The Good News is Still Good News
Mtbethelchurch

And we’ve been called to share it!

Do you trust the testimony of the Bible?

Do you love Jesus enough to share Him with people?

Do you love people enough to share Jesus with them?

If our answer to these questions is affirmative, we have no choice but to evangelize.

What is Evangelism?

Simply put, evangelism is sharing the message of Jesus Christ under the influence of the Holy Spirit. And according to both the Bible and the state of our society, it’s not an option.

We are called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be effective evangelists for Christ. Not only that, but our neighbors need us to share the Good News with them.

Because of the hostility of western culture towards orthodox Christianity, many believers have withdrawn their Christians witness from the public square altogether for fear of cultural pushback. The reality is that, by our capitulation, we allow the demonic agenda of Satan to be shoved down the throats of our family, friends, and neighbors.

Our stand for Jesus won’t cost us much, but failing to share the true faith in these times will cost an unbeliever everything.

We’ve bought into the enemy’s lie that practicing our faith privately “does no harm” and even protects us from an awkward conversation or a friend’s disagreement. But we’ve forgotten what’s at stake–people’s souls.

As believers, our stand for Jesus won’t cost us much, but failing to share the true faith in these times will cost an unbeliever everything.

The Good News About the Good News

Evangelism can be an intimidating word, but it doesn’t have to be.

The good news about the Good News is this: not only has God done for us what we cannot do for ourselves by paying the price for our sins and reconciling our relationship with Him so that we may live the abundant life He designed us for, but He wants us to be part of sharing this hope and freedom with others.

We don’t need to compromise our message of eternal salvation made possible by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We don’t need to stop sharing our faith. The Great Commission hasn’t changed, and the Holy Spirit is still empowering witnesses on one hand and drawing unbelievers toward Jesus on the other.

To aid us in our evangelistic mission, God has given us three powerful spiritual weapons: power, love, and self-discipline.

  • Power: You are capable of being an influential witness. God has called us to be witnesses in the Great Commission and empowered us to be witnesses at Pentecost. The power is readily available. A failure to share faith is a power outage.
  • Love: You are capable of being an effective witness. Love is the supernatural disposition God gives His children toward the world. 1 John 4:20 says that if we love God but hate people, we deceive ourselves. Unconditional love doesn’t require unconditional approval, but it does require wanting the best for the souls of all people. A failure to share faith is a failure to love.
  • Self-discipline: You are capable of being a consistent witness. Evangelism will never be intuitive to our fallen nature. Evangelism is a discipline. But just like other spiritual disciplines, it’s part of the transformation that comes from renewing our minds to reflect God’s will as described in Romans 12:2.
An Encouraging Word

At its core, evangelism is about giving God something to bless. He can bless anything, but He can’t bless what’s not there to bless.

We will talk more about what it looks like to give Him something to bless as this series continues, but for now, we’ll leave you with this encouraging word from 2 Timothy 1:6-8:

“I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord … Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”

Inspired by message one of Mt. Bethel Church’s “That’s Good News” sermon series by Pastor Shane Bishop, as well as chapter one of his book “That’s Good News: How to Overcome Your Fear and Evangelize.”