For the last 9 months, my brother in Christ, Nathan Guest and I have had the honor and privilege to facilitate a class on Personal Evangelism. It’s been a great learning experience for the students and I believe for Nathan & me as well. Something that I have taken from the classes is that many just don’t know where to start when introducing Christ, the Gospel, the church, or God to people who “just don’t seem interested.”
We have often conveyed the point that God wants us to go teach/preach the gospel of Christ and not give excuses of why we can’t. Sure, it is challenging, but we must still tell people about the salvation that God has for them.
Nathan and I have also brought up the Apostles and looked at how they evangelized. With that in mind, I want to share something with you. I was listening to a sermon yesterday and was encouraged by some things that the minister said when speaking about the Apostles:
“Everywhere they go, they preach the same sermon:
- Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth.
- We are sinners that deserve to be condemned.
- He died in our place and He was raised from the dead and when people heard that message they all responded the same way. What way? They all came believing if they believed Jesus was the son of God, convinced of the evidence, they believed.
- Those people were told to turn and repent of their sins.
- Confessing Jesus as Lord, they were baptized to have their sins washed away and they were placed in God’s family. That’s the faith and grace system coming together and you see it everywhere.”
Ok, so we are not Apostles. We were not there when Jesus started His ministry. We were not there when Jesus ascended back to Heaven and we definitely do not have the miraculous gifts they had. But we can teach and preach today just like they did then about the same things today (see above for reference).
Be encouraged to tell at least 1 soul before the end of this week about Jesus, God, or the church (which Jesus and God along with the Spirit are in).
– Jayly M. Jackson