Breaking the Sound Barrier

We’re trying to make evangelism easy.  Yesterday I talked about putting friendliness over function.  Today I want to talk about breaking the sound barrier.  Here’s what I mean by that.

Once you get to know someone that you're having conversations with it’s now time to drop a spiritual word – to break the sound barrier by going from the physical realm to the spiritual.  Breaking the sound barrier is when you throw a spiritual word into the mix and see what God does with it.  There are many spiritual words you could use - Church, God, Jesus, Lord, Bible, pray, faith, heaven, and a multitude of others. 

I was talking to someone recently who said, “Isn't it a gorgeous day?”  This was a chance for me to break the sound barrier.  My response was, “Oh, yeah, the Lord sure gave us a beautiful day today, didnt He.”  That’s breaking the sound barrier by dropping a spiritual word into the conversation.  There's a couple I have gotten to know and when I was talking to her at a local business I asked where her husband was.  She told me that he was not feeling well that day.  I replied with, “Please tell him that I will be praying for him.”  That’s breaking the sound barrier. 

This will ultimately get you to where you can test the waters.  Folks, listen, one of the keys to sharing your  faith is in discerning, “Is the spirit of God working here or not?”  My preferred way of doing this is to ask them this, “Do you know for sure that you're going to heaven?”  Why do I find that to be a great question?  First, it's not offensive.  I have never had anybody reply to that question by saying, “I can't believe you want me to go to heaven, you cruel man.”  Second, it allows you to know if there’s an opening – if God is working here.  If their answer is, “I don't want to hear anything about that kind of stuff,” no problem.  Then I'm going to back off and I'm going to keep praying for them and wait until there's an opening. 

I have found, however, that a common answer I get is, “I hope so.”  After all, most people want to go to heaven.  That gives me an opportunity because I can then say something like this, “You know, the Bible says that you can know for sure that you're going to heaven.  You don't have to hope.  You can know.  Does that interest you?”  Now I'll be able to discern very quickly if there is an open door or not.  If they say, “Yeah, that really interests me,” then I have a green light.  If they say, “No, I really don't want to hear about that,” again, that's fine. I back off and go back to praying for them and putting friendliness over function with them. 

I love 1 John 5:13.  It says, “These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”  You don't have to hope.  You don't have to keep your fingers crossed.  You can know. 

Give it whirl.  It’s not hard!  It’s easy and it’s fun.  Start putting friendliness over function.  Be willing to break the sound barrier and see what God does.  Then, don't be afraid to test the waters and see if God is working.