I’m Afraid to Share the Gospel – Rural Reset 16/21 [18]

Host: TJ Freeman

Summary: In this episode of Back to Rurality, TJ Freeman, a rural pastor, addresses the common challenge of sharing the gospel, especially in small towns. He shares personal experiences and practical steps to help Christians overcome fear and awkwardness when evangelizing.

Key Points:

• Evangelizing in a Small Town: Sharing the gospel in a rural area can be difficult for many. You might be afraid to share, or maybe they don't even know how to start. You also might feel that you don't know many non-Christians. 
• You Have Been Commissioned: When you became a Christian, you became a citizen of heaven and an ambassador for Christ. In Matthew 28, we read that we have an assignment to tell people the good news of the gospel. Sharing the gospel is a task intended for all Christians. 

Listener Takeaways:

• Think of five people who you know that are not Christians. 
• Pray for one of those people one day a week, Monday through Friday.
• Reach out and have an intentional conversation once a month with those five people. 
• Turn that monthly conversation into a spiritual one on a quarterly basis. 
  
  
  

Connect with Us:

• Website: backtorurality.com
• Social Media: Facebook

Transcript

Imagine this, you live next to someone who's not a Christian. You want to tell them about Jesus, but you actually have no idea where to start. You're just not sure how to bring it up and it feels kind of awkward. Besides, they might not like it, and you're still going to have to live next to them. Do you feel comfortable sharing the gospel with others, or are you more like the rest of us who know we need to do it, but we're usually too afraid to try?

Well, hello, I'm TJ Freeman, and I'm a rural pastor, like you. Yep. I live in the middle of nowhere and I know what it's like to have more questions than resources sometimes, especially when it comes to your faith. That's why I started this podcast and I hope that this becomes a good resource for you as you try to live for Christ in the middle of your small town.

And boy, do I know what it's like to be afraid to share the gospel. I've had a couple of jobs where talking about my faith could have gotten me fired. I've had family members that I've really wanted to share the gospel with, but man, they're family members. I got to be around them no matter what. I was afraid to open that door with them.

I've had neighbors where I just wasn't sure how I could bring it up. I've been sitting next to people on an airplane or walking by somebody in the community and been in a conversation and I felt like I really wanted to get there, but I just didn't know how.

I've also been in my small town for a long time, and as much as I'd like to think it was, I know that my behavior hasn't always been perfect. And I wonder sometimes, could I come across like a hypocrite if I share my faith?

And now I'm in a position where as a pastor, I sometimes think about the fact that most of my friendships are with other Christians. And it's hard to think of unbelievers who I have enough relational equity with to dive right on into the gospel. Well, you can probably think of hundreds of reasons that sharing the gospel is difficult, but by the end of this episode, you'll have some tools to help you overcome a lot of them.

You know, if you're going to tell other people about Jesus, you really need to know first why that's important. You got to have that locked right on into your mind or you ain't never going to do it. And the number one reason that you tell others about Jesus is because somebody told you about Jesus and in his kindness, he saved your soul.

You have received a grace that you don't deserve and you can't just clam up and hang on to it. for yourself. You're meant to share that with others. In fact, you are what the Bible calls an ambassador of Christ. That means that when you became a Christian, you got a new address. You became a citizen of heaven where your eternal home is.

But for now you are here, as Peter says, as a foreigner, as a sojourner or an alien. You're actually here on assignment and the assignment is given to us in places like Matthew 28. where Jesus told us to go into all the world and baptize people, teaching them to obey everything that Christ commanded. And notice, there would be no baptisms if it weren't for a little thing called conversion.

So we're telling people about the gospel, they're hearing and responding, then they're getting baptized and learning to obey. All that Christ commanded. That is our commission. We're to go into the world and make Christ known as He goes with us. It's said a little differently in Acts chapter 1 where we're told, we're told that we'll be Christ's witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

In other words, right in our region, broader and broader and broader until the whole earth is covered with people sharing the gospel. You know, Jesus means to use us to tell other people the good news, and we need to understand that that's not like a bonus feature. That really, really fervent Christians, you know the ones who go to church on Sunday morning and Sunday night?

And if they happen to have one of those old fashioned Wednesday night prayer meetings, they probably go to that too. Man, the next level right after that is actually telling other people about Jesus. Nah, that's not so much the way it works. Sharing the gospel is for all Christians, and if you have a story of God's grace in your life, you have the tools you need to share the gospel with others.

If you understood how to become a Christian, you understand enough to tell other people about how they could do it, too. So what I want to talk to you about right now is the fact that you've been placed by God in your small town to run in a circle that not, A lot of other people are running in, especially not a lot of other Christians.

Here's what I mean by that. In small towns, the concentration of people is lower than it is in big cities, and it's just natural that the concentration of Christians is lower too. So you, as a Christian, are placed in a circle of people, a pool of people, many of whom do not know Jesus. And you're there to tell them that.

I want to introduce you to a concept. That I think will help you develop some skills in making Christ known by giving you a really clear target, a subject, people that you know that you can share the gospel with, and then some ways to actually move toward that intentionally instead of just feeling that weight of guilt like, I know I'm supposed to do this.

I'm just not sure how. So here's the first thing you're going to do. I want you to make a list. of five people who do not know Christ. Five people who, if they should, Lord forbid, die today in their sin and face Christ for judgment, he would say, Depart from me, I never knew you. They would be sentenced to eternal hell because they died without a savior whose sacrifice would be the payment for their sins.

Five people like that. Maybe you don't immediately have five people that come to mind. You might need to get a little creative. So you think of like, okay, Aunt Edna, you know, she cusses like a sailor, smokes a pack a day, gambles constantly. I'm pretty sure she has a lot of the markers of a nonbeliever. I'm going to pray for Aunt Edna on Mondays.

And then, you know, my kid is entering the second grade and I talked to her teacher and it just seems like she's got a lot of humanistic kind of thoughts. And I, I doubt she's a Christian. So she's my Tuesday person. And on Wednesday, I'm going to think about the person that cuts my hair. You know, I, I don't know that they're a believer and I'd like to have the opportunity to ask them about their faith on Thursday.

 You know, it seems like every time I go to the grocery store, that same guy is there at the checkout. I can keep going to that. Particular checkout and maybe I can get past the small talk and start to talk about faith a little bit and on Friday I'm gonna think about The football coach of my son's football team.

I don't get to talk to him that much But I do have some relationship that's growing with him. We're both kind of interested in Grilling meat. I don't know, These are the kind of conversations you have with yourself Pull out your phone and go into the notes app and just note down five people's names that you know You're just not sure.

Are they a Christian or are they not? Or maybe you know for certain. That person shows no evidence of really being a believer. And then here's what you do. On Monday, you pray for the first one on the list. Just that person. Pray that they would have a heart that's open to the gospel. Pray that the Lord would give you an opportunity to engage them in a way that really shows them love so that you have an open door to show the love of Christ and share that with them because you've invested in them, a little bit.

Pray that the Lord will use their circumstances to point them to their need for a Savior. Pray that there would be a healthy church that they could get plugged into where they can hear the gospel plainly. and that if they would become a Christian, they could grow in Christ. These are the kinds of things.

But also just pray for their general welfare. Pray really kind, loving prayers for them. And just go right down through your list. On Tuesday, it's the next person. On Wednesday, it's the next person. And the more you learn about them, the more accurately you can pray. So that's step one. Five people that you're praying for.

So now, think about this. By the end of the first week, you'll have prayed consistently. for five lost people. That is a beautiful thing. And as a Christian, being in this person's life, they now have someone going to the Lord on their behalf that they didn't have before. But it can't stop there. I think a lot of us feel like we've done our spiritual work once we've started praying for someone, but there's something else you need to do.

You need to try once a month to have a very intentional conversation with that person. Once a month. Now that conversation is meant for relationship development. And once a month, isn't that frequent? That's only 12 times a year. You're not going to get real deep with somebody. You only see 12 times a year, but it's a goal that.

I think you can accomplish and I think you should set goals that you can actually do. Not just , Hey, I've been neglecting this, so I'm going to go do it. Like when I was like, Hey, I've been neglecting my health, so I'm going to go to the gym twice a day, every single day. It doesn't last long. Don't do that with this.

It would be great if you could talk to them once a week, but let's start with one once a month and you're just going to, Intentionally get to know them in a way that serves them well. So you're not in the relationship to get them to like you, like most relationships. You're not trying to talk and add to the conversation in a way.

It's like, Oh yeah. And then I did this and you're going to love my story about the way my kid's doing that. And let me give you this awesome piece of advice that I learned. These are the kinds of relationships that you build by asking a lot of questions, by being genuinely curious about the person, instead of while they're talking, thinking of what you're going to say next, actually listening and thinking and processing and responding to what they said, not just what you want to say.

Really invest in the person, take an interest in them. Don't make it weird. Be like a normal person in your conversations, but be a real interested, invested kind of a person. Start to be a really good friend to that person. And then once a quarter. You're going to make sure that that conversation takes a spiritual turn.

 That's a tricky one. This is where it starts to get a little intimidating, but you can do it. You've learned a bunch of stuff about them over the three months leading up to this quarterly spiritual conversation. And you might be able to say, Hey, I remember last month you were telling me about your aunt in the hospital.

I just wanted you to know, I've been praying for her. every day or whatever, be honest. But I've been praying for her since you mentioned that to me. How's she doing? It might be able to lead that a little further and go, Hey, do you ever pray? You just bring it up. You just ask them. You don't have to like force it down their throat right now.

You're just turning the conversation in a spiritual direction so that you can get a bead on where they're at spiritually. You're investing in them. And then over time you might. gain enough relational equity that you really can start to make those conversations a little more pointed. Hey, I've been praying for you every Monday.

I hope that's not weird, but I have been, and I'd like my prayers to be the most effective that they can be. Can you tell me some specific things I could be praying for? And then you follow up. Hey, I prayed for this thing you asked me to. How'd that turn out? You know, you turn in the just a little bit and eventually you're going to have an opening.

that you need to take, where it's like, okay, I'm going in. Hey, I've been praying for you. I know you've been really worried about this. Wanted to tell you something I read in the Bible about worry. Here's what Jesus said, and I wondered, are you interested in having that kind of relationship with Christ?

Where you wouldn't have to worry about these things because you know that Jesus who made you Who died to save you and you, who you're trusting your soul with. He's going to, he knows how to care for you. You can open up in those things, or maybe, you know, you've invested in them. You're in a small town, somebody dies.

You both end up at the same funeral. Hey, do you ever think about what happens to you when you die? What do you think will happen to your soul? What do you think about what that pastor said at the funeral? Those kinds of things begin to open themselves up as you invest in other people over time. So again, let me review that.

You're gonna pray for five people a week, one a day. You're going to try to have a spiritual conversation with each of those people once a month. That's five spiritual conversations a month. That's quite a bit, really. And then once a I'm sorry, that's just five investments, not spiritual conversations. And then that's once a quarter, where you turn it spiritual.

And you try to have that conversation go in that direction quarterly. Those are just goals to help you. You know, those aren't set in stone. Now I've committed, I'm doing this thing and I got to do it on this day and force it in there. But you should make a real genuine effort to do those kinds of things.

And you got it all in your notes app. I throw it right on my calendar. I have it to pray for these people right on my calendar. And I do try to make an effort to have those kinds of conversations really regularly with these people. You're also going to get the one off conversations. Here's, how I started to think about these.

They're really, really low risk. You know, you sit next to somebody on an airplane, super low risk. You're never going to see that person again. And any little bump on an airplane can be like, Hey, that was a pretty bumpy flight, wasn't it? That was kind of scary. What do you do when you get scared? You know, now you're starting down that road or, You can get to the point of bringing up something that happened at church.

That's another easy way to do it. Cause you go to church every week, you're talking to this person. You're like, Oh, at my church, this happened. And then you get to, Oh, are you a church goer? You know, do you, do you have any kind of faith that you're pursuing? You just open these things up. You get. An opportunity to just slip in there what the gospel is.

I had an opportunity on a plane not long ago. It was night time and we were flying over a city. It was Detroit, and we were looking at how bright it is, and then I pointed out how dark it is not far outside of that. And I just said, you know, as a Christian, that's a pretty cool image for me. Because I think of the way that Christ came in the world as light, and He lit up the darkness, kind of like that city down there.

And trusting in Christ alone as your Savior, you get brought out of the darkness into the marvelous light. You know, it, It was kind of Christian y sounding. I was trying to say Bible stuff and I got a representation of the gospel out there. And that actually did lead to a further conversation. About those things.

Another flight. It was one of those where it was scary and we were able to talk about what happens to you when you die. You know, it's low risk. It's scary to do to bring it up, but you know, you're only going to be next to him a couple hours at the most. So let her rip tater chip. You can do it. It's these closer relationships.

The ones in your circle that I think we need to think. The most about because those will be the relationships that we have the most equity in, but those are also the higher risk relationships. And I would just say to that, it's still low risk because Jesus Christ has given you his approval, and you don't need the approval of man.

And Christ will sustain you. He'll care for you. He will Work together all things for your good. So you don't have to worry about What that fallout of that relationship is I know it's a lot easier to say that than it is to live that But as people of faith, we just need to trust what the Lord says is true and take those steps of faith So I want to encourage you pray for opportunities to share the gospel pray that the Lord will give you boldness Get it on your radar.

I think some days we just don't mean to not share the gospel But we don't think about it actively enough so Put it on your calendar, put it on your notes app, get some people you're regularly praying for, and see if the Lord would be happy to use this as part of the rhythm of your life to share the gospel.

I think you're going to find that He is very happy to use you in that way, and you're also going to find there's really no greater joy than watching other people come alive as they hear the good news that you came alive when you heard So just to review, you have all kinds of people in your life.

You want to be praying for those people. You want to have spiritual conversations with those people. You want to invest in them like real people and try to be a real good friend to them and trust the Lord. He's going to help you. Keep your eyes open to opportunities to share the gospel and take advantage of those that Christ gives you as a good steward of every moment of every day.

For now, though, why don't we get back to life back to Rurality.