Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #120： Overcoming Fear in Evangelism

00:00:00.000 Welcome to this episode of Real Christianity.

00:00:11.240 My name is Dale Partridge, where each week I offer 15 to 20-minute answers to tough theological

00:00:16.600 and pastoral questions.

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00:00:35.680 just visit relearn.org forward slash house. All right, are you guys quiet Christians? Would you 0.96

00:00:43.660 identify yourself as a quiet Christian? Do you have strong convictions, but when you look at

00:00:49.600 your life, you haven't shared the raw biblical gospel with even, say, one person this year?

00:00:57.280 Are you tired of being passive or fearful when it comes to talking about the gospel or proclaiming

00:01:07.080 the gospel? Are you ready to speak up for righteousness? Well, stay tuned because today

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00:05:05.260 Okay, so jumping into the question.

00:05:08.440 I know we're already about four or five minutes into this episode.

00:05:11.440 So today's question is from Jeff in Atlanta.

00:05:15.940 Atlanta, Georgia, and he asked the question, Pastor Dale, I'm an introvert by design,

00:05:21.060 but I'm passionate about the gospel. That said, the current political climate and the growing

00:05:26.600 hostility towards Christians, especially here in cities like Atlanta, has made me more timid

00:05:33.900 toward public ministry than ever before. I want to speak up, but the intimidation and verbal

00:05:40.080 attacks are very real here. How can I get past this fear and be more public about the private

00:05:47.220 convictions that I have radiating within me? Great question, Jeff. Thank you for writing in.

00:05:53.960 You're not alone in this question. I think that we're actually having many people who are trying

00:05:59.280 to overcome the fear of evangelism or the fear of the proclamation of God's truths in our world.

00:06:07.400 So I think that we're dealing with two things when you ask this question.

00:06:11.280 The first and most obvious issue, I believe, is the fear of man.

00:06:15.680 But the second is really an issue of disobedience.

00:06:19.880 And I know that can seem like a heavy word, but we're going to break that down later in

00:06:25.280 this episode.

00:06:25.900 But let me start with the fear of man, and then I'll move on.

00:06:29.460 Let me tell you a short story.

00:06:31.620 I think this would be a great way to start this episode.

00:06:34.460 In the 1960s, Sabina Wurmbrand, she's the wife of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, they were living in

00:06:42.600 the incredible fear of communism in Romania. And in an outdoor event of some kind, the government

00:06:52.000 officials were disrespecting the name of Christ. And Sabina asked her husband a question. She said,

00:06:58.780 are you going to let these men throw mud in the face of Christ? And he responded to her,

00:07:04.200 if I say something, you won't have a husband any longer. And she said, well, I don't want a coward

00:07:09.800 for a husband. Speak up. And he did. And he preached the truth and he won the crowd, actually.

00:07:16.640 Later, he paid for his boldness in a variety of ways. And he was experiencing years of torture

00:07:24.280 in a communist prison just for being a Christian and not letting people, letting them know where

00:07:32.320 other Christians were staying. He actually lived through this and is now the founder of the 0.89

00:07:37.780 ministry, The Voice of the Martyrs. And you can actually watch this incredible story if you go

00:07:43.760 to Amazon Prime and you look up the documentary. It's a docudrama called Tortured for Christ.

00:07:49.320 you can get that story there. Dr. Garrett Higbee, I think he helps us understand the lesson

00:07:55.600 here when he said, the person characterized by a fearful heart has a propensity to make an idol

00:08:03.900 of security. The person who chooses to not deal with a fearful heart always ends up with spiritual

00:08:11.480 paralysis, the fear of man, and a shaken faith." End quote. The only person the Bible gives

00:08:19.000 permission for us to fear is God himself. And sadly, many Christians fear man more than they 0.97

00:08:27.680 fear God. That is that they fear the reaction, the rejection, and the response of other humans more

00:08:34.700 than they fear the disappointment and the disobedience, the discipline of the Lord.

00:08:39.840 And what we forget is that when we fear God, his response back to us is fear not, right?

00:08:49.360 In other words, to fear man as a child of God is to forget the power of God's sovereignty over our lives.

00:08:58.580 He commands us to fear not, right?

00:09:01.180 To live and go without fear.

00:09:03.160 He didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind or of self-control.

00:09:10.060 You will not die one minute before God appointed the time of your death.

00:09:15.960 You will not change the appointed time of your death.

00:09:20.120 You will not be wounded or hurt without God's permission.

00:09:25.360 You will not be rejected without God's permission.

00:09:29.140 We forget that the enemy of this world is called the prince of the power of the air,

00:09:34.380 but he's a prince and he's not the king.

00:09:36.460 And we forget that Satan needed permission to afflict Job.

00:09:40.840 We forget that Jesus said,

00:09:42.960 all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

00:09:46.920 We forget that Ephesians 1.11 says,

00:09:50.960 we have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things

00:09:54.900 in accordance with the plan of his will.

00:09:58.220 So in other words, we forget that nothing can happen to us that the Lord himself has not permitted to occur.

00:10:07.720 This is good news, and here's why.

00:10:10.120 We know that while God has not promised us a life free of sickness or persecution or trial,

00:10:17.440 he has promised us that he will never leave us or forsake us.

00:10:21.540 We have the confidence that even though we may be hated for his name's sake,

00:10:27.540 And though we might be imprisoned or even martyred or wounded or hurt over our testimony of him,

00:10:36.860 we are eternally secure in our life, in our spiritual life, in the hand of God.

00:10:45.240 Proverbs 29, 25 says,

00:10:47.400 The fear of man brings a snare, but one who trusts in the Lord will be protected.

00:10:55.000 And this is, in the Proverbs, there are two types of proverbial sayings.

00:11:00.260 There's axiomatic, which means that they're general principles, but not always true.

00:11:05.980 For example, raise a child in the way they should go, and when they are older, they will not depart from it.

00:11:09.860 We wish that that was an absolute truth, which is the other type of truth, but it's not.

00:11:14.660 It's an axiomatic truth. It's a general principle.

00:11:17.340 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of the wisdom, is an absolute truth.

00:11:21.380 It's not an axiomatic truth.

00:11:22.700 And this is, the scripture here is a absolute truth.

00:11:26.400 The fear of man brings a snare, but one who trusts in the Lord will be protected eternally,

00:11:32.980 right?

00:11:33.660 This is a absolute truth in the Proverbs.

00:11:36.280 Matthew 10, 28 says, this is Jesus's words, do not fear those who kill the body, but are

00:11:43.160 unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body

00:11:48.880 in hell.

00:11:50.180 Sinclair Ferguson once said,

00:11:52.480 The fear of the Lord tends to take away all other fears.

00:11:57.760 This is the secret of Christian courage and boldness.

00:12:02.120 And I agree.

00:12:03.680 To fear is to believe that you, as a slave of Christ, hold the circumstances of your

00:12:11.920 life in your own hands.

00:12:13.500 And as a Christian, this is not true.

00:12:15.060 You have handed over the keys of your life to Christ and vowed to him that he will be Lord. 0.70

00:12:24.600 And you no longer do what you want to do.

00:12:27.840 You do what he wants you to do.

00:12:29.800 And this is why Paul could say in Galatians 2.20,

00:12:33.120 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

00:12:38.360 And the life which I live now in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me

00:12:44.680 and gave himself up for me. And so my first exhortation to you, Jeff, and to all that are

00:12:52.380 listening is to stop fearing. I know this is a difficult thing, and I have my own fears that

00:12:57.840 I've dealt with, so I'm not saying that I don't fear ever, because I do. But our call from on high

00:13:04.340 is to stop fearing and simply be faithful and let the Lord take care of the results.

00:13:11.120 You may be hated by men when you speak, but as a son of the King, you're never going to be hated

00:13:18.140 by God. And that should give us a great confidence and courage. Now let's talk about the second issue,

00:13:25.560 which I believe is just disobedience. The result of fear is always disobedience.

00:13:34.340 Okay, I'm going to say that again. I want you guys to swallow that one and let it just sit in

00:13:38.820 your gut. The result of fear is always disobedience. And that is that most Christians don't start

00:13:47.120 with disobedience by saying, I don't want to be faithful to the Great Commission. That's not what

00:13:51.700 they're saying. It's the other way around. They want to talk about Jesus, but they don't because

00:13:57.160 of their fear. Disobedience is the result of fear. And I'm not sure who originally said this

00:14:07.880 statement, but it always stuck with me. And it says, the Great Commission is not the great

00:14:14.020 suggestion. And sadly, in America and in the West, really, the church here is filled with 0.98

00:14:21.200 fear-laden Christians that result in dead ministries. Okay, dead ministries. I'm not 0.98

00:14:29.340 talking about dead 501c3 ministries. I'm talking about individual Christians with dead ministries.

00:14:37.340 And I want you to ask yourself a question. Do I have a ministry? Ask yourself that. Do I have

00:14:43.680 a ministry? If you're a believer, then the answer is unequivocally yes. But the better question might

00:14:49.760 be. The ministry that I do have, is it fruitful? Do I have a fruitful ministry? And I mean it.

00:14:59.240 Examine yourself. Ask yourself that question. Do I have a fruitful ministry?

00:15:04.660 Is your Christian ministry a priority in your life? And in a world with many ways and opportunities

00:15:12.360 to proclaim the gospel, do you take advantage of them? Do you have a blog or a podcast or a social

00:15:19.320 a media ministry? Do you have a local ministry or a small group or a church program that you're

00:15:23.640 involved with? Do you just share the gospel with those you meet or disciple others that are in

00:15:27.720 your church? These are all valid ways. I'm not saying that you need to have a massive ministry,

00:15:34.120 but do you have any ministry? Are you actually participating in the Great Commission? Or

00:15:43.580 Are you an inactive spectator who just consumes sermons and reads books and opens your Bible

00:15:51.760 every now and then, but never participates in sharing God's truths or the gospel of Jesus

00:15:58.360 Christ with those around you? Jerry Bridges, he once wrote, too often today, we listened to be

00:16:06.260 entertained instead of being instructed, to be moved emotionally rather than moved to obedience.

00:16:14.460 Now, again, I'm not saying that you need to have a ministry like my ministry.

00:16:19.500 No, I'm saying that you get to be faithful with the gifts and the time and the resources

00:16:26.300 and the calling that the Lord has given you.

00:16:29.620 And sharing the gospel, teaching Christians about holy living, studying the word of God,

00:16:33.980 correcting and instructing one another in righteousness, testifying to the world of

00:16:38.820 Christ's love are each commands in scripture.

00:16:41.900 This is what we're called to do.

00:16:42.800 These are not optional activities. These are things that we should be doing on a regular basis.

00:16:49.020 They're wonderful responsibilities of the redeemed. I recently tweeted,

00:16:54.620 if Christ died for you, you should be willing to speak up for him.

00:17:01.260 And Jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. In other words, the evidence of a

00:17:06.560 saved person will be seen by their willingness and eagerness to keep his commandments. And this

00:17:15.460 willingness is not primarily driven by duty, okay? I'm not telling you to go do things. It's

00:17:22.560 driven by gratitude. It's a reaction to the work that Christ has done in your life. You're so

00:17:31.480 incredibly thankful for God's call upon your life and the redemption that you have received

00:17:39.860 that you were not worthy of, that you had no participation in. You're so thankful for what

00:17:46.320 Christ has done for you that you are eager and excited to serve Christ, whatever the cost.

00:17:53.380 And if you don't have the passion, if you're struggling to be grateful for the salvation,

00:18:00.320 which is the seat and the root and the heart of all evangelistic work.

00:18:08.120 If you don't have that, then consider listening to the episode I just did a couple weeks ago.

00:18:13.560 It's episode 114.

00:18:15.720 It's titled, How to Have a Greater Appreciation of Your Salvation.

00:18:21.060 And so, Jeff, trust in God.

00:18:24.260 Trust in God.

00:18:25.020 don't let the fear of man overcome your passion to proclaim the gospel. I've learned that

00:18:32.760 in ministry and in life, the right thing is almost always the hard thing.

00:18:40.160 Faith is difficult in our flesh, but your faithful example, especially in the face of risk,

00:18:48.100 especially in the face of rejection and hatred, will be, I promise, encouraging to those other

00:18:54.260 believers around you. I think it was Billy Graham who once said, courage is contagious.

00:19:00.940 When a Christian man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened. 1.00

00:19:06.920 I think that's true. I think that's true. And I think we're going to see a lot more of that 1.00

00:19:10.580 in the coming years in the Western church. So get out there, brother. Be faithful,

00:19:16.160 preach, write, share, discuss, post, defend, and just leave the results to the Lord.

00:19:24.260 So as always, guys, I'm going to leave you with two resources that will offer further understanding on this topic.

00:19:30.200 And I think that you will appreciate the little collection that I put together for you on this episode.

00:19:35.340 You can find them on the post page for this episode at relearn.org.

00:19:39.640 This is episode 120, titled Overcoming Fear in Evangelism.

00:19:46.640 And the two resources I got for you this time is a video.

00:19:51.200 One is titled, How Do I Overcome My Fear of Evangelism?

00:19:56.220 with Dr. Timothy Bougar.

00:19:59.420 And he is a professor at Southern Seminary.

00:20:03.380 It's a great short video.

00:20:04.560 It's worth watching.

00:20:06.120 And then there's another video by Jeff Durbin

00:20:09.500 titled, Overcoming Fear of Evangelism.

00:20:12.660 And I think it's about a 10-minute video.

00:20:14.520 And I've linked those for you on the website.

00:20:16.940 All the scripture references from this episode

00:20:18.600 will be there as well.

00:20:20.120 So hopefully that'll be helpful for you.

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00:21:09.800 a vibrant and fruitful Christian life.

00:21:12.380 Hopefully this episode was helpful for your journey.

00:21:14.960 I will close with that.

00:21:16.780 My name is Dale Partridge, and I will see you guys next week.

00:21:23.060 Thank you for listening to this episode of Real Christianity.

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00:21:53.500 the show submit your question at relearn.org forward slash question thanks for joining us

00:21:58.980 on this episode of real christianity we will see you next wednesday

Dale Partridge - November 18, 2020

Real Christianity #120： Overcoming Fear in Evangelism

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