FROM SILENCE TO BOLDNESS: PRACTICAL TIPS YOU CAN USE TO SHARE THE GOSPEL

summary

In this conversation, Erika discusses the importance of sharing the gospel, addressing the fears and hesitations many Christians face. She emphasizes the low percentage of Christians actively sharing their faith and provides practical tips for overcoming fear and effectively communicating the gospel message. Erika shares personal experiences and encourages listeners to take small steps in sharing their faith, highlighting the impact it can have on others and the joy it brings to the sharer.

takeaways

• Only 19% of American Christians share the gospel.
• The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ's sacrifice.
• Fear of sharing the gospel is common but can be overcome.
• It's important to speak the truth in love when sharing.
• Sharing the gospel can lead to significant conversions.
• Practical tips can help ease the fear of sharing.
• Starting small, like social media posts, can be effective.
• Handwritten notes can be a personal way to share the gospel.
• Creating a Bible study can foster community and learning.
• Intentions behind sharing the gospel should be rooted in love.

Transcript

Erika (00:00)
Welcome back to Where is Your Voice Ministries podcast. Today the topic is going to be how to share the gospel tips on how you can share the gospel because I know how fearful that can be and also Jesus summoned us to do this. I want to say have you ever wanted to share the gospel?

but just feel unsure or afraid to do so. If that is the case, you are not alone. There is about 19 % Americans who are labeled as Christians who are sharing the gospel. So only 19 % out of American Christians who are labeled as active Christians.

share the gospel. And to me that number is mind-blowing low when you think that that is something that Jesus commissioned us to do. So how many of us are not obeying him? And not even even only that if you were to share the gospel you will be aiding in the 2.7 million Americans who convert to Christianity every year.

So imagine if we can get that 19 % to 25%. Imagine if we can get the 25 % to 50%. That 2.7 million of people who are converting to Christianity will climb even higher. And I think if it climbs even higher, we will have a higher chance of getting Jesus to come back even sooner because now more people will know who he is.

So today we will be diving into the Bible and discussing fears on why it might be hard for you to share the gospel, but also tips and ways and the benefit on why you should be sharing the gospel. So firstly, what is the gospel? The gospel is Jesus is the face of God.

and he came down here. He decided to put on flesh and make himself less than what's sin. But he did not. He wasn't ever tempted into sin, but he faced the same temptations that we faced. And then he died for us in a brutal fashion, was crucified on the cross. But three days later, he came back again. And the best news about this is he is

coming to get the saints. And when he left, when he went back up to God, he left us with the Holy Spirit. So when we are sharing the gospel, knowing that God is a God of order, you have to first make sure that they are actually a believer. And I say keep it.

Keep it on that. Keep it on the things that get people to heaven. You don't have to go into deep theology with the gospel unless you're going to be preaching a whole sermon. So turn with me to Matthew 28, 19 through 20. And it says,

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." So this is a commission we must share the gospel. And also turn with me to Romans.

chapter 1 verse 16 and it reads for I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jew then to the Gentile so If you are not sharing the gospel you are preventing another person from believing and you have to ask yourself am I ashamed to share the truth

the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit. And I completely understand that if you have fear in sharing the gospel. Matter of fact, turn with me to Exodus chapter four, verse 10 through 12. Moses said to the Lord, pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant.

I am slow of speech and tongue. The Lord said to him, who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, I will help you speak and will teach you what to say. So in your fear, you must know that God is going to partner with you.

He's using your body as that willing vessel and he is going to partner with you and speak for you because you are his handiwork. So now if you feel like you don't want to share the gospel because you might offend someone go with me to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 instead speaking the truth in love

We will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head that is Christ. So speaking the truth is your example of how much you love them. You love them so much that you will put your place in a space that could be offending them or they could reject you. But your love for them is requiring of you to speak the truth because you care more about saving their life than you care about.

their feelings towards you. So now, if you feel like, what if they reject me? Let's go to Luke chapter 10, verse 16 through 17. Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. But whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me. The 72 returned with joy and said, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.

Isn't that incredible? Do you really want someone around you that rejects Jesus? Because that's what you're saying when you don't want to share the gospel. You're like, want to keep the people around me that reject Jesus because they will reject you. Once you start sharing the gospel, they don't want nothing to do with you. But that's OK because you know what I say? I want people who truly love me around me.

And I feel like nobody loves you more than someone who will not stop sharing Jesus with you. And nobody hates you more than someone who is trying to pull you away from Jesus because they know where you're going to end up going. So just to share my own testimony, I used to be terrified to share the gospel. So probably about in 2018, I was a server in this

route walked in and I could tell that they were Christians and it was this guy with him. I remember his name. It was Mark Cahill and Mark just gave courageous. He gave, I will share the gospel in front of anyone. Like I will shout out Jesus on a tower and he gave me a book and the book was titled, What is One Thing You Can't Do When You Get to Heaven?

I was like, what is it Mark? And he was like, tell people about Jesus. And so I knew with him telling me that, that he was saying that this is something that I need to be doing. And I froze in fear. Just the thought of sharing the Lord with others terrified me. I was like, people are going to laugh at me. They're going to mock me. They're going to call me a hypocrite. They're going to reject me.

They're going to be offended by me because I was the Christian where I was a Christian around Christians and I was filled with sin when I was around unbelievers. So I was a very lukewarm Christian. So the thought of like sharing the gospel was like, how? And my biggest fear was once I started sharing the gospel was either people will call me a hypocrite and be like, you do this, this and a third.

but you say you love Jesus, then my other fear was once I start sharing the gospel, people are going to ask me a lot of questions about the Bible that I'm not going to know. And that made me afraid of court. So what I started to do was I dove into those fears. said, well, I'm going to spend as much time with God as possible. And I'm going to read his Bible. I'm going to join small groups. I'm going to hang with faith-filled friends.

I'm going to go to church more often. I'm going to do walks with the Lord so that way I can be filled with his truth and his love so that way I can share it with others. And just in that journey, one thing I learned is that it is okay to not be knowledgeable in all things Bible. Jesus actually requests of us to be that way. He says we should be like children with the gospel.

It's okay to not know everything and share the gospel. You can share the cornerstone, like I said, of what gets people into heaven. Jesus is God. There is one God, one body, one spirit. He died for us. He's coming back again. Some tips on how you can do this, baby steps.

You're not doing a whole sermon in the beginning, so you don't have to dive into deep theology when you're sharing the gospel, because we're just starting off. We're getting comfortable with sharing the gospel. And then once we're comfortable, once we're confident, then that's when we can start diving into doing larger steps. And you don't know when to do it, because the Holy Spirit will lead you on what to do next.

So some of the things that you can do, like if you have Facebook, create a post. You can say something simple like, Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you. Jesus is coming back again. And you can list a verse like John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So you can do that.

To share the gospel, another thing you can do is if you drive DoorDash or if you do Instacart or something like that, make handwritten notes. Make a handwritten card. And I think this is great for introverts because they won't see you because everybody always says, leave the food at the door. So you can take that handwritten card and just write, it was an honor to serve you. I just want you to know that Jesus loves you.

as you are right now. And then sign it with a verse like John 3.16. That's the perfect verse to sign it with. And then when you drop their food off, take their card, put the card under their food. And when they pick their food up, dang, they see a card and put their name on the card, of course, the top of the envelope of the card. They're going to see their name on the card. going be like, oh my gosh, not only did someone take time to write me a card, they took time to write me a card to remind me.

that Jesus loves me as I am right now. And guess what? They never even saw your face. They don't even know who you are. And you was able to plant a seed in someone or maybe you watered a seed and God would definitely do the rest. And if you work in corporate, you can do that same thing in corporate as well. When someone's not at their desk, write them a handwritten note and saying the same thing. Jesus loves you as you are right now. I just want you to know that Jesus loves you.

I know you've been having a hard day, but God is here for you. Write them a handwritten note. Don't sign your name because it's not about you getting the glory. It's about God getting the glory. So you don't have to sign your name. They'll never know it was you unless they know everybody in the office handwriting, which I doubt that they do. And then whether or not at their desk, just slide it at their desk. There you go.

You know, now you got a seed or a water that you have done that day. Another thing that you can do is start a Bible study. You can start a Bible study to help people get to heaven. Your own Bible study. Because when you do a Bible study, you guys are learning the Bible together. So you don't have to start a Bible study and be the expert of that Bible study because you guys are all learning together. And you can pick a book.

Like this actually I have one right here They have these on Amazon and this one is God's blueprint for Bible prophecy is by Kay author and This Bible book is on the book of Daniel So if you do a Bible study, y'all can do it every other Saturday You want some friends and y'all can learn this together? See that's something you can do. Another thing you can do is get gear

merch like this Jesus hat that I have on right now. This shirt, says Jesus Trails. I actually got this shirt from a Jesus trail that I signed up for. Anybody can do it, but it's still another way that you can share the gospel because you can tell your friends, I'm about to sign up for this trail. Let's walk together. It's about to be summertime. Let's get healthier. You get this shirt, you get a medal, and it shows you pictures and information on the trail, the same walk that Jesus took.

So I feel like that's neat. And also I like wearing Jesus merch because everybody reads shirts. So they might see your shirt and your shirt might say something like, Jesus loves you. God is for her. She will not fail. Something like that. And somebody might read it and it can lift their faith that day. And imagine how impactful that can be.

if you're nervous to go up to people or somebody might even come up to you and say, hey, can you pray for me? And then, wow, now I'm praying for someone because I wore a shirt that was planting a seed about Jesus. Another thing you can do is send text messages, send a reminder in your phone, to send a verse to some of your contacts in your phone. My mom did this with me for a year. She would always send me a Bible verse.

And it truly does help, because these are the things that you do that you're not realizing that is working, but it works. It really does. You're planning to see to someone, it will work. And that's faith. Just like I'm making this video right now. I don't know if anyone will watch the video. I don't even know if anyone will be set free or spread the gospel. But I'm going to have faith that if I do this,

it will reach the right people because I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay and so that's what this takes and then so let's talk about you can send the Bible verse you can send a scripture or another thing that you can do that I love actually to do and get when you go out to eat

Tip your server a really large tip. At least 40%. At least 40. I say at least half the bill, you know. So if the bill is 20, tip 10. If the bill is 100, tip 50. And when you leave that tip, put by where you place the tip a note that says, Jesus loves you. Jesus is for you. Jesus wants to save you.

Something like that, you know, because that will uplift that server. And let me tell you, that love you just poured into them, they're going to pour it into every table that they get after that. And they're going to be thanking God for you for the rest of their days, because I was a server. And when people did that for me, I still thank God for them to this day. Because I was, like when I was a server, was a very toxic industry being a server. Like your party, your drink all the time, your deal with.

guess it's a very hard job. So when someone leaves that, it just reminds you that someone sees you and it's God that sees you and you'd be needing that, you know? So I challenge everyone for at least once a week to do something in a way that they can share the gospel. But I do want you to know that

Sharing the gospel, although it is scary and it is a journey, it is one of the best choices I ever made my whole life. Even when I was terrified to do it, I am so grateful today that I started sharing the gospel. Even how it makes me look, when I look at myself sharing the gospel, I am in awe of myself. And it's a scripture that says, how beautiful are the feet that share the gospel?

And I'm just in awe of what God can really do within someone, how he can strengthen you. And not even knowing that, God has anointed me with the oil of joy. Because once you start sharing the gospel, you really start hating wickedness and loving righteousness. And I can go through things and not even know that I'm suffering because of the joy that God put within me. And then there's rewards that you can get when you get to heaven when you start sharing the gospel.

You will receive a crown. You will maybe even get a stone with your name written that only you will know. And then you're going to be partnering with God so as a protection that he puts over you as well like no other. He starts telling you mysteries of the kingdom and insight in the Bible so that way you can help others. But in sharing the gospel, I want to add that you have to make sure that you are doing it out of love.

You have to make sure your intentions are there. Your intentions are pure. Your intentions are, want people to get to heaven and I want to get to heaven. That's the intentions that you need when you share the gospel. You know, it has to be out of love. And the reason I say that is because when people see you, you're the example of Jesus before you say anything.

You are the example like people should see you and see the fruits of the spirit and question that they should say how is she so kind? How are they so forgiving? Like people should wonder that about you and when they wonder that that's what makes them wonder who is Jesus because if Jesus Can have them like that. I kind of want to know

I kind of want to know who that person is. So when people come up to you and they ask you, how are you so nice? How are you so kind? Tell them it's because of Jesus. Jesus did this for me because before Jesus, I wasn't so kind. Before Jesus, I wasn't so forgiving. So that's how I'm like this. And so that is just like a really great way, of course, to share the gospel. But like I said, I challenge everyone who is watching.

to share the gospel at least once a week. Well, one of the tips that I said below, but if you are sharing a gospel and you have some tips that I didn't get a chance to share, or maybe I just don't even know, please share them with us so that way other people listening, it might fit them as well. Because I say the best way to share the gospel is to tune into what you're passionate about and try to share it that way. Because then now you're sharing it in a way that you love.

Like if you love to sing, share the gospel by singing. If you love to write, share the gospel by writing. If you love to encourage others, share the gospel by being an encourager. So tap into your passions and your passions is going to align with your assignment on how God wants you to share the gospel as well. But the baby steps will get you there. do.

sharing for someone else who might be struggling and really want to start sharing the gospel because we need more. We need more people to do it. 19 % is not enough. We need to be at 50%. But before I go, I'm going to pray. All right, Lord, we come to you in the name of Jesus, God. Thank you humbly for everything you have done for us, Lord.

And just we want to thank you for even being a chosen vessel and that you're even summoning us with something that is just such an honor to tell others about your love, your mercy, your kindness, Lord. That is an honor to be able to be able to do that, God, and that you picked us out of everyone in the world you could have chose. You chose us. So we just want you to strengthen us in that, Lord.

Give us the will, give us the strength, give us the courage, give us the words to say and put us around the right people. Because we are ready God. In Jesus name we pray, amen. All right y'all, thank you so much for tuning in and I hope you all have a wonderful day and I hope I see you again. All right, God bless you.