Evangelism

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap,

but by the seeds you plant – Robert Louis Stevenson

 

Ephesians 3:8-13, “making known” – a declaration.  1st Peter 1:20, “making manifest” – a public display. 1st Peter 3:15,  “give an answer” – a reasoned statement

 

One thing is for sure, our faith is not to be shared in a corner. Never does the New Testament talk about Christians sharing The Faith secretly.  Even in the face of persecution, they were open and honest in identifying themselves with Jesus. The apostle Paul warns Timothy to beware of his own timidity and to grow in boldness. (2nd Timothy 1:6-9). Boldness does not mean brashness. Loving a lost soul will control our boldness to be confident with out being deliberately offensive.   One way of ensuring we do not put more people off, than turning people on, is to remember that God is wanting to “Make Known” the truth through you. Romans 9:23. Remember the command of Peter 1st  Pet. 3:15, ‘giving an answer’. This verse makes every Christian a potential evangelist by it’s simplest definition of the word. 

 

1. Being ready is being prepared, As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. Eph. 6:15.  This solves our anxiety when we see a visitor come into our meetings when we have prepared a talk for the members only.  Our anxiety means we are not ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.  If we are not ready, we need to question these things mentioned in Scripture which can make us ready:

      a. Have we sanctified Christ as Lord in our hearts beforehand?

      b. Is your defence yours, or does it belong to someone else?

      c. Does The Hope, The Gospel of Peace dwell in you or just on paper?

In principle there are three things every Christian needs to know before we can become truly evangelistic effectively. 

      a. Prayerful preparation. 

      b. Individual possession of the promise and passage. 

      c. Believing the Holy Spirit has written the principle on your heart.

 

2.  The beauty and pleasure you and God get from being prepared is known and shown in the Scriptures:  And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!", Rom. 10:15.  We need not worry about being sent anywhere to proclaim the gospel.  People right under our noses haven’t heard the truth. In God’s sight we are beautiful if we are able to bring the good news to someone.  You can believe you are beautiful in God’s sight if you believe that it is more than your feet and tongues that bring the good news to some one.  When we bring the good news to someone, it should come from our heart.  We need to change our message from a written sermon to a heart-felt spoken one, no matter whether it’s at a pulpit or a playground.  Let us proclaim Jesus first & ourselves last.  Most people find this possible, if they put the good news into a “favourite” format and meditate prayerfully upon it.

 

Prayer pointer for the week: Before Jesus embarked on a mission, he prayed and fasted in preparation, Matthew 4:1-16. Do we prayerfully prepare points of the gospel to share?