Men's Breakfast: Being a Godly Man: Evangelism

Introduction

Good morning men, I’m Jacob Jackson the pastor/planter of Covenant Life Church. My wife Vickery and I have been married 16 years in December and we have 4 kids. We moved to Richmond in 2018 and planted Covenant Life the first week of Covid.

God has been good to us—the church is growing—and God has used awesome partners to helps us in planting the church: one of which is SMRBC. So thank you for all your support. We’re grateful.

You guys have been studying what it means to be a “Man on Mission” at these awesome breakfasts.

Today I have the privilege to talk to you about evangelism. Being a man on mission means purposeful evangelism.

Q. What is evangelism?

A. It is sharing the life changing good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ and seeking a response. This is the pattern we see from Scripture.

Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””

There isn’t a better model than Jesus. Evangelism is calling people to repent, turn from sin, and to believe in the gospel of Jesus. The good news of Jesus Christ.

What is the good news of Jesus Christ?

We are sinners. That need to be pardoned.

Jesus was perfect

Jesus died on our behalf.

He was raised to life again.

All who come to him for salvation will be saved.

We are dead in sin. And this separates us from God.

If we die in the guilt of this sin we will be judged by it because God is a good, righteous judge.

The standard we all must meet to be reconciled to God is perfection. You and I must never break God’s law once.

That’s the bad news.

Here’s the good news.

God has provided the perfection you need for you.

Jesus was born and lived life in a body just like us. But he never sinned. He loved God with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength. And he loved his neighbor as himself. He was perfect in our place.

And Jesus died in our place. He didn’t deserve to die but we do. So Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sin. And he died.

Three days later, as he said, he rose from the dead. And appeared to his people.

In Jesus the guilt of sin and death is defeated.

In Jesus you can have a relationship with God and go to heaven because Jesus lived perfectly in your place and Jesus took the wrath of God for your sins in your place.

If you believe in your heart that Jesus did this for you and confess with your mouth that he is Lord you will be saved.

God’s Plan is to use you.

ordinary people sharing the gospel

Acts 8:3-4 “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.”

we talk about evangelism as a gift and if we feel like we don’t have we don’t use it.

We can’t look at the most gifted people around us and say because I am not like that I can’t do this

If that were the case I need to stop preaching. I’m not spurgeon. I’m not gifted like that. Should I go and announce to my church tomorrow that I can no longer be the pastor or preach because I’m not like Charles Spurgeon?

So remove from your mind the idea that because you aren’t extremely gifted in evangelism that you outht not do it.

If you have a mouth and know and believe the gospel then you have everything you need to be an effective evangelist.

Romans 10:14-15 “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””

God is infinitely wise and his plans are perfectly good.

And his plan is to use you to save people in Jesus.

And friends, we must understand that this is a great privilege. You and I have been called to build the kingdom of Jesus!

I met with the “elder” and his wife who were in charge of supervising the building of the Mormon Temple down the road. And when I met with them they talked about the great privilege of building this temple to Jesus. And it is a beautiful building. Looks like Washington D.C. but it’s just a false temple to a false God.

You and I have been called to build the real kingdom of the one and only true God! And God didn’t have to do this! He lovingly calls us into the family business.

Friends, we should repent when we think about evangelism as a burden that we should be doing. It is a privilege that we get to do.

Q. Why should we share the gospel?

Because people are lost. Compassion.

Because God tells us to. Obedience.

Because we love God.

John 14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

You can be obedient and not love. But if you love you will be obedient not because you have. Not because you should. But because you want to love your God.

Friends, if we are to be Men on Mission who share the gospel as a regular part of my life then we must understand that the strongest reason to do so is because we love God.

While we absolutely should be concerned for the lost person our main motivation for evangelism must be our love for God.

This motivation is one that will last.

I just recently started going to a gym in Lakeside. And it isn’t an easy gym. It’s one of those crazy gyms where you do intense workouts for 45 minutes straight and you feel like you’re going to die. You have to sign a one year contract when you start and after that it’s month to month with no contract for the rest of your life.

After my first “workout”—more like torture. I told the owner that I now understand why you have to sign a one year contract. Because if you didn’t no one would ever come back after the first workout. But now I’m on the hook for the money.

But money isn’t my main motivation. Having muscles isn't my main motivation. Being physically healthier isn’t my main motivation.

Why do you think I go to this place over and over again? Because I love my family. I want to be healthy because if I am it will serve them better and I love them. Love is a powerful motivator. It’ll get me out of bed to be willingly tortured at this “gym”.

Brothers, if you want to be a Man on Mission who shares the gospel as he should. Your main motivation must be a love for God who is infinitely worthy of your love.

Plug for Delighting in the Company of God conference. You should come.

Transition: So we know what evangelism is and is not—we know what the gospel is—and we know that God has called us to do it. So with the rest of our time I want to equip you and exhort you in this awesome calling.

Pick a tool

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Practice with it

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Pray for Opportunities

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Always be Ready

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