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Effective witnessing
We live in a society where almost everyone claims to be a Christian, so witnessing can become difficult. Most everyone you
approach will claim to already know the truth. However, just because the person says they are a Christian and they know the truth
does not mean you should go to the next person. You must test the person to see if they really do know the truth. One of the first
ways you can test a person to see if they have been born again is ask them to give their testimony. If they ask, “What do you
mean?” Ask them to tell you about their conversion experience. Tell them to explain what happened and how they felt at the time
God saved them and they were born again. If they do not have an answer, or their answer is that they have just always been a
Christian, then the chances of them being saved are very slim.
If you ask the person about their testimony, and they have nothing to say to you, ask them this. “If you had been in a horrible car
wreak that totally destroyed your car, and you had no idea how in the world you came out alive, wouldn’t you have a story to tell
people?” Wait for their reply. They will most likely say yes. After they reply, go on to say this. “Let’s say you were saved by the
power of God, born again into the righteousness that is in Him, given a new heart, new spirit, and a new mind. Your desires for
sin vanished away. You received a strong hatred toward sin, and an even stronger desire for righteousness. Your old, sinful life
is totally destroyed, and you live a new life in righteousness. All these things happened the moment you believed, and you had no
idea how in the world you were so radically changed. Would you not have an even greater story to tell people?”
Whether or not they have a testimony, you must still test them to see if their conversion experience was a work of God or their
own self-righteousness. Ask them questions about their beliefs and see if you can determine whether or not they are saved by
comparing the word of God to their beliefs. This is why you must study the Bible and get as many scriptures memorized as
possible. Below are some good scriptures to use in your witnessing. Ask the person you are witnessing to why they believe they
have been saved. I am going to give you some replies you may get from them and show you the scriptures you can quote back to
them in reply that will help them understand that there is more to being a Christian than most people realize. Memorize these
scriptures, or at least remember where they’re at in your Bible and highlight them so that you will be prepared.
Why do you believe that you have been saved?
“I’m a Christian.”
1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone
out into the world.”
Philippians 3:18-19 “(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of
the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things.)”
“I believe in God.”
James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”
“Well, I go to church and read the Bible.”
Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and
our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Many people who go to church every Sunday, read the Bible every day, pray every night, and follow God’s commands will go to
hell, because they were never born again.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy
name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Jesus said in John 3:7 “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
“I prayed and asked Jesus into my heart.”
That is not biblical and cannot save you. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell you to ask Jesus into your heart.
“I asked Jesus to forgive all my sins.”
Jesus did not say being forgiven would get you into heaven, He said in John 3:3 that you must be born again.
“My pastor told me that I am born again.”
Psalms 118:8 “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
“I believe in my heart that I’m saved.”
Proverbs 28:26 says he that trusts in his own heart is a fool. Why? Because your heart will deceive you.
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
“I have faith.”
Do you abide in God’s law?
Romans 3:31 “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
Do you have works?
James 2:14 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”
James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
“But I already know everything I need to know.”
1 Corinthians 8:2 “And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”
Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Proverbs 30:12 “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.”
“I believe in Jesus.”
Do you abide in His commandments?
Jesus said in John 5:38 “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.”
John 12:46 “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”
John 15:6 “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the
fire, and they are burned.”
“But I’m not under the law, I’m under grace.”
Romans 6:15-16 “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to
whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?”
“Why should I listen to you?”
Proverbs 8:33 “Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.”
Proverbs 19:20 “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.”
1 Thessalonians 4:8 “He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.”
“Who says you have all the answers?”
I use the word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness:”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
Galatians 4:21 “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?”
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 28:9 “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
1 John 4:6 “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error.”
“Whatever, I love Jesus and that’s all that matters.”
In John 14:21 Jesus said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:”
Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
The word, enmity, means to have a strong hatred, so if you are carnal, the Bible says you have a strong hatred against God.
“You make it sound like nobody is going to heaven.”
Jesus said in Matthew 7:14 “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it.”
Jesus said in Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
1 Peter 4:18 “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
“But God is loving and forgiving.”
2 Thessalonians 1:8 “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ:”
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the
truth in unrighteousness.”
“I don’t believe everything the Bible says."
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Jesus said in “Luke 16:17 “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”
“So how do I know if I’m saved or not?”
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own
selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”
“How do I test myself?”
Look at what the Bible says about a Christian and determine whether or not you have truly been saved.
Test 1 - Living in righteousness
1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”
1 John 2:3-5 “3And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth
not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God
perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
2 John 9 “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of
Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”
Romans 6:6-7 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
Test 2 - Friendship with the world
James said in James 4:4, “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend
of the world is the enemy of God.”
1 John 2:15-16 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world.”
Test 3 - The love of God
Jesus said in John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He
that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
“But I do love everyone.”
1 John 3:18-19 “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we
are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
James 3:14-16 “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom
descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil
work.”
If the person thinks that they have passed all these tests then give them the test that nobody can pass, and then preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
God cannot forgive our sin. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death.
Job 8:3 “Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?”
God sent Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for our sin and He was put to death in our place.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him.”
When we should have died and suffered in hell, God made us a way to become righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus
became our sin and God killed Him with all the fierce anger and wrath that should have been poured out on us.
Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”
Then teach them the way to salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them.”
The Bible does not tell you to ask Jesus into your heart or ask Him to forgive your sin in order to be saved. It tells you to repent
and believe.
In Mark 1:15 Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Jesus said in John 6:47 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
Memorize these verses so you will be successful in reaching the lost for God‘s kingdom. Study the word of God so you will gain
wisdom and always be prepared for any situation. You want to make sure you always have a biblical answer for their questions
or remarks. Keep notes on what people ask you so you can find the answers and be prepared next time you see them or talk to
another person with the same question. Always remain patient and never give up hope. Pray for wisdom, and ask God to direct
your path and guide you in your witnessing.
Jesus said in Matthew 9:37 “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;” Millions of people need to hear pel of
Jesus Christ and only a few people are out there preaching it. You can make a difference! Be a witness!
approach will claim to already know the truth. However, just because the person says they are a Christian and they know the truth
does not mean you should go to the next person. You must test the person to see if they really do know the truth. One of the first
ways you can test a person to see if they have been born again is ask them to give their testimony. If they ask, “What do you
mean?” Ask them to tell you about their conversion experience. Tell them to explain what happened and how they felt at the time
God saved them and they were born again. If they do not have an answer, or their answer is that they have just always been a
Christian, then the chances of them being saved are very slim.
If you ask the person about their testimony, and they have nothing to say to you, ask them this. “If you had been in a horrible car
wreak that totally destroyed your car, and you had no idea how in the world you came out alive, wouldn’t you have a story to tell
people?” Wait for their reply. They will most likely say yes. After they reply, go on to say this. “Let’s say you were saved by the
power of God, born again into the righteousness that is in Him, given a new heart, new spirit, and a new mind. Your desires for
sin vanished away. You received a strong hatred toward sin, and an even stronger desire for righteousness. Your old, sinful life
is totally destroyed, and you live a new life in righteousness. All these things happened the moment you believed, and you had no
idea how in the world you were so radically changed. Would you not have an even greater story to tell people?”
Whether or not they have a testimony, you must still test them to see if their conversion experience was a work of God or their
own self-righteousness. Ask them questions about their beliefs and see if you can determine whether or not they are saved by
comparing the word of God to their beliefs. This is why you must study the Bible and get as many scriptures memorized as
possible. Below are some good scriptures to use in your witnessing. Ask the person you are witnessing to why they believe they
have been saved. I am going to give you some replies you may get from them and show you the scriptures you can quote back to
them in reply that will help them understand that there is more to being a Christian than most people realize. Memorize these
scriptures, or at least remember where they’re at in your Bible and highlight them so that you will be prepared.
Why do you believe that you have been saved?
“I’m a Christian.”
1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone
out into the world.”
Philippians 3:18-19 “(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of
the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things.)”
“I believe in God.”
James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”
“Well, I go to church and read the Bible.”
Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and
our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
Many people who go to church every Sunday, read the Bible every day, pray every night, and follow God’s commands will go to
hell, because they were never born again.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy
name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Jesus said in John 3:7 “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
“I prayed and asked Jesus into my heart.”
That is not biblical and cannot save you. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell you to ask Jesus into your heart.
“I asked Jesus to forgive all my sins.”
Jesus did not say being forgiven would get you into heaven, He said in John 3:3 that you must be born again.
“My pastor told me that I am born again.”
Psalms 118:8 “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.”
“I believe in my heart that I’m saved.”
Proverbs 28:26 says he that trusts in his own heart is a fool. Why? Because your heart will deceive you.
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
“I have faith.”
Do you abide in God’s law?
Romans 3:31 “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
Do you have works?
James 2:14 “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”
James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
“But I already know everything I need to know.”
1 Corinthians 8:2 “And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”
Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Proverbs 30:12 “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.”
“I believe in Jesus.”
Do you abide in His commandments?
Jesus said in John 5:38 “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.”
John 12:46 “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”
John 15:6 “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the
fire, and they are burned.”
“But I’m not under the law, I’m under grace.”
Romans 6:15-16 “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to
whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?”
“Why should I listen to you?”
Proverbs 8:33 “Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.”
Proverbs 19:20 “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.”
1 Thessalonians 4:8 “He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.”
“Who says you have all the answers?”
I use the word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness:”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
Galatians 4:21 “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?”
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Proverbs 28:9 “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
1 John 4:6 “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error.”
“Whatever, I love Jesus and that’s all that matters.”
In John 14:21 Jesus said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:”
Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
The word, enmity, means to have a strong hatred, so if you are carnal, the Bible says you have a strong hatred against God.
“You make it sound like nobody is going to heaven.”
Jesus said in Matthew 7:14 “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find
it.”
Jesus said in Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”
1 Peter 4:18 “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
“But God is loving and forgiving.”
2 Thessalonians 1:8 “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ:”
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the
truth in unrighteousness.”
“I don’t believe everything the Bible says."
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Jesus said in “Luke 16:17 “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”
“So how do I know if I’m saved or not?”
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own
selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”
“How do I test myself?”
Look at what the Bible says about a Christian and determine whether or not you have truly been saved.
Test 1 - Living in righteousness
1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”
1 John 2:3-5 “3And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth
not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God
perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
2 John 9 “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of
Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”
Romans 6:6-7 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
Test 2 - Friendship with the world
James said in James 4:4, “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend
of the world is the enemy of God.”
1 John 2:15-16 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world.”
Test 3 - The love of God
Jesus said in John 13:35 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
1 John 4:7-8 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He
that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
“But I do love everyone.”
1 John 3:18-19 “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we
are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”
James 3:14-16 “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom
descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil
work.”
If the person thinks that they have passed all these tests then give them the test that nobody can pass, and then preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
God cannot forgive our sin. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death.
Job 8:3 “Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?”
God sent Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for our sin and He was put to death in our place.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him.”
When we should have died and suffered in hell, God made us a way to become righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus
became our sin and God killed Him with all the fierce anger and wrath that should have been poured out on us.
Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”
Then teach them the way to salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them.”
The Bible does not tell you to ask Jesus into your heart or ask Him to forgive your sin in order to be saved. It tells you to repent
and believe.
In Mark 1:15 Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Jesus said in John 6:47 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
Memorize these verses so you will be successful in reaching the lost for God‘s kingdom. Study the word of God so you will gain
wisdom and always be prepared for any situation. You want to make sure you always have a biblical answer for their questions
or remarks. Keep notes on what people ask you so you can find the answers and be prepared next time you see them or talk to
another person with the same question. Always remain patient and never give up hope. Pray for wisdom, and ask God to direct
your path and guide you in your witnessing.
Jesus said in Matthew 9:37 “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;” Millions of people need to hear pel of
Jesus Christ and only a few people are out there preaching it. You can make a difference! Be a witness!