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Romans 1:1-17: Personal Evangelism

Personal evangelism – making Christ known, the good news, the gospel. Paul uses the word ‘gospel’ 4 times in this passage. It is burning on his heart. The physical light he experienced gave spiritual light. ‘Euangelion’ is the Greek word which means ‘good message.’ Is there a better message than this! There is only one thing the world needs to hear – the gospel. Every word is inspired, but the gospel is the distilled essence; it’s not church government, loads of worship, what you wear – it is all about Jesus Christ and how you can be saved. Tell me, what do you believe?

Paul can write to the church at Corinth, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3). What is of the first importance to the church, to us as Christians?

Isaiah chapter 53 is the glorious technical height of the Old Testament. There are many things we think and believe, but what does an unbeliever need to know? Christ died for our sins, was buried and raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Jesus died for me. We need to confess and profess.

Who is Christ? Why is his death important to me? Maybe you have an unbelieving friend or relative on their deathbed. What are you going to say? John 3:16, John 14:6? Open up the Bible and explain.

Evangelism is making the good message known, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16). ‘Dunamis’ is the Greek word for power. Nobel calls it dynamite. It is spiritual dynamite. Dynamite by itself is quite harmless. It needs something to set it off. The gospel is just words – apart from God. The gospel is detonated by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the dynamite of God. It is not my dynamite. Tell it as it is.

Whose task is it to evangelise Pembrokeshire? People tend to think it is the church’s job. It is not; It is your job and my job. It is the task of each and every one of us. People say there are not many conversions and that it is the pastor’s fault. It is not. It is your fault, it is my fault. We have the dynamite. What are we doing with it? Are we laying the dynamite? It is no good praying for people if you are not speaking to people. Your job is to be a dynamite layer. You need to say something! We need to be faithful, but the consequences are left to God. We need to be obedient, to trust and obey, to lay the dynamite.

You may get to the position where you employ a church evangelist or a church worker, then sit back and say, ‘We don’t need to do that because we are employing a worker.’ Nonsense! It’s your job. It’s my job. If people aren’t being saved, why? You may take yourself off to another church. Why would you do that? Stay and declare and show gospel and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

People may say, ‘My children are not being saved in this church.’ It is not the youth leader’s job to save your children, it’s not the Sunday School teacher’s task. It’s your task to evangelise your children, first and foremost. I hope you can then trust them to Sunday School teachers, but that should supplement what is happening in the home.

When Paul write to the church in Ephesus he speaks about the gifts that Christ has poured out, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.” (Ephesians 4:11), to equip the Saints for works of ministry. A pastor’s task is to feed the sheep so that they may be equipped to pastor and minister to others.

 The evangelist’s task is to equip the saints to be evangelists. Roger Carswell asks, ‘What must I do to be asked the question, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ We are all involved in this mighty work of making the gospel known. We have a task. It is limited in its time; it is only when we are here on earth.

What is the primary function of a local church? Some say we are here to worship God. Worship will not stop when you die, it will be perfected. There is no evangelism in heaven or in hell. Evangelism is our here and now go to point. We are called to make disciples of all nations. Evangelism is the keystone of the church. It only happens here on earth, not when we are dead.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). The people were called to be witness in Jerusalem – where they were. Begin where you are – but don’t finish there. God’s plan was always for the nations (Acts 8). Because of what happens in Acts 7, the gospel eventually reaches Roch, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4).

Wherever the scattered believers went, they preached the Word. They were ordinary believers, like you and me, sharing and announcing the good news.

Personal evangelism is your task and mine. How do we go about it? It drives us to our knees. We are here to worship but our primary function is to be a witness to Him. Our task is to share this message with others. We are to live the life that backs up the gospel. Don’t be grumpy Christians. Why are we where we are? To be a witness, to live for him. Why am I here?

Jesus, the Name high over all,
in hell or earth or sky;
angels and mortals prostrate fall,
and devils fear and fly.
Jesus, the Name to sinners dear,
the Name to sinners giv’n;
it scatters all their guilty fear,
it turns their hell to heav’n.

Charles Wesley

You may say you can’t be a Wesley or a Billy Graham, but you and I can be an Albert MacMaken. On 1^st November 1934, Albert MacMaken invited his 16-year-old friend to an evangelistic tent crusade led by Mordecai Ham. After a few nights on that evangelistic campaign, Billy Graham was converted – because he had been invited by Albert MacMaken, under the preaching of Mordecai Ham. I may not be a Billy Graham but I can be an Albert MacMaken.

Let me take you back a little but further. Edward Kimbell was a Sunday School teacher. In his Sunday School class was a young lad who showed no interest in the gospel, but Edward Kimbell prayed for this young man. He left the Sunday Scholl class unconverted and got a job in a shoe shop. Edward Kimbell still prayed for him and bought his shoes in that shoe shop and continued to witness and speak to DL Moody. DL Moody was converted.

Under DL Moody’s preaching in one crusade, there was a man you probably haven’t heard of – but he was a famous evangelist called Wilber Chapman. Wilber Chapman was converted under the preaching of DL Moody.

In a campaign led by Wilber Chapman, Mordecai Ham was converted. In a crusade led by Mordecai Ham, Billy Graham was converted.

As I preach in many churches, I ask was anybody here converted under Billy Graham. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was someone here this morning, or if someone here this morning knows of someone converted under Billy Graham. The story of Billy Graham goes all the way back to a faithful Sunday School teacher, Edward Kimbell, who continued to pray for DL Moody, even though he showed no real interest.

We can’t all be a Billy Graham, DL Moody or John Wesley, but we can be an Albert MacMaken.

Personal evangelism is something we’re all called to.