PERSONAL EVANGELISM SERIES
by D. Stuart Briscoe
THE EXAMPLE
G od h a s o rda in ed that all who come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour should also fulfill a ministry of presenting their experience to oth ers. If we have no other reason for promulgating God’s truth through personal evangelism than the fact that Christ was also so engaged, it would be quite sufficient. There can be no alternative. We need to get on the job. More than this, however, is the fact that the Lord commanded soul win ning. Look at Acts 1:8, a most familiar portion, “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.” The Saviour did not say that when the Holy Spirit comes upon one he can talk about the things of eternity occa sionally. Speaking about the Lord is to be the consuming purpose of our hearts. His precious words here are given in the form of a command. When I was in the armed forces, I had some men in authority over me. They were most precise and explicit when asking me to do things. It was not a case of wishing me to, or hop ing that I would, but they told me in no uncertain terms; they left no doubt in my mind as to theii desires. We need to take the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ much more serious ly- The word “witnesses” comes from the Greek from which we get our word “martyr.” You know what a martyr is, but did you ever link it to being a witness? The two go together so beautifully. If you would be an effec tive witness for Christ anything can happen and probably will. You are to be ready for each possible circum stance as we read in I Peter 3:15. There is no doubt about the fact that many people do not engage in
personal evangelism simply because they are too afraid. Stop to consider our position, however, and realize that there is absolutely nothing to cause us concern. The Saviour promised be fore He went away, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” This being true, what have we to fear? Our responsibility is to make sure that we are obedient. What a wonderful thing it is to realize that the first disciples were contacted through personal evange lism. In studying any organization one must go back to its inception and meet its original leaders. While Chris tianity is not just a movement, but rather a living, vital organism, it is important to see how the Lord worked through this small but faithful band. When John the Baptist declared, “Behold the Lamb of God!" he was engaging in the most simplified form of personal evangelism. Here was one man saying to two men, “Look, there is God’s promise to us. He is the One who can meet our need." When the two disciples heard Him speak they followed Jesus. Knowing He was being followed, the Lord turned around and
One of the new clasroms of the Arizona Bible College, Phoenixafiliate of Biola, re centlyhas ben completed. Standing at the frontfrom leftto right areMr. Paul Eyman, dean; LarryCorcoran, student body president; andMr. Merv Fishback, executive administrator.
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