1. Pray…for open hearts to receive the word and for opportunities to share the gospel. The Lord needs to be involved in our evangelism, go to the Father first.

2. Go to People…Be deliberate, relational and immediate, deliberately with the gospel.

3. Talk about the Lord Jesus Christ…we tell

What is the gospel message? The Greek word for gospel means “good news.” So our job in evangelism to announce, to tell the good news about Jesus Christ to others…many times we use our personal testimony or a tool that we’ve learned like the 4-Laws, Knowing God Personally, etc. And often we make adjusts to our audience, never changing the message of the gospel but there are times when people need to hear the truth of the gospel, or the hope of the good news, the peace of the gospel, the immortality of the gospel. When you read the New Testament you’ll see how the disciples never changed the gospel message but did tell of the good news of truth, hope, peace, and immortality.

One day a lady criticized D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody’s reply was "I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?" The lady replied, "I don’t do it." Moody retorted, "Then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it."

I would encourage you not to make the message complicated but to keep it simple, just tell others the good news…This is the lifestyle of faith, we pray, we go, we tell, and 4th we walk the talk.

4. Walk the talk…our verbal testimony and a living testimony must complement one another for our message to have any creditability.

Paul said in Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Outsiders is referring to those who are not Christians. In our everyday behavior, we should realize that we’re being carefully watched by unbelievers. The world is interested in our walk and in our talk. Those outside the church would definitely agree with this old saying, “I’d rather see a sermon, than hear one, any day.” You are a living sermon, you are a witness to the world, either a good one, a bad one, or an ugly one. What this verse isn’t saying is that we shouldn’t tell people about Christ, share the message verbally, but the point is that our walk should correspond with our talk. Then our gospel message will have even more creditability and substance.

This is the lifestyle of faith, we pray, we go, we tell, and we live it and lastly we expect God to work in evangelism.

5. Expect God to work…II Corinthians 2:15-16, “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.”

When we share the gospel there is a two-fold effect, we desire one response and if we get a positive response we think God worked, but if we get no response, or a rejection we kind of conclude God’s not working. But He is working, there is a two-fold effect of the gospel, one it brings life to the believer…the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved, that’s the positive effect we always want, but the other effect of the gospel is it brings death to those who don’t accept the message it is the smell of death.

Witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and expecting results from God.

My responsibility is to pray, go, tell, live a holy life but it is not my job to change a person’s heart. That’s God’s job.

I wait expectantly for God to work, perhaps God used you to plant a seed, and he might cause it to grow in the future or he used you to be the fork in the road, the person knows the truth but has settled not to accept it, to reject God’s grace the result is eternal separation from God.

When we share the gospel it brings life to some and death to those who reject it. God is at work. Expect God to work.

This is the lifestyle of faith, we pray, we go, we tell, and we walk the talk and we expect God to work.

Is this your lifestyle? Do you pray for the lost, do you go out deliberately to share the gospel and tell others the good news? Would your friends, co-workers, students in your classes be shocked to learn you’re a Christian…does your lifestyle match your words? Do you see the Lord working in your life? Do you expect him to use you as you share the gospel?

God Bless, Pastor Alex Garcia