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Everyone is called to share the gospel. Everyone should earnestly desire to talk about God with others. In this episode, Gary Wilkerson and Joshua West explore how we can discuss our faith effectively. First, we must start with a solid understanding of right doctrine; then we must properly organize our beliefs in order to communicate them successfully to other people.
Key Points from the Podcast
• Homiletics is how we organize our thoughts so we can convey them to someone else. This has a deep impact on how we discuss our understanding of God and doctrine with other people. Our beliefs about God will come out in our conversations and work, regardless of whether we realize it or not.
• All believers should care about their own homiletics; it’s not just a concern for pastors or church leaders. We must effectively communicate the truth to our families and coworkers too.
• Our methods of delivering the truth may change, depending on who we’re talking to. We cannot discuss God the same way with a toddler as with our 60 year-old coworker. However, while we discuss doctrine and our heavenly Father, we must never compromise the truth in order to make ourselves more acceptable to our audience.
• Our goal in discussing scripture with others should be to bring some truth about God alive for them.
• Effective discussion must start with a right understanding of doctrine, and the second step is making sure that we organize our information in way that prioritizes the most important things. In this case, the Bible is the most essential part of our discussion about God.
• Whenever we discuss doctrine, we must be very careful not to present God’s Word and also mixing in a few of our own opinions. We can have our own views are certain parts of scripture, but we should take care to differentiate those from what God himself says.
• Reliable commentaries can be enormously helpful. Believers shouldn’t go to other people before they go to God for help, but we should never forget that wisdom is found in the counsel of many.
• Being able to know what scripture actually says, develop sound doctrine, and then rightly apply God’s commands and instructions to our own lives is absolutely critical for being able to effectively share the gospel with others.
• The state of someone’s heart will determine whether the truth rebukes, corrects or encourages.
Bible Verses Referenced in the Podcast
Acts 17:10-11, 2 Timothy 4:2, Psalm 34:6
Resources Mentioned in the Podcast
• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
• The Treasury of David by Charles Spurgeon
• Why Johnny Can’t Preach by Thomas David Gordon
Episodes in this Podcast Series
About Joshua West
Joshua West serves as the Church Leadership Network Director at World Challenge helping equip and empower pastors all over the world. Joshua’s desire is to raise up ministers who will correctly and boldly preach the word with passion and integrity. The point of all his work and writings is to preach the gospel, glorify God and to teach sound doctrine.