(1) THROUGH LIFE-STYLE EVANGELISM
Perhaps some might be saying, “WHAT IS LIFE-STYLE EVANGELISM?”
It is simply living the Christian life in front of the lost in such a Christ-like manner, that the lost will want to know Christ also.
Illus: Howard Hendricks said, “Recently, I was walking the streets in San Mateo, a small town on the San Francisco peninsula. I met an attorney I knew from a local evangelical church.
• I said to him, ‘What are you doing?’
• He said, ‘I'm looking for a job.’
• I said, ‘You've got to be kidding.’
• He said, "No, last week I walked out the front door of that corporation and told them, ‘You can hang in on your beak. I'm no longer going to write contracts that you and I both know are illegal and illegitimate.’”
That man is regarded as one of the top five corporate lawyers in America, and he's unwilling to sell his value system for a mess of pottage. We need a larger core of lawyers like that. (Howard Hendricks, "Beyond the Bottom Line," Preaching Today, Tape No. 101. )
One of the most effective ways of witnessing for the Lord is through LIFE-STYLE EVANGELISM.
This crowd will not sell out for POPULARITY, MONEY or for FAME.
It is living the Christian life in front of the lost. But listen, if you are not going to WALK IT, please do not TALK IT!
The second way we witness for the Lord is-
(2) THROUGH VERBAL WITNESSING
That is, not only through our lives, but through our words we communicate the need for the lost to come to Christ.
In the last message we found that we do this through A GENUINE LOVE.
But also, we must have a-
II. A DEDICATED LOVE
A lot of folks have a dedicated love today, but their love is dedicated to the wrong things.
Illus: They remind me of the fellow who was dedicated to playing golf.
He came home late for supper one night and his wife told him if he came home late one more night, she was going to leave him. Sure enough, the next evening he came home late and she had her suitcases packed. As she was getting ready to leave, he said, “Let me explain why I am late.” She put her suitcases down and decided to listen to why he was late. He said, “I was playing 18 holes with Charlie this afternoon. We got to the first hole, and Charlie had a massive heart attack!” And he said, “I am late getting home for supper, because after Charlie had the heart attack, for the next seventeen holes it was hit the ball, drag Charlie, hit the ball, drag Charlie.”
If we are going to reach the lost must have a DEDICATED LOVE. A DEDICATED LOVE requires that we-
A. CONSIDER PEOPLE
Illus: I like that song that says that as He hung on the Cross we were “On his mind.”
The fact is, Christ had people on His mind all His life. Not power, not material things, not popularity, but people.
We see that in John 4:3-4, the Bible says, “He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And HE MUST NEEDS GO THROUGH SAMARIA.”
Look at the words, “Needs go through Samaria.” That is, he felt compelled to go to Samaria.
Why? Because there was a Samaritan there, a half-breed that was despised by the Jews, that the LORD LOVED AND WANTED TO SAVE.
Wouldn’t it be great to hear professing Christians saying, “I have to go by and see ( ), he is lost and needs to be saved. I have to go this week!”
You can only have that when you have Christians who have a dedicated love for people.
WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO GET PEOPLE TO DO THAT?
One reason is because of the society in which we live.
We live in a society today that promotes strife, hatred and division.
• We have politicians who do everything they can to stay in office, by trying to make the poor hate the rich and the rich hate the poor.
• We have political pundits who travel across this nation making millions, trying to get one race to hate and despise another race.
• We have people today in Hollywood that are filled with immorality, and they do everything they can to get people to think the way they think, and become as evil as they are.
• We have political parties that try to entice us to line up with them and do everything we can to destroy other political parties that do not agree with them.
WHAT ARE YOU SAYING PREACHER?
I am saying that we live in a society that is filled with hatred and division, and there are many that are doing all they can do to spread their hate in a greater way.
If we are not led by the Holy Spirit, it is easy for us to get caught up in all this hate.
The Lord always saw lost people who needed to be saved. And He had a DEDICATED LOVE that made time for everyone.
A DEDICATED LOVE that was so strong that he said “HE MUST NEEDS GO THROUGH SAMARIA.”
A DEDICATED LOVE can be seen in the way we see PEOPLE, but a DEDICATED LOVE also requires that we-
B. CONSIDER PRIORITIES
What is our priority in life today?
Many Christians have conformed to the lost world in which they live. That is, we have become PLEASURE SEEKERS instead of SOUL SEEKERS!
This is why the Lord said, “…The harvest truly is plenteous, but THE LABOURERS ARE FEW.”
We live in an age when people place more value on things than they do on people.
Illus: It was a 99 degree September day in San Antonio, when a 10 month old baby girl was accidentally locked inside a parked car by her aunt. Frantically the mother and aunt ran around the auto in near hysteria, while a neighbor attempted to unlock the car with a clothes hanger. It had become a life or death situation when a wrecker driver arrived on the scene. He grabbed a hammer and smashed the back window of the car to set her free. Was he heralded a hero? He said, "The lady was mad at me because I broke the window. I just thought, ‘What's more important the baby or the window?’"
Sometimes priorities get out of order, and someone needs to remind us what's important.
The devil has so filled the life of believers with the PLEASURE SEEKING of this world, that they do not have time to go SOUL SEEKING.
We need A GENUINE LOVE, A DEDICATED LOVE, but also we need-
III. A POWERFUL LOVE
A Christian man said that these religious groups that teach salvation by works have an edge on the churches that teach salvation by grace.
What he meant by that is that people who believe they are saved by works, will work harder than those who believe in salvation by grace.
But there is not one ounce of truth in that. The greatest motivation in this world is LOVE.
Every day, people get up and go to work on their jobs and work 40 to 60 hours a week. Why? Because of a POWERFUL love they have for their family.
And when people have this POWERFUL LOVE within their hearts, you do not have to:
• Beg them
• Plead with them
They do it because the love of Christ constrains them to share the gospel with those who are lost.
Look at Jeremiah. 20:9, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But HIS WORD WAS IN MINE HEART AS A BURNING FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”
Have you ever had that nagging feeling in your heart, that you needed to talk to a certain person about Jesus? The Gospel is not just something to know about, IT MUST BE PROCLAIMED.
We need A GENUINE LOVE, A DEDICATED LOVE, A POWERFUL LOVE and ...
IV. AN ACTIVE LOVE
WHAT WILL AN ACTIVE LOVE DO? It will do several things, such as, AN ACTIVE LOVE is-
A. A PRIORITY WORK
Acts 1:8, “…YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
We have a command to obey.
Illus: The “YE SHALL” in the Greek does not translate into “do it if you want to” in English. This is a priority for our lives!
B. A PROGRESSIVE WORK
Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both IN JERUSALEM, AND IN ALL JUDAEA, AND IN SAMARIA, AND UNTO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH.”
• It starts in your home and family
• It extends to your community
• It encompasses the world
Reach out in your efforts and don’t overlook anyone the Lord brings into your life.
Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE.”
Conclusion:
We need to examine our love for the unsaved. I pray that the message today will cause us to rethink our efforts in the area of witnessing.
We need to live the Christian life in front of our lost loved ones and friends, and every time we get a chance, talk to them about the Lord.
Let me tell you why we need to do that.
Because the Bible makes it crystal clear that if they do not come to know the Lord Jesus, they are going to a Christ-less eternity. And I know you do not want that to happen.
We need to make soul winning the top priority of our life and of our church.
Matt. 9:37, “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but THE LABOURERS ARE FEW.”
ARE YOU A LABORER IN THE HARVEST FIELD?
If not, why not? There is not one possible excuse that you can give the Lord on the judgment day that he will accept.
If you are not a laborer in the harvest field, become one today!
1 of 2
I. A GENUINE LOVE
2 of 2
II. A DEDICATED LOVE
III. A POWERFUL LOVE
IV. AN ACTIVE LOVE
