Sunday Morning Bible Study

July 19, 2009

The Heart of Evangelism

This morning we are going to begin a series on evangelism.  I’m calling it “Field Training”.

Jesus had spent His lunchtime talking to the Samaritan woman at the well.  She came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  When she went back into the village and told the people about Jesus, they all came out to get a look at who she was talking about.

As the people began streaming out of the village, Jesus turned to His disciples and said,

(John 4:35 NKJV)  "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

For those of us raised in the city, we don’t really know what Jesus is talking about.  But as wheat is growing, it is green.  When the wheat is ripe and ready to be harvested, it turns “white”.

Jesus was making a point.  We can think that the time for “Harvest”, the time for people to come to know Jesus is somewhere down the road a bit.  Our own “Harvest Crusade” is four weeks away.

I wonder if we lifted our eyes up and off of ourselves if we might realize that there are people all around us who are ready, people who need Jesus.

My desire is that we as a church learn to see the fields around us.  My hope is that we as individuals would see that there are people all around us who need Jesus.

When it comes to evangelism, I have to tell you that I get a little nervous.

I am not a guy who loves to go out street witnessing or knocking on doors.

I’ve done it, but I’m always a nervous wreck when I do.

I have learned over the years that my spiritual gifts are primarily designed for the church, for building up Christians.  I do not have the “gift of evangelism”.

I remember my pastor (Mark Bove at Calvary Anaheim) talking about how similar his gifts were.  He would share that if he went out witnessing at the beach, he would always end up talking with other Christians.  That’s what often happens to me as well.  It’s just who I am.

But even though I may not have a gift of evangelism, I am still called to evangelize.

In high school and in college I was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ.  They taught me how to share my faith.  They taught us me how to use a tract, or conduct a “spiritual survey” to open up an opportunity to share the gospel.

I remember hearing Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade, talk about his conviction of sharing the gospel.  He felt that if he spent more than thirty seconds with a person, that this was God’s divine appointment, and that he would share his faith.

I love people who have a conviction like that, but frankly it makes me a nervous wreck.

I have no intention of laying a guilt trip on you about sharing your faith with every stranger you meet.

My hope is simply to encourage you to be open to God’s leading, and to better equip you so you might be willing to jump off the diving board into the deep end if the opportunity presents itself.

I hope you will think about becoming open to God using you.

And if God should give you the opportunity of bringing a friend to the Harvest Crusade, I want to help encourage you to do that.

Here’s what I’m hoping to do over the next four weeks:

Week 1:  The Heart of Evangelism

Week 2:  What is the Gospel?

Week 3:  Difficult Questions

Week 4:  The Power of Your Story

Getting to the Heart of Evangelism

1. God commands us

Jesus was crucified and rose again on the third day.  Over a period of forty days, Jesus appeared to His disciples in various places, including a mountain in Galilee where He had this to say to them:

(Mat 28:19-20 NKJV)  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, {20} "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

We call these verses the “Great Commission”.

Illustration

A poll was taken that revealed

9 out of 10 American adults (86%) cannot accurately define the meaning of the Great Commission.

7 out of 10 adults have no clue what “John 3:16” means.

Only one-third of all adults (31%) know the meaning of the expression “the gospel.”

Only 4% of adults could define the Great Commission, quote John 3:16, and define “the gospel.”

Now, we may say, “They aren’t believers; what do you expect?”

But here is the most alarming statistic of all.

95% of Christians have never helped lead another person to Christ.

What is the “Great Commission”?

It is a command

In the original language, the actual command is to “make disciples”.  The word “go” isn’t the command, it’s the description of what you have to do in order to make disciples.

You can’t make disciples if you stayed locked up behind the doors of the church.  You can only make disciples if you “go”.

What does it mean to “make disciples”?

Jesus said this was done by “baptizing” them and “teaching” them to obey what Jesus has commanded us.

Making a disciple starts when someone comes to receive Christ, but it doesn’t end there.  It involves maturing in Christ as well.

Who is supposed to do this?

You might say it was only the twelve apostles that were asked to do this.

But if you look carefully at the language, it’s something that we are all called to do.  We are the next generation of disciples who are being taught to obey all that Jesus has commanded, including the command to “go and make disciples”.

Jesus commands us to make disciples.  It is not the “Great Suggestion”, but the “Great Commission”.

I may not be “gifted” in evangelism, but I still have a part in evangelism.

2. God uses people

Romans 10.  Discipleship starts when a person comes to believe in Jesus.  This is how a person is saved from their sins.

(Rom 10:13 NKJV)  For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."

If all you need to do to be saved is to believe that Jesus is Lord, why doesn’t God just peek His head out from heaven and tell everyone to believe?  Why doesn’t God just send an army of angels carrying signs that say, “Believe in Jesus!”?

Paul tells us how God wants things done:

(Rom 10:14-15 NKJV)  How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? {15} And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"

For some reason, God has chosen to use people to share the message.

Acts 8 Philip was a guy that wanted to be used by God.  He was not one of the “apostles”.  He got his start in church as a guy who helped out in the “Jesus Café” on Thursday nights.  When Philip went up to Samaria, all kinds of people began to come to trust in Jesus.  And then the Lord told Philip to leave the revival and head south into the desert south of Jerusalem where he runs into the entourage of the grand Treasurer of Ethiopia on his way home from a visit to Jerusalem.

(Acts 8:29-35 NKJV)  Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot." {30} So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" {31} And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.

I love that.  The man needed someone to “guide” him.  That’s all.  Nothing fancy.  Just answer some questions.

{32} The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. {33} In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth." {34} So the eunuch answered Philip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?" {35} Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.

God used Philip.  He used a man.  God uses people.

How many of you came to know Christ because of a person that God used?

3. God cares for the lost

This is truly the “heart” of evangelism.  Jesus said,

(John 3:16 NKJV)  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

God doesn’t hate sinners.  God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us, so that we would not have to perish because of our sin.

If God cares for sinners this much, shouldn’t we?

On Thursday nights we have been challenged with this question:

Do you believe that what you believe is really real? Do you?

Do you believe there is a heaven?  Do you?

Do you believe there is a hell?

Do you believe that trusting in Jesus is the only way to escape hell?

Illustration

Many years ago in England, a criminal named Charles Peace was arrested. He was a burglar, a forger, and he was guilty of double murder. He was condemned to death.  

Legend has it that as he was on his way to the gallows to be executed, the chaplain who walked by his side went mechanically went through his often-repeated speech about the power of Jesus Christ to save from sin.   

Suddenly, Peace stopped, turned, and looked at the minister and said, “Do you believe that? Do you really believe that? If I believed that, I would willingly crawl across England on broken glass to tell men it was true.”

It is important that we learn to see unbelievers as captives and not as enemies

(2 Tim 2:24-26 NLT)  The Lord's servants must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone. They must be able to teach effectively and be patient with difficult people. {25} They should gently teach those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people's hearts, and they will believe the truth. {26} Then they will come to their senses and escape from the Devil's trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

Your unbelieving friends and family are not your enemies.  They are being held captive by the real enemy, Satan.

We were once where they are now.  They are no different than we used to be.

(Mat 9:36-38 NKJV)  But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

moved with compassion – splagchnizomai – to be moved as to one’s bowels, hence to be moved with compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity)

Jesus saw their deepest need, where they were hurting the most.

Jesus saw behind the façade and defense mechanisms, the real cry from their heart. 

He saw them as “sheep without a shepherd” going astray, and He had compassion.

People put up a front, and pretend to be happy when they are not.

In reality, we all have the same hurts and needs.

Billy Graham was speaking to itinerant evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983. He told them he had found certain things to be true of every culture he had been to.

“When I go out to proclaim the gospel, whether it’s a street corner in Nairobi or a meeting in Seoul, Korea, I know there are certain things that are true in the hearts and minds of all people.”

Universal Needs: Over the years, as Billy Graham has travelled the world and preached the gospel, he has found that there are some needs in humans that are universal:

a. Emptiness

There is an essential emptiness in every life without Christ.

Pascal said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in every life that only God can fill.”

Paul wrote,

(Rom 8:20 NKJV)  For the creation was subjected to futility …

b. Loneliness

Everyone experiences loneliness.

We can be in a crowd of people, even at a party, and suddenly with all the people around you laughing, a loneliness sweeps over you. It’s really a loneliness for God.

c. Guilt

We are speaking to people who have a sense of guilt.

The head of a mental hospital in London said, “I could release half of my patients if I could find a way to rid them of a sense of guilt.”

The reason people feel this is because God has given us a conscience.

Paul wrote,

(Rom 2:15 NLT)  They demonstrate that God's law is written within them, for their own consciences either accuse them or tell them they are doing what is right.

The reason we all feel guilt is because we are all guilty.

(Rom 3:23 NKJV)  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

d. Fear of Death

Deep down inside, death frightens everyone.

The Bible says that Jesus came to …

(Heb 2:15 NIV)  …free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

We are afraid of death because we are afraid of the unknown.

It’s been said, “There are two unchangeable things that are true of every person. We all want to be happy, and we’re all going to die.”

Do you know any answers to these four universal problems?  Do you know The Answer?  His name is Jesus.

If we learn to care for people, we will learn to look past the façade and see the empty, lonely, guilty person.

Look at how Jesus spoke to people:

The woman at the well:

He could have lectured her on the evils of immorality.

Instead he looked behind the sin to the thing that drove her – an emptiness for God.

Zaccheus:

He could have lectured him on the evils of greed and theft. Instead he said,

(Luke 19:10 NIV)  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

{37} Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

the laborers are few

There are plenty of observers.  There are plenty of critics when it comes to evangelism.

Illustration

One day a lady criticized D.L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord.  Moody’s reply was, “I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?”  The lady replied, “I don’t do it.”  Moody retorted, “Then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”

Some people are critical of the Harvest Crusade.

Not everyone who comes forward at a Harvest Crusade gets saved.  Not everyone means it when they pray to accept Christ.

But many do.  Some of you came to Christ or came back to Christ because of the Harvest Crusade.

There are guys who are pastors now, who came to Christ at a Harvest Crusade.

Some say that personal evangelism is better than mass evangelism.

Actually, the best work of the Harvest Crusade comes when people like you and I reach out personally to our friends and bring them to the Crusade.

The Harvest Crusade is not the only way that people can get saved, but it is a tremendous tool that you and I can take advantage of.

Plenty of critics.  But not too many laborers.  What do we do?

Illustration

While D.L. Moody was attending a convention in Indianapolis on mass evangelism, he asked his song leader Ira Sankey to meet him at 6 o’clock one evening at a certain street corner.

When Sankey arrived, Mr. Moody asked him to stand on a box and sing.  Once a crowd had gathered, Moody spoke briefly and then invited the people to follow him to the nearby convention hall. Soon the auditorium was filled with spiritually hungry people, and the great evangelist preached the gospel to them.  Then the convention delegates began to arrive.  Moody stopped preaching and said, “Now we must close, as the brethren of the convention wish to come and discuss the topic, ‘How to reach the masses.’”  Moody graphically illustrated the difference between talking about doing something and going out and doing it.

{38} "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

His harvest –

It’s God’s harvest, not ours.

Conversion is the work of God and God alone.

God can use us, but we need to be completely dependent upon Him for the results.

When we try to evangelize in our own strength, we are like the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection, who decided to go fishing …

(John 21:3 NKJV)  Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

But when Jesus showed up …

(John 21:6 NKJV)  And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

This is why we need to learn to live our lives being filled with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said,

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

Though the Holy Spirit does so many things for us, one of His chief works is to help us talk to others about Jesus.

We simply offer ourselves to God to be useful.  We plant seeds.

But only God brings conversion.  Only God can save.

The responsibility to save people is on Jesus, not us.

My part is simply to be available.  My part is to plant seeds.  God causes the seeds to grow.

Illustration

This was an email that was received a few weeks ago by one of the Calvary Chapel pastors in Colorado:

“I am originally from Georgia where, in the Bible Belt as they call it, I was raised going to church every Sunday as a child.  Up through my early teen years I went, but never truly identified or related to the things I was being taught.  After graduating from high school, I went to UGA and upon leaving there moved to Colorado (three years ago).

“During both my college and Colorado years, I have spent my time desperately trying to find what would fulfill me and what my life journey would look like.  Up until now, it has looked like going out to bars (downtown where I live) and partying, being in various unhealthy relationships, and declaring solemnly after a great deal of consideration that I firmly did not believe God exists, amongst other things.

“Well needless to say, none of those things brought me any closer to fulfillment than banging my head against a wall.  Without going into the story’s details at length, in the last month I found myself at the end of my rope.  I could not have been any further from any real truth in my entire life.  It was at this point I decided to confide in my friend Jason from work all of the things I was dealing with (not in ANY spiritual sense, strictly for advice).  We ended up going to the gym so he could show me some pointers on weight lifting, and afterwards (and I could not tell you for the life of me how the topic came up) we started talking about God.  This is the beginning of many evidences I have seen of God pursuing me in my place of darkness.”

As the fellow goes on to explain, his friend gave him a book to read.  The young man also began reading the Bible.  The friend took him to church.  And now he has become a Christian.

Therefore pray –

Jesus said we needed to pray that God would send more laborers into the harvest.

I know that sharing your faith can be a scary thing.  I am the guy who gets tongue-tied.  I get nervous.

Start by praying.  Ask God one simple thing – Ask God to give you an opportunity to talk about Jesus.

My challenge to you this week:

It’s not to see five people get saved.

It’s to be open to God’s opportunities.

Would you be open to talk about Jesus if God put an opportunity in your lap?

You don’t have to say anything profound, just talk about Jesus.

Pray for opportunities

 

Illustration

“THE AGNES STORY” BY TONY CAMPOLO 

Jetlag can be brutal, and Tony Campolo had just arrived in Hawaii; he was hungry and he couldn’t sleep. It was 3:00 a.m., though, and the only place open was a grungy dive in an alley in downtown Waikiki. As Tony sat there at the counter munching on his donut and sipping his coffee, in walked eight or nine prostitutes just finished with their night’s work. They all sat down at the counter and Tony found himself uncomfortably surrounded by a whole group of smoking, swearing hookers, recounting their night on the street. He was finishing up his coffee, planning to make a quick getaway, when he heard the woman next to him say to her friend, “You know what? Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m gonna be 39.” Her friend replied nastily: “So what do you want from me? A birthday party? Huh? You want me to get a cake, and sing happy birthday to you?” The first woman said, “Aw, come on, why do you have to be so mean? Why do you have to put me down? I’m just saying it’s my birthday. I don’t want anything from you. I mean, why should I have a birthday party? I’ve never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?”

Tony suddenly had an idea. Instead of running off, he sat and waited until the women left, and then he asked the guy at the counter, “Do they come in here every night?” ”Yeah,” he answered. ”The one right next to me,” he asked, “she comes in every night?” ”Yeah,” he said, “that’s Agnes. Yeah, she’s here every night. She’s been coming here for years. Why do you want to know?” ”Because she just said that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you think? Do you think we could maybe throw a little birthday party for her right here in the diner?” A smile crept over the man’s face. “That’s great,” he says, “yeah, that’s great. I like it.”

So they made their plans. Tony said he’d be back at 2:30 the next morning with some decorations and the man, whose name was Harry, said he’d make a cake. At 2:30 the next morning, Tony returned with crepe paper and other decorations and a sign made of big pieces of cardboard that said, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” Together, they decorated the diner from one end to the other and it looked great. Harry had gotten the word out on the streets about the party and by 3:15 it seemed that every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. At 3:30 on the dot, the door swung open and in walked Agnes and her friend. Everybody yelled together: “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” Agnes was absolutely flabbergasted. Her mouth fell open, her knees started to buckle, she almost fell over. And then the birthday cake with all the candles was carried out, and that’s when she totally lost it and began weeping. Harry, who was not used to seeing a prostitute cry, gruffly mumbled, “Blow out the candles, Agnes. Cut the cake.” So Agnes pulled herself together and blew them out. Everyone cheered and yelled, “Cut the cake, Agnes, cut the cake!”

But Agnes looked down at the cake and, without taking her eyes off it, slowly said, “Look, Harry, is it all right with you if...I mean, if I don’t...I mean, what I want to ask, is it OK if I keep the cake a little while? Is it all right if we don’t eat it right away?” Harry didn’t know what to say so he shrugged and said, “Sure, if that’s what you want to do. Keep the cake. Take it home if you want.”  Agnes got off her stool, picked up the cake, and carried it high in front of her like it was the Holy Grail. Everybody watched in stunned silence and when the door closed behind her, nobody seemed to know what to do. They look at each other. They look at Tony.

So Tony got up on a chair and said, “What do you say that we pray?” And there they were in a hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon, half the prostitutes in Honolulu, at 3:30 a.m. listening to Tony Campolo as he prayed for Agnes.  When he finished, Harry leaned over, and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said, “Hey, you never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to anyway?” It was one of those moments when just the right words came. Tony replied, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.” Harry thought for a moment, and in a mocking way said, “No you don’t. There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. Yep, I’d join a church like that.” Tony then said, “There is a church like that, Harry - started by a man who did just that. Let me tell you about Jesus…”