Sharing As You Go

Part 4 in a Series of 6 on “How to Share Christ”

1.       Life is all about encountering people. 

They may be: sales clerks, cashiers, health club members or employees, people who call you on the phone for business reasons or even get your number by mistake, and those who come to your door or pick-up your trash, etc., etc.  These could be strangers or people you’ve seen or met before, but they would not be people you have a relationship with.

2.      Using tracts with Encounter Witnessing:

We almost always use a gospel tract as a means to start conversations about Jesus Christ. When we’re approaching a cashier or sales clerk, we generally wait until we’ve finished our business and then we hand them a tract (face-up, and where they can read the message as we hand it to them).The way I approached Perla and Alberto can be used with almost anyone, “May I give you these?  They’re all about Jesus Christ and how He died for our sins.”

3.      It’s important that you keep your tracts out of sight.

Only take them out of your pocket or purse when you’re ready to hand it to the person. If people see you coming with something in your hand, they automatically try to figure out what you’re going to give them. This can cause a negative response before you even say a word. Don’t put a person on the defensive by making them wonder what you’re up to.

4.      When you hand the person a tract,

almost without fail they will look at it and read at least the first few lines. The first second or two while they’re reading is a great time for you to say, “That’s about Jesus, do you know Him as your Savior?” (This is another great thing to say when you approach someone with a tract).

5.      If you’re a novice at witnessing,

you might want to let the tract do your talking by reading the tract with the person after your initial approach. That’s done like this; “Can we go over this together?” Then as you’re standing beside them you begin reading the front cover out loud.  Turn each page and read every word, allowing them to look at the tract as you read. 

6.      If the tract has a prayer at the end,

stop just short of that and say something like, “If you would like to give your life to Jesus Christ, I will pray this prayer with you – would you like to?”  If they agree, continue reading, but have them read the prayer out loud with you.”  After the prayer, lovingly welcome them into God’s family and either invite them to your Church or direct them to a Church in their area.

7.      Use thought-provoking questions when sharing Christ:

One of the questions we ask people is; “If you died and were standing at the gates of Heaven and God asked you, ‘Why should I let you in my heaven?’ What would you tell Him?” 

This question confronts the person with three realities: I WILL die. Where will I GO when I die? and WHAT does God require of me to enter His heaven?

Most of the time the people we talk with don’t know the answers and they are very open to hearing the truth based on what the Bible says. Also, most of the time, they give their life to Christ right there.

Encounter Witnessing means trusting the Lord to put people in your path who need to hear about Him. There are also times He will reroute your steps in order for you to encounter someone. We believe the Lord is very deliberate about this; therefore, we must be deliberate in reaching out to those He puts in our way. “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9 NLT”

We have 2 Real-life Stories to share with you that demonstrate Encounter Witnessing. Our hope is that you will learn a few things about how we share Christ, how to approach people, what to say, how to be led of the Holy Spirit in witnessing, recognizing the enemy & dealing with spiritual warfare, etc.

True Story Number 1:

It was Christmas Eve, and I was running errands in preparation for a get-together with family and friends at our home that evening.  I was pushed for time since guests were scheduled to arrive in a couple of hours. As I sat waiting for a red light to change, I glanced over to my right and saw a woman walking in the same direction I was going. 

She was pushing a baby stroller and a man was with her carrying plastic bags of groceries. They were obviously of Latin descent and you could tell by the way they were dressed that they had very little.

When the light changed I pulled ahead of them, through the intersection and into the corner service station on the right. As I looked back, I grabbed some Spanish Gospel tracts and shoved them in my pocket before getting out of the car. Walking toward them I made eye contact and smiled to let them know I was making a friendly gesture.

“How are you?”  I said, “My name is Barb.”  Reaching in my pocket, I pulled out two tracts and offered them to them.  “May I give these to you?”  I asked, “They’re all about Jesus Christ and how He died for our sins.”

They greeted me warmly and took the tracts.  They spoke very little English, so we spoke in Spanish.  “I saw you walking with the baby and I wondered if you needed help?” I continued. They explained that they lived over a half-hour away – in the opposite direction!  They were headed to a McDonalds several miles down the street to wait for a friend. However, the friend didn’t get off work for several hours. 

I could feel the struggle between the Holy Spirit’s gentle leading and my thoughts screaming, “You can’t get involved, you have guests coming in two hours!” Yet, deep inside, I knew the Lord wanted me to help them. “Come on,” I said with a big smile, “Get in the car and I’ll take you home.”

They were excited and quickly put everything in the trunk before they piled into my little car.  As I drove, they told me about themselves:  Perla is a young Mom and her daughter Sofia is one year-old.  Her husband’s cousin, Alberto, was carrying the groceries they would need to prepare their Christmas meal that evening (In many Latin communities, Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve with a traditional meal of home-made tamales). 

They didn’t seem to notice the fear that was flooding over me as Satan bombarded my thoughts with things like; I don’t know these people! I must have been crazy to pick up total strangers! What was I thinking? They could rob me or hit me over the head or worse yet, kill me, etc., etc.  Of course Satan knew what he was doing because the fear was hindering me from being able to concentrate on sharing the Gospel with them.

Arriving at their house, I knew that I had to see them again.  There was no doubt in my mind that the main reason God had put them in my path was for me to lead them to Christ.  Satan had won the first round, but I knew from experience that God would show me the way to win the next round for Him – and it would take perseverance – and more of my time!

So the next day, instead of spending a quiet day at home celebrating Christmas, we covered the situation in prayer and our son, Terry, and I drove to their house to share the Gospel and give them the opportunity to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. They didn’t have a phone and without calling them we had no guarantee they would be home. So we asked the Lord to make sure they would be there, and He did.

We met Perla’s husband, Geronimo, and also Victor, a friend who lives with them. We saw Alberto, who also lives there and we met his girl friend, Susana, who was visiting. There was no Christmas tree, no presents, no meal, except left-over tamales, because there was no money.

I asked if I could speak to the group and I began, “The Lord Jesus Christ has sent us here to tell you how much He loves you and that He died on the cross for your sins.”  As I explained “we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” they listened intently.  “But Jesus said that each of us must be born-again if we are to be His children – and I would like to tell you how you can experience that.”

We continued sharing the Gospel and when we finished, we asked them individually if they would like to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ into their lives.  All five of them said “Yes!”  We had come to share the Gospel with two or three people, but God had a greater plan, and on Christmas Day, five people were born-again into His kingdom!

True Story Number 2

Dave watched the man from afar. It was a miracle he could even be there. His health had not permitted him to get out much, but our grandson Drew was visiting and Dave knew that he really wanted to go shoot targets down at the river with his grandpa.  You know, just plink around like guys like to do.  So, Dave rested up in advance and saved up his energy for an afternoon with Drew at the river.

The man Dave was watching, we’ll call him “Wayne,” had come to the river alone and parked a ways down from them.  After awhile, Dave felt led to walk over and say hello. Wayne, responded rather coldly, but Dave lovingly persisted, and soon they were in conversation. Before long, he was telling him all about himself. Under apparent conviction of the Holy Spirit, he talked about his regrets – he blamed himself that his oldest son, professed to be an atheist; and his other son doesn’t want anything to do with God.

He said doctors recently told him he probably had melanoma cancer. A biopsy was scheduled for the next day. He feared that the surgery to remove the cancer would cripple him for life as the tumor was right on top of his spine. 

Dave said, “Wayne, if you died and were standing at the gates of Heaven right now and God said to you, ‘Why should I let you in my heaven?’  What would you tell Him?”

 “Well,” he said, “I’ve never killed anyone and I’ve never robbed a bank, so I don’t think I’m too bad.”  Dave explained, “It only takes one sin to separate us from God, but Jesus Christ died on the cross for all your sins and the sins of the entire world. You see, it is only through accepting Jesus as your Savior that you can enter heaven.  How about it Wayne, would you like to give your life to Christ right now and accept what He did for you on the cross at Calvary?”

With tears flooding down his face, Wayne repeated the sinner’s prayer. His countenance changed immediately and the new creature that he had become was apparent in his face; his speech and everything about him was different!  Sitting there in a peaceful setting, under a tree with the river rambling by, Dave continued praying with Wayne for his healing and for the salvation of his sons and his wife.

Before Dave and Drew left the river that day, Wayne said, “Dave, it’s no accident you’re here. God sent you.”  He was right of course; we serve a great and mighty God Who plans an afternoon for a grandson and a grandpa to spend time together, and in the midst of it all, He sends along a sinner who desperately needs to hear about Jesus.