In this training, learn:
- 8 reasons to share the Gospel
- THE reason it is truly Good News
- THE motivation for sharing
- 7 scriptures that explain the Gospel well
- And hear the first of 7 real-life examples of sharing the Gospel!
Peter DeWitt
Peter is a husband to Megan, and a father to Peter (III), Andrew, and David. His background is in education, having served first as a science teacher and later as an assistant principal for his high school. Peter’s wife, Megan, led him to the Lord while they were both in college at Ohio State, a time where Peter mostly rock climbed and sometimes studied. Peter has since enjoyed freedom after freedom in the Lord as he has experienced more and more of God’s great love for him. One of Peter’s passions in life is speaking encouragement to the body of Christ. Whether with a couple in the DeWitt’s living room or from the pulpit, Peter loves to encourage, exhort, and equip his brothers and sisters in Christ! In addition to serving as an associate pastor at Agathos, Peter continues to work in education as a consultant for schools in Columbus and Ohio. Peter and Megan view their ministry as a joint effort and also enjoy woodworking together in their well-equipped home woodshop.
How to share the Gospel (part 1)
1/29/17
- Peter DeWitt Helping with Motivation
1/15/17
- Peter DeWitt In John 4, Jesus said "My food is to do the will of my Father.” Jesus is saying “the food is not just the Word, but it is also doing the Word!” Do not be deceived being hearers of the word only! God wants you to perceive the new thing that He is doing. Agathos is beautiful to God. He loves our knowledge of Him and our purity, AND (new thing alert!) He is calling us to “go out, reach out, and give to others what He’s given to us.”
The joy that is sharing the Gospel is unlike anything else! You will find that fear is a very thin veneer. So, push through any fears and think “I am going to actually be operating on people so I need to really know what I’m doing so that I can perform successfully!” You are going to thank the Lord for pressing this issue because your whole Christian life is going to come full-circle. Keep after it.
The Word!
1/1/17
- Peter DeWitt We have one commandment and one commission, and the great commission is our Christian job description. Scripturally, we should have multiple types of outreach, but only one message. Timothy became all things to all people so that the Jews would receive him to hear the ONE message. The message is not supposed to become all things to all people. (Acts 16:1-5) In Matthew 28 we hear Jesus command the apostles to teach all believers to make disciples! In Acts 4:13, we see that the religious authorities were stunned at how bold Peter and John (uneducated men) were in preaching the gospel and they found out that they had been with Jesus. There is a very powerful truth there: you do not need to have a theology Ph. D. in order to disciple someone. You just need to be with Jesus!
Hebrews 5:12-14 shows us that everybody in the body of Christ should be able to teach. Everyone ought to be able to teach in the body of Christ, but there is a five-fold teacher. Everybody ought to be able to perform signs and wonders in the body of Christ, but there are apostles. Everybody ought to be able to witness, but there are evangelists. Everyone in the body of Christ ought to be able to prophecy (earnestly desire spiritual gifts - especially that you may prophecy) but there are prophets. Everyone ought to be able to pastor and disciple but there are pastors. The five-fold minsters are to be equipping the saints for the works of service!
1 Corinthians 15:34 says “awake to righteousness and sin not.” We are not going to be a “flesh clean-up event discipleship” church. We are going to be spirit-based discipleship church. 2 Corinthians 5 tells us to regard each other no longer according to the flesh.
We have real, powerful truth in demonstration and in word to actually be able to give real, tangible solutions to people in need. I want us to have this mindset: you have what the world is looking for! We have individually experienced freedom, healing, wisdom, purpose, love, joy, and peace from God! If you ask God for someone to disciple, He’s going to give you someone!
Where do you start anything that you want to accomplish in your life? In the Word! In John 15:5, Jesus says “without Me (the Word) you can do nothing.” When you are going to minister, you need to be in the Word more. The whole body of Christ is to be equipped for the works of service and we need to stay out of spiritual debt by preemptively building up a spiritual trust fund.
Exodus 16 teaches us a a powerful truth about grace for your time in the Word. Do not beat yourself up with some sort of huge hours requirement for your time in the Word if you don’t have a grace for that yet. Simply do something! Every man gathered Manna according to his need and none lacked! Here’s what will happen: if you even set 15 minutes as your goal in the Word each day, your hunger will increase and all of a sudden you will be spending 30 minutes in the Word. All of a sudden you are going to be spending 45 minutes in the Word and then an hour because it is so powerful that your business only takes half as much time as it used to take because you have the wisdom of God flowing! So, what you want to do is gather something! But, when you are going to start discipling people, realize that there are more people in your tent. If you were gathering one omer before and it was enough and you had no lack, when you start discipling people you may need two omers worth.
Finally, let’s look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Notice that it is instruction in righteousness not instruction in sinfulness! People need instructed in righteousness! They need to know who they are in Christ. Righteousness-conciousness!
Know this: Satan is going to oppose you getting in the Word. He is more opposed to you getting in the Word than just about anything else. So, be wise to that and know that Satan is going to use emotions and circumstances to mess you up in the Word! So do you know what you can do? Make a plan. With a plan, you have already pre-decided that emotions and circumstances are not going to mess you up in your time in the Word. God bless you!
12/24/16
- Peter DeWitt When Gabriel visited Zacharias to tell of John the Baptist’s coming birth, Zacharias (who had even been praying for a son) responded “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” (Lk. 1:18) By contrast, when Gabriel visited Mary to tell of Jesus’ coming birth, Mary’s response was “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” (Lk. 1:38)
Listen to this short sermon to hear about the difference in Zacharias’ and Mary’s responses and see how can respond to the Word of the Lord in either doubt or faith. With God nothing will be impossible!
"I'm calling you to ... deliver to others what I've delivered to you"
12/18/16
- Peter DeWitt Your world needs you! In this message, learn:
• Why is it important to properly value prophetic words
• How we can use prophetic words to wage the good warfare
• Why action / obedience is so important as we look at being laborers in the harvest
• What the outreach / discipleship model described in Acts 16:1-5 is
• What scriptures make it clear that all believers should be able to disciple others
• What keeps discipleship from being an extended "flesh clean up event"
• How can you build yourself up in the Word and in prayer to prepare for outreach & discipleship
"I'm calling you to go out, to reach out"
12/4/16
- Peter DeWitt We need to have an increase-profit mindset. Let’s translate that to the Gospel. If you don’t have a profit orientation—a prosperity orientation—about the things of the kingdom (healing, discipleship, etc.) it will hinder you actually serving people.
In Luke 19:11-27, the master delivered a mina to each of His 10 servants. He said to them “Do business till I come.” The first two servants recorded here were faithful and profitable, but then we read about the last servant! Oh no.This servant came back with one mina in the handkerchief claiming he was afraid his master, but he was not afraid. That was not the problem. The master said “It wasn’t because you were afraid of me that this is what you did! If you were afraid of me you would have at least done this…” The issue was that the servant was disobedient. The one mina servant was deliberately disobedient. God had told him “do business till I come.” Did the servant listen to his master’s orders and do business? No, instead He was disobedient with the mina that he had been given. That is why the Lord called him wicked. He said to the wicked servant “you weren’t fearful, you weren’t anxious, you weren’t unequipped. You were disobedient.”
This servant may have even convinced himself that his inactivity was due to his master being a tough man. He may have believed his own lie. Proverbs 26:13 says “the sluggard says ‘there’s a lion in the street.” If we will do business with the mina that we have, we will be profitable. We will prosper! God has given us a mina in this body. He has given us our purity and knowledge of Him as a gift. Remember, this message is NOT a rebuke, just a gear the Lord is wanting us to shift into. Remember the word from the beginning—that’s the heart! We need to get in business with the mina that we’ve been given! Many of us are already in business on some level. But, as a church, we are supposed to grow in numbers. Look at Acts. Our church has not been growing in numbers so we are missing something.
If a church did not have a powerful, life-changing message…if a church did not have a product that was amazing, you could see how it might not grow. But if a church has a tremendous product, a life changing message that it’s members have experienced—if we know and have experienced that God is completely GOOD and we are willing to carry this message to others that “you too can experience His Goodness”, then the only hindrance to that message taking off is it getting in front of PEOPLE!
Boldness
10/16/16
- Peter DeWitt The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you…” When you became a born-again believer God put a word in your mouth and—and power—is Jesus! We are to speak the word to all the people He sends us to! “Go into all the earth and preach the gospel!”
This is why there is such a discrepancy between what Christians believe about the Great Commission and what they do: We don’t realize that there is actually opposition to DOING the Great Commission. There is exponentially more opposition to DOING than there is to believing the Great Commission. The enemy just wants you to nod your head during church service, but he doesn’t want you to move your feet on the pavement of the street. The darkness shall cover the earth.” (Isa. 60:2) But that darkness will not cover God’s people! We are to be lamps on stands, salt on food, and a bright shinning light! Arise and shine for your light has come!
In Jn. 12:42-43 we read, “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” Many believers believe, but never confess. There’s a difference.
Many believers believe, but never confess. Why? We need to realize that there is actually atmospheric, spiritual pressure over the earth. He is called the prince of the power of the air. That pressure is greater in some places than in others. The testimony of Jesus, your confession of Christ (in word and in power) will issue forth out of you when your internal pressure for Christ is greater than the atmospheric pressure against Him! This is why you feel bold for Christ in certain circumstances, but not others. For instance, if you come to a church where all the members believe in Jesus, and they are here to praise God and hear the Word of God, the atmospheric pressure against Christ in that environment is VERY low! It doesn’t take a lot of internal pressure from Christ for you to get to the point that you are praising God in this environment!
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) We absolutely want to get theology right, but theology cannot replace passion. You can know everything, but if you are not passionate for Jesus, you will do nothing. Think about a marriage. Passion is so important in a marriage. A marriage is not just principle. Passionate love will cause you to do what principle will never motivate you too. Believing is not enough—we must believe to the point of action!
"Come with Me"
10/2/16
- Peter DeWitt It’s the most riveting thing in the world to follow God! In Matthew 4:19 Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” When you follow Jesus, He will make you a fisher of men. Your action verb is to FOLLOW. His action verb is to MAKE.
In Joshua 1:10-11 we read that “Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, “Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’” Get ready Agathos! God’s going somewhere and He wants us to get ready. Remember, God works on people; His focus of influence is individual. This is why we will all stand before God individually in front of His throne. Our church will come with Him if EACH person comes with Him.
Peter’s life and his history of following Jesus provide an illustrative example. Following Christ always means stopping following something else. Peter chose Jesus. He could honestly tell Jesus that he had “left everything” to follow Christ. He forsook all. He left his nets. Nevertheless, Jesus said to Peter, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’” (Mark 8:34) There was something going on in Peter’s heart to which Jesus was saying “I know you think you want to follow Me, but you want to follow your version of Me.”
In John 13:37, Peter asks Jesus “Lord, why can I not follow You?” If we follow Him, He will make us fishers of men, but Jesus says, “If you want to come after Me” you need to (1) deny yourself, (2) take up your cross, and (3) follow Me. You have to do a “denying” and a “taking up” before you can do a following. Eventually Peter’s shadow healed all it touched, but at this point Peter had not left this one idea about who the Messiah ought to be to him!
In all of our genuineness, why can’t we follow Jesus sometimes? There are three hindrances that can exist in our hearts to keep us from actually following Jesus. These are blind spots. Peter was genuine, but he couldn’t follow Jesus because of a mindset. Peter had not denied his own ideas, taken up his cross, and actually followed the real Jesus.
(1) The first hindrance is being given to the opinions of people. John 5:44 says, “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” If satan can’t control you, he will seek to control you through people.
(2) The second hindrance is riches. The Word of God is clear: “you cannot serve both God and Mammon.” Mammon is controlling a lot of believers. We want to be in the flow of realizing that God will supply for you supernaturally to create flexibility in order that you can accomplish His Great Commission.
(3) A third hindrance is self-preservation, or as Mark 4:18-19 calls it “the desire for other things.” You have to leave something in order to follow a new thing. If you will follow Christ, I can promise you what He will do: He will make you a fisher of men! But you cannot follow two things simultaneously: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.” (Mt. 6:24) We all want to serve God, so let’s remove any hindrances!
The Natural Desire of Our New Nature
9/18/16
- Peter DeWitt
Bobby Conner has said there is a roar of revolution - a revolution of unction for function! This coming move will be about action. It was never the plan of God to establish the kingdom of God with mere words but with Christ-centered works. Not just mere doctrine but God inspired deeds.
The Holy Spirit is again waiting for the Word of God to be released in this earth! (see Gen. 1:2-3) Initially, the Holy Spirit was partnering with the Word of God to make the earth. Then, Holy Spirit was partnering with the Word of God to bring Jesus to the earth! Now, He wants to bring the earth to Jesus! THIS is the pulse beat of the Holy Spirit. When Holy Spirit comes into your heart, He wants to bring the world to Jesus! For example, in Acts 2, the first thing that happens after the Holy Spirit has His way with 120 believers is that thousands are saved! Why? Because the Holy Spirit came and He has one agenda! The Holy Spirit only responds to the Word of God (Jesus), and He was listening when Jesus gave the Great Commission!
We have to understand we have a new nature with new desires. The old things that used to motivate you are gone and all things have been made new! When we talk about the Great Commission, we are not talking about something that you’re not. There is nothing more core to your new nature as a born-again believer than to bring the world to Christ - to prepare the Bride of Christ!
Some of you are about to go through a “spiritual puberty.” When you go through a physical puberty, you find a drive that you didn’t have before. Some of you are about to have a spiritual, Great Commission drive that you’ve never had before. The desire for the Great Commission is so natural for your born again spirit that it is going to get to the point where you think “how could I not want to do this?”
Proclaiming the gospel takes faith! If we put any of the pressure for being able preach the gospel on ourselves then apparently we don’t think it’s by faith. The Great Commission is not a will-powered mission. It is a faith-powered mission, and if we need faith to carry out the great commission then we need to be clear about how to get faith! The first thing we need to know is that actually, as believers, we have already all been given the FULL measure of faith. That said, we are not all walking in the full measure of faith yet. Allowing all of the faith that is within us to be released requires knowing His Word. Romans 10:17 says “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
We want to approach the Great Commission God’s way - not just “the logical way.” “In the beginning was the Word.” If you want to start anything in your life, start with the Word! That’s what God did after all! John 1 also says that “all things were made through the Word” and “nothing that was made was made apart from the Word.” So how does God make things? By His Word! So if we want to operate like God, how do we make things? By His Word!
In John 6:28-29, the people were asking Jesus “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” The Great Commission is the work of God, correct? So what shall we now (as believers) do so that we may do the works of God - that we may do the Great Commission? Look at Jesus’ response “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him (THE WORD) whom He sent.” The work of God is to believe in the Word whom He has sent - and that is exactly how we are approaching the Great Commission!
No Compromise and No Condemnation
9/4/16
- Peter DeWitt When something isn't operating according to its commission, we call it "out-of-commission." We don't want to be out-of-commission Christians. It's important to know what our job as believers is. So what is our job description as Christians–what is our commission? According to the Gospels, our Great Commission is as outlined:
- Go everywhere
- Everywhere you go, preach the gospel to every creature
- Make disciples of all the nations
- Baptize those that believe in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
- Teach them to observe all things that I (Jesus) have commanded you
We also see that these signs should follow those who believe:
- Cast out demons
- Speak with new tongues
- Pick up serpents
- If you drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt you
- Lay hands on the sick and they will recover
Our Christian Job Description (our Commission) has NOTHING to do with our identity in Christ! The Great Commission is not "the great commission for righteousness...to earn righteousness!" It is just the Christian job description!
- In wanting to be transformed concerning the commission, the first stage is denial/avoidance. Look at the Commission and don't let it depart from your eyes. Don't gloss over it. Don't average it out (aka justify yourself). Don't claim that it doesn't work because you've tried it half heartedly before with correspondingly poor results.
- The next stage can be condemnation. At this stage, remember it is important to not let your identity get wrapped up in your job description. To the pure all things are pure. If you are looking at the Commission and you think "I don't do any of this." OK, that feedback is PURE. There's nothing more to it. It's just data. It's just feedback. It's not your identity. Don't get your identity from your job; you get your identity from Christ, and then you help people.
- The third stage is to embrace the tension. You want to look squarely at the Commission and the things that will follow and feel the tension that says, "I don't see that" or "I don't want to do that." You stay in that tension and say "I know, my heart's going to change, but I am not letting it depart from my eyes until I see my heart change to line up with the Word because that is my standard!" Be careful not to throw a pity party for yourself and go back into condemnation in the midst of the tension. Understand that we are prone to use condemnation as a cop-out. You are not victimized because someone or the Word told you the truth! Stay in the tension–you can do it and you will be changed!
- You begin to actually have faith rise up in your heart for the scripture you are keeping before your eyes!
We are going to do the Great Commission with zero modification AND zero condemnation! Commissioned! It's a good thing. The Commission has NOTHING to do with your identity in Him. It has everything to do with a job that needs done. Keep it before your eyes and we're going to build from there. Amen!
Promotion Through Pruning
7/3/16
- Peter DeWitt “In theory only” is called religion. It’s form, no function. It’s form, no fruit. Jesus hates that. In John 10:37, Jesus said “if I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me.” That’s the standard. The Holy Spirit is wanting to convict you of things in the Kingdom that you haven’t seen yet. But, if you are not bearing much fruit, the Father’s heart is to lift you up - not to cast you out! (Jn. 15:2) Fruitfulness is actually natural for a believer. Fruitfulness consists of both fruitful “works” (Eph. 2:10) and fruitful “ways” (Galatians 5). "Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” There is only one reason God prunes you - that you would bear more fruit.
Pruning looks like being transformed by His Word (Romans 12:2), being led like a sheep with a shepherd, or like being chastised (Heb. 12:11). Remember that pruning is progressive and makes you better equipped to bear fruit. We can trust God to prune us according the plans He has for us. The more we act, the more we grow, and the more we grow, the more we get pruned. The goal of pruning is not to avoid it, but to embrace it.
The Value of Fruitfulness
6/19/16
- Peter DeWitt When you expect more, you get more! Jesus expected His relationship with His Father to make an impact in the lives of others, but a religious spirit tries to replace fruit with just words. 1 Cor. 4:20 says “for the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power!”
Those that are the most fruitful in the Kingdom of God know what the Word of God says, believe it, and practice it! Wherever you are fine with fruitlessness is where the enemy will steal from you. We have to value fruitfulness. Jesus said in Jn. 10:37 that if He didn’t do the works of the Father that we should not believe Him! That’s the standard.’
But the pressure is not on us to bear fruit! A self-righteous root will never bear kingdom fruit! God’s curse is on self-righteousness, but God’s blessing is on another root! Jesus said “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5) Jesus’ disciples bear much fruit! Fruitlessness in the Kingdom is caused by being your own root - trusting in yourself. Fruitfulness is caused by being in Christ!
What do you have faith rising for in your heart? Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) tells us that faith is a conviction—of things not yet seen. The Holy Spirit wants to convict you of the things you haven’t seen yet! He wants to convict you that there’s more. May our hunger become so thick that we cannot have it any other way.
Life and Life Abundantly: More Than Theory
5/29/16
- Peter DeWitt Jesus came to give us life, and life abundantly. (Jn. 10:10) But the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The abundant life the Lord has for you is not in theory only! When we are willing to know God in theory only, the enemy can steal from us in reality. Jesus had no value for words without works (see Jn. 10:37). Likewise, James had no value for faith without action. In Luke 18, the blind man put action behind his faith when he cried out to Jesus. The crowd tried to silence him, but he cried out all the more. Jesus recognized and responded to his faith: "what do you want Me to do for you?" And that's the question for you today as well. What do you want Him to do for you? What part of your walk with God do you want to promote from theory to reality?
Being Known by God (Part 6)
5/15/16
- Peter DeWitt Good students ask questions. We all have questions on our heart to ask God. The Lord today is saying “what do you want to know about?” Jesus said "Ask and it will be given to you … for whoever asks receives.” (Mt. 7:7-8) We need to go to God with our questions! Our experience as a student is determined by our initiative. If you sit in the back of the class, you cannot expect to have a front row experience with God! If you are not asking questions, you are not a student. Disciples are students. If you are not asking questions, you are not playing the role of disciple. In the New Covenant, you can go straight to God to ask Him questions for yourself! God wants to be the instructor in every area of your life! Be specific -phrase your questions to God in such a way that you can do something with His answers. Start asking Him questions about something - with the expectation of being changed by His answer. If you are willing to turn at the Lord’s direction, He will make His words known to you. (Prov. 1:23) Raise your hand (and your voice); He wants to make His secrets known to you! (Jer. 33:3) God does not want to just to puff up your heads without changing your life. God has prepared special revelation, special inventions, special innovations, special insight for you – with your name on it – in Heaven. Do you realize that you are God’s #1 choice to bring impact in certain areas of this world? When you are a friend of God, He tells you more! (Jn. 15:14-15) You are His friend if you do whatever He commands you. The Holy Spirit wants to teach us in every area of our lives! When you are obedient to the insight and direction He has already given you, He will give you more. Faithful with little … given much! Engage with God, inquire in His temple. Ask Him questions!
Being Known by God (Part 5)
3/20/16
- Peter DeWitt God doesn’t want a one-way relationship with you. He wants us to be known by Him, but being known by God is not a relational auto-pilot experience.One of the keys to being known by God is we have to have time with Him. The Lord wants to have a thing, a special thing, with you. He doesn’t want the new testament believers to stand back from His presence while one believer is in front of the Lord face-to-face. The face-to-face relationship is available for each of us! One of the best ways for God to get to know you is that He will ask you questions. When God asks you questions, He invites you to discover the answers with Him. The process of discovering answers with God actually causes you to own the answers once you’ve received them. God will ask us questions but He wants us to ask Him questions too! When you read the Word, ask God questions about what you are reading! God also wants the experiences that you have day-to-day to provide opportunities to develop understanding of Kingdom principles … but in order to develop that understanding, you need to ask “why.” When you seek the Lord in your day-to-day life He develops understanding - because you have been crying out for understanding. (Prov. 2:1-7) You literally become a pillar of understanding that people flock to in order to hear what you’ve heard from the Lord. This understanding comes from asking Him questions! When you ask Him questions, it invites Him to be a teacher in your life. And what a blessing it is to you and others when you are His student!