Foundational Function-Evangelism Part 3
What is the Church • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewPreparation and strategies for evangelism
Notes
Transcript
The Foundational Functions of the Church
Part 3
Prayer
Introduction
Last week began looking at the building blocks for our Christian life and the ministry God has called us to, which includes evangelism.
· We established the solid foundation, coming into a saving relational faith in Jesus.
· Then, we learned from book of Jeremiah all that God promises and provides in His Divine calling
The 3rd building block is preparing for Evangelism
· In preparing to “Go and make disciples”, we must know and be prepared for what we’re walking in to.
Matthew 10:5-6, 16 – Jesus sending out the 12
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
· Jesus knew how difficult a task evangelism is.
· He knows His disciples will face adversity, suffering, and persecution.
· However, we find comfort and peace because Jesus promises to “Be with us always.”
· But if we share the Gospel with unbelievers relying on our own strength, being self-reliance using self-knowledge, it is nearly impossible to be an effective witness.
· But look out for the believer who is God-dependent and God-reliant.
· The disciple who submits their entire self to serve God.
· The one who each day relies on being led by, filled with, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
· These are the believers who is on the battlefield everyday walking in Christ and living sent being obedient to “Go and make disciples.”
· Jesus, through Holy Spirit, prepares us and empowers us to “Go and make disciples.”
· But, God doesn’t do all the work to prepare us for sharing our faith.
· We have a responsibility to prepare ourselves as well.
4 Ways We Prepare Ourselves
Know Whose You Are
· This is the product of our 1st building block, the solid foundation established in Christ.
· We’ve talked about coming to faith leads to new priorities, purposes, and desires.
· That loving God and loving others is the driving force in our life.
· Jesus describes this new priority in a parable.
Matthew 13:44
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
· Coming to faith in Jesus means we are a new creation in Christ.
2nd Corinthians 5:17
“The old has passed away, behold the new has come.”
J.B. Philips New Testament Bible paraphrases
“For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether-the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new.”
· And with this we have a new identity.
· We no longer seek and establish our identity according to what the world says we should be.
James 4:4
Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
· Our identity is found in the One who redeemed us from sin and gave us eternal life through God’s gift of grace.
· By grace, He purchased us with His precious blood.
1 Corinthians
20 You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
· Fully knowing and owning our identity in Christ gives us boldness and confidence to share the Gospel regardless of any obstacle or challenge we may face.
Earnestly Seek the Holy Spirit in Prayer
· Most believers spend time in prayer – In the mornings and evenings and sometimes during the day.
· We pray for things we need, for forgiveness of sin, we pray for others, and we pray to prepare ourselves for the day.
· Hopefully we also pray that God’s will be done rather than our will.
· Praying prepares us to do the Lord’s work.
· When we pray, we should earnestly seek the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us and empower us for His good work.
· Now, not only does prayer prepare us to do God’s work, I would argue that prayer IS the work for our Christian life and ministry.
· I think this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he said, “Pray without ceasing and be praying at all times in the Spirit.”
· So, I encourage you to earnestly pray each morning before you start your day for the Holy Spirit to give you all things necessary to share your faith with non-believers.
Live in God’s Word
· As believers, we are prone to drift away from God.
· And the more we drift, the more we rely on ourselves and our own strength rather than on the Holy Spirit.
· I am convinced from my experience and the experience of others that we must be prayerfully reading and studying Scripture regularly if we are to live filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, equipped for God’s good work.
John 17:17
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
· As the Bible is the authority of the Christian life written by God and is all sufficient for us to walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel.
· In my opinion, there is no place in Scripture that paints this truth better than
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
· You can’t give away what you don’t have.
· This is true of sharing your faith and using the knowledge of Scripture to evangelize unbelievers.
Colossians 3:16
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.
· Context: Scripture dwelling in us to teach and admonish each other as fellow disciples with wisdom that only comes from God.
· Same is true in evangelism. When God’s Word dwells richly in us, we receive all knowledge and wisdom necessary to effectively share the Gospel.
· Let’s make it a priority to read and study God’s Word on a daily basis
Live Each Day in the Grace of the Gospel
· Living out the Gospel, is sharing the Gospel.
· 2 weeks ago I said, all evangelism starts with our actions and behaviors.
· Living in the grace of the Gospel produces actions and behaviors attractive to unbelievers.
· If they know you are a Christian and see you living out the Gospel, they may think, “There may be something to this Jesus thing after all.” It creates interest in them.
· The Gospel message is that the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin and reveals to us the hopelessness of our sinful nature.
· God comes to us, we don’t come to Him.
· If confess our sinfulness before God, we repent of our sin and come to faith by grace in Jesus Christ we receive forgiveness for our sin once for all through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.
· We also inherit eternal life with God because of the resurrection of Jesus.
· The Gospel is the free gift of grace from God.
· The underserving love God has been poured into us.
Quote from Pastor Rick Duncan
“Just like when we were first saved, we need to repent and believe the Gospel. This is the way we remember there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make God love us less. Repenting and believing the Gospel – day after day after day helps us live in grace with grace.”
· Living each day in the grace of the Gospel, embracing all Christ has done for us gives us joy, peace, and comfort that is a light to unbelievers.
· This is evangelism through our actions and behaviors.
Making these practices a priority in our daily life prepares and empowers us to “Go and make Disciples”
So now we are prepared and empowered, let’s look at some strategies for evangelism.
Illustration – “Have you heard the good news?...
“Man, I need that.”
“How can I or how do I receive this?”
· Start with a relationship: They don’t care about what you know until they know that you care.
· Know your context
· Listen
· We’re not perfect
· Be genuine and authentic
· Be a true diplomat, ambassador
Conclusion
Personally, I have never seen our country, even our world so broken and so many people looking for hope.
· We have the answer to their missing hope, the hope in Jesus Christ
The Christian life is not lived out on the easy life of a cruise ship. The Christian life is lived out on a battleship.