Mark 1:14-15 Now after John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Pastor Kyle continues that your born-again relationship with God is deeply personal in your soul and regenerated spirit, but it is never private. God is sovereign over all life and Jesus Christ is Lord of all, therefore all God’s creatures are accountable and responsible to their Creator and we have been called to a public faith in this fallen world under restoration. That means we take the Lordship of Christ and our Gospel story of redemption to salvation, and by the Great Commission of the Lord of our life take them to every cultural sphere that we influence. The Gospel shapes the culture in the marketplace, in the family, in the community, in politics and in the government. This is the calling of every true Christian and the Christian church on God’s green earth.
Ephesians 2:1-8 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
Christian Research expert George Barna explains that in order to impact our culture for Christ, we have to get back to basics and emphasize biblical beliefs. If the goal is to help people become more Christlike, we have to teach them to think like Jesus so they can act like Jesus. Worldview is at the heart of all of that. And as churches and as Christians, we have to constantly assess where we stand in building biblical foundations and developing solid worldviews. It starts with the Gospel in “everyday” evangelism, fulfilled with the Holy Spirit and knowing that God is with us. We are all called to do boldly believe the gospel truth, called to live it out and called to invite others into it. Our open conversations, genuine caring actions and loving interest in seeking and saving the lost by boldly proclaiming the “Good News” to hearts prepared in advance by God to hear and receive are essential elements. We must remember that spreading the gospel is like a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread; sinners telling sinners where to find the Savior of the world.
1 Corinthians 9:19-22 “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
How do we get the truths of the Gospel message across in a winsome manner to win some, not alienate? People don’t know what they don’t know, so speaking the truth in love and in a pleasant, endearing manner is key to their listening. The point of Christianity is that it is supposed to impact the world around us. If we are not doing that, then we are failing the Great Commission; our primary task in God’s plan of salvation of making disciples of all nations. It is essential that we have the “right” belief and worldview, but also that we are living out our beliefs in such a way that others are actually listening to what we have to say. It is said that they do not care what the Christian knows, until they know that the Christian cares.
Acts 4:13 says, “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” So first, focus on being with Jesus. Before you and I share Jesus, we need to focus on being with Jesus in such a way that it changes us before we can ever expect that our gospel message is going to transform somebody else. From this posture of being with Jesus in a personal relationship that we learn to live the life that Jesus has called us to live, so that when people hear the Gospel message from us, they don’t find any hypocrisy and discredit everything that we are saying.
It's conclude Pastor Kyle's message on Christian Evangelism in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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