Evangelism
Some people say "I want to go on a foreign mission trip, somewhere 'way out there'". I think that's great. However, if you can't do it at home, what makes you think you can do it out there? I believe there is a stepping place, a beginning place. Start where you are today. If you are faithful where you are today, God will open up opportunities out there.
1 Peter 3:15 says, "Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you". Be ready, at all times. Be ready to give an answer. In other words, every one of us needs to be prepared to share the Good News with somebody.
You say, "Well, I'm scared to death about that. I don't know if I can do that." Well, first of all, do you have a story? If you have a story, you can share your story. Second, you can share the Good News with them. You might say, "I don't know how to do that." Let me make it real easy for you, ok? Buy one of those little New Testaments at the bible book store. Turn to the introduction, where it says, "Can you find hope in today's world? Well, what do you know? God cares for you. The New Testament has a little introduction and it says to turn to Romans 1:16 "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile." Then look at Romans 2:4. (They call this the Roman Road - it's the plan of salvation.)
There is another technique you can use: the bridge illustration. What is the bridge illustration? Draw a simple picture of a bridge separating two sides. Share how God is on one side of that bridge and man is on the other side. Man can not get to God because there's something that separates them, and that thing which separates them happens to be sin. Sin stands between us and God, and the Bible says we've all sinned. Romans 3:23 says, "We have all sinned and come short of the Glory of God." That means man cannot get to God because of sin. But that doesn't stop man because man is always trying to do something to get to God, like become good enough or maybe go to church all the time. Man hopes that maybe he can reach God through philosophy or something like that, or through some religious way. Man is always trying to get to God, but it just doesn't work because every effort of man falls short. If we stayed in that condition, separated from God, we would spend eternity separated from God in a very real, literal hell. But John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
"Whoever believes"--that word believe is not just know mental facts about God but is committing yourself to those facts. It is saying, "Jesus, come into my life, be the Lord of my life". And you see then, Jesus will be the bridge. He is the only way to the Father. In John 14:5, Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except through Me". The only way that you can come to God is through Jesus. It is a faith relationship with Jesus. If you have never given your life to Jesus, then please do now.
The point is you need to know how to share the Good News of Jesus.
You're going to need to tell people about the Lord, because God is counting on you to do that. In fact, that is why He's keeping you alive. I mean, for what other reason are you to be here? If you think about it, why are you on this earth? Why didn't God just kill you when you got saved? Why didn't He just say, "Ok, you're saved," and then take you into Heaven? Think about it--why is God leaving you here?
We were created with a mission in mind. God created each of us with a purpose. There are only two things that you can do on earth that you can't do in heaven: sin and evangelize.
First of all, sin! You can't sin in heaven. You can sin here, but you can't sin in heaven. I mean, you can do your best to try to be able to sin in heaven, but you will not be able to sin in heaven. There's another thing that you can do here that you can't do there, and that is evangelize. I mean, everybody in Heaven is going to be saved! Everybody in heaven already has a relationship with Jesus. There will be no one left who hasn't heard and received the Good News. That is why I say that there are two things that you can do here that you can't do there. One is sin and the other is share Jesus and evangelize.
Now, which one of those two things do you think God is keeping you here on earth for? We can figure this one out. God is keeping you here to share the Good News. That is why you're here.
2 Peter 3:9 says this: "God does not want anyone to be lost." He wants all people to change their heart and their lives. You don't have to go to the foreign mission field to start doing what God wants you to do, there are plenty of unsaved people around you in your every day life. Start by sharing the Good News with them.
However, don't limit yourself and your "evangelism" to just your little world. Dare to reach beyond your own world. This is the "Judea and the Samaria" portions of Acts 1:8. We looked at that verse earlier because it contains the Lord's recipe for evangelism. But let's take a quick look at it again: "You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to all the ends of the earth."
We already talked about Jerusalem (the place where we live and work and play). Now we want to take a look at the "Judeas and Samurais" in our life. We must reach beyond our little world. I put that word dare in the previous paragraph, because dare means 'I've got get a little bit out of my comfort zone to do that."
How do I dare to reach beyond my own world? I'm going to be working with people who simply will not like me--people who are little bit different than me. Maybe people of a different culture or a different language, different background or different education, or business. I will encounter somebody who is different than me, somebody who I might not immediately relate to. And what I have to do is I have to build a bridge to them.
1 Corinthians 9:22 says, "Whatever a man is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him." Whatever they're like, I'm going to find something in common with them, and I'm going to go to them and build a bridge to them. I'm not going to make them come to me...I am going to build a bridge to them.
To tell you the truth, inviting someone to come to church with you may not be the most effective way to evangelize. That is because you are making them come to you; making them come to church, making them come to our ground. There are some people who will come to church: those who are ready and hungry and just wanting to give their heart to Jesus. But in the world out there, most of them don't even know that they are lost. They are not going to come to church, So we need to find a way to reach them. That way is going to demand that you build a bridge to them. You need to find a common ground, and love them into the kingdom of God. That is what that verse is basically saying there. We need to build a bridge.
How do you do that? Galatians 6:1 gives us some insight into that. It says, "Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law." Did you catch that part? It says to reach down; stoop down and reach out. In other words, I'm going to love them.
James 1:27 says, "...Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world."
Look at Jesus: where did Jesus go? Where did Jesus go minister? He was out there with the hurting, the wounded, the oppressed, the sick, the mentally ill. That is where Jesus went. So if Jesus were here today, where is the first place He's going to come? Is it going to be to church? No! It is to those who are in need.
We have to realize that when we have the Lord, we have something awesome. If you had the cure for cancer or the cure for AIDS, and you kept it to yourself, that would be horrible, wouldn't it? People would say, "How could he do that?" But you've got the cure for hell! They need to know the answer; they need a touch.
Jesus said, in Matthew 25, "I was hungry and you fed Me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited Me to your home. I was naked and you gave Me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for Me, I was in prison, and you visited Me." The disciples said, "I don't remember that! When did we ever see you like this?" And Jesus replied, "When you've done it to the least of these, you've done it to Me." And whenever you minister to somebody outside of yourself, regardless of what that situation is, you've really ministered to the Lord.
Whenever you minister, the Lord sees it and the Lord rewards it. He says in Mark 10:29, "Let Me assure you that no one has ever given up anything for love of Me to tell others the Good News who won't be given back a hundred times over." That is a good investment--a hundred times over!
Winning the World
We have spent the last two lessons talking about how God created us for a mission. A big piece of why we are alive on this earth is so that we can tell others what the Lord has done for us, and help them step into that same saving relationship with Jesus Christ that we have. Part of our destiny is to reach the lost for the Lord, to throw them a life-line that will give them eternal life in Christ. This is very important to the Lord, and He has given us a formula for this in Acts 1:8, "You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to all the ends of the earth."
We already talked about Jerusalem (the place where we live and work and play). We also looked at the "Judeas and Samarias" in our life, learning how to reach out to those who are a little different than we are. But that is not enough, there is more that the Lord expects of us.
We must care about the whole world--the whole world. Mark 16:15 says, "Jesus told His followers, 'Go everywhere in the world and tell the Good News to everyone.'" Now, He wasn't talking just to pastors, He wasn't just talking to missionaries. Jesus is talking to all of us. And, you can do that--you can go to the whole world. I mean, what did they have to go with? They walked. Okay, maybe they had a donkey following them with their baggage--I don't know how it worked. But all I know is that today, we have all kinds of ways to travel. We have cars, we have buses, we have planes. There are all kinds of ways to get to a place to minister, and I believe that this commission is for us. We need to be the ones who go.
There are many opportunities to go. Have you ever considered saving up your money and go on a short term mission trip? It says in Mark 8:35, "If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for My sake, and for the sake of the Good News, will ever know what it really means to live". Those who give up their life--that's real living.
I guess the question I have to ask is this: Is anybody going to Heaven because of you? Is there anybody who you know, when you get to Heaven is going to say to you, "Thank you for taking the time to tell me about Jesus? Thank you for extending yourself, thank you for getting outside of your comfort zone. Thank you for telling me about the Good News of Jesus Christ." God wants all of those people in our lives.
Acts 13:36 says, "David served God's purposes in his own time". In other words, when David was alive, he fulfilled the purpose for which he was put on this earth for. It is a legacy that he has; he did what he came to do. I think that the question for us today is: Have you done what you came to do? Have you fulfilled the purposes for which God put you on this earth? Part of those purposes is telling other people about Jesus--none of us can escape that one.
Some of us may have an anointing and a call for it more than others, but the truth is we're all called to be witnesses. We are all called to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. And when that call comes upon us, we have several ways that we react to that call. We can react like Moses did, he said, "Who me? You want to use me? You don't know who I am! Are You sure that You want to use me?" Or we could be like Jonah: "Not me! I don't want to go!" We could be like Habakkuk: "Why me? Why?" Or we can be like Isaiah who said, "Send me! Send me! I'm ready, send me." Who will you be like today?
Psalms 67:2 says, "Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind."
"Send us around the world". Is that your prayer today? You know, the most dangerous prayer you can pray today is this: "Lord, use me." That is dangerous because God will take you up on it, but it will be the most exciting life you'll have. "Lord, use me."
Can you say that to God? "God, use me? Lord, I want to be used by You. I want to fulfill the purposes for which You've created me. God, I want to be able to finish this life, knowing that I've done all that you've called me to do; that I've fulfilled my purposes."
Pray this, if you can:
Lord, give me Your eyes, let me see the people around me that I need to love in Your Name. Give me eyes to see people around me. Give me the courage to get out of my comfort zone and just share You with those in my Jerusalem. And then me share with those in my Judea and my Samaria.Lord, I want to be used of you. I surrender my heart to You in Jesus' Name - and I say, "Lord, use me! Use me, use me!
God has made you for a Mission. Are you willing to say, "God, what do you want me to do?"
Wrap Up
We have spent the last 20 lessons looking at the areas of our destiny that overlap with each other. That is because God created all of us for certain things, and in order to fulfill our destiny, we have to do all of these things. There are certain things that God has created each of us for.
First, we were created for God's pleasure, so that He could love us. God wants us to respond to His love by loving Him back and by worshipping Him.
Second, we are created to fellowship and learn to love one another. God has created us to be a family in Him, and we are going to spend eternity together. That means we must learn to get along well with each other and learn to genuinely care about our spiritual family. We can't draw close to God and push away our brothers and sisters in the Lord, because God has called all of us to be one in Him.
Third, we are to become like Jesus. That was God's original creation plan and we were created in God's image. But sin has marred us, we have been twisted and contorted by sin, and now we must begin the process of being transformed to be like Him again. We have to grow and mature in the Lord, so that our carnal nature might be changed to be more like Him. We call that growth and transformation process "discipleship."
Forth, we were created for ministry, or serving God by serving others. God shaped us in a certain way in that we are to be able to do ministry. Jesus said that when we feed the hungry or clothe the naked, He receives it just as if we were doing it for Him personally. He wants us to take care of the needs of others because we love Him so much. He wants us to serve Him by serving others in the body of Christ--not out of a place of duty or obligation, but because we love Him and are grateful for what He has done for us.
Fifth, we are created to help expand God's kingdom, to bring the Good News of the gospel to the Lost. God wants us to step outside of our comfort zone, outside of our Church and build bridges to reach those who would not normally come to Church. He gave us a formula for that: start at home first, reaching those in your immediate life. (That is our Jerusalem). Then begin to reach out to those who are still in your sphere of influence, but who are a bit different than you. (That is our Judea and Samaria.) Finally we need to reach out and care about everyone else as well. One of our highest priorities should be bringing the Good News of salvation to the lost.
While you share these five common threads of destiny with your brothers and sisters in the Lord, you are also specially and uniquely created. You are not "just like" everyone else, God has made you special and distinct. He has customized you for the specific things that He created you to do, and you are "just right" for your assignment. There will be people in your life who will listen to you, but they won't listen to anyone one else. God has created you and put you there so that you can reach them. There are people who are going to need your help--specific things you can do that no one else can do. God created you to be just right to meet there needs.
Yes, you share a common destiny with others in the body of Christ--but your piece of it is special and it is unique to you. There are things that God has created you for, and if you don't do them, then they simply won't get done. They will be missed, because your individual contribution to God's plan is very important.
You are not an accident, and you are not "just another laborer" in some divine work force. You were carefully created for a specific destiny. That destiny will include all of the things that we have been talking about, but it will also be customized specifically for you. And you will find your greatest contentment and sense of fulfillment when you are actively fulfilling your destiny.
I would like to close with a passage from Psalm 139 that underscores how God has given you a destiny and created you especially for it. It is verses 13 to 16:
"For You formed my inward parts;[Previous Article]
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them."