Lecturer: Pastor Carter

Subject: Evangelism

Introduction

The objective of this course suggests that was address:

1. Some deficiencies in the Evangelist and the Evangelistic Ministry

2. The De emphasizing of the Evangelist and the Evangelistic Ministry

These will be addressed as we divide out theme into three vital parts and get into the heart of our
discourse:

1. The Guyanese Evangelists

2. A period of Divine Judgment
3. The Evangelist Response

PART (1) THE GUYANESE EVANGELIST

A. THE GUYANESE EVANGELIST -AN ENDANGERED SPECIES

a. Very rarely spotted or seen unlike a few decades ago when they were both seen and heard daily
and especially on weekends by the roadsides, street corners and market places.
b. The evangelist not one of the big time or more prestigious titles today , like the Apostle,
Prophet/ Prophetess, Bishop, Reverend or even Pastor.
c. Little or no recognition in congregation. Just the Sunday night or crusade preacher. Notice the
closing down of some Sunday night or evangelistic meetings.
d. Very rarely considered for ordination. He is not in charge of a church.
e. Left to survive and sometimes to maintain a family on love gifts. Not normally on the church’s
payroll. Evangelism no included in annual budgets.
f. Tempted to greener pastures, Guyana has lost much this way.

B. URGENTLY NEEDED – EVANGELISTS – GUYANESE EVANGELISTS

Reasons:

I. The lure to greener pastures and in some cases the genuine need to migrate
II. Promotion to higher ministry ( so called )
III. Little or no interest in Evangelism
IV. None response to the call of God
V. The silencing of the voices of the heralds of the Gospel.

All the above has contributed to the Evangelistic Ministry being left to substitute novices and stop- gap
Evangelists.

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 VI. Sin is on the increase – iniquity abounding. Note the crimes committed sexual immorality, drug
and alcohol addition. The inroads Cults and the Occult are making in the Guyanese households
and communities.

Hence the need for the proclaimer of the Gospel which is “the power of God unto Salvation.”

The need is for genuine Guyanese Evangelists who love Guyana and Guyanese who don not berate and
bad mouth Guyana, who do not curse and condemn Guyanese. Who will evangelize and preach the
Gospel like Guyanese- not adopting the language, the gimmicks, histrionics and theatrics of North
American, European or even other Caribbean Evangelists.

C. THE EVANGELIST – ONE THE FIVE – FOLD

The Evangelist is needed to bring balance to the five-fold ministry of Ephesians. God did not leave him
out we must.

Without this ministry – which is to win Souls, who will the others minister to?

The de-emphasizing and neglect of the ministry of Evangelism have resulted in lack of genuine church
growth in many churches.

Sheep stealing, recycling of believers and the moving from church to church of disgruntled,
indiscipline, dissatisfied and rebellious church members is the order of the day

PART (2) DIVINE JUDGMENT

Meted out at various times and in various ways but always because of sin

 Noah days
 Sodom and Gomorrah
 Today’s disasters and catastrophes
 The Guyanese Economic, Political and Social ills – (in spite of out natural and intellectual
resources. Is God judging us?)

Acts 17:31- God commands repentance (from sin) because he has appointed Judgment

If divine judgment comes because of sin- and the message of the Evangelist is one that brings salvation
from sin- then in a period of Divine judgment, the Evangelist has but one response- the Evangelist is
defined as one that is;

 Genuine
 God fearing
 people loving

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There is a sense in which we can say all the time divine judgment is meted out:

 People’s sins find them out

 People reap what they sow
 Stiff-necked people are suddenly cut off

PART (3) THE EVANGELISTS RESPONSE

Always at a time of Judgment – a door of mercy is opened. Note: Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah.

Acts 17:31

A closer look! The book of Jonah

Jonah’s account is very timely and applicable here. Initially, Jonah’s response was wrong. He sought to
flee- note his downward trend.

In order to fulfill his ministry Jonah had to first be in the place God wanted him to be.

He had to be the prophet God wanted Him to be not a running, rebellious prophet in order to do what
God wanted him to do.

Being must come before doing!

The Guyanese evangelist’s response at a time of period of divine Judgment should be:

1. Be the Minster – God has called you to be the man, Husband, Father, Brother, Employee/er.
Your life is your ministry. Your ministry is your life.
2. Minister the Word God has called you to.

The will of God is still that “Holy” men “speak” as they are moved “by the Holy Ghost.”

The Word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying “Arise, go to Nineveh

and preach the preaching I bid thee to preach”

Note: People are not only poor and sick, more than anything else they war lost –“all have sinned”

Preach the Gospel of Salvation from sin.

Identification of the term and Concept of Evangelism

Terms we use to speak about our efforts to win souls to Christ;

 Evangelism
 Witnessing
 Soul Winning

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T.L. Osborn loved to use the term “soul winning”. He called it God’s number one job.

If the church today sees it as such then all our buildings will prove too small and inadequate; it will bring
an end to all the complains about too little preaching opportunities and Christian lives will be more
consistent with the word of God.

R.T Kendall says there is ‘nothing more corrective to our spiritual defects than a renewal of concern for
lost souls.’

WHAT IS EVANGELISM?

The bible teaches that our evangelistic work of declaring the gospel is the church’s primary ministry to
the world, that and the mercy ministry. If neglected the church will cease to grow and influence of
others. It will become ingrown and eventually wither.

1. Evangelism is the strategy and tactics which we use to enable our witness for Christ to be as
effective as possible.
2. It is generally a planned and organized approach of proclaiming the GOSPEL-GOOD NEWS of
Jesus Christ to the lost.

All Christians are not given the ministerial gift of the Evangelist, but all Christians are called to be
witnesses and to preach the Gospel. We learned that we must be witnesses in one way or another,
either by;

 Life
 Lip
 Literature

While good gospel literature is scare, we have our lips and our live!

Question- What will you think of one who is called to be a witness in a court Justice and simply stand
silently?

People do kook at our lives and can be influence by lips, which should not conflict with each other. We
are commissioned to PREACH the gospel!

THE GREAT COMMISSION

Matthew 28: 19-The great commission words “GO YE and PREACH THE GOSPEL.” There are two
indispensable requirements for effective and fruitful Evangelism.

1. Zeal (enthusiasm): the GO suggests Zeal. This is sadly lacking in out churches today, the GO has
gone from our gospel: That zeal and ‘fire’ is a internal push that will compel us to act rather
than just sitting ideally. Pastor Carter personal Testimony is that this zeal caused him to preach
his effective sermons even though his knowledge was limited. He simply preached his testimony,
seeking lost souls the best way he knew how.

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 2. Along with zeal the other requirement is a rare combination; Sound Theology: the Preach the
Gospel suggest knowledge of the bible. sound theology; we need both.

There are many Christians with sound theology who win no one to Christ. We sit trying to convince one
another of out biblical knowledge while souls go to hell from right under out noses, and Satan continues
to steal kill and destroy. The need is for Christians Passion for souls.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL

Since the gospel is what we are commissioned to preach, we must have an understanding of what the
Gospel really is! Sound theology in out gospel preaching is an absolute necessity!

Evaggelion (GR) GOOD News: it’s a secular word referring to the ancient herald who announced good
news.

The Good news: a. Christ died for our sins and was raised again.

b. We are saved by believing this message.

The message includes many teaching that found in the bible which focuses primarily on the doctrine of
salvation ‘Soteriology’… therefore the believer must study and understand some of these concepts:

a. The Blood:
b. The Cross
c. Redemption
d. Atonement
e. Faith
f. Grace etc. are subjects we must study.

Good news presupposes Bad News: this is where sound theology helps again!

a. The fall of Man: Sin:

b. Judgment, etc.

While the bad news is that all men are sinners, helpless, under God’s wrath, headed for hell, the good
news is that Jesus died to change all this.

Conclusion

 We need to always believe the gospel we preach and pray for that burden fro lost souls.
 While we need the Holy Spirit to set our hearts on fire and to inspire our preaching we must
study the word and be willing to go.
 Let us use our God given wisdom to plan ways of meeting people and leading them to the lord.

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FOUR KEY POINTS OUTLINED

I. God loves us and wants us to be saved.

II. Man is separated from God because of sin.
III. Jesus took our punishment and bridge the separation between God and man
IV. We must receive Jesus as our lord and Savior.

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NECESSITIES FOR SALVATION

1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ – No one can be saved except they hear the good news of Jesus
Christ. Otherwise every good talk and good work may be regarded simply as helpful and good
but may never lead to Salvation. Rom 10:9-15 reminds us that the crucial ingredient of Salvation
is the actual message.

2. Faith and Repentance- The salvation message needs to be preached in order for the possibility
of one becoming saved. However, the listener of the message will also have to believe and
repent without which it would be impossible for them to be saved.

This Faith that is required is understood to be “Saving Faith.”

This concept is defined by taking a look at the Greek word that translates Faith in relation to
salvation.
Saving Faith- Pistis (Gr) from Pipto- Meaning to Persaud
Therefore, in the context of Rom 10:9-10 “ ……and believe in your heart…..” actually suggests a
Persuasion of the Heart

Secondly, when the heart is persuaded, it should then trigger an action and a behavior that
responds to the Message of Salvation. This act is known as Repentance – Rom 2:4. The concept
of repentance is clear when the Greek meaning is applied.
Repentance – Metanoia (Gr) – means a change of Mind.

A person who will be saved must hear the Gospel which persuades his heart to hold to the
message which causes him to have a change of mind of his way of life. (Simply put)

Two Doctrines which up hold the Need for Evangelism

1. ETERNAL PUNISHMENT – Matt 25: 41,46

a) Take this away from the concept of God’s wrath and it loses its impact
Unfortunately many pulpits are not heard preaching God’s Judgment for those that
refuse his salvation. The church seems to be preaching a gospel in order to make people
wealthy and healthy. However, the idea of loss souls going to be eternally punished is
ignored and in some cases debated.

b) Never apologies for acts and statement that God states are Just. Gen 18: 25
The concept of God’s judgment on a world that is already suffering doesn’t appear to be
Just. In fact, the arguments concerning whether a loving God can administer Eternal
Punishment doesn’t seem logical. Christians are tempted to down play this aspect of
the Gospel and try to re interpret what is already clear in scriptures.

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 Eternal Punishment in God’s eyes is Just Act by him. We need to remember this in our
declaration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. UNIVERSAL ATONEMENT ( That Christ died for all) Heb 2:9

It must be fully understood that the death of Jesus Christ was a saving act for the entire world.
This therefore means that everyone can be saved because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
Once a believer, comprehends this fact, he or she is not limited to the persons that they may
speak to about the gospel. 2Cor 5:15

OUR RESPONSIBILITY IN EVANGELISM

1) Soul winning is every body ‘s business ( Matt 28:19)

Every church is called to be Evangelistic (Acts 4:20)
Note:
a. The purpose of Pentecost – Acts 1:8 Witness
b. The result of Pentecost- Conversions Acts 2:41

The nature and description of a “True Church” –

a) The Word of God faithfully preached

b) Sacraments administered ( Communion)
c) Discipline exercised (Standards and Principles)
d) Fellowship enjoyed ( Gladly coming together on regular basis)
e) People converted (new souls being saved and added to the church)

Since everyone should be in the business of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, there is no
need to wait for special crusades, open air programs or the main evangelists to preach. However, in the
local church, Evangelism must be encouraged by the designated head.

2) Evangelism is the Task of the Minster

I. He/She must preach ‘Evangelistically’ on a regular basis ( 2 Tim 4:5)
II. Witness to others personally ( Acts 17:17)
III. Train others for the work of Evangelism

It must be clear nevertheless, that while the leader does their part every believer has their
individual role to play (Acts 8:1) which is not limited to the Pulpit.

Evangelism has a two fold effect:

It impacts the lives of those who hear the gospel even if it doesn’t led to immediate salvation

It impacts the lives of those who share the Word since it reinforces their beliefs and also causes them to
be more careful of how they live their lives. In addition, Jude reminds the believer that he that winneth

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souls is wise; Matthew tells us to snatch men from eternal flames but also encourages the believer to
store up treasures in heaven…. for only what is done for God will lasts.

JESUS MUST ALWAYS BE THE CENTER OF OUR GOSPEL IN EVANGELISM

I. He is Savior
II. He is the Gift of God
III. He is lord

God is for the underdog

Evangelism has in its focus people who society has rejected or who they have rated as unimportant and
thus rated as outcasts! This is seen primarily in the way God throughout scripture has dealt with such
individuals and continues to extent help in their direction.

Think about the people that are referred in these texts Amos 2:6-7, Js 1:27 and make reference to who
today may similarly be considered as needing help!

Perhaps! The Widow, the Poor, the Blind, the needed, even ‘street Junkie’, the unemployed, the
racially victimized…could you add to this list and prescribe ways that you can reach them.

Jesus is seen as always going to their rescue, e.g.( Jn 4) woman at the well.

Note:

The believer who is evangelizing should be aware of and Guard against

a. The practice of catering for a special class, race or group of people. Js 2:1-16
b. The doctrine of Limited Atonement –

Every class, greed, race or sex is able to be saved because the atonement is all embracing. Therefore the
believer must not exclude or declare anyone unfit for the gospel.

The Holy Spirit and the evangelist

His inspiration, his anointing

The operation of His gifts

Conviction that leads to conversion

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Personal evangelism

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch Acts 8:26-40

Being led or sent by the spirit

The importance of one soul

No respecter of persons- the Eunuch’s position

Note: Philip’s method of approach (led by God)

The importance of the word

His Baptism

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