August 6

Personal Evangelisim starts with knowing Jesus

Before I teach on personal evangelism for the body of Christ, I must first give you the most important first step in becoming an effective witness for Jesus.

You need to become like Christ.  That’s it, simple enough, right?  Every believer who becomes like Jesus is a powerful tool in the hand of God.  I can hear you saying,”yeah right, I’m not anything like Jesus”.  That is where you and I may disagree.

Know what You are and Who You are in Christ

It is my opinion your spirit, if you are “born again”, is exactly like Jesus.  So 33% of you is exactly like Jesus.  Since you are made up of 3 parts (body, soul and spirit) you need only to get one of the other 2 parts to be more like Jesus and you have a simple majority.

Since the body or “flesh” is enmity with God, you can never change the “flesh”. The flesh is constantly at war with the spirit so by the process of elimination it is your soul that must change.

The soul is defined (by me) as, your mind, will, and emotions.  It is the person you are inside of your body.  By renewing your mind with the word of God you help your soul to think like Jesus.  (This is moving beyond the personal evangelism teaching but some of this needs to be taught.  for those of you new here, I occasionally chase rabbits)

“So what does this have to do with personal evangelism?”, you may be asking. Well, nothing and everything, you are made in God’s image, three parts, all different but the same.  Get to know yourself, what you have, who you are in Christ and witnessing becomes much easier.

Did Jesus have a problem drawing a crowd?  As I read the Gospels Jesus loved and was loved.  He lived with the people, taught in their synagogues, healed the sick and preached the gospel. (Matthew 4:23-25)

I think this simple pattern is the key to growing “the church”, not a church, The Church.  While some focus on numbers only, the simplistic model Jesus used is all we need.  Notice what the Bible says in Matthew 4:24: Then His fame went throughout all Syria…then in Matthew 4:25: Great multitudes followed Him…

Personal Evangelism Starts with Knowing Christ

Personal evangelism starts with knowing Christ and then doing what Jesus did.  Teach, preach and heal, this is the “Jesus” model for the church. (as I see it)  How simple, almost too simple, teach people the Bible, preach the good news and heal the sick.

No church could hold the multitude that would follow this kind of evangelism. Preach (spirit), teach (soul) and heal (body)…we are spirit, soul and body and Jesus touched/ministered to the complete person (all three parts) and the multitude followed.

The church is made up of individual believers, personal evangelism begins when believers spend time with Jesus and then go out “among” the people.  Many today go to church, hear a message on evangelism, feel guilty and then attempt to witness to people.  This is bound to fail, your motivation is okay (help people) but there is no power.

Again look to Jesus, He spent time in prayer with God, so much time in fact He was able to declare God and I are One. (John 17:22-24) When you spend time with Jesus every day, you begin to think like He thinks. (Ever heard of having the mind of Christ)

Here is a real life example: My wife and I spend so much time together we start to finish each others sentences or we know what the other person is thinking.  This is normal with any relationship where time, trust and communication are present.

The difference, between my relationship with my wife and my relationship with Jesus; I can sometimes influence my wife’s thinking. The same is not true when I spend time with Jesus, as I read the word it clearly states God does not change.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  If anyone changes, when you and Jesus spend time together, it will be you.

Want to be more like Jesus? You must believe part of you (your spirit) is already exactly like Him. Part of you (your body) will never be like Him. (Until you get a new body)  The part that can change (your soul) takes time and effort with Jesus to become more like Him.  This is where the battle rages (In your mind, will and emotions) so before you learn to go out into the battle. You must first learn to go into the presence of God.

Until next time, remember: You overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony, and by becoming a living sacrifice. Revelation 12:11


Tags

Bible Teaching, Bible Verse, Christian Teaching, Christianity, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ


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