Hello Project Ezra! Easter
is a bit over a week away, and it’s time to start thinking and praying more deeply
about our Easter reading, if you are planning to participate. It’s also time to pick your day, and to
contact people to join you, if you haven’t already done so. Many people will be
thinking about Easter through the holiday weekend, so any day is appropriate. I
will actually be doing my reading this weekend, since I’m going to visit family
next week. But very few people will be thinking about the death and
resurrection of Christ, the true meaning of Easter. That's why we will be
going to the streets, to share that message with many who will not hear it
otherwise.
Matthew 26 through 28 is the Easter story, so it is the passage
we have chosen for this reading. If you are an experienced open-air preacher,
you will likely be able to find multiple starting points for good gospel
presentations. For those of you will less experience, here are some things to
consider when using this, or any, passage of scripture for
evangelism:
What the passage says and doesn't say - Some preachers (open-air or otherwise), will
try to force the entire message of the gospel into any passage they read. That
is not handling the Biblical text rightly. What you should try to do is to
look at the passage and see what it's focus is. Some will cover aspects of sin
or judgment, some will talk about God's mercy, or grace, or goodness, some will
recount details of the life of Christ, and almost all will have something to
tell us about the nature of God. Try to read the passage with an eye to the
original intent of the author, and find the place that point has in a Biblical
gospel presentation.
The Nature of God - The gospel is what it is because of who God
is. Jesus came to die because God is both perfectly just and perfectly loving,
and both truths of His nature had to be perfectly satisfied. A good idea is to
contrast God's nature with ours and explain the dilemma this causes. I would
recommend THIS video
to give you a good starting point. Then explain the solution. Consider these
thoughts:
God is good, and we are not. What must a good God do with people
like us?
God is a good judge and we are guilty
criminals. What must a good judge do with criminals like us? If He is a good
judge, He must insure that justice is
satisfied.
What if someone paid the fine and satisfied justice so we could
go free? What if that someone were God Himself? God
demonstrated His love in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God is a good and loving God. But because He is just,
He cannot ignore sin. Instead, He paid for it on the cross.
Be sure you cover the basics - Every gospel presentation, and every
open-air preaching session, will be different. This is due to the change
in the scriptures used, the audience, the location/situation, and even the
convictions of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer at the time.
But regardless of the situation, we want to make sure that we cover the basics
of the gospel. A general outline is below.
God created this world perfect
But mankind, out of pride, chose to rebel and
fell into sin
God cursed the world as punishment, and now all
men are born sinners, in rebellion against their creator
USE THE LAW (BE SPECIFIC) TO BRING CONVICTION
OF SIN
Because of our rebellion, we are deserving of
God's justice
The scriptures tell us
that justice will be carried out in a very real place called Hell
But because God is not only a just judge, but
also a loving Father, He made a way for justice to be satisfied, so we would
not have to go to Hell
Jesus Christ, God the Son, humbled Himself and
came to earth
He lived the perfect life that none of us did,
and then died a perfect death on a Roman cross
On the cross, all
God's anger and wrath toward sin was poured out on Him, so it would not have to
be poured out on us.
Then He rose on the
third day, as He had prophesied He would, and after appearing to His disciples,
ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven.
He now sits as both
judge, and advocate, and if we will turn from our sins and to the one true
savior, trusting in Him alone to save us, then the price of our sins will be
satisfied, we will be seen as righteous before God, and we will be free.
Then we will spend
eternity in loving relationship and worship of God, as we were designed to do.
I pray that this is
helpful, and I look forward to hearing how your readings went. If
you need something more particular (perhaps something you could just read
through) let me know, and I’ll see what I can do. God bless you, and have a great Easter
weekend!!
All for His glory,
Dan B.
