The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Too Scared To Share? (EP 8)

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

Struggle with sharing your faith? Bryce gives practical advice on being bold about sharing the Gospel

What's going on, guys. Welcome back to the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. I'm super excited to be with you guys. We haven't done a podcast in a very long time, but now we're doing multiple episodes a week. I'm super excited. In today's podcast episode, to start the year off on our podcast is going to be talking about sharing our faith. I always get asked, Bryce, how do I share my faith? What should I do? What should I say? How will people react to me? We're going to talk about it all today, and we just need to start off by saying that sharing our faith isn't an option. it's a command from Jesus. Jesus says in Matthew 28, to go into the nations and make disciples of all nations,

preaching and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching people to observe the commandments that he's given them. Now, you might be St. Bryce's Bible verse is talking about disciple making, but sharing our faith and making disciples goes hand in hand. They're not two separate things. You're not, oh, well, I'm an evangelist. I don't need to make disciples.

That's a bunch of baloney. This is a command for all believers to share our faith and make disciples. How do we make disciples by sharing the gospel with people and following up with them and telling them about our faith and teaching them and equipping them, right? And so we have to understand the weight of what we're doing when we share our faith with other people. When we approach people, we're not just approaching someone that's a statistic. If you plan on sharing your faith and walking away, then you view a human being as a statistic, not as someone with the heart who God's trying to encounter. But if we understand the weight of what we're doing, then we will understand that we need to get their number, we need to follow up with them, we need to walk with them, even if they don't accept Jesus. Christ in that moment. We need to be ready to follow up with them and just be a friend. Because if we don't, we'll view them as a statistic and not as a real human being. But we want people to know the love of Jesus, and we've got to meet them where they're at with that love, because that's what Jesus does all the time. Jesus doesn't make people to get clean before they come to him.

People are dirty, and Jesus comes to them when they're dirty, and he makes them clean. He shows them who they are. He tells them who they are, and he calls them higher. And that's what you're doing when you share your faith. But remember, when you share your faith, know that you're probably going to have to follow up and make disciples. which this should not scare you into sharing your faith. You should be like, oh, I'm not going to share my faith if I have to disciple them. That's awful. Then there's pride in your heart.

And this is about you if you share your faith. If you're like, I don't want to share my faith because I don't feel like discipling someone, then you got to ask God to root something out of your heart because then the sharing of your faith is about you. We don't want our sharing of faith to be about the perception of ourselves. We want the sharing of our faith to be the perception of who Jesus is. And we actually want to change people's perception of Jesus based on how we share the gospel. I can't tell you the amount of times I've shared the gospel with people that claim to be Christian, and they said they've never heard what I've told them before in their life.

Or I've shared it to nonbelievers, and they've never heard what I've said to them before in their entire life. Isn't that crazy how people who claim to be Christian and nonbelievers can both say the same thing, that they've never heard the gospel I just told them? And I'm just telling them what the Bible says. So we have to know that we bring the gospel to them, we share our faith with them, and we encourage them and call them higher. Because that's what we've got to do with sharing our faith. And sharing our faith doesn't have to be a sense. scary thing. You might be like, oh, well, what if I'm going out alone? What if I'm sharing my faith

alone? I can't do it alone. You're not going alone. Sharing our faith doesn't have to be scary because we have the Holy Spirit with us. Jesus says in John 14 that we will do greater things than he did with the Holy Spirit. So we're in a better position as believers post resurrection of Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit than people who had Jesus Christ in person with them. Jesus himself said that we would do greater things than he did, which means if we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, then we will see greater miracles. The Holy Spirit will be more sensitive and might even tell us more stuff about people.

We're just going to experience a new side of Jesus we've never seen before because we have his spirit living inside of us. And so God wants you to partner with the Holy Spirit so he can give you the gifts of the Spirit to soften the hearts of unbelievers. You might come across some unbeliever who's like, no, I don't want it, I don't want it, I don't want it. But then the Holy Spirit tells you something about them.

Oh, they have back pain, they have neck pain. They've been struggling with insomnia. They've been doing this, they've been doing that. And when you tell them that, It'll soften their heart and they'll go, whoa, how do you know? They might even think that one of their friends paid you as a silly joke to try to make them feel scared. But you say, no, no one paid me. The only one that sent me is the one who was sent.

The king of kings, the Lord of Lords, who's after your heart, the one who knows how many hairs are on your head. He sent me to tell you how much he loves you and how he wants to call you home. Because you've been looking in things that haven't satisfied your heart, but he has water that make you not thirst again. That's what you're bringing to people. Sharing our faith is so important to partner with the Holy Spirit because it's not about us. if we share our faith without the Holy Spirit, then we're going to strive and try to perform. But when we partner with the Holy Spirit, he'll highlight people to us and we'll approach people at the perfect time and the perfect place no matter where we're at because we need the Holy Spirit to do this.

We can't do this alone. And this happens in John 4. Jesus does this in John 4. In John 4, there's a woman at the well, a Samaritan lady, and Jesus is a Jew. And Jesus goes to the well, and Jews and Samaritans don't get along. And Jesus asks this woman for a glass of water. And she goes, no, I ain't given you a glass of water. You're a Jew, and I'm a Samaritan.

I'm not doing that. But then Jesus says, you've had five husbands, and the dude you live with now isn't even your husband. And her heart softens. What do you mean you can give me water? I won't have to thirst again. See, the gifts of the Spirit are meant to soften the heart of unbelievers. So when you partner with the Holy Spirit, you might have a higher success rate. And it's not even about success, but the fact that you partner with the Holy Spirit

means that every action, every word, everything you do is going to be from the Spirit of God. but if you don't partner with the Holy Spirit, then you're going to really struggle. Then you're going to have the fear of man. Then you might not even want to go share your faith. So we have to partner with the Holy Spirit. And for all my women out there, I just want to encourage you from this story. The woman in John 4, the woman at the well, actually becomes, as historical documents say, one of the first ever evangelists.

And she was a woman. She would go and win cities to the Lord. For a woman out there who's afraid to share their faith or feels like their voices diminished, I just want you to know that one of the first evangelists ever was a woman, and she would win souls to the Lord. So I pray that God gives you boldness like Esther to approach people and call them higher. Just like Esther approached the king. I pray that God gives you boldness to approach people in the streets at the workplace on college campuses, because God wants to use women too. This isn't just about men.

This is about men and women. God will use a hungry vessel. God doesn't discriminate. The spirit of God doesn't discriminate. He's going to use anybody who's hungry to be used. used and if you want to be used just ask God to use you and he'll use you now there's also this other special thing about the Holy Spirit not just with the gifts of the Spirit but there's freedom accessible for anybody anywhere at all time second Corinthians three says for the Lord is spirit and where the

spirit of the Lord is there is freedom this means that if the Spirit of the Lord lives inside of you then that means freedom is accessible anywhere anytime for all people everywhere you go so if people step in the circle that you call personal space they better be getting nothing but Jesus but we still have Christians who don't walk in this. If I grabbed an orange and squeezed it and apple juice came out, you'd think that was weird. So why is it that when Christians get squeezed, hate comes out instead of love? Or fear comes out instead of boldness. We got to do something about this.

I mean, us as Christians, we can have liquid love that is coming off of us. That's just contagious. It's just sticking to people. People might even look at you because you have the spirit of God inside of you, and you might not even say anything about the gospel to them. They might just be like, what's different about you? I can tell something's different. I can see something in your eyes.

it's like light in your eyes and then you share the gospel with them. We're partnering with the spirit of freedom here. And if you know the truth, the truth will set you free is what Jesus says in John 8. And then a few verses later, he says, Whom the sun sets free is free indeed. He's not halfway free. He's 100% free. And that freedom lives inside of you and that means everyone you encounter can have that same freedom.

And I'm all about church. We need church. We need churches to equip us to lead us into the green pasture so we can feast. But people don't just have to go to church on Sunday for freedom. You don't just have to show up from nine to. 1115 at church just to get your freedom. People can get freedom at their workplace, at college, on schools and parks, at the gym, anywhere. Freedom's accessible anytime anywhere. It doesn't discriminate. Jesus wants to meet people where they're at, and he wants to use you to do that. There's going to be

so many people, waiters and waitresses working that are burdened by life and then they're burdened by work, and they need something to set them free because they've been doing too much of life and nothing's been happening. They've been doing too much of everything. They've tried everything and nothing's working. And so many people are sick and hurting and oppressed by the things of the world. And they're looking for freedom. And you've got the antidote. It's inside of you. If I had the cure to cancer and I didn't tell anyone the cure to cancer and then people found out I had had it and I'd been hiding it, people would be so mad at me. I'd have to hide in my house. People would be riding outside of my house. And we have the answer and the antidote to people's anxieties, depressions,

and their struggles. And we don't want to give it to them because we're too afraid to share our faith. That's awful. We have the answer to what they're going through. And so matter of fact, if you have the answer to what they're going through, you better be shouting from the mountaintop that, oh my gosh, I can help you. You've been searching in all the wrong things because the hole inside people's heart is a Jesus-sized hole. So the drugs, the alcohol, the sex, the entertainment won't fill it, but the spirit of God can. And you can say that spirit of God is filled the hole in my heart. And the same way he did into my life, he can do it in yours. Revelation talks about how the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So when we share our

testimony incorporated with the gospel, we're actually impregnating the air for God to do it again in their life with more power. And so we need to understand that our testimony isn't the gospel, just saying Jesus loves you isn't the gospel, but these are tools that we can intertwine to get the message of the gospel across. The gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to save humankind who's living in sin. That's the gospel, and that's what we're presenting them. We're not presenting them with fire insurance. You're going to see people at college campuses that's running around with pitchforks and signs, telling people they're going to burn in hell if they don't give their life to Jesus.

Which is true. Like, people are going to go to hell if you don't know Jesus. But we're not out here selling fire insurance. We're giving people an encounter and relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus isn't a distant dad that just wants to donate a blessing here and there. He wants to be involved. He wants to know why you're angry, why you're sad, why you're happy. He wants to walk with you through the valley.

Jesus actually promise us that he will be with us through the storm. He will deliver us through the storm. He wants to celebrate with you. us on the highest of mountains, Jesus wants to be involved in our life, but he'll only be involved if we allow him to be involved. And that goes on every aspect, sharing our faith and including it in other people's lives. So we have to be able to share that to other people, because if we're not willing to share our faith to people, then we're gatekeeping an antidote that can save people from themselves. Not only with sharing our faith, but even defending our faith, First Peter 315 says,

be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for the hope inside of you, but do it with gentleness and respect. And so the way that we share our faith is with love, gentleness, and respect. What is the way? We do it with love, genitalness, and respect. First Corinthians 13 says faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. And from an evangelism standpoint, faith is what we need to have when we go into battle with Jesus. Faith is what we need to have, believing that God's going to meet people where they're at. Hope is what we're giving people. We're giving people hope for their circumstance and for their situation. And love is the way we share our faith. We've got to have love. If we don't have love, we do it in vain. And Romans 2 says, isn't it the

goodness of God that brings man to repentance? So the goodness of God and love that we have inside of us is going to bring people to know him. But if we don't do it out of love, then how are people going to know him? We need the love of Jesus Christ to soften people's heart to the reality of who he is. And grace is what you give people when they don't deserve it. If it was all about getting what we deserve, then we never deserve the cross. But we're giving people grace. And grace is what you give people because it empowered you. Grace empowers us to give it to other people. Right. And so we're sharing that with other people. We preach the gospel. We don't sell fire insurance. We come with the grace, truth, peace, and love. And we share it with everyone anywhere at all times. And one of the

final questions I always get asked is they say, Bryce, how are people going to react? I'm too afraid of what they're going to say, what they're going to do. It's not about you. If you, if you say that question, then your perception of evangelism is about you, but our perception of evangelism should be pointing people's eyes to them. People have been looking in a dirty mirror all along. And when you share the gospel, you're saying, here, let me show you who you really are, and you lift their chin to a clean mirror because Jesus sees them as clean, pure, and righteous in his sight. And so it's not about what that people say or do. Oh, I'm worried about what they say or do or what they're going to say. No, we don't know if there's breakthrough for someone unless we respond to the

inkling of the Holy Spirit. Do you think that you just selfishly thought about giving a homeless five bucks or blessing someone at a restaurant paying for their meal or going and praying for someone random no you can't selfishly think of that the holy spirit is tapping on you saying i need you to be the encounter they need because i need to get to them through you they're not listening to me i'm giving them signs they're not listening so i got to use you to get through them we've got to do this we've got to be willing to be used by god and mark four actually tells us the different types of reactions we're going to get from people he says a sorrow went out to sow some sowed seed on a rock path and it grew up but it got scorched by the sun and it died and some got

sown just on flat ground but it got snatched up by the birds and then some seed got sown on thorns but the thorns choked it out but then it got sewn on good soil and it produced fruit 30 60 and a hundredfold those who have ears let him here and he uses these parables as a sifting mechanism to see who wants more of him who wants the king instead of just the benefits of the kingdom who wants the giver and not just the gifts right and he actually explains this when the disciples go what do you mean by this and mark four he says says a sower can be you, and the seed is the word of God.

And he says the seed that was thrown on the path and the birds snatched it up. He says Satan comes and snatches the word that immediately was sewn in their heart. This means there's a spiritual battle for that person's soul. So are you going to have a spirit that's strong enough to go home in private on your knees and plead to God on behalf of their soul when you got shamed publicly because Satan was after their heart because there's a battle in the spiritual realm for them? We have to be willing to go in private and plead on behalf of other people when we're shamed publicly on behalf of other people.

We have to be willing to pray for people. James 5 says of the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, so how do you respond when trial hits? Then it says the seed sown on rocky ground that grew up, had no soil, and the sun scorching and it died. It says that the word of God is received by someone joyfully, but when trial, tribulation, and persecution hits, they fall away. Then he says the seed that was sewn on thorns,

grows in his choked by the thorns, and he says it grows, but the deceitfulness of riches and the desires of the world will distract people and overcome them. So actually the distractions of the world and the things of the world will sit on the throne of their heart, not Jesus, and it gets snatched up. But then he says there's good soil. And when the seed lands on that soil,

it produces fruit 30, 60, and 100 fold. Jesus says that these are people that you sow the Word of God, and they say, oh my gosh, you're right. I've had this hole in my heart. I've tried everything and it hasn't worked. But the news you've told me, the gospel you've told me, I've never heard before in my life. I need Jesus in my life.

And not only do they give their life to Jesus, but they produce fruit. Other people are affected by them because of what you did. You don't know how many nations and people you will impact just because of your yes and you tell someone about Jesus. You might impact the world through someone. You might stir up someone's faith so much where they give their life to Jesus and they go and they reach millions of people.

And it's not about reaching people, but you just never know the revival that could hit just because you're obedient to the inkling of the Holy Spirit to tell that waiter or waitress who's having a hard day that Jesus loves them and that he died for them and resurrected so that he get a personal relationship with them. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few? What are you going to do about it? Did you know that Sundays are the worst day for people to work in restaurants?

Waiters and waitresses actually dread working on Sundays. The church crowd is the worst crowd to earn money from. Isn't that crazy? That the Christians are supposed to be the most kind and giving people, yet they are the worst crowd to serve and work for. So what are you going to do when you show up on Sunday to a restaurant and a waiter or waitress has already had a rough life, they've had a rough morning, they haven't made much money,

and then you come in and you tell us, them about Jesus and you tell them the gospel and they get frustrated because they're hurt and hurting people are hurt because they've never known what true love was and you just showed them true love and it frustrated them because their whole life's been a mess they haven't had a mother or father life has always been against them no one's ever been for them and on top of that work has sucked so now you're sharing something that they don't want to hear and they bring your food out cold they treat you awful and when they deliver the check to you they're expecting a crappy tip just like the rest of christians and you tip them the bill and they go oh my gosh and they really really

realized that they never deserved it. They realized they treated you awful. They brought your food out cold and that they were casting their hurt pain on you. But just because other people are hurting doesn't mean it has to affect you. Sin done to you doesn't have to produce sin within you. And so they asked, why did you do this to me? And you share the gospel with them. And they give their life to Jesus. And you meet them where they're at. Jesus isn't just a God for Sunday. We need them in the streets. We need them in our gym. We need them in the marketplace at the grocery store. We need them at the mall. We need them everywhere. Jesus says that the harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. What are you going to do? What are you going to do? We've got to do something about it. People are hurting, sick, and dying, and they don't know Jesus, and they don't realize that they can be free from what they struggle with.

People think that the things they struggle with are an incurable disease. People think that the only way to get rid of their pain and anxieties is if they die. That's why people contemplate their life. People contemplate their life because they think that the only way to get free from the things that they struggle with is to take their own life. but the Bible says whom the sun sets free is free indeed so they can actually be free from what they struggle with now and you can deliver that message to them and not only just a message but the person of Jesus to free them from it

to grab them hand by hand and walk them through the storm and walk them out into freedom and into life that's what you're delivering to people the harvest is ripe the laborers are few what are you going to do about it you can reach the nations through your iPhone you can reach people through your iPhone you want to share your faith pick up TikTok make a 30 second video pick up Instagram, start posting, start telling people, text people, write letters if you have to.

You can reach people from your bedroom. Nothing is stopping you. You have every resource available. We have been more advanced today than we were yesterday. You have more resources available to reach people with your faith, and you're not doing anything about it. And it's a command to share our faith and love one another just as Jesus Christ has loved us. And if we really love people, we would tell them the thing that would free them from themselves. I'm going to pray that God gives you the boldness.

to go walk in authority and empower and share your faith with people. Jesus, I just pray for anyone who's watching or listening to this right now. God, I just pray that you will give them boldness in Jesus' name to share their faith. I pray that the person listening or watching to this will get so stirred up and hungry for the Word of God that everywhere they go, whether they go to the gym, the mall, the grocery store, they go to school, work, that they're going to share their faith with anybody and everybody who's sick and hungry. Jesus says those who have ears, let them hear. So everyone that we encounter, may we encounter them with love and gentleness, with self-control, sharing the gospel with them.

Jesus, I thank you for people listening this. I pray that this episode is bless them. God, will you just use this in people's life in a mighty way? In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Thank you guys so much for watching the episode today. If you guys enjoyed it, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you're watching, follow us on Spotify or Apple Music, download our episodes. We're so excited for multiple episodes a week.

Check out our Instagram, the Bryce Crawford podcast. We're posting the clips on there and everything. It's going to be great. I love you guys. See you guys on the next episode. Peace.