How to Evangelize

ABC of Evangelism

The good news for all people is that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ (Romans 5: 1). Sinner’s prayer (taken from Joel Osteen’s broadcast): Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Saviour. Be prepared to tell your own story, what Christ has done for you personally and how knowing Him has changed your life. The following is adapted from the booklet ‘Peace in spite of Panic’ by Charles R. Swindoll:

A. Our spiritual condition: Totally corrupt. We are sinners by nature and by choice.

(God’s verdict!) No one is good – no one in the entire world is innocent. Everybody has turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one (Romans 3: 10-12, The Living Bible translation; Psalm 14: 1-3). It is for a man’s own sins that he will die (Ezekiel 18: 4). All have sinned; all fall short of God’s ideal (Romans 3: 23). For the payback of sin is [eternal] death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ (Romans 6: 23) and should be grasped before it is too late (cf. the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16: 19-31).

B. God’s character: infinitely holy

Be holy for I am holy (1 Peter 1: 16; Leviticus 19: 2)

C. The Solution: A Saviour

Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully human by nature and by choice. Christ is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1: 15). Though he was God, he did not hold onto his rights as God, but laid aside his majesty (sovereign power), and became like men (cf. John 1: 1, 14); he humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross (Philippians 2: 6-8, adapted from The Living Bible). Jesus was without sin but for our sake God exchanged our sin for his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5: 21). All have sinned; all fall short of God’s ideal; being justified (i.e. pardoned) freely by his grace through the redemption (ransom) that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3: 23-24). God has shown how much he loves us – it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us (Romans 5: 8, Today’s English Version). For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom (i.e. payment) for many (Mark 10: 45) to release us from bondage to sin, "for sin shall no longer govern you for you are not under the law but under God's grace" (Romans 6: 14).

For more info, check out the website Christianity 101.