realize there may be college football fans here that don’t care much for Nick Saban, but no matter how you feel about him, there’s no question he’s one of the most successful football coaches of all time, with 7 National Championships, over 10 SEC Championships, and he’s been named SEC Coach of the Year 5 times.  If you were to ask Saban the key to his success, he would famously say, “Work the process.”  His philosophy was NOT to get caught up in the end result, but to focus on small, daily, manageable tasks over time that lead to long term success.  For instance, get really good at the fundamentals, focus on daily improvement by getting 1% better every day, train your mental toughness, prepare for worst case scenarios, be flexible and adaptable to ever changing situations, control your emotions, work together as a team, and constantly evaluate how you’re performing.

Now, I couldn’t help but notice the parallels with evangelism.  There’s a temptation for us to put all our focus on the outcome, and we put so much pressure on ourselves to get someone to the baptistry, when in reality we need to just work the process and leave the outcomes to God, because like Paul says, “We plant and water, but God gives the increase.”  Instead of getting fancy with newfound techniques, we just need to get good at the fundamentals, to focus on small improvements over time, preparation for hard scenarios, adaptability in the moment, emotional control, teamwork, and evaluation.  That’s why we’ve started our Seed Spreaders meetings once a quarter, so we can work the process together and improve our ability to reach the lost by planting the seed of God’s word in people’s hearts.  The first meeting will be today at Herb and Trish’s house at 12:30 p.m.

Now, while Saban’s principles certainly apply to evangelism in a general sense, it’d be nice to have a more specific process for evangelism so this morning, I’d like to lay out a step by step process in 6 stages.  Now, you could boil it down to one stage; just walk up to people and tell them about Jesus, BUT in our modern pluralistic culture that’s not going to be very effective, and that’s not really the approach Jesus or the apostles took either, so we’re going to need to approach people in stages.  And these stages don’t have to be drawn out for years; with some people we can progress through them pretty quickly, but what you’ll notice is that with each stage in the process, the risk level increases.

Stage 1:  Live (I’ve included graphics for each point to make it more visual and memorable)

• Matthew 4:25 - Near the start of Jesus’ ministry, how did He get so many people to follow Him?  It was by living for God in a way that got people’s attention!
  • Matthew 4:23 - The first stage of evangelism for Jesus was to live His life in a way that brought honor and glory to God!  He made it His mission to preach, teach, and heal people.  And I realize we won’t be able to attract people with miraculous healings, but Jesus doesn’t ask us to!
    • Matthew 5:16 - Jesus doesn’t say, “Make sure you attract people to God through miracles, but to attract people to God through a changed life filled with good works!”  It wasn’t just Jesus’ miracles, it was His love, kindness, wisdom, and courage that drew people to him.  This is also what opened doors for Paul’s evangelism.
    • Galatians 1:22-24 - Here he’s talking about Christians glorifying God because of him, but non-Christians would have also seen this radical 180 degree change from someone who used to kill Christians now living like Christ himself!
      • Without living for Jesus, evangelism is going to be impossible because 1) we won’t evangelize and 2) if we attempt to, how will we convince anyone else to live for Jesus when we’re not?  It’d be like saying to someone, “You’ve got to watch this show, it’s amazing!”  And when they ask you, “What’s so great about it?” You say, “Oh I’ve never actually seen it, I just think you should watch it.”  That’d be super weird.
        • But if we can say, “I binged watched every season” and then we list off all the things we love about it, people will take our recommendation seriously because they can really tell we believe in what we’re recommending.  The same thing is true when people see us living out our beliefs in Jesus.
          • So practically speaking, this means treating people with sacrificial love, living with integrity, showing genuine interest in people, serving them when they’re in need, making worship with our brethren a priority, building people up with our words, and striving to living counter-culturally as reflections of Christ like salt and light in the world.  If we live like the rest of the world, we’ll never get anyone’s attention.  But if we’re different, people will take notice.
            • Notice at the bottom of the slide, there’s a risk level indicator.  This stage is level 1 risk.  It a little risky because some people won’t like that we’re different, they’ll feel judged by it, and may even make fun of us for living out our faith.  Living for Jesus is always a risk, but it is the stage of evangelism with the lowest risk.  Now, you might say, “Well, maybe I’ll just stay in stage 1 since it’s the safest.”  Well, that’s not going to fly.  We can certainly start here, but we can’t stay here.

Stage 2:  Point

• In this stage, we point to Jesus as the reason WHY we’re living the way we do.  The truth is, even people who aren’t Christians can be kind and loving, and if you ask them, “Why,” they might say, “Because it feels good to treat people well,” or “Because that’s how I would want people to treat me.”  Those are fine reasons, but as Christians we’re doing good works because we’re serving Jesus, and we want to let people know that.
  • John 5:30 - Jesus got a lot of attention, yet He always pointed people to the One who sent Him.  He wanted people to understand everything He did was ultimately in service of His Father in Heaven.  Paul did the same thing, except he pointed people to Christ!
    • Galatians 2:20 - Paul takes no credit for his changed life; he makes sure people know everything he does in life is now for Christ his Lord!  There are many ways to do this…
      • In Passing:  Which means it’s not the main point of what you’re saying.  So for instance, if you want to talk to people about the Superbowl, that’s the main point of conversation.  But in passing, you can mention that you watched it with people from church.  You can mention how a statement or event that happens reminds you of something you read in the Bible.  Even if you don’t go into detail about it, just mentioning the Bible is pointing to Christ.  You can use phrases like, “Lord willing,” or “Have a blessed day,” or if you’re expressing gratitude you can say, “I’m so grateful to God for doing x for me.”  These are all subtle hints that you’re a Christian.
      • Directly:  This means what you’re saying IS the main point.  So if someone’s going through a hard time, you can tell them, “I’ll pray for you.”  Or if you do something kind for someone and they say, “Thank you so much,” you can say, “Hey it’s what Christ would have done for me.”  Or if you’re asked advice and to weigh in on something serious, you can say, “As a Christian, this is what I would do in this situation.”  Or if someone tempts you to do something wrong, you can say, “Look I’m not trying to be a goody two shoes, but I don’t think the Lord would want to do this, so I’ve gotta say no.”
        • Matthew 10:32 - The pointing stage is a way to confess either directly or in passing that Jesus is our Lord.  Now, the risk goes up a little to level 2 because even though we’re not preaching to anyone, we’re bringing Christ, God, the church, and the Bible up in conversation, and people today are far more offended by Jesus than by Buddha or Muhammad or philanthropy or any other reasons people give for the life they’re living.  But it’s well worth the risk to know if we confess Christ to the world, He’ll confess us to the Father and tell God, “I know them, they’re mine!”
• Another great thing about this stage is that it gives us a read on people to see how they react when we point to Jesus.  Do they seem interested?  Do they ignore it and change the subject?  Do they make a weird face?  These clues help us know how to better approach them in the next stage.

Stage 3:  Ask         

• Jesus was the master at asking questions.  Questions are far less threatening than statements.  Questions make it feel like you’re not lecturing them, you’re genuinely interested in them and their perspective.  Now, this isn’t about asking general questions like where they grew up, how they got into their line of work, etc. That would be part of stage 1.  Part of living for Christ is showing interest in people.  But in stage 3, these are questions specifically to find out 3 things.
  • A) Their willingness to talk about spiritual things.
    • Luke 7:40 - I realize this wasn’t a question by Jesus, but He treats it like a question asking Simon’s permission to say something to him.  If Simon were to say, “I don’t want to hear it,” I’m not sure if Jesus would have said, “Too bad, I’m telling you anyway,” because it would have fallen on deaf ears.
      • A while back, I had conversation with a guy who said Jesus was just like all the other god myths from earlier centuries.  I mainly just used questions like, “Can you tell me more about that?” and “What do you mean by that?”  Stage 3 is not the time for disagreement; it’s the time for listening.  I listened to him for about 10 minutes as he explained his beliefs, and I knew we were running out of time, so I told him, “I’d love to continue this conversation another time because I think Jesus really stands out from those myths in some unique ways, can I share my thoughts about that with you some time?”  And he said, “Nah I’m good.”
        • While his response frustrated me, I honored it because I don’t think it would have been productive to say, “Hey I know you said you didn’t want to hear about it, but here it is anyway.”
          • Other questions gauging interest might be, “I’d love to talk about God sometime, but a lot of people are really sensitive about that subject, is it sensitive for you?” Or “Would it be okay if I asked you about your beliefs sometime?”  I like the word “sometime” because it’s not putting them on the spot to have a conversation right now.  Or, “Do you see yourself as a pretty open-minded person when it comes to religion?”  Or, “On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most open, how open are you to conversations about God?”
  • B) Their experiences with spiritual things.
    • Matthew 16:13-14 - He’s asking His disciples what, in their experience, is the common explanation for who He is?
      • And we can ask people questions about their religious experience as well.  It’s not threatening and it makes the person feel like you care about them.  I was talking to my Uber driver on the way to the Brightline station a couple weeks ago, and she mentioned in passing that she grew up in Utah and her mom was really religious.  After some other small talk, I circled back around and said, “You mentioned growing up in Utah.  Does that mean you grew up Mormon?”  And she said, “Yea I sure did.”  And I asked, “What was that like for you?”  I wasn’t disagreeing with her or interjecting about how wrong the Mormons are.  I was just listening to her experiences.  This can also be a great way to pivot if they don’t show any spiritual interest.  For instance, in the example I gave earlier about the guy who said, “Nah I’m good,” in hindsight I could have asked him something like, “Oh man you shut that down pretty quick, have you bad experiences with Christians in the past?”  And it would at least give him a chance to explain why he didn’t want to continue the conversation, and if he says, “Well one Christian got really offended and started shouting at me,” I could empathize with him and assure him I’d never do that, and it might convince him to talk.
  • C) Their beliefs about spiritual things.
    • Matthew 16:15 - We can use questions to ask them about their beliefs that were likely shaped by their experiences.  Questions like, “What do you think about the Bible?”  Or, “What’s your take on Jesus?” Or “Would you consider yourself a person of faith?” Or “Do you think your experiences growing up shaped how you see God?”  And if they say something we disagree with, don’t disagree yet.  Just ask them more questions to seek clarification.  “Wow that’s interesting, where did you learn that?” “What do you see as the practical implications of that view?” Or, “I can see this means a lot to you, did something happen to make this personal for you?”
      • Now, a great way to disarm people and make them more receptive to answering questions is to preface our questions with things like, “If this is too personal, it’s okay if you don’t want to answer.”  Or, “I’m not asking this to start a debate, I’m just genuinely curious what you think.”  Or, “If this isn’t a good time, there’s no pressure to answer right away.”  Statements like these signal to people that you’re not a crazy person and that you have respect for boundaries.
        • Note:  Many people think religious people are crazy, so if we can show them we understand social etiquette, it can go a long way in getting people to talk to us.  Also, because our culture is so divided, most people are afraid to talk about sensitive subjects like religion and politics.  They may be afraid if they disagree with us, we’ll jump down their throat.  So anything we can do to make them feel safe talking to us about sensitive subjects is so valuable.
        • It’s higher risk, it’s level 3 because now we risk rejection.  Some people may not want to answer our questions, but it’s still pretty low risk, because most people aren’t offended by questions unless we’re asking in a combative way, so the worst people can do is say “No” or, “I don’t want to talk about it.”  If so, we can say, “Okay, I won’t pressure you, just let me know if you change your mind because there’s nothing more important.”

Stage 4:  Invite

• Matthew 11:28 - Evangelism in the Bible is never about twisting people’s arm or beating them over the head with the Bible.  The gospel is the good news that Jesus is King, but this King is unique in that He doesn’t force people into subjection against their will.  He invites people into His kingdom to enjoy the blessings He provides.
  • And by asking questions in stage 3, it helps us know what kind of invitation to offer and how to offer it.
  • John 1:46 - Once Philip knew Nathaniel was struggling to believe anything good could come from the po-dunk town of Nazareth, he invites him to come meet a Nazarene unlike any he had ever met before.
    • When the Uber driver said she grew up Mormon, she said they were nice people, but it felt really cult-like.  So I used that knowledge when I invited her to worship with us at PSD.  I handed her a congregation card, invited her to worship, and in a light hearted way I told her she could even go online and watch the services first to make sure we weren’t doing any weird cult like stuff.  She laughed, and said she really appreciated it.  I tailored the invitation in a way that addressed her concerns.
    • If someone says they’ve had a bad experience in church because they never talked about the Bible, it was all just political and emotional, you could invite them to Bible study either on Sundays and Wednesdays at PSD, or with you personally.  You’re inviting them to fill what they perceive to be lacking in their life.
    • My brother said to me one time that he doesn’t believe in God, but he’s kind of jealous of the church community because he feels kind of isolated sometimes, and he thinks it’s great that the church creates a sense of belonging.  When he was living with me a few years ago for about 6 months, he didn’t have much interest in coming to worship, but I invited him every chance I could to spend time with Christians outside of worship because I wanted him to taste the goodness of God’s family.
    • Another option is if someone shares their beliefs with you, you could invite them to hear your beliefs too.  You can say, “Thanks so much for sharing that with me, would you mind if I shared the good news of the gospel with you?”  Or maybe if they shared their personal experiences, you could invite them to hear your experiences of how and why you became a Christian.
    • If someone is curious about the church, but terrified to come to the building with a huge group of people, you can invite them to a smaller house to house meeting which we’ll be starting up again this year.
      • The shepherds and preachers have tried to provide opportunities for many kinds of invitations.  You can invite people to worship with our congregation cards, you can invite people to hear sermons on our website or send them digitally through email or text.  You can invite people to join us in the Daily Bible Reading plan, you can invite someone to our monthly Visitor Sunday meetings and the potlucks afterward and we always have postcards for that, you can invite someone to read one of the tracts in the back about the Big Picture of the Bible or How to be Saved.  We have longer tracts and shorter tracts on various subjects, you can invite people to pray with you, or to hear your story, or to hear a presentation of the gospel.  The reason there are so many options isn’t to overwhelm us, but because everyone you meet is in a different place, and after asking them questions to find out where they are, it helps you better know what to invite them to.
        • Note:  These stages of evangelism don’t HAVE to be in this sequential order to be effective.  You could skip the asking stage and go straight to the inviting stage if you want.  That’s especially practical for strangers or for acquaintances you don’t know very well.  You may not have much time for stages 1-3, but you can still invite them.  Now, if you have time for stages 1-3, I think those can make the other stages easier and more natural, which is why I put them in this order.  But don’t feel like you can’t deviate from this order if it makes more sense to do so in certain situations.
        • And this is a little higher risk than asking questions, because now you’re not just asking them about themselves, you’re putting the things you’re passionate about out there to be rejected, so when they say “No,” it’s a little more painful.  But I’ve never experienced anyone who got angry at me or tried to harm me for an invitation.  Most people who reject invitations will do so politely.  And if we’re afraid of any kind of rejection, this is where faith comes sin and we need to be strong and courageous and move forward even in fear knowing that God is with us.

Step 5:  Share

• This is the part where you have the floor and you can actually teach them the gospel or share your story about how the gospel has changed your life.
• Acts 22:1-3 - Then he tells about his former life as a persecutor of Christians, how he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and how he was converted and became a Christian.  The purpose of every stage in the evangelism process so far is to bring people one step closer to hearing the gospel in stage 5.  This is our goal.  Teach people the good news about Jesus.  If we could skip immediately to stage 5, that would be amazing because this is where we want to get.  The problem is, it’s hard to do that effectively, and Jesus and the apostles rarely skipped to stage 5 with people either.
  • But sharing the gospel or our conversion story is the opportunity to tell them why our invitation to them in Stage 4 is worth responding to!
    • 1 Peter 3:15 - A great way to always be ready is to craft a shorter, more summarized version of the gospel and a longer version with more detail.  And think about crafting your story in a way that incorporates the gospel message, and how it changed you, so you’ll always be ready to share when stage 5 presents itself.
      • Now, the risk level goes up here again because now you’re opening your heart even more and what if they poke holes in what I say, or they have an objection or ask me a hard question I don’t know the answer to, or maybe the way I planned to say it in my head didn’t come out right and I kind of butchered it.  That makes us afraid, not just of rejection, but of shame and embarrassment.
        • The comfort here is to know we don’t need all the answers.  If we don’t know something, just tell them, “That’s a great question, I’ll look into that.”  Or if your presentation doesn’t come out right, that’s okay because God has a great track record in Scripture of using very imperfect people.

6.  Persuade

• 2 Corinthians 5:11
• Acts 28:23 - For a long time I took the CVS approach to evangelism.  For years, whenever I’ve gone to CVS, they ask me at checkout, “Do you have a CVS card with us?”  And I say, “No,” and they say, “Okay,” and that’s that.  They made absolutely no attempt to persuade me, or to explain the benefits to me or what I was missing out on by NOT having a CVS card.  I might actually be convinced if someone made a case for it, but no one ever has.
  • And sometimes we treat Jesus like a CVS card.  We invite people to come to worship, and maybe we even share the gospel with them, but they aren’t convinced or they say like the one guy did, “Nah I’m good.”  And we say, “Okay” and move on.  It’s certainly true Christianity can’t be forced on anyone, it’s an invitation.  But it’s an invitation that, if rejected, has serious consequences not just in their life now, but for all eternity.  So if someone rejects the gospel, we should try to convince them not to.
    • And this is where the risk is the highest because we risk being perceived as pushy or aggressive, and we’re afraid we’ll turn people off from Jesus even more.  So how do we persuade without being pushy?
      • A) Be persistent, but leave time between attempts.  If someone’s not interested, don’t come back to them the next day and try again.  That’s too soon and it’s going to feel pushy.  This is why we do Visitor Sundays once a quarter, because then you’re inviting people once every 3 months.  And depending on the person and how closed off they are, you may need wait a year between attempts.  But persistence shows people how important this is, instead of just shrugging our shoulders like the CVS employees.
      • B) Express how much you want them to know Jesus
        • Romans 10:1 - You can tell people, “I want you to know I’m praying for you because I want you to become a Christian so bad, it’s my greatest hope for you.”  I’ve used this approach with family members and it’s hard for people to get angry at you because you’re just expressing your heart.
          • Depending on your relationship, you can smile and have fun with them and say, “One day, I’m going to convince you to be a Christian.”  That’s not threatening or pushy at all, but it’s persuasive because it shows them how important this is to you.  Another version of this is to cast a confident vision for them, and say something like, “I think God has plans for you and one day you’re going to be a force for good in His kingdom.”  That can really surprise people and get them thinking.
      • C) Ask questions that make them reconsider their beliefs.
        • Matthew 12:11 - These kinds of questions, asked calmly without any hostility or condescension can be very powerful.  We can say, “Hey you said the other day you didn’t believe Jesus was a real person in history.  Now, I’m not asking this to try to trap you or be combative, I’m just curious what you do about all the references to Jesus in writings even outside the Bible?”
          • They may not even know there are 9 historical references to Jesus outside the Bible, but this question can challenge their misunderstanding and persuade them that maybe Jesus was real.
      • D) Don’t be combative
        • Proverbs 15:1 - Remember earlier Peter said to give a defense with gentleness and respect.  We’ll never be persuasive if we get angry, raise our voices, trample on people’s boundaries, interrupt and cut them off mid-sentence.  And sometimes this happens unintentionally because we’re excited about the subject, or we get defensive if we’re asked a hard question.  If so, be very quick to apologize and tell them, “I’m sorry, I got a little too excited.  I wasn’t mad at you, I was just feeling insecure because you asked me a hard question.”  Or “I let my passion sound like anger, and I’m really sorry for that.”  People will appreciate your honesty and self-awareness.  The point is, if we want to persuade people, we have to disagree with people in a way that makes them feel safe and not attacked.
      • E) Be consistent with stage 1.
        • 1 Peter 3:1 - Peter says a great way for Christian wives to persuade their non-Christian husbands to come to Christ is to live consistently for Christ themselves.  Imagine if a coworker tried to convince you to buy this new scheduling software for your computer, and you said, “no,” and a few weeks later he says it again and you say, “No, quit bugging me, I don’t need it.”  Well, over the next few months you notice it seems like ever since he got that software he’s much more organized than you, his stress levels have gone way down, he’s in a much better mood, he’s always on time for meetings, and he has a better work-life balance.
          • At that point, your coworker doesn’t have to bring it up to you anymore, he’s just letting you see how different his life is with this program, and that’s what Stage 1 is all about.  Letting people see the difference Christ makes in our life, and how much more at peace we are, how much purpose we have, how kind and joyful we are, the sense of community and belonging we have with the church, how great our marriages are and how well behaved our kids are, and how even though you’re life isn’t perfect, you sin and mess up too, but you have a Savior who loves you and offers forgiveness.  Stage 1 is not enough without progressing to the other stages, but once you’ve hit every other stage and nothing else seems to work, Stage 1 is our final act of persuasion.
            • There’s so much beyond our control in evangelism, but if we’ll just work the process, we can leave the outcome to God who gives the increase.

Series: Joshua and Judges

Service: Wed Bible Study

Type: Bible Class

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

Series: N/A

Service: Lord’s Supper Service

Type: Lord's Supper Talk

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

Series: Joshua and Judges

Service: Sun Bible Study

Type: Bible Class

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

Series: N/A

Service: Praise and Preaching Service

Type: Various Member Content

Speaker: Jeff Hunt

Series: Joshua and Judges

Service: Wed Bible Study

Type: Bible Class

Speaker: Dwayne Gandy

hvJYX-yAJuE</a>" width="560">