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There are a lot of opportunities that we may take everyday and many opportunities that may slip right through our fingers. One of these opportunities is speaking to people we come across. I honestly believe that God puts people in our path for a purpose and we may not know what that purpose is even if we do talk to them. We most definitely should witness to others, however - sometimes witnessing is being kind in our actions and offering a listening ear. How many times have you been in a situation where there was that one stranger that was beside you perhaps during a wait at the post office or on the bus and you never said anything to them because they didn't say anything to you?

I do believe that God does want us to be social creatures and this is difficult at times perhaps especially if we're shy. For others, it's truly no issue at all. However, spreading the word is something God wants us to do. Witnessing is a scary topic for most Christians because the thought of walking up to someone we don't know well and having a possible great chance of a person rejecting what we have to say or hating us for sharing God's word. As humans, we don't like to be rejected or hated, but we are blessed if we are persecuted because of God:

Matthew 5:11 NIV:

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

And we need to remember that the world hated Jesus first (John 15:18 - 25) so what does it matter if the world hates us because of our beliefs? We are not of this world.

Here is an article that I found by Pastor Miles McPherson of the Rock Church in San Diego that I felt had some good insight in such a situation:



Also, we can witness to others through talking to them about God whether it's on a street corner, in a waiting line, at a park, or somewhere else. We can be bold in the spirit as God wants us to be and go up and talk to these people and witness the right way. Here is a site with videos that I feel have an interesting way of witnessing to others because it gets them engaged in the conversation. Some of you may recognize this method and have heard of "The Way of the Master" online or the "180 Video", which I believe one of the guys here also did, which can be pulled up on YouTube.



There are many ways to witness, this is one of the many examples of how witnessing can be done. We must also know that we should be able to answer questions that may arise while witnessing and if we truly don't know the answer say, "I don't know." instead of making something up because it can make a person fall. Exchange information if you need to in order to get back to them or pull out a Bible if you have one nearby.

We also need to witness through our actions. We must not do anything that would cause anyone to stumble or fall. If we are doing something out in public that does not honor God - people will notice it and your actions may be displeasing to others. If we call ourselves a "Christian" and clearly our behavior displays behavior that isn't Christian-like, people may see us as a "fake" so we must be careful of how we act towards others.

NOTE: I truly apologize that this week was supposed to be about "bad habits", I forgot that was supposed to be the topic. Instead, the topic on "bad habits" will be next church meeting!

I feel like the Lord used you to speak to me just now. One of my biggest fears is witnessing to others. I am a hugely emotional person, I cry over things that should be happy. I'm the type of person on the airplane that makes herself look as busy as possible to avoid conversation. I'm hugely afraid of looking bad in front of others and making a fool of myself. Perhaps that's irrational. I will definitely try to talk to people more, knowing that it's God's will. Knowing that a relationship can go by uncultivated because 'no one talked to the other' encourages me actually. It makes me think that the other person would be willing to talk as long as I was. I think next time I'm next to someone, no matter what age, I'll try. I'm also afraid of talking to older people, like, older than me. I feel like they wouldn't be interested in someone as young as me. but who knows? I'll try it.

Unfortunately, I am a shy person, too. If I'm at a place where people surround me, I will read a book, or find something to stare at so I don't feel like I'm engaging others into conversation even though I do like for people to talk to me...I'm afraid of awkward moments >_< it's a habit I need to break myself out of!

Perhaps we can all help each other with this. It's difficult to be shy and experience physical symptoms when coming in contact with another person like dizziness, nausea, light headedness, sweating, etc. I definitely want to try to. I sometimes say, "I'm going to try!" then when that moment comes, I'm so nervous I can barely think. I definitely need to work on it and I can think of the only way that will happen is if I practice and surround myself by others.

Remember, Timothy was supposedly young although we may not be sure how young. Young people can have a lot of wisdom...King Solomon probably wasn't all that old when he took the throne in his father's place and he became one of the wisest kings - no one else ever had wisdom like Solomon did. I understand in society things are different and sometimes people of seniority don't realize that young people can actually have good things to say. I understand your fear and it does happen in reality, but we must keep trying and remember to witness with our actions smile

That's understandable. A lot of believers ache inside when they hear someone talking against God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. Some of us probably wish we could turn them around in an instant to accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, but we can't save people and we can't change them. This is when we truly need to say, "This is in your hands, God." because He knows how to work in that person's life smile

Yeah, sometimes it's off-putting if the first thing we say is, "I'm a Christian!" some people may only shy away. I am generally the type that keeps it down low and if anyone asks or if I've known them a while or something I will mention it. If it's perhaps a special situation, I'll mention it right away. Although, we definitely should be glad that we have Jesus Christ as our Savior biggrin and it's not something we gotta hide!

Generally if people anger me because of the way they act, I pray in my mind to keep from getting angry or think, "What does the Bible say about anger?" and go through some verses in my mind to calm down. Generally, I will also say, "If I let myself get angry at this moment...what will I say that I will regret? What will I do that I will regret? I always do something I regret when I get angry and apologizing won't always fix it because some actions or words can cut deep and hurt others."