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Effective Evangelism
Acts
Do you know anyone who
cannot sit still? They always
have to be doing something. Even
when sitting, their motor is running [leg shaking]! The Apostle Paul was like
that…he always had to be preaching or witnessing or discipling or visiting.
He could have settled down comfortably in the large church at He didn’t view the church
as a parking lot, but as a launching pad! This is the beginning of
Paul’s 2nd Missionary journey…and we’ll see here some
essentials of effective
evangelism:
1.
The Right Passion Today we would say “drive.”
Some people are just driven…some have a passion for money…some for
fame. And Paul’s passion was
reaching the lost. 1 Cor. 9:16
For though I preach
the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon
me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
He’s saying, don’t pat me
on the back because I witness and preach and proclaim…I have to do these
things…it’s in my bones! He’s saying, for me,
witnessing is not an option…reaching the lost is not a suggestion…for me,
it’s a command! He was
passionate about it. Another word for it is
enthusiasm, which comes from 2 greek words:
en and theos… “in God”!
We can’t go wrong w/ enthusiasm.
It helps us do anything and do it better.
Col. 3:23
And whatsoever ye
do, do it heartily, as to the Lord… You can’t have too much
enthusiasm. But spiritually, we really
cannot have too much passion…the opposite of spiritual passion is spiritual
sleep. Romans 13:11
And that, knowing
the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed.
That’s a spiritual sleep
he’s referring to, and he was right…the church is sleeping in a noisy room
full of lost people. A vast
majority of our city doesn’t know Christ as Savior…but we walk right past
them in stores, at work, on the street…and we’re “sleep-walking!”
Nearly 7 billion people are alive on this planet but most are
spiritually dead. And there’s a
small minority of us which are supposedly spiritually alive but we’re in
some kind of a stuper…stumbling around spiritually at best!
Once in a while we trip over some sinner accidentally, and we have
one saved now and then…but it’s time to wake up…imagine what we could do w/
some passion! Alive!
Alert! Awake!
Enthusiastic! We come by it honestly.
Here’s some of our predecessors from scripture:
·
Jonah—he was a good sleeper…he
slept the sleep of
unconcern. God told
him to preach to the wicked Assyrians in
Do we REALLY believe God?
Do we believe the Bible is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth? Or do we approach
it “cafeteria style”…picking and choosing what is tasteful to us? “You’re trying to scare
people.” Yes, if they need
scaring, then that’s exactly what I’m doing. Another Bible example of
spiritual sleep:
·
Peter, James and John in the
·
Samson—where did he fall asleep?
In Delilah’s lap! He
slept the sleep of the
unaware. Once he
revealed the source of his strength he lost his power, but he didn’t know he
lost it. The Philistines came
upon him during naptime, and he sprung up to flex and rip and tear and watch
them run like always, but the Bible says “he wist not the Spirit of the Lord
had departed from him.” He was
sleeping the sleep of the unaware.
He was overconfident…and too comfortable!
God help the pastor and the church that starts feeling like the well
oiled machine… “we don’t even need to pray—the way God is blessing”.
We don’t need to visit and invite people—they way they are pouring in
the door!” “We have lots of
money in the bank, we don’t have to depend on God!”
Nobody would say these things audibly, but so often we act that way!
35 minutes after the final
warning they were sinking, and history records that crew as “criminally
complacent.” The 1st
essential to effective evangelism is passion, and we need to wake up to the
needs of the hour!
2.
The Right Priority The Apostle Paul had the
right priority. He knew that the
main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing…we get off track in
churches way too easily! The
main thing is winning souls…keeping people out of hell!
Everything else is subservient to that one goal.
Paul never forgot that
Christ was born to die, to rise again, to save that which was lost…He came
not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life for His
priority!
Modern-Day Parable: Once upon a time a
community of people who lived along a stretch of dangerous sea-coast where
shipwrecks often occurred eventually organized a rescue operation.
They decided to do something about all the drowning people near their
city. And so a small life-saving
station was built, and the devoted members of the rescue team kept an
ongoing watch over the sea…ready to man their little boats to search for
survivors in case of shipwreck.
As a result, the town became famous for the many lives that were saved.
More and more people joined the team, and soon a new building was
needed. It was much larger than
the 1st building, and was beautifully furnished and decorated.
But as more and more amenities were added for the members pleasure
and comfort, the building was slowly transformed into a kind of clubhouse.
Some of the members then began to lose interest in the rescue
operation. But then a shipwreck
occurred, and many survivors were rescued and brought to the clubhouse for
first aid. During this several
day period, the frenzied activity caused the elegant clubhouse to be
significantly marred, by such things as blood stains and the smell of the
sea. At the next meeting there
was a split in the membership.
Most members felt that the life-saving operation was a hindrance to their
social life. And those who
disagreed were told they could go to another operation further down the
coast. As years went by, history
continued to repeat itself, and today, that seacoast is lined with a number
of exclusive clubhouses lining the shore, but no one in the area seems too
concerned w/ the rescue operation. You know, there’s a church
on almost every corner of this city, but it’s so easy to lose our
priorities, and even we are not immune. I like what Charles Haddon
Spurgeon said, “If sinners will
be damned, at least let them leap into hell over our bodies.
And if they will perish, let them perish w/ our arms about their
knees, imploring them to stay.
If hell must be filled, let not one go there unwarned and unsprayed for.”
3.
The Right Presentation 16:4-5 You have to have passion, you have to
have priority, but ultimately, you have to have the right message.
We’re put to shame by some cults w/ much more passion and priority
than we have…what a shame the message, the presentation, they are
communicating! The right message is that
salvation is by grace alone, thru faith alone, in Christ alone, plus
nothing, minus nothing. [ That’s the right message,
and when you couple that w/ love, souls WILL be saved. Psalm 126:5-6
They that sow in
tears shall reap in joy. [6] He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing
precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him.
Years later Ira Sankey was
singing for D.L. Moody in When we take the right
message and couple it w/ love, people will be saved.
We have to have the right passion…it’s time to wake up.
We have to have the right priority…it’s time to put first things
first. We have to have the right
presentation, the right message. Let’s sing it together, “Rescue the perishing, care for the dying…”
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