SPEC-76-240913 - length: 110:29 - taught on Sep, 13 2024
Class Outline:
One Body.
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Evening!
Welcome to the Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with a worldwide impact.My name is Pastor Rory Clark. Thank you for lending your ear to this Bible lesson.
YOU MAY BE WONDERING…
Why are we here?
The next three lessons are part of Homecoming Weekend for Barah Ministries Non-Resident Congregation Members. And while we’re together we throw in a littlePastor Appreciation to the weekend, giving you the chance to express your gratitude for what the Lord can do through willing men who have made a lifetime commitment to serve you by teaching you the Word of God.This weekend is always a highlight in the Barah Ministries year…a time to which we look forward.
I wish geography didn’t separate all the people who are part of this ministryand all those who are friends of this ministry because it’s a special group of people. I wish we didn’t consider it unusual to fly to a location to be together. I wish for even more regular reunions…perhaps even quarterly…as budgeted items in our financial portfolio!
Why? Because there is nothing better than a gathering of the Lord’s saints. Hebrews, Chapter 3, Verse 1 describes us…we are…
HEBREWS 3:1
…holy brethren (set apart ones to God…set apart to serve Him)…partakers of a heavenly calling (that invited us to salvation)…
In Hebrews, Chapter 10, Verses 23 to 25 the Lord makes a recommendation to His saints…
HEBREWS 10:23
Let us believers in Christ keep on holding fast to the confession of our hope…and let us do so without wavering…for the God who promised us hope is faithful…
HEBREWS 10:24
…and let us believers in Christ keep on considering how to stimulate one another to unconditional love and good deeds…
HEBREWS 10:25
…not forsaking our own assembling together…as is the habit of some…instead let
us keep on encouraging one another…even all the more as we see the day drawing near (for the Lord’s return).
The Lord wants His saints to be together…to stay together…to dwell in…to wallow in the unity into which He placed us.
We certainly have all eternity in heaven to look forward to, where all the saints will be gathered face-to-face with the Lord. Unfortunately, right now, we live in Satan’s kingdom. It is a divided, divisive and perverted kingdom. In Satan’s kingdom, unity is discouraged…isolation is encouraged.
Even though God makes it clear it is not good for us to be alone, as Christians we have become prey in Satan’s kingdom by not prioritizing the gathering of ourselves together. “I’ll do it online…I’ll do it on my own…I’ll do it on the fly… I’ll do it on my phone.” This has become the normfor everyone, even the Lord’s saints.
It’s unfortunate because there is nothing better than touching each other hand-to-hand…looking into each other’s eyes…hugging each other…sitting down with each other…and talking to each other about our relationship with the Lord. Gathering ourselves together is dedicated time to share our grief…our sorrows…and our problems with people who care about us.
Gathering ourselves together is a time to realize we are not alone in the things we are going through. It is stimulating and edifying to connect with like-minded people, and we are desperate for it…starved for this kind of connection. We need it. We crave it. This weekend is the opportunity for it.
YOU MAY BE WONDERING…
What is the subject matter for the next three lessons?
EVANGELISM SPECIAL
Insights on Evangelism
Our focus is evangelism. What would God want us to do as a ministry, as a body…the Body of Christ…and as individuals in the matter of evangelism? We’ll investigate. What is evangelism?
EVANGELISM
The sharing of the gospel message…the good news concerning the Lord Jesus Christ’s salvation offer…either by public preaching or by personal witnessing.
Evangelism is a critical part of the Christian experience. We know that God the Father gives us opportunities to share the gospel message…Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 10 reminds us…
EPHESIANS 2:10
For we believers in Christ are God the Father’s workmanship…and we were created to be in union with Christ Jesus…we were designed for good works…which good works God the Father prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Evangelism is a divine work. During our lifetimes, God the Father will give us multiple opportunities to share the gospel message…with family…with friends…and with strangers. It is our sincere hope this weekend gives you insights that equip you to be effective at evangelism when God gives you the opportunity.
What is our approach to evangelism? Hopefully, our studies and discussions this weekend will give us clarity.
YOU MAY BE WONDERING…
Who will be teaching the lessons?
Joining me for the weekend is Pastor John Farley from Lighthouse Bible Church of South Florida.
Pastor Farley and I met in a work setting in 1997, and over the last twenty-seven years, we’ve become lifelong friends.
Pastor Farley is a native of Providence, Rhode Island which is one of the New England states…so if you’re wondering why he talks funny, that’s it.
Several expressions in our language are irritating to me…more as I get older. One of those expressions is, “Maybe it was meant to be.” My conclusion when people use this expression is they have watched one too many Disney movies. However, I am certain of one thing, my relationship with John is divinely ordained…it was always meant to be.
I’m grateful to him for many things, mostly for his support of who I am and who I am not. I know if I am wrong in every single thing I think and do, I can still count on John to be my friend.There are people God sends to us who staywhen all others come and go. John is such a special friend.
Even though we were born in different places and placed by God into different circumstances, our spiritual life journey has been eerily similar. We both went through the hell of being staunch and devout Roman Catholics. Unfortunately for John, I lured him into the hell of Systematic Theology.
Through the gauntlet of those two hell holes, with the guidance of God the Holy Spirit, we found our way out of religion and legalism into a relationship with Christ. Now we are both residents in the sphere of God’s grace…a geodesic dome that surrounds us with an atmosphere of unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace.
Welcome John!
Also here for the weekend is John’s wife Roberta, a woman deserving of respect for many reasons. She’s a great mother who has helped raise two amazing children…she’s in a career of service as a physical therapist, helping people get back on their feet…but most of all she can be respected for the support she provides for John.
It’s a pretty difficult challenge being a Pastor’s wife. When Roberta married John there was no way for her to know the job for which she was signing up. She is mastering the challenge, and it is with gratitude that I’ll be spending all eternity in heaven with these two amazing people.
YOU MAY BE WONDERING…
What will you and Pastor John be teaching?
As we share insights on evangelism, John will focus on the Biblical aspects. He’ll be teaching you what the apostle Paul’s New Testament epistles have to say about evangelism.
Conferences are my chance to be topical…to discuss some of the human aspects of the selected subject. You’ll be hearing insights about how you can evangelize to the religious, to agnostics, and to atheists. John and I have the sincere hope that what you learn thisweekend changes the way you spread the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ’s salvation offer to the people God brings to you.
Pastor Farley and I will each teach all three days, and we will alternate. I’ll teach first tonight. Pastor Farley will teach first tomorrow. Sunday I’ll teach first as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Pastor Farley will bring our weekend to its conclusion.
YOU MAY BE WONDERING…
What’s the schedule?
THE SCHEDULE
Homecoming and Pastor Appreciation Weekend
Friday Night The Gathering
6:30PM-7:00PM
The Lessons
7:00PM to 9:00PM
THE SCHEDULE
Homecoming and Pastor Appreciation Weekend
Saturday The Lessons
10:00AM-12:00PM
Ask the Pastors
An Afternoon of Food and Fellowship
THE SCHEDULE
Homecoming and Pastor Appreciation Weekend
Sunday The Lessons
9:00AM-11:00AM
Ask the Pastor and Prayer Circle
11:00AM-12:00PM
LESSON INTRODUCTION
Let’s kick off this evening’s lesson with a startling revelation…from birth we are all created equal in the spiritual realm. We’ll learn the implications of God’s goodness in our spiritual lives as spiritual beings.
OPENING SONG INTRODUCTION
Let’s hear some music! The Lord Jesus Christ tells a religious Pharisee who had been studying Scripture for years how easy it is to get to heaven in John, Chapter 3, Verse 3…
JOHN 3:3
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God.”
June Murphy sings about how to get to heaven in her breathtaking song…BORN AGAIN.
MUSIC
OPENING SONG
Let’s Sing the Lord’s Praises
BORN AGAIN
June Murphy
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re gratefulHeavenly Fatherfor the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Father, thank you for sending Your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to die on a Cross to pay our way to heaven…thank you that we don’t have to depend on ourselves for salvation…thank you for making it easy for ANYONE to get to heaven by counting on what You and Your Son did for us…thank you for God the Holy Spirit whose convicting ministry when we are unbelievers paves the narrow way that leads to heaven…
…as we listen to Your Word tonight, open our hearts to Your truth, forsaking our beliefs that don’t match with the truth…help us to know how easy it is to share the good news of the gospel message with others…and give us the courage to share the gospel message without fearing rejection…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.
Welcome to the…
EVANGELISM SPECIAL
Insights on Evangelism
LESSON PART ONE
Some things are apparent to all of us.
We are born. In the Declaration of Independence, a document announcing a decision for freedom from tyranny, we learn a critical fact about being born…it says…
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
We hold these truths to be self-evident…that all are created equal and all are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights…and among these rights are Life…Liberty…and the Pursuit of Happiness.
It’s true.
Elvis Presley described my entrance into the world in a song…
IN THE GHETTO by Elvis Presley
As the snow flies…
On a cold and gray Chicago morn
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries…
IN THE GHETTO by Elvis Presley
‘Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need
It is another little hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto…
We are born. No matter where we are born in the world, we share a spiritual equality. We are born physically alive and spiritually dead according to Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 1…
EPHESIANS 2:1
And you were spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins…
None of us exited the womb being moral or immoral…religious or irreligious…Christian or atheist or agnostic.
Over time, we accumulate teachers, the first of which were our parents. They taught and we believed, often regardless of whether what they were teaching was correct. When presented with teaching, we spent our faith…placing our confidence in what a trusted teacher was teaching…and we believed…we took the teacher’s word concerning what’s true.
Some teachers were teaching the truth. Some teachers were teaching lies. There was a time when we couldn’t discern the truth from lies. Our learning came from a SOURCE, and little did we know that the SOURCE matters.
As time passed, we learned that there would be several concerns in this life…relationships with others…relationships with self…intimate relationships…a career…family…money…health…and resources. There would be a lot to learn. Little did we know…and maybe we weren’t taught early on…that at the center of all these concerns is the spiritual life. Without question it is the most important of our concerns in this life. Few take it that seriously.
At a point in our lives, the Chief Executive Officer of evangelism, God the Holy Spirit, entered our lives and began His work…John, Chapter 16, Verses 8 to 11…
JOHN 16:8 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)
“And when God the Holy Spirit comes…He will convict the world…of its sin (Adam’s sin imputed…sin as a master…our own sins…and the flesh inside of us which sins)…and He will convict the world of the need for God’s righteousness…andHe will convict the worldof the coming judgment.”
JOHN 16:9 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)
“The world’s sin is that unbelievers refuse to believe in Me (the Lord Jesus Christ).”
JOHN 16:10 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)
“Righteousness is available because I (the Lord Jesus Christ) go to God the Father, and you disciples will see Me no more (so you have to carry forth the gospel message).”
JOHN 16:11 (NEW LIVING TRANSLATION)
“And judgment is coming…because the ruler of this world (Satan) has already
been judged…and everyone under the rulership of Satan and his world system of thought is headed for the same judgment (the Lake of Fire).”
God the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry is designed by the Godhead to provide us with “convincing evidence” concerning the central issue of evangelism…making a decision for or against a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
God uses people to bring the message…believers in Christ as ambassadors representing the Lord Jesus Christ in Satan’s kingdom…Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 20 is God’s great commission for Church Age believers…
SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:20
Therefore, we Church Age believers in Christ are ambassadors for Christ…as though God the Father were making an appeal to unbelievers through believers…because He is…and we beg you unbelievers on behalf of the Christ…be reconciled to God.
Evangelism is a function of the Christian ambassador. But let’s take some pressure off of you…it’s God’s responsibility to evangelize…He uses us for an assist.
So as we study evangelism, we’re not doing it to make ourselves feel bad…we’re not doing it to initiate a works program so God will like us better. We’re doing it because it’s the very thing we would do if we found a great way to invest our money and we wanted to share the information with others. It’s the thing we would do if we found a great deal on an important staple that everyone uses…like toilet paper. It’s the thing we would do if we found a healthy way to counteract disease. We’d share it.
In this sharing, we have an amazing SOURCE…God the Holy Spirit, who will always give us the exact words to use as we present an accurate gospel message to others.
The one assurance we have as believers in Christ is that everyone we know will get multiple opportunities to hear, to understand, and to make a decision on the gospel message.God will send people whom each person respects and to whom each person will listen. Each person gets to make a decision for or against Christ multiple times in their time on earth.
So we are born…we are spiritually equal at birth…but as we begin to accumulate teachers, regardless of the subject matter area, we must use discernment. Is what teachers are teaching true? When we reach the age of discernment, some people will decide for a relationship with Christ and some will reject a relationship with Christ.
At the point of this discernment, it will be apparent that the whole world falls into two categories…unbelievers and believers. Evangelism is a ministry to unbelievers.Let’s close this segment with this question…
QUESTION FOR REFLECTION
Who are three people in your periphery, whom you suspect of being unbelievers, that you would feel immeasurable loss if they were not in heaven?
Please write three names on your notes. Please pass those names to me at the end of the evening. These are the people we will be praying for as the weekend goes on. After the break, we’ll hear from Pastor John Farley. Take a ten-minute break.
FIVE-MINUTE BREAK
NOBODY
Casting Crowns
Evangelism in the epistles of Paul
Thank you for inviting me to preach at your 2024 Barah Ministries Pheonix AZ Bible conference.
Pastor Rory. Thank you for the honor, and for the hospitality of you and your team.
[Introduce Rob.]
This year, Pastor Clark and I are teaching about evangelism.
I would like to begin with the subject of accountability.
Here are six questions for self-examination, both individually and as a congregation:
/1.This past year, did I/we have a partin leading anyone to Christ?\
/2. Did I share with anyone how to be saved according tothe Bible?\
/3. How many times was I able to share God’s plan of salvation …
with someone who was in need of God’s grace and forgiveness?\
/4. Did I frequently confess Christ as my Savior before the unsaved?\
/5. Did I/we often pray for specific unbelievers to be convicted to give the gospel a hearing?\
/6. Did I/we regularly pray for opportunities to share Christ and the gospel with others?\
I imagine for many of us this was a humbling exercise.
Please don’t react with guilt or hostility.
No matter how you answered these questions, I hope that the teaching at this conference will increase your boldness, your desire, your compassion, your urgency, your ability, and your capacity as witnesses to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christto the unbelievers that God gives us opportunities to reach.
May we all allow the Lord complete freedom to seek and reach the lost ones in and through our lives.
Next, I want you to get specific about this. Part of increasing your boldness and urgency is focusing on unbelievers who are close to us, people whom we love dearly, people who desperately need the truth about salvation, people whose absence in heaven would be a grievous loss for our hearts.
/Please write down the names of 5 such unbelievers in your life. They can be family, or friends, or work associates, or neighbors, just to name a few.\
Next, I would like to provide a framework for our study of evangelism.
Please turn to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,
3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
/God has gifted each believer, each member of the body of Christ, for the common good, for building up the body of Christ, and for witnessing to the lost in this world.\
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Now here in Ephesians 4, we are given a lot of information about spiritual gifts.
/Two permanent gifts are named: evangelist and pastor-teacher.\
/This chapter also lays out the foundation for body life: the life of the congregation.\
/Showing tolerance for one another in love (verse 2)\
/Preserving the unity of the Spirit (verse 3)\
/The sevenfold nature of this unity (verses 4-6)\
/The duties of pastor-teachers and evangelists in serving the body: equipping the saints for the work of service, building up the body of Christ (verses 11-12)\
/The calling of the saints as one body (verses 13-16)\
With that, I would now like to give a brief overview of the spiritual gifts. For most of you, this will be refresher. If this is new to you, I recommend reading the four key passages in Paul’s epistles that teach on the spiritual gifts:
/Four major passages in the New Testament teach the subject of spiritual gifts.\
They are:
/Romans 12:1-13
1 Corinthians 12-14 (three chapters)
Ephesians 4:1-16
1 Peter 4:7-11\
Spiritual gifts
Temporary and Permanent /slide graphic\
Permanent gifts: speaking and serving /slide graphic\
Speaking gifts: pastor-teacher, evangelist, teaching, and exhortation./slide graphic\
Serving gifts: helps, service, administration, mercy, giving. /slide graphic\
Let me next give you ten facts about spiritual gifts according to those key passages:
/
All three members of the Trinity are involved.
They are marked by great variety.
Their source is the Holy Spirit.
They are a gift of God’s grace.
They are given for the purpose of providing service to the body of Christ.
They are energized by God for action in the believer’s life. They run on divine power and the love of God.
Each believer gets one.
They are given to publicly demonstrate God’s grace and wisdom - Christ - through His workmanship, the Church.
They are designed to be used for the good of the team, especially for unity and growth. [immediate purpose]
God gets the glory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [Ultimate purpose]\
1 - 4 : seed / source5 - 7: branch/operation8-10: fruit/results
Now, at this point, you may be wondering: what do the spiritual gifts have to do with evangelism?
They have EVERYTHING TO DO with evangelism!
/Exercising our spiritual gifts increases the effectiveness of our witness\.
As Jesus told the disciples in John’s recording of the Lord’s Supper:
John 13:34-35
34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
My teaching at this conference centers on the letters of Paul to the church (and all of them are to the church).
/What do Paul’s epistles have to say about evangelism? \
The answer(s) to that question might surprise you. So buckle up!
In the New Testament epistles of Paul, Paul identifies the four kinds of witnesses that the LORD uses to bring the gospel to the lost.
Let me give them to you now
/
Evangelists
Pastor-teachers
The body of Christ - congregation
Individual believers \
/As we shall see, the epistles spend the most time on the first and the third: Evangelists, and the body of Christ - the congregation as a whole, united.\
Note: I am going refer to the body of Christ as synonymous with the congregation. The body of Christ is the more inclusive term, including all saints across the globe.
And I think that’s the surprising part. It certainly was to me the first time I studied this in depth. With regard to evangelism:
/There are very few passages that address the individual saint (“each one”).
More address the body as a whole (“you”, “you all”).\
/The most address the work of the evangelist.\
That surprised me, and I’m guessing it might surprise you as well.
/So while I will touch on the second and the fourth witnesses (pastor-teachers and individual saints), the focus of my teaching on evangelism this weekend will bethe evangelist, and then the congregation as a whole.\
Let’s begin. And we begin with the evangelist.
/In his epistles, Paul himself is the primary evangelist.\
Now he was first and foremost an apostle, one who had seen the resurrected Christ, one who was given new teaching directly from the Lord. The apostle means “one who was sent” as a special representative of his sovereign.
That is quite similar to the calling of an evangelist.
/Evangelists are ambassadors. The Lord sends them out with a clear message and with a well-defined the mission (to proclaim that message to a group or location ).\
/His duty is to preach the message that the Lord has given him to the people that the Lord has assigned to him.\
1 Cor 2:1-5
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
/In evangelism, that message is the gospel of Jesus Christ.\
Paul uses many different expressions to describe this one message.
/The gospel of the grace of God , Acts 20:24
The gospel of God, Romans 1:1, 15:16; 1 Thess 2:2, 8-9; 2 Cor 11:7;
The gospel of Christ (most frequently), ROM 15:19;1 Cor 9:12; 2 Cor 2:12, 9:13, 10:14; GAL 1:7; Php 1:27; 1 Thess 3:2;
The word of the cross 1 Cor 1:18
Christ crucified, 1 Cor 1:23
Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, 1 Cor 1:24
The gospel of the glory of Christ, 2 Cor 4:4
The word of reconciliation, 2 Cor 5:19
The gospel of your salvation, EPH 1:13
The gospel of peace, EPH 6:15
The mystery of the gospel, EPH 6:19
The word of truth, COL 1:5
The gospel of our Lord Jesus, 2 Thess 1:8
The glorious gospel of the blessed God, 1 Tim 1:11\
14 different expressions! And I’m sure I missed a few.
The Eskimo language more than 50 different words for snow - and over 70 for ice.
Here we find one word, aput, expressing SNOW ON THE GROUND; another one, qana, FALLING SNOW; a third one, piqsirpoq, DRIFTING SNOW; and a fourth one, qimuqsuq, A SNOWDRIFT.
Why there’s “aqilokoq” for “softly falling snow” and “piegnartoq” for great sledding, to “matsaaruti” for wet snow that can be used to ice a sleigh’s runners, “pukak,” for crystalline powder snow that looks like salt.
/Having many words for a subject is a testament to its importance to the people “speaking the language”.\
So it’s no surprise that we have so many expressions for the gospel in Paul’s letters.
/In the Greek New Testament, the word for “gospel” is “euangelion”. It is a compound word. “eu” means good. “angelion” means announcement.\
/So the gospel is a good announcement. OR more commonly the good news.\
Euangelion can refer either to the message- the good news - itself, or to the act of proclaiming the good news,
And what is this good news that Paul was under obligation to preach?
We need to hear, and read, and know, and master this over and over again, so we can fulfill our duty, our corporate obligation to the lost in our neighborhood.
To hear and read this good news, please turn to 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 now.
1 Cor 15:1-11
1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
This good news is the heart of our lives as Christians. It is absolutely incumbent on every one is to be able to express this good news clearly and accurately.
OK, let us return now to our examination of the calling of the evangelist.
/The evangelist is the primary ambassador for Christ - the point person for bringing good news of the gospel of Christ to the lost.\
It is his all-consuming task: his whole life. To the point where he sometimes he has to put his very life on the line.
1 Thess 2:1-8
2 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain,
2 but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. 3 For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit;
4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. 5 For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed — God is witness — 6 nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. 7 But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. 8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.
NASU
/I hope you can see how vital it is to have an evangelist in the congregation or at least supported by the congregation.\ Not having one greatly hampers the function of the body of Christ in her witness to the lost.
Let’s continue now with a few more passages from Paul’s epistles dealing with the evangelist.
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
Notice that he uses the expression “I am” three times.
/v. 14: “I am under obligation:”. \
This was not optional or casual. He had a duty, an obligation, a debt as it were, to the Lord and then to “Greeks and barbarians, the wise and the foolish”.
/In 1 Cor 9:16, he uses the expression “woe is me” if he were to neglect his duty: \
1 Cor 9:16-23
16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. 18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. 23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.
NASU
OK back to Romans 1:
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
Notice how the Lord gave him marching orders to go to the people who needed to hear the message:
Greeks and barbarians, the wise and the foolish.
He had the most extensive missionary field ever.
Yet even here, it’s clear that his mission fiend did not include the Jewish cities and regions. Of course, he did meet Jews along the way, an in fact when he came to new Gentile city, he would often seek out the local synagogues.
“To the Jew first, and also to the Greek”. But in verse 16, he is not describing his own mission, but rather the the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
/The second “I am” is in verse 15.
I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.\
It’s not just his duty; it is also his great passion and privilege.
Notice the clarity here: a specific message (the gospel) and a particular mission field (Rome).
/The third “I am” appears in the next verse, verse 16:\
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
You may be wondering , “Why would someone be ashamed of the gospel - especially an apostle, an ambassador, an evangelist?”
/Because the gospel is offensive to the unbelieving world.\
1 Cor 1:21-25
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
NASU
/The word of the cross of Christ often brings shame upon those who preach it. And persecution.\
2 Tim 2:8-10
8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. 10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.
NASU
There is of course a big difference, however, between having shame brought upon you, on the one hand, and being ashamed, on the other.We have no control of the first (except by not witnessing). We have complete control of the second.
I read recently in one of the emails I get about missionaries. It spoke about a man by the name of Bassam who lives in the Arabian Peninsula.
When he believed in Christ, heleft Islam. After that, he wouldn’t stop confessing Christ thereafter. To family, neighbors, on the job, and so forth.
His community was Muslim. Preaching Christ put a target on his back. And eventually, the trouble came.
One night, he was walking through a dim alley when he felt compelled to move toward a main street with more light. Just as he reached the main road, two men wearing black masks attacked him with a wooden rod, swinging it at his head.
He blocked the strike, but the rod broke his arm. He believes the attack was a part of the cost of being a Christ follower. He is thankful that the Lord spoke to him to move to that main street. If he had stayed in the alley, he might have been seriously hurt or even killed.
Please pray for Bassam. He requests prayer for his protection, and that he will be an effective witness for Christ.
I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for whomever believes.
We’re going to look at one more passage in Paul’s epistles that addresses the calling of the evangelist. I am going to simply read it, and rely on the Spirit for the rest.
2 Cor 5:13-21
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
/The other witness that we are going to learn about in Paul’s epistles is the corporate witness.\ By that I mean the body of Christ. And it’s local manifestation , the local congregation.
Again, for our purposes, I will use the body of Christ and the congregation interchangeably.
The impact of a vibrant corporate witness:
7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, 10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.
Notice also how the congregation prays for and supports the evangelist, and the evangelist in turn prays for and testifies to the faith of the congregation.
This mutual reinforcement accelerates the proclamation of the gospel of Christ.
The combination of the witness of the congregation in Rome and the ambassadorship of Paul ended up with the gospel being proclaimed throughout the whole Roman empire.
They both took full advantage of the unprecedented opportunities available to them.
The church in Rome was located at the very center of the Roman empire. “All roads led to Rome”.
Paul was uniquely gifted for his evangelistic mission as the apostle to the Gentiles.
But the congregation and the evangelist lived in their calling, and the results were phenomenal.
Corporate prayer
18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
NASUNASU
Making the most of every opportunity
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
NASU
And Peter says something similar in his first letter:
1 Peter 3:13-16
13 Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.
NASU
The hope that is in you.
This is predicated on having the hope inside you!
How is that hope nurtured?
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Finally, we discover that our hope is in a Person:
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. 25 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,
27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. 29 For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
NASU
This is a wonderful summing up of the things we have learned about evangelization this weekend.
What a great place to end our time in Paul’s epistles.
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Next, here’s some guidance on the relative percentage of time in their calling that is dedicated to the work of evangelism.
By “in their calling”, I mean the time the Lord has provided to participate in any aspect of our Christian calling.
For example, a person who works two jobs would typically have less time for evangelism than a retired person, all else being equal.
These are general guidelines, not hard and fast rules.
Here are typical % of time in their calling that are dedicated to evangelism.
Evangelist: 60-80% of the time available for their calling. Evangelists have other responsibilities, including prayer and Bible study.
Pastor-teacher: 10-20%. 80-90% of their time should be devoted to caring for the congregation, training up other men for the ministry, strenuous Bible study, teaching and preaching, and prayer.
Congregation, the body of Christ . Note, this has to do with body life, not the calling of individual saints. Typical time dedicated to corporate witnessing and outreach : 20-30%. The remaining 70-80% of the life of the body would be dedicated to worship, prayer, hearing the word of God together ( in the assembly), building up one another for the spiritual growth of the congregation, and serving one another, especially with our spiritual gifts,
Personal - individuals: this will vary a lot according to one’s circumstances, health, station in life (marital status, occupation), extent of the opportunities to witness, and giftedness (the spiritual gift the Holy Spirit has given you).
Today we will finish the Prologue of the Gospel of John. John 1:1-18.
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