6 Ways to Share Your Hope in Jesus This Week
by Pastor Rick Warren
Previously, we talked about sharing your hope with others, one of God’s five purposes for his Church and for your life. You can read five truths that will give you confidence to share your hope here.
Sharing your hope is simply talking about Christ to people who don’t know Jesus yet.
In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul tells us, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (NIV).
God wants people who don’t yet know him to have a friendship with him, to be reconciled to God. And Paul says we’re ambassadors of that relationship.
What’s an ambassador? An ambassador is somebody who represents a higher power. The Bible says you are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. That means everywhere you go, you represent Jesus.
You’re either a good ambassador or a bad one. But you are an ambassador. You are a witness. The only question is whether you’re an effective one or an ineffective one.
I want to give you six things practical things you can do this week, from God’s Word, to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ and share your hope with others.
1. Live a life of hope.
Number one is simple: Live a life of hope. Long before you ever talk about it, just live it.
1 Peter 2:12 says, “People who do not believe are living all around you and might say that you are doing wrong. Live such good lives that they will see the good things you do and will give glory to God on the day when Christ comes again” (NCV).
What does that verse teach us? That you need to be an audio/visual believer. You’ve got to both walk the walk and talk the talk. If they like what they see, they will listen to what we say.
We start by simply living hopeful lives. A lot of times, this involves just being nice to people. Why? Because you cannot win your enemies to Christ. You can only win your friends. They’ve got to become your friends before they can become Christ’s friends.
Before people ask, “Is Jesus real?” they want to know, “Are you real?” Before they ask, “Can the Bible be trusted?” they want to know, “Can you be trusted?”
Witnessing is simply building a bridge of love between your heart and theirs. And Jesus walks across.
That’s why Romans 12:13 says, “Practice hospitality” (NIV). What is hospitality? It’s just making people feel welcome and wanted. It means living your life in such a way that you build relationships with people. You invite them into your home, you share meals with them, you watch a game with them. You live your life with them.
2. Learn more about the hope that is within you.
Number two, after you live it, you need to learn more about the hope that is within you. You know you’ve got hope, but you may have a hard time expressing it.
1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (NIV).
Notice that the Bible specifically tells us to share our hope, and it says to do it with gentleness and respect.
It also says, “Always be prepared.” How can I learn to be prepared?
One practical way is to discover your life message and your life mission. God wants to communicate something through you to the world that only you can communicate. When you learn to communicate your life message and mission, you’ll be ready to share it. Check out my series on how to write and share your testimony at finishingthetask.com/believers.
3. Apologize for not sharing sooner.
Do you have people in your life who aren’t believers, even though you’ve known them for a long time? Maybe you’ve lived next to a neighbor for years but never talked to them about the Lord. Now you feel awkward bringing it up.
How do you break the ice?
Just apologize.
Here’s how I would do it. Let’s say you’ve got a next-door neighbor. You’ve never talked about the Lord, never invited him to church. Let’s say his name is Joe. You say, “Joe, I need to apologize to you.” That’s going to get his attention right off the bat. He’s wondering what you’ve done wrong. He says, “What? Sure. What do you need to apologize for?”
“Well, friends don’t keep secrets from friends. I consider you a close friend. You’ve been a good neighbor for many years, and I’ve never talked to you about the most important thing in my life. I’m sorry. I’m embarrassed. Honestly, I kind of thought that if I shared it with you, maybe you’d think less of me. I’m sorry. I should’ve thought more of our friendship. It’s stronger than that. I ask you to forgive me.”
Now the guy’s dying to hear what you’re going to say. You say, “The most important thing in my life is my friendship with God. I’ve learned how to have a relationship with God, and I’d love, sometime, to tell you about it.”
Now you’ve opened the door. Apology evangelism is one way to start with somebody you’ve known for a long time.
Proverbs 17:17 says, “Friends always show their love” (GNT). The most loving thing you can do is to show somebody how they can have their past forgiven, get a purpose for living, and get a home in heaven by opening their heart to the grace of God. It’s unloving to not tell people the Good News.
4. Listen and ask questions.
You will always bring more people to Christ by listening to them than by talking to them, because everybody on the planet has a deep hunger to be listened to, to be understood, and to have their feelings validated. Very few people in this world care enough to actually listen to their neighbors and friends. Your ear is a great tool for showing love to someone.
Proverbs 20:5 says, “A person’s thoughts are like water in a deep well, but someone with insight can draw them out” (TEV). That’s a beautiful picture. How do you draw thoughts out of people? How do you find their hidden hurt? How do you find their deep need, their unmet need, their felt need? By asking questions.
5. Share your stories.
Number five: share your stories.
Jesus says in Acts 1:8, “…you will be my witnesses” (NIV). If you’re a child of God, then he says, “I want you to be my witness.”
In a courtroom, there’s a big difference between an attorney and a witness. An attorney’s job is to make the case, present the evidence, and call for a decision.
But that’s not your job. Jesus didn’t say, “You will be my attorneys.” He says, “You will be my witnesses.”
What does a witness do? A witness says, “I saw this happen.” All you do is tell your story. God doesn’t expect you to be a defense attorney for him. But he does expect you to be a witness.
Notice I say, “share your stories,” plural. Not share your story. Why? Because you have many testimonies. A lot of people think they only have one testimony—how they were saved. But has God ever helped you with a financial problem? Then you have a financial testimony. Has God ever helped you with a relational problem? Then you have a relational testimony. You have hundreds of testimonies.
The power of a testimony is that you are the authority on you. You’re not pointing to anybody else. Nobody’s a better authority on your life than you.
The Bible is filled with testimonies. One time Jesus healed a blind man, and the Pharisees came to the man and tried to trap him with theological questions. But the man just went back to his testimony. In John 9:25, he says, “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (NIV). That’s a testimony.
6. Bring them to worship.
Finally, let me give you one more suggestion: bring them to worship. This is one of the best ways that you can share your hope with people who are struggling without hope.
Did you know that research has shown how important relationships and community can be in helping people come to faith?
When you talk to your neighbor, friend, or coworker about the Lord, and they later walk into a service and see other people who believe the same thing, that’s called a corporate witness.
It adds credibility to what you’ve shared. Your friend looks around and thinks, “Wow, there are a lot of people here who believe this. They couldn’t all be crazy.”
When was the last time you invited somebody to church? Care enough to bring somebody with you next weekend.
I saw the reality of Psalm 40:3 happen thousands and thousands of times at Saddleback Church when people brought their friends to church. Psalm 40:3 says, “Many people will see this and worship him. Then they will trust the Lord” (NCV). Notice that worship leads to outreach.
Acts 2:47 in The Message says, “People in general liked what they saw. … Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved” (MSG).
Sharing Your Hope Creates a Legacy
The only thing on earth that’s going to last forever is God’s family, the Church, and the people that are in it. If you want to leave a lasting legacy, if you want to make an eternal impact, the greatest thing you can do is bring somebody else into God’s family with you.
The greatest thing you can do for someone is to secure their eternal salvation. When you do that, that person will thank you for the entire rest of eternity. Imagine getting to Heaven and someone coming up to tell you, “I’m in heaven because of you.”
Who can you share your hope with this week?
Access more resources and trainings for sharing your hope at finishingthetask.com/believers.
