Come and Become Evangelism

Understanding Evangelism Beyond the Pulpit

In the book of Acts, the focus often lands on the apostles who preached and performed miracles, but what about the regular church members? Their contributions, though less documented, were pivotal in growing the church. Most people in the church today will not receive a vocational calling to ministry or become pastors, yet their role in evangelism remains crucial.

Shifting Focus from the Pulpit to the People

The church often seeks out rare talents for leadership roles, but there's more to ministry than just having a select few on staff. The work of growing the church isn't solely the responsibility of pastors. Everyone in the church has a part to play. This brings us to a critical concept: Come and Become Evangelism.

Come and Become Evangelism

Evangelism is about inviting others to follow Jesus. "Come and Become Evangelism" involves Christians inviting others to church, forming the primary strategy for growth. This approach has three main benefits:

Inviting someone to church allows them to connect with a community where they can wrestle with questions and grow gradually. Instant decisions are rarely lasting; true discipleship involves a series of encounters with Jesus. Lasting conversions typically take multiple encounters, emphasizing that discipleship is about introducing people to Jesus and supporting them as they grow.

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.'" - Matthew 16:24 (NLT)

This strategy ensures that new attendees are immediately connected and can start growing within the community. Everyone plays a role in welcoming and integrating newcomers. The goal of evangelism isn't merely to elicit a prayer but to foster ongoing discipleship. Church involvement provides the support necessary for new believers to continue their journey of faith.

"So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT)

Evangelism becomes a natural part of a Christian's life. How one lives reflects their faith, influencing their ability to evangelize. Everyone is on a mission to grow the church, embodying the invitation to others. Jesus made it clear that there is plenty of room in His Father’s house, encouraging believers to invite others to join the family of faith.

"There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?" - John 14:2 (NLT)

The Messiness of Growth

Inviting others into the church means welcoming diverse and sometimes messy lives. The early church dealt with a range of issues, and so will today's church. But this messiness is a sign of life and growth.

"For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” - Matthew 18:20 (NLT)

The Urgency of Evangelism

Jesus' return is imminent, and this urgency compels believers to show others the way to God. If the sole purpose of faith was personal salvation, God would take believers to Heaven immediately upon conversion. Instead, He leaves them with a mission: to evangelize and expand the Kingdom of God.

"Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'" - John 14:6 (NLT)

Stories of Come and Become Evangelism

"The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, 'Come, follow me.' Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, 'We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.' 'Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?' Nathanael asked. 'Come and see,' said Philip." - John 1:43-46 (NIV)

Philip invited Nathanael to meet Jesus without arguing or persuading. He simply extended an invitation, and Jesus took care of the rest.

Scripture Reference: "Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and ...

We're in the 4th week of a series called Kingdom Freedom. We've been talking about how we can never truly be free unless we are set free by God. All other freedom is temporary, but Kingdom Freedom is eternal. If you are still a slave to sin, it doesn't matter how much to pretend to be free, you're not truly free.

But I can't finish this series without addressing what the Bible says about slavery. There's this rumor spreading around the world that the Bible condones slavery, or that at least the Old Testament condones slavery, but is that true?

When we study Scripture, we can't look for the verses to prove what we already think. We have to follow it, to trust it, to bow to it.

“When we come to the Bible and try to listen to its claims, we can easily misjudge those claims if we hear them only from within the framework of our own modern assumptions. Letting the Bible speak for itself, that is, letting it speak in its own terms, includes letting the Bible speak from within its own worldview rather than merely our own.” – Vern Poythress

Luke 4:17-22

17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, 19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.[a]” 20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” 22 Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

I grew up terrified of the antichrist. The dispensational church I grew up in taught us that there's an evil antichrist who's going to control the world and kill all the Christians he can. He'll cut your head off if you say you're a Christian, and if you deny Christ so that you don't get your head cut off, you go to Hell. We were terrified of the antichrist, and because we were so scared of him, we found him everywhere. Every president that we didn't agree with, was the antichrist. Every famous musician and every military leader we didn't like, was the antichrist...until we realized they weren't.

Love is a theme that runs throughout the book. John talks about what we shouldn’t love, how we are loved, how we know what love is, and how we should act accordingly.

And as John jumps into this theme in the early part of the book...he makes it clear that this is NOT something new.

⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before.

As we jump down a few verses, John wants us to know that the blessings of carrying out this commandment can be hindered. There are things that can distract it from happening. There are things that can keep it from being part of our lives. And it has to do with love too.

Jumping to verse 15 John says

¹⁵ Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. ¹⁶ For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. ¹⁷ And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.

Where should this love, this real love come from? Where does it originate? How do we grow this in our lives?

As we jump into 1 John 3, John helps us to see that.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.

Love originates with the Father. Mike talked about this last week. It starts as we receive His love. As we recognize our worth and purpose come from the Father’s love.

If you are part of the family...this is what we do. We love one another. As we look more and more like the Father, we love. It’s a trait of the family.

What does it look like? Real love? Jump down to verse 16....

¹⁶ We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) We're going through the book of 1 John and there's a theme in the beginning of 1 John about God being the light in a dark world.