Hammer on Anvil '

When I was young, maybe 8 or 9 years old, I remember a time when I was really excited about God. I think I had recently been taught about Matthew 21:21-22 in which Jesus says, “I tell you the truth,, if you have faith and do not doubt…you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” My little 8-year-old imagination ate that up. I didn’t yet know the word “context,” let alone what it meant. All I knew was that, because of God, I could do anything (or so I thought).

Later that day, I was playing with a friend of mine and I told him about this amazing discovery. I wanted to convince him that God was awesome and that he should be a Christian too. I told him that if I wanted to, I could start a small fire just by praying for it. He called me on it and asked me to prove it. My little 8-year-old self then proceeded to pray his heart out, but to no avail. No fire started.

It’s kind of funny as I look back on it, but what I learned is that I had no idea how to talk with others about Jesus. The desire was there, but the know-how was not. Since then, I’ve seen this in several churches. Pastors and prominent Christians are quick to tell the masses that they should be talking with their friends and family about Christ. They’ll explain WHY we should do it, but not HOW we should do it.

In the next few weeks, I’m going to look at some techniques that I’ve learned in the 20 years since my “fire prayer” that are helpful when talking with others about Christ. I’ll tell you about a video series called The Way of the Master with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort in which the hosts show you methods that Jesus himself used. I’ll also dive into some apolotetics (proving the authority of the Bible using evidence and reasoning).

It’s pretty good stuff, so I hope you’ll follow along for the next few weeks. God bless! J