From our white paper “to do” list, let’s look at #4, “Teach evangelism as a biblical priority.”
Recently, one of our members received this compliment at coffee hour from a couple visiting his church:
Husband: “You’re preaching is very faithful to the text…”
Wife: “…and you don’t find that in too many churches.”
A few days later the preacher received an email from the same couple adding this prayer to their words of encouragement, “we pray that God will open doors (as in Col 4:3 or Rev 3:8) not only of opportunity but of hearts readied to receive what you so clearly present.”
If God has graced you with a pulpit, then, regardless of jurisdiction, He has also given you a “door of utterance” to “to speak the mystery of Christ.” How do you make the most of each opportunity you get?
By remembering that every time you declare God’s grace you bridge an otherwise unbridgeable gap between the holy God and fallen men and women, that the work of evangelism is God’s work, not yours, that it is His purpose to reveal Himself using human words spoken by everyday human beings. This is evangelism.
Is evangelism not a biblical priority? Only if God’s is the only message ever sent that was not meant to be shared!
Conviction, conversion, and regeneration, that is the Holy Spirit’s work, not the preacher’s. All that we are asked to do is declare His work is at work in our lives, yours and mine.