—Jesus is The Answer!

—By MariaMaria #165 DO 2791 3/92

1. Dear Teens (& this includes you JETTs!)—And anyone who witnesses!: Please remember that if people are sheepy & if they're the Lord's children, then when you share the Truth with them in your witnessing, no matter how you say it, the Lord is going to bless it & the Holy Spirit is going to punch through! After all, you're not the ones who are doing the work!—It's the Holy Spirit! Remember the little story we printed in the HOPE Mag about the man who stammered & stuttered & got red in the face whenever he had to talk to people? He made a big mess out of his witness in front of the group of Indian people, but still, when he asked who wanted to receive the Lord, everybody raised their hand! (See HOPE #29, pg.20‚ "God Hath Chosen the Foolish Things.")

2. If you're in the right spirit & are sincere & trying to do your best, then the Lord will bless your witness! The Holy Spirit will work regardless of how messed up or twisted around or confusing your words are, or how badly you do. So you don't have to be afraid of making a mess of things‚ because whatever you say to try to share the truth of the Word, the Lord's going to bless it. His Word is not going to return unto Him void.—Isa.55:11.

3. You don't have to answer all their Biblical questions & their confusion & their doubts about things—"What about the Flood, & who was Cain's wife?" & all those things. Just tell them that's something you're not sure about yet & you're still learning. "The Bible is a big book & it takes a lifetime of study to learn all the neat things in the Word. But one thing I do know‚ I sure know that the Lord answers prayer & He's my Best Friend & He really works!"

4. You don't have to feel bad if you don't know all the answers! Look at me!—I've heard all of these things & I'm supposed to know it, but I just forget it almost as quick as I hear it! I don't know where some of the Scriptures are & I don't know the references, but I'm sure I could be a reasonably good witness anyway.

5. You don't have to be hung up if you don't know where this or that verse is, or what the answer is to this or that question. Just talk about something you do know! You sure know that the Lord works in your life & He answers prayer & He's your Best Friend! You know He's done wonderful things for you—He heals you, He supplies your needs, He's really neat! So if you don't know the answers to some of their questions, just go to something you do know & tell'm that! Give them some Scriptures you do know! You probably know the answers to most important questions if you just know the verses in the Memory Book. You could answer people's questions about Salvation, the Holy Spirit, discipleship‚ the Endtime‚ etc., just by sharing the Memory Book verses. And if you don't happen to have all those verses memorised, you can just use your book & show the verses to them right there under the different categories. That makes it simple!

6. Don't worry if you don't know the answers to all the difficult questions that people ask‚ that they've been sort of propagandised with by the Enemy or scoffers who try to cast doubt on the Bible.—"Why did God let that happen in the Bible? How come He was so cruel that He killed this guy or that guy for doing something?" Just say, "Well, I don't know all the answers to those questions, but one thing I do know—I know the Answer Man! I know God sure works in my life & I know He can work in yours! And if you'll just accept Him, then you'll get the answers to your questions in His good time if you really need them."

7. Just like the story Dad tells about Fred Jordan when he was witnessing to a man who was arguing that he didn't believe in Hell. Finally Fred said, "Why don't we drop that a while & you just get saved?"—And the man did! So afterward Fred said, "OK, now what about Hell?"—And the man said, "Never mind, I'm not goin' there any more!" (See Good Thots, Vol. 2, Pg.1331‚ #52.)

8. Of course, the question may come up: "Then why do we have to polish up our witness? Why do we have to continue to learn more Scriptures & learn the Scriptural answers to people's questions if it's just not necessary & the Holy Spirit will take care of it anyway?" Well, one reason is that you have to learn the Word to grow, & a related point is that you need to learn because you need to have the confidence to go out there & be able to answer most questions; otherwise you may feel insecure in your witness.

9. So your knowledge of the Word & being good witnesses is more for your own good, so that you can become secure & confident that you know your job, that you can do it. It's almost more important for that reason than it is for the people you're witnessing to! It's to give you the confidence to go out there & want to witness, & so you will witness. You could get very embarrassed & discouraged after a while if you couldn't answer people's questions. You know the Lord has the answer but perhaps you don't know where to find it, how to give it & what to say to them. Discouragement & fear of failure are almost the biggest factors in preventing people from witnessing.

10. Of course, it does help people when you can say, "Look, I can show you this answer to your question right here in the Bible," but I don't think your ability to do that is the key factor that will decide whether or not they'll get saved. If the person you're witnessing to is really receptive & open to the Lord & is seeking the Lord, I don't think it matters whether you have a great knowledge of the Scriptures or not, just so you can help him to pray the Salvation Prayer. The Lord will bless that, & your lack of knowledge is not going to spoil your witness or cause you to be unfruitful.—Even John 3:16 can win a soul!

11. Of course, if you're not able to answer someone's questions, it may mean that perhaps you aren't going to win that soul right then & there. Maybe he's going to go on a while until he gets some of his questions answered elsewhere before he gets saved. But just because you don't know some Scriptures or you don't know the answers to his questions doesn't mean he's not going to get saved. Maybe he's not going to get saved right then, but the Lord's not going to allow that to keep him from getting saved eventually if you're doing your best.

12. So knowing the answers to complicated questions is almost more for the sake of the witnesser than for the one being witnessed to, because it gives the witnesser confidence & conviction. Dad says that in order to sell a product you have to be sold on it yourself, & if you're really sold on the Word, people can feel that when you talk to them. You can flip from page to page in your Bible because you know it's the Truth & you believe it. People are really turned on when they see you really know your product & that you are sold on it. They figure, "Well, if you're so sold on it, & you look like a pretty nice person, then there must be something to it!" So they're very interested, if only for that reason. "What's this person so interested in the Bible for? There must be something in it. He looks like a sincere person, & if he's so interested in this product, there must be something good about it. Maybe it can help me too."

13. But even if you don't know all the answers to people's difficult questions, I don't think it's going to keep people from getting your product. I think with you witnessers who are just starting out & aren't so adept at giving people answers & don't quite know what to say, your sincerity & your enthusiasm can overcome all of that. You're sold on the product even though you don't exactly know all the intricacies of it yet.

14. If you buy a vacuum cleaner after having had the demonstration by the salesman, you could still be very sold on it even though you don't quite know how to operate it yourself yet. You could still tell someone, "Wow, it really works great!" And if they say, "Well, tell me exactly how it works, what's this & what's that?" You just have to say, "I don't know yet, but I sure know it's a great product! I've seen it work, I know it works! And even though I don't understand all about it & can't tell you the answers to all your questions about the intricacies of it‚ still, I really know it works & this is a great thing!"

15. If you have the conviction that your product's great‚ even though you don't know all about it & don't know all the answers, then that will overcome any lack of knowledge or lack of eloquence! I don't think anybody's going to go away deciding they'll never receive the Lord just because you didn't know the answers to some of their questions! You can give them your own testimony‚ you can tell them what the Lord's done in your life!

16. I really don't want you to feel condemned that you don't know all the answers! You don't need to know all the answers. For your own benefit‚ yes‚ it helps you with your confidence & it helps you to get in the Word because you know people are going to ask these questions & you want to be able to answer them.—And it's good to learn whatever you can. But you definitely don't need to be condemned if you don't know all the answers! I don't know all the answers, but I can still witness to people. Just talk about what you do know. You can say, "Well‚ I'm sorry, I don't know everything‚ it takes a lifetime, even more than a lifetime to learn everything in the Bible. This is a really profound Book & there's a lot in it & I just don't know it all yet. But I'm learning, & you can start learning it with me if you want."

17. The blind man that Jesus healed was a perfect example of that. When the Scribes & Pharisees came up to him & asked him about his healing, he said he didn't know too much about the details, but this one thing he knew, once he was blind but now he could see! (John 9:25.) He didn't know too much about anything other than that, but that was enough for him! You can talk about your personal testimony & how happy you are serving the Lord. (For more ideas on how to answer personal questions about your beliefs, practices & lifestyle, see "Wise Witnessing Replies".)

An Answer to Give about Parties!

18. I suppose you Teens are going to get all kinds of questions from other Teens, like, "Don't you have a boyfriend (or girlfriend)? Don't you go to parties?" I think you can say‚ "Oh yes, we have parties! We have lots of fun together! I have lots of friends & we have parties, but if I have a choice, I'd rather be out here meeting people & talking to them about Jesus than having parties. After all, parties are just temporary. They're just a little fun or entertainment for a few hours, but what I'm doing now is really accomplishing something & making people happy for life!—And changing lives! This is much more fun & much more satisfying & gives much more lasting happiness than going to a party!

19. "Besides, I'd rather spend my time doing this now because I'm saving my party for the Next Life when we're going to have the biggest, the greatest, the most tremendous Super Party that has ever been given! And at this Party we're going to be able to do all kinds of far-out things that we've never ever done before—things we've only dreamed of. We're going to be able to walk through walls! We're going to be able to fly! All of our dreams are going to come true! All our fantasies! Everything we ever wanted is going to be there! We're going to be able to have one tremendous Party as long as we want & as often as we want. It's going to be so much more tremendous than anything we could ever do down here on Earth! So we'd really rather not emphasise parties so much. We'd rather do the things we really like to do now, & wait for the Party we really are looking forward to when we get to Heaven!" (Amen! GBY! WLY!—D.)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family