If we have the opportunity to have a spiritual discussion with someone, one thing good to know is where are they on their life journey with respect to knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior.

If we are going to help a lost person find the way home, the first thing we need to do is determine his or her present location.

If we want to fashion our presentation of Jesus to correspond to our listeners’ unique situation, we need to accurately diagnose where they are spiritually on their life journey. We can use diagnostic questions to help us in this process.

Here is a great opening diagnostic question to help us focus how we present the gospel: “Where are you on your spiritual journey to God?”

This question is “wide open,” but it does assume some sort of spiritual hunger. If the person resists this question, he or she may not be open at all to spiritual things. If the person does reply to us, the question does not presuppose a “Christian” answer, but allows him or her to an unbiased answer that can be very helpful.

Open-ended questions can allow a person to freely express how they are trying to find God or think they have found him and can put our listener at ease to honestly express his or her thoughts, rather than becoming defensive.

We have used the following two questions many times during outreaches. It is called the “two-question test” that reveals if a person is going to heaven. Many find such a “test” intriguing enough to submit to it, and, when they do, it often allows us to share the gospel with them.

Two Question Test

1. If you were to die today, would you go to heaven?
2. Why do you think so?

The answer we get to the first question may be anything from “I think so” to “I don’t believe there is a heaven.” When we ask them why they believe that way, some people will give the standard Christian response of “I believe that Jesus is my Lord and Savior.” Others may come up with their reasons they think as they do. Some may say, “I try to be a good person” or “I go to church.” If they give a non-biblical reason, we may then ask them if they realize that the Bible says that is not how we get to heaven. They are often surprised, which may give us the opportunity to ask if it is okay to share what the Bible says is the one way to get to heaven.

The gospel presents Jesus as the Savior who died for my sins, the Lord who rose from the dead, the Baptizer in the Spirit who poured out his Spirit on the church, and the divine Son of Man, who will come in the clouds with great glory at the end of time to judge the living and the dead and rule forever over God’s new creation.

Looking back on my own journey to faith in Christ, I did not initially understand all of that. My conception of Jesus was very incomplete, but it was enough for me to be saved.

The Holy Spirit helped me to understand that what the Bible says about Jesus is true. I believed in my heart, in a basic way, that he died for my sins so that I could be forgiven and that, because he rose again, he deserved my lifelong devotion and service.

According to Paul, it is an inner belief in his resurrection that makes us right with God and a public acknowledgement of Christ’s lordship that saves us.

...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Romans 10:9-10 (ESV) 

Since everything depends on the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to understand who Jesus really is; when we share the gospel, we would be wise to follow Jesus’ example by asking our hearers some form of the question Jesus posed to his disciples.

Let me read it to you.

Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17  Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Matthew 16:15-17 (NLT) 

We might reword it a bit to fit our context, such as follows.

• Who do you think that Jesus was or is?
• Do you think Jesus was more than a mere man?
• Do you think there was anything special about Jesus?
• Do you agree with what the Bible says about Jesus?

Regardless of how we ask the question, the answer will open a window into the heart of the responder. It will help us understand whether the Spirit has revealed Jesus to them yet. It will help us assess where they are on their faith journey and how we might be able to help them to go farther down the path.

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