Part two...........

Ok, so how does one effectively relate a gospel that is difficult to wrap the brain around?

I think one thing has to be realized first and foremost. No one has all of the answers! There, I said it. I don't have all of the answers to life's questions and neither do you. I realize the more I understand God the more I don't understand God. God tells us that, "His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than ours." God cannot be "figured" out. He can not be formulated. He can not be captured. We must become the captured. When sharing the love of Christ with someone, I'm sharing my personal experiences of that love with them. That is the one thing a person can share, their own experiences.

When Legion had been delivered from the many demons in his life, he wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus tells him to, "Go home to your friends, and tell them all the great things the Lord has done for you, and has had compassion on you." What did Legion do? He went throughout Decapolis broadcasting all that Jesus had done for him. We're told that all that heard him "marveled". Legion shared his personal experiences with the Lord. To effectively relate this gospel of Jesus Christ, you have to share your experiences. You'll be more passionate about your personal experiences with Christ than those of another. The New Testament word for this is "witnessing".

Do you remember the Samaritan women whom Jesus met as he sat on Jacob's well? This exchange is very revealing in many ways.
Jesus, by way of compassion gets into this woman's life to reveal to her the deep need she has for God. By the end of the conversation she believes that Jesus is in-fact the Messiah! She goes back into town and begins to tell the men that she had met a man that told her all she ever did. "Is this not the Christ"? She is immediately sharing her experience of being with Jesus. What was the result? John 4:9 gives us the answer. "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did." Her experience is now relating the gospel message! What's even more interesting to me is this.....

John 4:40: "So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
John 4:41: And many more believed because of his own word;
John 4:42: And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard [him] ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Many more believed because of Jesus' words. The better translation of verse 42 would be this:
"They said to the woman, We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

You see, it was their own personal experiences with Christ that drove the point home! They now know he is the Savior of the world because they had now experienced Him for themselves. Isn't that the ultimate goal of the witness? To get people to experience the love of Jesus for themselves?

I think the struggle with sharing the gospel in some folks is that they don't have enough personal experiences with God. You cannot share what you have not experienced.

You don't have to have all the answers to effectively relate the gospel message, but you will have to have had a genuine encounter with Jesus........