Evangelism Encouragement with Mark Rae

In this episode of the Evangelism Encouragement Podcast, host Mark Rae sits down with his good friend Daniel LaBry to discuss the state of evangelism in the church today and what EvanTell is doing to encourage and equip believers around the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

What Does the Resurrection Prove?

Jesus Christ claimed He was the Messiah. But over 60 other people have done the same thing. How do we know He was not a phony or some kind of lunatic deceiving Himself?

First, Jesus was pre-announced. All the others who claim to be Messiah just show up. Over three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament in essence said, “He’s coming and here is what He will look like.” When He came, Christ fit the Messiah that had been foretold. He fulfilled these prophecies on every account.

Secondly, Romans 1:4 of the Bible says concerning Christ, “He was declared to be the Son of God.” And then it says, “By the resurrection from the dead.” No other claimed “Messiah” has an empty tomb.

Some years ago, a British agnostic, referring to the other miracles of the Bible laid out the challenge when he said, “Let’s not discuss the other miracles. Let’s discuss the resurrection. If the resurrection is true, the other miracles are easy to explain. If the resurrection is not true, the other miracles do not matter.”

The resurrection is a pivotal point in Christian history. This is a central element that unites the Christian church. Why is that resurrection so important? Jesus Christ offers the gift of eternal life to those who will simply receive it. No one has the ability to save someone else, unless he has conquered the grave himself. Jesus Christ is the only one who had an empty tomb the third day. This truth no atheist has ever been able to disprove.

As sinners, we deserve to be separated from God forever. Because of Jesus Christ’s love for us, He became our substitute and took the punishment for our sins, died and rose again. He now extends the gift of life eternal to all who will trust Him as their personal Savior. To those who trust Him He says, “Because I live, you will live also. (John 14:19)

Makes sense, doesn’t it? If the resurrection is true, the other miracles are easy to explain. If the resurrection is not true, the other miracles do not matter.

Therefore, if someone questions whether Christ was who He said He was, lovingly challenge them to examine fulfilled prophecy about Christ and investigate the resurrection. I’ve never met anyone who studied the resurrection objectively that did not eventually become a believer. And this week, remember – one way to thank God for the empty tomb is by telling your neighbor about it!

Evangelism Out of Grace, Not Guilt

If there is one word in the Christian vocabulary that needs an extreme makeover it is the word “evangelism.” The attitude behind the word is one reason why only a small percentage of believers ever lead someone to Christ. The situation is compounded by the fact that even when Christians do evangelize, they often do it out of guilt – feeling that they have to, not that they want to. This begs the question: “Do you ever get to the point that you do evangelism out of grace, not out of guilt?”

The answer is found in a biblically sound perspective on evangelism. A careful study of scripture reveals that our God of grace wants us to witness out of grace. He wants us to approach taking Christ to the lost with excitement and anticipation. Evangelism can become an enjoyable experience, not an endurable episode. Join the conversation this week at Evangelism.net and offer your thoughts on the importance of doing evangelism out of grace and not guilt.

Evangelism is a Privilege, Not a Pain

The first thing that Christ taught His disciples was not how to manage money or raise a Christian family, as important as those are. It was something bigger. Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). A fisher of fish takes something alive and makes it dead. A fisher of men takes something dead and makes it alive. Jesus was in essence saying, “With Me, your life can have eternal perspective. It will count for something that will last forever.” Furthermore, “I will make you” implies, “I’ll teach you everything you need to know. Just follow. I’ll do the teaching if you’ll do the learning.”

“Wait a minute,” someone might say. “I grew up in a church where evangelism was a means of determining if you were a Christian. You had to evangelize or you weren’t saved.” Another might say, “I was made to feel that I had to present the Gospel to everyone I met. One man I knew pigeonholed people and immediately confronted them with the Gospel. I just can’t do that.” Remember that we do not have to live by the impression we receive from others, especially if those impressions are unbiblical. God tells us to follow Scripture as our guide and gives us freedom to be ourselves.

A biblical perspective on evangelism will help us develop healthier attitudes toward it. We can learn to profit from the good in our past experiences (such as recognizing a person’s concern for the lost), while freeing ourselves from mistaken assumptions. Too often people bring baggage into evangelism that isn’t biblical. Seeing evangelism from a biblical perspective can really set a person free.

God is in the business of populating heaven. If you’re interested, He will let you in on the privilege of assisting Him. The fruit of your life will last into eternity.

Bring the Lost to Christ or Bring Christ to the Lost?

By nature, we take things on our shoulders God never intended us to carry. That’s one reason we approach evangelism with so much anxiety and guilt. We take God’s responsibility on our shoulders and then wonder what went wrong if the person does not respond to the claims of Christ.

It is important to remember Jesus’ words, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). We should say, “I can’t bring people to Christ. Only God can do that. I can only bring Christ to people.” That’s what makes evangelism so exhilarating. With each individual, we need to try to see where we fit into God’s plan for bringing that person to Christ. You might be the tenth of fifteen people He will use, or the fourteen of twenty-six. A taste of heaven is when we are the twenty-first of twenty-one!

Sometimes a person might say, “I just need time to think about it.” We need to be sensitive to those that need just a little more time to process the freeness of God’s grace. In situations like this we have to realize that we have done our part. You must do our part and trust that it will now be up to someone else to pick up where we left off.

God will never ask us how many people we led to Christ. Stop counting and concentrate on conversing! God knows that apart from Him we will never lead anyone to Christ. He simply asks us to take Christ to them. As we do, sooner or later we will have the life-transforming opportunity of leading someone to the Savior.

God is Asking You to Walk Through Open Doors

One thing that worsens our guilt-driven approach to evangelism is the mentality that we must present the Gospel to every person we meet. They will be receptive; otherwise, we have failed. The fact is that we will run into closed doors. Don’t let that discourage you. Simply keep looking for the open doors. It takes prayer to open the door. The apostle Paul asked the Colossian believers to pray that God “would open to us a door for the word” (Col. 4:3). While in prison and upon his release from prison, Paul invited people to pray that God would give him and his co-workers doors of opportunity for the Gospel.

How do we know who is open and who is not? If someone is open to me you as a person, assume that to be an open door for the Gospel. Go as far as you can through that door. If nothing else, you can usually give a tract or booklet for the person to read later.

The door may not open today, but knowing how God works, it would open next week. Until then we can only pray, and avoid the tendency to live in guilt.

The Presence of Fear Does Not Mean the Absence of Love

It’s been said there are two great hindrances to evangelism – a cold heart and cold feet. The problem is that we see one as the symptom of the other. We assume cold feet are proof of a cold heart.

The apostle Paul’s entire ministry has driven by love. He testifies, “For the love of Christ compels us” (II Cor. 5:14). Knowing the abundant love of Christ, Paul felt compelled to make a priority in his life what is a priority with God – the people for whom He died. Paul’s heart was obviously attuned with the Savior’s. So deeply concerned what he for the salvation of his own people that he testified, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Rom. 10:1). He even stated one chapter earlier that he could with himself separated from God if it would secure the salvation of his people. He explains, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3). Paul was so captivated by the love of Christ that His love radiated through him to others.

Nevertheless, that never prevented him from having moments of fear. He still sensed the need to pray for boldness. He requested prayer “that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19).

Nowhere does Scripture state of even imply that the presence of fear means the absence of love. The presence of fear, however, often says more about how much we are moved by His love than how much we aren’t. Torn by fear, yet knowing the person must meet the Savior, we do what we can to make the Gospel clear. Fear is an excellent reason to fall to our knees in prayer – not a reason to jump into a pool of guilt.

Prayer and Share

It may seem obvious that our efforts to share should be accompanied by our efforts in prayer. However, many believers don’t commit the effort in prayer before, during, and after their effort to share. Paul said in Romans 1 that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, while in Philippians 4 he said that we should (in everything), by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made know to God. When we bring these two together we can see that through prayer we are asking God, with thanksgiving for the power, to bring the power of the gospel to bear on those with whom we want to share the good news. Notice the words “in everything.” In evangelism that means your words, actions, attitudes, and feelings. In other words, commit all of your evangelism efforts, and all parts of your evangelism efforts to Him.

So, when you feel scared to share your faith… pray. When you lack boldness… pray. When you say you don’t know any non-Christians… pray. When you don’t know what to say… pray. When you have compassion for a lost friend… pray. When you need an open door… pray. When you can’t answer the question of your non-believing friend… pray. When you have shared over, and over, and over again… pray. During your gospel presentation… pray. After sharing the gospel… pray.

Prayer is the place to start, the place to continue, and the place to end in evangelism. Those who share consistently are in prayer persistently.

We Must Be People Who Pray

When we turn to the New Testament, we find that those who gave themselves whole heartedly to evangelism also gave themselves to prayer. Not only did they plead with men for God, they also pleaded for men with God. We find them asking God for the opportunities to speak the Gospel (Col. 4:3). They also requested the courage they would need when they received that opportunity (Eph. 6:19). Although the emphasis is on believers praying for themselves and others who are evangelizing, they also interceded before God on behalf of the lost (I Tim. 2:1-4).

Pray and keep praying. As you do, expect God to answer. Praying in faith is believing not only that He can, but also expecting that He will. God wants us to pray knowing He can and expecting that He will.

Church DNA

What is Church DNA?

To answer this question, we have to first establish a standard definition of DNA from which to begin our discussion. DNA is best described as the basic genetic building blocks that determine who we are and ultimately what we will become.

Many in church leadership and consulting are using this concept of DNA as a benchmark for assessing church health and direction. Every church has building blocks that determine its current practices and its plans for the future.

This purpose of the Church DNA blog is to help church leaders discover and evaluate the DNA that drives their values and priorities and to champion evangelism in every conversation.

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