As a pastor for over twenty years, the most difficult aspect of living the Christian life is doing evangelism. I have taught on it; preached on it; train people on how to do it and literally pushed people into conversations with unsaved. It is only when people get a Spirit-motivated passion for lost people. Back in 2005, I wrote the following devotion to our church. I hope this lights a fire in your heart!
OK…here are the facts – there are 6,453,628,000 people on the face of the earth. Based on research by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon Seminary there are 688,034,000 “Great Commission Christians” living in 2005 – that would be us! So in the simplest of math – 10% of the human race are born-again Christians. NOT BAD! The center determined that there are 197 witnessing opportunities per disciple. Meaning if every other day we were to lead an unbeliever to Christ – the world would be won in a year!! If we were to get that aggressive, please note one other important statistic -- 169,000 --- that’s the number of martyred believers each year! That number would probably increase!!
The facts are clear – there are still more of “them” than “us” and “they” need “us” to tell “them” about “YOU KNOW WHO!” It’s called evangelism, and every one of us needs to be involved in the process at some point.
Throughout the rest of the fall and into the holiday season, we will be having all kinds of outreach opportunities; but I know that “if we run it” they won’t come unless believers take serious the task of evangelism! So I went through the Bible and picked out some of my favorite passages on outreach. Let’s take a look…
Acts 1:8 - “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Along with being filled with the Holy Spirit at salvation comes the expectation that we will be witnesses for the Lord to the unbelieving world. We are not left to do the task on our own strength! He gives us power. Talking about power…..
Romans 1:16 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.“
Paul makes it real clear – if we will give the gospel to people – the gospel will do the work. Like Kryptonite to Superman, he did not need to touch it, just be within its proximity. I believe that if can get the lost around the gospel, the power of the truth will change them. So how can we get them around the gospel? Easy - throw a PARTY!
Luke 5:27-32 – “After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him. And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Look what happened, Matthew came to faith. He was a tax collector. and likewise his friends were also other tax collectors. So he threw a party and invited his social group, his friends, to hang with him. The difference is that Matthew invited his newfound friend and Savior to be a part of the party. Matthew became an inviter and contact-person for the Lord.
Colossians 4:5-6 – “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”
So why will they believe you or me? Because they see a change in our lives, and we conduct ourselves properly with unbelievers. We talk to them with kindness and grace. We speak the truth to them and share words that make them thirsty!
John 13:34-35 - “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Not only do we act wisely towards them, but they also see us acting lovingly towards each other! The greatest magnet for unbelievers is a loving community of believers. When they see the supernatural love flowing from each other, they will know that Christ is the real deal!
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 – “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
The final word….God has called us to this kind of ministry. We have been reconciled to God so that we can help reconcile others to the Savior.
Listen, at this point I would normally pour on the pressure or make you feel guilty; but I believe that if you read these, and other passages, and apply them to your life, you will see the importance of you and me being involved with leading others to Christ. We are doing our part as a church of staging some easy “parties” to invite your friends to but still you must do your part! Today, will you take a few moments and first ask the Lord what you should do? Second, ask the Lord to bring to your mind unsaved people who you could begin to reach out to? Thirdly, what three elements of evangelism can you practice today – CPR?
C = Cultivate - be a friend to sinners; develop a real relationship with a lost person!
P = Proclaim – share the gospel; give a verbal witness!
R = Retain – include them into the world of Christianity; invite them to church or small group!
Let’s help turn the tide and see the world evangelized in our generation!