May 12, 2006

Hello. Friday is here at last, but still time to talk about evangelism. Thanks for joining us!

Be sure to visit: www.thegreatcommissionchurch.org -our sponsor. Now evangelism.

Jesus expected his followers to reproduce. Jesus had built into his disciples the structure of a church that would challenge and triumph over all the powers of death and hell. He did for see the day when the gospel of salvation in his name would be proclaimed convincingly to ever creature. We must not fail to see the direct relation between bearing witness of Christ and the ultimate victory over the world.

 

It all came back to his disciples. They were the vanguard of his enveloping movement. His whole evangelistic strategy-indeed, the fulfillment of his very purpose in coming into the world, dying on the cross, and rising from the grave-depended on the faithfulness of his chosen disciples to this task. As simple as it may seem, this was the way the gospel would conquer. He had no other plan.

 

As surely as the disciples were participants in the life of Jesus, even so they would bear his fruit. Jesus called on men to evaluate the product of their lives.

 

The Great Commission of Christ given to his church summed it all up in the command to make disciples of every creature. The word indicates that the disciples were to go out into the world and win others who would come to be what they were-disciples of Christ.

 

Leadership was the emphasis. The masses were ripe for the harvest. The only hope for the world is for laborers to go to them with the gospel of salvation, and having won them to the Savior, not to leave them, but to work with them faithfully. Here finally is where we must all evaluate the contribution that our life and witness is making to the supreme purpose of his who is the Savior of the world.

 

What really counts in the ultimate perpetuation of our work is the faithfulness with which our converts go out and make leaders out of their converts, not simply more followers. Our work is never finished until it has assured its continuation in the lives of those redeemed by the Evangel.

 

The test of any work of evangelism is in the effectiveness with which the work continues in the next generation. Christians are actively winning souls and training them to win the multitudes. Values can only be measured by eternity. Consider what it would mean to the future of the church if we had only one true disciple now to show for our labors. Our ministry alone would soon reach multitudes with the gospel.

 

They gave the gospel to the multitudes, but all the while they were building up the fellowship of those who believed. As the Lord added daily to the church, the disciples were preparing men to reproduce their ministry to the ends of the earth. The Acts of the Apostles were really just the unfolding in the life of the church the principles of evangelism.

 

Times changed and gradually the simple way of Jesus’ evangelism was forced into a new mold. Some how or another the principles got confused. The costly principles of leadership development and reproduction seem to have been submerged beneath the easier strategy of mass recruitment. The nearsighted objective of popular recognition generally took precedence over the long range goal of reaching the world, and the methods of evangelism employed by the church collectively and individually have reflected this momentary outlook. Jesus’ plan has not been disavowed; it has just been ignored.

 

Well-intended ceremonies, programs, organizations, commissions, and crusades of human ingenuity are trying valiantly to do a job that only can be done by people in the power of the Holy Spirit. Unless the personal mission of the Master is vitally incorporated into the policy and fabric of these plans, the church cannot function as she should.

That's all for this week. Please join us next week. It will be great!

Pastor Bob Emery