On Wednesday the entire population of project walked to the beach and shared the gospel.
Emotions regarding this afternoon activity were all over the board varying from nervousness to excitement. The best part of sharing the gospel is you start to realize where you stand yourself. Your own beliefs, insecurities, and questions are uncovered by the simple arguments non-believers present.
Right before walking to the beach for the first time to evangelize, Alberto Ramos offered up knowledge on establishing evangelism through hands on training and discussion. He talked about what the Gospel is and what it is not. First, he asked us to write down and describe what we thought the Gospel is. Many responses stated it is sharing what God did through the death of His son, Jesus, on the cross (Romans 1:16-17). Then Ramos brought up what the Gospel is not by listing several things:
- Is not good news without bad news
- A call to perfection
- A formula
- The Basics (Meaning, the Gospel is not ABC’s, but A through Z).
- Good Advice
Alberto went on to discuss four points: (1) Who is God, (2) Who are we, (3) What God has done, and (4) How should we respond.
- Who is God? Acts 17:5 says we cannot serve God. We cannot serve someone who cannot be served because He does not need us to serve Him—He is all powerful. Colossians 1:15-20 says we are not like God because we are human.
- Who are we? We are broken image bearers of the true King. Genesis 1:27 says we were created in His image, but we are sinful, so we are broken. Colossians 1:21 and Colossians 2:13 back up who we are also.
- What has God done? God has made a way. Colossians 1:13-14 says He has not only delivered us from sin, but transferred us. Colossians 2:13-14 proves Jesus paid our debts. 2 Corinthians 5:21 claims God made Jesus to become sin in order to take our own upon Himself.
- So, how should we respond? By faith—we should respond with overwhelming faith. Our heavenly father wants nothing from us. All He desires is us to want Him back. God has not only desired us but sought after us when we were sinners. Even when we did not want Him, He ran after us and continues to do so. He wants our attention—our lives. He also wants us to share with others.
Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
-Proverbs 24:11
To evangelize, we used the Bridge to Life diagram.
We based our evangelism on Romans 6:23—For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Basically, we offered a bridge to fill the gap to life. People truly believe there are different paths to God, but only one leads to eternal life. The Biblical way is found within Romans 6:23. The left cliff, where we are stuck before accepting Christ into our hearts, finds us burdened and cut off from God due to the wages of our sins and our eternal death due to those sins. Wages, sin, and death are three words that can describe non-believers and the unsaved. However, on the right side God stands calling out to us. He is offering, through Jesus, a free gift—something without cost. Words to describe the cliff that God stands on are: free gift, God, and eternal life.
So, how do we bridge the gap? Well, we bridge it through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. However, receiving Christ requires repentance and trust. We must turn away from rebellion and trusting that good works can save us because they cannot. Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly points out we cannot save ourselves.
Three questions we must ask ourselves are:
- Which side of the chasm are you on?
- Which side do you want to be on?
- What is keeping you from trusting Jesus?
Really, you are asking yourself if you see yourself as your own savior or if you see Jesus Christ as your eternal key and savior.
Before accepting Christ to bridge the gap between us and God, we are sinful and try to save ourselves with good deeds, religion, mortality, and philosophy. However, John 14:6 clearly points out the only way we can be saved, such as described in the image below.
There are four things we must recognize when a person receives Christ:
- God forgives all of your sins – Colossians 2:13
- You become a child of God – John 1:12
- You will never be separated by God’s love –Romans 8:38-39
- The Spirit of God dwells in you – Ephesians 1:13-14
We are no longer condemned to eternal Hell. Jesus Christ saved us from that horrible, everlasting death—how blessed are we?!
