The "How not" to pray and evangelism 2

The " How not" to Prayer and Evangelism 2
The local church is not a multi purpose place .
It's focus is clear .
Mark 11:17 KJV
[17] And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
It mustn't be misused .
Not for entertainment or all sorts of events .
1 Timothy 3:15 KJV
[15] But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
We must behave properly .
We have earlier examined prayer .
It's a ministry for ALL believers .
It mustn't be situated as a department like singing ,ushering etc
Another ministry committed to us is evangelism .
Jesus committed the task of soul winning to us .
Matthew 28:19 KJV
[19] Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Make disciples ,means to teach the word .
Mark 16:15 KJV
[15] And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Preach means to announce and proclaim .
Luke 24:47 KJV
[47] And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
His finished work must be heralded in the nations .
Some have argued that this mission was for the apostles .
Really ? I often answer by asking," so which of them reached out to you ?".
Yes,the Immediate audience had the 12 or more ,it's application couldn't be restricted
For example
Acts 1:4-5 KJV
[4] And, being assembled together with them , commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he , ye have heard of me.
[5] For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
The audience was specific ,yet it's application was wider .
Peter emphasized this
Acts 2:38-39 KJV
[38] Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39] For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
The promise is for as many as respond to the salvation message .
Acts 11:16-17 KJV
[16] Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
17] Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
Same application with the great commission ( as we call it ).
The spread of the message was never restricted to a privileged crew or few .
In the four gospels
Luke 9:1-2 KJV
[1] Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
[2] And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
The twelve .
Luke 10:1-2 KJV
[1] After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come
Then another seventy
The next statement is instructive .
. [2] Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
The issue was availability !
The two groups ,twelve and seventy were the available ones .
Hence He asked we prayed for more willing laborers ,the eighty two were definitely not enough .
Matthew 9:36 KJV
[36] But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
The case is still same in many places today .
An incidence happened after the seventy were sent ,
A fellow was found preaching and using the name of Jesus ,who wasn't amongst the eighty two
Luke 9:49-50 KJV
[49] And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.
[50] And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
You can't forbid anyone who volunteers ,he is for us !
Paul was emphatic in his epistle to Corinth
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 KJV
[17] Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18] And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19] To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
If you are a new creature,you have been given the ministry of reconciliation .
This ministry isn't acting dramas or dancing or ushering or even the very important ministry of prayer .
It is a message ( verse 19) , it's either preached or taught or both.
When paul later writes Ephesus on the work of pastors ( ministry gifts )
Ephesians 4:11-12 KJV
[11] And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
[12] For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
They train us to mature,this maturity leads us to ministry ,this ministry involves preaching or teaching or both .
If your pastor isn't training you for this ,he is not doing his job !
The book of Acts is instructive .
The Earlier chapters had the Apostles do the preaching .
Acts 2:14 KJV
[14] But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
The eleven plus peter ,the apostles .
Acts 4:33 KJV
[33] And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
The apostles seem to be exclusive in the ministry of the word .
Acts 5:12 KJV
[12] And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
Same here .
However ,a change emerged .
Acts 6:5-6 KJV
[5] And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
[6] Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
They delegated responsibility to deacons to serve food ,which the apostles strictly undertook earlier .
This opened up others to the ministry of the word .
Acts 6:7-8 KJV
[7] And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
[8] And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Stephen started to have outreaches .
An usher in church .
Afterwards many others ( upon his demise )
There was persecution against the church .
Men fled Jerusalem .
Except the apostles .
Acts 8:1 KJV
[1] And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
They stayed behind .
Acts 8:4-5 KJV
[4] Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
Those who preached weren't apostles but many believers .
This includes Phillip .
5] Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
He took a whole city and worked mighty miracles too.
An Usher .
Acts 9:10 KJV
[10] And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here , Lord.
Ananias ,a certain disciple ,still in membership class .
He reached out to saul ( paul ).
Not an apostle .
Acts 11:19-21 KJV
[19] Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.
20] And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.
[21] And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.
Again ,non apostles .
Great number believed!
Reaching the unsaved should never be " departmentalized "
ALL church members must be engaged in evangelism .
I received the gospel on a Sunday morning and was taught and taken for evangelism same evening .
From the day you believed the gospel ,you have received the ministry of reaching the unsaved .
One of the numerous things this does is ,you start to lead a life of exemplary conduct .
E.W.Kenyon once said " if you are busy leading others to christ ,you won't be busy with sin "
I agree .
All church members must be assessed on how many converts and disciples they have in the local church ,not the cars they drive or their status in the society .
Only an unserious Christian won't create time for preaching the gospel .
The churches must reform .
It's ridiculous the amount of funds pumped into supposed special programs we mischievously call outreaches .
We train our members to invite sinners to church !
Sad .
To make matters worse ,only the pastor preaches to the unsaved .
In some sickening cases ,we invite comedians ,dancers ,musicians etc
To reach the lost ?
Are we on drugs?
Imagine Paul's church doing this !
Rather than give our members invites ,let's print tracts ,short scripted ones ,which members can preach from .
Or better still our members should be capable of engaging men on the streets ,buses etc with the aim of winning souls l
Just like Phillip did
Acts 8:30 KJV
[30] And Philip ran thither to him , and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
Anything short of this is not the work of the local church .
When we do this we would have solved by half the issues of unserious folks in churches.
They will see themselves as equally responsible for lives .
Soul winning / evangelism shouldn't be special programs .
They should be done regularly by all church members .
Deeper life bible church and the scripture union in the 80s set this pace for many of us,door to door ,buses etc all members were engaged in this .
I was too .
We must return to the trenches ,and stop parading members who can't tell others about Jesus and win them over ,yet rise to leadership in church!
The Go ye is for us all ...
Yes,pastor and flock ,
You and I
All of us .
Seen this ?
I have received a ministry and message of reaching the unsaved with the gospel ,I choose to be faithful with it ,I win souls and raise disciples for my local church .You have a great week ahead
I call you blessed.
Jesus is Lord,We Win!