Preparing People for Evangelism?
Evangelism is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice at the cross for the salvation of men, with a view to persuading them to receive the love of God through Jesus Christ.
Evangelism is a heavenly assignment to:
1. Go into all the world and preach the word of God.
2. Baptize those who believe in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
3. Make disciples of them that believe.
We take the message of salvation to people who may never have heard the gospel before or people who have heard the message before but are not yet born again. Everyone going out for evangelism should understand that the goal of evangelizing and teaching the Word is not to be popular in our neighborhood, or be a great preacher, but an effective soul winner, hitting his soul-winning goal consistently.
There is a soul-winning target to look forward to, because to whom much is given, much is also expected. If God has trained us and nurtured us over the years, using different men and women of God, He has an expectation that we will indeed speak the right words to others that will convince them to give their life to Christ. This is why an Evangelist should always use his own testimony as a motivator for his audience.
It is important to say that as a Church group planning to embark on evangelism, every member of the group should understand certain things. Field evangelism outreaches begin with group prayer for divine direction. This prayer season would usually continue until a word or direction is heard from the Lord. Then, there are basic requirements that members should affirm. Be prepared to share the gospel.
Remember to ask for boldness, and remember to persist on going out regularly. If you use a particular platform to preach to people or witness to them, be consistent and do it daily or weekly or as you can arrange. The devil will put stumbling blocks to hinder you, but you must continue to press forward. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, we can see from the writings of Apostle Paul that the gospel was preached under difficult circumstances and times. He said: “We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
Evangelism is a heavenly assignment to:
1. Go into all the world and preach the word of God.
2. Baptize those who believe in the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
3. Make disciples of them that believe.
We take the message of salvation to people who may never have heard the gospel before or people who have heard the message before but are not yet born again. Everyone going out for evangelism should understand that the goal of evangelizing and teaching the Word is not to be popular in our neighborhood, or be a great preacher, but an effective soul winner, hitting his soul-winning goal consistently.
There is a soul-winning target to look forward to, because to whom much is given, much is also expected. If God has trained us and nurtured us over the years, using different men and women of God, He has an expectation that we will indeed speak the right words to others that will convince them to give their life to Christ. This is why an Evangelist should always use his own testimony as a motivator for his audience.
It is important to say that as a Church group planning to embark on evangelism, every member of the group should understand certain things. Field evangelism outreaches begin with group prayer for divine direction. This prayer season would usually continue until a word or direction is heard from the Lord. Then, there are basic requirements that members should affirm. Be prepared to share the gospel.
Remember to ask for boldness, and remember to persist on going out regularly. If you use a particular platform to preach to people or witness to them, be consistent and do it daily or weekly or as you can arrange. The devil will put stumbling blocks to hinder you, but you must continue to press forward. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, we can see from the writings of Apostle Paul that the gospel was preached under difficult circumstances and times. He said: “We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
There are three essential things that you must do in order to get equipped for sharing the Good News.
Be Born Again
Anyone going out on outreach to win souls must be saved. Unsaved members jeopardize evangelism efforts. You should be born again to join an evangelism team to share the word of God. Evangelism is seeking for the lost and perishing souls and only saved souls with assurances of salvation that should be part of the team.
Jesus came to earth to seek souls of men and to reconcile them to His Father according to Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” But the first preparation of the Christian soldier going into the field to witness is that he or she MUST be born again. Rom 5:10
Living Right
Your life should reflect Christ's nature inside and outside. It is not just to go and win souls when a person is having problems dealing with issues in their own lives and the Word of God is not yet inside of that person, it is better such a person is busy in other units of the church.
If the fear of the Lord that makes a believer flee from sin is not yet in life, If the humility that makes a CEO serve his subordinate is not yet in a person, soul-winning would not be easy.
For instance, there is nothing as embarrassing as having a member of the evangelism team with heavy make-up and flaunting her legs, waist on the street. There is a way such things distract the team. Both men and women should be properly and attractively dress without distraction. Many young girls and boys have gone out to win souls, unprepared and the devil took advantage of them.
Prepare Your Mind. Apply yourself to studying God’s Word, along with reading other helpful resources that will sharpen your mind and understanding (see 2 Timothy 2:15). Basically, the Word is your tool and Jesus is the message. You need some revelational knowledge about the word of life and about Jesus Christ, as well as the ability to communicate clearly and effectively the gospel to people. If you are a meticulous person, you will have a study guide and program, but if you concentrate on the Gospel Mathew Mark, Luke, John, and Acts of the Apostles, you will do well.
Holiness
What do you do at home, in your school, at the office? Who are you before God and before people that know you. If you will go and preach what you are not doing, you will not be able to win a single soul. If you love the Lord, you must love holiness and continue in holiness.
If you live right, you can be sure of the harvest of souls each time you go out to witness. In Math 4:19 - Jesus says “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Evangelism is "fishing for men" for the kingdom of heaven. But the people that will win souls are those who are living right. It is the same people that will endure in evangelism.
Anyone going out on outreach to win souls must be saved. Unsaved members jeopardize evangelism efforts. You should be born again to join an evangelism team to share the word of God. Evangelism is seeking for the lost and perishing souls and only saved souls with assurances of salvation that should be part of the team.
Jesus came to earth to seek souls of men and to reconcile them to His Father according to Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” But the first preparation of the Christian soldier going into the field to witness is that he or she MUST be born again. Rom 5:10
Living Right
Your life should reflect Christ's nature inside and outside. It is not just to go and win souls when a person is having problems dealing with issues in their own lives and the Word of God is not yet inside of that person, it is better such a person is busy in other units of the church.
If the fear of the Lord that makes a believer flee from sin is not yet in life, If the humility that makes a CEO serve his subordinate is not yet in a person, soul-winning would not be easy.
For instance, there is nothing as embarrassing as having a member of the evangelism team with heavy make-up and flaunting her legs, waist on the street. There is a way such things distract the team. Both men and women should be properly and attractively dress without distraction. Many young girls and boys have gone out to win souls, unprepared and the devil took advantage of them.
Prepare Your Mind. Apply yourself to studying God’s Word, along with reading other helpful resources that will sharpen your mind and understanding (see 2 Timothy 2:15). Basically, the Word is your tool and Jesus is the message. You need some revelational knowledge about the word of life and about Jesus Christ, as well as the ability to communicate clearly and effectively the gospel to people. If you are a meticulous person, you will have a study guide and program, but if you concentrate on the Gospel Mathew Mark, Luke, John, and Acts of the Apostles, you will do well.
Holiness
What do you do at home, in your school, at the office? Who are you before God and before people that know you. If you will go and preach what you are not doing, you will not be able to win a single soul. If you love the Lord, you must love holiness and continue in holiness.
If you live right, you can be sure of the harvest of souls each time you go out to witness. In Math 4:19 - Jesus says “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Evangelism is "fishing for men" for the kingdom of heaven. But the people that will win souls are those who are living right. It is the same people that will endure in evangelism.
Then the people should be conversant with the Word and its potency. We are born again by the Word, and when the word is living inside of us, then Christ is living inside us by His Spirit. Evangelists should have a good understanding of the Word of God...the Tool for the soul winning.
Holy Ghost Baptism
Witnessing Christ is one of the sweetest aspects of soul winning. It is representing Christ, teaching and preaching like Christ and also doing those good deeds He did when occasion demand. But, witnessing Christ will be ineffective without the Holy Ghost. The Lord told His disciples - the apostles to wait behind in Jerusalem and receive the promise of the Father, which He told them about- Acts 1:4
And you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost comes upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Witnessing Christ is with power, it is not just teaching and preaching the word of God, it is teaching and preaching the word with power.
This is what happens when we pray for a sick brother and he receives his healing when we receive word of knowledge for the people we are meeting for the first time and the Lord confirms the word of prophesy we gave them. The presence of the Holy Ghost removes fear and shyness from people.
Prepare Your Heart. Prepare for fieldwork of speaking to people about Jesus Christ, the sacrifice He made for them at the cross and be prepared for different kinds of reactions. Some will resist the message, others will listen , but may not accept Christ at that moment, while others could reject the message altogether. Ask God to give you a heart of compassion and fervent love for the lost and an earnest desire for their salvation. Ask also for patient heart, humble spirit and persistent heart that will be ready to follow up on convert and would-be converts.
Prepare the Way. You have to pray! Ask God to give you boldness to engage with every person whom He leads you to. Ask Him to speak to the people directly, so that vital aspects of the peoples' lives and needs could be met at the same time. There may be questions that people hold in their heart, waiting for a preacher or evangelist to ask, so if God is the one speaking through you, He would direct your preaching to those areas to shed the light of God on them and thereby answering the questions such people may have.
Ask the Lord for willing and spirit-filled team members with the same real and direction to those that He has prepared to receive the Lord that day, and all those longings for the Word of life.
Pray and take authority
There is a need for you to pray before embarking on either personal or group evangelism. You should pray relevant scriptures about soul winning like 1 Corinthians 15:10, Mathew 4:19. Remember, there is the inner boldness that comes from studying and meditating on the Word. As you study the Word, prepare an answer to like questions different people in the public may ask.
Remember, that married women's question will be different from the question of a young girl. A poor man's question will be different from that of a rich or comfortable person. Traders and middle-aged men want solution to their family, business and emotional problems, while the youths are looking for opportunities in life and what the Lord can do to move their lives forward. You should meditate on these and other questions from the scriptural point of view.
Finally, you should hand over your mission to the Holy Ghost, asking Him to guide you to the right place and people.
FIRE...
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