I was reviewing some lecture notes from one of my undergraduate professors I had at Luther Rice University. He shared some wise words about sharing the Gospel with people who do not believe. His words were too good to keep to myself so I decided to share them with you! Dr. Mike Halsey wrote:
One either presupposes man’s autonomy or God’s sovereignty. One either presupposes that the natural man’s reason can rightly judge religious truth or that special revelation from God is needed. The Christian presupposes the Bible is God’s Word. There are other considerations as well:
- Christian evidences and apologetics, would, without the work of the Holy Spirit, fail because Satan dominates the mind of man and the mind itself is also fallen. This is part of the doctrine of total depravity. Total depravity does not mean that man is as bas as he possibly can be. Total depravity means that the results of the Fall have entered every part of the human being. His intellect is fallen, and his will is fallen.
- The Holy Spirit uses the faithful declaration of the Word of God to convict men and then to build them up in the faith.
- The Christian has offensive weapons for evangelism, i.e., the consistent, godly life; persistent prayer; the declaration of the gospel of faith alone in Christ alone (John 6:40)
- The unbeliever cannot be won by logic. (I Cor. 2:6; 2:14 )
- The basic problem of the unbeliever is spiritual, not intellectual. (Ps. 10:4; Rom. 8:7)
- It is impossible to present Christianity to the unbeliever in such a way as to make it pleasing to him or logical to him. When we try to do this, we’re more tempted to modify the message. (I Cor. 2:4-5; 2:14)
- People are won to Christ by doing what the apostles did—declaring the gospel message in the context of prayer and a consistent life. This is the ministry of presenting and persuading people concerning the gospel message of faith alone in Christ alone. (I Cor. 15:1-3)
- We are not sent to re-interpret the Bible in line with contemporary thought or to make the gospel more palatable or prestigious.
- We are sent to present and persuade; in so doing, we cannot manipulate or control the work of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 3).