DPK: Did you just pray and ask Jesus into your heart?

Jesus gives us a further promise in Hebrews 13:5 which solidifies this truth. He tells us: I will never ever desert you, nor will I ever ever ever forsake you. Jesus promises us emphatically in this passage that he will not leave or desert us once we have invited Him in. Because this is true, the Father’s promise becomes all the more meaningful that to have the son is to have eternal life. If Jesus will not leave us forever, then, so to speak, if the Father were to keep you out of heaven, he would have to kick His Son out also, because Jesus said He would never, never, never leave or forsake you.

The Purpose of Page 13 is to give the New Christian assurance of salvation and to help them understand the significance of what they just did in pray. This page also helps you to know if they really did just pray and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Sometimes people just want to please you and make you think they are sincere and so will pray the prayer with you, but only the prayer prayed with sincerity and faith will lead to salvation. If the person does not understand and cannot answer these questions as was demonstrated above, he or she probably does not really understand what they are doing. In that case you need to go over Revelation 3:20 with them again, explaining that Jesus wants to enter into a personal relationship with them and that the prayer is just for the purpose of helping them invite Him in. You also need to explain to them again what receiving Him means: that they are receiving Him as Savior AND Lord, Lord meaning they are letting go of their lives to now allow Him to lead them into His will and purpose for their lives.

When you have done that, then ask them again if they would like to receive Jesus again, only this time with saving faith. If they are not sincere, they will tell you so and you can leave a tract with them to read again on their own later. If sincere, this time when you pray with them they will experience salvation.

Some times it is just a difficulty of releasing faith. In this case you just need to gently re-explain and coach them until they understand and can pray with saving faith. I have a real live testimony of just such a case that took place on the field in Section 6 Chapter 3 of the Basic Textbook titled "The Faith that Saves."

DPK: Bill, now that you have received Jesus as Savior and Lord the following things are true:

Concerning Page 14: You want to encourage the New Christian to look up and read the Scriptures at the end of each of these points. It will encourage and solidify the meaning of their salvation.

The Purpose Page 15: At this point you want to arrange with the person when the two of you can get together to go over what they are learning from the reading of this book. In the inside back cover of WEL are listed the four books mentioned on discipleship that are vital for spiritual growth and maturity.

These four books on discipleship are also what you will be learning in three Sections of this Textbook on Evangelism. As much as possible, you want to take them through all four books.

What they learn in these four books will lay a foundation, if put into practice, which will assure their ongoing growth and maturity in Jesus and how to deal with most issues they will encounter in their walk with Jesus. Section 5 and Chapter 9 of the Basic Textbook titled "How to Disciple a New Christian" explains the value of each of these books for Discipleship training and how to take the New Christian through them.

Second, to grow in Jesus you need to become an active part of a fellowship of Christians. The Bible teaches:

DPK: Third, once you’re in a church you need to be baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said: ". . . make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in thename of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Water Baptism is our witnessing to the World we have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and our first opportunity to show we have really made Jesus Lord of Our lives by obeying his first command to us.

Page 16: If the person does not have a Church, invite them to your Church, then make whatever arrangements you need to to go together if needed. Once you get to Church, introduce them to the Pastor and to as many brethren as is convenient so they can begin to make new friends in the family of God. Also encourage them about the importance of water baptism and encourage them to talk with the Pastor about this important step in their walk with Jesus.

If you are able, also call them during the week to see how they are getting along and to answer any questions they may have. Become their friend. Also encourage them to begin reading the Bible, especially the Gospel of John to start with. The Gospel of John focuses on the relational aspect of our walk with Jesus. If they do not have a Bible, give them one. Take some along with you when you go witnessing so you can give them one if they don’t have one.

Page 17: New Christians need to understand clearly the meaning of their commitment right off the start. Often for Christians their walk with Jesus becomes nothing more than, "Ten years ago I gave my life to Jesus;" Or, "Yes, I go to Church;" but as far as His will and plan for their lives, they are not interested. This is not always their fault. In many cases they did not receive any discipleship training after coming to know Jesus and they are not aware of what Jesus really desires of them in their walk with Jesus. This is why followup after commitment is so important. When they are freshly new born babes in Jesus is when they will be most receptive to discipleship training. They need to start seeking Jesus for His will and plan for their lives immediately and get into the habit of walking in it immediately. For this reason you need to pursue discipleship training with them as much as is possible without bruising the fruit.

This is where page 17 comes in. This page allows you to explain to them in closing what their now knowing Jesus means, not just going to Church on Sunday, but an exchange of ownership and purpose: Jesus now owns them through having purchased them with His blood; and a new purpose: the will and plan He has for their lives. Page 17 encourages them of the importance of taking this new commitmen seriously and to their needing to pursue it with all their hearts and not just make it a passive nominal commitment.

Example of a Negative Reaction to Receiving Jesus: What I have just illustrated is a positive reaction to the Gospel. My presentation of the Gospel did not actually end this way with Bill. After presenting the Gospel up to the explanation of the difference between a self-controlled life and a Christ-controlled life, when I asked Bill which life was his, he said the Self-controlled life. Our conversation then went as follows:

I then gave Bill two of my books to read for further consideration on the discussion titled: Understanding Your Salvation in Jesus and The Bible: God’s Word Absolutely. The second book documents the absolute reliability of the Bible through manuscript transmission, historically, scientifically, and prophetically. The content of both of these books is part of the training material contained in this textbook in Sections 3 and 7.

Explaining this answer to Bill to begin with may have been just this simple. It may not have been. We may have gotten off into a long discussion on the matter, Bill would have had to leave for a class and I would not have succeeded in explaining to Bill what it meant to be a Christian and how to become one. All I would have done is impress him with my intelligence, but would have failed to explain to him what it meant to be a Christian and how to become one. This is why I asked him to wait until the presentation was completed, then we could spend all night discussing his Western-Civ class and other matters which might have been blocking him from releasing his faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

In Bill’s case, I was convinced Bill had a moral problem and was trying to justify it with his Western Civilization Teacher’s argument. Evangelism is not arguing with people to become a Christian. Evangelism is explaining to a person what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. If you communicate that in your presentation of the Gospel, you will have had a successful time of presenting the Gospel. I had a successful time of presenting the Gospel to Bill and was able also in the end to answer his arguments against the Gospel; but I did it without failing to first explain to him what it meant to be a Christian and how to become one. Section 6 of the Basic Textbook titled, Testimonies of Evangelism on The Field, give several case examples of the kind of arguments you might encounter on the field and how to deal with them. Also Chapter 2 of Section 3 of the Basic Textbook titled, "Knowing Jesus Is Eternal Life," goes into greater depth about the meaning, value and use of this tract on Evangelism.