Are You Shy or Bold? (Part 2)

“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity – all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-47 NLT)

May I submit to you that when your heart and life are on fire for Jesus it’s not going to matter if you’re shy or bold, when Jesus is exalted, He will draw people to Himself, sometimes in spite of our efforts!

In yesterday’s post we looked at a few tools to help us in preparing to have Christ-centered conversations, and how vital it is to allow the Spirit to lead in those conversations. When I was pastoring a small church in Kentucky, we hired a company to spray the church periodically to keep bugs and rodents out of the building.

Over the months I had many conversations about a lot of things with the young man who came to make the applications, but on this particular day our conversation turned to why he had consistently rejected my invitations to come to one of our services. Finally, he was opening up to me about what the issues were that had kept him away.

As we were speaking, a young man who was trying to sell me a sweeper and apparently wanting to impress me with how spiritual he was, without invitation and without forewarning, began to “share the Gospel” with this young man.

While his words were right, his attitude and disposition were all wrong, and within moments this young man with whom I’d worked months to build rapport and who was finally being vulnerable, turned and walked away and never returned. This sweeper salesman’s effort to be bold for the Lord, ruined months of effort and only served to harden the young man’s heart even more.

What’s my point? Even good words can be counterfeited and twisted when given with the wrong spirit and/or at the wrong time. Knowing a “Gospel presentation,” while it can be useful and appropriate given the right setting, can also be destructive and dishonoring to the Lord when given out of the context of His clear leading.

Knowing the right words to say but saying them in the wrong spirit is the devil’s playground and will result in more people running from Jesus than coming to Him.

In yesterday’s post I mentioned Ray Comfort, and I strongly encourage you to check out, not only what he says, but how he says what he does. He’s always mindful that he’s speaking to a person, not simply trying to get another notch on his spiritual “gun belt.” If our focus is ourselves and how “we’re doing,” the end result will likely not be honoring to the Lord or helpful to the one with whom we’re speaking.

In the verses above there is no mention of “evangelism,” but through the conversations those believers were having over meals and in fellowship, the Lord was adding to their number every day. We don’t have to be gospel “superstars” to be effective in sharing our faith. Sometimes your most effective witness is holding someone who has just received bad news and crying with them.

Words can be added later, but what most lost people want to see is a heart of love and a spirit that is sensitive to who they are and what they’re going through. Just like we were, people are most open to the Gospel in a time of crisis or tragedy.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊