I have a very important message to share with you today, I want to talk about the reason why the Church exists.
Do you know why you were saved? Why we are here as church of Christ?
The church exists to glorify God, to edify the saints and to evangelise, but evangelism has been abandoned by the church.
In the book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says “The church exists for nothing else but to draw men to Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.”
What was the point of you getting saved? The whole point is (supposed to be) making disciples. (To save the lost)
Today, many churches have become more about social justice, entertainment, and even the preachings themselves. The mission has gotten muddy.
If a retail store has a bottom line (selling their merchandise) and they don’t hit their goals, they will go out of business.
The church too has a bottom line: Making Disciples.
Why do we have to make disciples? Because those who are not disciples of Jesus are lost and they are going to eternal condemnation!
“And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15 NLT
There are many people around us in serious danger! You and me must care for the souls of our dear ones, our friends, family, coworkers, neighbours, all of those who do not know Christ will endure God’s wrath forever if they don’t give their lives to Jesus before they die.
Today I want to talk about evangelism and how to simply explain the way to salvation.
Today’s Word: You have a Great Task ! (Part 1)
Your great task on earth after loving the Lord with all your heart is to save those who are lost!
How many of you have experienced the joy of preaching the gospel, evangelising someone who is now saved and and they get saved and are serving the Lord thanks to you?
It’s a great joy that we can all have it. Through the grace of God I have many people from my family, friends and co-workers who were saved because I invested in their lives.
You need to have this experience! Preach , evangelise and make disciples! This is Your Great Task! (Share about Jesus with others)
I’m going to show you the different kinds of evangelism today. I’ll tell you how Jesus evangelised, and I’m going to give you some practical keys you can apply to your life today that will help you win your loved ones and friends over to the Lord.
We are going to look to the scripture and I’m going to show you how to explain the Gospel in such a clear and simple way you will win over your loved ones and whoever else God places on your path.
Let’s talk about the kinds of evangelism that are based on scripture.
The first kind of is: Confrontational evangelism
This kind of evangelism is not too popular anymore, because as culture evolves, the church tends to shift and adapt to the culture of the time. This is, of course, very sad because thanks to these changes, many anointed ministries who are called to evangelise are being criticised by the body of Christ.
Have you ever seen people out in public places, colleges campuses or the streets, preaching against sin, preaching about the wrath of God? It’s easy to look at these people and criticise them, and say: that’s not love. But what can be more loving than telling someone the truth, even though they will hate you for it?
I understand that some people can be very unloving, some are rude , some people are crude. This is not I’m talking. The type of evangelism which the sinner is being warned about the destructive path they are on is a perfectly legitimate form of evangelism.
You see them on street corners and it’s easy to say they are doing it all wrong, but remember that Jesus was also very harsh towards religious people and the scripture too is very harsh with those who are stubborn, prideful and those who resist the gospel.
Confrontation Evangelism comes into play when someone is very religious or someone is very stubborn, hard-hearted and proud.
This is the people you will see on street corners, preaching in public places and town square. Never criticise these preachers on the streets!
“You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” Acts 20:20-21 NIV
That’s confrontational evangelism.
When people stand before God on judgment day, God is going to tell them: I sent TV preachers, I sent preachers who sounded nice, I sent preachers that sounded mean, I sent preachers that talked about heaven, I sent preachers who talked about hell, I sent all kinds of preachers, and many will stand with no excuse at all because God sent many voices, in different forms, in many different tones to preaching the one message of salvation.
As believers we have to be careful of criticising others ministries who do things differently to us. I would not use some of the tactics that some of these street preachers use but they are preaching to different types of people, in different settings, with different types of ministry.
We need everyone, from the kind, smiling preachers to the street preachers who are declaring hell and fire. We need the gospel preached.
Second type of evangelism: Relational Evangelism
“Don’t you wives realise that your husbands might be saved because of you? And don’t you husbands realise that your wives might be saved because of you?”
1 Corinthians 7:16 NLT
Paul the apostle here is addressing a specific issue where someone is wondering what to do if you get saved after marriage and your spouse won’t join you in our new faith. Should we divorce them?
Paul writes that in this specific case you could evangelise them.
The Bible here is not promoting evangelism by dating. If you’re dating someone who is not saved, it’s not right. That’s the biblical truth.
Paul is speaking specifically to those who were saved when they’re already married. He said: you could win your spouse over to the Lord. You could be an effective evangelist in your home.
This is an example of relational evangelism. And we can learn from this scripture that relationships are great tools for evangelism.
Relational evangelism is when I win my brother, friend, sister or my co-worker or even my boss. Whoever you are connected with is someone you can share the gospel with.
In fact I think that relational evangelism is likely the most effective means of evangelism.
If someone goes up to an individual who is a stranger, preaches the gospel to them, prays for them. That’s wonderful! But then they’re going to go home, go their separate ways and who knows what will happen to that individual?
I mean, it’s still a legitimate form of evangelism but imagine the effectiveness of someone seeing your life transformed and hearing the words you declare concerning the gospel. You’re connected to them and over time as you preach that message you can show its effectiveness through your actions.
Let’s now look at how Jesus evangelised, let’s look at principles that you can apply as the spirit leads you. John 4:6-38 (please read it at home). Here Jesus preaches the gospel, he evangelises a woman and she gets saved! What truths can we take from this?
“Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime.” John 4:6 NLT
1st Jesus is tired from the long walk – He was willing
Jesus was exhausted. Imagine the demand on the life of Jesus, the Man who could raise the dead, the man who could heal the sick, the man who with a Word could drive out demons. Imagine scheduling His day. Every request presented to Him was urgent, almost all of those who came seeking a healing were desperate.
The demand was great, the burden, the responsibility he carried was heavy.
The Bible says He was tired but He was willing to seize the opportunity.
How many times have we passed over opportunities because we were mentally and emotionally or physically lazy?
How many times we passed opportunities to demonstrate an act of love or win a soul simply because we didn’t feel like doing it.
We must be spirit lead, we must be available, we must look for those open doors, those windows of opportunity. That is what we must be: Like Jesus – willing!!
But sometimes we are too busy. It’s not just our laziness that keeps us from taking this opportunities, but it’s also our busy days that keep us from taking these opportunities.
2nd Jesus was kind
“Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.””
John 4:7 NLT
This verse reveals that Jesus was kind.
Think about the fact that the women at the time would go in groups to draw water wells. Why was this woman alone?
This woman was alone because she was rejected by society. What kind of reputation do you think she gained from having five husbands? How many women do you think despised her? How many people do you think looked down upon her?
The reason she was alone at this well was because she was deemed unworthy. Nobody wanted to be with her, nobody wanted to be seen with her. But Jesus still sat at the well, He being a Jew, she a Samaritan woman, and he started engaging her in conversation.
This was probably the first time in a long time that a man had spoken to her with respect and kindness. Jesus was kind !
Jesus showed her dignity and respect. Everyone deserves the dignity of being heard.
When there is someone in need in front of you, at least give them some dignity. Of course, there are times when it’s impossible to give people loads of our time, but everyone deserves the dignity of being heard.
Here Jesus was sitting with this woman. He was called a friend of sinners. He was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton. Why? Because He didn’t mind being seen with people whom society had rejected. Jesus was kind!
3rd – Jesus was simple and relatable, He wasn’t complicated
“But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.””
John 4:14 NLT
Jesus was simple, people could relate to him and his teachings. He began to explain the way of salvation to her in a way she understood, by using the water from the well!
He talked about living water because the woman was drawing water. What did Jesus do? He saw something and used it to relate to her so that He might win her soul.
Jesus taught her, he didn’t shame her.
Sometimes we try to impress rather to impart. Jesus was not trying to impressing her with everything He knew. He simply explained the way. This is what we should do. Not try to show off your intellect or theology.
Jesus picked something that she was doing, something she understood to explained the way of salvation and we see later see the result.
4th Jesus was confrontational.
“for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now”. John 4:18 NLT
Jesus was confrontational. Sometimes we have this misunderstanding that we’re never to talk to talk about sin, that we shouldn’t confront people on their wickedness. That’s not a biblical truth.
“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.”
1 Corinthians 5:12 NLT
We should confront the world on its sin. In fact, one of the reasons the world is in the state that it’s in now is because Christians have stopped speaking out against sin. They’ve stopped calling sin, sin. They’ve stopped calling out wickedness.
We must confront them, but confront them in love !
If somebody is standing on train tracks and the train is coming and they can’t hear it. What’s the most loving thing you can do at that moment?
Are going to say : well I don’t want call out to them because they might get embarrassed if I yell at them and I don’t really want to go up to them because they might get upset with me for trying to get them off the path they are on.
No! You’re acting out of love and urgency – get off the tracks, the train is coming!
That’s the way we warn, in urgency and in love.
Off course there is a time and a place and a there are ways to approach. We cannot be rude but there is a form of confrontation that needs to take place when it comes to evangelism.
Jesus was willing, He was kind, and He was relatable but confrontational too.
“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”
2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT
Godly sorrow leads to salvation. It’s good to feel bad about the bad things you’ve done. That means your conscience is working. That means God is still able to speak to you. It’s when you don’t feel bad about the bad things you’ve done that you should start to worry.
The Bible says that it’s sorrow over sin that brings forth repentance.
Repentance should be preached.
“And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’” Luke 24:46-47 NLT
“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.”
Acts of the Apostles 3:19 NLT
“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”
2 Peter 3:9 NLT
““God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.”
Acts of the Apostles 17:30 NLT
Confrontation is loving! We need to stop bowing to culture. We need stop bowing to society. We have to keep preaching it. We have to keep declaring it! That’s the only way they’ll ever know the truth.
I’m not talking about calling people names or telling people God Hates them, I’m talking about presenting very lovingly, very gently, very kindly the warnings as to where sin leads.
That’s a very loving thing to do.
Next week I will teach about, How to simply explain the way of salvation?
There are many people around us in serious danger! You and I must care for the souls of our dear ones, our friends, family, coworkers and neighbours. Those who do not know Christ will endure God’s wrath forever if they do not turn to Jesus before they die.
Preach , evangelise and make disciples! This is Your Great Task!
Your great task on earth after loving the Lord with all your heart is to save those who are lost! God counts on you with this great task !
God bless and help you in this great task and see you next week with the second part of this message.