-Tonight, the Lord is directing us to look at some methods to use in being evangelists
-We’re going to take a look at old time evangelism
-Evangelism 20 Years Ago
-Door to door / cold turkey
-Crusades
-Early American Evangelism
-Circuit riding preachers
-Street corner preaching
-Renaissance Evangelism
-Crusades - kill those who will not believe
-Early Church Evangelism
-Friends bringing friends to Christ
-I’m talking about really old time evangelism
-Evangelism as found in the Old Testament
-This will not include sharing of the story of Christ, but it does include drawing unbelievers to the Lord
I. Shadrach, Meshach & Abed-Nego
-These are three of the greatest evangelists of all time
-Three men who brought the name of the Lord to a high precedence in the minds of many people
-In Daniel chapters 1 and 2 we are given the preface to the great fiery furnace account
-Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had come and seized Jerusalem
-Jerusalem fell and Nebuchadnezzar took some of the items from the house of God into the house of his own, false god
-The king then instructed Ashpenaz to bring some of the finest men from Jerusalem to Babylon
-Descendants of the king
-King’s noblemen
-No blemish
-Good looking
-Intelligent
-Good discernment
-Teachable
-For the language and literature of the Chaldeans
-They were given food and wine from the king’s delicacies
-As well as three years of education
-So they could serve the king at the end of that time
-Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah
-Renamed respectively Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego
-Daniel decided not to eat the king’s delicacies or drink the wine
-He saw it as being a defilement to himself
-He requested to be allowed not to partake
-The eunuch was concerned with this, he did not want for Daniel and the other three to become weak looking and thereby cause him to lose favor with the king
-Daniel set up a deal with the eunuch for 10 days
-Only vegetables and water
-Then compare them to the others
-After 10 days, they looked better and fatter than those who ate from the king’s table
-From then on out, it was only vegetables and water for these four
-God caused them to increase greatly in wisdom and learning and were found in due time to be ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers in his realm
-The king had a dream which he wanted interpreted
-He went to all of his magicians, astrologers and sorcerers seeking them to tell him his dream and its interpretation
-They were even offered great reward and honor if successful, but death if unsuccessful
-But they all said that it was impossible to do, that only the gods could give the dream and the interpretation
-Angered, Nebuchadnezzar sought to have them all killed, including Daniel and the three Hebrew children
-Daniel meets with the three and together they seek the mercies of the Lord
-God gives Daniel the dream and interpretation and Daniel praises the Lord for it
-Daniel requests that the killing stop and that he be allowed to answer the king
-As Daniel approaches the king, he assures him that the answer comes from the God in the heavens who has revealed to the king what will happen in the latter days
-The dream was of a great image whose head was gold, chest and arms silver, belly and thighs bronze, legs iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay
-In the dream, a stone, not made by human hands, hit the feet and broke tem to pieces eventually causing the entire image to be crushed and scattered with the wind while the stone became a great mountain that filled the whole earth
-The interpretation was that the king was the head of gold because of his great power on earth
-The other parts were subsequent kingdoms, each less powerful than the previous one
-The stone was the kingdom of God that will break in pieces all other kingdoms and crush them and never diminish, standing forever
-The king, having heard this, ordered that a great offering be given to Daniel, promoting him and making him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief administrator over all of his wise men
-Daniel petitioned the king and obtained positions of power over Babylon for the three Hebrews as well
-That brings us to chapter three
-Nebuchadnezzar made a statue of solid gold
-90 feet tall and 9 feet wide
-He called for all of his rulers and administrators come to the dedication of the image
-This included the three Hebrew children
-It was ordered that at the sound of the musical instruments all were to fall down and worship the image or else be cast into the fiery furnace
-Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego did not bow and were ratted out to the king by certain Chaldeans
-Furious, Nebuchadnezzar had them brought before him to give them another chance
-Daniel 3:16-18
-With great displeasure and fury, Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown in and the heat turned up 7 times hotter than usual, killing those who threw the men in
-Looking in, the king saw four men in the furnace, the fourth looking like the Son of God
-Astonished, he called the men to come out of the furnace
-Daniel 3:26-4:3
-Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego that day became three of the world’s greatest evangelists
-The whole nation was set upside down because of the decree of the king
-Only good was to be said of their God
-Because only He could have delivered them
-They became evangelists by refusing to give in to the world’s standards
-They would not compromise
-Why has our 21st century church lost much of its evangelistic power? I think it is to a great deal because we have compromised with the world
-Romans 12:2
-Do not be conformed to this world
-Amplified: Do not let the world squeeze you into its mold
-We’ve been squeezed, we’ve been pressed, we’ve caved in
-Abdur Rahman
-I wonder how many people in our churches today would be like him
-Sadly, today the church looks almost identical to the world
-Divorce statistics
-Belief in absolute truth
-Entertainment choices
-We always get in trouble when we let the world rather than the Word set our standards
1. Our testimonies are damaged
2. Our faith is derailed
-We need more Shadrachs, Meshachs, Abed-Negos and Abdur Rahmans who will say emphatically that I will not bow
-Try to kill me if you must but either way, I win
-If you fail to kill me, longer life here
-If you succeed in killing me, heaven
-I CANNOT LOSE!!!
II. Daniel
-Daniel was also one of the greatest evangelists
-I think it is likely he did not bow either, but he was not ratted out
-In chapter 6 we see Darius, the Mede, now in charge of the kingdom
-He appointed Daniel as one of three governors to which the satrap would have to give account
-Again, another high position of authority, even under a new ruler
-Daniel excelled so much that the king considered putting him in charge of the whole realm
-This made the others jealous so they sought for ways to bring a charge against him
-None could be found because Daniel was totally faithful to the king
-They determined that the only thing they could use against Daniel was the law of God
-They went to Darius with their plan, to get him to issue a decree that for 30 days no one should petition any god other than the king
-Penalty: Lion’s den
-Daniel, knowing of the decree, went home and even with his windows open prayed towards Jerusalem and gave thanks to God
-This had been his custom since he was young
-He did this three times that day
-Meanwhile, the other governors spied on him and saw him praying and thus reported it to the king, reminding the king of the decree
-Reluctantly, the king had him thrown into the lion’s den
-Closing it with a stone and sealing it with his signet
-Daniel 6:18-28
-He became one of the world’s greatest evangelists by remaining faithful to God
-His faithfulness was seen by all and led to all seeing the greatness of the Lord
A. Remain faithful in good times
-Daniel had prayed daily since he was young
-It had become known to the others governors
-When times were good, he kept up the practice
-He knew that he needed the Lord in the good times
-Yet, many draw back from him in the good times
-Church attendance slips
-Bible reading is non-existent
-Prayers are seldom offered
-They don’t feel like they need Him so they don’t remain faithful to all that He calls us to and longs for us to do
-Their fellowship with Him falters
-Their obedience wavers
-Their testimony suffers
B. Remain faithful in hard times
-Daniel prayed, knowing that it was dangerous
-Many throw up their hand and give up the faith when the going gets tough
-They believe that God must not be that great if they are facing this adversity
-Why would God cause bad things to happen to good people?
-They forget God’s promise that He is with us always, even to the end of the age.
-He will comfort, guide and direct us when faced with tumultuous trials
-The Story Of "It Is Well With My Soul"
-Oh that we would be faithful in the good and the bad and allow our faithfulness to testify greatly to the world around us of the greatness of the God we serve
III. Elijah
-Elijah is also one of the greatest evangelists of all time
-In I Kings 18 we see Elijah meeting with Ahab to set up a contest
-He tells Ahab to call together the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah to meet on Mt. Carmel
-Ahab calls all of them along with the children of Israel
-Elijah tells them that they need to stop wavering and decide between the Lord or Baal
-The contest: Elijah vs. The prophets of Baal (1 vs. 450)
-One bull apiece, cut up and put on their altar with wood underneath, but no fire set to it
-Each was to call on their god for fire
-Whichever god brought fire would be the true god
-Prophets of Baal go first
-They choose their bull, cut it up, put it on the wood on the altar and began praying to their god
-They prayed from morning til noon when Elijah started to mock them and their god
-Maybe he’s meditating, busy, on a journey or sleeping
-Call louder
-So they kept crying and cutting themselves until midday
-Finally, at the time of the evening sacrifice they gave up
-Now it is Elijah’s turn
-I Kings 18:30-40
-Elijah became a great evangelist by restoring God’s rightful place
A. Repairing the broken altar
-God’s prominence in the society had been all but obliterated
-Those who opposed God had done their best to wipe anything relating to God from the face of the earth
-They wanted nothing of God to exist alongside their false gods
-This seems to me much like 21st century America
-Instead of freedom for Americans to worship God as they choose, many want to have freedom for Christians who are worshiping
-10 Commandments displays
-Manger scenes
-Prayer at public events
-Our altars are broken and need to be repaired
-We have allowed them to stay in pieces on the ground for too long, we must rise up and put the things of God back into the prominence of our country which was founded on Him and His principles
B. Renewing the people’s hearts toward God
-They had lost their passion
-They had forgotten His power
-They had grown cold towards God
-We have many today who need their hearts renewed towards the Lord
-Many even within our churches, or even here tonight
-Who see the evil around us and throw up their hands in despair
-Who think God is asleep or unconcerned
-But this is not true, God is alive and well and will move like He did in Elijah’s day if only we will restore Him to the place of prominence He deserves
CONCLUSION
-Tonight, we have much to learn from the great evangelists of the Old Testament
-Maybe you realize that you have given in to the world’s standards, thus damaging your testimony
-You’ve in some way let it squeeze you into its mold
-Maybe you haven’t been totally faithful to God
-Maybe the good times have been too good
-Maybe the bad times have been too bad
-Maybe you’ve let the altars of your life or of society to remain in shambles
-Tonight, it’s time to become great evangelists by accepting the call to stand strong, be faithful and restore God’s credibility
