How to Lead Others to Jesus: Popping the Question

Hey, everybody. You're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at gregatharvest.org. Again, it's gregatharvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. To share Christ with those around us. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

Again, you hear all the angels are singing. This is the day, the day where life begins. We all play a role in the salvation of others. Some of us sow the seed through our godly living. Others water the seed through maybe something we said or did for a person and mentioned our faith. And others reap where others have sowed and watered.

But I think there comes a moment when you have to just grab it. I read an interesting story in the paper a while back about a fisherman who was testing an outboard propeller on a lake in Ohio. There in the cove he saw a giant muskellunge fish lurking near the surface. So the fisherman motored toward the fish and cast his line unsuccessfully a number of times. And finally this massive fish disappeared. And so he came back to the cove about a half hour later and there is that fish again.

That muskellunge or muskie as they are called. And this time he thinks, you know, I don't know if I can snag this fish with a line. So he puts on a leather glove and he puts his motor into sort of a troll and he cruises up and reaches down and grabs the fish with his hand right behind the gills and yanks it into the boat.

It is so big and it is flailing. He needed help. Another fisherman was nearby. He came and assisted him. And they pulled this giant beast out of the lake and it came crashing into the boat. He caught it by hand. If he had caught it with the proper equipment it would have been a world record.

It was 53 pounds. When he was asked later by a reporter what happened he humbly replied, Well it was at the right place at the right time and I was fool enough to grab it. I like that.

That is how we need to be. Just be fool enough to grab it. I am going to ask this person right now if they want to accept Jesus Christ. What is the worst thing that can happen? They will say no. What is the best thing that can happen? They will say yes. And maybe they will say later.

But it is progress. So we want to have that same attitude as we go fishing for men because Jesus said follow me and you will become a fisher of men. But how do you get a person from A to B? You know how do you get a person now to say I want Jesus in my life.

How do you lead a person to Christ? Let me just say this in response. It is not as hard as you think. It is just popping the question. It is sort of like when you get married.

You have got to pop the question. Right. I was in Israel a number of years ago with a couple from our church.

Aaron and Michelle. And we are up on the Mount of Beatitudes. And Aaron came to me and said, I want to propose to Michelle at the end of your message right here on this mountain where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. I said, really. He said, I would like you to sort of set it up for me. And I said, ok. But let me ask you a question. Is she going to say yes?

Because you don't want to be shut down in front of everyone. He said, oh yeah. She will say yes. I said, are you sure? He says, I am sure. So I am speaking. I am looking at her the whole time thinking, I hope she says yes.

I hope she says yes. And I am done speaking. I said, ok. Well I am done. And I think it was her birthday. So she thought I was going to leave everyone a happy birthday. I said, well Michelle this is a special day for you. And she is kind of smiling.

I said, there is somebody that wants to ask you a question. Aaron? Aaron comes walking up there and he gets down on one knee and he says, Michelle will you marry me? I am sending her, please say yes.

Please say yes. She said yes. They have been married. They have a child now.

It is wonderful. But he popped the question. You see. I have a friend who went scuba diving with his girlfriend. And he took one of those underwater tablets and wrote, will you marry me underwater? And she said yes. There is a lot of ways you can do it.

Just do it. Now my wife says I never properly proposed. She says, you know you never really proposed to me. I said, I am sure I did.

No you didn't. She said, what happened? She says, well we were just out eating dinner and here is what you said. Well I guess we are going to get married. Huh?

She said, yeah I guess we are. That is pretty lame guys. Don't follow my example. Go with the bended knee deal man. I don't really care how you pop the question. Just pop the question.

What is the question? Let me ask you this. Would you like to ask Jesus Christ to come into your life right now? And you might be surprised when someone says yes.

But here is what they are going to also say. Like here? Because you might be in an unusual place.

Not in a church necessarily. You might be in a coffee shop. You might be on a beach.

You might be out on the street somewhere. Right here? Absolutely. Here is what I never do. I never say, just go home and pray this prayer. No. I say, we are going to pray right now.

Right here. And I will put my hand on their shoulder and I will lead them in a prayer. And I think you have heard me lead this prayer enough times but it will go something along the lines.

And I will often ask them to repeat it after me. I will say, just pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord Jesus I know I am a sinner but I know that you are the Savior. And you died on the cross for my sin. And I am sorry for my sin. And I turn from it now.

And I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Just pop that question. Be like the guy with that big old muskellunge fish and be fool enough to grab it. Just go for it.

Pull it right out of there. Years ago in our neighborhood we had a neighbor who came up to us and said, you know there is a guy that lives here in the neighborhood named Roy. And he went to one of your crusades once but he is not a Christian. And Roy was just sent home from the hospital and told he was going to die. Just get his affairs in order.

He is going to die. And it would be nice if you could talk to him about Christ. I said I would be happy to. So the neighbor pointed him out to me one day and I walked up and said, hi Roy I am Greg Laurie. I heard you came to one of our crusades.

Yeah I came to that. And he started hitting me with some questions and we talked a little bit. And the next he walked every morning and I did too with my wife. So we would walk along. There is old Roy you know. And Roy has some more questions. I have a few more questions.

And we would talk for a while. And then the third day I brought one of my books along. A book called Life Any Questions that is sort of an evangelistic presentation. I said, Roy why don't you read this book and we will talk about it. I thought that will keep him busy for a week. The next day we say, well I read your entire book.

Whoa. Ok. And I have more questions. And more questions come from Roy.

And still I don't feel like I am making any progress. And we prayed for him of course. But I am thinking, man this guy doesn't belong for this world. I hope he just comes around here. And we would continue this conversation. It went on for a long time. One day we are sitting in our house and we are having breakfast and doing a little family devotion. And I look out the window and they are standing on the corner literally right in front of my house is Roy just standing there. Just standing there. And suddenly it is just on to me. This is Roy's day.

This is it. And so I don't know if he was waiting for me to come or if he was just standing there. But for whatever reason I walked up to him and said, Roy we talked about this a lot. Would you like to accept Jesus Christ right now? He said, yes sir I would.

He is just waiting for me to pop the question. So we prayed. He asked Christ to come in his life. I gave him a Bible.

Psalm the next morning. He has got a big smile on his face. He says, I was just singing Jesus loves me.

I learned that as a young boy. Boy isn't it great to know that Jesus loves us. I am like, he sure is Roy. It is like every day he changed a little bit more. And then he came up to me and told me of how God was changing his life. And apparently what happened.

I didn't know about this. He got his whole family together. And he said, you are looking at a brand new Christian right here. And he was sharing his faith with his family. So a little time goes by and I get a knock on my door.

It is my neighbor. He says, I wanted to tell you that Roy died. But I thought, Roy is in heaven now.

Because Roy believed in Jesus Christ. And he was just waiting for someone to pop the question. And you know what? You could do that as well as I could do that.

You got to pop the question. In a moment, Pastor Greg explains how the Great Commission is not only sharing the gospel, but making disciples. What's the difference? Well, Pastor Greg explains in a moment. We love to hear stories of how lives have been changed through the teaching of God's word.

Like this one. Dear Pastor Greg, back in the summer of 1986 and after graduating from college, I was certain that I'd made the wrong choice for a major in a career. Though I was a believer, I felt as if God had abandoned me. My first job out of school included an hour long commute and a difficult work environment.

It was so disappointing that I cried on my first day home. While driving each morning, I was drawn to your biblical teaching on the radio. There was something fresh and new to me in the way you shared the scriptures. Your broadcasts gave me biblical truth and hope to get through each challenging day ahead.

I was grateful then, and I'm grateful for your broadcasts today. Thank you, Pastor Greg. We appreciate hearing how Pastor Greg's teachings are reaching people.

And if you have a story to tell of how these studies have touched your life, I hope you'll contact us today. Send an email to Greg at Harvest dot org. That's Greg at Harvest dot o-r-g. Well, Pastor Greg continues with his message, how to lead others to Jesus, practical principles on sharing our faith most effectively.

And you can get a replay of today's study at Harvest dot org. OK, so now once the person prays and accepts Christ into their life, now what? Now what? Now a wonderful adventure is before you. You have the joy of taking a new believer under your wing and watching them grow spiritually.

They need you to help them, to stabilize them, and you need them to revive you and revitalize you. You see? And by the way, now you are really fulfilling all of the Great Commission. Remember the Great Commission is not just to go preach the gospel. That is what Mark's version tells us.

But Matthew's version in chapter 28, Jesus says, Go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you even to the end of the age. Discycling. What does that mean? That means you take a person under your wing and you help them get acclimated. That means you pick a person up and you take them to church. Someone did this for me.

And I thank God for them. Ok. I told you my story of my conversion. You know my popsicle stick Bible.

Remember that? So I am a brand new believer. I went over to my friend's house that I used to do drugs with. You know I didn't want to hang around with them anymore because they were such losers.

But I wasn't quite comfortable with the Christians yet because they all seemed just slightly intense to me. So here is what I said. I am going to do this solo. Just me and God. Well that is stupid.

It won't last long doing that. And some guy that I had never met comes walking up to me. His name is Mark.

He is not as extreme as the crazy guy who gave me the popsicle stick Bible. He walks up. Hey. What is your name?

I said Greg. He says I am Mark. Hey Mark. I saw you like walk forward and accept Christ into your life the other day. Yeah I did that Mark.

Yeah. Ok well I want you to come to church with me. That is ok Mark. I won't go to church. No. No. I want you to come to church with me. Well yeah Mark I don't really want to go to church with you.

No. You are coming to church with me. He wasn't taking no for an answer.

Not in a mean way but just in a very persistent way. He says where do you live? I will pick you up.

I don't really know if I am comfortable. Yeah ok whatever. What is your address? So I give it to him. He pulls up to my house. Get in the car. We drive to church.

We pull up into the parking lot. Now the Jesus movement is in full swing. There is people everywhere.

The church is packed to the gills. And don't forget I grew up in a family where we never said I love you. I grew up in a family where no one hugged anyone.

Alright. So I am not a very affectionate person at this point. I walk up to this church.

Some girl I have never seen before throws her arms around me. Praise the Lord brother. I am like I have got to get out of here now. This is just like I am so uncomfortable. And then I found out the church is packed.

You can't get in. I was relieved. Oh let's go.

Let's go. And then someone in the front row that went to my high school and was part of that little Bible study saw me and waved, Greg we have a seat for you in the front row. Oh no.

No. And I walked up there and I took my seat and all this worship was going on around me. And I am like hey I just don't know.

And then the pastor comes out and opens up the Word of God. I had never heard that before. And I had a thing against adults. I used to like adults generally. And this guy was bald.

Ironic isn't it? His name was Chuck Smith. And when he walked out the youthful rebellion kicked in. Don't forget I am raised around all these crazy dysfunctional adults.

I got into trouble in school a lot and I just had a thing with adult authority. He comes walking and I go here we go. Here comes the teacher. Get ready to be bored.

And he opens up the Bible and he begins to read and he begins to talk about what Jesus said. And guess what. It all makes sense.

I am going whoa whoa whoa. That is true. That is true.

Never heard that. That is amazing. It is amazing.

So next night I am there on my own. I want more. And I am there again and again and again.

See Mark did his job. I just need somebody to help me make that transition. Mark took me home to his family. A wonderful Christian family. We had a few meals together. We talked about things in the Word of God.

But he helped me get over that little hump. And that is what you have got to do. You lead a person to Christ. And I say I am picking you up. I am bringing you to church. I am introducing you to my Christian friends.

I am going to help you get started. And then when you are up on your own I am going to go out and find a new person. And I am going to bring them to Christ to the best of my ability. And I am going to help them get started.

Guess what. Then I am going to go out and I am going to find another person. You do that for the rest of your life. That is your job. Those are your marching orders from Jesus Christ. And as I said in the very beginning this is fun. There is joy in it.

We need to get on with it. But we are commanded to go. You know the Apostle Paul was not always Paul. He once was Saul of Tarsus the Christian killer. A man who went out of his way to hunt down, arrest, and execute Christians. Well he met Jesus on the Damascus road.

And no one believed he was converted because he was so insane. And God speaks to a guy named Ananias. He says, I want you to go over there to the house of Saul. He is a brother now in the Lord. I want you to go pray for him because his eyes have been blinded.

I want you to pray for him. Ananias argues with God and says, God do you not know who Saul is? The Lord is like, I know who he is.

Do what I told you to do. Ananias goes over. He finds Saul. He sees him.

He prays for him. And then after that another man enters into Saul's life whose name is Barnabas. And he introduces Saul to other leaders in the church.

You see all Saul needed was a friend. You know we all want to be the Apostle Paul. But can someone be a Barnabas? You all want to be the great preacher or whatever.

Can someone be an Ananias? If we had more Ananiases and if we had more Barnabases we would have more Apostle Pauls. Listen. You may not be the next Billy Graham but you might be the person who influences the next Billy Graham. So just do your job.

I have got to do my job. God puts people in our orbit. People that you can reach that I could never ever reach. People that will listen to you. We are to go into all of our world and preach the gospel. These are the orders from our command and chief.

Let's get on with it and tell someone. Pastor Greg Laurie with practical instruction today on how we can tell someone about the hope of Jesus Christ. And in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes, Pastor Greg will lead us in prayer asking God to fill us and empower us for the privilege of sharing our faith. So important giving our large evangelistic event coming up in just a little over a month now.

So Cal Harvest October 3rd at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, California. Be in prayer and be a part. And to help you take this teaching on evangelism even further, why not check out Pastor Greg's online training course called Tell Someone.

Today is our last opportunity to mention it. It's a six week course that comes to you a lesson per week via email. And it's designed to fully equip you to share the gospel at the completion of the course.

It's absolutely free. Get the details on the Tell Someone training course at harvest.org. Pastor Greg, when we hear objections to the faith, how do we know if they really are stuck on a particular fact or idea and they're in search of an explanation, or if they really don't even want to talk about religion and are just in search of an exit from the conversation? Well, you know, that's a hard question to answer because sometimes people will hide behind so-called intellectual arguments, but they really want you to talk to them. I'll use myself as an illustration. When I was a kid, I used to hang around by the pier in Newport Beach. I was going the wrong direction in life. I was on drugs.

I was empty. And I saw these Christians walking around handing out little booklets. And I really wanted one of them to engage me, but I had this tough guy facade that they apparently went for. And they would walk by me and just look at me for a moment and just give me this little booklet and walk off. No one would talk to me.

I was literally saying, would someone please talk to me? So I never threw any of these things away. I went home and I had a drawer that was sort of like my God drawer, if you will. Every piece of religious literature I was given went in this drawer. So I had gospel tracts, information from the Watchtower Society, things that Mormons wrote, Hare Krishna writings, you name it.

It was in there. And every now and then I would pull this little drawer out, dump it on my bed, and I would try to make sense of it. And really, I wanted answers, but I needed someone to engage me and tell me.

Well, listen, I've got a resource for you that's going to help you tell people more about your faith and engage them in a way that will answer those intellectual questions but also point them to Jesus Christ. It's called Person of Interest, written by J. Warner Wallace. What I love about this book, Jim, is you've illustrated it. You're a graphic designer, and almost every page has an illustration of some kind. So it really breaks it down in an understandable way. It's called Person of Interest, why Jesus still matters in a world that rejects the Bible. And you described it to me as a kid's book for an adult.

Elaborate on that. Yeah, the idea is I think we have become such visual learners and such visual consumers of media that all of us are trying to figure out ways that how do we, and in kids' books I love them because they are about 50-50 text to illustration. So I've written a few kids' books now, so now I was thinking when I was writing this book, I'm just no longer satisfied, even as an adult, with not being able to see the case. Like, if I can make this visual, like if I tell you what, 82% of these scientists in the 15th century were Christians. Well, if I showed you every one of them in a collection, you're going to go, wow, that's really powerful.

I need to see it. So the numbers don't mean as much as actually seeing the faces of all the scientists. So we wanted to be able to provide something like a kid. And again, what we're doing is, like you always say, sometimes the Bible's hard.

There are places in the Bible that need someone to translate them for us. I mean, to make them accessible to us. That's what you do so well. We're trying to do something similar here.

How do we throw them in a way that people can catch them? Well, if you want to get a copy of this, we're going to send it to you for your gift of any size. Whatever you send, we'll use to continue our ministry here on the radio through New Beginning. And the title of this book, again, is Person of Interest, written by former detective J. Warner Wallace. Yeah, you'll get so much out of this book personally. But also, what a powerful tool in helping you share the Lord with others.

Through the convincing text and the practical illustrations, they'll begin to see the uniqueness of Christ and His plan of salvation. And we'll send you this brand new book, Person of Interest, to thank you for partnering with us so A New Beginning can continue coming your way each day. It's only through listener support that that's possible. And we won't be mentioning this much longer, so please contact us today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514, or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-hour phone number, 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. We know it's true that we reap what we sow. The Bible tells us that. Next time, a good example as Pastor Greg brings us the story of David and Bathsheba. Join us here on A New Beginning. And then before we go, here's Pastor Greg once again from today's message, How to Lead Others to Jesus. I'd like to close right now with a prayer that I would like to lead you in. This is a prayer where you're asking God to empower you with His Spirit, to give you boldness, to be His representative. I would ask if you would like to, for you to pray this prayer out loud after me. Asking the Holy Spirit to fill us. Asking the Holy Spirit to empower us.

And you know what? As you pray this prayer and mean it, I believe God will hear and answer this prayer. Because Jesus said that the Father would give the Holy Spirit to those that ask.

Let's ask right now. Pray this after me if you would like to. Pray this now. Lord Jesus, you've called me to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But I've not done the job I should do.

But I want to. I need your help. I need your power. So I ask you now, Jesus, to fill me with the Holy Spirit. Give me all the power I need. Give me boldness like I have never had before.

Give me boldness like I have never had before. Help me to be outspoken for you. Help me to be outspoken for you. Use me to change this world. Use me to change this world. But start by changing me.

But start by changing me. In Jesus' name I pray. In Jesus' name I pray.

Now Father You have heard us pray that prayer and we mean it. Fill us Lord. Empower us.

Use us. Let opportunity come to us. We will see that open door. We will pop that question so to speak. We will initiate that conversation. We will share our testimony. Use us for Your glory.

We ask all of this now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord.