I was speaking with an older Christian lady
one time about the subject of sharing the
gospel and she told me she had tried
it but gave it up.
I asked her why she'd quit.
She said she was in a park handing
out gospel tracts and a man came by
and she said hello and handed him a
tract and he violently tore it into pieces
and threw those pieces on the ground.
And she said after that I didn't waste
my money on any more gospel tracts if
they were just going to be torn up.
Well I was sorry that lady got her
feelings hurt but if we followed a rejected
Christ shouldn't we face the same rejection from
time to time?
Jesus even told his disciples, if the world
hates you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you.
The title of my message today friends is
How to Witness to Strangers and today we'll
cover some tried and true ways to share
the gospel with those you come in contact
with throughout the week.
I've maintained a tract ministry for years.
I fell in love with gospel tracts as
a teenager when I worked in a bible
bookstore and they had hundreds of gospel tracts
on racks and racks that told stories of
far away lands, of buried treasure, and of
pearl diving in the South Pacific and sailing
the seven seas.
These adventure stories appealed to the active mind
of a 14 year old and I literally
read every tract in that store I could
get my hands on and committed many of
them to memory.
Later on in life I would write my
own tracts and hand them out but I
still have my old favorites that still warm
my heart and make me think of my
savior.
Well my first suggestion in How to Witness
to Strangers is to choose a couple of
good gospel tracts that you like that speak
to your heart that you find in some
bookstore or you can order online that you
can relate to and share with others.
When I hand out a tract to a
stranger I hold up the tract and show
it to them and I usually say something
like this, this has made a real difference
in my life friend I want to give
it to you because maybe it will help
you as it has helped me.
In handing out tracts there are some solid
rules to follow.
Be convincing, be caring, be committed.
Well where do you hand out tracts?
Do you have to wait for a stranger
to talk to you before you introduce the
tract?
This is how I've always handed out tracts.
When I'm in the drive-thru at McDonald's
I hand one to the cashier at the
first window and at the second window where
I pick up my burger I hand out
another tract to that person there.
You'd be surprised many of these people are
thankful that you gave them the tract because
you cared about them.
If I'm at a place of business like
getting my flat tire fixed I hand a
tract to the man fixing my car.
I look him in the eye and smile
and say hey this has really helped me
friend it might help you too.
I hope you read it.
Be sincere but don't ever be pushy or
obnoxious.
Let people know you really care about them.
I like to hand out tracts in shopping
malls.
Not so much to the people shopping there
but I give them to the people working
there.
When my daughter was a teenager she liked
to get pretzels at the mall so I
would give the employee selling the pretzels a
gospel tract.
We'd go back later on to that same
pretzel shop and the same employee smiled at
me and thanked me for giving her that
tract.
She had shared it with her husband.
It made a difference in their life.
You can use any situation in life as
a place of witness for Christ and the
gospel.
Years ago I was driving through the city
of Atlanta and I was going too fast
and I got pulled over.
When the sheriff approached my car I said
I'm sorry officer I didn't know it was
speeding.
I'm a baptist preacher and I'm on my
way to a meeting.
I guess I took my eyes off the
speedometer.
Well he gave me a ticket anyway but
before he left I said officer can I
give you something that may help you as
it has helped me.
And I handed him a gospel tract.
He opened it and read it right there
in front of me with a serious look
on his face.
When he was done reading it I said
look I know you have a dangerous job
and you put your life on the line
every day.
How's your relationship with God?
He shook his head and said not as
good as it could be.
Well I reached into my briefcase and pulled
out a bible and handed it to him
saying let me give this to you friend
it can really help you if you read
it.
He took it and thanked me and said
he would read it.
You can turn any situation into a witnessing
situation if you keep your spiritual antennas up.
Recently I was at a local gas station
and a man in a wheelchair was there
and he asked me if I would buy
him a bottle of booze.
I shook my head no.
And he pleaded with me reaching into his
shirt pocket he pulled out a twenty dollar
bill and said look mister I can pay
for it I just can't get up the
step there into the store to buy it.
I have the money won't you help me?
I thought about it and came to the
conclusion if I didn't help him the next
person would.
So I said okay I'll do it.
What do you want?
And he described the bottle of liquor he
wanted and this baptist preacher bought some booze.
When I exited the store I handed him
the brown paper bag and his change and
then I looked him in the eye and
said friend I just did you a favor
will you do me a favor as well?
He said sure.
I handed him a gospel track and said
will you promise me that you will read
this?
He gave me his word and thanked me.
To hand out tracks only takes a little
creativity and some determination.
And did I mention this you must have
a burden for souls.
When I look back on my life I
weep over the many times I failed to
witness to folks I was either too busy
or too preoccupied or I just didn't care
at the time.
Let me end our lesson today friends with
a story.
I'll never forget his face.
He was a construction worker on my house
and every morning a three-man crew would
show up early to do some renovations.
One man a young man in his early
30s was always the first to arrive.
We would stand in the driveway waiting on
the other two and make small talk until
they got there.
Well about four months later I was at
my kitchen table reading the newspaper and I
was reading the obituary page which I always
did and his face stared out at me
from the top of the page.
There was a photo of that young construction
worker who had just died tragically.
As I looked at his face I cried
like a baby and asked God to forgive
me for failing to witness to that young
man.
Why was I so blind that I failed
to grasp how God was getting this young
man to my house early before his friends
to give me time to witness to him.
But I was too preoccupied with other matters
of this world and I missed the eternal.
His face still haunts me still.
Ever since that day I always make it
a priority to hand out gospel tracks to
anyone doing any work around the house.
Whether it's a mover or carpenter or tree
trimmer he gets a track.
Make it an ingrained habit friend to always
have a gospel track with you in your
car.
I've reached the homeless in my community through
a gospel track ministry.
I'll go to McDonald's and buy meal coupons
and put them between a gospel track.
Approach a homeless person who's begging for money
and say here friend here's some food for
you and also here's some spiritual food for
you for well.
I hope you read it.
You'll do your soul good.
You can think of your own way friends
to be creative and handing out tracks.
I live in the hood and on the
corner of my neighborhood are the same four
homeless men three of which are in wheelchairs.
Well one day I prayed about it and
I got up early and went to McDonald's
and bought a bunch of breakfast sandwiches.
I went to those men and greeted them.
I said gentlemen I bought you a hot
breakfast today and I handed them each a
sandwich.
Then I handed each of them a copy
of the gospel of John and said I
hope this can help you as it has
helped me and I hope you read it.
Have a great day.
The best way to witness the strangers is
to have a game plan to make your
own life opportunities to witness and then let
life itself create its own opportunities as they
arise each day.
Well I hope this little lesson friend has
encouraged you to be a more consistent witness
for Christ and the gospel.
You can turn any opportunity into a witnessing
opportunity if you just keep your eyes open.