PERSONAL EVANGELISM SERIES
by D. Stuart Briscoe
THE IMPORTANCE
N ow, it may be that you are not altogether convinced that personal evangelism is your privilege and re sponsibility. Maybe you haven’t come to the point of agreeing with me that this is so tremendously impor tant. Let me share some reasons with you out of the Bible. First of all, God has ordained that every believer is to be a personal evangelist. Most of us are aware of II Corin thians 5:17 but we tend to stop with, ✓ '“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Don’t overlook the next verse, J'AM things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the min i s t r y of reconciliation.” We are rightly thrilled to know that we are in Christ and have become new crea tures in Him. The Word of God clearly says, however, that if we are new creatures then to us has been en trusted the ministry of reconciliation. The Lord alw ays does exceeding abundantly above all we ask or want. The simple fact of the matter is. that many who have been reconciled to God have no conception of the fact that He gives us two thingsyOne is the gift of reconciling and the other is the gift of the ministry. We are happy to be reconciled but not always too happy about engaging in a ministry of reconciliation. This, however, is the way by which God ordained it. Do not read through this verse too quickly. Let it challenge your heart and life that you may seek the Lord’s will in personal evangelism. One other word from this passage. We are quite naturally brought to verse 19, “God was in Christ, recon ciling the world to himself, not im puting their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” There is too much muddled thinking on this subject.
Whose responsibility and privilege is it to present the ministry of recon ciliation? Some will say, “the preach er’s!” Or, “Isn’t that why we bring in evangelists ?’V The responsibility, however, rests upon every one who is a child of God. This is the way God has . ordained it. Perhaps you have been a Christian for many years, knowing that you are a new creature but not realizing that God has given you a sacred ministry. If you have never done it before, go out today and engage in this privilege. Tell some one about the Lord Jesus Christ! L/The second reason for personal evangelism is that Christ engaged in soul winning. The Saviour is indeed our example. He made it quite clear that to follow Him would not be easy. Yet, Hi s divine promise was that through His Holy Spirit He would come to work in and through us. Studying Christ’s ministry we see that He fed 5,000 people with only five loaves and two fishes. He walked on the water and performed all sorts of miracles by raising the dead and giving sight to the blind. While He preached to multitudes, however, let us not overlook the fact that He spent a tremendous amount of time talking to individuals. The Saviour turned away from the big crowds to concen trate on individuals. Since the Lord is our example we will do well to fol low Him in this aspect as well. Jesus sought out individuals to deal with them concerning their souls. His words moved them greatly. They were prepared to exercise faith. Think about the woman of Sama ria. He spoke to her frankly. Perhaps you are a little afraid of starting a conversation with someone. Study the Lord’s techniques. God has ordained that you should be engaged in per sonal evangelism. When I was in the armed forces I never had very much respect for an officer who told me
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