Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #32： How Ordinary Christians Can Share the Extraordinary Gospel

00:00:00.000 Welcome to episode number one of Real Christianity. Today, we are talking about

00:00:06.140 how ordinary Christians can share the extraordinary gospel.

00:00:10.180 Love it. So, welcome to the first episode. This is the first episode of Real Christianity,

00:00:17.280 which was Ultimate Marriage, for 30 episodes. And we just wanted to expand our genre of

00:00:26.580 conversation around the faith and family space to include more conversations around theology

00:00:33.160 and general Christian life. We are absolutely going to be talking about faith and family

00:00:38.620 and parenting and all those things as well. We are going to hit topics like Sabbath. We're going

00:00:46.400 to hit topics like head coverings. We get that. I mean, how often do you get that? A couple times

00:00:52.600 a month yeah a couple times a month we'll talk more about the church manhood womanhood pornography

00:00:58.300 these are the things that we get to talk about now because there's just more uh availability

00:01:05.240 than just talking specifically about marriage um we also have new microphones if you're watching

00:01:11.520 this on youtube you'll notice hopefully you guys can hear me a little bit better this time

00:01:16.540 or now in general yeah veronica has always struggled with just uh she wants to talk on

00:01:21.600 the mic and she gets backing up like this and then comes back in um so anyways yeah we got some new

00:01:26.080 mics we got some telefunken m82s for those nerds that want to know that but um really great

00:01:32.540 microphones we're excited about that this is a youtube video if you want to watch that it's at

00:01:37.760 the same place that the ultimate marriage youtube videos were it's just to search dale partridge on

00:01:43.140 youtube and you'll find it a whole new playlist uh that we're going to create for real christianity

00:01:47.700 you can also listen to this on itunes and spotify and google play and stitcher and just about

00:01:53.540 anywhere else that podcasts can be listened to the last request we're going to make before we

00:01:58.020 dive into today's conversation is will you continue um actually not continue will you for

00:02:04.960 the first time leave a review yes if you haven't already if you haven't already yeah because it's

00:02:10.700 the same podcast so if you'd like to review before an ultimate marriage it'll actually show up for

00:02:15.060 real christianity we have over 2 000 reviews it's actually like very few podcasts have that really

00:02:21.220 yeah very few podcasts have that many reviews and all you have to do is tap the stars but if you

00:02:28.180 write something we will read it and they are very encouraging to us okay quick update from last

00:02:35.380 week's thing because we said hey we were just beat down tired um we're doing better this week

00:02:42.240 yes we had a little bit of a break um we went away to our little staycation spot about 30

00:02:48.500 minutes away from our house um at this place called brisada ranch and we were there for two

00:02:53.020 nights um and it was it was really good it was good time for us to reconnect um for us to just

00:03:00.440 be friends instead of just husband and wife um and it was fun we exercised together we went swimming

00:03:07.860 in the pool we had an indoor pool because it was like 20 degrees and snowing it was totally

00:03:11.840 like a total blizzard outside but we're swimming and it was really cool because i have this

00:03:15.900 glass garage doors so you can see the snow falling outside while you're swimming in the pool and it

00:03:21.540 was really warm we were twinning on peloton bikes yeah experiencing that and so we had we cooked

00:03:26.960 meals together we read books it was just a good time for us and we are feeling better um we are

00:03:34.060 still not at the end of our trials but we are absolutely feeling better so um okay let's get

00:03:40.480 started we're going to be talking about how the ordinary christian you and i can share the

00:03:46.100 extraordinary gospel so less than five percent of christians will share the gospel with one person

00:03:53.240 per year so it's a pretty i guess depressing stat that less than five we're not the average

00:04:01.380 christian isn't sharing the gospel that often the average christian is not sharing the gospel at all

00:04:06.920 And if they are, they're still not doing it that often.

00:04:09.760 In 2018, I'm going to read some stats here.

00:04:12.380 Barna, the Barna Group, did a study in partnership with the Seed Company, which is another research company,

00:04:18.100 and found that 51% of church-going Christians, okay, this is not just people that call themselves Christians,

00:04:25.320 but church-going Christians in the United States have never heard of the Great Commission.

00:04:31.780 Never heard of it.

00:04:33.160 More than half. 0.97

00:04:34.040 and we thought i thought okay well all right well at least we have hope with the other 49

00:04:39.740 if that's what you're thinking sadly you don't have hope there either because

00:04:44.180 half of that another 25 of that 49 they've heard of the great commission but they have no idea what

00:04:54.220 it is not like like they like i've heard that word before but i don't know what the great commission

00:05:01.100 is. That means that only 25% of the Christians in the Western church know the Great Commission,

00:05:11.400 which I would say is the mission of the church. And I hate relating the church to a business,

00:05:18.940 but I'm going to do it just for a second to get my point across. Imagine any organization

00:05:24.200 in which 75 percent three quarters of the employees or team doesn't know the mission

00:05:32.740 like what kind of result do you get from that failure failure and that's that's exactly where

00:05:40.260 we're at right now yeah before i be um not became a christian but before i entered into biblical

00:05:46.760 community um i had no idea what the great commission was i had heard of it now now that i

00:05:52.080 know what it is i had heard of it i just didn't know it was called the great commission sure um

00:05:56.580 in matthew and you'd been a christian for several years oh yeah i had been a christian i don't know

00:06:01.140 seven eight years probably um but if you don't know what the great commission is let's uh look

00:06:08.240 into scripture in matthew 28 verse 18 through 20 it says and jesus came and spoke to them saying

00:06:15.280 all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all

00:06:20.620 nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching

00:06:25.300 them to observe all things that i have commanded you and lo i am always i am with you always

00:06:30.960 even to the end of the age amen so this is a really important passage of scripture

00:06:37.340 we need to memorize this passage is the great commission this is the great commission go

00:06:43.340 therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father the

00:06:48.820 son of the holy spirit teaching them to obey that i think this is the esv that i pulled from

00:06:53.220 it says observe all that i commanded you well that's a lot that's a lot of work to do and so

00:06:59.940 this is a really important passage this is jesus's last statement before he ascends into heaven it's

00:07:08.020 the very end of the book of matthew and it's the last instruction that he gives the apostles

00:07:14.160 it's written down it's the church's mission i'm not going to necessarily say that it's every

00:07:19.660 individual person's mission we are a part of the church and it's the church's mission

00:07:23.660 so we have to partake in that journey together um now on sunday it's pretty easy to think that

00:07:31.000 well man all the great numbers of baptisms and the decisions for christ i know the church that

00:07:37.580 we used to go to had like totals remember that yeah and then on your what is it called

00:07:43.220 a planner not planner program every week they would have the number of baptisms that year

00:07:50.240 people who have given their lives to christ um you know starting from the beginning of the year

00:07:56.120 or the month yeah and you know we actually have two things working against us though

00:08:00.820 while those numbers are exciting to see and you're seeing people come to the lord

00:08:04.480 right now in the west and even in europe too this is actually a problem that's also happening

00:08:11.000 in Europe. I think it's actually worse in Europe. But in the West, we have two things working

00:08:16.160 against us. First is that more people are leaving than coming. So for the first time

00:08:22.920 in American history, more people are leaving the church than coming. We are paying attention. Our

00:08:28.840 eyes are looked at the door, the entry door. Look at all these people coming. The problem is,

00:08:34.580 is we have not shifted our eyes to the back door where people are leaving. And for a variety of

00:08:40.880 reasons but people are leaving the church more than they're coming to the church at this point

00:08:45.960 and it's important to know that because the big mega churches in america will never let you think

00:08:51.160 that you know they're they're in the business of making sure that it's all about the good stuff

00:08:56.180 and that's i'm not going to say that's all bad but we do have to face reality that we have a problem

00:09:01.960 in the church we are actually diminishing in 2015 this is four years ago almost now

00:09:08.080 uh we saw that there was there wasn't one county in the census there wasn't one county across

00:09:15.560 america i don't know how many counties there are but there's a lot there wasn't one county in which

00:09:21.280 christian population increased that's so sad we're literally decreasing across the country

00:09:28.240 it is absolutely happening and it's at a 1.5 percent decrease in total american christian

00:09:34.800 population per year over the past 10 years. So I'm going to explain that, break that down. I know

00:09:40.700 this is boring for some people that are like, don't like stats, but just bear with me here.

00:09:45.700 That's a loss of 4.8 million identified Christians per year. I kind of like how to calculate these

00:09:52.360 numbers here. So you're not going to, I don't have a reference to these, but I've put a bunch

00:09:55.100 of numbers together. We're losing 4.8 million, probably more now because the culture has become

00:10:00.640 more hostile 4.8 million identified Christians per year every year for 10 years in a row so far

00:10:07.720 and so we got a problem and I don't know what do you think's happening well I think at least for me 0.53

00:10:17.040 in my history I think um I was kind of trained in the institutional church to just be inviting

00:10:24.700 people to church and let the pastor do the ministering let the pastor do preaching the

00:10:29.180 gospel instead of me myself uh and are preaching the gospel to them and discipling them and inviting

00:10:35.320 them to church yes and then inviting them to it's like this we've been trained to outsource our

00:10:39.880 spiritual responsibility of the great commission to do it let the professionals do it yeah let the

00:10:44.300 pastor do it they they're the ones with the seminary our friends um who live on our property

00:10:50.300 they they um were at a church um a couple churches down in san diego and one of the churches down

00:10:56.500 there, I don't know which church it was, is several weeks before Easter, offered $10 gift

00:11:03.400 cards, Starbucks gift cards, to anybody who wanted to invite someone to coffee to invite

00:11:10.280 them to the Easter service. Now, again, we look at that and we go, oh, well, that's a

00:11:15.420 good thing. Well, the reality is it's not that they should have said, hey, here's $10

00:11:20.080 gift cards to go invite people to coffee to share the gospel with them. Instead, they

00:11:26.480 said, no, invite them just to invite them to church. And we'll do it for you. And we'll do

00:11:30.720 it for you. It's this training of that you're not equipped and qualified. We are. You just get

00:11:37.100 people here and we'll do the rest. And that is not the biblical narrative that Jesus calls us to

00:11:42.420 here. Yeah. Another thing for me is I didn't know how to show the gospel. I didn't understand the

00:11:48.960 whole gospel narrative uh well enough to explain it to others it's and it's hard it's it i mean

00:11:56.460 you have the three sentence gospel and you have the 300 page gospel and so it is something that

00:12:02.900 the longer you're in the church and the more you've read the scriptures you get to understand

00:12:08.000 that but it is it is hard yeah and another thing for me i was i was biblically illiterate and didn't

00:12:12.840 know what the scriptures i didn't even know the scriptures well enough to teach them to somebody

00:12:17.240 else um and then i was intimidated by the amount of questions and responses that i would get if i

00:12:25.140 shared my faith yeah i want to stop you here for a second because i just i didn't write this in our

00:12:29.860 notes but i just realized that we got to remember that when jesus gave this great commission

00:12:33.680 he just said this to his disciples who had been with him for three years

00:12:39.840 and so there was some extensive training you know we also see in luke he sends out the 72

00:12:47.040 he sends out the 12 he gives them practice and training and so the idea is if you're a new

00:12:53.860 believer you shouldn't be expected i don't think you're expected to be able to immediately replicate

00:13:00.060 and share the gospel maybe you can share what you do understand for sure but we we got to remember

00:13:06.340 that, that there was training that occurred before you were sent out. Yeah. And if you're, um, if

00:13:12.400 you're, you know, can relate to my history and my story with, um, my insecurities of sharing the

00:13:17.380 gospel and you're a young mom or a babysitter or you're around children, you get to practice that

00:13:23.800 every day with your children. Yes. You, you share the gospel with them. You live it out, you walk

00:13:29.740 it out and you're discipling your children. And if you're, when you're doing that and you're living

00:13:35.080 that out your children are actually also learning how to do that yeah and this is a really good

00:13:40.320 thing because mothers and so yeah you get a lot of practice fathers mothers you guys get to share

00:13:45.880 the gospel with your children with your nieces and nephews and we we try to practice this all

00:13:51.380 the time like we'll even share like you know adam and eve they broke god's laws and now they're

00:13:57.900 separated from god like we we share pieces of that and what you know we're under god's wrath

00:14:03.180 what does that mean you know like I've asked the kids these questions yeah it's usually a little

00:14:07.320 bit of a bedtime kind of conversation that we'll have with them yeah and do it you know three thousand

00:14:13.340 times you know it's so casual in our house now it's just what we do share the gospel with your

00:14:19.060 kids and it actually it's very much practice well and it's so amazing how much your children retain

00:14:25.780 you don't even realize our daughter just turned five last month and I go to put her to bed last

00:14:32.480 night and she has an audio bible that she listens to i mean it's just the book of genesis but

00:14:37.680 she's like mom this is abram and and god changed his name to abraham and this was in that sarai

00:14:43.820 that was his wife and god changed her name to sarai and they had a uh um a servant a servant

00:14:49.140 named hagar and it's just so cute how much she's just remembering all of this stuff and she does

00:14:54.320 the same thing with things that we teach her um yeah yeah so don't don't make this an outward

00:14:59.560 message only outside of the home this is absolutely an inward message um to that and and so um

00:15:08.620 yeah you said something a second ago that i want to make sure that we don't um pass over

00:15:14.000 just that i was intimidated yeah you're intimidated about just the responses

00:15:18.460 that you know some of these harder questions yeah we live in such an intellectual world

00:15:24.200 now and more people want answers on like evolution versus creation or sexuality or love pain when

00:15:32.140 life begins all the things yeah yeah these are these are harder you know we're intimidated if

00:15:38.900 we go share the gospel and then this conversation comes up i don't have an answer for that so i

00:15:41.980 don't want to go share the gospel um you know satan has done a really good job at aligning

00:15:48.300 political and social unpopularity with the beliefs of the christian faith so meaning that

00:15:55.340 right now christianity is in the political world biblical sexuality biblical perspective on life

00:16:02.960 creationism like these are unpopular ideas in the culture today we were just watching a netflix

00:16:10.220 documentary called the paleo way and we're just watching about just trying to eat healthier right

00:16:15.580 and it's just this constant undertone of evolution undertone of evolution and i mean i guess like

00:16:22.640 they show it in the in their intro yeah exactly and so turning into man but yeah and so you need

00:16:28.440 to be able to defend these basic things and you need to be able to field them with logic and

00:16:34.420 intellect in order to bring people along into this journey and that's an important part that again i

00:16:39.160 think we've lost in the church which we'll talk about here in a little bit later in the show

00:16:43.220 um sadly my experience with the gospel and why we're not sharing it um we've actually adopted

00:16:50.080 because it's it's a kind of a permission as an out for the church it's saint francis of assisi's

00:16:56.000 famous quote you've heard it all the time before preach the gospel at all times when necessary use

00:17:01.940 words um while i hear the heart of the message it's like don't just preach the gospel with words

00:17:08.420 make sure you're living it out people should recognize the gospel in you and then you can

00:17:13.880 use words i get the heart of it but it's it's kind of given a license for us to not verbally

00:17:19.960 share the gospel and romans 10 17 is an important scripture it says so then faith comes by hearing

00:17:27.720 and hearing by the word of god in other words the great commission is not the great suggestion

00:17:35.240 It's not like, I just need to behave Christian,

00:17:37.900 and then all of a sudden I'm sharing the gospel.

00:17:39.400 That's not what happens.

00:17:40.800 That's not what Jesus said, go therefore.

00:17:44.240 And he's making disciples and teaching them.

00:17:48.140 Which means you need to equip yourself.

00:17:49.840 Yeah, teaching them to obey all that I commanded you.

00:17:52.880 You got a life-filled mission and purpose in the Great Commission.

00:17:59.600 Lots to teach there.

00:18:01.480 So, yeah.

00:18:02.600 I think the big question that Christians want to know is how do I best share the gospel yeah

00:18:10.540 and this is there's so many people that are gifted evangelists and I don't want to make sure that

00:18:16.180 there's not a one-size-fits-all yeah and also there are people that are evangelists like they

00:18:23.620 are gifted at evangelism and then there are some people who are teachers and some people who are

00:18:29.700 pastoral or prophetic or whatever that might be we're all called to the to share the gospel

00:18:36.080 in some capacity even if we don't have the gift of evangelism we've met people that are like

00:18:41.300 total evangelists and they're just epic at it no fear total walking up like we'll share the gospel

00:18:49.920 you know 10 20 times a day really gifted yeah i mean we were at dinner one time with a friend

00:18:55.620 who was in town and he just asked our, uh, our server right then and there. Yep. Boom. Yeah.

00:19:00.660 Do you, yeah. About, about Jesus. And it's, and those people are, if you're not that person,

00:19:06.200 that's okay. You still have a role to play though in the body. Um, and so again, I think, I think,

00:19:14.620 um, how do I best share the gospel? I want to start with again, Christians don't share the 1.00

00:19:19.940 gospel either because they don't know it so that's one thing um they don't believe it 0.71

00:19:25.380 which is a serious dilemma meaning that they actually like don't don't really believe it

00:19:32.280 like they're still not their faith actually isn't solid so yeah then i wouldn't say that they're

00:19:36.300 christian yeah they call themselves christians but but they actually don't necessarily believe

00:19:40.580 that maybe they've heard a wrong gospel and they're actually haven't been set free from their

00:19:43.980 sin they're not seeing the fruits of it in their own life whatever it is um or they're afraid of

00:19:48.900 the response that they'll receive which i think is probably the biggest oh yeah especially in

00:19:53.340 today's culture yeah they're afraid of the response um romans 116 again i love that he

00:19:59.520 opens up the book remember rome is harsh territory uh to share the gospel at this time

00:20:05.400 and paul writes for i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god

00:20:12.640 to salvation for everyone who believes and so we just blanket that whole thing with that

00:20:19.660 scripture right there in your heart is that i'm not ashamed of the gospel if you deny me before

00:20:23.980 men i'll deny you before the father like we we are not to be ashamed of the gospel as christians

00:20:28.580 we got to figure out what is it that's stopping us or preventing us from the gospel so what is it

00:20:34.760 what is the gospel yeah this is and i think this is just what people need to know what is the

00:20:38.920 gospel like how do you break it down as i said earlier you could have the three line version

00:20:42.100 you can have the 300 page version yeah that's why i had said earlier you know there's if there's not

00:20:48.140 a one-size-fits-fits-all approach yeah and the more you know about it the better you get at

00:20:54.900 sharing it and i think we're seeing this in our lives um we're more equipped to answer those

00:21:00.240 questions to share the deeper narrative when people come um and so what is the gospel well

00:21:06.260 it's good news um and it can't be good news if there isn't bad news and so i'm gonna ask veronica

00:21:15.300 what's the bad news that before receiving christ we're sinners and we have broken god's laws

00:21:23.180 this is key i mean so this is we can't have good news which the gospel is the good news

00:21:28.920 if there's no bad if there's no bad news and there's bad news meaning that you can't heal

00:21:34.020 people of cancer if they're not willing to admit that they have cancer that they're sick and

00:21:41.280 this is actually an easy way to do this in people's lives is the guilt and shame that

00:21:50.140 everybody feels and how do i know that that's true well bernie brown's book daring greatly

00:21:57.220 is about shame and it's like sold millions of copies because people are looking for ways to

00:22:02.940 deal with their guilt and shame in other words we have something to be guilty and shameful for

00:22:08.840 we're lacking someone to be guilty and shameful to and we we want to be forgiven and so

00:22:17.420 the word secular uh it actually means um to desacralize it means to actually remove the shame 0.98

00:22:29.340 and so that's why oh go kill your baby don't feel bad about it oh go look at pornography don't feel 0.99

00:22:36.440 bad about it oh go explore this sexuality and don't feel bad about it oh go get drunk and don't 1.00

00:22:41.920 feel bad about it secularization is the removal of shame so it's very obvious in a culture that

00:22:47.980 we are guilty we are shameful and and that's a good starting point to make aware to people that

00:22:57.780 you know that shame you feel it's because you've broken God's laws he put it in our conscience

00:23:02.960 that we go that doesn't feel good yeah another point for what is the bad news is we've been

00:23:11.500 separated from God and in order from for God to remain just we deserve to be punished yeah so

00:23:18.400 this is another part of this God is all loving God is all truthful and God is all just yeah so

00:23:25.660 in other words outside of christ we are under god's wrath but instead of inflicting his wrath

00:23:30.760 upon us he sends his son jesus and inflicts the punishment onto him okay this is again this is

00:23:36.460 the basic narrative right here god can't not punish us because then he wouldn't be just

00:23:41.920 and so he comes up with this like rescue plan and he sends his son jesus god incarnate in the flesh

00:23:52.260 and inflicts the wrath you know the word of propitiation that we see in first john that

00:23:58.820 word propitiation says that jesus christ is the propitiation for our sins in the whole world

00:24:03.420 it means to appease the wrath of god through blood sacrifice and so instead of inflicting

00:24:11.780 the wrath on us who deserve it he inflicts the wrath on his son who doesn't deserve it

00:24:18.960 Jesus and that's grace yeah that's grace that that is at the core what we say about grace

00:24:26.580 that that's what that's what grace is we don't get what we deserve and he he gets what he doesn't

00:24:32.120 deserve it's pretty crazy and it's actually summed up nicely in John 3 16 for God so loved the world

00:24:38.680 that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have

00:24:43.240 everlasting life or have eternal life that's what it's talking about and so you have this issue you

00:24:51.380 got the problem we're under the wrath of god we've broken the laws in order for god to be just he has

00:24:57.760 to bring consequences he doesn't give them to us he gives them to jesus and how do we escape this

00:25:02.420 wrath because the sacrifice has been appeased well it's simple it's really simple it's in romans 10

00:25:07.660 nine if you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and you believe in your heart that god

00:25:14.160 has raised him from the dead you will be saved simple two parts make jesus lord in your life

00:25:21.320 and believe that god raised that i believe and have faith in him and and this is you know if you

00:25:30.500 want to be out from under god's wrath that that's all you have to do it's super simple yeah you were

00:25:35.480 saved by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone yes that's the gospel that's the

00:25:41.420 gospel and you're gonna have to practice your narrative how you do that there's so many articles

00:25:48.600 and videos on how to do the gospel so the next big question is how do you share the gospel yeah

00:25:58.360 so this is the how um so i'm going to take this section and then veronica is going to kind of

00:26:04.960 close up with some points here in a minute um and we can tell some stories too even in this section

00:26:10.660 about what we've walked through yeah so we're going to read first peter chapter 3 verse 15 it's

00:26:15.380 an important verse it says but sanctify the lord god in your hearts and always be ready

00:26:23.420 to give a defense that word defense means apologia in the greek it's the word that we get our our

00:26:28.840 term apologetics from. And it says, always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you

00:26:36.520 a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and in fear. So it's a command Peter's writing

00:26:45.720 to these new Christians. First off, always be ready. So people, you got to be ready. 1.00

00:26:54.760 and what this first chapter one and chapter two of first peter is all about personal holiness

00:27:01.180 and being different and looking different and you're so different that people notice how holy

00:27:06.500 you are and they ask you why are you so hopeful and so different there's something different

00:27:12.760 about you yeah and if people aren't asking you questions then you might have a problem

00:27:18.080 and it says always be ready to give a defense

00:27:23.300 that word also is answer in the English

00:27:25.720 but a defense

00:27:26.720 like you got to be able to explain yourself

00:27:30.160 you've thought about this

00:27:31.500 you've been preparing for this

00:27:33.540 to everyone

00:27:35.060 not just to some people that are convenient

00:27:37.080 it's the scriptures later says in season and out of season

00:27:40.120 whether you're ready for it or you're not

00:27:42.100 you be ready

00:27:43.600 you take the time

00:27:45.180 so you don't drop the ball

00:27:47.100 when an opportunity in this,

00:27:48.180 the Holy Spirit brings a moment.

00:27:51.080 I've actually, in my own walk,

00:27:54.240 and I've said this to you, babe,

00:27:56.620 it took me being so mad

00:27:59.900 that I didn't have the answers.

00:28:02.720 I was tired of not having the answers

00:28:04.920 to get serious about reading the scriptures.

00:28:07.980 The Lord kept softballing me some opportunities

00:28:10.600 and I just didn't have the answers.

00:28:13.780 People would ask me questions

00:28:14.780 and I would go, I just don't know.

00:28:16.760 And it's not because I just haven't had enough time.

00:28:19.760 It's because I haven't prioritized the word of God.

00:28:24.600 And it says to do so in meekness and in fear.

00:28:27.000 You got to do this in a gentle spirit and reverence, like to the Lord.

00:28:32.900 You're not here to go sell anybody into the gospel.

00:28:37.760 So a couple of things I want to mention.

00:28:40.640 First off, how we share the gospel.

00:28:42.520 you need to determine if this is an honest or dishonest skeptic.

00:28:48.240 Is someone really interested in hearing the gospel?

00:28:51.420 Or are you just out sharing the gospel with anybody who has a pulse?

00:28:56.500 Because, you know, Jesus says, don't cast your pearls before swine.

00:29:02.460 And we've definitely seen people out on the street,

00:29:07.120 street preaching, sharing the gospel,

00:29:08.660 or talking to people arguing with people getting heated with people these people are there if

00:29:15.760 identify if they're honest if they're really curious or if they just want to scoff at your

00:29:21.100 faith or have an argument yeah just get angry with you because satan is all about that and

00:29:27.500 he'll throw someone that knows the word better than you to go destroy your argument and i've

00:29:32.780 seen that happen too. As you see the apostles or even Jesus share the gospel, they only do that

00:29:41.240 blanket gospel, like kind of a blanketed gospel when they're talking to crowds. That's just what

00:29:48.280 you see. When they're one-on-one, they speak directly to the person's incorrect thinking.

00:29:56.400 Jesus will, when someone asks a question, he responds to the question, you know, hey, good

00:30:00.900 teacher. And he goes, why do you call me good? Um, what do I need to do to, to, to inherit eternal

00:30:07.480 life? Like you think that he literally says, good teacher, what do I need to do to inherit eternal

00:30:13.180 life? And Jesus, instead of seizing the deal, like, Oh, you asked, I would love to tell you.

00:30:19.920 He asked them, he returns the question. Why do you say that I'm good? There's only one good,

00:30:25.200 but there's only one good and it's gone. Like it's a different approach than we take. And, um,

00:30:30.900 In other words, they lovingly and logically challenge the worldview held by that person first before delivering the gospel.

00:30:45.000 And I want to explain what this is.

00:30:46.460 What we're going to be talking about right here is apologetics that kind of undergird evangelism.

00:30:51.300 And the word apologetics really means pre-evangelistic truth.

00:30:56.860 And so it's kind of the work that happens prior to sharing the gospel.

00:31:02.680 And we forget as ministers of the gospel and as Christians,

00:31:05.660 because again, I don't think that the church has done a great job

00:31:07.500 of teaching this in the modern era,

00:31:08.760 but it's absolutely taught in church past.

00:31:12.580 We forget that we often have to help people disbelieve something first

00:31:16.860 before they can believe the gospel, something new.

00:31:21.100 We actually have to have a disbelief.

00:31:22.700 evangelism must include the discipline

00:31:24.460 of helping people subtract.

00:31:27.420 And I want you to just sit on that for a second.

00:31:29.780 People don't generally give up their beliefs,

00:31:32.660 their whole belief worldview,

00:31:34.300 like off the cuff, like, oh yeah,

00:31:36.740 I'm just gonna just switch my worldview

00:31:38.040 for your worldview.

00:31:39.400 That doesn't happen. 1.00

00:31:41.560 And so when you talk to a Muslim about Jesus, 1.00

00:31:45.840 it's generally, in my experience,

00:31:47.580 and there's a book called Seeking Allah,

00:31:49.100 Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi.

00:31:50.980 he talks about it's a conversation there's the guy his friend David needed to help him

00:31:56.620 deconstruct what he currently believed and show him what that it's wrong before he could

00:32:01.920 reconstruct the gospel of Jesus Christ on them he needed to help him disbelieve something else

00:32:09.240 first before he helped him believe the gospel second and that is you know so if people have

00:32:15.300 They're white-knuckling evolution.

00:32:18.600 The gospel is going to be really hard because it requires you to let go of that.

00:32:23.720 So what you do instead is you chip away at that evolution element.

00:32:28.240 You chip away at their naturalism.

00:32:29.720 If they're struggling with the view of biblical sexuality, you need to go deep and chip away at that.

00:32:36.900 And this is, again, the act of apologetics.

00:32:40.080 It doesn't take place of evangelism.

00:32:42.840 It's just the pre-evangelistic work.

00:32:45.300 Um, you know, I often, um, ask people, you know, once a relationship has been established,

00:32:51.680 I ask questions like, uh, what do you think happens after we die?

00:32:55.920 You know, this is a good relationship question.

00:32:58.500 Um, what do you guys think the meaning of life is?

00:33:00.360 Like prompting these harder, deeper questions.

00:33:03.340 If you're trained on how to get the proper answer, uh, why do you think you were born?

00:33:07.840 You know, what, how do you define right and wrong?

00:33:09.760 Like, these are huge questions that everybody has an answer for.

00:33:15.300 And you'll realize how insane some of these answers are when they give them to you.

00:33:18.720 They've just kind of manufactured this like their own.

00:33:23.400 Or they make them up on the spot.

00:33:24.860 Yeah, they make them up on the spot.

00:33:26.080 And it does take practice.

00:33:27.220 So all this stuff takes practice.

00:33:28.620 Don't get overwhelmed with this.

00:33:29.600 It takes practice.

00:33:30.340 I just want you guys to know that we should be training for this.

00:33:34.480 And sadly, the church at large hasn't done the greatest job at this.

00:33:39.220 And again, why do this?

00:33:40.700 Why help people disbelieve?

00:33:43.140 Jesus Christ is a foundations shatterer.

00:33:47.200 He shatters the foundations and rebuilds them back upon himself.

00:33:52.460 And he does this actually all the time.

00:33:54.900 Look at the rich young ruler.

00:33:56.200 Sell everything and give it to the poor.

00:33:58.600 Pick up your cross and follow me. 0.99

00:33:59.780 Boom, foundation just shattered. 0.63

00:34:02.480 Wait, what?

00:34:03.140 Sell everything I have?

00:34:05.220 Like let go of everything and make you priority?

00:34:08.860 Like get rid of everything.

00:34:10.760 You see Paul doing this in Galatians.

00:34:14.020 He says, telling the Galatians,

00:34:15.840 what purpose does the law offer if it cannot save? 1.00

00:34:19.260 He's taking the Jews that are like, 0.98

00:34:20.900 their whole foundation is on the law, 1.00

00:34:22.520 and he just like rips it out from under them.

00:34:24.840 He challenges that.

00:34:27.000 Paul is persuading the Greeks in the book of Acts 0.71

00:34:29.960 that Diana is an object made by human hands. 0.54

00:34:33.200 Like he's just ripping out the fact that you made that thing. 0.88

00:34:38.480 You carved that with your own image,

00:34:39.640 and you're now worshiping it.

00:34:41.960 So we have to, through patient relationship,

00:34:45.700 challenge people's views

00:34:47.300 and find out where the crux is at.

00:34:50.740 And we rarely see blind preaching of the gospel.

00:34:54.840 We actually see, in the scriptures,

00:34:56.280 we actually see ministers asking questions

00:34:58.960 and deconstructing through relationship.

00:35:00.760 That's how we do it.

00:35:03.040 That's how I do it, at least.

00:35:05.080 Yeah, and so I just want to be clear

00:35:08.100 after dale shared what he shared is that looking for opportunities to share the gospel isn't bad

00:35:12.680 but more importantly to be looking for relationships with people um so go love on people the lord in

00:35:21.160 his timing will give you the opportunity to ask and share the gospel yeah questions share the

00:35:27.280 gospel yeah this is good and just we did this every time i go get my hair cut i'm always trying

00:35:36.960 to share the gospel with the girls that cut my hair and we we one lady was ready to have dinner

00:35:41.940 with us with her and her boyfriend yeah but we just they canceled on us but um we also why don't

00:35:48.220 we share steven's story you know um yeah we had a couple over for dinner um and we've known them

00:35:55.480 through mutual friends they came over for dinner and you had taken him upstairs and preached the

00:36:03.600 gospel to him spoke with him and you we had met them several times before but it's our first time

00:36:07.820 like having dinner with them um you preached the gospel to him he respectfully declined um and he

00:36:14.160 struggled with the sexuality component of like you know homosexuality and how do i deal with that

00:36:19.040 and here's my views yeah and he respectfully declined and we continued the evening and it was

00:36:25.360 fine and you know went on our way and then i don't know a few months later um he was talking to

00:36:33.280 somebody else who was a believer and you know planted another seed and spoke to somebody else

00:36:37.960 who's a believer and eventually gave his life to christ and has been baptized and is now believer

00:36:44.820 and now yeah tends to yeah he comes to the bible study that you've been teaching and then you're

00:36:52.260 actually marrying him and his fiance here pretty soon crazy right and once the person that shared

00:36:57.500 the gospel in which he accepted the lord said do you need a bible he says oh no dale already gave

00:37:01.560 one and so it's just we got to remember that journey and uh i know veronica will share a

00:37:09.080 verse about that here a little bit uh yeah first corinthians 3 5 through 8 says who then is paul

00:37:16.020 and who is apollos but ministers through whom i believe through whom you believed as the lord gave

00:37:22.320 to each one sorry i need to start that over again yeah that's fine okay sorry jackson

00:37:29.060 um yeah first corinthians 3 5 through 8 says who then is paul and who is apollos but ministers

00:37:37.960 through whom you believed as the lord gave to each one i planted apollos watered but god gave

00:37:44.080 the increase so then neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters but god who gives

00:37:50.220 the increase now he who plants and he who waters are one but each one will receive his own reward

00:37:57.100 according to his own labor yeah so this is showing like you know i was one guy that planted someone

00:38:03.680 else watered it someone else did some other watering and nurturing but god brought the increase

00:38:10.180 and that's just how we have to be remembering the gospel like that process yeah so the core message

00:38:19.080 of what we want to leave you with is that jesus has work for us to do um so in the meantime we

00:38:26.360 should be training and preparing and practicing studying so that we can be ready to give a

00:38:31.700 defense for our faith when the opportunity presents itself yeah and this is this is the

00:38:36.760 message that we want you guys to walk away with is that do we all need to become evangelists in

00:38:42.240 terms of just that evangelistic gifting no i'm just saying is that man if you're not sharing

00:38:46.180 the gospel with anybody per year is it because the lord literally hasn't offered you an opportunity

00:38:52.160 is it because there isn't anybody to share it with no it's because we haven't prioritized that

00:38:59.160 or we don't believe that one that a metaphor i use is that i go we're walking around in a world

00:39:08.440 that is starving and we have food and when you start remembering or that is sick and we have

00:39:15.880 medicine however you want to put it you gotta just have jesus's heart and go back to the scriptures

00:39:22.520 and go lord give me a heart that i might see what you see and give me opportunities give me the

00:39:29.480 words help me understand who you are in your gospel so that i can share and so hopefully this

00:39:35.300 was helpful and edifying for you guys um our next episode we're gonna tackle head coverings

00:39:43.640 dun dun dun lots it's actually becoming a more popular conversation um i think more and more

00:39:50.160 women are asking about it um and i think it's an important i even get husbands that write me about

00:39:55.960 it um so i think we're going to give just our take on it and the biblical perspective on it um

00:40:01.680 and even the church's historical perspective on it and then we will uh hopefully help you guys

00:40:08.360 have an understanding of that we're also going to shift from memory verses to really thought

00:40:15.620 provoking ideas quotes commentary something at the end of every episode that's just going to go

00:40:22.360 oh that was good because sometimes I see like a Charles Spurgeon quote that I'm like oh wow that's

00:40:27.220 so good or something from John Gill or something from you know even a modern pastor Paul Washer

00:40:33.420 maybe and i want to share it and i think it's important however today it just happens to be a

00:40:39.700 scripture again and it's the great commission and we want to challenge you to memorize that

00:40:45.480 it's something that we should memorize and i'll let veronica read it matthew 18 or sorry matthew

00:40:51.020 28 18 through 20 and jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me in heaven

00:40:57.720 and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the

00:41:02.500 father and of the son and the holy spirit teaching them to observe all things that i have commanded

00:41:07.260 you and lo i am with you always even to the end of the age amen so memorize the great commission

00:41:15.300 again last thing before we close out if you would be so kind to leave us a review just tap the stars

00:41:22.300 if you're on itunes or just write something that would be really helpful for really furthering the

00:41:27.680 opportunity for people to see the show or hear the show the show notes for this show are now

00:41:32.940 available at relearnchurch.org forward slash podcast relearnchurch.org forward slash podcast

00:41:41.180 all the episodes prior to that um you know 30 and back are at our companion ministry at

00:41:48.380 ultimate marriage.com just go to the podcast section you can see all the old episodes older

00:41:52.960 episodes there but going forward they will all be found at relearnchurch.org

00:41:57.060 that is it until next week we will see you then take care

Dale Partridge - February 13, 2019

Real Christianity #32： How Ordinary Christians Can Share the Extraordinary Gospel

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