SPEAKER_01 0:26

Welcome back to the Monday Morning Men podcast. My name is Josh Swart. I am here with Thomas Dellinger on a beautiful Monday morning. It's a warm Monday morning. It is warm. In September. That's true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

But also doesn't help that the AC in my office is messed up. Please refer to the last episode or episodes ago about suffering and embracing it.

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Thank you guys for listening. We really want to, with this show, just bridge the gap between your Sunday morning service and your Monday morning real life. And we ask we we hope that you're you're blessed by what you hear. If you got questions, reach out to us. Info at Mondaymorningmen.com. Have we ever even gotten an email from somebody?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Mostly people that just want to sell us stuff. Please stop grow your podcast. It's $20 a month. Like, please stop. How can I pray for you? We're gonna have to start begging people to email us. Somebody just email us to make sure that thing is actually working. Is anybody listening to this?

SPEAKER_01 1:29

So funny. Um the last episode we did, our guest. I've been thinking about that for a long time. Anxiety? Yeah. Yeah. Drew's amazing. That was good. So if you haven't listened to that one, make sure you go back and listen to that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

We'll also let you know, maybe put even put a link up once his book comes out. It'll be good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

So coming off that one, that was

Why Evangelism Is So Controversial

SPEAKER_01 1:50

pretty life-changing for me. I will, I will admit. So excited for the next uh few rounds of episodes that we've got. This morning, we're talking about evangelism.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna kind of uh I guess pivot a little bit. Not really pivot, I mean it's just a this is a topical podcast, so everything doesn't even necessarily sure line up, but yeah, we're gonna we're gonna drift into evangelism today. Um this is one personally that my dad's a big evangelist, like I mean he's a pastor, but I mean, well, we should all be, we'll get into that in a second. But he um I grew up in an environment like this, so I when I say this, I don't I don't say it as a brag, but it's like I have evangelized in every possible way you could possibly imagine. And the reason I say this is it's a surprisingly controversial topic. You start talking about evangelism with people at your church or whatever, people have an opinion. Like, well, I I don't I think it should just be the way you live your life, or I don't think you should be aggressive in people's face. And then you've got people that it's like street preaching with signs and yelling and and or being loud, fire and brimstone is the only way. And um I've done both. So when I say that, it's not to like I'll pat myself on the back. It's like, no, I've walked in the shoes and been with a guy on the street corner. I have I have you know street preached in all sorts of different environments for years and years and years. I've also been where it's just like, hey, I'm going to live my life as an example where maybe it's taking it's a little bit quieter. I I'm just please understand as I approach this, it's like, well, Thomas doesn't know because he's never done. Now I've done it, and I've grown up around people that have done it in a myriad of different ways. Um, and we'll kind of get into that in a little bit more. But

What Is Evangelism?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

I'm just saying, listen, before whatever preconceived thoughts that you have, just understand at least on this side, there is a lot of understanding. Um, but we're gonna keep it pretty basic and we're gonna ask three basic questions on evangelism, try to answer them, and then ultimately remember this podcast is here so that we are practically applying something. It is hard to be uh any more practical than evangelizing your faith. So our text for for today will be out of Romans uh 10, 14, and 15. There's lots of scriptures and we'll get into that. So if you're listening to this and you're uh if you're driving, please don't turn to it. But if you're listening to this and you're at your dining room table, that's you can go ahead and turn to that. But first we just have to ask the question, what is evangelism? Maybe you don't know, maybe you're new to the faith. You've heard people talk about it, you don't really understand it. Um, the first one, I love how lightener ministries kind of defines it, um, which lighting, most of those are Presbyterian brothers, so for them to define something is always a good time. But they just say it's the proclamation of the good news or just the proclamation of the gospel about Jesus. Um, and just understand verbal communication. I mean, I probably don't need to define this for anybody, but if you want to look up the definition, it just means to communicate. That can be writing, that can be uh even the way that you act is communicating something, and the way that you speak too. So verbal communication can be anything, and that's important to understand. Um, so it comes, this Greek term that that evangelism is uh you know derived from is just means good news or gospel. So even the Greek, when scripture and the verses we're about to read say evangelism, it just means that. So they're defining it simply how God uh intended it to be. So the second question, now that we've just defined

Are Christians Called to Evangelize?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

our terms, which is always important, is are we called to evangelize? And I would say that, I mean, probably 95% of the Christians would say yes. They probably don't know where in scripture it says that, but they're like, yeah, I mean, we should probably a lot of people would even say, uh, was it Matthew 28, the word to go into all the world to make disciples? That is evangelism, and and and discipleship is a is a part of it, but when declaring the good news, the discipleship is the secondary part. Right. We sow the seeds, now we need to take care of what's being what's being birthed out of that. So a lot of people think discipleship and evangelism are the same. They're not, they're actually two different things. So I wouldn't even call that really necessarily the the actual defining evangelistic passage. Romans 10, 14, and 15, where I told you to turn, would probably be more of the one that I would kind of give to someone. It says this how then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one in whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. And we all obviously know, even in our uh the armor of God, right? It's the feet are shab with the preparation of the gospel. This is a part of what we're to put on every single day is to simply tell someone about Jesus and the good news. Matthew uh 9, 36 and 38 through 38 says this. And when he had saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest of the field. He's calling us to evangelize. And it's not easy and it's hard, but it's God's compassionate heart on people for us to go out and to declare what we know that he has done, what he will do, who he's been. You can look up 1 Peter 3:15, a lot of apologists use that. That's the one where it says that we're we're need to be ready to give an answer to defend our faith. And yes, I guess you can define that as a um for your apologetics class of why we need to understand sound doctrine and why we need to be able to understand certain things in scripture. But it always says in that that it needs to be able to give an answer for the hope that lies in us, which the hope is the gospel. This is our hope. So even 1 Peter 3:15, I would actually put that more as an evangelistic passage than Matthew 28. But then you have 1 Corinthians 9, uh 19 through 23, if you want to read that. Again, there's lots of scriptures. We are called to evangelize. It's in there, it's God's heart, and we need to do it. So we get to our third question, um, you know, as we kind of drift into our application uh for today. Third, how do we evangelize? And my answer is as someone who has done it just about any way

You’ve Got to Do Something

SPEAKER_00 8:13

you possibly can, it's really simple. Just do it any way that you can. Do something. While there may be different ways of evangelizing or even better ways, any way is better than none. I I uh this is probably uh unholy and probably not a great reference, but I'm a big fan of the office. And there's this scene where Jim becomes manager, and Michael, the the manager at the time, is working in sales and he doesn't know how to, he's just like unsure of what to do. And Jim calls Michael as he sees him, and he's like, and he just says this line. And I think about this when I think about evangelism. He's like, You gotta do something, man. You can't just sit there. And I'm like, but that's evangelism. It's like, you gotta do something, you just can't sit there. Right. And that's kind of my mentality when it comes to how do we evangelize? You just have to do something, you can't sit there. But that's how we we a lot of us will. We'll sit on the sideline, and Christ is asking,

Practical Ways to Evangelize

SPEAKER_00 9:11

hey, the harvest is plentiful, their workers are few. So our application for this week is just simply to find a way to evangelize. Um, I'm gonna give you a couple of ideas and tips and tricks, maybe uh tips and tricks, tricks some really bad. Uh, but but just some ideas maybe to get your brain moving in that direction. Um, and the first is is is something really simple. Just if if you've never done it, is to hand someone a tract. Obviously, make sure it's a a uh you know, a Bible-believing good track and be careful with some of them. I'm a big Living Waters guy, Ray Comfort's ministry. The nice thing about it, you can go to LivingWaters.com. You if you can't afford tracks, they'll send them to you for free. I'm a big way of the masters guy. I've taken uh Ray Comfort's course in evangelism. My dad did made us take it um probably a few times a year growing up. Uh he was really big into it. It's a great educational resource on how to share your faith. So, Living Waters, that's something you guys can look up. Look up anything by Ray Comfort. But they'll give you tracks. One thing that we do, um, that's kind of my thing, he makes these small little tracks. They're like little IQ tests, but they're the size of a credit card. So I do this every time I pump gas. When I get out, my kids already know to dig in the center console of my truck and hand me a track because I slide it into the credit card slot. Because I mean, there's nothing more boring than pumping gas. So I want when they go to put their credit card in that they have to pull this track out and it gives them something to read. So here's a place where I'm not only evangelizing, uh, is it the best? Probably not. One-on-one is way better, but I'm at least I'm giving and distributing some sort of information, but it also gives me an opportunity to evangelize even to my kids. Look, this is important to dad's faith, where he's thinking of the unsaved person who's pulling up to the pump even before they get there. And we can pray for him when we leave or her. And for my kids are thinking evangelism's now, now we've gotten their mindset. So if you're a dad, even listening to this, take a track, slide it into that machine or you know, into that pump, pray with your kids and think about it. You can also, even evangelism is to pray with someone. So uh we've done that even like uh taking the family to the mall. We used to go to Concord Mills Mall uh a couple few times a month, and I would just take the kids and we would walk up and we'd find people just to pray for. So you can go in there and just be like, hey, you know, I God's led me to pray for you. I mean, like the power of prayer, um, we believe in it, and then maybe that can open up some some dialogue. Sometimes it's not. I think that you can use any opportunity to just love on somebody. I've come out, my my wife and I love going on dates in uptown and the amount of homeless and drug addicts and people call them demon-possessed, and they may be, but it's like they definitely it's like the drugs. And they'll come up to you, and nothing will scare them further than when you say, No money, but I'd like to pray for you. Like they will leave. So you can use that as a as a please get away, or you could have an opportunity. So praying for people and then giving the gospel, like I said, if you want help on how to do that, big, big fan of Way of the Masters, go there and uh learn. You can watch all their material on a great way to present the gospel using the Ten Commandments. Um, another way that my wife and I do it is we have unsaved people over. We're foster parents. So if we can have some of our, you know, the kids that have been in our home and that, you know, being reunited with the family, most of these people are unsaved to be able to pray, to pour into them, have them over in your home. That's not just, hey, we we don't just care about your physical or your spiritual needs. We also care about your physical to feel loved, to be fed, to be welcome. So have people in your home, be hospitable. Scott and our podcast a few episodes ago talked about hospitality, having that stranger in your home. It's not just your friend. That's a great way to evangelize. Um, talk about your faith at work. It doesn't even have to be like an in-your-face, like this is no, this is what we do as a family. This is why it's important. You being faithful to your wife for 15 years or you caring about your kids' hearts, like just even the little way that you'll present things will open up dialogue with people. Um, and then and then just kind of as like a as a as a final uh application, there's so many ways to apply this. And and I've seen it, and there's probably you know, people that have other ways, which is great. Um, but look for it in every opportunity that you can. If the gospel is what we're grateful for, if the gospel is something that we're chasing and that we want to present to someone, we'll

Look for Every Opportunity

SPEAKER_00 13:33

look for every opportunity. This happened to my dad a few weeks ago. Um, he doesn't know I'm gonna share this. Uh I did have to call my mom to make sure I had the exam because I overheard him telling my my uncle about it, but my dad's always been this way. It's like every opportunity to look to be able to present it. So he runs a uh consignment sale, and this lady was uh stealing from them, and and they they were watching her steal. They caught her, and uh she was swapping tags of more expensive things with cheaper things and doing all these things. So my my dad caught her, and there's a deputy on there. So my dad, and this is just the way he presents, and so if you're if you're a guy that's in business or you're you know, you're thinking to yourself, well, it's only the super spiritual dad's running. I mean, yes, he's a pastor, but my dad's a for-profit business to provide for his family. And um, this lady had stolen a decent amount of stuff, and so he walks up to her and he's like, Hey, we've we've been watching you, we have you on film, you've been stealing. And this woman, obviously, now she's caught, she's like very upset. And he goes, Two things I want you to know. And the deputy's standing right there. He's like, First, I'm not pressing charges, he's like, but we do have to pay for this stuff, and he's like, I want you to know I'm paying for everything. And he's like, and I'm just gonna give you, give it all to you. And she's like, but but but why? Like, I I'm I was stealing from you. And she's like, you know, that this is I I'm I shouldn't be allowed, I'm undeserving. She, her actual words were, I don't deserve this. And he goes, Neither do I. He said, None of us deserve it. He goes, but Jesus came, and immediately all of a sudden, now it's a gospel. And he goes, This is why Jesus came. I'm undeserving. And he took this time, he lost money on it. It's not helping his business, it's not like she's gonna be a repeat customer, probably, you know. But he uses this opportunity to give the gospel, and then later my mom told me she's like her grandmother, who is safe, came back and said, I've been giving her the gospel and she wants nothing to do with it. But whatever happened, she now wants to hear. Every opportunity, even if it's someone taking advantage of you. If you're listening to this and maybe you've like had a deal go south, and maybe the person on the other end is a loser. Yeah, we're all losers, and you have an opportunity to love on them and to give them the gospel. That's the most beautiful representation. If you're in the marketplace, I think you have some of the best opportunity to show Jesus. More than probably your pastor. I mean, your pastor's probably dealing with the parishioners in there. You're actually in the world and you're dealing with people that are out there for selfish ambition and then greed and and uh and whatever's going on, you have the ability to be different. And so look for every opportunity, whether someone's stealing from you, being difficult, and be like, I'm gonna show you the love of Jesus. And if you find yourself, and I'm just gonna leave you with an uncomfortable warning from Charles Spurgeon. Um, if you find yourself, you're like, I

Do You Have a Burden for the Lost?

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just don't really have a burden for it, I would be concerned for the status of your heart. And that's something we should care. Paul Washer uh used to say that sometimes he would wake up at night praying for lost souls. I don't, I would be a thousand percent honest. I have not had that. I do wake up sometimes at night and pray for the souls of my children. Yeah, so I do care that people know Jesus, but I I need a deeper love for people where it wakes me up in the middle of the night. But there should be a care that we're like, I hope people know Jesus. Um, and this is from Charles Spurgeon's uh this is a question that he actually had asked in his um sermon, She Was Not Hid. And this is what he asks. And he asks, mind you, this is like hundreds of years ago. This isn't like in your world of of evangelism as we know it, but he says this, do you want to go to heaven alone? And he's in reference to that, he says, I fear you will never go there. If you're just this is a desire to go by yourself. And he says this, have you no wish for others to be saved? He goes, Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that. He equates it to if you are not burdened for the lost, I struggle to and and I agree with him that you've even had the power of the gospel impact you. Yeah. Because you should be life-changing where you care about other people. So this is a simple, short, sweet podcast to hopefully motivate you to go out and give your faith to somebody today in some sort of capacity. And even if it goes poorly or you don't know what to say, and this is just kind of my two cents. Remember, it's not by the cleverness of your words. Paul says this, it's not by the way that you speak or the way you carry yourself. The gospel is transformative, period. Really, this is just about you obeying and being faithful and loving people. It's not about the outcome, never a matter of obedience. We're not tallying souls, we're just tallying obedience and loving people. Like I want to share this with you. Put them in like a note. Exactly. I I it is true, yeah. I mean, which I have a huge problem with that. People are like, oh, 400 people got saved. I'm like, well, I don't know if that's true or not. But it's like at least the I'm just like, let's just at least present the gospel.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Why is it do you think people, when you say evangelism, why do people get so uncomfortable

Why Evangelism Makes Us Uncomfortable

SPEAKER_01 18:24

or have such strong opinions about it?

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Well, I think I think some people view two reasons. One, there is a there's the hypocrisy of it sometimes feels unloving. It's like, well, let's just get them saved and get them stamped in heaven and then leave them high and dry, and they will forget to make disciples. And that part's extremely valid. But I think it's also uncomfortable. I mean, especially nowadays, like when you say you're Christian, that brings up social issues that we may or may not be against, too. So there's a you know, oh, you're this Christian, and there's a lot of labels that we have to like, oh, I don't want to have to defend that, or or be like, I'm not that. Maybe somebody's just not confident defending the gospel.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

And I understand that. And and and I get that. So I'm not, I'm not trying to minimize those emotions. But at the end of the day, if we believe that the gospel is powerful and transformative, I don't have to be able to defend all my thoughts on evolution or my understanding of biology or whatever you're scared to defend. Yeah. Or, you know, what how is Jesus coming back or end times or what is what is Israel's role right now? You don't have to understand or think at the end of the day, Jesus came and he died for your sins. Yes. And if you believe in him, right, you'll have eternal life. It's that simple. Like it's not even like that's it. Yeah, it I there are better ways. Like I said, livingwaters.com, you can actually look up some of the material way of the masters. Um, but that at the end of the day, yeah, I think that's what holds us back, but it's not as big of a deal as you think it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

I think people can be intimidated too, because for at least for me growing up in the church, youth group, all that stuff, it's like we're gonna do evangelism. That means you're going to Walmart and walking up

Make Evangelism Part of Your Life

SPEAKER_01 20:06

to strangers and praying for them, and they're just like, I'm here to get groceries. What are you doing? Yeah. And and it's like super uncomfortable. Correct. Um, so you layer that on top of the defending the gospel and feeling like you have to know all of this stuff. It's probably a huge barrier for people to get over. But my encouragement to anybody listening would be do it in a place that feels natural to you. Yeah. Like there's certain hobbies that you may have, there are certain things that you do that you have an area of influence that most other people don't. I remember when we were overseas um in Southeast Asia. We lived there for two years. I ran a business. There was a guy that I met that he was a window washer. And he felt like God called his family to move to where we were, and he started a window washing company. And his whole the whole operating method of his business was he was employing these young guys, they're hanging on the side of skyscrapers and they're trapped with him for hours and hours full workday. And his whole thing was just like discipling these kids, evangelizing to them, these guys that worked with him. Um and obviously they were receptive to it, right? Because they were they were they're with him, but that that's a trade that he knew. He was confident in it. Like the he could glorify God through like the work of his hands and also be able to tell other people about God's goodness. I love it. So like you don't have to go to Walmart, you don't have to stand on a street corner, it doesn't have to be that. It just do it in a place where it's natural to you. If you're like if you love mountain biking, take somebody to do a mountain biking with you and just be able to like point out like the beauty of God's creation. And um if you like cars, go to a car meetup. Like, like there's ways that you can incorporate into every area of your life, and I think that's really what we're trying to go for here. Correct, yeah, is like you're living this lifestyle of evangelism, it's not like this separation of like church life and like oh, we're gonna go be evangelist, do evangelism. It's just like make it a part of everything that you do.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

I think I think I think that's the biggest thing. I think you nailed it because look, if God's called you to go to m you know, Concord Mills or Walmart and you're gonna do it for two hours, great. If that's whatever, whatever. And I've done that and I get it, but but I think if you just make it a rhythm, it will become more natural, like you said. It's just like, you know, I mean, you could even be by yourself at the checkout at Harris Theater. Yes. And just like and they ask how you are, and you're like, Great, how are you? And they're like, you know, I've had a bad day. I've had them say that, and you're like, wow, that's a bold statement. They're like, Well, can I just pray then two seconds for you? It's like, oh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah, the amount of times that I've done that, yeah, and like tears are just rolling down their face, and like you have no idea what these people are going through. None. Layer on top of that, we live in this like low trust society where everybody's just trapped in their homes, they're on social media, they're they go to work, they come home, they're miserable. Yep. And if you can be that one person that just asks them how they're doing, or smiles at them, looks them in the eyes, and just asks, Hey, can I pray for you? I've got nothing for you. Just that one simple thing alone could be just the one thing that cracks that that cage wide open to be able to deliver the gospel. Yeah, and not even feel like you have to be pressured to like deliver this gospel message, right? You're just planting seeds. Yes. Maybe it's the gas station attendance at Quick Trip or who like everybody there, it's a three-second interaction. Yeah, and you just take a sign to look them in the eyes and just say, Hey, thank you. Is there anything I could pray for you? You know, like it's very simple.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

You can even look at them and be like, hey, Jesus loves you, man. And then walk out, and like

Your Opportunity Is Coming Today

SPEAKER_00 24:04

that's gonna leave people. Final thought. And I'm gonna say this because if you're listening, hopefully, yeah, maybe in the morning, I bet you do stop at a gas station as you drive at some point today, or you're gonna you're gonna have a big, and I'm telling you, the moment you start thinking like this, today, you're gonna have an that somebody's gonna come in and be like, oh, and you're gonna remember this. And no, and you're gonna be like, oh, and this is my chance. Because God cares about other people too. Yes, like and you gotta realize that. And he's gonna, and if you have a desire for obedience, he's gonna put someone in your path today, and you're gonna immediately think about this, and you're gonna part of you is gonna be like, crap, man. Like, this is gonna tell you. I wanted to have to listen, man. What the heck? Um just be obedient today because it will happen. And you're like, oh, this is my opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

That's a good way to leave it. I like it. Um, we would love to hear testimonies of this in action if you guys are listening. So email us info at mondaymorningmen.com, and we look forward to hearing from you.