Evangelism (Episode 15) - Peyton Hirt

This week Peyton talks about something that God has put on his heart Evangelism. He talks through personal stories and why it’s important as a believer in Christ.  

Transcript

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Hey guys, welcome to the Hertz Podcast. This is Peyton Hurt. And yeah, kind of like what we talked about last week. If you watched last week's episode, Kelsey went at it alone. I know we had a little introduction together, but in this case, I'm doing the introduction by myself. So just to go into kind of what me and Kelsey did in our week and weeks ahead. This week was very busy doing some volunteer work and something that me and Kelsey are involved in, trying to get a fence done. We had our bridge event this week. This Thursday we had a campfire with games. And that was really enjoyable, really good time. We got to host that. So praise the Lord for that. And yeah, it was just a really, really busy week. Actually, we will be leaving for vacation. So in this case, we have um filming ahead. Not on the day that we usually do. So uh here we are. So getting into this episode, this episode is episode 15. Um, and something that God's put on my heart. I know Kelsey talked about feelings. She did a great job. It was so awesome to see how the Holy Spirit worked through that. Uh, but something that God put on my heart recently and something that I've seen in my life is evangelism. Um again, this has been something that I feel like I've been able to do more often uh and that I've had more opportunities to evangelize to people. Um so you know, you may be asking what evangelism is. Uh it's sharing the good news, it's sharing the gospel, it's sharing Christ with other believers. Um in that aspect. Uh again, people that normally aren't aren't believers and and maybe haven't heard the good news. That that's what us as Christians do. Uh that's what evangel evangelism means. So um to kind of go into our text here uh for what we're gonna be talking about today is Mark 16, verse 15. He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Very short, right? But again, we look at go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation, not just uh, you know, who we think should hear the gospel, it's to all creation. Um so I really think, yeah, I just really think that's cool. I love that verse because it's a it's a statement from Jesus telling us what we should do, and that's that's evangelism, right? We're supposed to go out as believers in in Christ uh to go out and share the good news to people. Um now you may be asking, what does that look like in your life? Um we're gonna kind of go into that. So um let's talk about why we evangelize, right? So again, in in this verse we just read, it says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. So why we evangelize is because we get to share opportunities that that God has done in our lives, right? So um, you know, if that's a testimony, right? Uh, or maybe somebody's going through something and they're having a really hard time, and maybe you think of something that that God could that has helped that God has helped you through that maybe someone else might be going through the same thing, right? Um, so preaching that good news, maybe maybe just praying for them, right? So that those are the reasons we evangelize because if we weren't as Christians, if we weren't able to share um the good news, then nobody would hear it. So it's important that we do. It's important that we share share Christ with other believers. So how how do we evangelize? If you're asked that question, how do we evangelize? Um something for me in my life is the right now, right? Um, and again, I'm gonna get into this, but I have had a lot of evangelism stories at work. That's where a lot of my ministry seems to happen and my evangelism is is at work, right? Because um in the case that I work in, uh again, I'm a union carpenter, uh, work construction. Um there's it's a it's a rough environment, it really is. It's a it's a rough culture. Um so being able to share with like kindness, with uh, you know, just trying to make people laugh and and things like that, like those are things that I try to do to to share Christ with others, but also if they're going through something and they open up to me, I try to um pour into them in a faith-like way and and maybe something that God has done for me. Um so let's look at the verse we read. So if we look at the verse again, God is speaking to the disciples to go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation. That's still, and I still think that applies today, right? That doesn't change. Um, so God is commanding us to go. It's to to go into all the world and preach the gospel. So what does that look like for you in your life, right? Like, again, is it is it work? Is it maybe it's your family, right? Maybe, maybe your family, maybe you need to pour into your family, maybe you need to evangelize to your family. Uh there's it can go so many different ways. There's so many opportunities that we have to evangelize. Uh, and I really think a cool thing to do is is pray for those opportunities, right? Like God gives us those um the desires of our heart, and and I feel like if that's something that we want to pursue, we pray for it and God will put it right in front of us. But we just have to be obedient and and follow what God is going to do in our lives. So um again, kind of like what I was talking about, um, I want to share some stories in my life recently about evangelism. And uh there's somebody that I've been working with. We met for the first time, probably about three years ago on a different job site, and we we just reconnected um at the same place, and it's been cool because there was small hints of where like I would share my faith with him, and it was cool to see the curiosity, um, and he would ask questions, and there was just a time a couple weeks ago where we talked for 25-30 minutes, and it was just so cool the questions that he was asking, and how the Holy Spirit just continued to feed me the answer, uh, to where I was able to like he was kind of getting to the point where he was grasping on to what I was saying, like um, you know, talking about his family, how he needs to lease his family better in a Christ-like way. And I just thought that was awesome, like that was so cool to to share personal experiences and things like that, to be able to help him to understand and just plant the seed and let God water that seed. Um, so yeah, that was really cool. That was really cool to see that um and evangelize that way. Um, another story that I have more recently is um, you know, this is something that I had been praying for. Um but uh I, you know, I was I was praying for this, like, you know, more opportunities at work, um, you know, Christian friends, things like that. And uh probably about going on a month now, I went up to one of the other jobs and and I met a guy. I was working with him. He's he's uh he reminded me of myself when I first got in the trades. And I don't know, I I just decided to share my faith. And and it turned out that that this guy was a believer as well. Um and it was cool because again, I had been praying for this and and God had put it in right in front of me. But I feel like I needed to be obedient and evangelize in that opportunity because God laid it out for me, right? But if I wasn't obedient and I didn't share my faith, that might have never happened, right? That that might have we might have worked together and that might have been it. But this is what I prayed for. I was obedient, um, and and and God again laid out the opportunity for me, and uh I felt like I ri I made the right decision by again the purpose was to evangelize, but coming to find out that um he was he was a brother in Christ as well. So um so that all goes to say, like being an example, using words and correcting people with the good word and good news of Jesus, like that's something that we can do that we can all do at work, right? Uh work outside, right? If you see that someone is down, or maybe there's just an opportunity that that you see arise, um, you know, share, share the gospel. Uh I I know it's scary. I know that sharing our faith to others is intimidating, right? But this is a time where us as believers need to step up and stand firm in what we believe in and share our faith and not hide it. Because I've seen a lot of people try hiding their faith because they're afraid of what culture might view them or how the people around them might see them. Um, you know, and that kind of brings people along just following the crowd, you know, following the crowd, following the world and what the world has to offer. But again, I feel like I believe us as Christians need to stand firm in the faith, evangelize, and and stick up for what we believe in. Um and I'm truthful in that because I think we live in a culture where there's lies, lies all around us, right? Everything is um against what God has to offer. And you look at society, you look at culture, you look at what the world has to offer, and again, it is completely opposite of what God has to offer. So again, my challenge to you is look at your own life. Where in your life can you look to evangelize to somebody? Share the gospel, share the good news. Is that a story in your own life that God has done something for you? Right? I know I used a few examples, um, and I know it's been a long time, but going back to even episode one, uh, when me and Kelsey talked about testimonies, um I think that's a really good way to evangelize, to share the good news because it's your own personal story. Um and I just think that's an awesome thing. I think that we are living testimony every single day. Uh, and I think this is a very deep and important thing that us as believers feel like, oh, well, I'm not good. I I don't have good social skills. You don't need to have good social skills to evangelize. Right? There's there's so many opportunities out there that fear may be holding you back, right? Fear may be just saying the enemy might just be creeping in and being like, yeah, maybe you shouldn't say that because fearful of how they might react. It doesn't matter, it's it's bigger than that, right? That could be the opportunity to plant a seed into somebody's heart and let it maybe let it grow. So kind of wrapping it up, um, evangelism, it it's a it's a great thing. We're commissioned to do it. We're we're literally commissioned to go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation. So again, reflect. Look at what your life um looks like and see and pray. God, where can I evangelize? Where do I have opportunities? Because they're out there, they're out there every single day. There's uh God gives us opportunities and different people to work around every single day. So, yeah, this is this is something I'm very passionate about. Um I like to stand firm, I like to be bold in my faith, and I think I think evangelism in in today's society and culture, because culture rejects truth, is something hard to do. But I'm challenging you guys to do this. Um it's been on my heart. So uh again, I just want to thank you guys for listening. Um and if you guys have made it this far, uh I just want to remind you we are on Apple Podcast, um, Spotify, and YouTube. So um I hope you guys have a good week. Evangelism. Um hope this guy hope this speaks to you guys um and I hope the things that I said uh help you guys to learn and grow. Um and I hope sharing my my personal stories um help you guys to learn as well. So thank you for listening, and we will see you next week.