How many times have you said, “I share the gospel with people as the Spirit leads me?” Second question: how many times a day does the Spirit lead you?
Now, if you are not regularly engaged in evangelism, you might be thinking: “How many times a day? You must mean how many times a year. Right? The Spirit doesn’t lead me every day to share the gospel. In fact, if I’m honest, I can’t remember the last time the Spirit has led me to share the gospel with someone.”
If this is you, as your brother in Christ, I want to encourage you to repent. Please repent of the blasphemy of using the Holy Spirit as an excuse for your disobedience to Christ?
I know. That might sound a bit harsh.
I’m sorry if that sounded harsh, but I believe it’s an accurate assessment of what many professing Christians do. They use “the Spirit’s leading” as a cop-out–as an excuse for not engaging people in gospel conversation.
If you are a Christian, then the Holy Spirit is always leading you to engage in evangelism. If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit enables and empowers you to obey Christ. When a Christian wantonly disregards (Hebrews 10:26-27) Christ’s commands to communicate the gospel to the lost (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8), when a Christian gets the thought of communicating the gospel to a lost person and instead convinces himself that the Holy Spirit is not leading him to do so, the Christian can rest assured he’s being led by a spirit, but not the Holy Spirit.
“Tony, are you saying the Lord wants me to communicate the gospel to every loss person we meet?”
Yes! And I answer in the affirmative fulling recognizing that I do not live a life of perfect obedience (1 John 1:8). None of us do. Praise God for the sufficiency of His grace (2 Corinthians 12:9)!
However, our present failure to live in perfect obedience, in any area of our walk with Christ, cannot be and is not an excuse for not striving to live that way. The desire of every Christian’s heart should be to live in conformity to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-29). The desire of every Christian’s heart should be to be perfect as his or her heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). The Christian understands that the desire to be like Christ is not motivated by a desire to earn or keep his salvation. Rather, the desire is one motivated by a deep and abiding thankfulness for the salvation he has freely received, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
Jesus has commanded every Christian to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23). The Holy Spirit will never “lead” a Christian to disobey Christ. The Holy Spirit will never “lead” a Christian to do the exact opposite of what Jesus has commanded. Yet, many Christians live as if that is exactly what the Holy Spirit does. They say they only engage in evangelism “as the Holy Spirit leads” them. Yet, if I press a person just a little who tells me this, if I gently probe just a little, I quickly learn that he rarely, if ever, engages in what can be called “biblical evangelism.”
Again, if you insist you only engage people in gospel conversations “when the Holy Spirit leads you,” yet you are not regularly (granted, imperfectly), verbally (or in written form) communicating the gospel to lost people, please repent. You are attributing your sinful disobedience of Christ’s commands to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Similarly to Eve blaming Satan for her willful disobedience (Genesis 3:13), and Adam blaming Eve for his willful disobedience (Genesis 3:12), you may very well be blaming the Holy Spirit for yours! Stop!
Instead of making the Holy Spirit your scapegoat, why don’t you actually follow the Holy Spirit’s leading–His leading that convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8), and His leading into all truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit will lead you on level ground (Psalm 143:10), on the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14), and a firm foundation (2 Timothy 2:19). He will lead you to accomplish works that God prepared beforehand for you (Ephesians 2:10), including evangelistic works motivated by a desire for faithful obedience (Romans 6:16; Galatians 5:22; Jude 1:21-23).
Always be Ready and Willing
The question is not, “Is the Holy Spirit leading me to have this conversation?” Rather, the question is, “Am I ready and willing, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to obey Christ and communicate the gospel whenever I see an opportunity to do so?”
Last year I wrote an article titled Living the Evangelistic Life. In it, I shared the following encouragement:
“Living the evangelistic life means changing the way you look at every aspect of life, including the mundane things in life, like running errands. This one of many things Ray Comfort taught me. Ray doesn’t go to the store to buy a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. He goes to the store to share the gospel with someone, and while he’s there he buys a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread.
“Stop going to the gas station to fill your tank with gas. Go to the gas station to share the gospel, and while you’re there get some gas.
“Stop going to the post office to mail a package. Go to the post office to share the gospel, and while you’re there mail a package.
“Stop being a “soccer mom.” Go to the soccer field to share the gospel, and while you’re there enjoy watching your kids practice or play in a game.
“Stop going to school to earn a high school diploma or a college degree. Go to school to share the gospel, and while you’re there study heartily for the Lord and get the best education you can.
“Stop spending so many hours a day on social media to get your news, gossip, and attention fix. Go online to share the gospel. Go online with the intention of loving God and loving people.
“Are you sick and tired of going to doctor and specialist appointments week in and week out? Then knock it off! Go to the doctor’s office, clinic, hospital, or therapy session to share the gospel, and while you’re there get the physical treatment you need.
“Stop going to work to earn a living. Stop going to work to provide for your family. Stop going to work to improve your station in life. Go to work to share the gospel, and while you’re there do your work heartily for the Lord. Be the very best employee and provider for your family that you can be.
“Stop living for yourself and live for Jesus. Really live for Jesus.
“Make every activity a conduit for gospel proclamation. Make every relationship secondary to your love for Christ and love for the souls of the people for whom you say you care the most.
“Live the evangelistic life for the glory of God. You don’t have to be a full-time evangelist, or even a part-time evangelist, to do that.”
I hope that encouraged you.
Writing in Starbucks
Since I spend a lot of time writing in Starbucks, the library, and other public places, I had a decal made for my laptop lid (pictured above), in an effort to always be intentional about evangelism. Over the last year or so, I have had a number of gospel conversations as a result of people seeing my laptop lid and then sitting down to talk about God.
One tactic in fishing (for the scaly ones) is called “chumming the waters.” This is when the fisherman tosses bait into the water, hoping to attract fish to his area. Whenever I’m working at Starbucks, the library, or some other public place, I “chum the waters” by putting gospel tracts at the edge of my table (see the picture to the left).
Toward the end of my time at Starbucks, an older man and his adult daughter walked in and sat down in the chairs next to my table. They spoke loud enough for me and others to here. The woman was disappointed that she was late to an interview. “They say when a door closes, a window opens.” She said.
“Everything happens for a reason.” Her father replied.
They continued their conversation over a shared tuna sandwich from the Subway next door. I continued writing.
“Look at that.” The father said with a smile, pointing at my laptop lid. ‘Have a seat! Let’s talk about God!”
I returned the smile.
“Where do you see that?” The daughter asked, looking toward me. I turned my laptop so she could see the decal on the lid. “Oh.” She said with a tone that indicated she wasn’t in the mood to talk about God.
She turned her attention to her father. “I guess I need to get back there.” She said referring to God.
I took one of my Pride gospel tracts that I had sitting on my table. “Why don’t you start here?” I asked, as I handed her the tract.
“What’s that?” Her father asked. The woman handed the tract to her father.
I gave the woman another tract. “Here. One for each of you.”
“This is good.” Her father said. “These are good words.”
“I’m not prideful.” The woman said.
“The fact you said that means you are prideful.” I replied.
“I was just kidding.” She said.
I don’t think she was kidding.
Dad and daughter finished their lunch, gathered their things, and got up out of their seats.
“Thank you, and God bless you.” The father said.
“Yes. Thank you.” Said the daughter.
“God bless you both.” I replied.
And they walked out the door.
Love Yourself Less
For some who just read this, their hearts are in their throats. They can hear their hearts beating in their ears. Their pulse has quickened and they’re wiping sweat from their brows. Why? The mere thought of doing what I did in Starbucks today petrifies many Christians. And why is that?
An unbiblical love of self.
What I did in Starbucks today didn’t require superior intelligence. It didn’t require any particular skill set. It didn’t require the never-found-in-the-Bible “gift” of evangelism. It didn’t require profound courage. And it didn’t warrant an “Atta-boy!” from God. One should never expect praise for merely doing what he should do. God doesn’t owe a Christian His thanks for his obedience.
What I did in Starbucks today required the following: love for God (Deuteronomy 6:5), love for people (Matthew 22:39), Spirit-led willingness (Psalm 51:12), and readiness (1 Peter 3:15). For the Christian (the only people who possess such things), these characteristics are all fruits of the Spirit. They are all fruits of repentance and faith–fruits of salvation genuinely received by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
If you are a Christian, all that is stopping you from being actively engaged in biblical evangelism is your sin. So, repent. Knock it off. Love God and people more than yourself. And let that love show by always being willing and ready to communicate the gospel with the lost, whenever God presents the opportunity. The opportunities are always there–from the time you open your eyes to the time you close them again.
I hope after reading this you will never again use the “Spirit’s Leading” cop-out as an excuse for disobedience to Christ’s commands to communicate the gospel to the lost.
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