It’s only Good News when its shared….
Evangelism lesson 101……
We are informed that public speaking seem to always top the list of what people fear the most. I think that in Christendom in Australia, there has been somewhat of an overlap of this fear as well, with many Christians fearful of sharing the gospel with another person. In particular with a total stranger.
Firstly, I believe a major part of this fear to share the good news of Jesus Christ has been partially the fault of the church over a number of years. The thinking that you have to be someone gifted or unique in this capacity to be an evangelist. Whilst the Bible does give credence to the gift of the ministry of evangelism – Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, – the task of evangelism is also given by Christ to ever Christian in the Great Commission – Mar 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
The task of sharing the good news is just not one particular person’s task. It’s the mission of the whole church.
Secondly, many Christians shy away from sharing the Gospel simply because they fear that the person they share it with most likely will reject it. Yet we take rejection for many other things we believe in or share with others, ‘on the chin’ or ‘with a grain of salt’. Things such as fashion, politics, sport and other such topics. But the possibility of being rejected because we share Christ with someone we seem to have a complete separate category for.
This is I believe, is the result of an absolute ‘con job’ by our adversary Satan, in which he has sold to us the lie that if someone rejects our offer of good news it will be totally embarrassing to us.
How good a job has he done with you? Do you have no problems sharing your opinions on world matters, social beliefs or personal opinions o subjects with anybody at work or in your family? But you don’t go near the sharing of the Bible with those same people in case they think you are a ‘religious zealot’?
Thirdly, we shy away from evangelism when we are too busy and too focused on the world we now live in. Our Christianity has become choked with the cares of the world and we go about our day without a thought for those souls who do not know Christ as their personal Saviour and their eternal destiny. Our lives have again become selfish and our hearts hardened. We just don’t bother!
May I ask you when was the last time you shared the gospel with another person? When was the last time you actually asked someone to make a decision about Jesus Christ?
Our task is simple – we share the good news and God does the rest. We cannot save anyone but we are to share with everyone! We need to remember that we are indeed sharing Good News. When something wonderful has happened to you don’t you want to immediately tell everyone you know what has happened?
The great evangelist D.L. Moody once made a vow to never let a day go by without witnessing to at least one person. One late winter night about ten o’clock, he realized that he had not witnessed to anyone. He had set his mind to never let a day pass without sharing the gospel with at least one person and so he went out into the night and found a man standing under a lamppost. He asked the man if he was a Christian. The man flew into a violent rage. The man stormed into the church elder’s office and said that this man is “doing more harm than good.” The elder tried to talk Moody out of what he was doing. Thankfully Moody kept doing what he was already doing. Three months passed when the man came to Moody’s home late one night and apologized for the way he treated Moody. The man then asked about the state of his soul. That man was saved that very night and became one of the church’s greatest Sunday school teachers.
It’s time to step out of the shadows and bring people into the Light. This week set yourself to share the gospel with at least one person, and having asked them the question – “Would they like to receive Christ as their Saviour and Lord!”
Remember, you said yes when someone asked you!