by Andrew Ioannou,
Glory Realm Mission Ministries, Melbourne.
“That’s awesome! God has gifted you to be an evangelist!”
This is a regular response that I hear from brothers and sisters in the Lord when I mention that I go out on the streets to spread the Gospel. I’m not saying that I am or I am not an “evangelist”, but I do know that the job of telling people about Jesus and the good news was given to everyone by our Lord Jesus.
A friend of mine who has been a Christian for about a year told me something a few weeks ago. She said, “When we go to the shops with my husband, he always goes around giving people gospel tracts and praying for people. We had an argument about it and I told him that I don’t want you doing that when we are going out together because that’s your thing not my thing”. I explained to her that telling people about Jesus is the job of all Christians.
The reason that she didn’t want to do it was because she cared too much about what people would think of her. She was hiding behind the excuse that it’s “not her thing” just like some Christians hide behind the excuse that it’s “not their gifting”. We need to come to the place where we love God and His will more than our own (see Galatians 2:20).
How can we as Christians be thankful that God saved us and claim that we have the love of God in us if we are too selfish & comfortable with our own life (or too intimidated and submitted to fear) to tell others that they don’t have to go to hell because Jesus made the way? Too often we hide behind our excuses saying that “it’s not my gifting”. But the truth is, if we can speak than we have been given a gift to use for the Lord. It’s time for us to humble ourselves before the Lord and admit that we’ve been hiding behind excuses. Let’s rise up and go and preach the gospel like Jesus commanded us to. We need to do this because we love Him and we want to be obedient to Him.
Remember love is an action not just a word. Our God showed his love for us, that while we were still sinners He sent his only begotten Son to tell us the good news and to die for us to save us (Romans 5:8 ; John 3:16). Our God didn’t just show His love by saying “I love you” but, He showed us that He loves us by His action. We are told that if we abide in Him we must walk as Jesus did (1John 2:6). What did Jesus do? He went around preaching the Gospel; He healed the sick; He cast out demons and set the oppressed free. Jesus even said “as my Father sent me, in the same way I send you” (John 20:21).
Jesus himself said in Matthew 25:31-46, that when He comes to judge the world, He will separate the sheep from the goats. In other words, He will separate those who are true Christians from those who are not. Jesus said that the sheep (the true Christians) will be the ones that, when He was hungry they gave him food; when He was thirsty they gave him drink; when He was lacking clothes they clothed him. They will say “Lord when did we see you needing any of that and help you?” And He will reply “When you did this to the least of these you did it to me.” Jesus is saying here that those who showed God’s love by their actions are the real Christians. I am not implying that you are saved by works. But if you truly love God, then you will love your neighbour and do for them as you would want them to do for you, ie: TELL THEM how they can get to Heaven and avoid Hell!
Please watch the above video clip I have attached here if you haven’t already. It is amazing and explains even better what I am trying to say. It only goes for just a little over 5 minutes.
Thanks heaps for reading & may we all grow more in God’s love & knowledge of Him. Remember Jesus said why do you call me Lord Lord, but not do what I say? (Luke 6:46). We need to stop calling Him Lord (Saying that He is in charge or our Boss) if we are not going to obey Him when it doesn’t suit us.
P.S I have a website that was created to reach the lost, www.Lookintoit.com.au It was not designed to promote any specific church or ministry, it’s just a general website with the focus on sowing seeds to the lost. It’s just full of testimonies, science, facts etc… please check it out.
One Response
A compelling video clip, but I have always wondered: Are all Christians called to evangelize or only those who are gifted for evangelism like it says in Ephesians 4:11? http://bible.cc/ephesians/4-11.htm Can’t most Christians just focus on living a Godly life and being a good witness through our lifestyles?