Author Alan Shlemon
Published on 07/16/2018
Tactics and Tools

How Do You Revisit the Gospel with Someone Who Won’t Listen?

Alan shares how to continue a Gospel-centered conversation with a friend or family member who says, “Enough of that!”


Transcript

How do you revisit the Gospel with someone who says, “Enough of that!”

The answer to this question hinges on what happened during your interaction to cause the person to respond to the Gospel in that way. And that’s why we at Stand to Reason try to focus on helping Christians become better at being a certain kind of person. We call that person an ambassador. And the reason we call them an ambassador is because the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:20 that we’re all ambassadors for Christ, and we believe, therefore, that you need three essential skills to be an effective ambassador: knowledge, wisdom, and character.

Knowledge is the content of what you say. That is, the substance of the Gospel. You have to get the correct facts about what God’s message is to those who have not accepted His pardon. And this requires simple reading, it requires learning, and memorization of the message of reconciliation that comes through Jesus.

Now, the second skill, wisdom, has to do with how you package the contents of the Gospel message. You can’t just dump your knowledge on people, you have to know how to communicate what you know. And so this skill ensures that the Gospel is clearly and persuasively articulated to another person.

Now the third skill, character, has to do with the manner in which you tell a person the Gospel because even if your knowledge and your wisdom is impeccable, but you come across like a jerk, it won’t matter then because your poor conversational character will completely undermine the Gospel message.

Now, I’m not assuming that you dropped the ball in one of those three skills, I’m simply trying to help you evaluate what you might do before you revisit the Gospel with someone. So ask yourself this question, “How did I do in those three ambassador skills when I share the Gospel?” Now, either you did well, or you did not. If you feel you did well, then maybe there’s nothing you did to drive them away. It could just be that they reject the Gospel itself. After all, Scripture describes the Gospel as offensive and a stumbling block, and so therefore, pray and wait for another opportunity later.

Also, remember that it’s God’s job to convict people of sin and save them, not yours. It’s your job to be a faithful ambassador, to share the truth in a persuasive yet gracious manner, then leave the results up to God. If, however, you feel like you dropped the ball in one or more of those three areas, then you need to evaluate which ambassador skills you need to improve. And not only will that help you when you revisit the Gospel with your friend, will also positively affect every relationship you have.