This month we are providing the winter themed “Got Peace” tract. Hand it out and wish someone Merry Christmas! In July? Yes, according to Wikipedia “Christmas in July” is a “second Christmas celebration held mainly during July. It is centered around Christmas-themed activities and entertainment, including small gatherings, seasonal music and specials, and shopping, with the goal of getting the public in the “Christmas spirit” during the summer season.” The meaning of Christmas is valid all year round. So whether you find a Christmas in July event or not, you can still hand out the tracts and wish someone Merry Christmas. Then like Linus in Charlie Brown Christmas you can tell people what Christmas is all about!
At the time of writing this letter I am in the midst of listening to a sermon series on the Book of Exodus. I never thought of Exodus as a place to preach on evangelism. But, I was wrong. When Moses was called by God he gave five excuses why he could not go. He said he is Incapable, Unknowledgeable, Fearful, Unsuitable, and finally Inflexible (in other words, he just didn’t want to do it). The sermon is on Exodus 3-4 and you can find it online. Or listen below.
Skip Heitzig goes on to quote Billy Sunday saying:
We always have excuses; always use the problems as excuses not to do God’s will. Maybe not always, but often. We’re really good at rationalizing. It was Billy Sunday, the evangelist who said, “An excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.” Isn’t that good definition? The skin of reason stuffed with a lie. I keep that in mind as we go through some of Moses’ excuses.
Billy Sunday
In the midst of this teaching, Skip shares about a time he was out sharing the Gospel. A guy asked him a question he didn’t know the answer to (See Moses second excuse, being Unknowledgeable). He told the guy he would go home and get the answer and come back next week. When he got back he looked for the guy to tell him what he had learned to answer his question. You see having the humility to admit we don’t know all the answers is a good step. If we wait until we know everything about the Bible to go share the Gospel we will never go. As I have been praying about writing this months letter I received an email from a friend asking a question she had been asked while out witnessing. She was already practing the approach we call “study the last question asked”. Leverage your resources. Talk to your friends, small group leader, pastor, etc. The more you share the Gospel, the more you will be driven into God’s word to study. Then next time the question is asked, you’ll have the answer on the top of your tongue.
