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\u201cI am an ambassador-homemaker. I have young children. I cook, clean, help with homework and bring the kids to school. Wherever I go, I am on the lookout for how I can share the gospel with others. I plan for my day as a homemaker by setting aside time and budget to manage my household well. I plan for my day as an ambassador by setting aside time and budget to make sure I am ready at all times to share the gospel whether by giving away a gospel resource or sitting down and guiding someone through the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n
You may be a homemaker, young mum, executive in a large firm, mechanic or a student. But you are also an Ambassador for Christ. It\u2019s one thing to just acknowledge we have this job. It\u2019s quite another to be deliberately and intentionally getting ready to do this job well. But how do we become good ambassadors? Here are five steps.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnd if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready<\/strong> to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.\u201d (1 Peter 3:15,16 NLT)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God has a way of \u2018opening doors\u2019 of opportunity for those who are ready.\u00a0 This is because God is a God \u201cwho wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.\u201d<\/strong> (1 Timothy 2:4 NIV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We believe God delights in nudging unsaved inquirers towards those he knows are prepared to give an answer\u2014a clear gospel.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be surprised at the opportunities (doors that open) when you are prepared. They may come in totally unexpected ways.<\/p>\n
You can be ready by preparing a Be Ready Box<\/a> and filling it with the tools you know you might need for the people in your sphere of influence.<\/p>\n
2. Be praying<\/h5>\n
Pray<\/em> for opportunities. Maybe you haven\u2019t had opportunities to share the gospel because you have never asked God specifically for them. Begin by asking God for one person to whom you can give the gospel. Later on, that first person usually leads to other opportunities when he asks, \u201cWill you teach my fianc\u00e9, my brother, my husband, etc.\u201d If not, ask God for another fresh opportunity.<\/p>\n
3. Be intentional<\/h5>\n
As believers, we are to be salt and light in the world. But this can only happen as we are among<\/em> the unsaved. This means the unsaved need to observe our lives. We may be the only \u2018Bible\u2019 our friends will ever read. So we should never underestimate the power of the living letters<\/em> of our lives. This may mean stepping out of our comfort zone, becoming friends of sinners. It may also mean listening to hours of \u2018empty\u2019 conversation and witnessing, first hand, the spiritual darkness of lives and relationships that are without Christ.<\/p>\n
4. Be patient<\/h5>\n
It can take time to build meaningful relationships\u2014to build trust. This is especially true when those we want to reach have been turned off or offended by negative experiences with churches or over-zealous Christians who tried to force the Bible down their throats. They have inadvertently created a \u2018Christian\u2019 gag reflex.<\/p>\n
Remember, we are to be ready<\/em> to give an answer, not push answers to questions they are not asking. Your unsaved friend may not be interested in spiritual things today or even this year, for that matter. But this often changes when a crisis hits them or their loved ones. Often that opens the doors for us to love them and share our hope with them.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that Jesus was a true friend of Judas for three years. The night he was betrayed, none of the other disciples had any idea who Jesus was talking about. Even John the Beloved did not know. Jesus had not treated Judas any different than the other disciples\u2014he loved them the same. We, too, can trust God for the grace and the loving kindness required to be true friends of sinners, without compromise.<\/p>\n
5. Be doing it<\/h5>\n
Last\u2014be doing it! Opportunities may come in different ways and in different places. There may be sudden opportunities\u2014times when the Lord seemingly brings people across our paths that are hungry for answers. Other opportunities may occur after a longer friendship, after a time of building trust. But whether long or short, one thing is for certain: God desires that every believer be involved in communicating the gospel to a dying world. Teaching the Bible\u2019s message to the unsaved is not a passing fad\u2014it is a way of life! It\u2019s a lifelong lifestyle.<\/p>\n
The book of Acts records a time when the Apostle Paul found himself standing trial before King Agrippa in Rome. Agrippa reacted to Paul\u2019s evangelistic efforts saying,<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to become a Christian?\u201d\u00a0 (Acts 26:28 NIV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It was a fair question. But Paul had no illusions about the huge worldview adjustment Agrippa would need to make in his thinking. Paul insightfully responded,<\/p>\n
\u201cShort time or long\u2014I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am [a believer in Jesus Christ], except for these chains.\u201d (Acts 26:29 NIV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A personal ministry<\/h5>\n
These five steps outline what your personal ministry can look like. You may never be called to a foreign mission field; you may never get up in a pulpit to preach to thousands at a time; but you can, in your own daily life, be ready at all times to share the gospel by giving away a book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI am an ambassador-homemaker. I have young children. I cook, clean, help with homework and bring the kids to school. Wherever I go, I am on the lookout for how I can share the gospel with others. I plan for my day as a homemaker by setting aside time and budget to manage my household … Continue reading “Consider this your personal ministry”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,8,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-be-ready","category-give-away-the-gospel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4977,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions\/4977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodseed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}