Faith Impact Training:

Share it & Show it

(Let Your Light Shine)
Matthew 5:16

Inviting someone to church is not the only form of evangelism. Evangelism

comes in many shapes and forms. However, we tend to focus on winning souls
rather than sharing the story of how our own soul was won for Christ.

The songwriter stated something so simple that we oftentimes overlook its

profound powerfulness in I Surrender All. He writes: This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. One major idea to consider is who we
have shared our conversion story with lately. Forget asking who cares about it or
who would care to hear about it. It wouldnt make the best-seller list if we
published it. There wouldnt be a line wrapped around the building if we put it on
stage. Not many people would be found searching Google or YouTube for clips
of your video-transcribed testimony. Yet, someone who was not expecting to
hear it today will have their life impacted by your simple telling of how God gave
you another chance and you encountered Jesus.

Let me throw this in for good measure. We keep talking about how we
found Jesus. I am a little disturbed by this because it seems to me that we
are called to repentance which essentially means turning back to God.
Why would we need to turn back to someone unless we had an idea of
where they were to be found from the beginning? Better yet, let me say it
like this. Jesus spoke of coming to seek and save those who were lost in
Luke 19:10. If Jesus is seeking and saving us as lost people, then we
cant be doing the finding. I can understand I met Jesus but not found.

We must be willing to share our testimonies. From those closest to us to those

who dont know us from Adam (at least not yet), we must be comfortable sharing
it. We must become so versed in what He has done for us as individuals that we
can begin to use it in comparison to what He did for the children of Israel in the
wilderness or Daniel in the lions den. We must continue to grow so comfortable
in our sharing our personal testimony that we begin to develop condensed
versions of it so that it fits as a casual conversation whether in between holes of
golf on the course or at the grocery store while in line. We must become so in
tune with Gods Spirit that we sense an opportunity to share our testimony. We
can anticipate the way we can use the other persons conversational responses
as a way to lead into sharing our story and testimony.

Sharing it is what makes Christianity a little different than most other religious
practices. In most cases, I can share my beliefs with you, but in order for you to
accept my beliefs you will have to perform some ritualistic act or work to
demonstrate your conversion. However, in our faith as Christians, we believe in
our hearts and confess with our mouths. We call upon the Lord inwardly and

Life Path Multimedia/ Faith Impact Training (F.I.T.) Updated 2017

express this belief outwardly in the form of our confession of Him as our Lord and
Savior (Romans 10:9, 17).

Showing it is a little different. When most people think of the term showing it,
they automatically think of ways that will demonstrate our conversion. In many
cases, these acts merely show that the person is practicing a new belief or faith.
However, for our purposes, showing it relates to our actions, attitudes, and
interactions.

Paul shared that we should think and act like Christ as if we had His mind
(Philippians 2:5). We must be careful to not just talk a good game but to be able
to walk it as well. We must practice what we preach. Early on, Life Path
Ministries & Services developed a training session for youth pastors and youth
ministry workers entitled Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk: Practicing What
We Preach. The goal of such training was to open the eyes of those working
with and setting an example for youth about the dangers of conflicting messages
and their impact upon the youth of our churches. The idea is that what we show
visibly is just as important as what we share verbally because both carry
influence. We can influence a person to make a positive change by what we say,
while we can also turn a person totally away from church and even God by what
we show in our actions, attitudes and interactions.

Jesus talks about sharing and showing our light as he calls us the light of the
world in Matthew 5:14-16. He shares that a lit candle is not lit to be hidden but
to shed light on all that is around it. He expressly states that we should let our
light shine before men for a two-point purpose.
1) Men are to see your good works
2) Men will glorify God
Ministry has the ultimate purpose of glorifying God. Guess what? When you do
your good works, you are letting your light shine before men just as Jesus shared
for us to do as the light of the world. However, when these men see your good
works, they wont give you the glory. No, they will see your good works and give
glory to the One who provided the light. They will give praises to the Lord who
caused us to let our lights shine before men in the first place.

Share it and show it.

Let your light shine.

Life Path Multimedia/ Faith Impact Training (F.I.T.) Updated 2017