PERSONAL EVANGELISM
(Part 4)
Memory Verse: “As
water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” Prov. 27:19. (NIV).
LESSON
OBJECTIVES AND FOCUS
We shall be looking
at how to handle our audience during personal evangelism.
LESSON INTRODUCTION
Knowing the person we
want to evangelise is one thing. Evangelising him/her tactfully is another –
and that is what we shall be looking at today.
SOME INSIGHT
·
The story in Acts 19:1-20 teaches us a very
important lesson in personal evangelism – you cannot give what you do not have.
If you do not know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour and Master, you cannot bring
the demons to be subject to Him, for He will rightly deny knowing you.
·
In Acts 9 we see the case of the Lord
personally evangelizing Saul (who later had his name changed to Paul). The Lord
not only introduced Himself to Saul, but He also told Saul it was futile and personally destructive carrying on
the way he was going. (Acts 26:12-15).
·
By the authority of
the Lord Jesus, Saul’s ego was brought down to the ground. He remained blind and was on “dry fast” for 3 days
(Acts 9:9) after his first meeting
with the Lord. That was a part
of his preparation for launching into the purpose God designed for him.
·
Ananias continued the
process of personal evangelism of Paul. Acts
9:18-19.
o
He had a vision and
spoke with the Lord concerning Saul before meeting with the latter. Acts 9:10-14.
o
He laid his hands on
Saul and gave him the word from the Lord.
o
He baptized Saul,
& no doubt encouraged him to eat. Vs.17-19.
It
is almost certain he thereafter introduced Saul to the disciples in Damascus,
and made him feel at home – amongst the very people he had originally come out
to arrest and drag to Jerusalem for being Christians.
All
these teach us that our involvement in personal evangelism will cut across our
time, house, food, anointing in addition to our being ready to encourage those
being evangelized in every way.
LESSON OUTLINE 1: THOSE INVOLVED IN PERSONAL EVANGELISM
There are two parties
here – the one being evangelized and the evangelist.
a). The one being evangelized.
o
Consider the will of the person. Paul was determined
– his will was – to go to Damascus to arrest the Christians there. The Lord
Jesus confronted him on this score. Acts
9: 4-6.
o
The person’s intellect, or understanding (or mind)
could also be the point of focus – just as was the case with the Ethiopian
eunuch. Acts 8:30-31,35. It was from
there that Philip started evangelizing the man.
o
Lydia showed after
her conversion that she had a heart of affection.
Acts 16:13-15. That can provide a
link in personal evangelism.
o
For the Philippian
jailer, it was his conscience that
was touched by what he saw in, and her from, Paul and Silas when they were
unjustly jailed. Acts 16:25-34. This
is yet another link for personal evangelism.
b). The evangelist him/herself needs to be
o
Him/herself, and not
some other person. I Sam. 17:38-39.
Billy Graham will remain Billy Graham, and you remain yourself.
o
Prayerful. Acts 9:11-14.
o
Filled with the Holy
Spirit. Acts 9:17.
o
Loaded with the word
of God. That is what we are called upon to give out – not our own ideas, or human wisdom. Rom 9:14; I Cor 2:4-5.
LESSON OUTLINE 2: SOME WARNINGS EXPECTED FROM THE
EVANGELIST
Is
it sufficient for the evangelist to preach and witness and leave the matter
hanging in the air?
A
part of our responsibility is to warn the one being evangelised of some real
dangers, such as:
i.
Dying in one’s sins,
since there is no room for salvation after such death. John 8:21; Heb. 9:27.
ii.
Hardening his/her
heart. Heb. 3:12-15.
iii.
Procrastination.
(“’Tomorrow’, ‘after’ we’ll think about it” does not help anyone. For many,
‘tomorrow’ is still to arrive.) Heb.2:1-3;
3:7-9.
iv.
The danger of
resisting the Holy Spirit. Acts 7:51.
v.
Not being ready when
The Lord comes again. Matth. 25:1-3.
SUMMARY
We need to depend
upon, and be obedient to, the Holy Spirit to help us so we can make the right
appeal to those we evangelise - just as
Ananias did.