Sermon notes - Alive ('The Secret to Great Evangelism")

This week at youth/iConnect we had Alive, and my message was called "the Secret to Great Evangelism." Both groups were in for the message.We had a bit more time in our small groups than usual and I've heard the discussion went well.

Below are my sermon notes as well as our discussion questions (not all groups went through all questions - the bolded ones were the ones leaders were asked to focus on). Please follow up with your teen or preteen because evangelism is a VERY important topic that I would like to start covering more frequently!

Discussion Questions:


1. What are your initial thoughts/comments about the message? Did anything in particular stand out?
2. What was new to you or interesting about this message? Anything you’d never thought of before?
3. How have you typically been taught the story of Noah? Did you realize that God gave Noah favour?
4. What is the significance of “favour” meaning “grace” in this passage and elsewhere?
5. How can this model of God choosing underdogs be a comfort?
6. What scares you the most about evangelism? In what ways do you feel under qualified?
7. Have you ever had a bad experience? What about a good experience?
8. How have you typically viewed evangelism (i.e. did you see it as a task to accomplish apart from God)?
9. What are your top 3 excuses for not sharing your faith?
10. If the topic of your faith has come up with friends/family, how have people typically reacted to you? (i.e. When people find out you’re a Christian do they ask questions, make jokes, seem interested, insult you, etc.)
11. What skills/qualities do you have that could help you with evangelism?
12. What qualities might hinder you? How can you overcome those things?
13. What are some strategies for sharing your faith? (What can you ask God to do to make it possible?)
14. Do you have any friends that seem interested or curious about what you believe? How can we pray for them? What can you specifically pray for in these situations?
15. How can your church friends be a support system for you?
16. In what ways do you need to rely on God more in your life? What are some practical goals to put Him at the centre of your life?
17. When we spend time with God, pray, read our Bibles, etc. how can that impact our evangelism?
18. How can we (leaders) be specifically praying for each of you?

Sermon Notes - click to finish this post




Alive – Small Group Discussion - The Secret to Great Evangelism

Message Outline:

• Canadian culture: “do whatever you want on your own time, just don’t bring it into my time.”
• Keeping faith to ourselves is NOT God’s plan!
• The Great Commission (not the Great Suggestion) - Matthew 28:18-20:

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

• We come up with “reasons” not to follow this command – but they are just excuses
• Great Commission – Jesus’ last words – in the context of his ultimate authority and with the comfort that he will be with us. 
• Doing God’s work is not about the question “how am I supposed to do this?” The question is “How will God do this through me?”
• How can we, as meek, measly everyday humans, even begin to compare to the amazing people God used? Because they were meek, measly everyday humans too.

Noah

• His story is tragically taught as “all the people were wicked except for Noah, a righteous man who earned God’s favour, therefore God saved him from the flood.”
• The truth – Noah was evil and God gave him favour anyways
• ‘Favour” in this passage (and elsewhere in the Bible) translates to the Hebrew word for “grace” (the same grace as salvation-grace)
• God enabled Noah to be righteous and blameless in his eyes through his grace, and then used Noah to do his work

Abraham

• Abraham – came from Ur of the Chaldeans – main city in Chaldeans was Babylon
• Abraham came from non-Jewish background, from a godless family 
• He may have even helped build the tower of Babylon
• God called him – he is now known as a prototype of a life of faith.

Paul

• Jew, Pharisee, Christian persecutor/executioner, 
• Gave permission for Stephen’s stoning (Acts 1-2) – Stephen was a friend and ‘co-worker’ of disciples
• Arch-nemesis of the disciples (and therefore God) and God chose him anyways
• God brought about his miraculous and dramatic conversion

Peter

• Disciple (first one called, along with Andrew – fishermen brothers) and in Jesus’ inner circle
• Gift of preaching, leader of early church movement – “pillar” of early church
• Easy to think Peter was a good guy and did all that on his own – but the last line shows the truth – GOD added to their number - Acts 2:38-47:

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Secret to Evangelism

• We are not righteous or good enough to earn God’s favour or do his work. He shows us grace/favour and chooses us. Because of that grace, we can follow him and obey him, and then he uses us to do his work.
• We have an advantage over Bible people – we already follow God, we have access to the Bible and education, we live in a safe country.
• We can’t view evangelism as a human enterprise/achievement/task
• If we take God out of the equation when we try to be successful evangelists (when we try and do it on our own) we don’t have an equation anymore
• His grace was there before you followed him, so why would his favour be gone now that you do?
• Drawing close to God and relying on him = he will put the opportunities in our path, give us strength, stir something in others to soften their hearts to our message.
• To be successful evangelists, we need to realize we have to rely on God for every detail. We need to trust him and follow him and know that he has given us favour we cannot earn. We need to keep him in the equation otherwise it isn’t an equation anymore.