Come and See

Based on John 1:29-51

Today we can find many books and models for doing evangelism. Just go to a Christian book store and you'll find a full shelf of books talking about evangelism and many of those books are wonderful but perhaps we have made "evangelism" too complicated.

I think we can find a great example of effective evangelism in the first chapter of John. There we find Philip's story. Philip was approached by Jesus who simply asked him, "Follow me." A short time later Philip found Nathanael and proclaimed to him saying, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

Nathanael wasn't sold at first saying, "Nazareth? can anything good come from there?"
At this point Philip didn't try to convince him or argue with him he simply said, "Come and see"
and as we read on that is exactly what he did and because of that personal encounter with Jesus, Nathanael became a disciple as well.

So what does this teach us about evangelism or sharing our faith? First we have to have a personal encounter with Christ. Second we must come to the realization in our head and in our heart that Jesus is the Messiah. Third we have to share with someone what we have come to believe in our heart. Fourth, after we have shared our story we need to tell them to "come and see" or perhaps we will say, "Jesus has been great for me, why don't you try Him for yourself. Why don't you come and see."

Evangelism is about having a story and telling someone about it but ultimately the other person has to try it for themselves and when they do Jesus will meet with them and the Spirit will speak to their heart.

We need to remember that it is our job to spread the seed. the Lord is the one who makes it grow.