Grace Mally (Moffitt) has written a very helpful book of encouragement for young people to have the strength to speak up about Christ and His gospel without fear. This book does not only apply to young people but to anyone who wants to learn to be a better witness for Christ and all He has done for us. It is such an indepth book on the subject I decided to divide up the review to cover more of the tips for witnessing.
Grace begins on the first page of Chapter 1 with these statements: “If you are a typical person, witnessing scares you. Maybe it terrifies you….I think Satan wants us to believe that witnessing will be a miserable, frightening experience, when actually it is one of the most exciting parts of our lives in Christ!” (p.15)
Grace says, “We forget that God is working in this world, preparing hearts for the gospel…. many are seeking, but we won’t know that unless we talk with them.” (p.16)
Many of us get discouraged when we see the state of the world. Grace says, “The solution for this world’s confusion is not to fix all the surface problems, however devastating and shocking they may be. Neither is the answer found in political or social improvements. The answer is for individual people to be brought to Jesus Christ and discipled.”(p.17)
“There were only about 120 believers gathered in the upper room after Christ’s ascension (Acts 1:15). Odds were against them. They were’t professionals. Scripture calls them ‘unschooled’ and ‘ordinary’. But they knew Jesus. And within 50 years, Christianity had spread throughout the whole Mediterranean world. It was said that “they turned the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6).” (p.24)
Grace shares that “1) Witnessing is not easy. 2) We are working alongside our King who created the universe and upholds it by His power…. This is God’s work, not ours. Success is measured by His standards, not ours. God goes before us and prepares the way.” And, “He is the One who draws people to Himself (John 6:44).”(pp. 29-30)
“He is pleased when our confidence in Him propels us to bold action. The more difficult the odds, the more God gets the glory. Initiative is taking responsibility and assuming leadership instead of waiting for someone else to do it.” (p.36)
Grace and her family are out witnessing every chance they get and take many opportunities that most of us would overlook. After witnessing, and when they have someone that is ready to pray for repentance and salvation, Grace says, “We do not push a ‘sinner’s prayer’ with people (having them repeat certain words to God) because reconciliation with God needs to be genuine, and their communication with God should be from their own heart. But we definitely encourage them to call upon Jesus for salvation, as Romans 10:13 instructs.” (p.38)
I love Grace’s “good witnessing motto: Just try something!” (p.43) In Chapter 3 (pp.53-54) Grace covers all the excuses we give for not witnessing:
- I Have So Much Else Going On, I Don’t Have Time!
- I Can’t Communicate Well.
- I’ll Just Let Them See My Life.
And then she gives examples of how to overcome these excuses and why we should.
In Chapter 4 Grace covers using Tracts as a tool and gives many examples of how they have been used to plant seeds or worked to help others take the steps to salvation.
On pages 66 -69 Grace covers “Tract Tips”:
- Be Confident – “If you are bold and unashamed, people will be more receptive.”
- Know What You Are Going To Say – Example: “We’re passing these out today—here’s one for you!”
- Find Tracts You Like!
- Stock Your Purse Or Wallet
- Don’t Leave Without Them
- Recruit Younger Brothers and Sisters
- Keep A Give Away Box In Your Vehicle
- Write Your Own Tract (please see the book for Grace’s deeper covering of all these topics)
Chapter 5 addresses the fears we all have about witnessing. We have to ask ourselves… “Do we believe God’s promises to us, or not? Do we truly believe He is with us, helping us? Do we believe He is in control? Do We believe He is all powerful and all loving? Do we believe that He is the One who has led us in this path? If so, why are we afraid?”(p.80)
One statement that resonated in my heart was on page 85 when Grace tells the story of Allison and her boldness to witness. Allison told Grace “that she purposes to ‘never let herself be embarrassed.’ (p. 85) Purposing in our heart to not do something keeps us bold. Just look at Daniel’s story and see what he “purposed in his heart” not to do in Daniel 1:8.
“The simple remedy to cure our ‘fear of man’ (fear of what people think of us) is to care much, much more about what Jesus thinks of us….do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ’ (Galatians 1:10).” (p.86)
Chapter 6 deals with sharing both Grace and Truth equally.Grace shares, “you may be wondering how to communicate the truth about sin, but still do it in love.” Grace quotes Randy Alcorn on page 100…”Jesus wasn’t 50 percent grace, 50 percent truth, but 100 percent grace, 100 percent truth.” “Colossians 4:6 says, ‘Let your speech be alway[s] with grace.’ Remember, always means always! There is never a time to be ungracious…. Yet being gracious does not mean we hold back from proclaiming truth.”(p. 100-101)
Grace covers the frequent response you get when witnessing which is “but, I’m a good person”. This means: “People don’t want to submit to the Savior; they want to justify themselves.” (p. 102)
“It’s not merely one’s individual sins that separate him from God—it’s the fact that he is a sinner. His individual sins are merely symptoms of that fact. But it’s deeper than that. His heart is sick with sin and it shows up in his actions….Just as a leprous hand reveals that someone has leprosy, so our sinful actions reveal that we are sinners.” (p.103)
It is hard for people to humble themselves and admit to being in need of salvation. Grace says, “it’s a natural response of our pride to want to earn our salvation.” (p. 107)
In Chapter 7 Grace covers the need to listen and lead. You lead by asking questions to steer the conversation, but you also have to listen to the responses to know the next question to ask. “True social maturity is thinking of others more than yourself. It is asking questions and listening with genuine concern, not just pretending to listen…. Being a good listener means being a good question-asker…. Jesus often asked questions. Even though He already knew everything about everyone, He still asked people questions because it helped them to see things about themselves that they hadn’t realized before. (See Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 9: 33-37; and Mark 11:27-33.)” (p.112-113)
On pages 118-121 Grace gives a list of questions to ask and how to respond back to their answers:
- What do you think happens when someone dies?
- Is eternal life a free gift or something you have to earn?
- What did the thief on the cross have to do to be saved?
- When did you become a Christian?
- Who do you believe Jesus Christ is?
- Do you know what it means to be “born again”?
- How many of the Ten Commandments can you name?
- Do you consider yourself to be a good person?
- Do you think one can know his sin is forgiven before he dies, or does he have to wait until after he dies?
- What do you think is the main message of the Bible?
- If you died today, do you think you would go to Heaven?
- Have you considered how much evidence there is for the resurrection of Christ?
- Did you grow up with a certain belief or religion?
- How do you think one can get rid of his guilt and sin before God?
- Do you hope that there is a God?
- Why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?
- Has anyone ever explained the gospel to you before?
- Of all the knowledge in the universe, how much knowledge do you think you have?
The rest of the chapter deals with responding to the answers with more questions. Grace reminds us, “The last thing we want is to win the argument, but lose the person. Our goal is not to make them feel stupid! … we must demonstrate humility and give soft answers with meekness and respect. We do not want people to put up a wall of pride and resistance—we want them to respond with thirst and ask for Living Water.” (p.122)
For the first half of this review I will end with Chapter 8 entitled “Keys To Confidence”. Grace says, “We don’t need a Ph.D. in theology before we start witnessing. The main thing is to be familiar with the Word of God and to know the Lord.” (p.123) One of the topics Grace deals with in this chapter is purity. She says, “Purge (eliminate) what is dishonorable from our lives.” (p. 131) “People expect Christians to be Christians! They respect the stands we take. They are curious about us. When they see compromise, they take note of that as well. Standing upon a conviction may be criticized by some, but it is noticed and respected by many silent observers.” (p. 132)
“Spending time with Jesus is what gave Peter and John boldness in their witness. ‘Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus‘ (Acts 4:13). (p.138)
Please come back next week as I finish this book review. In the meantime if you would like to purchase Grace’s book for your high school or college age children or for yourself, go to: https://tomorrowsforefathers.mypinnaclecart.com/evangelism/will-our-generation-speak-and-study-guide-package/
For $18.00 you will receive the book along with a study guide. This is an important time in history for all of us to learn to spread the gospel.