Faith comes by hearing

Faith comes by hearing

Welcome back to my blog. Thank you for visiting today. We are in the midst of an exciting series on exploring relevant research findings from Teleios! See all of our research on our website - Research.

In a past survey about salvation, we received 244 responses. We asked what someone must believe to be a Christian, and how they explain this to others (full report here Belief survey: Understanding the gospel). Wow, we received some amazing answers!

Last week we discussed what extra beliefs many people add to salvation. This week let us explore how people share the gospel. When asked ‘What is sharing the Gospel?’ the answers were:

• Verbally telling a nonbeliever the specific message of salvation - 39%

• Living as a good example - 35%

• Encouraging others - 9%

• Inviting others to church - 7%

• Praying for others - 8%

Fortunately, directly sharing the plan of salvation was the most popular (39%), but as you can see there were many other answers.

We are fortunate that our gracious God has entrusted to us to be involved in other people's lives by telling them they can spend eternity with God. What a wonderful truth to impart to others!

However, we have to tell them! If you discover a good recipe or sport site on the internet or social media, and are excited about it, do you verbally tell someone else or text them to let them know? My guess is you do not depend on a wordless lifestyle that would somehow magically transmit to your friends information about your new favorite site. You must verbally relay this message specifically, of course.

Unfortunately, people cannot interpret our lifestyle, as important as this is for a framework in sharing the gospel. Romans 10:15-17 is very clear, that for person to come to faith, they must hear the explicit plan of salvation and believe. Here is a simple direct ‘ready to use’ gospel message.

Man sinned.

God is just, requiring a punishment for sin.

But out of love God sent His Son, Jesus Christ who by dying on the cross, provided forgiveness of sins in taking man’s deserved punishment.

4.Therefore, by faith alone in Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and belief in His resurrection, man can gain eternal life.

Teleios examined why people are resistant to sharing the explicit plan of salvation at a Midwest bible-believing Church. We found the most common reason was not only social rejection, but also not knowing how to say the gospel itself.

In the hundreds of Bible studies we've been blessed to teach no student could tell us clearly the gospel, even non-succinctly. This not only prevented them from sharing with others, but also at times caused doubt in their own minds because they could not coherently tell themselves that they were forgiven and really saved.

Unfortunately, the hesitancy sharing the gospel is one of the greatest hurdles of believers advancing in their knowledge of God (Colossians 1:9-10). Further, this hesitancy is associated often with fear on one side while creating internal guilt on the other side. This self-defeating battle is unfortunate as sharing the gospel does not need to be this way. It is actually quite easy and next week we'll discuss exactly how to do it!

Thank you for joining us today. I consider it a privilege that you would read my blog.

William C. Stewart, MD

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