RAMP is a Helpful Tool for Sharing Your Faith with Others

By Eric Barry, VP Training and Outreach

RAMP is a useful acronym to remember for sharing the Gospel. The idea for the RAMP comes from 1 Cor 15:1-8. In these eight verses, Paul lays out his Gospel clearly and simply and gives us a framework to follow in our own presentation of the Gospel.

The idea of the RAMP is to prove to people that Jesus is the one who can take us from lives of brokenness and sin into lives of love, forgiveness, and peace. God gives us 4 irrefutable truths that prove that He is the One who can do that.  You just need to remember the “RAMP.”

Each letter of RAMP stands for one of the proofs.  You can share these with anyone anywhere. And if they have more time, you can even draw this out for them.

The “RAMP” to an abundant eternal life in more detail…

God does not ask anyone to believe in “blind faith”, but rather He gives us compelling proofs, proofs that are historical and irrefutable. Use this blog as a reference and try to memorize the RAMP acronym. The following will lay out more of the process and will summarize some things you’ll probably want to say when sharing your faith with someone.

Start by asking something like:

“Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?” Or “Can you tell me about your spiritual background?” Or “Do you have a church you enjoy attending?” Then listen to their story.

Then ask something like,

“Can I tell you about why I follow Jesus?” Or, “Can I share what I’ve discovered?”

If they say “no” or “I’m not interested” then the conversation ends, but most often they say, “yes.”

Then you’ll say something like,

“I’ve become a follower of Jesus, and I did this because God has given all of humanity 4 irrefutable reasons for doing so.”

1. First, God raised Jesus from the dead, this is called the…

Resurrection

(1 Cor 15:1 – 8.  “Christ died for our sins… and was resurrected…”)

Some key points:

• Jesus walked the earth and did good to all.
• Although Jesus never sinned, corrupt political leaders and corrupt religious leaders were jealous of Him and they conspired to put him death.
• God allowed this to happen because He was not dying for His own sins, but rather as a sacrifice for our sins.
• God showed His approval of Jesus’ sacrifice by raising Him from the dead.
• Jesus was seen by hundreds of people after his resurrection.
• The Jewish leaders tried to discredit the story immediately, but they could not produce the body. It was not in the tomb. He has risen!

2. Transition:

We know this is true because of the eyewitness testimony of the men and woman who had seen Him raised from the dead. This is called the…

Apostle’s testimony

(Acts 10:40-41; 1 Jn 1:1-3; Luke 1:1-2; Heb 2:3-4)

Some key facts:

• These eyewitnesses were people who lived and walked with Him Men like Matthew, John, Peter, Paul.
• The same corrupt leaders came to these men and threatened them with imprisonment, beatings and death. But these men would not be silenced. They were willing to die for their testimony.
• These men and their followers wrote down wrote their testimony and this became the New Testament.
• Our religion is not based on a philosophy or the religious experience of a charismatic leader, but rather upon the eyewitness testimony of men who gave their lives, who were killed for saying that He rose, but even so, would not deny Him or retract their testimony.

3. Transition:

These men not only testified about the resurrection but also about Jesus’ miraculous ministry. Jesus did many signs and wonders and ….

Miracles

These miracles demonstrate irrefutably that He is the Son of God and the Lord of all. All through the Gospels there’s clear record of miracle after miracle.

Here’s just a few of them:

• Jesus walks on water.
• He calms the storms.
• Jesus opens the eyes of the blind.
• Jesus opens the ears of the deaf.
• He feeds thousands of hungry people with just some fish and some loaves.
• He heals leprous people.
• He casts out demons.
• He raises the dead.

These miraculous signs show God’s approval of Jesus and His message.  Only God can raise the dead!

4. Transition: And if all that weren’t enough, there is…

Prophecy

There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament, written hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus that covered almost every aspect of Jesus’ life and ministry.   Jesus fulfilled all of them.

Here are just a few…

• Would be born of a virgin.  Isaiah 7:14.
• Would be “God with us”.  Isaiah 7:14
• Would be born in Bethlehem.  Micah 5:2.
• Would be a descendent of Abraham.  Gen 12:3.
• Would be a descendant of Isaac.  Gen 17:19
• Would be a descendant of Judah.  Gen 49:10
• Would be a descendant of King David 2 Sam 7:12-13.
• That He would die for our sins as a servant.  Isaiah 53.
• That He’d be raised from the dead.  Psalm 16:10.

Only God can foretell the future. The fulfillment of all these prophecies demonstrates irrefutably that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and the Lord of all.

Then Ask Them,

“Would you like to follow Jesus?”

Or “Would you like to learn more about following Jesus?”

Or “Do you have time to take a closer look at what the Bible says

about Jesus?

Read a Story of RAMP in action: How to Share the Gospel with Strangers