The pastor of a church who desires to grow through conversion faces an exciting frustration!

Every message a pastor gives cannot be directed to non-Christians. If it was, he would have a church full of infant Christians - individuals who know how to enter the Christian life but have never learned how to live it. But at the same time, if believers have genuine relationships with non-Christians, there should be unbelievers frequenting the church service on a regular basis. Therefore, how does one appeal to lost people in a non-evangelistic setting such as a Sunday morning service where the message is directed towards believers, not unbelievers? How does he deal with this rather "exciting frustration?"

Let me offer several suggestions that pastors throughout the nation have found beneficial.

The Sermon Is Not the Only Place to Make an Appeal

Sometimes we need what Winston Churchill called "the genius to recognize the obvious." We overlook some of the simplest and most natural ways to make an appeal to lost people.

For example, it can be done the way one takes up the morning offering. I once heard a pastor say to his people, "In a moment we are going to take up the offering for the expenses of the ministry. If you are visiting with us this morning, we would request that as the offering plate is passed that you not place anything in it. Instead of giving a gift to the church, we'd like you to receive a gift Christ has for you. Jesus Christ paid for our sins on a cross by dying as our substitute, taking our punishment and rising again the third day. Therefore, through personal trust in Christ we can receive His free gift of life eternal. Instead of giving, just sit there and meditate upon what God would like to give you. Right here this morning you could receive that free gift. Would the ushers please come to take up the offering?" I thought what a natural, honest and direct way to make an appeal to lost people.

It can even be done the way one introduces a paragraph of the Scriptures he's about to speak from. For example, suppose one were speaking from 1 Corinthians. It would be most natural and effective to say, "I always enjoy speaking from the book of 1 Corinthians because the individual God used to write this portion of scripture was a man by the name of Paul. Prior to coming to know Christ, Paul called himself a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violently arrogant man. He had every reason to think I'm too big a sinner for God to save.' But he recognized that on the cross Christ did not die for some people, He died for everybody.

Because he paid the price for our sins by dying in our place and rising again, God can now extend the free gift of life eternal to anyone who will simply put their trust in Christ. So if you think you are too big a sinner for God to save, rest assured that as we study this paragraph in 1 Corinthians, that is most certainly not true."

You Appeal to Them the Way You Illustrate Your Message