On Sunday, Pastor Joe shared our 30-year goal: that everyone in a 10-mile radius would have a Christ-following friend. To make that happen, we are specifically praying for 10,000 more people in our area to know Jesus. This is a big goal, so it has to involve all of us!
Feeling nervous about the idea of sharing Jesus with others? Here are three reasons why everyone, including you, can share Jesus with others.
- The uniqueness of you.You may not always see it this way, but there is a genuine uniqueness to you and the people around you. There really is no other person who has the same relationships you do. If you were to write down the names of your family, friends, neighbors, classmates, teammates, or co-workers and compare it with everyone else in our church, there would not be an identical list. God has purposefully surrounded you with people who need Jesus. As you go down the list of non-Christians in your life, the question to ask is this: If you do not share Jesus with them, who will? Most likely, and more often than we realize, the answer is no one.
- The closeness of them. There is something astonishing in one of Paul’s sermons in the book of Acts. In Acts 17:27, Paul says, “He (God) is actually not far from each one of us.”
It can be easy to look at people, what they say or post or do, and conclude they are far from God, too far to ever become a Christian perhaps. But Paul would push us to see them as closer to God than we think. He actually offers a different perspective: People may be far from God, but God is never far from them. And if anyone knows something about being far from God, it would be Paul. As a former persecutor of the church transformed into an evangelist for Jesus, his words teach us never to write anyone off. No one is ever too far from God. - The graciousness of Jesus. At the beginning of John’s book, he describes Jesus as the source of grace upon grace. You can think about his grace in two ways. The first is for yourself because there is grace as you attempt to talk about Jesus with non-Christians. If you stumble, stutter, or struggle, it is okay. There is grace for you. The second is for them because there is grace for others as they turn to Jesus. Every person who turns to Jesus will experience his grace. No matter who it is or when it is, when they come to Jesus, they will experience his grace. They will find forgiving grace, justifying grace, sustaining grace, and freeing grace; in short, they will find grace upon grace. That is the third reason why we share Jesus.
So, are you ready to start having spiritual conversations? You do not have to have all the answers. You just have to be willing to try! Join us as we head toward our goal of 10,000 people within a 10-mile radius following Jesus!