Now, there are some questions that you ask to get things started.
The first question that I like to ask is just, are you a Christian?
So I knock on the door, hi, my name is Steve Anderson.
I'm from Faith Forward Baptist Church.
I just want to invite you to church.
Are you a Christian?
The reason I like the question, are you a Christian,
is that a lot of people are going to give you a positive answer.
So then right away, it's like, oh, OK, great, you're a Christian.
So that's a little common ground right there with a lot of people.
So I just ask them, are you a Christian?
Or I might ask them, do you go to church anywhere?
Just to kind of figure out where they are spiritually.
Now, if the person says no, if I say, are you a Christian?
They say, no, I'm not.
Well then, I don't really need to ask any further questions
to figure out whether they're saved.
Because if I'm asking, are you a Christian, they say no,
then they're obviously not saved.
So here's the way I look at this.
The purpose of asking questions is to learn the answer.
And that seems pretty obvious.
But I don't like to ask people questions that I already know the answer to.
If I ask somebody a question, it's because I'm looking for the answer.
So if I ask someone, are you a Christian, they say no,
I'm not going to say, well, if you died today,
do you know for sure you're going to heaven?
Because they just said they're not even a Christian.
So therefore, I already know that they're not saved.
So if at any point in this questioning process,
I know that the person's not saved, then I
know I need to present them the gospel.
And that's what I'm going to roll into at that point.
So what I do is I say, are you a Christian, if they say no, then I say,
well, listen, what I'd love to do is just take the Bible
and show you from the Bible how you can know for sure
that you'll go to heaven when you die.
It'll take about 10 minutes.
Can I just go through that with you real quick?
And then hopefully they say yes, and I can show them the gospel.
OK, if they say yes, I'm a Christian, then I
might ask, do you go to church anywhere?
They let me know what kind of church they go to.
Gives me a little bit of a feel for what kind of a background.
And then I say to them, well, more important than church,
if you were to die today, do you know for sure
that you're going to heaven?
Now, if they give me anything less than a for sure, yes, I know for sure.
If they give me anything like, I hope so.
Here's the thing, if they say I hope so, that's not knowing for sure.
Or if they say, well, yeah, I think I would.
I think so.
That's not a no-so.
So if there's any doubt of I hope so, I think so, probably, then at that point,
again, I need to present the gospel to this person.
So if they give me anything less than a no for sure, here's what I say next.
I say, well, can I show you from the Bible how you can be 100% for sure?
The Bible says we can know for sure.
Can I just take a few minutes and show you from the Bible
how you can know for sure?
Or can I show you where in the Bible it says that we can know for sure?
Something along those lines.
So anything less than 100%, I don't feel the need to ask them, well,
what makes you think you're going?
Because I want to ask as few questions as possible.
I want to ask some necessary questions to start the conversation
and figure out where they are spiritually.
But once I realize this person's not saved
or this person needs to hear the gospel, then I just roll right into it.
And I ask them first.
I say, can I go ahead and show you from the Bible how you can know for sure?
Can I just take 10 minutes and just run through this with you?