Our text is Acts 16:9-15.
The idea of reaching people who are far from God with the gospel causes many people's anxiety levels to rise. We know we're supposed to reach out to people who are far from God. We want to reach out to people who are far from God. But fear often keeps us from doing it.
We're afraid we're not qualified. We're afraid friendships will be lost. We're afraid we'll be asked questions we don't know the answers to.
The good news for this day is that Easter Faith enables us to break through the fear associated with reaching out to people who are far from God with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The story of Paul and Lydia shows how natural and wonderful telling people about Jesus can be. Paul was simply living life in faithful obedience to God's call. Meanwhile, God was preparing Lydia to receive the gospel. When the two came together, a beautiful picture of genuine conversion takes place.
Reaching people who are far from God with the gospel of Jesus Christ can be scary. So here are a few steps all of us can take to break through the fear:
- Remember how you ended up in the Kingdom of God. None of us were always Christian. By reconnecting with our own experience, we will place ourselves on level ground with people who are far from God.
- Identify people you know who are far from God. God doesn't expect anybody to reach everybody. So make a list. Pray for the list. And trust God to open their heart to the gospel.
- Write down your "before-and-after" faith story. Writing down will help you make sure you can tell the story clearly and without a lot of bunny trails.
- Make time to build relationship with the people you've identified. Building relationships takes time. Many will need to step away from some things in order to make time for this. You never know when God will open the door to tell your friend about Jesus.
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