#3 – How to Talk about God – the Gospel

Hi,

What if someone asked you how they could know God? What would you tell them?

Someone actually asked me once.

I will never forget how utterly stumped I was. I was getting back to my dorm, maybe two in the morning, when a good friend named Cindy met me in the hallway. And with real intensity she said:

“I’ve been looking for you all night. Where have you been?! I want to become a Christian. What do I do?”

Given who this was, I was shocked. Then I realized that I had no idea what to tell her.

I had become a Christian only a few months earlier. I knew that I simply asked Jesus into my life. So, I reasoned, “Well, I think we should pray.” So with her, I prayed out loud, asking Jesus to come into her life.

It was the best I could think of.

Three years later, a sorority sister had a particularly bad episode

with the drug, LSD. The next morning she said to me, “I want to become a Christian.”

By this time I had learned how to explain the gospel to someone, with Scripture. (That’s what I’m about to show you. I’m going to give you what I covered with her.)

After going through this information with her, I then asked her, “Would you like to invite Jesus into your life?”

She answered with a question – “Will I have to read the Bible?”

I said, “Well, no. You can receive Jesus into your life without promising to read the Bible.” She said, “ok.”

Then she prayed out loud, asking Jesus to come into her life. As soon as she was done praying, her next statement was, “We have an hour before dinner. I’m going to go to the church next door and read the Bible for a while.”

You just never know.

A few weeks later, her best friend, Michelle, said to me, “I think it’s great what’s happened to Susie. But this isn’t for me.”

I asked her, “You and Susie are best friends. Do you think God would want a relationship with her, and not with you?” Michelle also became a Christian.

You might not ever have someone directly ask you how they can become a Christian.

But they might say, “I really need to change my life.” Or, “I’d like to find God.” Or, “I wish my life was different.”

At that point, I often will ask people, “Has anyone ever told you how you can have a relationship with God?”

This is what I use, and recommend that you do also:
https://www.everystudent.com/features/know-God.html

Just read it with them. Literally read it out loud and ask them the questions it poses. Or message/email them the link.

However, if the person knows very little about Jesus, then instead, I would give them this article: https://www.everystudent.com/features/is-jesus-god.html

These two articles are also on our Every Student app. Go to your app store on your iPhone or Android phone. Search: Every Student

Next email – a fun way to make the gospel available to people, in somewhat of a gentle way.

Talk to you soon,

Marilyn Adamson
director of EveryStudent.com
and StartingwithGod.com