Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Being a lighthouse: Witnessing God's way (pt. 2) Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA September 24, 2006 Main Scripture texts: Matthew 5:14-16; Luke 10:1-9 Last week, I talked about four steps -- from Luke 10 -- that form the biblical pattern for witnessing to pre-believers: 1) Speak peace to them; 2) Fellowship with them; 3) Take care of their needs; 4) Proclaim the Good News. I emphasized that we must do these things in order -- and not leave any of them out. We've already talked about "speaking peace" -- that is, engaging pre-believers in a positive, encouraging, non-condemning way. Doing so neutralizes demonic power and opens the door to fellowship -- which is the second step in witnessing. The only to get to know other people is to hang out with them. This kind biblical fellowship must be characterized by unconditional acceptance and mutual respect. We must not have an air of superiority. All humans have intrinsic value, whether or not they're walking with God. Every human being is made in God's image. In our fellowship with pre-believers, we also must really "see" them. We must see them as people. We must see their hearts and see their needs. Finally, our fellowship with them must be a two-way fellowship. If all we do is tell pre-believers what we think they need to know -- and give them what we think they need -- it's not two-way. We'll talk more about the biblical pattern for witnessing next time. Remember, first we speak peace to pre-believers. Then we fellowship with them. That's what Jesus taught; that's what Jesus did. Let's be like Jesus. Supporting texts: Matthew 11:28-30 | Romans 5:8 | Genesis 16:13 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (37 min.). (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 060924a: Being a Lighthouse, pt. 2. © 2006 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us