Daily Friendship with God #7 being a messenger   

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)

The first thing to understand about evangelism is in Mark 16:15 is the word “Gospel” in the original Greek language is “euangelion” which is translated “evangel” which is the root word for evangelism in English. In its simplest form it means “Good News”. It is most commonly used in conjunction with the word preach which in its simplest form means an official messenger bringing news with authority that must be listened to. This means Jesus said to His followers “Go into the world and be messengers that bring Good News with authority that must be listened to. This all leads us to what is the good news that Jesus was telling His followers to “preach”? 

 Also, brethren, I declare and made know to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received by taking it to yourself and in which you stand (on the firm foundation of), by which also you are saved (made whole in every aspect of life), if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain (in a way that did not produce results in you). For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

Here is the simple “Good News” that God tells His followers to be messengers of: to Get into God’s kingdom Jesus Died for our sins, was Buried and rose from the dead. By believing and receiving this, we can have a relationship with God and gain His kind of life which is eternal. As always in growing in relationship with God we are learning of His love for us as well as all humanity. God loves each person in this world so much that He sent Jesus to die for all the sin and wrongs that we all have committed. He did this in order to remove them from us because they are and were so destructive. He left them in the grave and then rose from the dead to prove He alone has power to set us free from the power of sin and death. In context to the Gospel Jesus said 

Repent (change your mind) and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15b) 

So how is it that a person is led into repentance?

The goodness of God leads you to repentance (change of mind). (Romans 2:4)

God’s loving kindness is found in the Gospel. The Gospel is the pinnacle of the display and invitation into His goodness that leads us to Repentance (change of heart and mind). God is so good, so loving and so kind. He proved His love that even when were sentence to die and were without any hope of gaining never ending life, He made a way for us to live forever. God did this when He sent Jesus, a person that was not guilty of any punishment (let alone death) to step into save the day. Jesus then willingly says to all who will receive His offer of eternal life through a relationship with Him “I love you so much that I will die in your place so you can live forever”. He did this because He knew we were deceived into choosing to take the actions which caused all us to deserve the death sentence for the soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4). That is why Jesus said on the cross as He was giving His life to pay the death sentence for all humanity. 

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34) 

After Jesus rose from the dead the bible records some of the things He said. Each of the writers recorded the words that impacted them. More details about understanding the Bible are explained in “Daily Friendship with God with #4 the Book”. An example of three writers perspectives of what Jesus said after His resurrection from the dead are found in the following passages.   

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Gotherefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and surely, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18-20)

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)

He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:46-48)

In these verses Jesus is telling those that are followers of Him that if you are a follower of Him you will #1 Go #2 Preach (be a messenger of the Gospel) #3 Be His witnesses #4 Make disciples (those that follow and learn from Jesus). That sounds like a huge responsibility and it would seem that you would have to spend at least the same 3 years learning all the things the disciples did while they were with Jesus. Well Jesus did not say you will do this in your own power. He did not say you will do this based on schooling or your ability or inabilities. He did not leave it up to their power to perform the task because that would determine how well the job would be done. In fact this is what Jesus did say about how you will get the power to do all four of the things He told His followers to do. 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

God tells us 

‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,'

Says the LORD of hosts. (Zacharia 4:6)

No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3)

The bottom line is that to do anything in life as a “Christian” the power must come from the Holy Spirit. It is no different with evangelism. The primary power we need is to be a witness is Love. Fortunately the fruit of the Spirit is Love. Remember “God so loved the world that He sent…. Being sent into the world without the power of the Holy Spirit is something that even Jesus did not try to do.

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captive, And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.

(Luke 4:18-19)

There are many ways to share the Gospel. One key factor is love for others must be at the foundation of every thought and action. Love is the core of Going to share the message. Being a witness with the intent to lead others into relationship with Jesus as His followers happens by the leading of the Holy Spirit. The clear declaration of what Jesus has accomplished on others behalf is the message of the Gospel. As we are led by the Holy Spirit we get to keep our hearts and minds filled with His fruits of Love, Peace and Joy This is so that those that we share the Gospel with will experience Who God is. When people experience the goodness of  God’s grace through the gospel they are led to repentance (the change of heart and mind). When this happens there is great joy. 

 “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:10) 

One of the saddest things that can happen in the life of a follower of Jesus is to never experience the joy of leading another person into relationship with God. To lead others to Christ all His followers are told to share the simple message of the Gospel. God likens this to sowing seeds as a farmer. If you never sow a seed you will never grow anything. If you go and you sow it is up to God to make it grow. One thing that is important to know is not all who hear the message receive God’s love and repent. This does not in any way reflect negatively on the person who share His message of the Gospel in a loving way. God tells us how to respond if individual chose to respond negatively when sharing the gospel with them. 

Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:22-23)

God in all His wisdom, offers joy no matter what happens in the sharing of the gospel. When God’s followers choose to follow His voice by going and sharing the gospel. First there is joy if those they share with choose to repent as is noted in Luke 15:10. Secondly His followers are to rejoice if people choose to reject them as noted in Luke 6:22-23. The interesting thing is God does not tell us His followers are rewarded when people choose to repent. On the other hand, God does tell His followers they have a great reward in heaven and to rejoice when people reject the Gospel. Keeping this way of thinking in mind changes the entire way of sharing the Gospel. A follower of Jesus cannot loose in the sharing of the Gospel. They only can gain great rewards. This is why they are to experience joy no matter what happens. Surrendering the results, will result in Joy whatever the outcome is.     

Please note that the first two letters of the Gospel is GO. God in His divine wisdom has chosen to spread the Gospel through Himself living in and through His followers. The first step in sharing the message is you must GO. When you Go, Go with power and fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. If your actions in sharing the Gospel are not characterized by the power and fruit of the Holy Spirit then it will not be good news to the hearer. Never take the rejection of the Gospel personally. If they receive the Gospel join in on the Joy that our heavenly Father is experiencing. If they reject the Gospel leap for Joy for great is your eternal reward. God is currently using His kids on earth to reach out to those that are without hope of eternal life. It is as though the world is sick and dying of cancer and God has the cure for it with in the hearts and minds of those He calls His children. You and your words and actions of love are way more powerful then you may know. Each child of God has with in them the power of life and death in the words that come out of their mouth. People are literally dying to hear the Gospel. As in all things the motive to Going to give the message of the Gospel must be that you love God because He first love you and you value His love for you. His love is what is to compel you to Go. Remember when you Go, Go with the power of love, which is the Holy Spirit. When you are trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit then you will produce His heart of love.  

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud  or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not rude or irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

Take some time to talk to God about His Heart to Go to those that do not know His love. Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you with His love in order to Go and share the gospel. Read 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and ask God how to share it with others that do not know Him. 

Extra material concerning Evangelism

When I came into a personal relationship with Jesus someone took the time to teach (disciple) me in the foundations of what it means to be a true follower (disciple)  of Jesus. The following is the summation of nearly thirty years of   

 #1 Going #2 Preaching (be a messenger of the Gospel) #3 Being witnesses of Jesus #4 Making disciples (those that follow and learn from Jesus). 

1)    GO: As was noted when you Go, Go in the Love and power of the Spirit. Pray that you are filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing. 

2)    Preach: Understand that preaching is nothing more than being a messenger for God to share the simple Gospel/ Good news. There are many approaches to doing this some will lead with “can I ask you a question?... when you die do you think you will go to heaven”. This is one of the most effective questions that can be asked. Personally I do ask that question any more even though I know many people that do. 

The approach that I have been using most commonly is starts with the reality of innate humanity.

 “ So have you heard the good news”? Many people that are disciples of Jesus will then tell you the good news that Jesus died for our sins …. If the person/persons reply back with “not what good news”? The next thing I say is “for there to be good news there must also be bad news or it all would just be called news. We all know the bad news that one day you and I in fact all of us are all going to die one day. None of us look forward to death. Most people will agree (romans 5:12). Next I use myself not them as the example when I say “you can take one look at me and know that I have done stuff that was wrong and I knew it was wrong and I did it anyway, and afterward felt bad about it. Again most will say “ don’t feel bad so have I”. (Romans 3:23). Now it is time for the good news. 

The good news is that even though we have all done wrong and are going to die. Jesus came and paid for our death by dying in our place, but because He did not sin death had not right to keep Him in the grave. We all know 

 that sins will surely die, that you and me and if we die we stay died. But read the most legalistic religious leaders of the day even could not find a sin that Jesus committed when He asked them for what sin do you want to kill me for.  You see all Jesus did was to heal people and feed the poor and confront religious leaders who were putting burdens on people that were not from God. He did not come to condemn people but give them life. In fact Jesus said he who lives and believes in my (that is believes in Jesus) shall never die. This just what He was saying when He said “this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Then I explain to them that the word to know there is not to know like one plus one equals two, rather it is to know intently and personally. The way you know your best friend. In fact the word there to know is the same word for “Adam knew his wife Eve and she connived and bore a child. So that word is an idiom for sexual intercourse. You may say hold on this is getting a little weird but let me explain you see to a Jew at the time of Jesus the only person that you would have sex with is your spouse. And marriage was different at that time. Marriage meant that every morning the person you woke up next you was your spouse and the first person that you would talk to is your spouse. And you would have breakfast with your spouse and while you were out working you would be faithful to our spouse and your spouse would be faithful to you all day. And when you got home the first person you would talk to is your spouse. And then you would have dinner with your spouse and talk to them. And then after the kids got put to sleep you would then spend time with your spouse and go to bed with your spouse and they were the last person you would talk to. O and by the way you would have sex with your spouse and new life would come from your deep relationship with them. In other words you knew that person better than anyone on the planet and they were your best friend. 

That is the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with you. He want you to talk with Him first thing in the morning and all day and at night. He wants to be your best friend. 

You want to be loved right? 

Well… No greater love is there than this that a man would lay down His life for His friends. Jesus laid down His life to make you His best friend so you can know true love. The kind of love that go to whatever extreme it takes so you can have a relationship with Him. And He proved it by going to the Cross to take all our sins and bury them in the grave to get them out of the way so we can know His love as our best friend. 

Next I say let me pray for you… and without a breath I pray “ Holy Spirit I thank you for your great love for this (man or woman). I pray you would reveal the great love Jesus has for them by dying to take away everything that would keep them from knowing your great love.” 

Would you like to know Jesus and His love for you personally? As soon as they say yes I say pray out loud with me “ Heavenly Father I thank you that Jesus died for our sins, That He buried them in the grave, so I can be free from them, thank you that Jesus your rose from the dead. Jesus I call upon your name as my Lord my savior and my best friend. In Jesus name. 

Next it is important that you interact with them to start the path of discipleship by first letting them know that there is a party going on in Heaven right not over there decision to make Jesus their Lord. Get there information and hand them a bible and let them know that they have just stated a relationship with Jesus so then can talk to Him at any moment of their day. Also let them know that one of the best ways to get into conversation with Jesus is to read the Bible and then ask him question about what He wrote. Tell them the bible is the only book you can read that every time you read it you can talk to the author about what He wrote and ask Him about what it means you personally. Ask them when you can get together with them to let them know more about how to grow in the most important relationship that they have ever had.