I have a very good friend of mine that once gave me a bit of advice in closing a sale. He told me to know the product better than anyone could, be confident in the presentation, then listen. It is very important to know what it is you are selling, it is vitally important that you come across confident and knowledgeable of the product, but the most important part of closing the sale is in your ability to listen.
Listening intently will tell you where the sale is headed. The buyer will give you all the information you need to close the deal. Maybe they talk about the product and how it fits in their business, more importantly how that product will help them reap higher margins thereby increasing their revenue. Maybe they are not interested in the product; it does not fit their needs now. Perhaps the perception is the product is too expensive and therefore become unattractive to the customer. It is the objections and your ability to answer each one with a positive outcome, a “win, win” that could determine your success at selling your specific product. Often time the cost objective can be overcome with the counter of “what will it cost you in the long run if you don’t buy this product?” In the business I am in, data loss & prevention, it really is “what is the dollar value you place on your data and what would it cost if you lost that data, or that data was compromised or stolen?”

It is much the same when it comes to evangelism. It is the objections and how we overcome those objections. Obviously, we must first show the hearer the problem, sin and what it does to you in regards to your eternal home, second we need to provide the solution, and third we need to overcome the objections. If we can accurately articulate the problem, build excitement over the solution then we should be able to overcome the objections…if we listen intently to those objections.
Look with me at the book of Jonah. Yes that is right the “big fish” story. If you have ever fished then you undoubtedly have a big fish story, or the one that got away. Immediately I have your attention. However, this is not so much about Jonah swallowed by the big fish, but rather about a nation of evil people and their repentant hearts.
There are many lessons we can learn from the book of Jonah and perhaps we will in another writing. I want you to look with me at chapter 3 beginning verse 1:

1 – Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.

You will see immediately that Jonah did according to the word of the Lord. He learned his lesson from 3 days & nights in the belly of the big fish and you see in his prayer that he rededicated himself to the work of the Lord. The message had not changed, but the heart of the messenger had. Sometimes we need a push from the hand of God to set us on the right path of proclaiming His marvelous message. We have no greater “push” than that given by our savior Jesus Christ. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 28:18-20) Like Jesus we must have a passion for the lost. I assume, if you are reading this that you have a passion for the lost so “going” is something you simply will do. It is commanded of us, so it becomes an imperative that we go and deliver the message of Jesus Christ just as Jonah delivered the message that God told to him.
While the message is important, I want you to see the response to the message. Look with me at verses 5-9 of the third chapter:

5. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh,
“By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

From the people to the king, all heard the message of the Lord. This wicked nation believed that what God said He would do that He indeed would do it. They understood what it meant to “fall into the hands of the living God” (see Hebrews 10:31). They so believed that the king issued a decree that all must obey. It is not so remarkable to me that when you see our God work to show forth not only His everlasting love but His absolute control over all things. Think with me on this; First you have pagan sailors, reluctant at first, but succumbing to the power of God then acknowledging Him through sacrifice, a pagan nation obeying the will of God and showing their humility to God, all in spite of a reluctant prophet. The power of God can always be seen in spite of our weakness. How many over the course of time have tried desperately to not be the spokesman for God only to come away convicted, convinced, and conformed to God’s will?
Next, look at God’s response to this evil nation:

Vs.10. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

There are four great truths that I want you to see in this short book from the Old Testament.
1. Preaching God’s word can succeed. The responses may be mixed. They may not always be the responses we want, but we need to remember this from 1 Corinthians

3:5-6 What then is Apollo’s? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6. I planted, Apollo’s watered, but God gave the growth.

2. God see’s our work and our behavior. He only wants those that will conform to His will, to deliver His message on His terms.

3. God makes righteous judgment.

4. God will spare the truly repent and obedient people.