Evangelistic

Do we have a vision for helping the lost to find Jesus? Then we should continue in active pursuit of souls. We should do all we can to win them to the Lord. There are many opportunities and ways to reach out to the lost.

BE AWARE – We are very focus driven, typically speaking, and want to get the jobs done that we have set out to do. We need to be aware of people around us that may need a listening ear or someone to share with. Make it a habit to look out for people that need Jesus.

Our local school district here in Missouri reports more than one-thousand homeless school students in Miller, Camden, Morgan, Phelps, and Pulaski counties. I suspect your church community is similar. Praise God these homeless children are reachable from our congregations.
The school district’s definition of homeless is, “Those who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.” This includes:
Children who are sharing housing with others due to a loss of housing from an economic hardship;

Do we have a vision for helping the lost to find Jesus? Then we should continue in an active pursuit of souls. We should do all we can to win them to the Lord. There are many opportunities and ways to reach out to the lost.

Slowly the rays of the sun recede behind the darkening skies. Mount Calvary is engulfed in an unusual darkness. The world hides its face for the shame that it is looking upon. Jesus, a god man, is hanging on a cross dying between two thieves, bearing the shame of the nakedness of man and his folly of sin. A huge storm has gathered, for there is a battle between the spiritual powers of heaven. Darkness is everywhere, not only in the sky, but in the hearts of men. Lightning flashes and thunder echoes down the valley.

Editor’s note: This article is reprinted from the September 1995 issue of The Pilgrim Witness.

Where is everybody going? This seems a timely question in these days of increased running. Everybody is hurrying somewhere. The surge of headlights approaching and the stream of taillights leaving a traffic light remind us of Daniel 12:4b, “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” We are also reminded of Matthew 7:13, where Jesus tells us of the two ways and the need to enter the strait gate because the broad way leads to destruction.

For many it was too late!

On December 26, 2004, more than 250,000 lives were taken by the tsunami in Indonesia. It was one of the worst natural disasters in history.

The following day my wife and I left the Good Shepherd Home in Honduras for Pennsylvania after a fourteen-month stay, propelled by an urgent wish to be home again. We soon learned that this tsunami had a far reaching effect. By the time we got to Miami Airport, the place was crowded with people everywhere. As hard as we tried to get our flight, we, like most others, missed it. Too late.

God’s will is that all His created humans would choose to be part of His heavenly kingdom on earth. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2Pe 3:9). We carry this glorious Gospel to all people, nations, and languages. We understand the Great Commission sends us forth to teach and call men to discipleship and bring them into the church as members of the body of Christ on earth.

As we move about in our world, we do not have to go far to find someone who is not a Christian, who does not know Jesus as Savior and Lord of his life. It is God’s will that His people continue with the mission He left us—to seek the lost and point them to the Lamb of God. For us to have any effectiveness in evangelism, we first need a vision for it. Vision is a very important aspect in any venture we might undertake in life, and can be a key factor to experience success. evangelism is no exception.

Satan with all the powers of darkness is opposing the people of God through the evil world around us. But he is also working more subtly within and among us to hinder our evangelistic effectiveness. We do well to stop and analyze from time to time what we are doing and how we could improve. If we study the story of Achan, we soon learn that the problem was not the Israelite army’s lack of ability. Neither was there a deficiency in Joshua’s capability in leadership, but rather it was sin among the people—and more precisely with one man and his family—that caused the defeat at Ai.