21 Ways to Share Your Faith

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 1:17

If I were to summarize the book of Jonah with a single sentence, I might put it this way. "If God tells you to go, then you better go." And this is important for us as New Testament believers because God has commanded us to go. Before His ascension to Heaven, Jesus commanded us to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20). You are commanded to go and share the gospel with the lost. But sometimes it feels like it is difficult to find opportunities to share either the gospel or your testimony with lost people. So, I recently came up with 21 ways to help create opportunities to be a witness. Here they are:

1. Share a meal. Eating a meal with someone gives you the opportunity to pray over the food or engage in deeper conversation that you can steer towards spiritual things. 

2. Invite them to your home. They may see scripture or crosses on the walls. They will certainly get a closer look at how you live and how you treat your family. And this is a great way to share a meal with them.

3. Give them a Bible or a Christian book. Tell them how much it meant to you and that you wanted them to have it on their shelf in case they ever felt the need to explore it.  

4. Give them a gospel tract. A lot of people use these to share the gospel when they don't have the time to explain the gospel fully but want the person to have a full explanation they can read later.  I have used the "Four Spiritual Laws" tract quite a bit.

5. Just ask, “Can I share a little of my story with you?” Or "Can I tell you a little about my faith?"

6. Recommend they see a Christian movie. Yeah, some of them are cheesy, but some of them are pretty good. 

7. Write an “evange-letter.” I once worked my way through part of a condo complex this way. I started with unit A-1 and wrote a gospel letter to its unknown resident and mailed it. Each week I would write a letter to a new unit and pray for the people who lived there. 

8. Give them a notecard with a Scripture written on it. I used to write the text of Romans 5:8 on 3X5 notecards and give one to the cashier every time I checked out.  

9. Invite them to something. Invite them to church, a Bible study, a Christian concert or even to see a Christian comedian with you.

10. Listen to their needs and then offer to pray for them. Most of us hate it when someone drones on about their problems. But what if you actually listened and offered to pray for them?

11. When your server brings your food at a restaurant say, “We are about to pray over our meal. Is there anything we can for you about?”

12. Post Scripture or your testimony on social media.

13. Ask spiritual questions like “What do you believe about that?”

14. Give them a ride. While they are in your car you can listen to Christian music or engage them in a conversation about spiritual things.

15. Tag along with a friend. It always helps to see someone else do it, so when you get the chance to watch someone else share their faith...take it!

16. Go on a mission trip!

17. Get involved with a Christian group like FCA. As people become aware of the groups you volunteer with and participate in they will know what you believe. 

 

18. Introduce them to a Christian friend. “This is my friend, John, from church. You know you should really come to our church sometime. I really think you would like it.”

19. Decide to share the gospel with everyone who comes into your home. You can say something like, “I like to make sure that everyone who comes into my home knows about Jesus.” Then you can give them a tract or a short explanation of the gospel.

20. Pray for specific lost people and for opportunities to share Jesus with them. 

21. Be an obvious Christian everywhere you go. Your shirts, hats, bumper stickers, home décor, and life style can all be a witness. If you avoid cussing and gossiping, if you submit to authority and show true grace and forgiveness to people at work, they’ll notice. Live such an obviously Christian lifestyle that people can't know you without knowing you're a Christian.

Runaway Child

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights... And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah 1:17 & 2:10

Why did God provide the fish? It's a simple question, but it's one you may not have thought about. 

Certainly you remember Jonah's story! God told the prophet to go to Nineveh to preach to them, but Jonah couldn't bear the thought that they might turn from their wickedness, repent and be forgiven, so He disobeyed His God. He ran. He boarded a ship sailing in the opposite direction. 

The thing about sin though, is that always brings a storm into our lives. For Jonah it was a literal storm. The Almighty bore down on that ship with a storm was so powerful that the ship threatened to break apart. The sailors threw everything they could overboard and prayed to every deity they could think of to try to keep the ship from sinking. Finally, Jonah told them it was his fault. He told them that if they didn't throw him overboard into the sea the weight of his sin would sink their ship. These good sailors didn't want to do it, but because of the power of the storm they relented and cast Jonah into the sea. 

Which brings us back to our question. Why did God provide a fish to swallow Jonah? To save him! To bring Jonah back to God! 

You see, God discipline's His children like a Father discipline's the son he loves. If God wanted to kill Jonah, He would have had him drown. God didn't do that because punishing Jonah wasn't His purpose. He wasn't punishing Jonah, He was disciplining Jonah and bringing him back to Himself. This is a minor but important difference. God wasn't trying to get even with Jonah or pay him back for his sin. He was trying to get his attention and place him back on the narrow way. That's why God provided a big fish instead of a watery grave. 

Remember that the next time you think God is out to get you. If you are one of His children, it may very well be that He is...out to get you and bring you back to Himself. God chases down His runaway children just like any good Father would. But when will we learn to stop running away?

Sleeping through the Storm

But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up...But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

Jonah 1:3-6

Sin brings storms. So many Christians today seem to think they can rebel against God and live unaffected. They think that as long as they believe in God, they can disobey Him as much as they want. But they are wrong because they have no fear of the Lord. And because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) we know that they are foolish as well. Don't follow their course. It will throw your life into turmoil every time. Let's see how it affected Jonah. 

First, we see that Jonah's plans were thwarted. He has set himself against an all-powerful God and now he has an all-powerful enemy opposing him. God is standing in his way, blocking his path, and he isn't going to get to Tarshish. You can’t direct your life away from God’s will and expect to get where you want to go. It’s not gonna go how you think.

Second, we see that Jonah has blessings removed and curses applied. What started out as an easy trip has become anything but. There is no smooth sailing for the disobedient child of God. The storm threatens to tear the boat apart. The wood is cracking and splintering. An all-mighty God is using his power to violently get Jonah’s attention. Do you want him doing that with you?

And where was Jonah in all of this? He was asleep, completely unaware of the danger he was in. Maybe you are like Jonah- a child of God, living in disobedience and completely asleep and unaware of the danger you are in. The wrath of a Holy God is seeking you out. God is trying to get your attention! Wake up, cry out to God and deliver yourself before it’s too late!

The Lost Art of Repentance

The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

Jonah 3:5-6, 10

When was the last time you were broken over your sin? When was the last time you really spent time in prayer asking God to forgive you? Or better yet, when was the last time you confessed your sins to another Christian (James 5:16) and asked them to pray for you as you tried to break the power of sin in your life? Or even more rare, when was the last time you repented of how you had been living publicly, like maybe before your church? 

Chances are you haven't done any of those things recently, because most believers don't really ever repent. It's a shame really because there is power in true repentance. It saved the city of Nineveh when Jonah preached to them (Jonah 3). It saved the wicked King Ahab of Israel (I Kings 21:17-29). And it saved the wicked King Manasseh of Judah (2 Chron 33:1-13). True, heartfelt, gut-wrenching repentance is a key to unlocking God's compassion.

"How do I do it?" you might ask. Well, the Ninevites, for all their wickedness, give us a pretty good example to follow. when it comes to repentance. Kings Ahab and Manasseh follow pretty much the same model as do many more in Scripture. 

First, their repentance was wholehearted. They believed God's Word and acted in keeping with it. Second, they humbled themselves with fasting and sackcloth (itchy garments used for repenting and mourning). This was a way to show God and themselves that they really meant it. Third, they repented publicly. They knew that there was no private way to cover up their public sin. If your sin stays between you and God then confess it to God privately, but public sin requires public repentance. They repented publicly in a big way. And it yielded God's compassion.

Remember that God does not change. When you find yourself deserving of God's wrath, enslaved in sin, and ashamed of yourself the old course of action is still the best course of action. Fight off your instinct to cover up your sin. Instead come clean. Drag it into the light and beg for mercy. True repentance will bring compassion out of a gracious God.

A Living Command

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

Jonah 1:1-2

The first thing we notice in Jonah's story is that God's Word is personified. It takes action. It tracks Jonah down and comes to him with a command. "The Word of God is alive and active," Hebrews 4:12 tells us, and in this Old Testament story Jonah gets himself into serious trouble for thinking he can ignore it.

The Word commands Jonah to "go." This is the first and perhaps the most important word in Jonah's command. Jonah is sent to Nineveh to preach. But if you attended Sunday School at all as a child you know that Jonah did not obey. He went, but he went in the opposite direction from Nineveh and with no intention to preach. For this reason, Jonah is the much-maligned prophet of God. As we read his story, we shake our heads disapprovingly and say "You can't run from God, Jonah. God will chase you down. You have to obey." And when the great fish vomits Jonah up on dry land and he preaches half-heartedly to the Ninevites, we shake our heads again and say "Jonah, haven't you learned anything?! You have to obey God with your whole heart."  

Yet, just like Jonah, you and I have been commanded to "go." "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). Again, the word "go" is the first and perhaps most important word in God's command. But are you going? Are you making disciples? Or are you running from God's command? I wonder if Jonah might stand and shake his head and testify against us on the day of judgment. "You should have learned your lesson from me," he might say. "You can't run from God's command!"

Remember, it's the Word of God that has commanded you. It is alive! These aren't just words on a page that will lie there while you ignore them. If you and I refuse to obey God's command, then we can expect to be pursued by God like Jonah was. So, go and talk to someone about Jesus. Have that conversation with your coworker. Call that family member. Walk across the street and meet your neighbor. Sign-up for that short term mission trip at church. Maybe you even need to answer God's call to be a full-time missionary. Whatever it is for you, go and do it and do it with your whole heart.