Evangelism

Acts 1:8

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

 

Mark 16:15 & 16

 

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

 

These are powerful verses!  We are told to share the Gospel with those around us, but I wonder if we do this on a daily basis.  Is this something we even think about throughout our day?  Do we even think about it throughout the week?  Or are our thoughts consumed with the kid's music recital, what to make for the Sunday Potluck, how we are ever going to get the house cleaned before the Jones Family comes over on Friday, and if we will ever get all of our schoolwork done for the week?!

As homeschooling moms, we have much upon our plate.  But the purpose of today's post is to encourage you to remember what you are CALLED to do!

If you're like me, you have a hard time saying no...no to the kids, no to the person needing a last minute babysitter, no to the preacher's wife begging you to organize the next big church event, etc.  Before we know it, our plate is pretty full!  We end up overwhelmed and exhausted!

Although our lives may be filled with "good things," I would encourage you to take a look at your schedule....right here, right now.

How much of this time are we spending in God's Word?  How much time are praying?  How much time are we evangelizing to the lost?

My husband and I have recently been convicted about doing more with evangelizing.  The Bible is pretty clear of what we should be doing as Christians.  So why do we let so many other things that are not as important, bump it to the "When I get around to it" list? 

My dad has always told me something that rings into my mind very frequently.  He says, "God only gives you two purposes in this life:  1) To know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and to live a life pleasing to Him.  2)  To help others find that first purpose."  You see, when we are lost, the only hope and purpose in our life is to find Jesus.  After we are cleansed of our unrighteousness, our ONLY purpose is to help others find Jesus as their Savior!

Think about it!  I'm not saying that God doesn't want us to get married, have children, go to work, or do anything else.  What I am saying is that we should be using these things as Christians to make sure we are leading others to Him.

Do you think God is a cruel God?  I sure don't!  But what would be cruel is to leave us here on this Earth with no purpose when we could be spending eternity with Him in Heaven.  Oh sure, we would deserve that punishment, but my God is so loving.  He can't wait for the day for His children to come Home to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.  So why don't we just go straight to Heaven when we get saved?  Because God loves us ALL, and He wants us to lead others to Him and to build up His Kingdom.

So my Sister in Christ, as my Dad always told me something to this effect:  "For every millisecond you are here on this Earth, God still has a purpose for you!"  God wants me to be with Him so much that the millisecond He is finished with me here on this Earth, He will take me to be with Him.  So if you're still reading this, that means you are alive and God has a purpose for YOUR life!

 

Shouldn't we take every second we have and use it to further His Kingdom (you can read more about my journey on being better at time management here).

 

Despite my knowledge of this, I frequently finding myself daydreaming about something I want to purchase for myself, something I want to do for myself, something that is not about reaching others for Him.

Of course we can have fun on this Earth, but I want GOD to be the one to bring me my joy.  I don't want to go searching for it everyday.  I want to find my joy IN Him!  There is NO greater joy than knowing that I benefited the Kingdom of God.  So why am I not doing it EVERYDAY?  Why is it not the first thing I think about when I wake up?

Selfishness.  I am a selfish person.  It's ironic, I have always considered myself a very UNselfish person.  Yet, the more I learn about the ways of my Father, the more I realize my weaknesses and sin.  If I could just take my eyes off of my wants and focus my eyes toward Heaven, I would have joy that would be immeasurable.

Think about it.  We are promised ETERNITY in Heaven!  If I knew that if I would stay up the next 24 hours and work hard...really hard...blood, sweat and tears, but that I would never HAVE to work another day in my life....that by doing this, our family would be financially secure....I would do it in a heartbeat! 

When I had my last child, I felt the pain of childbirth!!!  Why am I willing to have more after experiencing such awful pain?

John 16:21

" A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world."

 

I have a beautiful child and I honestly don't remember what the pain felt like!  Even if I did, it's worth it to have my beautiful child with me! 

The same is true with the above scenario!  I would work through almost any kind of pain if I knew it would end in 24 hours to know that my family would never have to worry about another dollar!

Why are we not doing the same for the MOST IMPORTANT thing of our lives?  For something that counts toward eternity? 

I have to admit, I don't enjoy going up to strangers finding ways to share the Gospel.  I'm not sure why.  I think I mostly am worried about looking foolish or forgetting what to say.  It's a shame to admit...even though I know I am far from alone in this area....It still shows how my eyes are not completely directed toward Heaven.

But if we could really think about Eternity for a moment!  When you pass by that person at the grocery store...you don't know what has been going on in their life. 

I heard a story the other night of a man who had two men walk up to him in the street asking him about his Salvation.  The man told the strangers that he had previously told God the only way he would get saved was if he were to ever meet Billy Graham.  One of the men pulled off his shades and led that man to the Lord.  His name was Billy Graham.

You see, God wants to work out amazing stories through all of us. He wants us to be that person that gets to experience the joy of knowing that our life impacted someone so much, their eternity was changed for it. 

I hope that you would listen to an audio story of a little old man who witnessed on the street.  You can download the free 10 minute audio here.  It's a wonderful reminder of how we will probably never know our impact on others lives until we pass through those Pearly Gates!

Stop and think for just a moment.  Think about your family and friends who have gone on before you.  Think about their eternity.  One day VERY soon, we will be standing before God.  I want you to close your eyes and picture what it will be like for you on Judgment Day, standing before a Holy, Sinless, Perfect God.

Then I want you to think about all of your sins.  Think about the shame we will feel for our transgressions.  Now, I want you to think about the joy you will feel, knowing your debt has been paid and you will get to spend an eternity with your Creator.

Now, I want you to look at those around you.  Watch what is said to many of them:

 

"But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13:27)."

 

Think about those people being cast into the lake of fire.  Will they be staring at you, wondering why you get to enter into Heaven and not them?  How could someone go to Heaven who didn't care enough for them to share God's love?

We think it's awkward speaking to people now, just imagine the awkwardness then!  Now, I doubt there will be that sort of interaction, but the point is, we should consider the shame we should feel.

Well, guess what!  If you're reading this, we are still here. We still have an opportunity to make EVERY moment count.

I know that I am bad about thinking, "I've already handed out this number of tracts...I'm good...I can skip that next person...If I didn't, I'd be here all day and I have things to get done today."

But what if that ONE person you walk by in the parking lot is headed for Hell?  And quite honestly, I'd say, chances are, they ARE!

One thing Mark and I have been doing to try to help us do better with our Evangelism is find curriculum that will help us on this path. 

One thing we are using is The Basic Training Course by Living Waters.  It's about $100, so it's pretty pricey.  I didn't want to spend that sort of money.  We needed tires, and so I didn't feel we had the money for it.  So, I prayed about it.  You know what?  Within 24 hours, Mark got a bonus from work that was completely unexpected!  The bonus was enough to cover the tires he desperately needed to replace the completely bald ones on his truck, and there was just enough left over for this program.  We felt that was our sign to get this course!

There are also a couple of resources for younger people.  You can get a $4.00 audio download on evangelism here.  Also, I have wanted to try this next one, but haven't yet.  It's also from Living Waters and you can get the dvd for $30.00 here.  It has a cameo from the Duggar Family.

 

You can also purchase tracks here, or you can find some with a basic Google search.  I encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and to begin handing out tracts!  They are a great way to get started!  Search around and fine one you think you will actually use!  I always try to make sure that each time I hand out the tract, I use one (or I add another one) that has the Gospel.  Some tracts are neat, but they don't really get the story out, so make sure you are sharing the Gospel!  You can comment and share you favorite tracts below!

I do believe you can share the Gospel by your lifestyle.  You can gleam some ideas about ways to make your world a better place here.  However, I firmly believe in not waiting around for others to "see" Christ in you.  I hope that they do, but if they die tonight, they don't have the time to watch you.  You need to be telling them about God's love!

  This is such a great burden upon my heart, and I hope that my children grow up watching their Mom and Dad sharing the Gospel with friends, family, and strangers everywhere they go!  I want to learn now, so that it is natural then.  I want it to be natural to my children so that they don't have as much trouble as I do in this area when they are my age.  I want to help my future generations to be prepared and equipped to fulfill The Great Commission..

What about you?  What do you do to share the Gospel?  I would love to hear your proactive ways that you make sure you are DAILY sharing the Word of God with those around you in your little world.  If each of us would reach just ONE person...if each Christian would lead just ONE person to Christ, we would be living in a completely different world.  Won't you and I do our part?