HALF EVANGELISM

 

MEMORY VERSE: 1 Corinthians 9:22 to the weak I as weak that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

 

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ex 30, John 9, Prov 6, Gal 5

 

Asides praise and worship, one activity God loves so much and takes interest in is evangelism. No wonder He said in Luke 11:23, ‘he that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth i.e. whoever is not bringing people to Christ is sending people away from Christ. There is a great reward for those who witness about Christ in heaven. Here on earth, the Lord has promised that those who witnesses i.e. turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever, Daniel 12:3.

 

There is more to evangelism than approaching people and telling them Jesus loves them and wants to save them. Evangelism is not about just telling people that Jesus came to die for them and all. It is far more than that. Most of the time what we do is half evangelism. We tell people Christ loves them but we are not ready to demonstrate the love of Christ to them. We tell people Jesus saves but we are not ready to be the savior we talked about to them. I remember a particular experience while i was witnessing to a particular sister. I was praying and literally begging her to accept Jesus but I noticed I was not making any progress at all so I sought the advice of a brother. At that time the sister had just lost her job, she could barely feed herself talk less of buy a bus fare to look for jobs. Anyway the brother advised me to be the Jesus I was preaching to her. Immediately I made some arrangements to get her some food stuff and I began to assist her in her job search. Guess what, the next time I invited her to church she turned up and I think that was her first time of setting foot in a church. Evangelism is not only about saving the soul but saving the body i.e. taking interest in what the fellow is going through and offering support. Another part of evangelism God is keen on is follow-up. One of the reasons why people are not encouraged to come to church anymore is because the church does not show genuine interest or care for them. Many have been attending service for weeks, months or even years and no one from church has bothered to contact them to check on them talk less of the pastor setting time out to visit them at home and pray with them. Jesus conducted follow up with his disciples. It was during one of the follow-up visits he healed the mother-in-law of Peter, Matthew 8:14-15. Several years ago a young lady gathered a group of street kids to teach them God’s word. Among these kids was Robert Morrison. He would attend church today and not show up for a while, only to show up out of the blue again. What always brought young Robert back to the class room was the follow-up this young lady was doing. Today Robert Morrison is known as the great missionary to China who translated the bible into the Chinese language and opened the Kingdom of Heaven to countless millions who live there. The follow-up conducted on the unpromising, unstable Robert gave birth to a great missionary.

 

ACTION POINT: Contact brothers and sisters you did not see in church last Sunday and check if all is well.