Evangelism

Goal: Be intentional about evangelizing the lost and reclaiming the un-churched.

before we get to evangelism . . . .

be intentional - not just hoping and praying people get saved, but do my part in the process

lost - people who are not Christians, not saved, on the way to hell

un-churched - do not regularly attend church

don’t know name of church

don’t know name of pastor

don’t give money

only attend on special occasions

church they grew up in, but haven’t attended in years

good question to ask - who’s the pastor there?

what ministry do you serve in?

Evangelism Definition: sharing the saving message of Jesus Christ.

we have a saving message . . .. the gospel . . . the good news . . .

good news that Jesus came to save them

Evangelism - Method

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we become his witnesses.

Acts 1:8 NASB95

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.”

a witness tells what they know, what they have seen, share info

(just like a witness on the stand or a witness making a report to a police officer)

tell what you know about Jesus - don’t have to tell what you don’t know

don’t have to be a seminary graduate

witnesses typically don’t know every part of a story anyway

tell what you’ve seen

what has Jesus done for you; your testimony, your story (dramatic or non-dramatic)

what has he done for others (1st hand knowledge)

share info - tell what the Bible says about Jesus

What about the Power of the Holy Spirit in being a witness?

from our study in Acts, we see that the Holy Spirit . . . .

Demonstration of power that brings curiosity/belief from others

Day of Pentecost

healing of lame man at the temple

they see him working in your life, or you can share a miraculous moment

good prayer “Demonstrate your power so that I can be your witness”

“showing the love and power of God”

Who to go to/who not to go to

Philip and the eunuch (Eunuch was ready and HS knew it)

Holy Spirit told Paul not to go to certain places

if you witness to everyone you see, you couldn’t go to the grocery store

Send people your way (bring the opportunity to you)

Centurion sent for Peter

Paul and Silas in jail, the jailer came to them

Tell you what to say/give you boldness

prayed for boldness and the place shook

Why are we to be his witnesses?

Jesus commands his disciples to go and make other disciples

Matthew 28:19–20 NASB95

19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

this is a part of every Christian’s job

sheep begat sheep

disciples begat disciples

disciples - serious followers of Christ

they have to be evangelized before they can become disciples

we must be serious ourselves!

Living Witness

being a living witness is good, we should always be a living witness - good examples, light in a dark world.

but we are emphasizing the actual sharing the gospel message in addition to living a holy life.

they won’t know the reason behind your lifestyle if they are never evangelized

The Gospel Message

All have sinned

Romans 3:23 NASB95

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Sin has a penalty

Romans 6:23 NASB95

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christ paid the penalty

Romans 5:8 NASB95

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Salvation is a free gift

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Salvation must be received

John 1:12 NASB95

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

believe enough to follow Him, believe enough to become a disciple

Salvation is assured

1 John 5:13 NASB95

13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Inviting to Church

inviting to church is not witnessing/evangelizing, but it is very important

gives them chance for them to be evangelized at church

if they say they have accepted Christ, then tell them that they are called to be a disciple, and joining a church is part of that process

be an active part of the body of Christ

if you evangelize a person and they become a Christian

emphasize the importance of joining church (good to join ours)

“joining a church does not save you, but if you are serious about following Christ, you will join a church

Hebrews 10:25 NLT

25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Other things to consider

pray about your evangelism!

who, how, when, demonstrations of power

questions are good openers, from Acts we learned to start with the truth they know.

“What do you believe when it comes to spiritual things?”

what did you do this weekened (gives chance to talk about your weekend)

what church do you go to?

Then tell them what you believe.

in my mind, I will treat un-church like they are unsaved (keep mentioning the plan of salvation)

Results are up to God.

Doing good doesn’t mean that there will be no persecution

Christmas is a good time to evangelize sneakily

Social Media - YouTube

Social Media has a World Wide reach . . . WMBC

all platforms have algorithms that try to get you to keep watching another video

they figure out what you like

they figure out what is likely to be popular

YouTube - place for videos (funny, sports, conspiracy theories, how to fix a microwave, music videos, ect . . . . sermons

How you can help?

I will start to share excerpts, usually less than a minute

1. you can share that link through text message (or Facebook), “This 30 second excerpt was encouraging to me, I thought you might find it encouraging too”

that person gets to hear

get to learn something about what our church is like

they might remember that when if they ever decided to go to a church

they might go to channel and watch more

they might share it with someone else, who might come to church

the views will cause the algorithm to show our videos to more people

2. Get a YouTube account

subscribe to the channel

like

comment

3. YouTube is a Good thing to do if you don’t want to engage with others, people can’t really look you up

Announcements

Christmas Program

New Year’s Day

to things

invite people

bring something

snacks for xmas

food for New Years

because of inflation and busy schedule - do what you can do

if you can’t do both do one

if you can’t do a lot, do a little

here’s $5 to help

don’t have time to cook, but I will get a cake from the store

we will pray that God will multiply what we do bring

continued prayers for Sis. Cooks, Mother Alston