Discipleship Tips: Keeping Christ CentralSample

Why you don't need to sell Jesus

In East Asia, one HOPE International client led 38 people in her rural village to Christ in two years.

In the Philippines, another woman built relationships with over 100 people who now come with her to church.

A woman in California with only a second-grade education has started discipleship groups that now reach hundreds in her community.

If we’re honest, stories like these produce a mix of emotions. Even as we’re inspired, there’s often a subtle whisper: “I could never do that.”

Do you ever feel that way? That stories of amazing transformation must come from uniquely gifted people who have figured out just the right methods to share Christ?

At HOPE, spiritual impact comes as God uses staff and clients to reach others. And just like you and me, these men and women realize they are imperfect messengers. The enemy works hard to tempt them to think, “I can’t really help others follow Jesus. I can’t be bold. Someone else, someone better, should do that.”

But freedom, boldness, and multiplication are exactly what God desires.

In Luke 10, Jesus appoints 72 followers and sends them ahead of Him. As He prepares them, He provides two powerful principles we can use to defeat our fears and embolden us to be fruitful for His expanding Kingdom.

God isn’t asking you to change people. In verse 2, He says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” The Father, the Lord of the harvest, promises that the harvest is plentiful. What freedom to recognize that it does not depend on us!

God is already preparing people for you to reach. Verses 5-11 describe how Jesus commanded the disciples to decide where to spend their time. In essence, He said, “Look for a person of peace, and share the Good News with those who receive you.” God is not asking us to argue, badger, or cajole people into the Kingdom. He is already preparing hearts to receive us.

May we never be weighed down by the lie that we are responsible to change the hearts of others. May we release the burden of having to “sell” Jesus in just the right way to see lives change. As children of God, we are free to trust the Lord of the harvest and boldly seek those He has prepared, confident that this is how God builds His Kingdom—through ordinary, available people.