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Mark 10:1
Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.
It was Jesus' custom to share his faith. He did it every where, with everyone. It was normal for him.
Q: How is your personal evangelism going? Do you share your faith as you go along?
1. Touch the heart
Luke 5:12-16
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him.
14 Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."
15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
This man needed help. He was in pain. How did Jesus react to him? He reached out his hand and touched the man.
Was Jesus willing to help this man? Yes, he said, "I am willing be clean".
C: When we evangelise, we must touch people's hearts. Look into their eyes. Hold their hands. Smile. Try to make contact with them more than just "hello".
2. Expect them to come
Luke 5:27-32
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him,
28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Q: When Jesus invited Levi, did he expect him to come? Absolutely. He said "follow me" and he was sure Levi would come.
C: In the same way, when we invite people we must believe that they really will come. We must persuade them to come. We must explain how great the meetings are.
3. Ask all the details
Acts 9:10-12
10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered.
11 The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight."
When Jesus met Saul, he made sure that he get all of Saul's details. He knew exactly where Saul would be staying and what he would be doing.
C: We must find out complete contact details when we evangelise. We should ask what landmarks are nearby, what is the work address and phone number. Jesus made sure he knew where to send Ananias to follow-up of Saul. Imagine if Jesus only had a partial address.
Q: Are you good at this? Do you get their full details?
4. Repeatedly follow-up
John 5:14
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
Q: Was the man at the pool a particularly good contact? No. He had not changed in 38 years before meeting Jesus.
Q: Did Jesus follow up on him? Yes.
Q: When we visit somenone's house, how does that make them feel? Special. They want to give us tea. They sometimes feel obligated to come to church to return the favor we have done by visiting them.
C: We must really love people from the heart. If they show real interest in Jesus, we should visit them more than once. Of course the Lord also said, "Do not throw your pearls to pigs".
Matthew 7:6
Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
So we should not waste our time if people are not open. But we must not give up so quickly on our contacts. Often people intend to come but they forget. Follow-up reminds them.
Q: How have you been doing on your follow-up? How do you follow-up on most of your people? How many people did you visit this past week? How many calls did you make? Did you write any notes? Share yourself about your own follow-up. Do you want to change in this area?
5. Start a friendship
John 4:7-18
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?"
8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."
16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband.
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."
Q: Did Jesus simply walk up to this woman and invite her to church? No. What did he do? He asked her for water. He got to know her. He had a real talk with her. He started a friendship.
C: Jesus really got to be friends with the people he reached out.
John 1:35-42
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.
36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"
39 "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.
41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ).
42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).
He spent the day with Simon and Andrew. He went to Levi's house for a banquet in Luke 5, as we saw earlier in this study.
We also can become people's friends quickly. we can find out what their work is, if they like it, where their family is, if they are happy? If they are married, if they are engaged, what they like to do for fun, etc...
Let's be friends with the people around us.
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