Salvation Summaries

Acts 21:40 The commander agreed, so Paul stood on the stairs and motioned to the people to be quiet. Soon a deep silence enveloped the crowd, and he addressed them in their own language, Aramaic.

Many years ago when my wife and I lived in Peoria, IL, we both worked downtown, and in the summer we would often meet during our lunch hour, buy some street vendor food, and eat outside at the Courthouse Square. Many other people ate there too.

Periodically, a well-intentioned but highly ineffective “street preacher” would witness to the people there by yelling that they would go to hell if they did not turn to Jesus for salvation. Even though I was a Christian then, I cringed when I heard him say this, and often thought about pulling him aside and telling him to change his tactics, but I never did.

As Christians, it is our responsibility to witness to unbelievers (Mt 28:18-20), but there’s a right way to do this, and a wrong way, and the street preacher was doing it the wrong way.

To witness the right way, we can take a lesson from Paul. In Acts 21-22, when an angry mob wanted to kill Paul, he asked the commanding officer if he could speak to the crowd, and the commander agreed. Paul was able to quickly settle them down by speaking in their language – Aramaic – and then sharing part of his upbringing, as they would be able to relate to it.

If you want to effectively witness to someone, you first need to build rapport with them. You do this by finding out what you both have in common. Do they have a similar job as you? Do they live in the same area? Do they have some of the same interests? Etc.

After you identify a few things in common, you can transition into telling them what you were like before you became a Christian. For example, if you both have an interest in cars, or drive the same car, you can mention the type of car you drove right before became saved, and then talk about what you were like – or your sinful way of life – back then. They will be able to relate to this, for they likely did (or even now do) some of the same things.

Now that you have more of a connection with them, you can deliver your main message – that you became a Christian, and your life began to change as a result of it. However, as you tell them this, you will want to get a sense for their interest level in how you became a Christian.

If they seem interested, then tell how and why you did, and maybe share a Bible verse or two that influenced you at the time (John 3:16 is a popular one of course, Romans 10:8-13, etc.). But if they seem uncomfortable or disinterested, then you can end the conversation, knowing that you “planted a seed,” and it’s up to another believer to take it from there.

If you want more help in witnessing to others, feel free to read some of my older posts. Or, if all you need is a quick refresher, then consider using the following line of thinking:

• We are all sinners. Even worrying is a sin.
• Our sinfulness is a problem. It separates us from having a relationship with God, and if not dealt with, prevents us from going to heaven.
• We cannot make it to heaven by our own efforts because of our sinful nature. So, there must be another way.
• Jesus came to deal with our problem of sin. He, who never sinned and perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament law, died to save us from our sins. He was and is the only One who could/can do this.
• Jesus will forgive you from all of your sins – past, present and future- but there is something you must do, for it does not happen automatically.
• According to the Bible, you must first realize that you are a sinner.
• Second, you must be willing to repent of your sinful way of life, and seek to live the way Jesus wants you to.
• Third, you must put your faith in Him as Savior and Lord. You must believe in Him with all of your heart.
• The best way to do all of this is simply by praying to Him and then asking Him to save you.
• Before you pray though, you need to realize that there is a “cost” in becoming a Christian, for if Jesus becomes your Lord, then He needs to become more important than anyone and anything else in your life. This is a life changing decision, so think about it carefully.