Evangelism: Message And Method - Finding The One Who Is Lost. Series

We are continuing in our series on Dynamic Disciples or Dynamic Discipleship and this month our focus is on Evangelism.

The Topic we are dealing with this evening is the message and method of Evangelism.

The question to begin is Why do we need to tell people about Jesus?

The simple answer is because Jesus has given a direct command to tell other people about Him.

You know the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

And the words of The Apostle Peter in Acts 4:12 tell us why we need to tell people about Jesus: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

People are not saved by being nice. People are not saved by their good deeds. People are not saved by attending church.

People are saved when they repent and place their faith and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

An important part of being a dynamic disciple involves sharing the truth of who Jesus is with others.

Jesus has called us to tell others of their urgent need to repent from their sins and turn to Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

We have a message of hope, a message of love, a message of eternal consequence - Jesus is the only way of salvation.

Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

Many think they are “good people” and God would not send “good people” to hell. They convince themselves that they can get to Heaven on their own merit - judged by their own standards. They customize God to their standards. The problem with this is that we are judged by God’s standards; He is never brought down to our standards. Romans 3:23 tells us "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard."

But there is hope listen to Romans 3:23-26 - For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.

This is the essence of the message of the Gospel. The good news is there is hope, there is a saviour, He died for you, turn to Him, trust Him, receive the gift of eternal life. Be saved, be set free, become a child of God, become a disciple of Jesus. Escape from a lost eternity without God and be assured of a place in Heaven because of what Christ has done for you. That is why people need to hear the message of truth, the message that can save their eternal lives.

In Luke Chapter 15 there is the parable of the Lost sheep, listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 15:4-7, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!”

Jesus understood the power of the story, He used His parables to teach profound truths. As disciples of Jesus, when we read this parable, we probably identify ourselves with the ninety-nine sheep that were safe. We rejoice over being one of the ninety-nine. We include ourselves in the majority of this parable.