SHARING THE GOSPEL

STEP 2 - SHARING YOUR TESTIMONY
CHAPTER 12 - DEVELOPING YOUR TESTIMONY

GUIDE TO START SPIRITUAL CONVERSATIONS

Billions of people in the world today are ready to hear an explanation of how the Christian faith could change their futile lives. However, most will continue to walk through life without knowing the saving power of God's grace. I have listed five ways you can take to prepare yourself to share the Gospel and your own testimony:

STEP ONE: Pray for non-Christians and ask God to show you those people in your life whose hearts are ready to hear the Gospel message.
STEP TWO: Be ready to share at all times. Invite those that God puts on your heart out for a cup of coffee and share your testimony in a relaxed setting. If they show interest, give them a Bible, a New Testament Bible, or a Gospel tract they can listen to.
STEP THREE: Ask the person where they are on their spiritual journey and listen to their answer carefully. Be interested and engaged in what they are saying.
STEP FOUR: Share your own personal story (testimony).
STEP FIVE: Explain how they can receive Christ as their own personal Savior. (Explained in later study guides.)

Two Steps Need More Clarification:
You should be able to give individuals the story of how you became a Christian in step 4, and you should be able to show them God's plan of salvation in step 5 (Explained in later study guides.)

Your Story Is God's Story
God is pleased with us when we tell our story/testimony. No matter how incredible or average you think it is, your story is a story about God working in your life. It is your first-hand testimony of how God saved you from sin and death through Jesus Christ and transformed your life as a result. When we talk about our story with people, we help them learn what God is like and how He can transform their lives as well. We give all glory and honor to Him.

Always Be Ready For An Opportunity To Share
Whether you are at the grocery store, with family or friends, work, school, or someone approaches you, the Bible tells us in 1 Peter 3:15-16: Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

We often think that since we are the subject of our own testimony, we don't need to do anything to share our story with others. Without proper preparation, we may become anxious and fearful about sharing at all. While telling our story, we may end up side-tracked. Our story may become confusing and too complicated for others to understand. This is why preparation, planning, and practice can be beneficial for us and for those listening. As we become more prepared, God will give us more opportunities to share our testimony.

How often do you share your testimony? Be honest with yourself.

Valuable And Practical Tips

• Pray before you write out and talk about your story.
• Study personal testimonies from the Bible like Paul the Apostle in Acts 22:3-21 and in Acts 26 Paul before King Agrippa.
• Write down what you would like to say.
• Don't be too negative or positive. Be truthful and sincere.
• Don't knock or name any church, religion, organization, or faith.
• Consider your listener(s). Stay clear of overly-religious phrases.
• Keep it brief and concise. Aim to tell your testimony in three to four minutes.
• Practice and rehearse telling your story until it becomes natural.

Your Story Is God's Story - Creating Your Testimony
Invest Time in Preparing and always be in Prayer. A few things to consider before writing your testimony: Consider your life before meeting Christ. What was happening in your life before accepting Jesus? What issues and needs were you dealing with at that time in your life? How did your life turn around? Always pray and ask the Spirit to help you share what He desires for that individual.

Questions To Help You Get Started:

• How have you experienced God in your life?
• Did God respond when you asked for help, if so, how did He respond?
• How has your life changed since accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior?

Choose a theme that fits your testimony and that is relatable to the listener:

BEFORE	AFTER
Rebellion	Surrender
Despair	Hope
Loneliness	Fellowship
Unforgiveness	Forgiveness
Love	God's Love

IMPORTANT: For the next few study guides, start creating your rough draft testimony using:
THREE SEPARATE SHEETS OF PAPER labeled one BEFORE, one HOW, and one AFTER.
It is beneficial to begin writing a rough draft depicting anything that relates to your testimony. Some suggestions are listed below.

 

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

My Life Before Christ

• How did I live my life before knowing Christ? How can those experiences be relatable to others?
• What did my life focus on?
• Where did I get my stability, uniqueness, and joy from?
• How did those things start to let me down? 

Life Before (1 Minute)
Communicate what your life looked like before you came to Christ.

• What were you looking for before surrendering to Christ?
• What were your primary problems, emotions, circumstances, or attitudes?
• What inspired you?
• What were your responses?
• How did you attempt to gratify your inward needs? How did you deal with feelings of loneliness, anxiety, fear of any sort, self-doubt, etc.?
• Did you fill those needs by focusing on a job, money, drugs, relationships, sex, hobbies, or sports?
• Share some of the good things about your life.
• Describe what was missing from your life and the problem areas.
• Be specific on certain events.
• Seize a person's interest with humor and use vivid word pictures of experiences that individuals can relate to.

How I Came To Christ (1 Minute)

• When was the very first time I heard the Gospel?
• What were my first reactions?
• What about the Gospel made you start to embrace it?
• What situation caused you to turn to Jesus?
• Was there an inward battle in your mind not to accept the Gospel?
• What did you say? (think) (feel) (do)?
• Why did I ultimately choose to accept Christ or give Him total control of my life? 
• What did Jesus do or say that changed you in your life at this point?

How: 

• How were you transformed?
• Talk about situations that led you to think about Christ as the answer to your problems. Take some time to pinpoint the steps and actions that brought you to the place of trusting and relying on Christ.
• Where were you?
• What was taking place at the time?
• What individuals, problems, or issues affected your decision?

Focus on Jesus and how your life changed because of Jesus's action of coming into your life. Do not just center on events in your life.

In some cases, the how of conversion happens over time. If that is the case, have your focal point on one or more compelling moments of the process by using the same above questions.

My Life After Coming To Christ (1 to 2 Minutes)

• In what ways is my life different now? Mention some certain changes and improvements in your character, personality, mindset, and point of view on life.
• What inspires and encourages me now?
• What do I live for now?
• Although my life still isn't perfect, how does knowing and understanding Christ help me to deal with that fact?

Life After: 
Give some differences in your life by comparing the "Before" to the "After." Example: Something new has started in me, before I would do such and such. Then I stopped, and I do this instead.

• Tell how your life in Christ has made a difference.
• How has His forgiveness affected you?
• How have your ideas, feelings, mindsets, and emotions changed?

Share how Christ is satisfying and fulfilling your needs and what a personal relationship with Him means to you today. Do not give the impression that your life is perfect or that you are perfect. Give credit to God that He is the one transforming you in all your imperfections. Present it as your relationship with the Lord. End with a summary and an invitation for them to accept Christ using Bible verses of your choosing.

Things To Do:

• Always focus on Jesus. - Express and illustrate God's actions in your life, not just the events.
• Be concise (short and sweet), honest, and clear. Seize the essence and impact of what Jesus has done in your life.
• Retain a balance between the Before, the How, and the After.
• Always remember to be brief, clear, and most importantly, Christ-centered.

Things Not To Do:

• Do not preach or speak as if giving a mini teaching course.
• Do not magnify sin with too much detail. Relate to the age of the listeners.
• Do not give unnecessary information or events.
• Do not use Christian terminology like born again, backslid, saved, amen, hallelujah, Praise God, etc.
• Do not blame others for all your problems. Take personal responsibility for your mistakes.
• Do not speak of your old life too harshly as the individual might be in that same place right now.
• Do not be too aggressive. You need to do this or you are going to hell. Be more invitational, like saying, "Jesus can do the same in your life."
• Do not exaggerate, inflate, or magnify your testimony for effect. Tell the truth of what God has done for you.

 

TIPS ON WRITING OUT YOUR STORY

Summary of Useful Tips:

• Pray before you create and share your testimony. Ask God for wisdom and discernment and the best words to say.
• Prepare and write down what you want to say.
• Be truthful. Do not exaggerate or overdramatize your life experience. The truth of how God has transformed your life is all the Holy Spirit requires of you to share. He can use your testimony to convict others of their own sin and their need for Jesus's saving grace in their life.
• Strive and focus on keeping your story to three to four minutes. Sharing with others in just a few minutes is more beneficial to the listener than a drawn-out lengthy discussion. Keeping things short ensures that the other person will more than likely not get bored with what you are saying.
• Be specific using occasions, real feelings, and personal understanding to clarify your points. This makes your testimony real that others can connect and relate to.
• Be up to date. Say what is taking place in your life with God today.
• Stick to the main topic of your transformation and your brand-new life in Christ. Do not get side-tracked. Stay focused.
• Practice your testimony out loud many times until you feel comfortable with it. Then ask a good Christian friend to listen to your story and provide feedback.

Sharing Your Story
The Lord can and wants to use each of us to bring others to Christ. Ask God for opportunities to talk about your own personal testimony and the Gospel message with the lost. When you share your story, God is then responsible for transforming that individual's heart. You are called to be prepared to share what God has done in your life.

It is essential that sharing is not to be a one-way conservation. It's an opportunity to reveal you care by paying attention and taking a real interest in the other person's story as well. Asking questions of the other person is an excellent way to engage the other person in the conversation. Using these questions may be helpful:

• What was your religious experience as a youngster?
• What have you discovered in your spiritual experience since then?
• Where are you in your spiritual understanding and journey today?

Leave The Outcomes To God
Tell your story with the power and strength of the Holy Spirit and leave the end results to God. No matter how somebody responds and reacts, keep praying for them. You may never know and understand how the Lord will move in somebody's life down the road.

Keep in mind sharing your story with someone may not produce the desired response. This does not mean you have failed. Don't think in terms of what you want to get out of it for yourself. Of course, we all want to share the Gospel with someone and have them immediately accept what we say and, in response, invite Jesus into their life. This makes us feel good. But if this doesn't happen right away, we feel like a "failure," and we may get discouraged and never share with someone again. Keep the focus off of whether you "fail" or have success. It's about the individual you are speaking to, someone God loves and desires to be in a relationship with. You simply tell them the need and the benefits of having Jesus as their Lord and Savior. You have planted the seed and possibly watered it as well. That is what counts. Let God grow it.

Has God brought anyone to your mind to share your story with? Go for it!

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved(Ephesians 2:4-5).

 

Example Of A Personal Testimony

Part 1: Life Before Christ - Background:

• As a child, I went to church a few times a year, but I never liked going as I got older.
• I knew there was a God but never connected the dots.
• Throughout my teen years, I never really thought much about God.
• When I was 18, I left home. I started partying, and I got mixed up in the wrong things: light drugs, stealing, and drinking.
• At age 20 I met a person in a course I was taking that took me out for coffee, shared the Gospel, and gave me a Bible. That had a tremendous impact on my life as I started to think about God and having a relationship with Him.
• I started reading the Bible during a bad time in my life; however, I did not understand much.
• I learned that God created me to follow His perfect plan and to have a personal relationship with Him. I understood that God gives us a choice to follow Him or to follow our own way. I realized I made the choice to follow my own will and way. By doing that, I was rejecting Him and being disobedient to His perfect will and plan for my life.

Part 2: How - Conversion Experience:

• I met a young lady one year later and offered her a joint. Instead of taking the joint, she invited me to a church service.
• I still remember everything that happened that night. I learned why Jesus died on the cross and rose again to give me a new life. Sin separates me from Him (Isaiah 59:2). Thankfully, God still loves me and came to earth in the flesh as Jesus, God's Son, who died to take away our sins. He promises and guarantees that we can have a relationship with Him only through faith in Jesus Christ. I understood that a relationship with Him is a gift from God, not out of my own doing. (Ephesians 2:8-9:  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.)
• I decided to turn my life over to God, and God forgave me of all my failures and disobedience. I invited Jesus into my life that night through prayer.
• That night God forgave me. I replaced rebellion with surrender, loneliness for fellowship with God's Son, despair replaced with eternal hope. I was always searching for love and fulfillment in the wrong places. I then started down a new path of experiencing God's love.
• I did not understand everything that happened that night. All I knew was that God came and changed me. As I drove off that night, three vices were gone. I still had one vice left to wrestle with for a few more years.
• I can say for a fact that once I decided to turn my life over to God, He started to work in me. That night I confessed and declared to God that I was lost, and I knew I could not save myself. I asked Jesus to come into my life so that I could begin living for Him.
• I simply "believe" in faith that I accepted Christ. He wants what is best for me.   Following my own desires was not the best for me.

Part 3: After - Life With Christ

• From that point on, my life changed. Some areas changed completely and some progressively.
• I married the young lady who invited me to the church service a year later.
• I started going to a caring Church where I learned more about God.
• I started talking to God (praying) and reading the Bible at home.
• I had a real thirst to know God better and grow in Him like a sponge soaking up everything.
• My relationship with my Savior became my number 1 priority.
• And to this day, God, by His Holy Spirit, is still working on specific areas. I am a work in progress in God's eyes.
• I'm not perfect; however, I am now a different and unique person. Since I asked Jesus to take control and charge of my life, God provides me the power and grace to overcome sin in my life and helps me keep away from sin. I don't trust in my efforts anymore because I know that God will take care of me. I just trust and believe in Jesus and tell others about Him because of all the joy He's given me.
• God had an exciting and amazing plan prepared for my life. He has the same for yours.
• Jesus said in Revelation 3:10: Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
• Right now Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and knocking. Will you let Him in?









THE FIELD IS CALLING US (John 4:35)
Yes, the vineyard is calling us to share the Good News because so many are lost. There are 7.8 billion people on the earth today, and very few of them know the Savior. According to the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association report, there are 360,000 births every 24 hours and 170,000 deaths every 24 hours. This means an 83 million increase every year. Every day another 74,000 people across the globe come to faith in Christ. That is 3,083 new fellow believers every hour of every day. (Status of World Evangelization 2018 - Joshua Project)

10% - .76 Billion - Christ Followers
22% - 1.67 Billion - Nominal Christian Adherents
39% - 2.97 Billion - Heard, Not Responded
29% - 2.20 Billion - Virtually No Exposure
More than half the individuals in the world do not understand the Way of Salvation. God's Word is calling us to win souls. For that reason, not to win souls is to be guilty of indifference and not caring in our Christian walk. "Then he said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." (Matthew 9:37).



JESUS HAS CHOSEN US (John 15:16)
Jesus is counting on us to be productive. "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you." (John 15:16).

Notice that Jesus is not just worried about Quality, however, but also Quantity. In John 15:2, He speaks of being more fruitful, "He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

In John 15:5, He mentions bringing forth more fruit, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Not winning souls is to be guilty of the sin of the absence of love for Jesus, who has picked us to bear fruit.


JESUS IS OUR EXAMPLE FOR US (Luke 4:18)
Jesus, our ideal example, blazed a trail in soul winning. Soul winning was the heart of Jesus and must be our heart's desire too. "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10). In Matthew 9:36, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."







THE APOSTLE PAUL DEMONSTRATED IT FOR US (Romans 9:2-3)
Paul, our human example, demonstrated how Christians should go after the lost. He had a passion for souls. He was going from house to house day and night warning them. The Apostle Paul demonstrated that soul winning is done personally and from home to home in Acts 20:20-21. Apostle Paul talked to everybody he met. He believed that men, women, and children were lost, and he loved them, and tried to win them.

"To the weak, I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some." (1 Corinthians 9:22).




THE EARLY NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANS ADOPTED IT
Yes, this was the goal of the early church, preaching the Gospel and witnessing to everyone. "Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah." (Acts 5:42). Every circumstance became an opportunity to tell the Gospel. Persecution was added fuel to their way of life shown in Acts 8:4, "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." They were in a continual revival, with souls being added to the church daily.

MAY GOD HELP US TO ADOPT SOUL-WINNING AS THE THEME OF OUR CHURCH ACTIVITIES.


OUR SALVATION IS COMPELLING US (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Our salvation experience is compelling us. A light on a hill cannot be hidden, and neither can a soul be silent that has experienced the saving grace of God. One cannot sit on a pin quietly, nor can we be quiet once having had an encounter with the Son of God.
Andrew had to find Peter and tell him. (John 1:41).
Philip had to go tell his brother Nathaniel. (John 1:45).
The Samaritan woman had to tell the whole city. (John 4:40-42).
Paul could not keep quiet about it. (Acts 4:20).

Dear friend, if you really have met Jesus, you will have to tell someone about it. Not to do so is to deny the Lord that bought you.


 



WHAT A CARING, COMPASSIONATE GOD WE SERVE
Jesus always has a special place in his heart for the weak, brokenhearted, and rejected among His people. Compassion and concern for the downtrodden and oppressed are rooted in the very nature of our God. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27).

God still wants and desires to do amazing things for his followers, who follow Him in loving and compassionate giving. This is a far-reaching and significant truth that we would do well to utilize in our day-to-day living.

"For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you invited me in." (Matthew 25:35).


STOP AND PONDER!
God saved you by His Grace; God always keeps you saved by His Grace; God directs and guides you by His Grace; God makes it possible for you to work for Him by His Grace.

God takes care of you with love, joy, and peace in this present life for serving and working for Him by His Grace; God rewards you in heaven for having served others for Him on the earth. SUCH GRACE!

Absolutely, God is good, and with the Psalmist, we must say, "What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?" (Psalms 116:12).

I love the Lord, don't you? Share the Gospel Message!

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21 Day Challenge
Sharing our faith is among our urgent calls as followers of Jesus. Discover the heart of evangelism and exciting techniques you can utilize to help you reach others for Christ.




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