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.
