Matt Smethurst is lead pastor of River City Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia; editor at The Gospel Coalition; and author of several books, including Before You Open Your Bible.

1. Human beings were custom designed to find meaning and fulfillment and life in our Creator above all else – above success, above popularity, above recreation, above romance, above self. (pg. 9-10)

2. The law-maker became the law-keeper and died in the place of law-breakers. (pg. 15)

3. If on Good Friday redemption’s check was signed, on Easter Sunday the check cleared. (pg. 18)

4. Fundamentally, good contextualizing is not about being cool; it is about being a servant. It’s about creatively laboring to make the message of the cross and the joy of the resurrection crystal clear. (pg. 30-31).

5. Only Jesus is a master who will free you. And whereas your idols – replacements for God – will demand and disappoint and crush you into the ground, only Jesus shows up and says, “I’ll be crushed for you.” (pg. 39)

6. Evangelism is not manipulation, and we don’t work in sales (2 Cor. 5:17). (pg. 46)

7. Weak ecclesiology does not generate strong evangelism. (pg. 59)

8. The world is a spiritual graveyard. Our job is to walk through the cemetery and speak to the caskets. God’s job is to crack them open. (pg. 63)

9. You may be afraid in evangelism, but you will never be alone. (pg. 67)

10. The greatest obstacle to evangelism is Christians who don’t share the gospel. (pg. 83)

To purchase Before You Share Your Faith, click here.

*Matt has an illustration that uses the NBA that is worth getting the book!

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Evan Knies is an elder of North Hills Church in West Monroe, LA. He is the husband to Lauren and father to Maesyn. He is a graduate of Boyce College and Southern Seminary.