Sermon Central
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Evangelism 101 Series
Contributed by Shawn Drake on Jun 17, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: This is the 22nd sermon in the series "Moving With God".
Sunday Morning June 7, 2009
Preached w/Adrian Wallace @ Bel Aire
Series: “Moving With God (Exodus)” [#22]
EVANGELISM 101
Introduction:
[Video: “The Fire Fighter Story”]
Do you find it easy to love and worship God- All the things He has done? When we think of how wonderful and how beautiful He is and how he demonstrated His love for us on the Cross; it is easy for Christians to love God, but it is not easy show love by obeying His commands. His commandments to seek and save the lost, the reason Jesus came to this earth.
He has called each and every one of us to preach the Good News- Not just the pastor of this church or any other church, but every one of us is a minister of the gospel and is instructed to share the gospel, to share your faith.
If this commission was only given to the disciples, then after their passing, this would have gone away too, but Jesus was not only instructing the disciples, but He knew years ahead that this generation as other generations have past, that this Scripture was given to us - the church, the Christians, followers of Christ in which He commission us to go and preach the Good News.
Bill Bright, the Founder of world’s largest Christian ministry; Campus Crusades for Christ, wrote a book called “The Coming Revival”. He states that “only 2% of Christians in America share their faith regularly, only 2%.
That means the other percentage of the body of Christ can result in only two things:
1. We are comfortable in just worshipping God and don’t care of the cries of the ungodly or their fate.
2. We don’t know how to share our faith
It’s like that fire fighter who said “I don’t how to climb a ladder and rescue people” If he is a fire fighter that works for the fire department, he needs to study up on how to rescue people. In essence it is the same for Christians.
Oswald J Smith - was a Canadian pastor and evangelist and founding pastor of The Peoples Church, a large congregation in greater Toronto quotes: “Oh my friends, we are loaded down with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing and winning the lost, is almost entirely neglected”.
Here is the point: If you are not sharing your faith, if you are not seeking the lost and obeying the Scriptures- to save them with the fear and knowledge of God and pulling them out of the fire (Hell), or don’t have any concern for them- than you are that fire fighter! Jesus said if you love me, you will keep my commandments. If we are merely drawing near to Him with our lip service, but our hearts remain far from Him- refusing to do the small things that He asked us to do- than He is not our Lord and He will distanced Himself from us on the Day of Judgment despite our sacrifice of praise. Many will cry out “Lord, Lord”, but He will say “depart from me I never knew you”
What sentenced did you give that fire fighter? 2 yrs, 20 yrs, life sentenced capital punishment?
Are you and I honest enough to judge ourselves in the same standard?
Just think of the fate of that family, think of his dreadful neglect of duty. He wasn’t a fire fighter, he was a Judas, a traitor, and the blood is on his hands. Now think of those that are not saved; a co-worker, your mother, your father, a spouse, your children, a friend. And think about the terrible fate, eternal separation from the Lord, and think about our neglected duty.
Charles H. Spurgeon- was an English Baptist preacher, author, and editor- made this statement: “Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself, be sure of that.”
Perhaps you and like others are praying for revival, and that is good, but if we don’t share our faith, if we regulate revival to a Sovereign move of God then, in essence we are saying: God we know the scriptures say to go into all the world and preach the gospel, but we will stay here and pray. We know that the gospel of God is powerful unto salvation, but we will stay here and pray. It’s easier to talk to God about men, than men about God.
If we love people, we must do something. But how
Let’s imagine this- If I was sleeping at my house and wake up in the middle of the night and realize that a few doors down, my neighbors house is on fire. So I get up, put on my clothes and shoes and rush over there and gently knock on the door, because you don’t want to offend them. Saying “Um you don’t know me, but well Hi my name is ______, and I just wanted to let you know I care for you but, you might want to come over to my house, not that anything is wrong with yours, but you might want to follow me to my house. No pressure, it’s up to you.” That wouldn’t be right- NO!
