Warren W. Wiersbe - Be Alive. Get to Know the Living Savior

BE ALIVE

Published by David C. Cook

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David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

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are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain.) Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; PH are taken from J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English , revised editions J. B. Phillips, 1958, 1960, 1972, permission of Macmillan Publishing Co. and Collins Publishers; NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Italics in Scripture have been added by the author for emphasis; and NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984
International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

LCCN 2008937090

ISBN 978-1-4347-6736-3

1986 Warren W. Wiersbe

First edition of Be Alive by Warren W. Wiersbe published by Victor Books
in 1986 Warren W. Wiersbe, ISBN 978-0-89693-359-0

The Team: Karen Lee-Thorp, Amy Kiechlin, Jack Campbell, and Susan Vannaman

Cover Design: John Hamilton Design

Cover Photo: Corbis Corporation

Second Edition 2009

To some younger friends in the ministry who have been a joy and
an encouragement to my wife, Betty, and me:

Mark and Cindy Brunott

Dana and Christa Olson

Mike and Anne Wagner

Contents

The Big Idea: An Introduction to Be Alive by Ken Baugh

A Word from the Author

1. God Is Here! (John 1)

2. Learning about Jesus (John 2)

3. A Matter of Life and Death (John 3)

4. The Bad Samaritan (John 4)

5. The Man Who Was Equal with God (John 5)

6. Jesus Loses His Crowd (John 6)

7. Feast Fight (John 7)

8. Contrasts and Conflicts (John 8)

9. The Blind Man Calls Their Bluff (John 9)

10. The Good Shepherd and His Sheep (John 10)

11. The Last Miracle, the Last Enemy (John 11)

12. Christ and the Crisis (John 12)

The Big Idea

An Introduction to Be Alive
by Ken Baugh

Heres a question for you to ponder: What is the most important thing you will not be able to do in heaven? Cmon, think about itdont just skip ahead to find the answer, really think about it for a minute. What is the most important thing you cannot do in heaven?

Give up? I think the answer is simply this: I will not be able to be an evangelist in heaven. You may not have ever thought about this before, but sharing the faith with unbelievers is the number one thing we can do here on earth that we will not be able to do in heaven.

So how are you doing in your evangelistic efforts? When was the last time you told someone about Jesus? When was the last time you opened your door to a Jehovahs Witness or Mormon to share with them the real Jesus of the Bible? When was the last time you pulled out your Bible on an airplane hoping that the person next to you would become curious enough to ask you a question about it? Feeling guilty yet? Yeah, me tooand Im a pastor. I dont know about you, but when I get on an airplane I often hide behind my iPod and put a disinterested look on my face.

In 2004, The Barna Group asked a number of Christians how many times they had shared their faith in the past year, and they discovered that of those surveyed, only 49 percent said that they had done so. Wow, less than half! Is it any wonder why more people are not becoming Christians? The truth is that God has chosen you and me to share the gospel with others, and if we neglect to make the most of every opportunity to share our faith, people wont hear the gospel. And if they dont hear the gospel, they cant make a decision for Christ, and if they never make a decision for Christ, they will die in their sins, and if they die in their sins, they will be separated from God for eternity in a very real place of torment called hell.

I know Im laying it on kind of thick right now, but dont you think this is important? John definitely thought so, so much so that the Big Idea that runs through the first twelve chapters of his gospel is dedicated to presenting Jesus as the divine Son of God. Johns gospel is different from the Synoptics in that there is no genealogy, no account of Christs birth, nothing about His temptation in the wilderness, no mention of the transfiguration, no mention of how Jesus went about appointing His disciples, no parables, no account of His ascension, and no reference to the Great Commission. Instead, John emphasizes that Jesus is the Creator, the only begotten of the Father, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and even the I AM of Exodus 3:14. But, John emphasizes more than any of the other gospel writers that Jesus is the divine Son of God. And John makes it very clear that any person who does not believe in Jesus as the divine Son of God is condemned: Whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of Gods one and only Son (John 3:18 NIV ).

Now, you may be thinking to yourself right now: Ken, I dont have the gift of evangelism. Isnt it okay for me to just defer this whole evangelism task to others who do? Well, the short answer to that question is NO. Its true that some Christians do have the gift of evangelism, but that doesnt let the rest of us who dont off the hook. (Yeah, Im a pastor who doesnt have the gift of evangelism. Go figure.) The fact is, whether were comfortable with it or not, the mandate of the Great Commission is for every believer to go and make disciples, and of course the very first step to a person becoming a disciple is that they make a decision to believe that Jesus is the divine Son of God.

So why is it so difficult to be an evangelist? What are the obstacles that get in the way? I think there are two.

The first obstacle is what I call the lack-of-knowledge barrier. This is when the person (maybe you) doesnt think they know enough about the Bible or theology to effectively answer peoples questions. The second obstacle is the fear barrier (I thought that one might ring a bell). Many of us are terrified of the opposition that often ensues with evangelistic efforts. But Im convinced that every believer can overcome these two barriers and effectively share their faith. Let me show you how.

I believe the most effective way to overcome the lack-of-knowledge barrier is to focus your witnessing opportunity on Jesus personal testimony of His divine nature. This is the Big Idea of John 112. How many times have you heard someone say Oh, I believe Jesus lived, and I believe He was a good moral teacher, but I certainly do not believe He was God, and I dont believe He ever said He was? Well, the truth is, Jesus did claim to be God, and there are many examples recorded in Johns gospel. Let me show you one in chapter 10.

Jesus asked the Jews why they were about to stone Him. He said, I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me? We are not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God (John 10:3133 NIV ). Here we see how John used Jesus personal testimony of His divine nature as a tool for evangelism. Why? Because, when a person is faced with the evidence of Jesus divine status and hears it from His own lips, they have to make a decision: Is Jesus divine or not? I think C. S. Lewis captures the essence of this issue succinctly when he says,