Sermon Tone Analysis

Before you begin your Bible study, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, be sure you have named your sins privately to God the Father.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(Known, Unknown and Forgotten sins) (1Jn 1:9)

 

 

You will then be in fellowship with God, Filled with the Holy Spirit and ready to learn Truth from the Word of God.

 

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth," (John 4:24)

* *

* *

 

*WITNESSING*

* *

* *

 

         RESPONSIBILITY OF WITNESSING

 

/       /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.

(Acts 1:8)

 

Who is responsible for the declaration of the Gospel — the good news of Salvation — to the unbelieving world?

Is the duty and privilege of witnessing reserved solely for ministers, missionaries and evangelists?

Far from it!

Personal evangelism is the responsibility of EVERY believer in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Before He returned to heaven, the Lord commissioned born-again believers to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

His Command is repeated in several of the epistles; thus the Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians that they were to be ambassadors for Christ.

(2Co 5:20) An ambassador is a high-ranking minister of state, often a member of royalty or nobility, sent to another state to represent his sovereign on official business.

Ambassadorship exists in the Spiritual as well as in the temporal realm.

Like earthly ambassadors, we did not appoint ourselves but were appointed by our Savior to represent Him on earth, as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords while He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

(Col 3:1-17) As children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, we were born again into a high and noble position; we are not only citizens of this country, but also “fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” (Eph 2:19) As the heavenly King’s personal representatives on the earth, we are in FULL-TIME Christian service, regardless of our vocation or profession!

We do not act in our own interest but in the interest of our Lord!

Like earthly ambassadors, we receive our instructions in written form, and we must remain at our post of duty until the Lord recalls us.

Every perfect provision is made for us by our Sovereign; yet our effectiveness as ambassadors depends upon our understanding of our mission.

Like all functions in life, particularly Spiritual functions, witnessing requires proper motivation, adequate preparation and Spiritual Knowledge of God's pertinent Truths.

Apart from the Divine appointment of each individual believer as an ambassador, there exists the Spiritual gift of evangelism.

(Eph 4:11) Both functions coexist in God’s Plan, but because their simultaneous operation is not correctly taught, personal witnessing is frequently distorted into a merit system or is set aside entirely in favor of mass evangelism.

As a result, there prevails today a non-Biblical pattern: an evangelist is invited to some church to conduct a “revival,’ and members

of that church bring their friends to hear him.

If a few people are saved in this “revival,” believers often think that their personal obligation to witness has been fulfilled.

Consequently, the erroneous concept has developed that evangelism should be confined to a local church or public building.

Let me correct this misconception.

First of all, in its true sense, a revival concerns believers, not unbelievers.

Second, the primary function of the local church is the communication of Truth to believers so they might grow in grace and become Spiritually self-sustaining, and Spiritually mature.

Third, most unbelievers will come to church only under some type of pressure or coercion.

In the wrong frame of mind, they are resentful and scarcely give their full attention to the Gospel.

Instead of responding to the message, they may react to it and wait impatiently for the service to end.

But let us assume evangelism is carried out under more favorable conditions.

Suppose that we had an evangelist at our church for a week, and fifty of those who attended responded to the Gospel.

It is wonderful when even one person accepts Christ as Savior; but here are FIFTY who did! Isn’t that just great?

Think again!

In our hypothetical case, let’s say that we had exactly one thousand church members, and all of these one thousand believers began to witness to those unbelievers with whom they rub elbows every day.

This might take place in the office, at the factory, in the shop — on our dime of course!

(With Spiritual fineness, class and style) It might occur on the campus or in the barracks — wherever they associate with unbelievers.

Suppose that in a given week each of the church members led one person to Jesus Christ.

Now here is a totally different picture: you have ONE THOUSAND converts in contrast to the FIFTY!

The entire Concept of Biblical witnessing is that believers should go outside the local church in order to disseminate the Gospel to unbelievers and Truth to believers!

The point is that although not every believer is an evangelist, every believer is responsible for witnessing!

AGENCIES OF WITNESSING

 

       The first declaration of the Gospel occurred in the Garden of Eden after the Fall, with the Lord Himself as the Evangelist; and the first man and his wife as the recipients of the good news of Salvation.

(Gen 3:15-22) After the regeneration of Adam and Eve, the Gospel became their sacred trust, and witnessing operated on what is called the “family plan.”

According to this system, the first parents set the precedent for all future parents in that they evangelized their own children.

The pattern was established; and the first religious carnal believer, Cain murdered his Spiritual believing brother; Abel, (Gen 4:8-9; Jud 1:11) and God’s restoration of the regenerate line of Christ; through Seth, who also responded positively to the Gospel.

(Gen 4:25-26)

       The family concept of evangelization continued through Noah and his family until the time of the Flood.

(Gen 7:1) After the Flood, (Gen 8:21) God Commanded that the posterity of Noah’s sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth, be divided into separate nations.

(Gen 10:1) As these new nations developed and expanded, evangelism was generally contained within each national entity.

With the passing of time, mankind became increasingly preoccupied with the details of life — material possessions, friends, loved ones, pleasures and success; consequently, they turned a deaf ear to the Gospel and Divine Thinking.

When people reject the grace of God in Salvation; and when believers neglect Truth, decadence and apostasy invariably take over!

This was the case at the time of the construction of the Tower of Babel: the need for evangelism was forgotten, and man substituted his own thoughts and plans for those of God.

(Gen 11:1-9) God had to break up the first “United Nations” to assure that witnessing would continue on a world-wide basis.

The family system of witnessing was replaced with one specific missionary agency the nation Israel.

God called out one believing Gentile, Abram, to become the father of the Jewish race, (Gen 12:1-3) and over a period of four hundred years, formed this nation.

Israel was made God’s appointed custodian of Divine Truth and was given the responsibility of evangelizing the world.

(Rom 3:1-2) Instead of carrying out their assignment, the Israelites came to regard Salvation as a Jewish monopoly and ultimately failed in their mission!

A particularly apostate period in their history brought the Jews under severe Divine discipline — the Babylonian captivity, following which God graciously promised His people an additional 490 years of missionary activity.

This period was cut short seven years as a result of Israel's national rejection of their Messiah and the subsequent death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The Jews still “owe” God seven years of witnessing; yet so great were Israel's failures that God set them aside in favor of a new agency — the New Covenant Church age.

When I say “Church,” I do not mean any specific local church; I refer to all individuals who have personally received Christ as Savior during the Church Age; (From the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33 until the Harvest) — (Matt 13:30; Rev 14:15) ALL born-again believers from every nation on the face of the earth.

So, if you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a member of the Church universal; you are responsible to God for the dissemination of the Gospel in your own nation.

Because of the confusion about personal evangelism, we have missed a great opportunity to win souls to Christ in our generation.

America is not a Christian nation; our citizens are as desperately in need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the people in darkest Africa are!

How can we hope to send out missionaries if we cannot witness effectively in our own backyard?

Following the removal of the Church from this earth at the Harvest.

There will be a period known in the Bible as the “Great Tribulation.”

(Matt 24:21; Rev 7:14) Once again, the Jews will assume their major role as the Lord’s witnesses, for this final period of  time completes the 490 years God promised Israel; for evangelism.

In those terrible years, the testimony of angelic witnesses, (Rev 14:6-7) and that of the resurrected Moses and Elijah;

(Rev 11:3-12) will spread the Gospel throughout the world.

Grace always precedes judgment!

Then follows the Millennium.”

(Isa 65:25; Rev 20:2) Although the personal reign of Jesus Christ begins with believers only, the birth of unbelievers during that period will make witnessing necessary.

The responsibility of personal evangelism rests with individual believers living in that era of history.

So great will be the saturation of the Gospel message that, (Isa 11:9) predicts that “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

Thus, while the agencies for witnessing in each dispensation are slightly different, the means of salvation is always the same — faith in the Person and work of Jesus Christ! (Acts 4:12)

 

       MINIMAL KNOWLEDGE FOR WITNESSING

 

       It is a well-known fact that you cannot communicate what you do not know!

If your knowledge of the good news of salvation is fuzzy, so will be your presentation.

As a result, the person to whom you witness will have no clear understanding of the Gospel or the issue in salvation.

Often, there is too much zeal in witnessing and too little knowledge.

For example, zealous but ignorant Christians have a mistaken idea of what constitutes genuine conversion; usually, they want everyone to give up his sins and change his wicked ways.

Yet salvation is entirely-the work of God! Therefore, if you want to be effective in witnessing, it is imperative that you understand your subject.

Note, I did not say that you must understand the whole realm of Truth in order to tell others of God’s Plan of Salvation; what I am saying is that you should at least know what that Plan is all about!

Furthermore, you should be cognizant of where your part in witnessing ends and that of the Holy Spirit begins; you should master the prerequisites for successful personal evangelism.

What, then, is the minimal Spiritual Knowledge standard for effective witnessing?

 

       1.

Witnessing is the responsibility of every believer.

There are two areas in which you may witness; in your life (2Co 3:3; (2Co 6:3) and with your lips.

(2Co 5:14-21; (2Co 6:2)

 

       2.

Witnessing involves knowledge of Bible Truths pertinent to Salvation.

"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father (Christ was accepted) and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

(John 16:7-11)

 

        God the Holy Spirit convicts the unbeliever, of unbelief in Christ; that ONLY CHRIST has perfect righteousness; and that we are ALL sinners.