The Christian religion was founded by the teachings of a Jewish prophet known as Jesus Christ, and in the gospelsMathew, Mark, Luke and John of the New Testament in the Holy Bible, we find the teachings of Jesus Christ being recorded.
While on earth, Jesus Himself was known to go from town to town evangelizing, and in this sermon we are going to survey these gospels to see what Jesus said about evangelism. But before we do so, let us see the meaning of evangelism
What is evangelism?
Evangelism simply means to preach the gospel or good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word Evangelism comes from the same Greek word for gospel (euangelion) and means, literally, “gospeling.” When we evangelize we are “gospeling” that is, we are spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As we can see, Evangelism is the art of spreading the very teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ which are recorded in the gospel Mathew, Mark, Luke and John of the New Testament in the Holy Bible.
So let us move from here to see what Jesus Himself said about evangelism in the Holy Bible.
What did Jesus say about evangelism?
The first thing that Jesus said about evangelism when He began His ministry in the gospel recorded by Mathew 4:17 was that people should turn away from their sins because the kingdom of God is at hand. And immediately He finished saying so He went to the shore of Galilee where He found two brothers who were fishermen (Simon and Andrew) and told them to come with Him and He will teach them how to become fishers of men.
Now telling people to turn away from their sins because the kingdom of God is at hand formulates the very theme of evangelism that every evangelist should adopt.
We must not forget that wahat Jesus said should be used as effective approaches to evangelism.
9 things that Jesus said about evangelism.
When you survey the four gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John you will realize these 9 things that Jesus said about evangelism:
- Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand (Mathew 4:17)
- I will make you fishers of men (Mathew 4:19)
- The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few (Mathew 9:37-38)
- Go and make disciples of all nations (Mathew 28:19-20)
- The gospel will be preached through all the world for a witness to mankind (Mathew 24:14)
- Whoever lose his life for the gospel will save it (Mark 8:35)
- Anyone who leaves home and family for the gospel will receive eternal life as a reward (Mark 10:29-30)
- I am anointed to preach the gospel (Luke 4:18)
- Preach repentance and forgiveness of sin (Luke 24:45-47)
1. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand (Mathew 4:17)
Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand was the very first words of Jesus when He began His ministry on earth. He said this because as He later revealed in Luke 19:10, He was sent to save those who were lost.
The lost here represents all mankind who are the offspring of Adam and Eve, the first humans who disobeyed God and were deprived of their relationship with God and the benefits that came with it.
But at his own set time, God Himself decided to bring mankind back into that eternal relationship, and this time around in His own kingdom; and so He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to announce the Good News to mankind.
Now as evangelism entails spreading the gospel or teachings of Jesus Christ, I think the number one theme every Evangelist should adopt while evangelizing should be “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand”.
And don’t forget that having a theme for your evangelical work is one of the keys to successful evangelism.
2. I will make you fishers of men (Mathew 4:19)
Fishers of men is the Biblical synonym of the word Evangelist. And this word was made possible during Jesus encounter with two fishermen and brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew.
The Bible records in Mathew 4:18-19 that while Jesus was walking on the shores of Galilee, He met two brothers who were fishermen casting their nets into the lake and catching fish. Jesus said to them “follow me and I will make you fishers of men”. Immediately the brothers left their nets and fishes by the river side and followed Jesus.
Looking at this story from a spiritual perspective, you will immediately discover that Simon Peter and his brother Andrew immediately understood what fishers of men meant which was why they never hesitated to follow Jesus.
Later on, we will discover on the Pentecost day how Peter’s speech converted about three thousand people. And Peter indeed was a fisher of men as well as all the other Evangelist who toed the line of the man Jesus.
3. The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few (Mathew 9:37-38)
In the inciting passage above, Jesus said to His disciples that the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few and they should pray the owner of the harvest to send more laborers to the field.
The harvest here represents the souls that must hear the gospel message and be saved while the laborers represent the Evangelist who are going to preach theGood News that will save the souls.
This therefore means we should always make it a point of duty to pray that God should use us as Evangelist to save souls as well as call more Evangelist into the ministry.
4. Go and make disciples of all nations (Mathew 28:19-20)
One of the features of Christ ministry was having disciples. In Luke 6:13, we see how He called all His disciples and chose 12 of them to become Apostles.
In Luke 10:1, we see how He appointed 72 disciples and sent them out in ppairs to evangelize..
And in 1 Corinthians 15:6, the writer reveals that after His death, Jesus appeared to about 500 of His disciples.
As we can see so far, Jesus had so many disciples, and in our inciting passage of this sub-heading we see how He also commanded His disciples to go and make more disciples.
Therefore, it is in our place as evangelist to convert more evangelist to God’s vineyard. ,ay God give us the grace to do so through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
5. The gospel will be preached through all the world for a witness to mankind (Mathew 24:14)
We have all seen evidence of how the gospel that began two thousand plus years ago by Jesus Himself in a little town called Galilee spreading to all the ends of the earth.
And as Paul noted in Philippians 1:18, the important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And His words has truly come to pass.
6. Whoever lose his life for the gospel will save it (Mark 8:35)
It is worth noting that this words of Christ did come to pass because the early Evangelist especially paid with their lives for bearing witness of the gospel.
The first Evangelist to be killed was Stephen who was stoned to death while he was preaching the gospel. (Acts 7:54-56).
Later on a man who ordered the stoning of Stephen also suffered martyrdom after he was converted on His road to Damascus while going to persecute Christians and became one of the greatest Evangelist the world will ever have.
Believing that this early Evangelist did save their lives by losing it for the gospel sake should encourage us to preach the gospel amidst very possible danger without fear.
7. Anyone who leaves home and family for the gospel will receive eternal life as a reward (Mark 10:29-30)
Leaving home does not entail abandoning your family to go and live in another town to do evangelism, rather it simply means putting the gospel work first before the family.
So therefore, whenever the need rises to go out and evangelize, you must endeavor to put every family problems and concerns behind trusting that God would take care of them by Himself.
8. I am anointed to preach the gospel (Luke 4:18)
Jesus Himself was anointed before He was able to preach the gospel, and in the same way we all need the anointing of the Holy Spirit before we can be able to preach the gospel.
In Romans 10:15, the scripture shows that we cannot preacch unless we are being sent.
Jesus Himself always talked about the Father using Him to do the evangelical work, in Fact thorughout His ministry, He never made mention of doing anything by His own power.
And before He left the earth, He promised to send the anointing of the Holy Spirit Who will enable His followers to preach the gospel.
Before now, God had already promised through the ancient Jewish prophets that He will send the anointing of the Holy Spirit to enable human beings preach the gospel.
In Joel 2:28 He specifically said “Afterwards I will pour out My Spirit on everyone; your sons and daughters will proclaim my message”.
Therefore, every Evangelist needs the anointing of the Holy Spirit before they could be able to do the evangelical work.
9. Preach repentance and forgiveness of sin (Luke 24:45-47)
In this last point, Jesus added the forgiveness of sin as a n evangelical theme alongside repentance.
This means that no matter how sinful a person is, once he is able to repent and turn to God all his sins will be forgiven.
This is what we should all preacch to even the hardest sinner.
