2 Chronicles 9:6 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; you surpass the report that I heard.

Hidden within Old Testament passages we will discover important hints of the nature of our audience. Who will believe our reports?

When I gave my life to Jesus those who knew me saw me change. That allowed me to explain how and why I changed. It was easier for them to believe that Jesus changed me because they saw me change.

What of people who have no knowledge of what we were in a previous life and only know us for who we are now? A measure of trust has to be established or else they will leave and go their own way. This means that we have to invite people into our lives. We have to make room for them.

Matthew 9:10-13

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

We don’t get to sit and eat with people we insult. Jesus answered the Pharisees about their judgments, not His own.

John 12:47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

Wisdom says a drowning man will not cry out for help until he fears for his life.

2 Chronicles 9:6 …. half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me; ….

We cannot make them ask and they will not ask us if they do not trust us. They will not trust us if they believe we are judging them.

When Jesus ate with sinners He remained who He was in character and nature. He is our great example in how to act while we sit with sinners at table. We cannot allow them to influence us. Be who Jesus has made us to be. Perhaps then they might ask what is so different about us..

Exodus 18:19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,

We that believe by faith in Jesus Christ are asked to represent the people and plead their case before God. There are two important issues in praying, hearing God and listening to the lost.

This is why we begin in winning the trust of the lost so that at the right time, they might ask us to pray for them. Whatever their case might be when they seek to escape their situation they will seek help from someone they know and trust. It is a drowning man reaching out for help. 

For a lost soul to ask for help from our God in the form of intercession there has to be two things to consider. Whatever they believe isn’t working and what we believe has to be seen to them as being a better path to a better life. That means we have to have some sense of what they believe that isn’t working. That means investing time in other people.

Our approach must start with listening to God. We should not approach the work of an evangelist without hearing God. We should approach that work in the same way Jesus did.

John 5:30

Witnesses to Jesus

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

So what is God telling us all to do?

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

This sounds simple enough, preach the good news. No one wants bad news. People do not respond to the man with a sandwich board that declares “The end of the world is nigh!” Self-interest is at the heart of life in the world. Even believing Christians look forward to an end in which they can be delivered into eternal life. It all begins here, now, in the life we live for God.

We tell the lost what they need to hear to seek God’s solution.

But is that all there is to the “good news”?

We have four gospels that tell what Jesus said and did. All that He said and did comprises the gospel message and includes much more than just an escape plan. Be patient with them.