It is time for God's people to speak out and be heard. Not by leading demonstrations and parades or grabbing signboards. We need to tell people lovingly.

It is time for God's people to speak out and be heard. Not by leading demonstrations and parades or grabbing signboards. We need to tell people lovingly about Jesus and His love, His plan of salvation and of the judgment. We are surrounded by people who do not really know the Lord and who are headed for hell. If we have any concern for their souls let us earnestly appeal to their sense of reasoning. Talk to them about Jesus, His plan of redemption, the one church for which He died, and the need for their obedience. Whether they are your next door neighbors, or total strangers you meet while on a vacation trip, they need to know about Jesus. Church members have reasoned for too long, that living a good clean life and setting a Christian example is enough. It is not. "Faith comes by hearing" not just by seeing (Romans 10:17). It is true that people may see that you are a good honest person, kind and neighborly, and respect you for it, but they need to be warned about the consequences of sin and the rejection of the Lord. They need to be told about how to be saved by believing in Jesus Christ, repenting of their sins, confessing their faith and being baptized and then living faithfully to the end.

Study

Spiritual ?’s

Confess your faith

Christian Living

“Take it to the next level.”

A woman went to the beauty parlor every couple of weeks to get her hair done. She thinks--as long as we are talking, why shouldn't I occasionally talk about the church. So, she began to work into the conversation with her hairdresser things that were happening at church. "We're having a vacation Bible school next week." "Last Sunday [the speaker] spoke on prayer and it was really good."..."Last week in our Bible class we studied about the conversion of Lydia and it was really interesting." After bringing such things into the conversation for a while, the Christian woman said, "Would you and your husband be interested in a Bible study? My husband and I would really like to study with you." And, after the conversations to "soften the heart," the hairdresser said "yes." Eventually both the she and her husband were converted and so were two of their older sons. It all started with a conversation in the beauty parlor.

Effective change

• Find one thing that hangs you up and change it.• Titus: focus on good works

• 1 Corinthians: love

• 2 Corinthians: trust in the power of God

• Example: confessing your faith is easy; asking questions is not

• Don’t worry about Bible study for now

• Changing one thing makes everything easier

Personal EvangelismWhere it begins: Christian Living

“Cold” Encounters

• John 4: The Samaritan Woman

• Acts 8: The Ethiopian Eunuch

• Acts 16: The Philippian Jailer

• Romans 15:20: “And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written: ‘To whom He was not announced, they shall see; and those who have not heard shall understand.’ ”

• How was the gospel preached to the lost after Paul or Phillip or Timothy left?

1 Peter

• 3:15: “…to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you”

• Why would someone ask us about our hope?

• 2:11-12, 15-17

• 3:1-2, 16-17

• 4:1-6

• How we live can create opportunities to share the gospel.

A Reason to Ask: Acts 3-5

• Compassion

• Conviction

• Authenticity

• Integrity

• Identity

• Piety

• Morality/purity

• Visibility

• The result: “And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.”

How are you known?

“Yes, Randall was a very different sort of Christian. The guy lived what he believed, but there was something else.., he knew the Bible like no one I'd ever met before. Lots of so-called Christians knew a few passages that fit their particular beliefs, but Randall had the most solid, overarching knowledge of the Bible that I'd ever seen. In reality, Randall had more Bible knowledge than any Pastor I'd ever known. Ask him a Bible topic and he knew where it was. His understanding of biblical divisions, dispensations, compositions, authors, intended audiences, and his ability to recall books, chapters and verses was truly remarkable. He was a guy who'd spent many years in personal Bible study.” ~ Muscle and a Shovel

Who can I reach?

• Family members

• Friends

• Neighbors

• Co-workers

• Community organizations

• Martinstown• VBS this summer

• Local family