Evangelism

God’s Commission

Make disciples
Baptize
All nations – mission field included beyond Jerusalem but even the Gentiles – Bring the good news before even the pagans – don’t be like Jonah
He will be with us always – spoken to the disciples, but the breadth of the command indicates that it extends to the whole Church until the end. The eleven and those who followed directly after them did well to spread the faith into the Roman world
Commission came from all authority in heaven
Mt Tabor (by tradition)

God’s commission was revolutionary

Teaching them to observe all that he had commanded – uncharacteristic for Rabbis, they made disciples for themselves, but there were called on to make disciples for Jesus
Gentile discipleship went outside of Jewish tradition, only few converts are known to have studied under Jewish Rabbis
Remember who it was Jesus gave this commission to. They weren’t trained in ministry, They had no diplomas, they were fishermen

Our commission

It is believed that there were upwards of 500 people present at that time to hear Jesus
The passage refers to “doubters” but it is unlikely that the disciples still had doubts at that time, there were others there
It was given to the church, but that there were that many people present, it was a command to be carried out by each of us, not just the organs of the church set up to carry out the commission
Some say, mostly the disciples were there, nevertheless, each of us is a part of the Church, and thus are responsible, in as much as we can affect things, to be a part of the commission

Matthew 28:17-20 (NASB95)
17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 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.”

[1]

1 Corinthians 15:2-7 (NASB95)
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;

[2]

God’s purpose for Israel

They were to be his witness
A light to the world
Despite their unfaithfulness, they still will be a light to the world

Isaiah 42:6 (NASB95)
6 “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,

[3]

Isaiah 43:10 (NASB95)
10 “You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me.

[4]

Israel was to be his witness

They had the experience of seeing divine salvation, and were to proclaim God to the world and his deeds for Israel were to be the evidence
They were to bear witness that he was the one and true God
This should be our guiding principle in sharing the Gospel, there is only God, we have the cross as our evidence

Isaiah 44:6-8 (NASB95)
6 “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me. 7 ‘Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; Yes, let him recount it to Me in order, From the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming And the events that are going to take place. 8 ‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.’ ”

[5]

God is patient and desires that all be saved

Long suffering – fruit of the Spirit
Will keep his promise but will wait – slow to anger

2 Peter 3:3-9 (NASB95)
3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

[6]

Testimony (Merriam Webster’s)

a divine decree attested in the Scriptures
firsthand authentication of a fact
an outward sign
a solemn declaration usually made orally by a witness under oath in response to interrogation by a lawyer or authorized public official[7]
an open acknowledgment
a public profession of religious experience

Understanding testimony (Marturia) μαρτυρία

Testimony and reputation are intimately linked
Acts 22:18 – Paul’s testimony of Christ would not be accepted in Jersusalem
Marturia – Is translated to “reputation” in 1 Timothy 3:7 – in the context of deacons and overseers; they were to have a good reputation with those outside the church; our reputation is a part of our testimony, we are like we really believe
Some were beheaded because of their marturia of Jesus – Revelation 20:4
Testimony is something that is verbal and lived out through application
We die as a testimony or speak the Gospel verbally by our testimony
Both give rise to the credibility of our testimony

Our Testimony as the spirit of prophesy

The spirit of prophesy is to testify of Jesus Revelation 19:10; or to bear his testimony, that is the purpose of the Holy Spirit, manifested in what we read in the Bible, what we say with our mouths, and by how we live.
The purpose of prophesy, by way of spirit, finds its ultimate course in Jesus
When we bear witness of Christ, we do so by the spirit of prophesy
The Spirit of God bears forth a true testimony of Jesus is I John 4:2
If somebody portrays Jesus incorrectly and denies he is the Son of God, then they do not teach by the Spirit of God
Our testimony needs to be accurate and uncompromising as to the nature of God and as to who Jesus really is
Bad reputations do not come from the Holy Spirit – It is not according to the spirit of prophesy
Jews of that time typically referred to the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of Prophesy”

What is our testimony?

Personal experiences that are the result of Christ changing our lives; have much more sway with most people than getting into the minutia of theology
Life lessons – What we’ve learned from the Bible, what we’ve learned from trials, and what we’ve learned from reading the Bible
It is almost like a personal case-study – point out that a lot of college curriculums are case studies, practical applications
Keep a journal, so that you may have an extensive list of life lessons to share
Our passions
Our testimony should not be in conflict with the “Spirit of Prophesy”
Ultimately, the end result is the Gospel, good news in your life should point to Good News in the life of the person you share your testimony

Make God known, praise his name in song Isaiah 12:4-6

Let the whole Earth know what he’s done
Evangelism – make the good news known – this is praising him – form of praise; It’s good news
Let it come from the heart as if it were a song

Required to wait five years before they could eat the fruit from trees they planted after entering into Canaan Leviticus 19:23-25

A Praise offering to the Lord
Praised the Lord before they enjoyed the fruit – We should praise God in anticipation of what he will provide (testament of faith)
Obey first, praise, then satisfaction – reverse of what we are used to doing; we don’t have to wait for things to praise the Lord
Praising is a way of life
Waiting for his lovingkindness – Psalm 147:11 – for the Lord’s favor
Praising in anticipation of lovingkindness
Giving things to God are praise. He first gave them to us.
Teaches sharing and sacrifice
Fruit of our lips

Hebrews 13:15

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the R650 fruit of lips that give thanks to His name

Methods of sharing the Gospel

FAITH
Roman’s road – find verses and methodology
Evangelism Explosion – learn, find something about it

Purpose of Evangelism Outlines

Keeps the presentation simple; the vast majority of those who you will share your message with will be lost under the weight of theological terminology – they won’t understand it
Recipients will remember more if your presentation is succinct and to the point
God is the one who saves, not you
The Holy Spirit calls us into salvation; all authentic salvations are divinely appointed where a Gospel presentation is given – whether they are receptive or not is a function of the hardness of their heart; it is an appointment of due time

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 (NASB95)
13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. 14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[8]

Galatians 1:15-16 (GNT)
15 But God in his grace chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve him. And when he decided 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the Gentiles, I did not go to anyone for advice,

[9]

Going from self-centered thinking to Global thinking

Contributing to the missions field – money, time, and prayer
Realizing the power of the Internet – understanding online is also real life, just a different medium
Willingness to learn another language; if it weren’t for the efforts of tireless translating of ancient documents, we wouldn’t have been able to read the Bible; We ought not be too arrogant towards those who cannot speak English
Willingness to witness to others besides family members; A similar passion for the lost in general; should pray for God to cultivate that kind of desire; We should learn to see others as he does
Realize the brokenness of those from other cultural backgrounds that are economically disadvantage; We have Good News – more likely to be receptive

Things that stimulate our desire to witness

Knowing and understanding the things that God has done for us
Need to journal our experiences, prayer requests, and answered prayers; sometimes journalizing our experiences, we uncover answered prayers
Faith
Not like the Israelites who focused on things they could see without understanding and trusting things they could not see – Ripe for discipline
Spiritual Maturity

Hebrews 5:11-14; 6:1-3

11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. 1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits.

Move on to maturity

We ought to be progressing, not going backwards or continually learning elementary principles
Can’t become “accustomed to righteousness”
Can’t discern good and evil
Don’t make every effort to apply what we’ve learned
Inhibits our walk with Christ
Makes us ripe for discipline
Weakens our faith
Little or no testimony
Little or no desire to impart to others what we know; we don’t know much and don’t care to share it – not enough time in our lives
If we don’t grow, then we don’t have anything to tell others
We have to be discipled to disciple
Continually test ourselves

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[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

[2] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

[3] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

[4] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

[5] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

[6] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

[7]Merriam-Webster, I. 1996, c1993. Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. Includes index. (10th ed.). Merriam-Webster: Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.

[8] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

[9] American Bible Society. 1992. The Holy Bible : The Good news Translation (2nd ed.). American Bible Society: New York