Romans 10:14-17 "But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God! But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.” Today's episode talks about How important it is to talk about Jesus. How can people listen to us if we aren't talking? Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Are We Talking About Jesus?
Romans 10:14-17 "But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God! But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.”
We are all called to evangelization. What does evangelization even mean? According to the diocese of Trenton “Evangelization means bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself.” This could look different for each one of us. I have a friend who feels called to share the Psalms with those he meets. When he does people are often moved to tears and it opens doors for him to talk about other parts of the Bible. I have another friend who likes to spend time mentoring women in all that Jesus wants for them. She meets people right where they are and uses the scriptures and applies them to how they can live their lives in a big way. Some people like to go out onto the streets and talk to the homeless people about God and Jesus. Other people like to go door to door asking if they can share the Good News of the Jesus with all those they meet.
There isn’t one special way that you have to evangelize. There also isn’t a set rule on who you have to evangelize too. Sometimes we might feel more comfortable talking about Jesus within our family. We might talk about Jesus to our siblings, our parents, or even our children. Other people might feel uncomfortable talking about Jesus with their family but they are perfectly fine talking about him to strangers or to their friends. Whatever feels best for you, that is a great place to start. I say a great place to start because sometimes it is good to step outside of your comfort zone and try something new. It’s great if you start be talking about Jesus with those you feel more comfortable doing, but then over time, as you become more and more comfortable talking about Jesus, you can branch out and start talking to others about Him.
The verse above says, "But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it?” We live in a world where there is so much noise and so many distractions. We don’t know who to listen to these days. This verse is saying, how can we call for help when we don’t know who we can trust. And how can people know they can trust Jesus if we aren’t talking about Him. If they don’t know who He is? It is our job, each and everyone of us, to teach the world who Jesus really is and that they can trust Him. Even if you just start with your spouse or your children, tell them about Jesus. Tell them about all of God’s promises that Jesus came to fulfill. Tell them they can trust Jesus. God is our comfort, our shield and our protector. If you didn’t already know that, wouldn’t you want to? I am not talking about going out and forcing your beliefs on others. I am talking about sharing the Good News with those willing to listen.
Next the verse says, “That’s why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God!” How great would it be if we were all talking about God? The verse is saying that it would be so beautiful it would take our breath away if we saw grand processions of people telling all the good things of God! Doesn’t that sound like something you want to be a part of? Doesn’t that sound exciting? Can you picture it? Instead of being afraid to talk about your faith because you don’t want to offend anyone, you freely walk down the streets proclaiming the Good News of Christ Jesus. When I picture that I think of a time when we used to vacation at this military place called “Fourth Cliffs.” We would go camping there over the fourth of July weekend. Each 4th of July they would have a little parade. This parade consisted of a pick up truck with and American Flag attached to it. Anyone who wanted to participate in the parade walked behind the truck shouting “Happy Birthday America!” and “Happy 4th of July.” It was so much fun. When I hear the part of this verse that says “a grand procession,” I picture a whole bunch of people out in the streets talking about how amazing Jesus is!
The verse also says, “But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act.” We can’t do anything about those that are not ready to see, hear or act. That is a job for God. God needs to soften their hearts, open their eyes and ears. We are not responsible for the fruit of our labor. It is not our job to make sure everyone we talk to hears what we are saying. It is only our job to say it. We don’t have to put pressure on ourselves to say the right thing to everyone all the time. We don’t have to stress about not knowing what to say. If we just follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, God will take care of the rest. God will make sure what we say takes root in the people we are talking to. We don’t have to worry about that. God is so good!
Next the verse says, “Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: “Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?” I like how this says, we all ask at one time or another. I think this is so true. Especially if we have children. We teach them the ways of God, we tell them about Jesus and how much He loves them and then yet we often have no idea if they are hearing what we are saying. Do they believe all that we are saying, do they believe any of it? What about our friends and family members? Do they believe what we are saying? Are they even listening?
The verse ends with, “The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ’s Word is preached, there’s nothing to listen to.” This brings us back to the beginning. It is not our job to make sure everything we say is heard or understood, that is God’s job. Our job is just to get the information out there. Before anyone can trust they need to listen and if we aren’t talking about Jesus, then there isn’t anything for them to listen to. Take a moment and think about how many people you meet throughout your day. Think about how you could incorporate Jesus into the conversation. Maybe think up a few one liners about Jesus or God that could really fit into most conversations. Or, practice listening to the Holy Spirit, so you can know when He is prompting you to share the Good News of Jesus to someone. Think of how you can share Jesus with your friends and family. One great way is to love them. Sometimes we teach people more with our actions than we ever could with our words. Especially if we are talking about Jesus and yet we are not loving people and treating them with respect. In that case our actions will be much louder than our words and they won’t hear anything we are saying. We are all called to share the Good News of Jesus. How you do that is up to you and God. Ask Him how He wants you to share and He will tell you.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we don’t want to keep you to ourselves, we want to share you with others, please help us. Show us how you want each one of us to share with those around us. Give us the courage to share even when we might be nervous or scared. Help reassure us that you will guide us in what to say if we ask and if we listen to you guiding us. Lord, we love you and we want everyone to love you. Please help us tell about all the amazing things that make you so incredible. You are the almighty one. You are the King of Kings and the Lord or Lords. We are so very grateful for all you do for us and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Tomorrow’s witness will be our friend Robert L. again. This week he will be sharing with us some amazing things he has witnessed. I know you will really enjoy his witness. If you haven’t been listening regularly, I want to share some exciting news you may not have heard. I wrote a book and it is out in the world!! I am very excited. The book is called Total Trust in God’s Safe Embrace. It is about 15 different ways you can grow in your trust with the Lord. I have had to trust God a lot over the years and in doing so I was always searching for and praying for ways to increase that trust. This book is a compilation of all those ways I found. My trust in the Lord is deep now and I know it is because of the things listed in this book. I hope you check it out. If you have bought the book and you have read it, would you consider leaving a review on Amazon, or emailing me a review for my website? The more reviews on Amazon the more people will discover my book and it can help them as well. Thank you for all your support! Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!