Each of the four gospels concludes with Jesus telling us to go preach the Gospel and disciple the nations. The importance of this command cannot be overemphasized and yet George Barna, famed religious statistician, tells us:
- Ninety-five percent of all Christians have never won a soul to Christ
- Eighty percent of all Christians do not consistently witness for Christ
- Less than two percent are involved in the ministry of evangelism
- Seventy-one percent do not give toward the financing of the great Commission
The Bible emphatically states time and again that it is everyone’s responsibility to share the Gospel, and yet according to polls only 25% of Christians think it’s their job to share their faith. Most born-again adults believe they’re engaging in “lifestyle evangelism,” says Barna. “But then when we studied the lifestyles of those people,” he says, “what we found was that there really wasn’t that much difference between those individuals and the people that they allegedly hoped to influence.”
I watched an interesting video by Penn Jillette, the Las Vegas magician who is an atheist, who has famously suggested that he doesn’t respect Christians who don’t evangelize
The video includes a story in which he was given a Bible by a man after a show and he says something that really gets to the crux of the matter. Basically, he asks, if you really believe there is a heaven and hell and you know someone is heading to hell forever, how much do you have to hate that person not to tell them. He looks at the camera and asks: “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?” He remarked if you saw a truck bearing down on someone you would try to try to warn them, and to a Bible believer hell is much worse than getting run over by a truck, so obviously, someone who truly believes in heaven and hell should want to warn others.
I’ll go a step further, God is love and He loves everyone. We should emulate Him and obey His commands. If you do this in respect to love, you will be incapable of not telling others about heaven and hell.
Okay but you don’t know how. Well there is enough material on leading someone to Christ on Google to last a lifetime. Read it, try it, go with someone who has done it many times and learn from them. Don’t be afraid. Pray for guidance. And then just do it.
If nothing else I’ve written two books Miracle on Luckie Street and Crazy Like Foxes, both have strong evangelistic messages. Miracle on Luckie Street is an autobiography and is written using street language and appeals primarily to people involved with alcoholism, drugs, and other very serious problems. Crazy Like Foxes is written to anyone including children. It contains my testimony, as well as my co-author’s testimony, who happens to be a woman, and details how we both exchanged our misery of being lost for the peace, joy, and love of Christ.
Both books are heavily discounted when bought in bulk. Buy some and hand them out to your friends who do not know the Lord. I’m not writing this to sell books to line my pockets with cash. The proceeds for the most part go to the Jesus Alliance or to buy more books to give away in prisons, rehab centers, and the like. I wrote these books because I do love people enough to tell them “everlasting life is possible!
Obey the Lord and tell someone about heaven and hell today. If possible, tell them directly. If not, at least give them a book and share in that manner until you feel fully equipped. By the way, going to a prison ministry event with Inmate Encounter or Bill Glass Behind the Walls Ministry will train you and then provide you with ample opportunity to lead dozens of men and women to Christ at every event. It’s a great way to learn how to obey God in this the most important thing you will ever do aside from finding salvation for yourself.
John 14:6
Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
May 3 2017 – Click here to listen