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Evangelism

 Evangelism in the simplest form is sharing the message and teachings of Jesus. There are many ways to evangelize, whether it’s going door to door or through a tract. Preaching can be done anywhere and it does not have to be a sermon, but through the Spirit of the Lord, He is able to give us the words to speak into someone’s soul and spirit. Evangelism looks different to individual people. There is no right or wrong way to spread the good news of the gospel. Evangelism comes easily when you love the LORD and want to show others the beauty, light, and freedom within the Scriptures and the divine nature of Jesus. 

        Jesus even paved the way for evangelism as he went from city to city talking to the people, opening their eyes, breaking bread, and healing them. “But He said to them, ‘I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also because for this purpose I have been sent,’” (Luke 4:43). There are two key factors here: 

1. Jesus said he must “preach” the kingdom of God 

2. He was sent out by the Father

Preach in Greek means to announce good news, (evangelize) especially the gospel, declare, a messenger. Also in Greek, kingdom means royalty, rule, a realm, reign.

John 5:30, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

       Jesus went out with a message declaring how the kingdom works, bringing an understanding to those who had eyes to see and ears to hear. He was giving them an earthly story with a heavenly meaning so they would be able to enter into the revelation of who He was, the Son of God who came to bring all into repentance. True repentance is a change of lifestyle, not mere words. It means to inspect your own soul, to walk out your salvation with fear and trembling, to die to the desires of this flesh and the cares of this world, and to walk away from all and follow Him. That’s a surrendered life and a complete death to self.

Mark 16:15-16, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned,’”.

       Gospel in Greek means a good message, to announce good news, to show. It is the nature of Jesus. The Word of God declares that the preaching is not sufficient to reach the human heart (even though it may be true and worthy of belief), unless a certain power is imparted to the speaker from God [1].

     From Jerusalem, twelve men went out into the world. These men were uneducated and of no ability to speak, but by the power of God, they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach the word of God to everyone [2].

     We need the Holy Spirit to come and empower us to go out and speak to those who are hungry for the truth and to those who are lost and not sure where to go. We need the Holy Spirit to be our teacher and counselor because we can do nothing on our own accord, but by the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will be effective for the kingdom of God. The twelve apostles walked in that realization. 

Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

      After our Lord rose from the dead, the apostles were empowered from on high when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them]. They were completely filled and had perfect knowledge. They departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things sent from God to us [3]. It is not on our own accord that we would convert a soul, but by truth and the Spirit of the Lord. He is the one who gives us the words to speak, which would not edify the flesh, but would edify the spirit. 

1 Corinthians 2:11-12, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

        In the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, (also referred to as the four gospels) we read earlier that gospel meant good message. So, we are going to take a closer look at these apostles. Each had a personality or trait that Jesus knew would help further the kingdom of God. They truly knew what it was like to leave all and follow Jesus.

       Early church father, Origen, writes:

“Concerning the four Gospels which alone are uncontroverted (truth is not disputed or denied ) in the church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the Gospel according to Matthew (who was at one time a tax collector and afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ) was written first. He composed it in the Hebrew tongue and published it for the converts from Judaism. The second one written was that according to Mark, who wrote it according to the instruction of Peter. For Peter, in his general epistles, acknowledged Mark as a son, saying, ” The church that is Babylon, elect together with you, salutes you. And so does Mark, my son,”. And third, was the one according to Luke, which he composed for the converts from the Gentiles. This is the Gospel commended by Paul. Last of all, there is one according to John” [4].

“We have confidence also in the intentions of the writers of the Gospel, observing their godliness and conscientiousness (doing one’s work well and thoroughly). This is manifested in their writings, which contain nothing spurious (not fake), deceptive, false, or cunning… I am of the opinion that it was on this account that Jesus wished to employ such persons as teachers of His doctrines: that there could be no grounds for any suspicion of plausible (reasonable) sophistry( subtly deceptive reasoning  or argumentation). Rather, it would be clear to all who were capable of understanding that the guileless (innocent) purpose of the writers –marked with great simplicity –was deemed worthy of being accompanied by a more divine power,” [5]. 

Revelation 4:6, Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and back.

          “The four living creatures are the four Gospels… The lion designates Mark, in whom is heard the voice of the lion roaring in the desert. And in the figure of a man, Matthew strives to declare to us the genealogy of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh…Therefore, his announcement sets forth the image of a man. Luke, in narrating the priesthood of Zachariah as he offered a sacrifice for the people,..bore the likeness of a calf. John the evangelist is like an eagle speeding on uplifted wings to greater heights. For he writes about the Word of God,” [6].

     Jesus’ heart was for no one to perish and to come into a deeper understanding of who He was. His heart is for us to love the Father and one another, to be joyful in our trials, and to persevere; to lay down all the cares and desires of this world, to walk in truth and to trust him in all things; to see scripture, not from a literal, dead letter interpretation, but to open it up and see the hidden mysteries and secrets found in the revelation of who He is which brings about a transformation of the soul. The apostles had that transformation and they became the forerunners of evangelism. They heard the command from Jesus to go out and that is what they did. He is telling us today to do the same. How will the world know Him if we do not show them Jesus? Let us be His voice today.

References:

All scripture references are the NKJV Bible Version

     1:  Origen (c.248,E), 4.573 

     2.  Justin Martyr (c.160, E), 1.175

     3.  Irenaeus (c.180 E/W), 1.414

     4.  Origen (c.245,E), 9.412

     5.  Origen (c.248, E),4.480

     6.  Victorinus (c.280, W), 7.348