How To Evangelise Series

How To Evangelise

(3.12.00)

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. and for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they may be sanctified by the truth.”

John 17:17-19. (NKJ)

Introduction:

The young salesman was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, "I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink." The manager replied, "Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty." So it is with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the Gospel.

Evangelism is all about our sanctification and it’s absolutely essential if true evangelism is to take place.

We are sent people (V17) & that includes all of us (V20)

“As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”

We are sent into the world by Jesus Christ in the same way Jesus was sent by the Father. We are sent as His representatives, his ambassadors. And we are all sent look at verse 20. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” That’s us that’s all of us. all of us who have believed in Him through the word of one of His followers.

Lieghton Ford tells of when he was speaking at an open-air crusade in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Billy Graham was to speak the next night and had arrived a day early. Billy came incognito and sat on the grass at the rear of the crowd.

Because he was wearing a hat and dark glasses, no one recognized him.

Directly in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening intently to my presentation. When I invited people to come forward as an open sign of commitment, Billy decided to do a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man on the shoulder and asked, "Would you like to accept Christ? I’ll be glad to walk down with you if you want to." The old man looked him up and down, thought it over for a moment, and then said, "Naw, I think I’ll just wait till the big gun comes tomorrow night." Billy and I have had several good chuckles over that incident. Unfortunately, it underlines how, in the minds of many people, evangelism is the task of the "Big Guns," not the "little shots."

, Good News is for Sharing, 1977, David C. Cook Publishing Co., p. 67.

We are all sent people.

We are saved not only to be made safe but for other’s salvation

The Bible tells us that as Christians we are all saved, not only that we may be safe, but also that God may use us in the salvation of others. That’s something which is very clear throughout the Bible, it’s God’s way of evangelising. God could have used other ways but He has chosen to work through you and me to bring about the salvation of others and it’s the task of not only those who preach but all the members of the Christian church. Jesus said it in another way in verse 10 “And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them”. It is through Christian people that the Lord Jesus is glorified, that’s why He was so concerned about us and prayed for us. The world knows nothing of Him apart from what they see in us. They get to know him by what they see in us. and even judge Him by what they see in us. In fact Jesus says it very specifically in this prayer by saying that God sent Him into this world to glorify Him, and now He sends His people into the world in exactly the same way. We all must accept that the Bible teaches very clearly that every single Christian person is an evangelist.

Christianity spread that way in the first century, and it’s happened that way in all the great revivals, the influence of one person on another. The only hope for the Christian message is that it is spread through the individual person. Our Lord doesn’t argue about it He just states it. his teaching is that our sanctification is essential in order that we may do the work of evangelism.

Contrast Our ideas of Evangelising (programs) with the Bibles (sanctification).

You can’t but notice the huge gulf between the modern churches idea’s for evangelism and our Lord’s. Churches these days talk about programs, ministries, events ect ect. We talk about the way the Gospel message can be made more attractive more disgestable to our culture. We want to know what people want what they like especially young people, do they like to be entertained how? what’s their style of music. Then they must have it if it’s going to attract them. Then of course we must be trained in culturally effective ways of evangelising, the church must train their people in evangelism. That’s the attitude of the church today isn’t?.