Importance of Evangelism

By Nick Bibile

The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Once a person is truly saved, he will realize the mighty power of God, totally wicked sinner now saved by the amazing power and the grace of God. First thing is to give thanks to the Lord for saving a wretched sinner, sinner saved from hell bound to heaven bound!

Psalm 118:21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.

We realize we are saved from the wrath of God, we used to be enemies of God and now we are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:9-10) Next thing is to continually grow in Christ Jesus, always giving thanks to him in prayer.

Colossians 2:6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

As we began to grow in God's word, then in prayer we realize there is an enemy who is working 24 hours a day with his fallen angels to deceive mankind, the enemy has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.

2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Then we need to pray for the unbelievers that the Lord will open their hearts to the gospel. See the following how apostle Paul in the book of Acts how Lydia a worshiper of God of the old Testament but not knowing Jesus Christ came to know the Lord.

Acts 16:13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

 Our Spiritual growth is in Christ. In Christ we grow and in Christ we live, in Christ we die and in Christ, we have eternal life. The true evangelism is in Christ. The scripture say "through the power of the Holy Ghost"; not by might or power of man, but by that same divine power which first began the good work, and must fulfill it; which at first implanted the grace of hope, and must perform the work of that, as of faith. It is by the Spirit of God that a man is born again, from above not from below. It is the Spirit of God that ploughs the sinners hard heart, so the word of God can be penetrated. There is power in the Spirit of God as it can bring the sinner from the darkness to the light of Christ.

Acts 26:17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Once you pray you get convicted to preach the gospel and no wonder apostle Paul said the following;

1 Corinthians 9:16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

We need to understand that ministry of the Holy Spirit is to awaken dead sinner. Only the word of God can awaken the sinner, once you are awakened you will realize immediately the danger of your condition, that if you die, you will end up in hell. John Gerstner said, "The first stage of evangelism, genuine evangelism, of spiritual corpses is to make them intellectually and emotionally aware that they are in great danger and have that built into their deepest conviction." There is a great fear of death, because the sinner has greatly sinned against God. Jonathan Edwards said, Persons are first awakened with a sense of their miserable condition by nature, the danger they are in of perishing eternally, and that it is of great importance to them that they speedily escape and get into a better state.

In true evangelism when you preach the gospel, God will give a new heart and a new spirit and the sinner is converted to a saint. He is a new creature in God and he is born again.

The church has a crucial role in evangelism. The church is not just a congregation of individual believers. It is also the body of Christ through whom the good news of salvation reaches the world. We need to realize there are millions of people in the church today who have heard a false gospel. They think they are saved, but in reality not, as there is no true repentance. There is a great harvest field. Nicodemus thought that he was saved, but he was not. Many religious people like Nicodemus believe that they are saved, but they are not.

People do not realize they are sinful, unworthy people, they do not adorn the glorious majesty, power, and grace of God, they see the glory of God only in great musical instruments, mega churches and not humbly begging of God. They do not renounce their evil ways, putting away their abominations before Gods eyes. We have a harvest field in our back yard.

Do you have a burden for the lost? The growing Christian will get a burden as he will imitate his Master and the Lord, and follow him. The question comes in I am so busy and I have no time for the lost people. Six days you are to work, what about the Lords Day? The day that you can serve the Lord. Can you at least sacrifice time to pass out tracks on the Lords Day? What is your first priority? The first priority is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and strength. But how many believe but it is not real to them. See the following scripture.

Lu 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

This was a great excuse, it looks a perfect one, but yet the Lord said, Let the dead bury their dead. But thou preach the gospel.

61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

 We have a lot of work to do. If your neighbors house on fire in the night and you know they are asleep, will you not do anything about it? In the same way there are many people around you, do you carry a tract to give? You talk to many unsaved people; have you at least given them a tract, witnessed to them? Make friends with them but do not conform to their sinful lifestyle, be a light on a hill top. First thing is to pray for them and then ask the Lord to give you wisdom.

The following is a amazing true story from Charles Spurgeon how God answered prayer of a poor slave who was bound to his wicked master.

A slave holding American on one occasion buying a slave, said to the person of whom he was purchasing him, “Tell me honestly what are his faults.” Said the seller, “He has no faults that I am aware of but one, and that one is, he will pray.” “Ah!” said the purchaser, “I don’t like that, I know something that will cure him of it pretty soon.”

So the next night Cuffey was surprised by his master in the plantation, while in earnest prayer, praying for his new master, and his master’s wife and family. The man stood and listened, but said nothing at that time; but the next morning he called Cuffey, and said, “I do not want to quarrel with you, my man, but I’ll have no praying on my premises: so you just drop it.” “Massa,” said he “me canna leave off praying; me must pray.” “I’ll teach you to pray, if you are going to keep on at it.” “Massa, me must keep on.” “Well, then, I’ll give you five-and-twenty lashes a day till you leave off.” “Massa, if you give me fifty, I must pray.” “If that’s the way you are saucy to your master, you shall have it directly.” So tying him up he gave him five-and-twenty lashes, and asked him if he would pray again. “Yes, massa, me must pray always, me canna leave off.” The master looked astonished; he could not understand how a poor saint could keep on praying, when it seemed to do no good, but only brought persecution upon him. He told his wife of it. His wife said, “Why can’t you let the poor man pray? He does his work very well; you and I do not care about praying, but there’s no harm in letting him pray, if he gets on with his work.” “But I don’t like it,” said the master, “he almost frightened me to death. You should see how he looked at me!” “Was he angry?” “No, I should not have minded that; but after I had beaten him, he looked at me with tears in his eyes, but as if he pitied me more than himself.” That night the master could not sleep; he tossed to and fro on his bed, his sins were brought to his remembrance; he remembered he had persecuted a saint of God. Rising in his bed, he said, “Wife, will you pray for me?” “I never prayed in my life” said she “I cannot pray for you.” “I am lost,” he said, “if somebody does not pray for me; I cannot pray for myself.” “I don’t know any one- on the estate that knows how to pray, except Cuffey,” said his wife. The bell was rung, and Cuffey was brought in. Taking hold of his black servant’s hand, the master said, “Cuffey, can you pray for your master?” “Massa” said he, “me been praying for you ever since you flogged me, and me mean to pray always for you.” Down went Cuffey on his knees, and poured out his soul in tears, and both husband and wife were converted. That negro could not have done this without faith. Without faith he would have gone away directly, and said, “Massa, me leave off praying; me no like de white man’s whip.” But because he persevered through his faith, the Lord honored him, and gave him his master’s soul for his hire.

Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.