How Do I Share the Gospel Without Being Obnoxious?

How can I share the Gospel without being obnoxious?

You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account. And you can always email us a question at questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, we have John who's listening to us on Facebook and he says, I raised my daughter Catholic, but she recently became a Jehovah's Witness.

How problematic is this? We argue about it. Hey, John. Thank you, one, for watching us on Facebook and for listening to the broadcast.

I'm sorry to hear about this situation. I would say that this is very problematic because the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower organization does not faithfully teach the Bible. In fact, I would go as far as to say it's a cult that rejects many of the core tenets of the Christian faith. Doctrines like the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the incarnation, who Jesus is, they misunderstand who Jesus is. And because they misunderstand who Jesus is, they completely get the Gospel wrong. And so friends and loved ones who are part of the Jehovah's Witness organization, this church, I encourage them to get out, to leave, to embrace biblical Christianity. And of course, we know, John, that that really is the work of the Holy Spirit. You need to be praying for your daughter, asking God to open her eyes, to see the theological theological biblical error among the Jehovah's Witnesses, but also to embrace the truth of scripture. It can be so disillusioning for individuals, and they get caught up in these movements, in these cults, and they're taught to believe a certain way.

The scriptures are twisted, and then it becomes, I think, very hard for them to see the truth. And so we need the Spirit of God to work in her life, opening her eyes. And so let me just pray for your daughter. Father, I want to lift John's daughter up to you. As she's gotten caught up in the Watchtower organization, I pray, Lord God, that you would help her to see through the lies, the false teaching, the misunderstanding of who you are, who your Son is, what the Gospel is, and that she would embrace the truth of your Word and the truth of who your Son is, the eternal Son of God. God himself, come in the flesh for our redemption so that we might have fellowship with you.

Would you please be with John's daughter, and would you give him wisdom as he seeks to encourage her and have conversations about these things that are going to be edifying and hopefully help her as well? We pray in Jesus' name. John, one thing I do want to say to you is continue to have conversations with her about the Word of God, to keep that door open, the relationship open. Jehovah's Witnesses deny that Jesus is God. They believe God the Father is Jehovah God, but that Jesus is not God. And so I want to give you one passage that you can bring up to your daughter that makes it very clear that Jesus himself is God. I like to go, when I have conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses, to Psalm 102. One thing you need to understand about the Jehovah's Witnesses is they have their own Bible, their own translation of the Scriptures that oftentimes twist passages that reveal the deity of Christ. It can be hard talking to them about Jesus, his identity, when they're using their copy of the Scriptures because it's not a faithful rendition of what the Bible teaches.

It's not an accurate translation. But if you go to Psalm 102, even in their Bible, the psalmist is praying to the Lord. He begins in verse 1, Hear my prayer, O Lord, O Jehovah. Let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me.

Answer me speedily in the day I call. I ask my friends who are Jehovah's Witnesses, who is being addressed here? Who is the psalmist crying out to? And they'll say, Well, it's Jehovah God.

It's God himself. And then you go down a little bit later in the Psalm in verse 25, it says, Of old you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain. They will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away.

But you are the same, and your years have no end. And you ask the question, Okay, who's being addressed here? Who's this about? And again, they'll say, Well, it's Jehovah. It's God. That's who the psalmist is praying to.

He makes that absolutely clear. Well, what's so interesting is when you go to the New Testament, in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 1, the author to the Hebrews quotes Psalm 102, and you know who he applies it to? He applies it directly to Jesus. In Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8, of the Son he says, that is, the Father says of the Son, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions, and you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning. The heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain.

They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will have no end. He's quoting there from Psalm 102, but he's applying it to Jesus. The author of the Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is telling us, who is Jehovah God?

It's Jesus Christ, the Lord, the sovereign Lord. I've never had a Jehovah's Witness who can adequately give an explanation to that, and that's just the thing. What they believe is not in line with what the scriptures teach. Pray for your daughter and continue to open up the Word of God with her. We have a great resource called Core Christianity, the book written by my friend Dr. Michael Horton. I recommend that resource to you because it gets into the identity of Jesus, how we know that he's God, and that might be something you recommend to your daughter as well.

God bless. John, thanks so much for being a Core Christianity listener, and, you know, Adriel, that just begs the question. In today's world, with so pluralistic and so many different beliefs and so many different cults trying to, you know, lure people away from the truth, it really does behoove us to know God's Word very clearly and what it says about who Jesus is and what he's done for us. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head right there, Bill, because the reality is there's so much false teaching out there.

We have to understand that we don't have the time. You don't have the time to go and figure out what every single cult out there or, you know, schismatic out there believes, their theology. Our job is to know the truth to the best of our ability, to study the scriptures, to know it so that when we hear these lies, lies about who Jesus is, lies about the church, lies about salvation, we can say, actually that doesn't seem to line up with what the apostles taught, and we can go to the scripture, the verse, what the truth is.

So important, Bill. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and you know every year around this time we start getting a lot of questions regarding a particular claim made about Christmas, and we actually have a new resource that answers that question. Yeah, the resource is called Five Reasons Why Christmas Isn't a Pagan Holiday. It helps to unravel some of the most common objections and misconceptions about the origins of Christmas, and so if you've received that question or if you have that question for yourself, Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday?, make sure you get a hold of this resource. You can get it for free over at our website, corechristianity.com. There's so much misinformation out there on this topic, so if you've got somebody in your life who's telling you that Christmas is a pagan holiday and we shouldn't celebrate it, we'd encourage you to get this resource, and then you can have a really informed discussion with them. Again, it's called Five Reasons Christmas Isn't a Pagan Holiday.

It's a free download. You can find it at corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, that's corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

You can also call us for that or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673. Now we do receive emails here at Core Christianity, and Adriel, here's one from Teresa. She says, My sister and I were raised as Christians in the church, but when we were young, my parents stopped attending church, so our religious education also stopped. Even though I feel like we were saved at an early age, my sister and I got lost in the world.

Recently, we've come back to Christ. Now I'm wondering if it's possible to over-preach to someone. My sister insists that my parents don't have a strong relationship with God, because they don't speak about God as much as she does. She continues to preach the Gospel at them to the point of them not responding at all. Are there any scriptures or opinions on over-preaching to someone? Can you ever get in the way of God working in someone else's life?

So I'm in a lot of things. One, Teresa, I'm so grateful to hear that the Lord is at work in your life, the Lord is at work in your sister's life, that you guys have come back, it sounds like, after a period of time of maybe drifting or wandering. And oftentimes when we have that kind of experience, where the Lord sort of turns the lights on, we get excited. We want to just share Jesus with everyone that we know, including our family members.

And I think it's important that we do that, one, that there is that boldness. Oftentimes that's discouraged in the church, but the reality is if we've experienced the grace of God in our lives, we want to share that with others. The one passage of scripture that I was thinking about with that email is in Acts 4, when the disciples, Peter, they're being told not to preach in the name of Jesus anymore.

And in verse 19, Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. So sometimes this encounter with God, with his grace, causes us to say, I just can't keep my mouth quiet, I just have to share this with people. And would that the Lord did that in each of our hearts, that we would just want to share the Gospel with the people around us because we've been so transformed by the grace of God. But I'll add this, there are ways in which I think we can be, as Christians, obnoxious and unhelpful. We have to, one, be very clear about what the Gospel is, the truth of God's word as we share it with others. And two, we have to be careful that we're not getting in the way in the sense of, you know, there are approaches that some people take to evangelism that I think end up doing more harm than actually helping. If an individual is not really faithfully preaching the Gospel, the message of salvation, but they're twisting it, well that's an issue. But if the way that we do it is sort of like, you know, with a hammer over someone's head, well that is going to drive people away. The Word of God is the hammer that breaks our hearts, that reveals our sin.

Sometimes I think we can grow impatient with the people around us and then get frustrated with them and then begin to push them away more and more. And that's where we have to be careful. We want to be prayerful. I think saying, look, God, the hearts of all people, including my family members, are in your hand.

I want to be faithful to be a good witness to my family members and to make sure that I am sharing the Gospel clearly with them. But I'm going to trust in you to do the work. And you see, if we're not trusting in God to do the work, we can very easily get frustrated with ourselves and with other people.

Why don't you get this yet? Why don't you understand it like I do? We have to recognize that it really is solely the work of the Holy Spirit. I think about what Jesus said to Peter. When Jesus, our Lord, asked Peter, who do men say that I am?

And he gives all these answers. Some people say you're John the Baptist. Some people say you're like one of the prophets. And then Jesus said, but who do you say that I am? And Peter said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus responded to Peter and said, blessed are you, Simon, Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And so I would encourage your sister to trust that it really is a work of the Holy Spirit. She needs to be faithful in sharing the Gospel. And I don't think we can have too much Jesus. So I wouldn't say just stop doing that. But I think the approach that we take, we want to be wise about that. We have to ask ourselves, okay, is what I'm doing driving this person away?

Am I being obnoxious and getting frustrated with this person because they just don't get it? Or am I modeling for them that patience, that grace that God showed to me? And am I trusting in the Spirit of God to open the hearts of my family members who I long to see know Him? And so trust in the Lord. Continue to love your family, to be an example of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control, so on and so forth. And trust that the Lord does the work. And as you trust that God does the work, I think you'll be less and less frustrated with how people respond, knowing that God has to intervene.

Thank you for that question. That's really great counsel, Adriel. And you know, the fruit of the Spirit can be so attractive to someone, and then they really want to know. They want that relationship as well.

They're like, wow, you're different. What is God doing in your life? So I think that's really good advice to her. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we do receive voicemails here. In fact, you can call us anytime and leave us a voicemail, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Laura. I was wondering, what is the law of Christ? Thank you.

Bye. Yeah, that little phrase right there. The law of Christ is something that we see in the New Testament, in the book of Galatians, and also in the book of 1 Corinthians. In Galatians, chapter 6, beginning in verse 1, Paul said, Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. You also see that language of the law of Christ I mentioned in 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, in verse 21. What is the apostle Paul referring to there when he says the law of Christ? It's kind of interesting, because throughout the book of Galatians, there's all this discussion about the law and the fact that the law cannot justify us. Remember, in the book of Galatians or among the Galatians, there were groups that were saying, hey, if you want to be justified, you need to embrace the law.

You need to go and be circumcised according to the law of Moses and adhere to some of these dietary restrictions. Paul says, no, that's not the case at all. In one sense, he's saying, look, we're not justified by the law, but we do fulfill the law of Christ by the Spirit. This is something Paul goes on to say in other places like Romans, chapter 8. What is the law of Christ?

I think it's the law of love. Do you remember what Jesus said to his disciples in the upper room discourse? It's called in John, chapter 13, as he's speaking to the disciples. Really, a beautiful scene in the Gospels. In John, chapter 13, beginning in verse 34, he said, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Of course, this is what Jesus made absolutely clear. The whole law is fulfilled in what? In loving God and loving one another.

None of us do that perfectly. We sin every day in thought, word, and in deed. Yet, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, as those who are justified, not by the works of the law, not by anything that we do, but solely because of the righteousness of Christ that's given to us by faith, the Spirit of God comes and makes his home in us, lives in us, so that day by day we begin to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, in that love, and through the Spirit to fulfill the law of Christ, if you will. That call that we have on our lives from the Lord to love each other. That's one of the promises that God gives us. He justifies us by faith, but then he also is daily sanctifying us, transforming us through the Gospel by faith, so that we would grow in love for him and for each other. That looks like, when Paul is talking there in Galatians, chapter 6, verse 2, it looks like caring for each other, bearing one another's burdens, fulfilling the law of Christ.

I would say, go back to that text in John 13, verse 34, where Jesus says, here's the commandment I'm giving to you, the commandment, the law of love, and that's what the law of Christ is. God bless. Thanks so much for your question, Lauren. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. Just a reminder, we have that great resource just in time for Christmas. It's absolutely free. It's a download you can find at our website.

It's called Five Reasons Christmas Isn't a Pagan Holiday. Just go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to find that. Now, one of the ways you can listen or view our program is by going to our YouTube channel.

Adriel is live on YouTube every day at 11 30 a.m. Pacific, which translates into 12 30 Mountain, 1 30 Central, or 2 30 Eastern Time. You can actually submit a question through our YouTube channel. Tom has this question. He says, thanks for your ministry. My question is, how does a Christian that struggles with contentment learn contentment as the apostle Paul did? Well, when I think about contentment and Paul's discussion of contentment, I think you got to go to Philippians chapter 4, beginning in verse 10. I think there's some wisdom here for us that gets to your question, Tom. Philippians chapter 4 verse 10, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Now, you've probably heard that verse before, Philippians chapter 4 verse 13. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I've seen it on t-shirts, right, with like a bench press and a guy at the gym. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, like I can lift all this weight, that kind of thing.

This is just not the right application there. Paul uses that language in the context of contentment. When I'm brought low or when I'm abounding, when I'm in need, or when I have a lot, my focus is not on my circumstances. That's not what gives me joy. That's not what gives me peace. My joy and my peace come from the one who strengthens me no matter what my circumstances are.

They come through Jesus. Now, what's so interesting about Paul's words here is as he's writing this letter in the book of Philippians, where is he? He's imprisoned. I mean, this is not Paul's best day, right?

He's struggling. He's going through these difficult circumstances, and yet he has this great joy, the same joy that he's calling the Philippians to throughout this letter, and it's that joy that comes from Christ. With regard to contentment, how can we learn to have contentment in the Christian life regardless of what we're going through? I think Paul would say that contentment has to come from Jesus, right? He's the one who gives us the strength so that when we're struggling, especially when we're suffering want, we're going to him and being nourished by his grace, the grace that he gives us daily through the gospel, knowing that he's going to care for us, that he's in control, that he hasn't lost sight of us even when we're hungry, when we're suffering. Paul says that's the secret to contentment. It's the fact that Christ is the one who gives me strength, and so you're not relying on yourself, and you're not relying on your circumstances. You're relying on something outside of you, someone outside of you, Jesus.

So I don't know what you're going through right now, what it is that's causing you specifically to struggle with contentment, but here's my encouragement to you, is go to the one who can give you strength. Right now in this very hour, go to Jesus and with Paul say, I can do all things through Christ, through him who strengthens me. God bless.

Amen. You're listening to Core Christianity, and today we are going to record an extra program. So if you have a question for Adriel about the Bible, the Christian life, maybe how your faith intersects with today's culture or something to do with doctrine or theology, you can call us right now for the next 25 minutes or so. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. We'd love to receive your questions, so hop on the phone right now.

Our phone lines are open. We've got another question from a YouTube listener, Adriel. This is from Chad. He says, do you have any resource suggestions that can help me explain the gospel to my six-year-old? Well, one, I would just say, I think even at that age, beginning to open up the scriptures together and read through the gospels, to hear stories about Jesus, about who he is, about his grace. As you do that, your six-year-old will start to have questions, and you'll get to have a discussion to talk about the grace of Jesus, his healings, his miracles, casting out demons, all of those things that we see in the gospels, but then ultimately to talk about the gospel, what he accomplished for us, and the forgiving of our sins. One thing that we believe about the gospel is it's profound, but it's also so simple. Jesus said in Matthew 11, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, but you've revealed them to the babes, to the little children. The gospel is for little children. That message of God's love for you and for your six-year-old and what he's done so that we might be forgiven.

You're starting to have conversations about what sin is, why we need forgiveness, and how we get that forgiveness. That's key. In terms of a resource, there is this booklet. It's called The Big Book of Questions and Answers, A Family Devotional Guide to the Christian Faith.

It was written by Sinclair Ferguson. I think that's a helpful resource. Again, The Big Book of Questions and Answers. And that'll go through not just the gospel, but the whole Christian faith, and I think it's perfect for someone who's about six years old. So God bless you, and may the Lord encourage you as you continue to teach your six-year-old the faith, the gospel.

Thanks. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.