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140 | Sharing Your Faith
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Phylicia explores the concept of being a light to the world as a Christian, emphasizing the importance of sharing one’s unique story of faith. She also addresses common fears and motivations that hinder us from sharing the gospel with those around us. Referenced in this episode: ⦿ Every Woman A Theologian: https://phyliciamasonheimer.com/product/every-woman-a-theologian-hardcover/ ⦿ Stop Calling Me Beautiful: https://phyliciamasonheimer.com/product/stop-calling-me-beautiful-paperback/ 👩💻 Watch the entire Beginner Believer Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLybB3dkK5l8mBBBHlb6GteDUMJbTwYR8v Subscribe to Verity Podcast: ➡️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/verity-by-phylicia-masonheimer/id1495210734 ———————————————— Verity Podcast is an Every Woman a Theologian company. We believe every woman should be a theologian. Every woman should be a student of the heart of God. Find our latest books, kids books, and hospitality product releases on our website, here: ➡️ https://rb.gy/h4szl3 Order “Every Woman a Theologian” ➡️ https://rebrand.ly/yju441w Our latest release: “A Christian Guide to Fundamental Mormon Beliefs” ➡️ https://rebrand.ly/vu6hcw1 Follow us on Instagram: 📸 Phylicia Masonheimer: https://rb.gy/qma0y8 📸 Every Woman a Theologian: https://rb.gy/zwyxld 📸 Verity Home: https://rb.gy/epiovd 📸 Faithful Kids: https://rb.gy/ke8r4t Please like, subscribe, and share our content—it means a lot to us and helps us continue to create the kind of content you need and enjoy!
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Transcript
The Essence of Spirit and Faith
00:00:00
Speaker
The Hebrew word for the Spirit, the Spirit of God, is the word for breath. So like a breath of air on the fire that breathes it into a flame. So what are we doing in our spiritual lives that we might be actually smothering out this gift of God and not allowing the Spirit to breathe that flame into a bigger and bigger light?
Challenges in Sharing Faith
00:00:30
Speaker
Hi friends, and welcome back to Verity Podcast. In today's episode, we're going to talk about how to be a light to the world. Let's talk about evangelism and sharing your story. So often, when we come to Christ, we're filled with this excitement to share with other people what He has done for us. But then as the years go on, we start to feel really nervous and self-conscious about sharing our faith.
00:00:56
Speaker
Or maybe it doesn't take years for you to feel that way. You feel that way right away. Whatever the case may be, all Christians are not just called to share our story of salvation. We should want to. And so the question is, why don't we want to? And what can we do to overcome that fear and come to a place of seeing evangelism as a privilege, not a duty, or something that we're afraid of?
00:01:25
Speaker
I'm right here with you. I myself have been terrified of talking about God with other people. But I can tell you now, as somebody who does this all the time in a very natural and unassuming way, that there is the possibility of you sharing your faith in a way that's not fearful, that's not pushy, that's not intimidating, but is completely peaceful and authentic to who you are. You've been given a story.
00:01:51
Speaker
and the world needs to hear it. So we're going to start by looking at a passage in Matthew 5 verses 14 through 16.
Teachings of the Sermon on the Mount
00:01:59
Speaker
This is a part of Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount. And in this sermon, Jesus talks about all these different pieces of the holy life and what it looks like to follow after God's heart. He takes the teachings of the Old Testament.
00:02:15
Speaker
And He shows their truest meaning in the fulfillment that comes through Jesus Christ Himself. And as He teaches through these things, He said this, starting in verse 14. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
00:02:32
Speaker
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
00:02:49
Speaker
So in context, the city of Jerusalem was seen as this city on a hill, a city of lights. And so the people of Israel were also seen in this way. They were seen as a nation of priests. This is what God said about the Jews. They are a nation of priests. So not only did they have their priesthood, the Levitical priesthood who served in the tabernacle and later the temple, but Israel as a nation was supposed to be
00:03:18
Speaker
a priesthood for all the other nations. They were set apart. They were holy to usher people into the presence of God, to draw people to God. And this is why it was such an absolute travesty when Israel walked away from God and eventually was judged in the same way as the very nation before them, Canaan.
00:03:43
Speaker
Israel was exiled by both the Assyrians and the Babylonians because of their betrayal to God's
Israel’s Role and Downfall
00:03:50
Speaker
covenant. They were given chance after chance after chance to be a light to be the city on the hill, but they didn't do it. And so when Jesus comes, the true light of the world, he tells them, this is what you were called to and this is what you are supposed to be.
00:04:06
Speaker
People don't light a lamp and put it under a basket, right? We all know this song, or a lot of us in the English-speaking American church know this song. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Where we say, hide it under a bushel. No, I'm going to let it shine. It comes directly from this passage, a bushel or a basket that's put over a light. The light is pointless because it doesn't serve any purpose anymore. The light is dimmed.
00:04:32
Speaker
Light in this passage is talking about this emanating, enlightening force that shows the world the truth of who God is, the truth of who humans are, and the truth of our purpose in this short time that we live on earth. What do we learn about light reading in Matthew 5?
Guiding Light of Believers
00:04:57
Speaker
Well, first, light is never forced. It's just naturally glowing. If I light a candle, it illuminates the area where it sits. If I turn on one of the lights in my office, it illuminates my desk. Light shows us the way to go. It also warms. A fire keeps us warm. It guides us. It directs us. It gives hope.
00:05:22
Speaker
Here in northern Michigan, in the winter, it gets very cold and very dark. It is light from 9 in the morning to 5 p.m. or so, and it's dark the rest of the time. Now, in the summer, we have a lot of light. We have very long days. But in the winter, it gets very, very dark because we're so far north. And usually, after dinner, I'll go for a walk. And as I'm walking back to our house,
00:05:45
Speaker
I can see the lights emanating from the windows and see these little candles flickering in the windows as I get closer. And it's such a welcoming, beautiful image. It's kind of like the city on the hill, something to walk towards, a way home. And that is what we are supposed to be for the world. We are supposed to be that light that is flickering there saying, this is the way home, this is the way to God. So why doesn't this happen?
00:06:17
Speaker
We would never hide a light because if we were to hide a light, then we negate its purpose, right? And Jesus says that our very purpose is to give light to all in our presence, to everyone who's around us. So why do we hide the light? Why do we do that?
00:06:37
Speaker
Before we talk about how to shine a light, I really want to get into these inner motivations that prevent us from sharing our faith, from being a light in the first place.
Barriers to Evangelism
00:06:46
Speaker
And I think there are four main reasons that this happens. The first is that we're afraid. And I think this is the most common reason. We're afraid. We think we're unqualified to share our faith as if we have to live a certain life or we have to have a theology degree to share how Jesus interacted with our story.
00:07:04
Speaker
No, we don't need those things. We can just share what Jesus did for us, but we think we're unqualified or we're afraid of what people think. That's a big one. We're afraid that people will judge us or they will think that we're silly for sharing our story or maybe it's not the right time or place or there's so many different fears that come up for us and that prevents us from allowing our light to shine.
00:07:27
Speaker
The second reason I think we don't share is that we're actually given to a certain sin. There's a besetting sin, an area of bondage in our lives. And because of that, we don't feel comfortable pointing other people to freedom. We feel like a hypocrite and we've forgotten that repentance is what frees us from bondage to sin.
00:07:48
Speaker
and that finding the help we need in the church, from a good counselor, in reading quality books, in setting really firm boundaries in the area of sin, whether that's gossip or gluttony or addiction to a substance or maybe it's
00:08:04
Speaker
having a critical spirit, judging people constantly, whatever it is, we have to have boundaries in that area and we have to move and grow through that. And as we do that, we actually have an even greater story to tell other people because we can say, Jesus Christ set me free. His love helped me grow out of this area of sin. And I want to tell you how you can be free too.
00:08:29
Speaker
So we're afraid, maybe we're given to sin. A third reason we don't share is that we're quite honestly self-focused. Yeah, we're only thinking about ourselves. And we don't really think about what our neighbors might need. We don't think about the fact that there are people who are dying without Christ around us. Or we don't think about the fact that somebody else might even need Jesus in the first place. We're actually quite comfortable just living our Christian life and we think,
00:08:54
Speaker
My faith is just for me, and I don't need to share it with anybody else. And yet, if somebody had not shared Jesus with us, we would not be even experiencing the benefits of walking with God. Somebody shared Christ with you. Maybe it was your parents, your grandparents, your church growing up. Maybe you were four years old, but somebody shared Christ with you. Somebody did that, and that changed the trajectory of your life. And we can get to a point where we take that for granted, and we just
00:09:24
Speaker
Think, I don't need to share it with anybody because I'm uncomfortable with it. I'm afraid or it's inconvenient for me or it makes me feel bad. And really, it's all self-focus. It's all about my feelings, my comfort, what I want, instead of thinking about the souls and the hearts and the lives of other people. And last but not least, we don't share our faith because we just aren't on fire for God.
Nurturing Faith Like a Fire
00:09:46
Speaker
There's nothing to shine. The candle is flickering so low that it's not casting any light.
00:09:53
Speaker
And this brings me to 2 Timothy 1.6. In 2 Timothy 1.6, Paul is writing to this young man, this young pastor, and he says this, What's Paul talking about? What is the gift of God that Timothy needs to fan into flame? Why does Timothy need to do some kind of action in his faith if faith is by grace?
00:10:22
Speaker
What's going on there? Good question. Well, we know that Timothy wasn't saved by his own efforts, and we know he's not keeping himself saved by his own efforts, but we do know that Paul believed that there was some action that needed to be taken for Timothy to continue growing.
00:10:40
Speaker
One article I read said that the gift of God that's referenced here is the regenerate spirit. What's regenerate mean? It means that a spirit that's been made alive in Christ. Ephesians 1 and 2 talks about this, that you're being resurrected, made alive in Christ. You were dead in your trespasses. Now you are a new creation. You're alive. So you have this new spirit within you.
00:11:03
Speaker
And that spirit is given by God, but you must give it the things it needs to continue growing. You must fan into flame that gift. My husband is an amazing fire builder. He was a boy scout and he builds a fire like a boy scout would. Now I, on the other hand, tend to be very impatient when it comes to fires. And I think, oh, if I just throw a few little sticks and pieces of paper here and just use a lighter,
00:11:31
Speaker
That'll work just fine. But what so often would happen is I would throw a bunch of things together and some paper and, you know, a couple little twigs and maybe a few bigger sticks and then I would light it and then the fire would smother itself. And I kept thinking like, what am I doing wrong? Like Josh isn't here. I'm an independent woman. I can make a fire myself. Well, I couldn't over and over and over again. I had to wait for him to come back to build a fire. So
00:11:58
Speaker
What was what was I doing wrong? Like, why wasn't the fire lighting? The fire wasn't lighting because it didn't have air. It didn't have oxygen. And this is what Josh pointed out. He said you've put everything flat on the ground. You've put all of the logs and the sticks and the twigs and the paper. There's no air to move through here to ignite the flame and to keep it burning. And as it gets bigger and bigger, you can add bigger and bigger pieces of wood to the fire. But you're putting too much on it at once. You're smothering it and you're laying it so flat that nothing can move through there.
00:12:28
Speaker
And I think this is an incredible analogy for what Paul is talking about here, fanning into flame the gift of God. Because the Hebrew word for the Spirit, the Spirit of God, is the word for breath. So like a breath of air on the fire that breathes it into a flame.
00:12:49
Speaker
So what are we doing in our spiritual lives that we might be actually smothering out this gift of God and not allowing the Spirit to breathe that flame into a bigger and bigger light? Well, maybe we are overburdening our spiritual life. Maybe we're putting too much on it at once. Maybe we're trying to do all the things. I gotta read this much of my Bible study. I gotta pray for this much time. I gotta make sure I go to all these Bible studies and all these things.
00:13:18
Speaker
We're not actually growing personally because we're just trying to do stuff for God. What if instead we did the little things that matter the most? Memorizing scripture. Being in the Word in some way.
00:13:33
Speaker
praying throughout the day, being in Godly community. What if those were just the four little sticks that you put in the fire and then you allowed the Holy Spirit to move through those things continually until he breathes on it and fans it into flame?
00:13:49
Speaker
See, there is an effort here. You're having to show up to church, you're having to show up to the Word of God, you're having to memorize Scripture, and you're having to take the time to pray. So there is a submission to God's will in that sense. But you're not doing it to earn salvation. You're doing it out of gratitude for salvation.
00:14:06
Speaker
And as you do that, suddenly the gift of God in you is fanned into a greater and greater flame, which becomes a light that shines automatically. And this reminds me of Romans 12, 11, which says, do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. How many of us are serving the Lord, but without that burning in our spirit?
00:14:33
Speaker
I don't know how many of you have met a young believer who's just on fire for Jesus. They're so excited. Everything about him is so exciting. And then over time, maybe that wears off a little bit because we're serving the Lord without that zeal, without that burning in our spirit. And the beautiful thing is that God can give that back.
00:14:50
Speaker
Oftentimes we have to strip away all of the dutiful things and actions that we're doing for God so that we can actually sit with God and we can learn from Him and we can allow the Spirit to breathe on our hearts so that we shine naturally with the burning of the Holy Spirit in us.
Empowerment by the Holy Spirit
00:15:09
Speaker
But let's talk more about how to be a light. The light shines naturally as we expose ourselves to God and allow him to fan into flame his gift of faith, of a regenerate spirit. But then when it comes to actually sharing our faith with other people, how do we do that practically?
00:15:30
Speaker
Well, that's the Holy Spirit working in us. And what's the Holy Spirit's job? John 14, 15-17 says this, Jesus talking,
00:15:57
Speaker
The Holy Spirit is your helper. He is the one who is enabling you to share your faith and He is with you forever. Don't miss that. Forever. He's with you forever. And He comes and He gives you the words that you need. He gives you the truths you need in the moment.
00:16:18
Speaker
There's another passage of scripture where Jesus is talking about persecution and he's saying that when you are taken away to face your persecutors, to go to prison, to, you know, maybe be executed for your faith, you will stand before people. Do not worry about what you will say because the Spirit will give you the words in that moment. And of course, that is true for persecution, but I think it's also true for evangelism, which is what was happening when the apostles were taken away to be killed. They were evangelizing the very people who were killing them.
00:16:48
Speaker
And the same goes for you. You might not be being martyred for your faith. But in the context where you feel prompted to share your faith, you do not need to worry about what you will say. Because the light will naturally shine from you. God's light, the Holy Spirit, will naturally shine from you. And He will give you the words to say in that moment.
00:17:08
Speaker
Where do those words come from? They come from you being exposed to the Word of God when you are actually seeking the Word of God and you are in it regularly. The Holy Spirit brings that to mind when you need it and how you need it. So when we are walking with God, we have to remember when it comes to sharing our faith that the light of God is not of us. It's not created from us. We aren't making it happen, but it is within us.
00:17:37
Speaker
And so you can trust God to give you the words to say the truths you need in the moment you need them. You don't have to do that on your own effort. In fact, He doesn't want you to do it on your own effort. He wants you to rely on Him. And as you rely on Him and as you expose yourself to the Word, naturally those truths will be within you in that moment. So when you are walking by the Spirit, you become the light of God.
00:18:06
Speaker
And that light is worth imitating. To go back to that analogy of the city on the hill and how Israel was supposed to be the light, the priesthood for the nations. When we walk with God closely and personally, and when we just tell our story of salvation, we are a natural light to the people around us. A light, a kind of person,
00:18:31
Speaker
worth imitating. I want to look at 1 Thessalonians 1. In 1 Thessalonians 1 Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica and he says about them that they became imitators of us and of the Lord and they welcomed the message even in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit and so they became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
00:18:58
Speaker
The Lord's message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia. Your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore, we do not even need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. What happened here? What happened is that the people of God
00:19:19
Speaker
imitated Godly people who went before them. The people of Thessalonica imitated the apostles and their faith and their holy behavior. And then out of their imitation, they multiplied the church because they became a model to all the believers in Macedonia.
00:19:37
Speaker
So everybody around them saw those new believers who learned from the apostles, and the church began to multiply. And it wasn't simply because they had a great apologetics stance or they knew all the answers. These sound like pretty new believers, actually. Like they probably didn't know as much as Paul, who was extensively theologically educated.
00:19:57
Speaker
But because they imitated the faith of those who mentored them, and walked into that zeal, and fanned into flame the gift of God, many people came to Christ. See, evangelism and being a light is not as hard and complicated as we make it.
00:20:14
Speaker
If you simply stay in the Word, stay in prayer, stay in community, get mentorship from Godly people, and then tell your story anytime the Holy Spirit prompts you to, you are being a light. And you might never see the full impact.
00:20:31
Speaker
I'm not saying you're trying to get conversions. We're not trying to make a sale here. God sometimes uses seven or eight different people in someone's life before they come to know Christ personally. But what you will have done is you will have been obedient in the space you were in and you were obedient in the place that God had you. And because of that, God used your life and your light to shine
00:20:59
Speaker
and to impact the world with His truth.
Trusting God in Evangelism Efforts
00:21:02
Speaker
You become a city on a hill every time you share your story. So don't be afraid. You can trust God to lead you. You can trust God to carry you. You can trust God to give you the words. All you have to do is stay close to Him and let Him empower you to a truly peaceful evangelism.
00:21:23
Speaker
If you have more questions about evangelism, how to do it, some of the struggles with it, some of the fears, the very last chapter of my book, Every Woman a Theologian, talks all about this, as well as my book, Stop Calling Me Beautiful.
Resources for Spirit-led Evangelism
00:21:35
Speaker
If you're looking for a resource as a new believer, my first recommendation is stop calling me beautiful, finding soul deep strength in a skin deep world. This walks through how the gospel practically frees us in the areas of anxiety, grief, sexual sin, and more.
00:21:52
Speaker
And at the end, it talks about evangelism and how to share your story in an authentic and spirit-led way. At the end of Every Woman a Theologian, which is a systematic theology, a breakdown of theological topics, I also talk about how to share your faith in a way that is authentic and spirit-led. So both of those books and studies would be a fantastic resource if you want to go deeper in this, and you can find them at feliciamasonheimer.com or on Amazon.
00:22:18
Speaker
As always, thank you so much for listening to Verity Podcast or following along on YouTube. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe below. This helps us to reach more people with the truths of the gospel. You can also follow me on Verity Podcast on iTunes or Spotify or on Instagram and Facebook at Felicia Masonheimer.