Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Our Walk with Him
Sharing faith is less about a perfect script and more about a prepared life and a ready answer. Scripture calls us to be ready to give a reason for the hope within us, to walk in wisdom toward outsiders, to let our speech be gracious, to tell what the Lord has done for us, and to trust God with the results, who alone opens hearts and doors for the gospel.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/how-do-i-share-my-faith-with-others · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
1 Peter 3:8-17
As you read: Sanctify the Lord in your hearts, always ready to answer anyone who asks about the hope in you, with humility and a good conscience.
8Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tender hearted, courteous,
9not rendering evil for evil, or insult for insult; but instead blessing; knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing.
10For, “He who would love life, and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit.
11Let him turn away from evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and pursue it.
12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13Now who is he who will harm you, if you become imitators of that which is good?
14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “Don’t fear what they fear, neither be troubled.”
15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:
16having a good conscience; that, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.
17For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
Colossians 4:2-6
As you read: Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time, and let your speech be with grace, seasoned with salt.
2Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving;
3praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;
4that I may reveal it as I ought to speak.
5Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
6Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
As you read: God reconciled us to Himself and committed to us the message of reconciliation; we are ambassadors for Christ.
14For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.
15He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.
16Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
18But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Acts 1:6-11
As you read: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.
6Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
7He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
9When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,
11who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”
John 4:1-42
As you read: The Samaritan woman tells her town about Jesus, and many believe because of her simple testimony.
1Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2(although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),
3he left Judea, and departed into Galilee.
4He needed to pass through Samaria.
5So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.
6Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
8For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water?
12Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?”
13Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,
14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”
16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17The woman answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You said well, ‘I have no husband,’
18for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
19The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.
22You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
23But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.
24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”
26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who speaks to you.”
27At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”
28So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29“Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”
30They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
31In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
33The disciples therefore said one to another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
35Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
36He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’
38I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
39From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.”
40So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.
41Many more believed because of his word.
42They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Peter lays the groundwork: sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, 'and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear.' Paul adds the tone: 'Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.' You do not need a script for every debate; you need a ready heart and graced words.
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:”1 Peter 3:15
“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”Colossians 4:6
The message is carried by the messenger. Peter says to give the answer 'with humility,' keeping a good conscience, 'that, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.' Paul says to walk in wisdom toward outsiders, redeeming the time. A life changed by the gospel makes the gospel believable; the fruit of the Spirit is the background music of the witness.
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:”1 Peter 3:15
“having a good conscience; that, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.”1 Peter 3:16
“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.”Colossians 4:5
Jesus sent the healed man home with a simple assignment: 'Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.' And the Samaritan woman needed no theology degree: she told her town, and John records that 'many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman.' Your story of encounter with Jesus is a legitimate and powerful part of your witness.
“He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.””Mark 5:19
“From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.””John 4:39
“for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.””Acts 4:20
The gospel is not your opinion; it is a message entrusted to you. Paul writes that God reconciled us to Himself through Christ 'and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation,' and 'we are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.' He also asks how people will believe without hearing, and how they will hear without a preacher, and calls the feet of those who bring the good news beautiful. When you share, God speaks through you.
“But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;”2 Corinthians 5:18
“namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.”2 Corinthians 5:19
“We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”2 Corinthians 5:20
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?”Romans 10:14
“And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!””Romans 10:15
The outcome never rests on your eloquence. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit's power and the role of witness to the ends of the earth, and the apostles, forbidden to speak, said they could not help telling what they had seen and heard. Paul urged prayer for open doors: 'praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word.' You plant and water, and God gives the growth. Share faithfully, pray boldly, and leave the harvest to Him.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.””Acts 1:8
“for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.””Acts 4:20
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving;”Colossians 4:2
“praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;”Colossians 4:3
“I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.”1 Corinthians 3:6