Hello,
In church today we had a sermon about provoking someone to action. I constantly am telling people about Jesus online in hopes of them becoming a disciple and doing the same. I normally hope they find this by reading the Bible and maturing in their Christian walk. Yet in this article, I’m going to explain in more detail about this in hopes some people get it.
We’re not to boast about our own accomplishments. However, I will boast about the LORD’s whisper. God’s whisper to me,”Good News” has triggered me into action. I have emailed hundreds of thousands of people telling them God is real. I’ve been on forums and video games telling people that God loves them, Jesus is LORD, I know. I have a twitter account I run that is up to 809,425 tweets about Jesus at this time 2:16 PM 11/18/2012. God’s whisper triggered me to become a guy who is vocal about the Good News. God’s whisper is heard by more than most men’s shouts.
Is it good to be overly vocal about the Good News? There is a quote from Zig Ziglar a famous marketing guy that goes something like this,”For every sale I’ve lost by being overly aggressive, I would have lost 99 others by not being so.” Marketing translates somewhat to promoting the Good News. You want the Good News to be attractive to others, and you want to tell as many people as you can. You don’t have enough time to say everyone’s name in the world before than witness to them all by oneself.
The modern notion conventional and accepted way to evangelize then is to live a good life, influence the strong relationships you have well. If you do this, you’re doing it right, and in a lot of ways, this is for people’s comfort zone. You stay with relationships that are positive and consistent, and don’t go out of your way to meet new people. The theory is that they can form relationships and do the same. By making your friends and acquaintances disciples, they can push outward to the world and your reach might go far. I’m not saying this is flawed, I think it is a good system, but there is more to evangelism than just staying around the people you know all day.
I do interpersonal evangelism as well, but one flaw I’ve seen is if someone doesn’t want to hear it the first time, you’re just going to make Christianity seem pushy if you keep talking about it when they don’t want to hear it. So down the road it might come up, but for the most part, you’re at a stand still. If all of your interpersonal relationships are at a stand still, you’re really not acting the part of a sower at the time, but you can still strive to do good things to make them get a positive light of a Christian…
Though I think a lot of people are of the flawed notion,”I’ll just be good always, and then people will know I’m a Christian.” I don’t think this is entirely true. Sure if you let them know you’re a Christian early on, they can gather information from you. But if you never tell people you’re a Christian, they might just think you’re a nice person without ever getting the reason you are so together is from Jesus. So it is important to tell people you love Jesus.
Luke 9:26 If you are ashamed of me and of my teaching, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. If you are ashamed of Jesus in this life, Jesus will be ashamed of you. If you’re bold about Jesus in this life, Jesus will be bold about you in Heaven! This is important. I think one reason a lot of people don’t boldly introduce themselves to others that they’re a disciple of Jesus in this world is that they’re afraid of what people might say. Not everyone thinks positive of the son of God in this world, but if you think about it, we shouldn’t care what their opinion on us is either. If a man doesn’t love the God who created and saved them, why should their opinion of our self worth matter either? So we should be bold more often than not. Sure we’re to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves, but we’re not supposed to be stealthy Christians. The light is meant to shine on everyone, not have a lamp shade over it.
So I would like you to be a vocal Christian. If you’re on the Internet, proclaim Jesus Christ everywhere you go. If you play video games, tell other people in the video game that God loves them, Jesus is LORD. If you have contacts in email, tell them. If you twitter, tweet for the LORD Jesus. Facebook is good every now and then, but don’t wear your friends patience out. Jesus should be the most important thing in our lives, and the world should know it.
You don’t even need to be a good evangelist to do this. I originally thought I needed to be a good evangelist and evangelize to everyone. But this isn’t the case. I’ve found out 100% of the people(Out of hundreds I encountered over the years) I’ve encountered who just want to start an argument aggressively, simply want to argue to win. I don’t think I have won a single person to Christ by arguing with them in the past 9 years. Seriously, people who want to argue aggressively aren’t caring if your arguments are well formed or if you explain a thing or not, they just want to argue to win. If someone wants to argue, just ignore them and go to the next person. Ignore them just like you’d ignore someone who would insult you. Matthew 10:13 If the people in that house welcome you, let your greeting of peace remain; but if they do not welcome you, then take back your greeting. 14 And if some home or town will not welcome you or listen to you, then leave that place and shake the dust off your feet. The same thing that applied to the first apostles applies to us modern day disciples. If we’re not welcome, move on to the next town. You don’t have enough time to say everyone’s name in the world before than witness to them all by oneself. So don’t waste your time you could be spreading the Good News.
Yes, it helps to be well versed on the Bible. People with honest questions can be answered even though you’re avoiding the argumentative ones. I would suggest for you to read the entire Bible at least once before evangelizing. Proverbs 19:2 GNT Enthusiasm without knowledge is not good; impatience will get you into trouble. This is a true proverb. God won’t like it if you start telling people false information you assume is true because of a lack of information from the Bible. Even the most pure heart seeking to tell the world about God will run into God himself stopping you if you are about to make big mistakes in your methods. So get an education by reading the Bible at least. And if you have more time, read articles about the Bible and attend church. You’ll be fine to spread the Good News if you have a working knowledge of the Bible.
So I just keep telling people on the Internet about Jesus. I can’t afford a lot of gas to drive all over, and even if I could afford the gas, where would I go to get people’s attention? The Internet is a great tool for us because we can meet new people without crossing mountains, even without getting out of bed for some of us :P My hope in you reading this article is that you want to use the Internet to get bold about Jesus. So Jesus will be bold for you, and you’ll get many rewards and praises when you come into Heaven. Some ignorant of the Bible say,”Why should I be a Christian now when I can just convert before I die.” and a common answer is,”What if you have a sudden death?” I don’t think that is a good answer though. I think a better answer is when Jesus echoed by Paul say there are rewards for servitude in Heaven. God can do anything, and God knows your desires more than you know what you want! Isn’t he the guy you’d want to be pleased with you and rewarding you? There’s nothing on this Earth I could want that comes close to getting rewarded in Heaven. Even if you had a perfect spouse, ruled the world, had a trillion dollars and everyone loved and praised you, that is nothing compared to what God can bestow upon you in the next life. So to answer,”Why not just do a death bed confession and live like a wild man until then?”, well you won’t get many heavenly treasures that way. Servitude has its rewards especially if you can find joy in making other people’s lives better.
If Jesus should be #1 in a Christian’s life, and he rewards his servants, and he is all kinds of awesome, why don’t you hear just about everyone heralding him everywhere? I don’t know myself. I know I herald Jesus to millions online, and I want you to do it too. Sure we get insulted for it, but that’s no reason to stop! In fact that’s a good reason to keep doing it. Well we’re not to harass someone who doesn’t want to hear it, but keep going to others. Remember: Matthew 5:11 “Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted. Jesus says if you’re insulted for spreading the Good News of his power to save, we get great reward :) So if someone accepts Jesus, they get to Heaven and we’re rewarded. And if someone insults us and doesn’t want to hear it, we’re rewarded. It is win/win for telling the world about Jesus. So let us get bold and do it! We don’t want Jesus ashamed of us in Heaven. Heaven lasts forever, we want to be best buds with Jesus! Even if you’ve not been bold in the past, change it up and be bold now.
If you want instructions to Internet evangelize it goes like this:
For style one: Find some people, tell them God loves them, Jesus is LORD. It is that easy. It might be a challenge to find people, but if you look at your email contacts, you can probably shoot an email to all your contacts, be sure to use BCC. You might play an online game with others, tell everyone you meet: God loves you, Jesus is LORD.
Style two online evangelizing works like this: You sign your posts and email with: God loves you, Jesus is LORD. Then you make insightful posts on forums. Because they always know you’re a Christian and saying things they want to hear, they’ll be more interested in learning about your belief.
The final style three is making long lasting friends on the Internet. This is interpersonal evangelism just applied to the Internet. You can’t always find friends, but when you do, be sure to let them know you’re Christian. If you introduce yourself as a Christian they should already know. Then you don’t have to constantly tell them you’re Christian, just be a good and loving friend.
I hope you go out and do your best from now up until the time you die, witnessing to others, working your job, and donating excess to the poor, so as to maximize your life in service of Jesus. Even if you’re not the best evangelist, at least trying is good. Lets say you only bring one person to Jesus, but that person brings millions, God will likely have much to praise you for when you meet the guy. We know our sins are forgiven and forgotten, but the good things we do can still be praised and admired by God. God is the only person we need to please in this life, but we should still be loving to all. I hope you go out and try and evangelize right this moment if you have read the Bible, but if you haven’t read the Bible, that should be your immediate next goal.
-James Sager III