Mike Novotny - How to Talk About Jesus 101

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Christians Struggling with Evangelism
Apparently, most of the Christians who attend our church are pretty bad at one of Christianity’s most important parts. A few months ago, we sent a survey out to our church family, and about 400 people sent back their replies. Based on the data that they shared, the kind of people who replied were the most devout, committed, and passionate members of our church—people who are all in when it comes to the cause of Jesus Christ, reading their Bibles every single Sunday, praying at home, and giving financially to support the work we do.

And yet, when we asked you about one particular part of your Christian life to rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best, 72% of you gave yourself a 3, a 2, or a 1 with this one particular part of the Christian faith. And that part was evangelism—talking about your faith, not just saying Jesus’ name when you’re in a safe place like this, but when you leave these doors and you’re with your family and friends, sharing the most important part of your heart and your soul, your connection to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

72% of people said, «I’m average at best, probably below average, or I really feel terrible about this part of my Christian life.» And I was thinking about that data. It’s not just one or two people; 400 people from our church said that. It struck me as kind of a curious thing and also an understandable thing. It’s curious for me because I’m not sure if this is your experience, but I never see Christians happier than when one of their friends or family members comes to church. When a person gets baptized here and you get to hear their story—like, «I was disconnected, and I got connected. I didn’t know much about God, but then someone told me about Jesus”—and I’m being baptized, my family’s being baptized. I mean, you don’t even have to know that person; we start clapping and cheering and celebrating. We love seeing people connected to the good news of Jesus.

And we don’t just love it with strangers; when it’s someone that we know—like the person you’re married to or dating, your dad or your daughter, your roommate or your teammate—when the person sitting next to you is the person that you invited, and they’re singing praises to Jesus and praying in His name. There is nothing better for a Christian than seeing another person become a Christian, which makes it kind of interesting, doesn’t it? I mean, if that is so good to us as church people, then why would inviting people to church or talking to them about the best part of our life be something that we feel so inadequate and bad at?

Well, there’s an understandable answer to that question too, isn’t there? Because it’s terrifying. The people that we love—there’s no guarantee how they’re going to react. I mean, if you found the first 10 people on the street, grabbed them by the shoulders, and told them about Jesus, you might have some interesting reactions, right? And this is what freaks us out as Christians. Like, are they going to be offended? Are things going to get weird with my relationship with this person? Are they going to think I’m being pushy, that I’m cramming Jesus down their throats? Am I crossing some line at work or at school? Should I do it now? Should I wait until later? He doesn’t know anything about church, or maybe she does, and she walked away from the church. The people that you love who aren’t connected to a church family or to Jesus have such different stories. It’s hard to know what to say or when to say it or how to say it or how often to say it. Right? There’s no script you can memorize as a Christian that works with every single person, and so there’s no guarantee with how people will react to it.

And I think what happens is that we’re so scared of how they could react that we play it safe. Maybe I’ll just keep praying and hope something happens, right? Or we wait for this perfect opportunity, and as a result, a lot of us as Christians probably know that we should share our faith more often. We should evangelize—Jesus was really clear about that—but we play it safe. We keep things safe. Maybe Christmas, maybe Easter, and we live with this low-level Christian guilt. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I feel that way very often. I have a feeling, based on the survey, a bunch of you do too, and today I want to try to fix that.

Addressing Non-Christians in the Room
Today we’re going to open up our Bibles and study this really short and powerful section from the Apostle Paul, who I think was one of the greatest sharers of the Christian faith in human history. Decades of experience with all different kinds of people, he was bold, he was courageous. Today, in just a few short verses, Paul is going to give you and me a crash course on how to talk about Jesus with our friends and our family.

But before I grab the Bible, I should probably acknowledge the elephant-sized awkwardness that might exist in the room, which is that some of you here are not Christians. This means, for the next 20 to 30 minutes, I’m going to be talking to fellow Christians about how to convert you, which is pretty awkward, right? Maybe it’s your first time in church like, „Yeah, sure, I’ll come with you, buddy, ” and now the pastor’s like, „How can we get them?“ So I should probably be honest with you, alright? If you’re unsure about Jesus, if you’re just checking this out, if you’re not totally in just yet, the truth is we are trying to convert you. That is the truth. Actually, you shouldn’t be weirded out about that word. I looked it up in a dictionary; the word convert literally means to change your mind about something. So are we as Christians trying to change your mind about Jesus? Yes. Are we trying to get you to agree with the things that Jesus said about the problem of bad behavior and the solution of His forgiveness? Yes. Right? Because we believe no matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you think about the Bible, that you share the same problem that all of us do: you don’t love people the way you should, right? And you know this. You should be patient, you should be kind, you should be forgiving, you should let things go; you shouldn’t argue, you shouldn’t be defensive, but that happens all the time—not just to me and the church people, but to you too. It’s a problem, and according to Jesus, it’s actually a huge problem if you want to connect with a God who’s perfect.

Right? You might think, „Well, I’m just human; everyone makes mistakes,“ and that’s true. But if you have aspirations of making it to a better place when you die, of being in the presence of a God who is perfect, then that very human problem is a very big problem. And the truth is, I’m trying to convert you to believe that—to not dismiss it, to not minimize it, to not say, „Well, whatever, I’m human, ” but to agree with Jesus that being imperfect can separate you from the perfection of God in heaven. And I’m trying to change your mind about the solution to that gap. While the world would tell you you should just learn from your mistakes or try harder to be a better person or live a good life or balance the scales or fix your karma, Jesus doesn’t agree with any of that.

Jesus says the answer is that God apparently is so loving, so forgiving, and so merciful that He was willing to fix the problem that you couldn’t fix. That instead of making you wonder and bear the burden of, „Am I good enough? Am I good enough? Am I good enough for God?“ Jesus came and gave His life on the cross so that every one of your sins and mistakes would be wiped away and that God could look at you and see someone who’s actually good enough to be in His perfect presence. If you don’t believe that yet, I want to convert you. We want you to believe that it’s the best news in the world; it helps you sleep at night, let go of guilt and shame, and it’s actually the one thing that Jesus said will get you to a better place.

So, it’s true. I’m going to talk to my fellow Christians today about the best way to communicate that with you. There are bad ways to do that—you may have experienced it. Today, the Apostle Paul is going to teach us some really good ways to do that, connecting with people in a reasonable way to give them the best chance they have to believe the best news of all time.

Paul's Teaching in Colossians 4
So, if you have your Bible… if you’re not a Christian just yet, we’re going to dive into the Apostle Paul’s words in the book of Colossians, chapter 4, where we’re going to learn three things about how to evangelize.

1. Pray Intentionally
Here’s the first one: starting in Colossians chapter 4:2, Paul says this: „Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.“

Alright, if repetition teaches you anything, the first thing Paul wants you to know is—did you catch it? Yeah. Pray. He said it three times, actually. In verse 4, he says, „Pray that I may proclaim it clearly.“ In verse 3, he says, „Pray that God may open a door.“ In verse 2, he actually said, „Devote yourselves to prayer.“ So, before you knock on a door, send a text, or talk to them about Jesus, according to Paul, you should first talk to Jesus. Right? If you’re taking notes or filling in the blanks, write this down: the first way to evangelize, the most important place to start, is to pray intentionally. Talk to God about the person that you love that you want to connect to the love of God.

I don’t know about you, but I forget that all the time. I stress about, „What do I say? Is now the time to say it?“ And Paul says, „Well, hold up, hold up. First pray, devote yourself to praying for that person.“ Let your conversation with the Father be less like your relationship with your dentist and more like your relationship with your phone. Alright? I’m not going to just pray for them twice a year because I probably should—Christmas and Easter. No. Like, I’m constantly going to talk to my Father, „Father, please give me a chance. Open a door. Give me an opportunity.“ And Paul actually says that. He says, „Devote yourselves to prayer and pray for us so that God may open a door for our message.“

I love that phrase; it makes so much sense. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone who did not want to have a conversation with you? Right? Maybe if you’ve been in sales before, you’ve experienced this a thousand times over. For someone to have an open heart or an open mind—like that conversational door has to be open. If it’s shut, if it’s locked, I mean, what are you going to do? I love that Paul—he’s writing this actually from under house arrest. He’s been a Christian for about 30 years, and by this time in his life, he’s preached the gospel on three intercontinental tours. He’s shared Jesus with rabbis in Jerusalem, with professional intellectuals in Athens, with wizards in Ephesus (Acts 19). I mean, Paul’s been with Jews and Gentiles—people who knew everything about the Old Testament and nothing about the Old Testament. He had his PhD in sharing his faith, and yet what does he say? „I can’t do anything unless the door is open.“

30 years of sharing my faith, but if God doesn’t get involved and give me that opportunity for a real conversation about spiritual things, I can’t say anything. I can’t do anything; I can’t change anyone’s mind or change anyone’s heart. God needs to open a door, and that’s why I’m going to ask two of my door-moving friends to literally bring us a door. This is Austin; this is Rob. Can you put your hands together for the best door prop movers in recent church history? Look at this—we were practicing all morning. Don’t hit the keyboard. Get in the right spot and leave like ninjas. Boom! Thank you very much, guys.

Alright, so here’s the door. Let’s imagine for a second that you’re sitting in your living room, you’re watching your favorite football team on your 75-inch Ultra HD screen, and I’m your friend who’s a Christian. You’re not a Christian, and here’s your door, and the door is currently closed. What am I going to do? Unless that door opens, here I am with my Bible, my good news about Jesus. I can’t—I just want to sit down right next to you at the table on the couch, talk to you about the things of Jesus. But if the door’s not open, hey, I would like to talk to you about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know you’re in there. I saw—I’m going to slide the Bible underneath the door. Just read pages 1 through 2000. Alright, well am I going to keep pounding? Am I going to get a battering ram? Obviously, if the door isn’t open to a conversation, I can’t do anything with the conversation.

And so Paul says, before you pick the perfect passage to share, like, work on what you’re going to say, you have to get God involved. He says, „Devote yourselves to prayer. Pray for that person.“ All the human skill and ingenuity in the world—you could be the Apostle Paul, and you couldn’t do it unless God would open a door. Alright?

So here’s my homework for you: I just want you to think of one person right now—one person that you know who doesn’t go to church, one person who’s not all in when it comes to their faith in Jesus. Would you be willing to just pray for them every day? Devote yourself to this for the next seven days, right? Put a note on your phone, write it in your church bulletin, stick it in your car, and every time you’re driving to work, just pray, „God, I can’t—I can’t force them to believe anything. I see—I can’t make them have an open mind about spiritual things. You know what my brother has been through after growing up in church; you know what my best friend thinks about religion and pastors and all this stuff. God, please, I can’t, but you can.“

Seven straight days, pray that God would open a door for the message, because that’s where evangelism starts: pray.

2. Sway with Wise Actions
But that’s not where it ends. Let’s look at what Paul says next. Verse 5: I love this line. Paul says, „Be wise in the way that you act toward outsiders and make the most of every opportunity.“ Let me read that again—this is one of my favorite evangelism passages: „Be wise in the way that you act toward outsiders and make the most of every opportunity.“

Right? Be wise in the way you act—be really intentional about the way that you behave. It’s really important. As Christians, our behavior doesn’t save us; that’s all Jesus. But our behavior might be the thing that God uses to open the door to save them. Right? Your character, the way you carry yourself at work, the kind of neighbor you are, the kind of sibling you are, the kind of parent you are, the kind of boyfriend you are or wife you are, has incredible power to open people’s minds to give this gospel a chance.

I tried to pick one word to describe it, because pastors love things that rhyme or start with the same letter. I would say, „How to evangelism sway.“ I’m going to try to sway you, persuade you, influence you with the way that I behave. Right? Let’s go back to our door here. Imagine that this is your front door, you’re sitting watching the game. Imagine this is a big picture window so you can see me walking up the sidewalk. Before I get a knock on that door, question: does it make a difference what person is walking to the front door that influences your attitude towards opening it?

If I was a stranger with a clipboard and a big stack of pamphlets and some political buttons, hey, you’re hiding under the couch, throwing a blanket over your head. If I was your grouchy neighbor who was always yelling at you for your cars and the dog going in my yard, I mean, you’re already closed down to that conversation. But what if I was not that? What if I was a good friend that had been there for you in your time of need, that wasn’t rushed or busy to text or invite you over? What if I really loved you—not perfectly, but well? If you saw me walking up and then the knock came, do you think you’d be more likely to open the door? For sure.

Jesus said this beautifully in Matthew chapter 5: „Let your light—let this Jesus thing inside of you—shine before people that they can see your good deeds.“ Right? Before you get to the good news, get to the good deeds. 1 Peter chapter 3 says if you have an unbelieving husband—like wives, this is so important. I mean, you can invite him to church every single Sunday. What sometimes is even more powerful is the way you love him, the way you serve him, the way you try to show him respect—even if he doesn’t respect the authority of Jesus just yet. You can win him over by the way you behave and not just by the things that you believe.

I think 1 Peter chapter 2 says if you’re living in a pagan culture, if you’re being persecuted, the way you react to that—turning the other cheek, loving people who hate you—not getting into the online drama, but just letting a bright light shine in a dark world that has so much sway, that sooner or later people will notice it, and they will say, „What’s up?“ and the door to a curious conversation can open. So, more homework for you: what would that look like for that one person you were thinking of? Just increase your love for them by 10% this week. What would you do? It’s not rocket science. You don’t have to buy them a new car or house. What about asking how they’re doing, listening to the answer, writing down a note to pray for whatever they’re going through, and following up in seven days? Think people notice that.

„Hey man, sorry it’s been a rough week. I was praying for you every single day this week. Hope you’re doing better. Let me know how I can help.“ Picture the person holding the phone reading that. Huh? Or here’s an idea: I found that people are desperate for Christian love when they’re the new kid in school, a new widow who just lost her husband, a new person who moved to town, a new neighbor next door, a new person at the job who doesn’t have connections. What I mean, that’s such a great opportunity! Just like God loved us when we were far from Him to love those people well. „You want to come to lunch with me? You want to watch a game at my house? You want to hang out with my friends?“ Like that. You don’t have to do anything profound; you don’t have to travel to Africa to share the gospel. Just love a person intentionally and well, and who knows? God might open a door. Your love might draw them to the gospel of God’s amazing grace.

A few decades ago, there was a terrible plane crash in the Florida Everglades. You hear about this? Tragically, a bunch of people died. In the middle of the night, it crashed into the swamp. But miraculously, a bunch of people survived, but they were scattered all throughout the Everglades. It was dark; stuff was starting on fire. People were scared, they were standing in the swamp, and they didn’t know what to do or where to go until one flight attendant who survived did something powerful. She stood with two feet planted and started to sing „Amazing Grace.“ And her voice echoed through the swamp, and people heard it and were drawn to the sound of it—in the middle of their fear, looking for hope—for something they heard the beauty of her voice, and they instinctively took a step toward it. That’s sway. When you stand up on the rock of your faith and you love people, it’s like a beautiful song that makes them curious; it draws them toward you. Love has magnetic power.

So whether they believe it or not, whether they come to church or they don’t, love people as best you can. You start to pray, and then you sway. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders and make the most of every opportunity.

3. Say Something with Grace
And that brings us to the last thing Paul wants to share with us today. Let’s wrap up today in verse number 6. Paul says, „Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.“ Right? Can you figure it out? If all the words rhyme, you start with pray, then sway, and the last thing is—wow—stumper, huh? Say! Right? You’ve got to say something.

He says, „Let your conversation…“ Alright? So these are words that are coming out of our mouths. He says, „Let it be seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone.“ So actually having a dialogue. So, if God answers the prayer, if your love works and makes people curious, well then you actually have to say something. To tell them about Jesus, that’s actually a really important theological point. The word evangelism literally means the process of sharing the evangel, and the evangel is the gospel, and the gospel is what Jesus did.

Right? So if you’re the best neighbor in the world but you never get to that, that’s not evangelism. No one can make it to heaven by having a great neighbor. No—faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through this word about Christ. Right? So that time comes, and here’s the scary part, Christians: where you can’t just be nice, and you can’t just text, and you can’t just pray in the safety of your own home. That we’ve got to talk. Talk about who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and why Jesus is everything that we need.

You know, I picture it this way: imagine you see me coming like, „Oh, hey, I know that guy; he’s pretty nice.“ I knock on the door—by the grace of God, the door opens, and like, „What? I actually have to step in the door, and I have to speak.“ Right? I can’t just love you; I can’t just be a smiling face. If the door opens to the conversation, now is my chance, now is your chance to talk about Jesus. So here’s the question: when the door opens and you step through into that conversation, what will you say? Did you put on deodorant this morning? Are you sweating already? Like, „Oh, what if it goes…“ Alright? There’s no guarantee they’re going to come; it didn’t work for Jesus either. There’s no script that I’m going to hand you after church, and that’s good, because that would be stilted and robotic and awkward.

Let me give you just some suggestions to think about what you could say. You could say your story or just say why you love being a Christian. Say something as simple as, „You know, I mess up all the time, and that’s actually why I love Jesus. I’m trying, but I’m still struggling, but I know that I’m going to heaven, and I’m forgiven, and I’m safe and I’m saved with God because of what He did on the cross. I’m not sure if you know that or not, but that is everything to me.“ Say it! Or a lot of people just say something about their church. When a person comes to church, they’re going to hear us talking a lot about Jesus, and so you might say something like, „Have you ever been to church before?“ I actually love asking this question: „Growing up, was faith part of your family life?“

Oh, you can learn a lot about people with that question, right? And then you might say, „Wow, I’m sorry; that sounds terrible. Sounds like you heard a lot of, like, ‘Give us money, ’ and not a lot about Jesus.“ Did you know that not every church is like that? Actually, I love going to church; my parents don’t force me, and I still go because there’s so much hope, and so much peace, and such good people that I meet. No pressure, but would you come sometime? Say! Or my last idea: I love the evangelistic potential of sharing links. Do any of you do this? Sometimes I’m in church and I think about someone that I know in a conversation we just had, and it is so easy to find that sermon online, click the share button, and say, „I thought of you when I listened to this minute number seven! Especially if you have a chance, let me know what you think.“

And if your friend is scared of church, doesn’t want to walk in, not knowing what’s going to happen—in the safety of their own home, the privacy of their own space, they can listen to the good news about Jesus through that message specifically tailored for them. You can say, right? Paul says, „Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.“ So, what does the Apostle Paul, near the end of his life, teach us about sharing our faith? It’s very simple: you pray, you sway, you say.

You intentionally ask God in prayer to open a door; you do your best to love people in an intentional way, to let your light shine, and when the opportunity comes and you sense it in the conversation, you take the risk; you take the chance; you do what you can, and you say something about Jesus.

The Story of Dorcas and Bill
Now, before I say amen, a few of you, maybe a lot of you, are thinking, „I’m still probably not going to do anything. I’m still too nervous; I’m still too scared. The same thing’s going to happen that always happens. I’m going to be thinking I should say something, I should say something, I should say something, and I don’t say something. And then I get in the car, and then I feel really bad, and Jesus is mad at me.“ Like, okay, if that’s where you’re at, I’m going to leave you today with an amazing story about a woman whose name you’ve never heard, whose little acts of love made a huge difference—more than she would ever know.

She lived many decades ago, I think about 60 years ago, and her name was Dorcas—not making that up. The word dorcas is actually in the Bible; it’s the Greek word for gazelle. It sounded much better 2,000 years ago than it does today, right? So her name was Dorcas, and Dorcas found out from her pastor that near the church there was a little seven-year-old boy named Bill who did not know anything about Jesus. Bill actually came from a pretty tough family background—I think there were felons and train robbers in his family tree. No one tucked him in bed at night with prayers and a Bible story, but here he was, no spiritual connections. The pastor found out and he asked Dorcas if she would just pick him up, and she did. She picked up a little seven-year-old boy, brought him to church, where he got to hear this good news about Jesus. She picked him up, brought him to Sunday school, where he got to hear the good news about Jesus, and she picked him up, brought him to church, where he got to hear the good news about Jesus.

And in fact, God worked a miracle in little Bill’s heart: he became a Christian. He started to see this incredible message of God’s mercy and forgiveness, and he loved it so much that as he grew older, he actually decided not just as a Christian but to be a Christian pastor. And then by the grace of God, Bill got married to a wonderful woman, and they had children, and they decided to tell their children this great news about being Christians, and they shared their faith with the next generation. And then years went by, decades went by, and those children had their own children, and Bill and his wife got to share the good news of the Gospel with their children’s children.

And a family which was so spiritually broken in the beginning became filled with mercy and with love and with faith and with Jesus. The grandchildren would have no clue what it was like for their grandpa to be six or seven and not know the good news, because it saturated their whole family tree. Well, not many years ago, Dorcas was dying, and Bill, now pastor, got to say goodbye. He went to the room where she was lying, sat next to her, took her hand, and he told her the story of how her act of love—just picking him up and bringing him to church—was the thing that God used to bring him to Jesus and his children to Jesus and his children’s children to Jesus.

You know the coolest part? Bill’s here in this room. Pastor Bill, would you please stand? Here’s a man whose life was changed by the simple act of love. And if you’re willing, would Bill’s wife, Paula, please stand? And now would your children please stand? And would your children’s children, the grandkids, please stand? Amen!

Bill told me before church that every fall he takes time by himself to think about the simple people in his life that shared the good news of Jesus—people that God used to give him faith and sustain that faith through the years. This is the power, brothers and sisters: when you pray, when you sway, and when you say.

Prayer

Dear God, we are so grateful that you love us, even in our lost state. Despite our sin, you loved us enough to send your Son to save us. Just like little Bill before Dorcas stopped by, without you we would have had no hope. But with you, we have all the hope in the world. For everyone here who’s a Christian, God, we thank you that we were dead, and you gave us life. We thank you that we were lost, and now we’re found. We were destined for hell, and now we have the promise of heaven. We are so overwhelmed and so grateful to know that news.

But God, there are people that we will see before the end of this day who have no clue what it even is. They know about church and organized religion; they just have a sour taste in their mouths, and they just don’t know that you’re a God who is love and a God who gave His only Son that we might be saved by grace. And so I pray for all of us, God, for courage. I pray that we would have a heart not just to end up in heaven ourselves, but to take as many people as we can with us. Whether we do something big like the Apostle Paul or something seemingly small like Dorcas did, may your name be lifted up, and may more and more people know the goodness of being connected to Jesus Christ. It’s in His name that we pray all these things, and all God’s people said, „Amen. Amen.“