How Can I Share the Gospel If I'm Introverted?

How can I evangelize if I'm introverted? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We would love to hear from you. And here's our phone number.

It's 833-THE-CORE. You can always leave us a voicemail at that number, and you can post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Jeremy in Fresno, California. Jeremy, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hey, Pastor Adriel, appreciate your time taking my call. Yeah, thank you for giving us a call, Jeremy. What's your question? So, I'm in a situation where I live with my daughter, my only daughter I have, and we got into a discussion as we were driving about morality issues, and I brought up that she needs to believe in God and have faith, and what she did was pretty much renounced her faith in God, said she doesn't really believe in God anyway, she's a sexist God, and I really didn't know how to respond.

I was completely slammed by it. So, my question to you is, where do I go from here? I don't want to cause division between us, but I would like to try to reach out more to her and try to come up with a resolution. Yeah, well, I definitely want to take a moment this day to pray for your daughter and invite all of our listeners to pray for her and for you as well. I'm sure that that must have been very, very difficult to hear. My reaction, obviously, I think that the proper response would first be prayer. The Lord is the one who softens the heart by His word, and so in a situation like this, I think you want to be able to have conversations. Oftentimes, I know when these kinds of things happen that our kids just aren't interested in talking. If they make this sort of declaration, they don't want to hear it, but I think praying that the Lord would, by the grace of His Holy Spirit, begin to soften your daughter's heart and create a sense of openness to the Gospel, to these kinds of conversations. Obviously, she knows you care about this, and as you show her affection, as you love her, and as you speak the truth in love to her.

I mean, it may be that at first she shuts it out, but I think continuing to do that in a way that doesn't drive her away further, is sensitive while also firm. That's hard, right? I mean, it feels like you're walking a tightrope, but let me just say for you, don't lose hope. I think that we can have these experiences and just think, oh, man, one, we beat ourselves up because we think, I wish I would have done more. Maybe I could have done more.

Have I ruined this in some way? I think there can be guilt in a situation like this, and I would say, in that situation, you look to the Lord, you say, God, have mercy, but don't give up knowing that God is the one who is able, that He is all-powerful. I oftentimes think of that wonderful story of Saint Augustine, his mother who prayed for him for years and years and years. I mean, here was a guy who basically said, no, I don't believe in God, and his mom would try to talk to him about the Lord, and he would argue with her. He would mock her.

And for years, for decades, he did his own thing. He lived this immoral life, and his mom, he says, watered the ground with her tears as she prayed for him faithfully and as she continued to share the truth of Christ with him. And the Lord opened his heart and transformed his life. I mean, speaking to the Lord, to continuing to love her, to be there for her, even though you have this strong disagreement. I mean, you want her to know the Lord and to love the Lord. And so, speaking the truth in love, and maybe some of that is also going to look like growing in your own understanding of how to communicate the truths.

I mean, there are a lot of good reasons for why we believe in Jesus and the Gospel, the resurrection of the dead. We have some of those resources that we can make available to you that might help you as you have some conversations with your daughter. But let me just pray for you guys right now and ask the Lord to do the work that only he can do. Father, we lift Jeremy up to you, and we lift his daughter up to you, Lord. And God, I pray for her that you would soften her heart to your word, Jesus, that you would, by the grace of your Holy Spirit, shine your light, Lord, upon her mind, upon her heart, to receive your truth, to be open to the encouragements of her Father, Lord, that she would understand your love for mankind revealed in the Gospel. Lord, we know that so many people are leaving the Church, abandoning the Church, many people who really didn't even understand the greatness of your love to begin with. I pray that she would understand that love and that it would draw her to you and that you would do a great work in her life. And for Jeremy, Lord, I pray, God, as he is discouraged and struggling that you would give him wisdom, that you would give him opportunities to continue to have Gospel-centered conversations with his daughter, Lord, that you would sustain him when he's discouraged and strengthen his faith in you as he clings to you, Lord, and seeks your face in this matter. So would you be with them, and would you work, Lord, God, in this situation? We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen. And Jeremy, we would love to send you a copy of the book, Core Christianity, which might be helpful to you and some of the conversations that you are going to be having with your daughter over the next couple months. There's some wonderful, rich material there that will help you maybe articulate the Gospel really clearly to her, and no guarantee that she'll accept that, but great starting place. Yeah, and I think being, asking questions, being able to ask questions and say, okay, why is it that you've come to the, you know, what's at the root of this? What are you rejecting? Asking those kinds of questions to really get an understanding, and that might also give you an open door to be able to say, well, actually, it seems to me like what you're rejecting is not the Gospel.

It's maybe a misunderstanding of who God is and what he's revealed in his Word. And so asking questions, probing a little bit more, and then responding with the truth of the Gospel and some of the reasons that we have to believe, and hopefully these resources that we're going to send you are going to help you out, Jeremy. So thank you for calling us. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We had an email from Anna, and she asks this. She says, You're not alone, sister. I know there are a lot of people who, I mean, especially when we think about evangelism, it can make us uncomfortable, it can feel awkward, it can feel like, you know, forcing the gear shift in your car as you try to change the conversation to the things of the Lord, maybe with a friend. And then especially when most of the people we know, if you're in the church and you spend a lot of time with believers, you don't have a lot of non-Christian friends, then it's just like, well, how do I even begin to do this? Well, I think of what the Apostle Paul said.

Here's one encouragement. I think of what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse 9. He's just talking about the life that is pleasing to the Lord, how it is that we should live. He begins actually in verse 1, And so he's saying, look, this is how you're called to live as a Christian. Then in verse 9, he says, Concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. He's saying, just be faithful in your life.

Work hard. Live a life that is an example to the people around you, to outsiders, of purity, of holiness, of love for God and love for a neighbor. And as you do that, sister, as you continue to live in that way, pray, Anna, that the Lord would give you opportunities. I think that's a prayer that the Lord will answer.

Pray, Lord, guide me. Give me opportunities to share with others about what Jesus has done for me, people that I can encourage, people where I can share my faith. That boldness doesn't oftentimes come naturally. I think of the disciples in the Book of Acts. They prayed for boldness. They asked God for boldness, because even for them, this wasn't something that just was easy, that came naturally. And a lot of us struggle with this.

And so you're not alone in that struggle. I would say, go to the Lord, pray for boldness, and pray for opportunities as you are living faithfully, loving the body of Christ, the people around you, working hard in whatever it is that the Lord has called you to do, whatever your vocation is. And being open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to the people that God is going to bring into your life, open to having these kinds of conversations, to being able to talk about the Lord, asking that the Lord would open those doors. I think that's a prayer that God will answer.

And so just be faithful in those little things. And I think the Lord will bless you in that. Anna, thanks so much for your question and for listening to CORE Christianity. We want to take a moment and thank a very special group of people.

We call them our inner CORE. These are people that believe in this program. They believe in what we do, so much so that they feel God has led them to make a monthly donation to help support this ministry. Yeah, the inner CORE is a group that supports us with a monthly gift of $25 or more, and also with their prayers, which is really important.

I've already said it. It really is only a work of the Spirit. It's only through the blessing of God that what we want to see happen will happen, and that is lives changed. People coming into a deeper relationship with the Lord through a proper understanding of His Word, through a proper understanding of the core doctrines of the Christian faith that we need to continually recover and set before our minds and our hearts, because they're those doctrines that are going to really shape us and nourish us and strengthen us to be able to share our faith and to be able to defend our faith when people challenge it. If you've been blessed by this broadcast, if you're encouraged by the work that we're doing, would you prayerfully consider joining the inner CORE? When you do, you'll get a copy of that book, CORE Christianity. Dr. Michael Horton's excellent book, CORE Christianity, will send that to you, and you will have advance copies of all of the resources that we offer here at CORE Christianity. Those go out to our inner CORE members first.

You can learn more about becoming a member of the inner CORE by going to our website, which is corechristianity.com forward slash inner CORE. Well, here's a question from Russell in Kansas City, Missouri. He says, Why don't people take the warnings about gossip seriously?

I never hear sermons about Proverbs 18-8 or Proverbs 26-22. Hmm. Yeah. Well, I think it's one of those maybe respectable sins, you know, one of those sins that people don't often think about. And sometimes there can be a kind of pious form of gossip, can't there, where it's sort of a... Pray for this sister. Pray for this sister because, you know, she's really struggling in her walk with the Lord, and let me tell you all about it, that kind of a thing. We've got to be really careful friends with how we use our speech, and James says we all fail in this.

There isn't one person who has perfectly bridled their tongue. I mean, it's one of those things that really should cause fear and trembling. When you think of what Jesus said, we're going to give an account for every wayward word that we speak.

And so, I mean, talk about something that should humble us and cause us to fall on our knees and say, Lord, have mercy. The passages of scripture that Russell was referring to, Proverbs 18-8, the words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels. They go down into the inner parts of the body. Yeah, they sink down there pretty deeply. And then later in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 26, verse 22, the words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels.

They go down into the inner parts of the body. And a little bit earlier in verse 20, it says, For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. In other words, it's sort of like wood for the fire. It's like adding wood to the fire.

That's what it does. And the result is a quarrel. The next verse, verse 21, As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. And so we need to understand that the way we use our words can be very dangerous for others, for ourselves, for the Christian community. We should ask the Lord to help us in our speech, to bridle our tongues, to speak in ways that are good and edify and build up the saints and protect the saints. There are times where we do need to use strong language, and I think that that's important. There are contexts for that, but we ought to use our speech primarily to build up the body of Christ, not to reveal people's secrets or to gossip. And so why don't we hear about this a lot?

Well, maybe it's because this is just one of the sins a lot of people struggle with, and they don't want to talk about it. But it is important for us to just say what the scripture says and to encourage you to use your speech in a godly way. Russell, thanks so much for that great reminder. It is so important for us in the body of Christ not to be gossiping, as Adriel pointed out. Let's go to another question we received. This is a voicemail from one of our listeners named Zarit.

Hello, my name is Zarit. My question today is about the golden rule, which is Matthew 7 to 12. Do unto others the same way you would have them do unto you. Is this the number one golden rule in the Bible, or is there number one or number two? I just want some clarification. Thank you for the radio show.

Have a good day. Zarit, God bless you, and thank you for that question. Here, Jesus is talking about the fulfillment of the law. Everything that the law and the prophets pointed to, you could sum it up in this, essentially. Whatever you wish that others would do to you, Matthew 7, verse 12, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. Very similar to when Jesus talked about the greatest commandment. He was asked, teacher, what is the greatest commandment? Jesus said, love God perfectly and love your neighbor as yourself, which I think is just another way of, especially with the second part there, love your neighbor as yourself. I think that's verse 12 here. Do to others what you would want them to do to you.

It's positive. Oftentimes, we think about God's law, we think primarily negative. I shouldn't do this. I shouldn't murder. I shouldn't commit adultery.

I shouldn't do that. But there is a positive element to it. It's not just about not killing, not murdering. It's about the flourishing of life and caring for others positively. We think that if we just don't do bad, we're good.

We're sort of this neutral place. But righteousness, actually what God calls us to, is something positive, is to loving the people around us in the way that Christ loved us. I think that this is a really helpful thing for us to see.

It's the summary of the law, if you will. Ultimately, what we think about is interesting is we've been talking about how we use our speech, what it looks like to fulfill the golden rule. Who of us does this perfectly? Who perfectly uses their speech in a way that builds others up all the time and we're always praising the Lord? How often do we not treat others with the same grace and love that we want them to treat us with? Part of what Jesus is doing here in the Sermon on the Mountain in Matthew chapter 7, he's exposing our need for grace, our need for the gospel. He's highlighting the fact that our righteousness is pretty dim. It's important for us to understand that now in Christ, when we believe in Jesus Christ, we're born again, sealed with the Holy Spirit, and by the Spirit, we start to work towards this. The Spirit of God working in us to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, as the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 8. But when it comes to standing before God, our justification, boy, it's not on the basis of how perfectly we keep the law or the golden rule because we fall short of it.

So we flee to Christ and in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, we seek to love others as God has loved us and as we want them to love us as well. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question, you can always email us at corequestions at corechristianity.com.

That's questions at corechristianity.com. Shirley sent us this email, Adriel, she says, If someone has done you harm in your past and you have forgiven them in your prayers to God, do you have to tell them you have forgiven them if they are still alive? Such a difficult situation. I don't know that I would say that you have to tell them that you've forgiven them. Now, if someone has sinned against you, you think about Matthew chapter 5. When we sin against a brother or a sister, we are called to go and pursue reconciliation as the offending party. If we know that somebody has something against us, we should go to them and seek peace, seek reconciliation, confess our sin, be forgiven. It sounds like this individual has not done that with you and you have, because Jesus calls us to, in places like Matthew chapter 6, forgiven this person who has sinned against you. Do you need to tell them that you've forgiven them, that you've had a change of heart, that God has been gracious to you and so you want to be gracious to them? I don't know that you have to, but I think that you could, and I think that that could be a positive thing as you pursue this person and want the best for them as well. I think a part of forgiveness is really wanting the best for this person who has sinned against you. Now, I don't know the details of the situation.

I don't know all the ins and outs. There are some instances where I would say if it was a situation of abuse or something like that and trauma, I would probably encourage you not to reopen those wounds by going back to this person. But if we're talking about something else, maybe it is something where you can go and it could be healing for you and also for this other individual. Maybe it's something where they don't even know they've sinned, they don't even know they've hurt you, and it would shine a light in an area for them to be able to repent and draw near to the Lord. But I don't know that you're obligated, and I wouldn't say that you're obligated to go to this individual and tell them, I'm grateful that in your own heart you feel like you've been able to forgive, and that's precisely what Jesus calls us to. And I know that that requires a firm grasp of the Gospel. The only way we're ever able to forgive the people who have sinned against us is when we know and have a deep understanding of how gracious God has been to us, even though we've sinned against him. And so that's the way we forgive others.

It sounds like you've done that, and so if as you pray about this and the Lord continues to lead you, you have a sense of, I want to go to this person and tell them that I've forgiven them, and hopefully there's some healing even for them that can take place, then yeah, I would say if you want to, go for it. And maybe the Lord is in there working in that situation, but I wouldn't say that you're obligated to do that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez.

Dan has this question for us. What is the meaning of 2 Peter 3, verse 8? Well, let me turn to 2 Peter 3, verse 8. This comes in the context of the coming of Christ, the day of the Lord, as it's often referred to in the Minor Prophets. And Peter says, this is verse 8, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Now, why does he say this? He goes on, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. In other words, people were saying, hey, God, Jesus hasn't come back yet. He's taken his time. Everything is continuing as it has since the very beginning. Let's eat, drink, and be merry.

Who cares? He's tarrying. And Peter says, hey, don't forget this. It might seem like a long time to you, but with the Lord, a thousand years is like one day. And so he's not taking his time. He's long suffering toward you. He doesn't want you to perish. He wants you to come to repentance, to experience his grace. And so it really is God's mercy and grace on display. 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.