07.08.2012 Evangelism!

PowerPoint

EVANGELISM July 8, 2012

You may have noticed that I put cards and pencils on all your chairs. If you didn’t notice that you may want to stand up real carefully. We did kind of run out of pencils so you may need to borrow from your neighbor. Before we start I want you to take those cards and pencils and fill them out as I talk. Since I am asking you it is not rude to do this. I am not going to collect these. I’m not going to grade these. These are for your own use. What I want you to do is to write down a couple things you are truly thankful for. You’ll thank me later.

Today I want to talk about something you won’t hear me talk about too often:
• SLIDE 1 – EVANGELISM!
Now I’m not going to do the typical hellfire and brimstone message on preaching and reaching. This will be maybe something more like evangelism 101 or evangelism for dummies or the introverts guide to evangelism. I have heard other speakers who say they are convinced that this message is the one thing you need to know for something to happen. This is not one of those kinds of teachings. This is just one small thing to look at in the whole realm of evangelism and Christian life. I am hoping this will be an opportunity to free up some of the inhibitions we often have about evangelism.
• SLIDE 2 EVANGELISM scary:
The word just is kind of scary. I did a thorough word study on the word. I typed and searched it in my bible program. It’s not in the bible. Evangelist showed up a couple times. So I had to turn to the dictionary.

I looked in Websters, which we all know is the definitive dictionary.
• SLIDE 3
evangelism (?'vænd???l?z?m) — n greek for evangelism for those who don’t know greek. For those who do know grek this is a different dialect than what you know.
1. the practice of spreading the Christian gospel
2. ardent or missionary zeal for a cause (when I was doing my exhausting, I mean exhaustive study I found several references to evangelist under businesses like Amazon, Dell, Verizon, eBay, Microsoft)
3. the work, methods, or characteristic outlook of a revivalist or evangelist preacher
Definitions 1 and 3 are pretty much covered by myriad books. I want to focus more on definition 2 today.

LET’S PRAY

We Christians seem to have a propensity for developing and using words that sound big but are never really used in everyday talk.
• SLIDE 4 Dispensation, redemptive, salvation, baptism, blessings, hallelujah, sacred, holy, repentance, regeneration, unction, vespers, mopeds or idears.
These aren’t words you will hear in a Laundromat or grocery store every day. “I really love this new detergent, Gloris, don’t you? It gives me so much unction.” Some of these words like EVANGELISM can tend to take on more of an impression then actual meaning. I get kind of tensed up inside when I hear it, though it is actually not that scary of a thing to do.

Here are some pictures of what I think about when I think EVANGELISM:
• SLIDE 5 open-air preaching,
• SLIDE 6 And if you have trouble projecting your voice there are tools you can use effectively
• SLIDE 7 door-to-door evangelism,
And there’s friendship, dating, personal, impersonal. Probably all very valid forms. And you can use any and all of these forms that work for you
• SLIDE 8 Evangelism is not age dependant. You can start out young
• SLIDE 9 You can still evangelize as you mature.
• SLIDE 10 And even into your golden years. It’s all about the pointy finger and Bible.
• SLIDE 11 And there are some who are extremely good at it. I really admire Billy graham. He is one of my heroes.

When I was a much younger Christian we used to go around our neighborhood knocking on doors and asking people “Hi there. If you were to die tonight do you know where you would go?” I never was really good at small talk.

We lived on the north side of OSU campus on a main street into the OSU campus. During football days this street became congested with cars so we would make gospel signs and hang these on our porch. All these football drivers would read our signs and weep with repentance. That was always really affective until one night someone ripped my sign down off my porch and covered it with gasoline and lit it on fire in our front yard. My mother in law was spending the night. And that didn’t really work pout that well. That’s evangelism.

So understanding our need to be more subtle we put together a simple generic survey that we could use to get small talk started and maybe something spiritual as well:
• SLIDE 12 generic survey:
• SLIDE 13 Olive Mountain band
We formed a bluegrass band so we could play and preach on the oval –
• SLIDE 14 OSU Oval
a large grassy area in the heart of OSU campus where thousands of students would hang out during warm spring days. We would play our songs, many of which were quite evangelistic,
• SLIDE 15 song
and huge crowds of 10s and 20s would gather to listen and we would preach away.

• SLIDE 16 High Street
There was always a ton of people around OSU and to us evangelists that was always like good fishing grounds. As such we would find ourselves standing in the middle of the high street sidewalks preaching away on those beer soaked Friday nights.

• SLIDE 17 OSU Football
And of course you can’t ignore the biggest crowds of all; the OSU football games. We were always sure to be there.

That’s my early introduction to EVANGELISM. I don’t know how effective it was. It certainly affected me. And I am not necessarily condoning all of these activities. I could never get over the feeling that when I started evangelizing with an individual my chosen target would view me something like this.
• SLIDE 18 Not necessarily a good response..

Evangelism in the true sense is actually persuading someone to your point of view. Proselytizing is more of a persuasion to your lifestyle. Maybe in that way evangelism isn’t as accurate as proselytizing. But whatever the case those are more big words and I am not talking today about technique but life style. I think our goal should not be to simply present a persuasive message. It is more to be involved with life transformation. Life transformation needs to begin somewhere and that is the evangelism part. Evangelism is not always one of those things you think about doing in your spare time. Hey hon what say we go out to evangelize our neighbors again tonight? It usually takes a kick in the pants. But we need that kick. We do need to evangelize but what exactly does that mean? Do we need to be DL Moodys or Billy Grahams or is that Billys Graham?

I want to focus less on the how to’s or techniques but on our motivations. Remember “ardent or missionary zeal for a cause”.

I think we need to be ourselves and allow our lives to reflect God’s love and let people know that our God lives and He is active in our lives. In Matthew 28 we are told to Go therefore and what make converts??? No disciples. We often spend a major part of our energies evangelizing, trying to make a new convert. But making a disciple is a life long commitment and endeavor. In a family you don’t stop when the child is born. It is a lifelong process and I think we tend to separate the evangelism part into targeting just the conversion when in reality we really should be sharing our lives. Not just the correct scriptural formula but the entire transformed life.
• SLIDE 19 I summed this all up into a sound byte “It is not a message we prepare but a lifestyle that we share.”

To illustrate this there is a book written about Corrie ten Boom called “Hiding Place”.
• SLIDE 20 Corrie another one of my heroes
This is a book about a woman in her fifties who gets sent to a Nazi death camp. A definite must read. One of the most powerful evangelistic books I have ever read. But one thing that is glaringly missing in the book is “evangelism”. Somehow we have this idea that evangelism is saying the correct scriptural formula so that the hearer will pray to receive Christ. That’s not what makes this book powerful. We see a life of a woman in a death camp who loves her God. She is angry at him, confused, thankful and overjoyed. In fact she is in His presence all the time – He is with her in that prison – and she is totally free. The other prisoners are imprisoned by their circumstances and fears and they see her freedom and peace and realize it is because of her loving Father and want to join in this relationship with her. She is completely free to share this God with them and many get set free in prison. God didn’t love her differently than others, just that she is aware of it. Corrie was always loving and always ready to give an account for the hope that was within her. She didn’t prepare gospel messages. She lived her life and her life was her gospel message.

Since I often think Evangelism is formula to present I often fear I just don’t know enough to be good at it. This is a story that proves you don’t need to know much to be a great evangelist.: Once upon a time there was a couple who had been married maybe a year or two. One day some religious fanatic calls the husband to discuss spiritual things over the phone and the husband doesn’t understand a word he is talking about. So the husband decides to invite this stranger into their house because he knows this religious stuff means a lot to his wifey. This young Asian kid shows up all by himself. With very little introductory chatting well let me show you how it went – he opens his wallet takes out this tiny pamphlet containing five steps explaining how to come to know Jesus. He reads this word by word with no extra embellishments. The book ends with a childish drawing of a train. He ends with a prayer – also written in the book.

He is really excited. The husband is really confused. The wife is quietly thinking. As this fanatic is leaving he says he has been a believer for only 6 months and really doesn’t know anything. Well he did know one verse. He pulled a paper out of his wallet and read the verse. Then he left with a promise to come back sometime soon and bring a friend who knew a lot and could answer all our questions. We never saw him again. He didn’t know anything but he left kind of pleased thinking he actually accomplished something. And the amazing part is that he truly did accomplish something. It was that simple train drawing that opened up my wifes eyes to a loving God. Nothing in the book or prayer registered with me but that verse caused me to think for the first time that maybe God can help in my search for meaning in my life. A month later after attending a bible study I also came to know God. All because of a foreign student who had been saved only 6 months and admittedly didn’t know a thing except a small book and one verse. Nobody could have known that verse or that train were the right things to say. God knew. God did the work. God used Bruce to affect two lives for all eternity. I am convinced if Bruce knew enough about what he was doing that he would have realized that he wasn’t prepared to talk to us and never would have come. Thanks Bruce for coming alone.

So what do we need to know to be affective? Another story, this one from John 9. This is a long section and well worth reading but I will paraphrase much of it. You can read it in its entirety at home tonight. But for now I want to primarily look at this man’s responses.
• SLIDE 21 John 9:1-12
Jesus and His disciples find a man blind from birth and the disciples ask was it his or his parents sins that caused this. Now remember that these guys were the ones picked by God Himself to spearhead Christianty throughout the world. That gives me hope that maybe God can use me. So Jesus says neither the parents nor this man but that the works of God may be displayed. Then he spit on some dirt and smeared it in this guys eyes and told him to go wash it off. I guess it was good he was blind and didn’t see what Jesus was doing with the mud. He goes and washes and he voila he can see again. So people started talking – isn’t this the one that was blind – no but it sure looks like him. They asked the man what happened and his first public response: “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” How much did this blind guy know? He was seeing Jesus as a MAN named Jesus. And all he had was just the facts ma’am. So the crowds asked him where Jesus is now. Again not a real well informed answer. “I do not know.”
• SLIDE 22 John 9:13-17
The crowd not knowing what to do brought him to the Pharisees who ask how he received his sight. “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” A bit of a Readers Digest condensed version. But still just the facts. The Pharisees ask him who he perceives this Jesus is. “He is a prophet.” Notice he has elevated Jesus status from man to prophet. I think he is beginning to see something important has happened to him.
• SLIDE 23 John 9:18-23
The Pharisees bring in his parents who admit this is their son and he was blind but now sees. But like any good parent knowing they could get in trouble siding with jesus say that their son is of age and they can ask him directly.
• SLIDE 24 John 9:24-34
The Pharisees then change tact and ask if jesus was a sinner for doing this on a Sabbath. “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” Again basically just the facts ma’am. He goes on and actually gets a bit more confident but you can see how his story was just simply what God had done for him “I was blind, now I see” There is no argument with that.

It is my opinion that God gave us this life and is working personally in our life and that the lessons we learn from God personally are the greatest evangelistic tools we have. All you need to know is what God has revealed to you. God is busy working in each of our lives day in day out. The problem is we just don’t always see that. As we look to God and see his love and kindness we should be free to let that pour out of us.

• SLIDE 25 Be yourself
Each of our lives are Gods specific message to the world. And we need to be able to communicate that message to others. But all we can communicate is who we are and what we know. Not what someone else knows. Not what someone else does. What we have learned and seen God do in our lives.

Our mouth should speak out that which fills our heart. As our heart is filled with gifts from God we should be free to speak about those. When I get a nice new guitar, I talk about it a lot. You will see a couple really sweet guitars in the next few weeks. They mean a lot to me and I think God has given them to me at least so I can sell them. When I see a bird flying or a beautiful sunset I thank God for his creation and I often say something about that to someone. I don’t want to just talk about guitars and trees but really about the One who gave these.

• SLIDE 26 James 1:17
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
Every good thing we receive is from God and we can be thankful for this and should feel free to tell others about what He has done.

I am always amazed at how many times we are “commanded” to give thanks or be thankful. Again a quick bible search found well over a 100 verses containing give thanks, or be thankful. Just a few:

• SLIDE 27 Psalm 103 says 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;”
The psalm goes on to list many benefits the psalmist sees. We need to be mindful of Gods benefits to us.

• SLIDE 28 Psalm 9:1 I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.
David wasn’t wimpy about giving thanks – with his WHOLE heart. Notice the relationship between being thankful and speaking. Keep in mind our job is not to produce results exactly. Our job is to do our job with the tools God has given us. I do not know any verses that command us to get results but to do our job. Which is to be thankful and to tell of all His wonders.

I recently spent some time with Sue driving her car around. We were talking about everything in our lives, Kids, finances, jobs, weather. All of a sudden it occurred to me how much we had a gloomy attitude toward many of these things and a verse popped into my brain:

• SLIDE 29 1 TIMOTHY 6:17
Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to be gloomy about (enjoy).

It occurred to me that God really does want us to enjoy what He has made not to be gloomy about them. Sometimes when I am getting a little gloomy I try to stop and think of things that I can be thankful for or things that I am amazed at. I look for God’s working in my life and I know I miss a lot but there certainly is a lot there that even I can catch. I often find myself seeing a much bigger kinder God and the gloomies melt away. I have done this so much that now when I am getting a bit gloomy I know right away that I have not been focusing on all God’s blessings.

I often start thanking God for things like a wonderful wife and wonderful children. Other items come to mind pretty easily after that. One time Sue was a bit gloomy. Thank you God for my wife. I asked her to think of 5 things to be thankful for. Her response was short and sweet. “NO!” So I thought of 5 things for her. I want you to know that these were some really good things to be thankful for. When I got done listing them she was still a bit gloomy and her response was “those aren’t the 5 things I would have thought of.” So I asked “well what would you have said.” I don’t know if she answered but her gloomies started to fade away.

So now is when we come to those cards you wrote out earlier. I knew you’d thank me for them. You probably wrote down one of God’s blessings that maybe you had forgotten about and were really excited to remember. Now you have been sitting there all this time just wishing you could share that with someone. We don’t need to prepare some finely scripted message. Our lives are our message. We just need to open our eyes and see God’s blessings and give thanks with all of our hearts and tell someone of all His wonders.

We were all blind and now we all see. People can argue about theology but they can’t argue with your life.