Education Witness Style 3
Overview
Witnessing in Your Own Personality Style
Evangelism is best understood not as a single event or a "sale to close," but as a process in which God draws and converts while we serve as salt and light. It is a team effort, and our calling as witnesses is both a command and a description of who we are in Christ. Because of that, we are freed from the pressure of performance and freed to participate in what God is already doing in another person's life. The function of witnessing is the same for all believers; the form will differ. Extroverts may speak with more people in lighter contact; introverts often carry fewer but deeper friendships and may witness powerfully through writing, listening, and offering to pray for others—even skeptics will often welcome prayer when sincerely offered.
A few practical habits help us stay engaged: intentionally cultivating friendships with non-Christians (through neighborhood groups, clubs, or hobbies), since new believers often lose their non-Christian relationships within about three years; staying directional in conversations by focusing on the other person rather than evaluating ourselves; and treating witnessing as relational care, not a transaction.
Looking at how Jesus engaged people in the Gospels is instructive. Of the roughly 40 recorded encounters, Jesus initiated only about 9, while around 25 were initiated by others. He took the lead with the man at the pool of Bethesda John 5:1-9, but more often He responded to people who came to Him—like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22, where Jesus gently exposed the idolatry of the heart, or the Pharisees questioning His table fellowship in Matthew 9:9-13. His conversations happened in ordinary settings: the workplace, as with James and John mending nets Matthew 4:21-22; the home, with Simon's mother-in-law Mark 1:29-31; and public encounters like Zacchaeus in the tree Luke 19:1-10.
The pastoral takeaway is encouraging: most witnessing opportunities will come to us through the ordinary rhythms of life, often initiated by others. We don't need to manufacture moments or imitate someone else's style. Be present with people, listen well, pray for them, and trust God to draw hearts. Whether your gifting moves you toward a crowd or toward a quiet email, the same Spirit uses the same gospel through the personality He gave you.
Transcript
Well, we have been taking a look here at this little class entitled 0s
witnessing within your own personality style and just to review a little bit 5s
from whence we have come. Last time we talked about some misconceptions with 11s
regard to evangelism. One of them being that evangelism is an event. No, evangelism 18s
really is a process. Sometimes there are their events. In other words, you have a 26s
one-time moment or crusade or something like that. But typically evangelism 30s
was really much more of a process. We looked at the misconception that 37s
evangelism is a matter of selling. That puts such bondage upon us if we think 41s
that we have to close a sale and if we approach our witnessing with the sense 49s
that okay now it looks like it's coming to the close here instead of 54s
relaxing into that which God is doing in the life of that other person and how 61s
he is using us and leaving the results to him. We took a look at the 66s
misconception that everybody has to witness to a lot of people. 71s
Extroverts are probably going to witness to more people. 75s
Introverts are probably going to witness to less people. Introverts 77s
typically will carry deeper relationships. That's stereotypic. It's a broad 81s
sweep of the brush there. But typically introverts will have a few deeper 87s
relationships. Extroverts will have more and kind of more surface relationships. 95s
So when you just look at probability, extroverts will probably witness to more 101s
people. However, the introvert will have usually closer relationships with 107s
which to witness. We took a look at when Jesus said you shall be my witnesses 113s
that it's not just a command, it's also a description. It's who we are. We are 118s
constantly witnesses to His glory. We took a look at truth about evangelism and 122s
that is the truth that it is a team effort. It's a team effort. And so you're not 128s
the only one witnessing to people. There are whole other groups of people that 134s
the Lord brings around, typically in situations. And you're a part of that 140s
team. You took a look at the importance of the need to hang out with non- 145s
Christians. An author has said, and I think he's probably right, it takes about 149s
three years for a new Christian to totally change over the friend base to where 155s
the new Christian them. All of a sudden in three years, all the friends are 162s
Christians because you get involved in the church, you get involved in the 168s
social sphere there. Your friendships will will change. That's not a positive. 171s
It's certainly a positive you're involved in the church and developing 179s
friendships in the church, but it's not a positive when you lose your non- 182s
Christian friends. And some of the most effective evangelists are the new 186s
Christians because most of their friends are non-Christians. And so it's 191s
important to intentionally do that, those things which bring you into 197s
relationship with people who are non-Christians. And so join a community group, 203s
join a neighborhood association, join a club, that type of thing where you are 209s
intentionally immersing yourselves in the lives of people where you're 214s
going to run into non-Christian. Then the truth is of evangelism that God is the 218s
one that draws God is the one that converts. I took a look at how God uses us as 224s
salt and light, how God uses us to prepare the soil for the casting of the seed 230s
and also the casting of the seed itself. And we're all going to do that in 236s
different ways. Introverts will be different than extroverts in how we do it, but 240s
we're all part of the team. Lastly, we took a look at the distinction between 246s
form and function. We all have the function of being witnesses to the gospel of 249s
Jesus Christ. The form will take different avenues. And so for example for an 257s
introvert, one of the forms that an introvert may feel more comfortable with is 263s
writing. If we were to say today, say after church today, we want to canvas a 269s
neighborhood. We're going to go knock on doors and we're going to see if if 276s
there's anyone there that we can share the gospel with. The introverts are 280s
probably going to say, sorry I got something to do. The extroverts might say, 284s
yeah I'm free I'll do that. If we would say, you know, this week, why don't you 290s
pick one person that you are in conversation with, drop them an email and just 299s
let them know that you're praying for them and ask them, is there something that 306s
you can pray for them about? Extroverts might say, yeah I can do that 310s
introverts go, now that's an introvert. So the introvert using writing can be 317s
very, very effective. We talked about how it's important for being directional. 324s
In other words, especially for the introvert because the introvert has the 332s
tendency to ask themselves the question during a conversation, I wonder how the 335s
other person is perceiving me and kind of sometimes you value waiting the 341s
conversation. That can be a sign that you're an introvert. So for an introvert, 346s
it's helpful to kind of focus on and say, no I want to focus not on myself, I 355s
want to focus on the other person. So if you find yourself thinking a lot about 360s
yourself in a conversation, try and by God's grace, shift that focus to where 363s
you're just focused on the other person. You're listening to them, you want to 370s
hear what they're saying. You're not evaluating the conversation, it's not a 373s
performance. Nobody is going to stand up after the conversation and hold up 378s
card letters with numbers on it. How the conversation went? No, it's just kind of 384s
focusing on the other. We talked about taking a prayer request from people. 389s
Interestingly, oftentimes people who would say there is no God. If you say, can I pray 399s
for you? They'll say, I'm sure you can pray for me. This is a really interesting 405s
phenomenon. And that can be just a nice, non-threatening way of starting that 408s
conversation, deepening that relationship with people. Well, today I want to 416s
focus with you on how did Jesus witness? How did Jesus witness? Well, we look at 421s
the gospels. There are over 40 meetings between Jesus and other people or 427s
groups. In nine cases, Jesus initiated the conversation. So there's about 40 434s
that we have recorded in the gospel. In nine of them, Jesus is the initiator of 442s
the conversation. An example of that would be the Samaritan woman, the woman at 447s
the well in John 4. There's an initiation by Jesus. Well, let me give you another 451s
example. Let's go to John chapter 5, please. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then John. John 457s
chapter 5. 464s
And we'll pick up in verse 1. 471s
There we read after this, there was a festival of the Jews. And Jesus went up to 485s
Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem, by the sheepgate, there's a pool called in Hebrew 491s
Bethsatha, which has five portagos. In these lay many invalettes, blind, lame, and 496s
paradise, paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for 38 years. When Jesus saw 503s
him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, 511s
do you want to be made well? The sick man answered him, sir, I have no one to put 515s
me into the pool when the water is stirred up. And while I'm making my way, 519s
somebody else steps down ahead of me. Jesus said to him, stand up, take your mat, 523s
and walk. At once, the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to 529s
walk. So here you have Jesus initiating the conversation with the person. 25 537s
times of those 40, it's another person or party that initiates the 546s
conversation with Jesus. An example of that is over in, let's go to Matthew 19, 553s
please. Matthew chapter 19 verse 16. So you have times there, nine in the 40, 560s
where Jesus initiates the conversation with the person. 25 times another person 580s
or party is starting the conversation with Jesus. So Matthew 19 picking up in 585s
verse 16. Then someone came to him and said, teacher, what good deed must I do to 592s
have eternal life? And he said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? 600s
There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the 607s
commandments. He said to him, which ones? And Jesus said, you shall not murder, you 612s
shall not commit adulterer, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. 618s
Honor your father and mother. Also you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 623s
Now I just love this response. Young man said to him, I'll get all these. What 627s
Jesus exposes, it's not just a matter of the actual action, it's also a matter of 633s
the heart. It's a matter of what we think. Verse 20, the man said to him, I've kept 638s
all these. What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, if you wish to be perfect, go 643s
sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. You'll have treasure in 649s
heaven, then come follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away 652s
grieving for he had many possessions. You see what Jesus has just exposed there is 656s
his God, right? It is a matter of idolatry. So what he fears and loves the most was his 665s
possessions. Who is the one that initiates the conversation? But it's the other. 672s
It's the question that comes to Jesus. Or in Matthew 9, verse 9, you've got a third 679s
many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him in his disciples. When the 709s
Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax 714s
collectors and sinners? But when he heard this he said, those who are well have no 720s
need of a physician but those who are sick go and learn what this means I desire 726s
mercy not sacrifice for I've come to call not the righteous but sinners. So here 732s
you have the conversation initiated by the other. Sometimes the conversation 740s
occurs in the workplace. Now let's go to Matthew 4 verse 21. Matthew 4 verse 748s
- So in nine cases Jesus initiates the the conversation in 25 times. It's 756s
initiated by the other or a third party. Sometimes it occurred in the in the 769s
workplace. Matthew chapter 4 verse 21. As he went from there he saw two other 774s
brothers James son of Zebedee and his brother John in the boat with their 781s
father Zebedee mending their nets and he called them immediately. They'd left 786s
the boat and their father and followed him. So initiated by others, initiated by 791s
Jesus. Sometimes in the workplace sometimes it happens in the home. Let's go to 800s
Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. Matthew and then Mark verse 29. Mark chapter 1 806s
verse 29. As soon as they left the synagogue they entered the house of Simon 827s
and Andrew with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a 837s
fever and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and 842s
lifted her up in the fever left her and she began to serve them or in Luke 848s
19 verse 1. Matthew Mark and then Luke Luke 19 verse 1. He entered Jericho and was 856s
passing through it. The man was there named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector 878s
and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was but on account of the crowd he 883s
could not because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead 888s