HOW TO WITNESS TO AN UNBELIEVER

Text - 1 Corinthians 9:22

1 Corinthians 9:22 When I am with those whose consciences bother them easily, I don't act as though I know it all and don't say they are foolish; the result is that they are willing to let me help them. Yes, whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him.  (TLB)

Tonight I am going to conclude with my mini series on how to witness to an unbeliever. Through this series I have tried to give you the practical side of the Building Bridges series we have been listening to on Sunday morning.

In fact, before we even begin tonight I would like you to take the time to think of an unbeliever you would like to build a bridge to and then write in their name in the blank at the top of your handout. This might be someone in your family, a co-worker or boss, a school mate or a neighbor. Then I want you to think of how you can use one of the methods or a combination of these methods to build a bridge to that person and reach them for Christ.

There was a religious lady that had to do a lot of traveling for her business, so naturally she did a lot of flying. Flying made her extremely nervous, so she always took her Bible along with her to read since it helped relax her on the long flights.

One time, she was sitting next to a man. When he saw her pull out her Bible, he gave a little chuckle, smirked and went back to what he was doing.

After a while, he turned to her and asked, "You don't really believe all that stuff in there do you?"

The lady replied, "Of course I do. It is the Bible."

He said, "Well, what about the guy that was swallowed by the whale?"

She replied, "Oh, Jonah. Yes, I believe that, it is in the Bible."

He asked, "Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time inside the whale?"

The lady said, "Well, I don't really know. I guess when I get to heaven, I will ask hint"

"What if he isn't in heaven?" the man asked sarcastically. "Then you can ask him," replied the lady.

In the first message in this series we looked at Billy Graham's method of witnessing which is called, "The Four Steps To Peace With God."

Last Wednesday night we looked at Bill Bright's Method which is called, "The Four Spiritual Laws."

Tonight we are going to look at a method that I was taught in seminary and is the one that has been taught in this church as a special class over the years.

It is the method that I have used throughout my entire ministry. That doesn't mean however that it is the method that is best for you.

The method I would like us to look at was developed by a man named Dr. James Kennedy. He is the pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. You have probably seen him on TV or heard him on the radio.

This method is called "The Evangelism Explosion (E.E.) Method" and like the other two methods we have looked at has also been used to reach 100's of thousands of people all over the world.

The one thing that each one of these methods have in common is how they all begin by asking a question.

Billy Graham's method asks the question, "Do you know he- peace with God."

Bill Bright's method asks the question, "Have you ever heard of the four spiritual laws.

James Kennedy's method begins by asking the question, "If you were to die today and God was to ask you, 'Why should I let you come into My heaven?' What would you say to Him?"

If you will take time to think that question through you will realize that no matter how a person answers it you will find out if they are a Christian or not.

If the person tells you that they have asked Jesus to forgive them and save them and believe that He died on the cross for them, you know they are a Christian.

If they say anything else, you know that they are not a Christian and then you begin to share with them five things that they need to know about eternal life.