The word evangelism in the Greek language means, "to preach the good news."

Transcription

1 The word gospel in the Greek language means, "good news." The word evangelism in the Greek language means, "to preach the good news." So, evangelism is simply to clearly explain the gospel to people. Let s start by turning to the book of Roman, chapter 1:16. Rom 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. The gospel is the power of God to salvation. If we tell people this very specific message, then He will cover this message with his power, and people will be saved because this message was proclaimed. This is the message that the Lord asked us to proclaim just before he ascended into heaven. Mar 16:15: And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. This means that the most important question we could ask is, What is the Gospel? I will give one way to answer this question: The good news is that the one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know him, but we sinned and cut ourselves off from him. In his great love, God became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law himself and taking on himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever turn and trust in him. He rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted Christ's sacrifice and that God's wrath against us had been satisfied. He now calls us to repent of our sins and trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness. If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God.

2 What I just said has many parts to it. Each part of the gospel message is something that you could preach 10,000 sermons on and never run out of things to say. For example, the first sentence I said was: The one and only God, who is holy, Made us in his image to know him. The fact that there is one and only one God is a very important teaching. Another thing I said is that God is Holy. The holiness of God is so important to the gospel, Because God is holy, He must punish sin, and because he is holy, our rejection of him is made more sinful. We could preach a million sermons on the holiness of God, and we would still not say all that could be said about this topic. I could talk about the love of God for another million sermons. How important is the love of God to the message of the gospel? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. The wrath of God this is a very important part of the Gospel. There are other questions for example, why did God have to become a man in order to save people? Why did Christ have to die for our sins? Why did he have to have a sinless life? What is repentance? How does him rising from the dead matter? You don t need to know all the answers to these questions in order to be saved. You don t need to know all of these answers to do evangelism.

3 I m sure many of you know the answers to these questions I just asked, but I also know all of us need to learn more about the gospel. The gospel is not something you learn in five minutes, and then move on to more important doctrines. The gospel is something that you can continue learning forever. I personally believe that we can spend an eternity in heaven with Christ, and still not learn all there is to know about what Christ did on the cross of Calvary. We will spend eternity learning of the grace of God through the gospel. Yes it is true that we all know enough of the Gospel right now to do evangelism, but we all also need to learn more about the gospel. Being an evangelist is like being a doctor. A doctor goes to school and he learns about the body. After he finishes school, we go to him, and he knows what is wrong with our bodies, but he will never know all there is to know about the body. The body is very complicated, usually a doctor only specializes in one aspect of the body. Some doctors only know about the feet or the teeth, but if he wants to be a better doctor, He will study and learn more every day. It is just like us evangelists. If we learn all the aspects of the gospel, we will become more effective evangelists. We need to become experts on God s plan to save people who have rebelled from Him, because this message that God has chosen can be explained in many ways, depending on the situation. We should be able to explain it to a child or to a professor at a university. We should be able to tell the cults why they are teaching a false gospel.

4 We will do this by becoming experts in the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. It is not good enough to repeat the words of the gospel if people don t understand it. They need to understand in their minds the plan that God has made to save sinners. In America, before I was saved, I had heard the gospel many times. I had been to many churches and I had heard them say, "Jesus died for your sins." That was true, He did die for my sins, but these were only words to me, I did not know why that was good news to me. I remember asking Christians the questions, "Why did Jesus have to die for my sins?, And, "How did his death pay for my sins?" I didn t understand. It was many years later, even after I was saved, that I finally understood these answers. I am not saying that people need to understand all these things before they are saved. I don t believe they do. God saves people sometimes with very little theological understanding. I am simply saying that if we study the gospel, we will be better communicators of God plan, and we will see more people saved as a result. Evangelists need to be like translators. Our translator here knows English very well, and he also knows Swahili very well. He takes what I am saying and tells it to you in a way that you understand in your minds If he did not know English very well, you would not be able to understand me very well. I could be telling you that there was danger coming. I could be explaining to you the path we needed to travel to avoid this danger, but if the translator only knew a little english, then you would not know the correct path to travel to avoid the danger. But because he knows English very well he gives you a good understanding of my message We need to take the plan of God with all its theology

5 And make it easy to understand for people. If we want to become better evangelists, we must become experts in the Gospel. The Gospel message has the power to save sinners. We do not. I want you to see that in the Bible, evangelism was often in the form of teaching. Sometimes it was public teaching, sometimes teaching one person only, but always they taught. Turn first to Luke 24:44. This is one of the last things that the Lord said before he ascended to heaven, but before he left he gave the apostles one last Bible study. Luk 24:44: And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Luk 24:45 : Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. Luk 24:46: And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. Luk 24:47: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Jesus gave these men understanding of the scriptures and explained to them that the law was being fulfilled by Christ dying and rising again on the third day. They understood for the first time the good news of God s plan to save sinners. Turn to Acts 17:2. The book of Acts is like a training manual for evangelism. Act 17:2: Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures. Act 17:3: explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. " There are three words here to describe the way that Paul told them the gospel. It says he reasoned with them from the scriptures,

6 it says he explained, and it says he demonstrated. Sometimes, the gospel can be preached in a very short time. Sometimes, you need to work hard like Paul did here for three days, to make sure people understand it. Here, Paul was talking to Jewish men. So, his method for teaching was a little different that if he was talking to Gentiles. Turn to Acts 17 verse 22. This is when Paul was speaking to Gentiles who did not know of God or the scriptures. His method for preaching the gospel to them was a little different, but notice that the message of the gospel did not change at all. Act 17:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; Act 17:23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: Act 17:24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Act 17:25 Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. Act 17:26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, Act 17:27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; Act 17:28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' Act 17:29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. Act 17:30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, Act 17:31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." Paul, when speaking to people who did not believe in God, spent almost the whole time telling them about who God was. He told them that the there was a God who created the world and everything in it, that he created all people too, and that God is worthy of their worship.

7 Then, he tells them of the plan of God for their salvation through Jesus Christ. He did this in a way that they could understand because of their unique situation. Because he was so familiar with all aspects of Gods plan, he could share this message in many ways. Philip is another example of this. Turn to Acts Chapter 8. Phillip had been led by God to the wilderness where he saw a man reading a copy of Isaiah. Act 8:29: Then the Spirit said to Philip, Go near and overtake this chariot. Act 8:30: So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, Do you understand what you are reading? Act 8:31: And he said, How can I, unless someone guides me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. Act 8:32: The place in the Scripture which he read was this: HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE OPENED NOT HIS MOUTH. Act 8:33: IN HIS HUMILIATION HIS JUSTICE WAS TAKEN AWAY, AND WHO WILL DECLARE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS TAKEN FROM THE EARTH. Act 8:34: So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man? Act 8:35: Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Philip was an expert on the gospel. It says in verse 35 that he began at that scripture and preached Jesus to him. We should be able to preach the gospel from the Old Testament alone You don t have to know how to do this to be an evangelist, of course, but my point is that there is much to learn about the gospel. And that the more we know the better we will be able to teach people No matter what kind of opportunity God gives us to teach it. We become better evangelist not by learning clever ways to manipulate people, We become better evangelists by knowing the gospel,

8 and by preaching it clearly, and correctly in every situation. We all would like the people in our churches to do more evangelism. The more you teach them about the gospel, the more they will begin to tell their friends and family about it. They preach the gospel to people because it is the answer to their problems. When you see a person whose life has been destroyed by sin, they have compassion on them and let them know that there is hope. Hope that they can be set free from the bondage of sin, and that God has made a way for them to be restored. When you see a person who is in the bondage of a false religion, tell them as it says in the book of Galatians, that if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ died in vain. Obviously, you may need to explain to them what that verse means. The gospel really is good news. If it does not sound like good news, then it is not being preached correctly. The more your people realize how and why the gospel is good news to their friends, the more they will want to share this message with them. We must become experts in the gospel, and we must train others to be experts in it as well. In the next segment, we will search the scriptures. We will answer questions like: Why did Jesus have to be sinless? Why did Jesus have to die? What does the holiness of God have to do with the gospel? Or the love of God? Or the justice of God? What exactly happened to Jesus on the cross?

9 And how exactly did that reconcile us to God? Understanding these things better is the key to seeing more fruit in your evangelism. In this session, I will speak on some more practical things. Let s talk now about who should do evangelism. We know that all believers are called to share their faith, but we also know that there are some that are given the spiritual gift of evangelism. It is kind of like the gift of teaching. All Christians can teach in some way, but some have been given a spiritual gift to teach better than others. If someone in your church has the gift of evangelism, you should recognize that and encourage that gift, and train them to become better evangelists. When we talk about discipleship, I will say that the best way to get your sheep to evangelize is to feed them good food. Healthy sheep reproduce themselves. If you feed them the pure milk of the word and make sure they understand it, the love of God, and the love of their neighbors will compel them to share this good news. That is the motivation for evangelism. The love of God we want to see him glorified. The love of people we want them to be reconciled to God. There is another motivation that is a very good one: because the Lord commanded us to preach the Gospel. We also must be obedient to the message that Jesus wanted us to preach. What exactly did Jesus say needed to be preached to all nations? Turn to Luke 24 verse 46. Luk 24:46: Then He said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

10 Luk 24:47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Repentance is the action that Jesus wants people to do if they believe in the gospel that was preached to them. In my country, many evangelists no longer preach repentance. Many of them have not been obedient to what the Lord asked us to do here. You can see that the apostles that Jesus was speaking to here understood and obeyed Christ s command to tell people to repent. Turn to Acts chapter 3 verse 18. This is Peter who is in the temple, and he has just finished explaining the gospel to them. In verse 18, he finishes his sermon this way. Act 3:18: But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Act 3:19: Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Just as Jesus commanded him to do, he preached the gospel and then told them to repent. Another example of this is in acts 26 verse 19. This is when Paul is before King Agrippa. He is explaining what his message has been to the people - the message that he is now on trial for. Act 26:19: Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: Act 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. This the response that people should have to hearing and believing the gospel. It is good to say a prayer, and it is good to do all these other things we do today, but Jesus said that when the gospel is heard and believed, the people should repent and then they will be converted and their sins blotted out. If they do not repent, this will not happen. Turn to Luke 13 verse 3.

11 Luk 13:3: I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Two verses later He says it again. Luk 13:5: I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Please turn to Matthew Chapter 4. This is when Jesus goes to preach his first sermon. We will read from verse 16. Mat 4:17: From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus first message was to repent, and we have already seen in Luke 24:47 that repentance was also his very last message. What does repentance mean? The word repent comes from the Greek word Metanoia. The word has two parts. Meta means change, And noia means mind. So, repentance means to change your mind. Well, what do we change our minds about? Let s turn to Acts 20 verse 20. This is when the apostle Paul calls a pastors conference. He is speaking to the Ephesian pastors. In verse 20, Paul begins to describe his life as an evangelist. This is how Paul described what his entire ministry was about. Act 20:20: And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, Act 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says that people needed to repent or change their minds about God. What kinds of things do we think about God that we need to change?

12 Lets turn to Romans chapter 1 for the first thing, starting in verse 19. Rom 1:19: Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. Rom 1:20: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Rom 1:21: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. All people who are not saved are in rebellion against God. In some of them, this is more noticeable that others. One person may be in obvious sin. Another person may look perfectly normal. They may be a nice person. They may treat other people well, but although they know God they glorifiy him not as god. They want to be the king of their lives and they want to sit on the throne of their lives. They do not want to serve God. They must change their minds about God, and be willing to submit to His will. Maybe the devil has even deceived them into hating God. Maybe they think God is responsible for the evil in their lives. They must change their minds about God. They must repent as well as believe in the good news of Jesus Christ. Let s look at another thing that people may think about God that they must change their minds about. Lets turn to Hebrews 6 verse 1. Heb 6:1: Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. Repentance of dead works, changing our minds about our dead works.

13 There are many religions in the world that believe that to please God you need to do many works. Most of the world is in bondage to this false idea. They are weighed down because this is impossible to do. If someone believes that by following various laws you can please God, they do not understand the gospel. That is why it says in Galatians 2:21 that if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ dies in vain. If you understand why Christ died, and if you truly understand what happened on the cross, you know that it is foolishness to think that your works can save you. You must repent from your dead words and believe in the gospel. The book of Galatians teaches us that if you still think that you need to do works of the law to be saved, then you believe a different gospel a gospel that does not save. The same idea is said a few chapters later in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14. Heb 9:14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Repent from your efforts to save yourself and simply let yourself fall into the arms of Jesus Christ. Repentance is something done in a person s mind as well as a gift from God. You cannot change your heart. You cannot make yourself a new creation by your effort. God says that He will regenerate you, and he will give you a new heart, but tells people to change their mind about him, to repent to decide to stop following their ways and the ways of the world, and to call him their God and master in their heart, and begin to walk toward him, and away from the world.

14 He will begin to change your heart, and cause you to love Him and hate sin. Some preachers in my country tell people all they need to do is to say a prayer to be saved. They are not told to repent, only to admit that they are a sinner. But that is not what the bible says and it is not enough to admit you are a sinner The devil would admit he is a sinner. The demons believe the gospel and it says in James that they tremble, but if we are not teaching people to repent AND believe the gospel then we are not obeying Jesus commandments about evangelism. I come from the southern part of the United States, where everyone thinks that they are a Christian, even if they are the worst of sinners, and they don t care for Jesus Christ or his word, but they believe that they are saved. This is because about 100 years ago, certain men started teaching that as long as you believe in Jesus and say a prayer you are saved. They stopped preaching that people should repent. It is true that many people are saved when they say the sinner s prayer, but it is not the prayer that saves them, if they are saved. What saves them is that when they said the prayer, in their hearts they repented and believed the gospel. If they did not do that, then it they could say the prayer a hundred times and still not be saved. Lets turn to 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5. Paul, writing to the Corinthian church, says: 2Co 13:5: Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed you are disqualified. Paul says that we need to examine ourselves to see if we are Christians. Are we seeing the fruit of the Holy Spirit develop in our lives? Galatians 5:22-23 says:

15 Gal 5:22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Gal 5:23: Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. These fruits will begin to develop in your life if you are saved. If it has been many years since a person has professed to be a Christian, and they show none of these fruits, then it is very likely they are not saved. There are other ways to examine ourselves to see if we are saved. Lets turn to the book of 1 John. Lets start in chapter 5 where John says why he has written this letter. 1Jn 5:13: These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. John wants people to be sure of their salvation. The first way to tell if you are saved is right in this verse it says if they continue to believe. Turn back to 1 John now, but this time go to Chapter 2 verse 3. This is another way to test ourselves. It is the test of obedience. 1Jn 2:3: Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 1Jn 2:4: He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. If a person says they are a Christian, And they are in consistent, unrepentant sin, after many years, disobeying the word of the Lord, then, John tells us they are simply not saved. We know that this verse does not mean that a Christians will be without any sin at all. If you turn to chapter 1 verse 8, we will see that this is true. 1Jn 1:8 says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So, a true Christian can sin, they can even somewhat stumble, but when a true Christian sins it breaks their heart,

16 and they learn from that sin, and it works godly sorrow in them, which leads to a changing of their mind about it. It says that God disciplines those that he loves, just like you discipline your children. When your children do wrong things, you teach them that it is wrong, because you love your children and want them to become good adults. If God is not disciplining you when you sin, then you should be worried. Another test is the test of love. 1Jn 3:14: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Another way to test ourselves is the test of righteousness. 1Jn 2:29: If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. It is also true that many times, the spirit itself give us assurance of salvation. Rom 8:16: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. I know that many times, God gives us a deep understanding of our salvation in our spirit, but as pastors we must be wise, and look for fruits of the spirit of God in people. When you read about the church in history, you will find that when a person professed faith in Christ there was rejoicing in the church, but the pastors waited until that person began to show the fruit of that salvation before knowing for sure if that person was saved. It was only very recently that people started telling new converts that they were saved if they said the prayer. There is no evidence in all of church history of this being done until very recently. Billy Graham is probably one of the most famous American evangelists in history, and he knew that it was wrong to tell people that came forward in the meetings that they had been saved just because they said a prayer. He once said that he would be happy if 25 percent of the people that came forward were actually saved. It is good to have altar calls and to ask people to say prayers like the sinners prayer.

17 Don t misunderstand me that is all good, but there is nothing bad that can happen if you wait to you see the fruits of salvation before becoming confident that a person is saved. That is how it has been done for almost all of Christian history. The fruit of the spirit is what we look for. Are they broken over their sin? Are they becoming a new creation? Lets turn to 2 corinthians 5:17. 2Co 5:17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. It does not say, If SOME men be in Christ they are new creatures. It says, If ANY man be in Christ! This process can be slow or fast. We should not expect too much out of new believers, but everyone who is saved will eventually be changed. One preacher said: The gospel that does not change my life, cannot save my soul. If the spirit of almighty God dwells in a person, it will be noticeable over time. As pastors, you need to look for the evidence of this spirit in the lives of your people. Most of the problems in churches are cause by unsaved people who believe that they are saved. You need to find them, pray for them and try to help them. I want to move on from this and give you some practical ideas about evangelism. I know that you all are probably much better evangelists than me. I know you are doing great work in Africa. I want you to know that I do not have all the answers to how you should do evangelism in Africa. You know the land. You know the people. You know the false teachings that are being taught.

18 You know the hearts of the people. All I can do is give you advice that I think will help you become even better at what you are already doing so well. The first advice I can give is to pray before, during and after evangelism. In Matthew 9:37-38, Jesus asks us to pray that the father would send workers for the harvest. We should also pray for compassion for the lost. The more we want to evangelize, the more we will evangelize. God will give you the desire of his heart for the lost if you consistently ask him for it. We should pray also for boldness to preach the gospel. For an example of this, if you would turn to Ephesians 6 verse 18. Eph 6:18: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Eph 6:19: And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, Eph 6:20: For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Paul prayed for boldness to preach the gospel. We need to pray also for opportunities to preach the gospel. God knows who is ready to hear his message of salvation. He is looking for willing servants to use in this work. We should not wonder why we don t have many opportunities if we are not asking God for them. We should be praying against Satan and demons, too. There are many ways that Satan tries to interfere with the gospel. It is especially important to pray for new believers. There are many different ways to do evangelism. Your sermons can have evangelism in them. But they should not be only about evangelism.

19 We should be teaching them the word of God too. We will talk more about preaching in the discipleship session. You can evangelize in personal conversations, or street preaching, or handing out tracts, or setting up tents and preaching. These are all great methods. One area of evangelism that sometimes gets overlooked is refutations of false teachings. This can be a very fruitful activity. Many of the books in the Bible were written in response to false teachings Colossians, Galatians, Hebrews, and many others. The earliest writings of the church are of refutations of heresies, like Irenaus and Justyn Martyr. Please turn to 2 timothy chapter 4 verse Ti 4:2: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 2Ti 4:3: For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 2Ti 4:4: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2Ti 4:5: But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. Here, we see that we can rebuke false teachings, and this can be a form of evangelism. In my ministry, I have seen many people come to know the Lord because of refutations of occult teachings. When people find out that they are being lied to about Jesus and the gospel by these false teachers, the Lord often uses it to bring them to salvation. We must be careful here not to fight about small areas of doctrine with other Christians.

20 We must not spend our time refuting other preachers of the gospel, if they do preach the true gospel. For example, let s turn to Philippians chapter 1. Paul says that where he is, people are preaching the gospel for many bad reasons, but he still does not care as long as they are preaching the gospel. Php 1:15: Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: Php 1:16: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: Php 1:17: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. Php 1:18: What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. So, if you are going to refute false teaching as a tool of evangelism, make sure you are refuting cults or other groups that lead people away from the gospel with deception. Also, we have apologetics. This is simply the giving of intelligent answers to difficult questions people have about Christianity. Apologetics is not evangelism by itself, but sometimes you have to do apologetics before someone will even be ready to hear the gospel. I m sure you know the questions that people ask around here. Your culture will have different questions. I would encourage you to make a list of at least 5 of the most common objections you hear about Christianity, and I would do a study of each of them. Maybe even write the study down so you can give it to someone to read if they ask about it. If you find that people are asking a question that you don t know the answer to, go find the answer. If you have to study the Bible, study. If you have to go ask a professional, go do it.

21 Ask other pastors.maybe they have already discovered the answer. The good thing about Christianity is that it is true. So if the Bible says it, we know that if we research hard enough we will find out that it was right. It is OK for people to ask questions, but remember to be humble and understanding when you answer them. Often times, they are so surprised by the love that you have for them, they care more about that than they do about the answer to the questions. In conclusion, I want to encourage you. I have great faith in the pastors here. I believe that God will use you to reach Africa and the world. I think that in these very important days, God has great plans to use you in a mighty way. It will be dangerous for you, and as these days get darker it will only become more dangerous. Kenya is a special place, and you have a special gift of love for your fellow brothers and sisters. You still believe in the power of God through his Holy Spirit. You can be a light for the entire world. I sincerely believe that the pastors in this room can change the world. I want to ask Pastor Chriss to pray for us.