Hello and welcome to Cultivating Growth, we want to thank everyone for joining us this week. Jeremy and I are going to be discussing growing in evangelism.  We all have a responsibility to teach and spread the good news of Jesus. And so we're going to open up the Bible and see what it has to teach us about our responsibilities in the role of evangelism.

So with that, let's get to it. 

Well John, when we start to think about, uh, our growth when it comes to evangelism, for you and I, as evangelists, as preachers, it's certainly something that we think about a lot, but you made a really good point there in your opening that there is a reality that each and every one of us as Christians, as followers of Christ, we kind of have a responsibility to evangelize, and just in a very simple kind of term, to share Christ with others.

Yes. And, uh, there's a lot that the Bible has to say about that, um, it is a directive that God has given to his people. There are ways in which we can grow in it, almost tips that we can find in scripture. And there really is a lot, really, to be said about it, specifically a lot of examples of it happening that you can learn from.

And uh, and I guess I kind of want to start. Kind of at the beginning of that, you know, the whole key component is  Sharing the gospel sharing, you know sharing christ and it should be something for the christian not on the feel of an obligation But because it is so significant in your life because you're so excited about it because it's such you know an important thing It is logical that it then is something that we want to talk to other people about and Every other aspect of life that we're excited about, we are very quick to share and to talk about.

And this very human kind of thing, I think can follow and can flow into that exact same thing. I think you're exactly right. I did just out of curiosity, I just looked up evangelism in the dictionary to see what it, how, or how it's defined. And the definition that's given is zealous advocacy. And I think that's an interesting way of phrasing a zealous advocacy.

Am I, am I a zealous advocate for God and for his, his Bible? I think that's the question we have to ask ourselves when we enter into a conversation around evangelism.  Could I be described that way? And I think the hope is that certainly we could describe ourselves that way. Whether we are as you and I are.

Evangelists in our profession, our careers, or if we are a member of the Lord's body in his church, and we have been saved by his blood, are we zealous advocates now for him and for the good news that's contained in scripture? That's the question we have to ask ourselves. And I think as we look into the Bible itself, it's very interesting.

Evangelism is a term we use Within the church all the time, we talk about that. It's not really a word you see in scripture very much. The idea of it is everywhere, but the word itself isn't, you're not going to find it in your concordance, but the idea of being directed to go, Or to teach or to preach or to proclaim, all of those kinds of words are essentially encouraging us to evangelize.

We're to be those advocates that are going out and taking the gospel message to the world. And so I do think it's a fair question to ask. Is this excitement that the word itself kind of demands what we see in it, in us? And then we look into scripture and we see that direction being given, whether it's Jesus telling his disciples to go into all the world and to preach the good news, or whether it's Paul encouraging young evangelists like Timothy and Titus, or in other places of scripture where we're called to be able to give it a defense for what we believe.

All of these ideas and concepts that we see in scripture are encouraging us to think about how we approach the role and the responsibility that each of us have to evangelize. Yeah, I mean, you know, when we start to think about it, I mean, there's a lot of, you made mention of Paul specifically, and I think there are a lot of very specific things about evangelism that we can learn from Paul, and maybe we'll talk about a few of those, but, you know, when I was thinking about this ahead of time, um, There is kind of a general thing to learn from Paul, specifically, when you study his life in the book of Acts.

It is just his desire to do it, and almost that excitement to talk to other people about Jesus. Because every single place that he went,  It seemingly was the very first thing that he was doing. He would, he was finding a synagogue normally and he was going there and he was talking to people about Jesus.

Or you even have, you know, a story like in Acts 17 when he's in Athens and, you know, kind of he's, he's wanting to wait. You know, for others to get there, but the text kind of paints the picture that he just can't, he just can't wait. He looks out in the city, he sees all of these people, they don't know who Jesus is, and he's, and he just, he's like, I'm gonna go talk to all of those people, and so he goes down there and talks to them. 

And we kind of have this big, generalized picture that he's just so excited to talk to others about Jesus, and now there are specific things to learn from Paul, I think, but I do love that just generalized excitement that he seems to have about him. Everywhere he goes, not just the city, but every person that he comes in contact with, there's just that level of excitement that here's a new person to talk to about Jesus, whether it's Jews in the synagogue, whether it's Gentiles in the street, whether it's, uh, Government officials, whether it is jailers that have thrown them, you know, that are, you know, that have put them into prison.

I mean, it just, it doesn't seem to make a difference that no matter the city and no matter the person that general excitement that he has about Jesus and his desire then to share that wherever and with whomever he comes in contact with. I think we can all relate to that. To that on some level there, there is something in everybody's life that they get excited about talking about.

Everybody has that. You and I are big sports fans. We can get excited talking about college sports, pro sports. Doesn't matter. There's a lot of people in this country that are excited about politics and they love to talk about that. Everybody has something.  That they get excited about and they're always ready to talk about kids and grandkids.

Yeah, exactly. Another great example. Yeah. Another great example. You asked me about my garden right now. I could go on for 20 minutes about it. I mean, we all have those things, right?  As Christians. The, the gospel should be at the top of that list when we think all of those things we get excited about because they've had an impact in our life in some way that they have impacted us in a way that excites us.

But as Christians, there is nothing that has impacted us more than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing. And so it should be. At the very top of our list of things that we get excited about and that we want to talk about. And so I think we should be able to see that in one another. And if that's not the case, I think there is some soul searching that needs to be done there.

Why are you not excited about talking about Jesus? Now that doesn't mean you have to, everybody you see on the street, stop them and ask them, you know, if they know Jesus or if they've read the Bible, but you always need to be ready and excited to have those conversations. Some people are much more outgoing than others.

And that's fine. I'm not a particularly outgoing person. And so I can understand those challenges, but, but when the opportunities present themselves to talk about Christ and talk about what he's done, I need to be excited about that. I need to be zealous about that. And if I ever find myself in a position where I'm not super excited about that, then I think it's time for me to look inward a little bit and to really examine why that is.

And to take a step back and think about whether or not I truly appreciate and understand what the gospel is and its connection to my life. Because if I do, I think the natural occurrence is that I'm going to be excited about it. Yeah, I mean, there's no question. No question about that. Well, let's kind of dig in a little bit to maybe some ways that we can grow in this area.

If it is something that we're excited about, but maybe it's still something we struggle with a little bit. Maybe some specific things on, on how it is that we can grow in this area. And I think, you know, So, to me, one of the first things that we can spend a little time in talking about is the importance of not overcomplicating it.

You know, sometimes when we think about evangelism, we conjure up something in our mind and then convince ourselves that we're not capable of doing that. That there are people more capable, there are people that have been a Christian longer, they know more of their Bible, Maybe than I do. Uh, their personality, uh, tends to, to be more forward than mine or whatever the case may be.

And we, we begin complicating what evangelism really is and we lose sight.  It's just sharing Jesus with someone in some capacity. And I think one of the ways that can help us is an understanding of John chapter 1. When Jesus is being introduced, you know, there in John chapter 1, you have that really interesting interaction that Jesus is having with people.

Some of John the Baptist disciples, and they come in contact with him, Andrew being one of those men, and they come in contact with Jesus, and you have that very evangelistic term or phrase, really, come and see. Yep. I have, I have met someone, uh, that I think can have an impact on you, come and see, and it's that simple invite, and to me, that doesn't seem super complicated right there.

And that's, and now the impact that Andrew has bringing Peter, and introducing him to Jesus, and then of course it's easy for us then to say, the impact then that Peter had on others when it came to, and it all started with. That very simple phrase of just, hey, just come and see. And for us to understand that evangelism doesn't have to be complicated, I think can make a difference for us.

I think you're, you're 100 percent right. And, and sometimes the danger in over complicating it is because We begin to insert our own thoughts and our own ways of doing things into what Jesus has given to us so plainly and simply. Another great example of that, just a couple pages over from where you were in John chapter 1, is John chapter 4.

When Jesus has his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. And he tells her, as she says later in the chapter, all that she's ever done. You know, he's able to tell her about her, her, uh, husbands and her marital statuses and all of those things. And she's amazed by that. And she runs into the city and she starts telling everybody.

And at the end of that chapter, we're told that many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman. And I think about that story frequently when the topic of evangelism comes up, because of that. woman knew next to nothing about Jesus. She, she had just met him. She didn't know anything about him at all.

But what she did is she ran into the city and she told everybody that would listen, what he told her.  And as a result of that, many came to believe in him. At the end of the day, that's what we're being asked to do is just tell someone else what Jesus has told you. As a student of the Bible, we've read and we've become convinced and convicted of the gospel message, and we've become a child of God's.

My only responsibility is then to go tell someone else what God's already taught me through His Word.  Let's not overcomplicate it, to your point. Even when you think about what Paul told Timothy about being ready to teach the Word in season and out of season. Well, let's not forget that The first directive that he's given there is be ready to preach the word,  not your thoughts.

You don't have to be some scholar that has these high level thoughts that are going to impress anyone. You just be ready to preach the word. That's it. That's your job. That's your responsibility. And so it seems to me that almost everywhere we look, where examples of evangelism show up in scripture, It's exactly as you described, it's very simple, it's very direct, and it really places the emphasis on what God has said, not what you and I might say.

Yeah, I mean, we've made mention of Paul a couple of times already, and certainly studying through the book of Acts, kind of gives us some insight into the way that he operated. But, you know, he writes to the brethren in Corinth in that first letter, you know, listen, lots of issues he had to cover, and they had a lot of things on their mind, and they had a lot of things they wanted Paul, you know, to kind of figure out and work out for them.

But towards the very beginning of that letter in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, when he makes mention of, you know, that he's not preaching with persuasive words and with, you know, big demonstrations, he says in chapter 2 and verse 2, That, you know, He didn't know, He determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

That's it. That's, that's my only concern. My only concern is sharing with you Jesus and Him crucified. And so now we're taking what they are trying to complicate and Paul's saying it isn't that complicated. It is Jesus and Him crucified. And for us to have an understanding of that, I think it helps. And, you know, one other thing I was thinking about when you were mentioning that story in John chapter 4. 

Because I think also, we tend to think that evangelism is in a big crowd, or at a table full of people, or in a room full of people. But oftentimes, maybe most often, it really comes down to an interaction you have with one person. That's Jesus in John chapter 4. And so it's not about, hey, am I able to handle myself in a crowd of 100 people?

That's usually not going to be what the case is. The case usually is, can I handle myself In a crowd of one person, and that seems to be what we, what we see pop up most of the time. That is, and this can happen in a lot of different walks in life, where if we think on too grand of a scale, it intimidates us, and so we just shy away from the whole thing.

And I think sometimes with evangelism, That can be the case where you think, man, there's just, I mean, there's people all over this world that need to hear the gospel. And who am I? I mean, I'm, I'm just, I'm a nobody. I, I don't, I can't, I can't do everything that I need to do. I can't talk to everybody that I would need or want to talk to.

But, but to your point, I mean, if we talk to the person next door to us, you know, I, I heard a preacher one time talking about evangelism overseas. And talking about, you know, how a lot of people enjoy getting involved in that kind of work. But then some of those same people won't talk to their neighbor next door about the gospel of Christ.

And I think when we start to shrink our world a little bit, it can actually help us in our efforts to be evangelistic. Let's not think about the whole world right now. Time where that's appropriate, but let's think about our scope of influence. Who is nearby us? Who, who do we talk to on an everyday basis that we haven't yet talked to about Christ?

Those are the people that we really have a chance to influence and to help. And so those are the people we need to be thinking more frequently about. Now, certainly, you know, we're going to get to it, but Jesus offers. Some directive to go into all the world because he wants his gospel taken everywhere, but sometimes our responsibility may be on a much smaller scale, no less important, but on a much smaller scale.

And that can actually help us get over some of those obstacles. Yeah. And it happens that if his, if his disciples are operating on a small scale, but they're all operating on a small scale, it becomes a very big scale very, very quickly. And so I think for us, when we're thinking about trying to grow in our evangelism, I think those two.

In those two areas, I think, are really important for us to think about, not overcomplicating it, and then secondly, start with someone, you know, start with someone and tell them about Jesus, because as you made mention, that's what Jesus is looking for, that's what he's asked us, and so, as we close, we'll kind of close here at the very end of Jesus time on this earth.

He could have talked about and said so many different things after his resurrection, before he ascends to heaven, you But before he comes again at the very, very end, he could have left so many different messages, you know, with his disciples, but he leaves this one in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19, the directive, go there for make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son. 

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