Do The Work Of An Evangelist Series

The Joy of Winning Souls

What is 750,000 miles long? It could wrap itself around the earth 30 times and it grows an additional 20 miles longer with each passing day?

It is the line of people on earth who do not know Jesus.

How do people then learn about or hear about Jesus?

Evangelisim-What images does it produce?

(TV preacher/Money/Big Crusades/Billy Graham)

Evangelist-tell people about God

44% of people say the reason they try a new product is because of word of mouth.

Evangelism has been defined as “one beggar telling another where he found bread.”

What is the purpose/mission of the Evangelist? Winning souls to God

Romans 10:13-14

13 For “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?

"As long as there is one person in driving distance of our church who doesn’t know the Lord, we want to grow. Nothing is more important than reaching people for the Lord, yet it is easy to be distracted from our purpose. We need to stay focused on reaching one more for Jesus. " - Rick Warren

The world needs evangelists now for the future

2Timothy 4:3-5

3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and follow strange myths.

5 But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at bringing others to Christ. Complete the ministry God has given you.

The teenagers of today are our leaders for tomorrow. They need to be reached just as much as adults.

21% of teens that do not attend a Sunday School class say they would like to become involved in one. (Foster Letter 6/15/99)

26% of U.S. teens not involved in a Church youth group says they would like to participate in one. (Foster Letter 6/15/99

Statistics show, lead a child to Christ: over 30% chance of whole family will come to salvation. Lead a mother/wife; over 17% chance. Lead a father/husband; 91% chance.

Winning souls helps to benefit the kingdom

Proverbs 11:30

30 The godly are like trees that bear life-giving fruit, and those who save lives are wise.

1=1,000, 2=10,000

(Illustration)

In fact, I want to take a look for a moment at an interesting chain of events in Christian history.

• Sunday School teacher Edward Kimball helped lead Dwight L. Moody to Christ;

• J. Wilbur Chapman attended a Dwight L. Moody evangelistic meeting in Chicago in the 1870’s and received personal counseling and an assurance of his salvation from Mr. Moody. He later became a friend and coworker of DL Moody, hiring a former baseball star named Billy Sunday as an advance man for him;

• Billy Sunday held an evangelistic campaign in Charlotte NC in 1924 and a men’s prayer and fellowship group, originally known as the Billy Sunday Layman’s Evangelistic Club and later renamed as Charlotte Businessmen’s Club (CBMC), grew out of those meetings It was this group that invited Mordecai Ham to Charlotte to hold evangelistic meetings in 1934;

• Mordecai Ham preached a sermon where a 16 year-old young man by the name of Billy Graham went forward and received Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior;

• And, Billy Graham has preached to hundreds of millions of people all over the world and seen literally millions won to Christ.

See the lineage of salvation that continues to radiate today from the faithfulness of one humble, quiet man witnessing to a shoe salesman? See the impact that even a quiet life given over to Jesus Christ can have on the world around them?

The church should have Evangelisim perfected

(Vast resources-TV, Books, Conferences, Internet)

No people in history have had as many opportunities to hear the truth about God, to learn how salvation can be found by turning to Jesus Christ, than those who live in this country at the end of the 20th Century. Do you realize there are 450,000 churches in the United States. In fact, 24% of protestant congre-gations in the world are in this country. There are 600 religious radio stations, the vast majority run by evangelical Christians, who daily broadcast the message of Jesus Christ to people across the land. Christian TV, Christian publishing, Christian music recording, all communicate the Bible’s message. Can you imagine what the Apostle Paul could have done with those resources? God has given us so many chances. But, there are so many folks who continue to reject the truth and the church continues to fail in its mission of evangelism.