Crosstalk: October 13, 2017

​John Sorensen is president and CEO of Evangelism Explosion International, a ministry dedicated to equipping and training believers world wide to witness for Jesus. He's the daily speaker on Share Life Today.

John began by noting that if you go back through every one of the great tragedies in recent history, those people did not know or at least didn't think about the fact that that particular day would be their last one on earth. This should light a fire under us as believers to say what Scripture tells us, and that is the fact that today is the day of salvation.

So how is the church doing at sharing the Gospel? John indicated that there are nations where the church is doing an amazing job. He cited mainland China as an example that in some ways mimics what we see in the book of Acts. Sadly, in the West, that's less so and perhaps that's because we're comfortable, complacent and feel we have things under control.

Why are we like this in the West and why do we tend to keep our faith to ourselves? John indicated that we're not sure we can make a difference so we imagine there's someone better than us that can go and share. In another instance someone might feel they're afraid that if they say something they'll goof it up. Others feel the pastor is the professional evangelist and that those of us in the laity aren't really called to do that. John also described how we've taken on a universalistic mindset where we feel things are going to work out for everyone however it's going to work out. So we end up believing there really isn't a heaven or hell the way the Bible depicts it.

John also talked about how we're really bad judges regarding where we fit into that. What he meant is that as he talks to people around the world, when he asks them if God is going to let them into heaven, almost universally people respond by claiming that God will let them in. When asked why, these individuals feel it's because they're a good person and in the end their good will outweigh their bad. He feels that sometimes those of us in the church have begun to believe that.

Does tragedy soften hearts? John presented the example of a friend who planted a church in Las Vegas. The youth group hadn't seen any fruit in about 2 years as it relates to people giving their heart to Christ. Last Wednesday evening John's friend shared the Gospel and 7 young people gave their heart to Christ.

How do we know that evangelism is a personal mandate for every believer? How did Evangelism Explosion get its start? What are the elements we need to share? What tools does Evangelism Explosion offer to help people share their faith in Christ? These are just some of the Gospel sharing questions that will be answered for you on this edition of Crosstalk.