How should I approach my friends after I’ve tried telling them about Jesus?

First, let me commend you. We talk about friendship evangelism, but we often forget the evangelism part. We talk about the friendship part a lot, but we forget to share the words of eternal life. So, whoever is asking this question, I want to commend you for doing that.

We have an obligation to proclaim. We should proclaim the gospel in a way that is persuasive and compelling without being manipulative or overbearing. Paul said that he “persuaded” people, which means we can be persuasive about the gospel, but that is the extent of our obligation.

We are talking about spiritual truths. The Bible teaches that the unregenerate person is literally blinded. They have blinders to the truth. That is the divine side of apologetics. Our side is to proclaim the truth. The divine side is what breaks through and removes the blinders. It regenerates or brings life to that dead soul so that the truth of the gospel becomes alive and real for that person.

In your case, what you have done is share the gospel, and what you need to do now is continue to be a friend. You must continue to commit that person to prayer, but you also need to realize that this is now the divine side of the equation. You need to be patient and pray for God to be at work.

You can rest assured that God’s purposes will come to pass and that His word will never return void because it will accomplish the purpose that God set for it.

This is a transcript of Stephen Nichols’ answer during our Always Ready: Answers to Tough Questions event and has been lightly edited for readability. To ask Ligonier a biblical or theological question, email ask@ligonier.org or message us on Facebook or Twitter.