Evangelism in Christian preaching emphasizes the urgent call to share the gospel, focusing on Christ as the source of salvation and love (Matthew 28:19-20). Illustrations often use images of seeking, small faithful acts, and the believer's life as a contagious witness to highlight the importance of reaching others with God's message of hope and redemption.
Christ actively seeks the lost, going out of His way to find them.
I remember, when we were in London, they found one old woman who was eighty-five years old, and not a Christian. After the worker had prayed, she prayed herself:
“O Lord, I thank Thee for going out of Thy way to find me.”
He is all the time going out of His way to find the lost.
A child's faith and prayer lead to a parent's spiritual awakening and salvation.
God often uses children to win grown folks for Christ. Little children not only have a deep faith but a childlike trust in believing that God answers their prayers. "All that ye ask in my name, believing, that ye shall receive." As a young girl, I went to Sunday School and learned about Jesus. Although I knew about my Savior and what He had done to save me, yet I never accepted Him as my own Redeemer and Friend. As years went by, I went into sin and shared in the common sins of worldly people. I knew better than to do the things I did, but sin is a miry clay pulling its victims down deeper and deeper. For ten years I never entered a church house except to attend my father's funeral. I saw him go into eternity without being able to point him to the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." During these years I had married and God had given us a dear little boy. Donald began to attend Sunday School early in years. Often on Sunday mornings he would get ready for Sunday School after a sleepless night. Wild parties were a part of the ungodly life we lived in our home. Sometimes I took him to the church house door and there he would beg me to come in and meet the Christian people who, he said, would be so glad to see me. Donald learned much of the Scriptures. He would pray and ask God's blessings at the table. In Aug.1932 we were living in Minneapolis. One evening in particular I shall not forget. I was in an apartment below the one in which we lived, partaking in a drunken party. Donald was then 12 years old. He suffered over my sins and came to the door to call me. I promised him to come up soon, but I continued on for some hours with the drunken crowd. When I did come up to our apartment I found Donald on his knees by his bed with his Testament and an old hymn book of my mother-in-law's. The books were open on the bed. He looked up through his tears and said, "Mother, I am praying for you." I looked at the Testament and hymnal which were wet with tears that he had shed for his ungodly mother. On September 15th, following this experience I went to a mission. That night a group of Christians united in asking God for my soul. When the song, "Lord, I'm coming home," was sung after the service I made my way to the altar. While kneeling there I felt someone very close to my side. It was Donald who was praying for his mother. God heard my prayer to be saved. He was merciful and washed away my sins. Psalm 51 has become precious to me. God saved me for service. I marvel at his grace and mercy toward me. I cannot cease to thank Him for picking me up out of the miry clay. I am thankful also for my little boy who never ceased to pray for his mother. Now, my life is in God's hands. I want to help others find the Savior. I am especially burdened for others in the bondage of sin as I was. But even more than that, I am burdened for children who have no opportunity of knowing Jesus as their personal Savior.
Many do not attend church simply because no one has invited them to come.
In Edinburgh a Sabbath-school teacher was once visiting in a close, and in one of the top flats of a stair, found a poor family living in a small but clean room. From conversation with the father and mother, she soon discovered that it was one of those cases where, from the long illness of the father, the family had fallen from comparative comfort to poverty. He was now, however, better, and had been able for some time to work a little, so as to keep his family from destitution, but by no means to enable them to live in comfort. Having learned so much of their worldly concerns, their visitor next began to speak of their souls' interests. She asked them if they went to any church. "No," said the father, "We used to go long ago, before I took ill; but we went no more after that." "But," said she, "you have been better for a good while." "Oh," said the father, "nobody ever asked us to come:" "Well," said the visitor, "I'll ask you now," and she directed him to a church where he would hear the glad tidings from a faithful minister. Next Sabbath several of the children were at her Sabbath-school, and told her that that day their family had been at church. Since that day they have been hearers of the Word. How many souls are perishing in Edinburgh and other towns, "because, though all things are now ready, nobody ever asked them to come! " Will not the blood of their souls be required at the hand of those who profess to have tasted a Saviour's love, and yet make not one effort to pluck brands out of the fire?— Scottish Sunday School Teacher's Magazine.
Ministers should avoid harshness that discourages seekers from coming to Christ.
At the Synod of Moscow, held by King Goutran, a.d. 585, bishops were forbidden to keep dogs in their houses, or birds of prey, lest the poor should be bit by these animals instead of being fed. Should not all ministers be equally concerned to chase away all morose habits, angry tempers and repulsive manners, which might discourage the approach of enquiring souls who desire to know of us the way of salvation? Sunday-school teachers may also take the hint.
Welcoming one sinner to Christ encourages many others to come.
When one of our professional beggars knocks at a door, and gets well received, he is very apt to send another. I have heard that vagrants make certain marks near the door by way of telling others of the confraternity which are good houses to call at. If you want many beggars at your house, feed one and another of them well, and birds of the same feather will flock to you. You know how one sheep leads another; and perhaps when some come to Christ, many others will follow.
Hungry souls eagerly receive the gospel, unlike the spiritually satiated Pharisees.
The man who has grown accustomed to luxuries is the man who turns his meat over, and picks off a bit here, and a bit there; for this is too fat, and that is too gristly. Bring in the poor wretches who are half starved. Fetch in a company of laborers who have been waiting all day at the docks, and have found no work, and in consequence have received no wage. Set them down to a joint of meat. It vanishes before them. See what masters they are of the art of knife and fork! They find no fault: they never dream of such a thing. If the meat had been a little coarse, it would not have mattered to them; their need is too great for them to be dainty. Oh, for a host of hungry souls! How pleasant to feed them! How different from the task of persuading the satiated Pharisees to partake of the gospel!
Proclaim Christ's freedom to captives as one who was once imprisoned.
A sailor, who had long been a prisoner in France, gained his liberty. He went into Seven Dials, bought a cage full of birds, opened the cage, and let the birds fly. People cried with wonder, "What did you buy them for?" "Oh! I bought them to let them fly. I know what it is to be a prisoner myself, and I cannot bear that birds should be shut up in a cage." Go to those who are what you were, caged birds, and let them fly by telling them of Jesus and of the ransom price. Seek out poor, bound sinners, and proclaim freedom to them. Proclaim liberty at the market-cross in the name of Christ.
Believers should eagerly seek new opportunities to win souls for Christ before it's too late.
Be on the lookout for new ways of serving the Master. As African travellers each now seem very eager to be the first to make a treaty with certain chieftains, that their territory may be annexed to this country or that, so seek to win new conquests for Christ, and attach people to His cause, before they are hopelessly lost to the devil.
Effective evangelism requires wisdom to engage hearts, avoiding dry, uninspiring methods.
A gentleman who joined this church some time ago had been an atheist for years, and in conversing with him I found that he had been educated at one of our great public schools, and to that fact he traced his infidelity. He said that the boys were stowed away on Sunday in a lofty gallery at the far end of a church, where they could scarcely hear a word that the clergyman said, but simply sat imprisoned in a place where it was dreadfully hot in summer and cold in winter. On Sundays there were prayers, and prayers, and prayers, but nothing that ever touched his heart; until he was so sick of prayers that he vowed if he once got out of the school he would haved one with religion. This is a sad result, but a frequent one. You Sunday school teachers can make your classes so tiresome to the children that they will hate Sunday. You can fritter away the time in school without bringing the lads and lasses to Christ, and so you may do more hurt than good.
A preacher’s dramatic sermon stirred sinners to repentance through vivid end-time warnings.
Sensationalism in the sense of stirring men to greater interest in verities, seems wholly praiseworthy:
Old Peter Cartwright was a famous preacher and circuit-rider many years ago.
The exhorter was holding a camp-meeting in Ohio. There was a great number of campers on the field, and the eccentric speaker addrest vast concourses at every service, but he thought too few were being converted. He felt that something should be done to stir the sinners to repentance, so he prepared a strong sermon on the second coming of Christ. He told how the world would go on in its sin and wickedness, and at last Gabriel would sound his trumpet and time would come to an end. He described the horrors of the lost and the joys of those who were saved. The sermon grew in intensity, and he brought his people up to a grand climax, when suddenly the sound of a trumpet smote the ears of the anxious throng.
There was a great sensation, and many fell upon their knees in terror and began to repent and pray. Women screamed and strong men groaned. Pandemonium was let loose for a few minutes. After the terror had somewhat ceased the preacher called to a man up a tree, and he descended with a long tin horn in his hand. The speaker then turned in fierce wrath and upbraided the people. He cried out in stentorian tones that, if a man with a tin horn up a tree could frighten them so, how would it be in the last great end when Gabriel’s trumpet sounded the knell of the world! The sermon had a great effect upon the vast audience, and many hundreds flocked to the front and were converted.
New believers eagerly protect and cherish the Bible as God's precious Word.
The eagerness of the Tahitians to have and read the Bible is indicated by the following account:
For years Mr. Nott had been translating the Gospel of Luke into Tahitian, assisted by Pomare and while the book was in press the natives often constrained Mr. Ellis to stop printing to explain to them what they read. The missionaries wished to bind the books before they were distributed, but the impatience of the people constrained them to give up waiting for proper binding materials. The natives, however, did not suffer these precious books to remain without proper protection; dogs and cats and goats were killed so that their skins might be prepared for covers, and the greatest anxiety was manifested to obtain these new copies of the Word of God.--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”
Different cultures find unique biblical books especially meaningful, aiding evangelism and translation.
Certain parts of the Bible appeal with unexpected force to various races, and to men in different stages of civilization, who read the Scriptures with other eyes than ours. We may illustrate this point by a few actual examples.
When Dr. Kilgour was translating the Old Testament into Nepali (India), he found it an arduous, not to say a tedious, task, to render the long chapters of ritual regulations in Leviticus; he was surprized, however, to discover that his Nepalese assistant considered these chapters to be among the most interesting and important in the whole Pentateuch.
So, again, the Chinese, who lay enormous stress on reverence for ancestors, are profoundly imprest by the first chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, because it begins with the genealogy of our Lord, which, as a colporteur wrote last year, “goes back to our Chinese Hsia dynasty.”
In Egypt, Moslems are attracted by the Book of Genesis, which they call “the history of the creation of the world.” In the south of Europe the Book of Proverbs is often purchased eagerly by Freemasons, who look back to King Solomon as the legendary founder of their craft.
In heathen countries it is by no means uncommon for the missionaries, who are translating the Old Testament, first to make a version of the Psalter and perhaps of Genesis, and then to translate the Book of Jonah before attempting any other of the prophets. They realize--what we sometimes forget--that Jonah is the one thoroughly missionary book in the Old Testament, and they find that its message comes home to their converts with peculiar power.--_The Lutheran._
A Chinese scholar’s discovery of the Gospel led him to seek out Christians and trust Jesus.
The following incident is related in an issue of the _Illustrated Missionary News_:
One day a Chinese scholar named Ch’u paid a visit to an old friend, Chang, who was priest of a Buddhist temple among the mountains of Shansi. As he looked over the library his eye fell upon a book of unusual appearance lying on a dusty shelf, and he inquired of the priest what book it was. “Ah,” replied his friend, “that is a strange book I picked up on a journey--a foreign classic. You will not think much of it.” It was a copy of the Gospel of Mark, and Ch’u became interested in some things he read in it. He had never heard of Christ before, and now that life so simple and sublime laid hold on him. He came again and again to the temple to read that little book until he knew it almost by heart. But no one else could tell him more, for no Christian had ever penetrated to that lonely mountain. Could all this story about Jesus be true? If so, when did it happen? Where were His followers whom He told to preach His gospel? Could Jesus help men now? At length, after long waiting and much inquiry, he learned that there were some Christians in a town three days’ journey away, and he set off to seek them. There he met Pastor Hsi, a Chinese evangelist, who was able to tell him that Jesus Christ was alive and he could trust Him. Once again he visited the Buddhist temple, this time to tell his old friend of the grace of Christ, and Chang also became a believer. When some years later a Christian missionary went to this place, there was a community of saved men and women, and a little church gathered together through the agency of the message of that one little book.
Old Testament stories engage listeners and open hearts to the gospel message.
Egerton Young tells how he interested the Indians of British Columbia through the Old Testament stories:
Some of the Indians are huge fellows, over six feet tall, and they pride themselves on their stature. As they talked about their height, I would say, “Listen, I have a book that tells about a man as tall as if one of you were seated on the shoulders of the tallest among you.” “Oh, what a story; what talk is that, missionary?” “Well, come and listen.” Then I talked to them about Goliath, and got them interested, and the gospel follows. In my work among these people I found one reason, at least, why those stories were in the Bible. Benjamin would not listen, but he became interested in the stories, and then he listened to the gospel.--PIERSON, “Miracles of Missions.”
Answering God's call faithfully can lead to widespread gospel impact among the working class.
C
CALL, THE, OF GOD
In the summer of 1871, Rev. Robert W. McAll and his wife, visiting Paris at the close of the war with Germany, and led by a deep desire to reach workingmen with the gospel, were giving away tracts in the hotels and on the public streets, when a workingman said: “If any one will come among us and teach us not a gospel of priestcraft and superstition, but of truth and liberty, many of us are ready to hear.”
Mr. McAll returned home, but above the murmur of the waves and the hum of busy life he heard that voice, “If any one will come and teach us ... we are ready to hear.” He said to himself, “Is this God’s call? Shall I go?” Friends said, “No!” But a voice within said, “Yes.” And he left his English parish and went back, and in a district worse to work in than St. Giles in London he began to tell the old story of Jesus. Soon the little place was crowded, and a larger room became a necessity; and sixteen years later that one gospel hall has become 112, in which, in one year, have been held 14,000 religious meetings, with a million hearers, and 4,000 services for children, with 200,000 attendants.--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”
Working men feel excluded from church, but Jesus welcomes all sincerely.
In London City Temple, Dr. Joseph Parker was troubled by the absence of workingmen from church, and invited hundreds to lunch there. He said: “Bring your dinner buckets, and your pipes if you want to; I want to have a good talk with you.” Stepping out in front of them, he said:
“Men, why don’t you come to church?”
A leader among them said: “The Church is not for the likes of us, the Church is for the rich, and the Church is for the prosperous. You don’t want us there; that is what is the matter with the Church.”
Dr. Parker then said, “Men, what is the matter with Jesus of Nazareth?”
Instantly a working man swung his cap and said: “He is all right.” And a thousand or more working men kept swinging their caps and saying, “He is all right, He is all right.” (Text.)
A rector helped young actors leave the stage to become Episcopal ministers.
Rev. W. E. Bentley, who is rector of an Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, has induced nearly twenty young actors to quit the stage and become Episcopal ministers. He maintains what is almost a theological seminary.
Jesus relies on disciples to spread the gospel to the whole world through successive witnesses.
In regard to the divine method for the evangelization of the world, the following bit of imagery is not without its deeper meaning. Mr. S. D. Gordon imagines that after Jesus went back to heaven, He and Gabriel had a conversation something like this:
Gabriel is saying: “Master, you died for the whole world down there, did you not?” “Yes.” “You must have suffered much.” “Yes.” “And do they all know about it?” “Oh, no; only a few in Palestine know about it so far.” “Well, Master, what have you done about telling the world that you have died for them? What is your plan?”
“Well,” the Master is supposed to answer, “I asked Peter and James and John and Andrew, and some more of them down there, just to make it the business of their lives to tell others, and others, and yet others, and still others, until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story.”
And Gabriel is supposed to answer: “Yes--but--suppose Peter fails. Suppose after a while John simply does not tell others. Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of the twentieth century, get so busy that they do not tell others, what then?”
And back comes the voice of Jesus, “Gabriel, I haven’t made any other plans--I’m counting on them.” (Text.)
Christians must use genuine spiritual bait to win souls from Satan's traps.
In the Crystal Palace at Munich there is a little picture called “The Red Fisherman.” Satan is elegantly accoutered in red costumes, and he is fishing in a pond for men. For his hook he has a great variety of bait--gold, money, pearls, crowns, swords and wines. Apparently he has been fishing with some success, for the bait is much after the sort that men are wont to follow. To compete with the prince of evil, Christians who would be successful “fishers of men” must use bait that will really allure them. (Text.)
Patient, loving outreach can transform even the wildest hearts for Christ.
* * * * *
In her “Fishin’ Jimmy,” Mrs. Slosson tells of a little French-Canadian girl. Her mother was a tramp, and the girl had developed into a wild little heathen. The mother fell suddenly dead near the village one day, and the child was found clinging to her mother’s body. The girl’s soul was shaken by bitter sobs, and when they tried to take her away she fought like a young tigress. There was in the crowd a small boy who knew “Fishin’ Jimmy.” With a child’s faith in his big friend, he hurried away and brought “Fishin’ Jimmy” to the spot. Very tenderly he lifted the child in his arms and took her away. Nobody seems to have known anything about the taming of the little savage, but a short time afterward she and “Fishin’ Jimmy” were seen on the margin of Black Brook, each with a fish-pole. He kept the child for weeks, and when she went at last to a good home, she had exchanged her wildness for a tender, affectionate nature. Then people wondered how the change was wrought. They asked Jimmy, but his explanation seemed to breathe an air of mystery. “’Twas fishin’ done it,” he said, “on’y fishin’; it allers works. The Christian r’liging itself had to begin with fishin’, ye know.” Yes, the religion of our Master had to begin with fishing; it will continue with fishing, and it will end with fishing, for this is indeed life’s divinest task. (Text.)
— F. F. SHANNON
Early acts of giving God's Word can lead to unexpected conversions years later.
A little girl had been promised a handsome Bible for her birthday. On hearing a missionary tell of the need of Bibles in India, the child asked if she might not have two Bibles, each half as handsome as the one her mother was planning to give her. Her mother consented and the little girl wrote her name in one of them and gave it to the missionary to send to India. Years afterward a lady missionary was telling the story of the love of Jesus to a few women, when one of them exclaimed: “Oh, I know all about that. I have a book which tells me these things.” She brought the book to the missionary, who, on opening it, saw with astonishment her own name on the fly-leaf! It was the very birthday Bible she had sent out years before as a little girl and it had led to the conversion of its reader. (Text.)
Heathen chiefs invited missionaries to live among them, showing openness to the gospel.
The heathen seldom express a longing for the gospel as clearly as in the following petition to the missionaries of the Swedish Missionary Society in the Kongo State from a number of black heathen chiefs in 1887. They said:
We, Makayi, Nsinki, Kibundu, and Mukayi Makuta Ntoko, chiefs in Kibunzi, and our people, desire that the missionaries of the Swedish Missionary Society come and make their home with us, and teach us and our people. We gladly give them the right to erect their buildings upon the high hill southeast from the village of Kibunzi in any convenient spot. We transfer to them all our claims to that hill. Of course, they have the right to use the forests, the rivers, the roads, and the fields for plantations within our boundaries in the same manner as ourselves. We have invited them to come, and we are glad to see them with us, and our one desire is that they remain with us and erect buildings.
A hymn's life-line imagery led to salvation and changed lives during revival meetings.
A speaker at one of Evan Roberts’ remarkable revival services in Wales, was telling of a “vision” he had had, and of a voice which exhorted him to “Throw out the life-line,” when instantly the listeners sang the whole hymn together.
Mr. Ufford, the author of the lines, once sang them at a watch-service in California, and there he told how the _Elsie Smith_ was lost on Cape Cod in 1902, showing the very life-line that saved sixteen lives from the sea, and by chance one of the number was present at the service.
From a room, in a building hired for religious services in a Pennsylvania city, and where a series of revival meetings was being held, rang out, one night, the hymn, “Throw out the life-line,” in the hearing, next door, of a convivial card-party. It was a sweet female voice, followed in the chorus by other and louder voices chiming in. The result was the merriment ceased as one of the members of the card-party remarked: “If what they’re saying is right, then we’re wrong,” and the revelers broke up. An ex-member of that party is now an editor of a great city daily, and his fellows are all filling positions of responsibility. The life-line pulled them ashore.
In a Massachusetts city, twenty years ago, this hymn won to Christ a man who is now a prosperous manufacturer.
At a special service held at Gibraltar for the survivors of an emigrant ship that went ashore there during a storm, this hymn was sung with telling effect.
The story of that life-line is long enough and strong enough to tie up a large bundle of results wrought by it.
God’s light signals rescue and hope to those lost in life’s darkness.
The recently improved buoy is a remarkable device now in use in the life-saving service of the United States. By means of the signal lights, its position will always be known to those on shore and on the wreck. The green light moving toward the vessel mutely tells the shipwrecked passengers that help is at hand and encourages them to hold on until the buoy reaches them.
How many imperiled mariners on the sea of life are lost in the darkness because they see not the helping hand stretched out to save them.
Believers are called to be lights guiding others through spiritual darkness.
One of the first lessons that Jesus inculcated in the minds of His disciples who were to become His messengers, was that they should be lights in the midst of the moral and spiritual gloom.
A preacher one dark night lost his way in a corner of a strange neighborhood. Meeting a farm laborer and asking his way, he received for answer, “Follow that light and you will not have gone far before you hear the bells of the next village.”
Being alert to faint distress signals parallels readiness to serve and save the lost spiritually.
A news item, referring to the wreck of the _Republic_, and the hearing of the first wireless news of the disaster by the operator at the station on Nantucket Island, says:
Imagine a lonely island in the middle of winter, thereon a lonely Marconi station, therein a lonely Marconi operator, with his telephones glued to his head watching the break of day, thinking of his past and future, listening for any sign of life in his telephones. Imagine that man suddenly startled with a faint, very faint, call from a ship using the recognized distress signal, giving her position and calling for help. Slowly, all too slowly, came the cry for urgent aid, each call seemingly taking an hour’s valuable time, yet in truth but a fraction of a second. Will he never sign? Who can it be? At last came the recognized code letters of the White Star _Republic_, and again the call for aid. With this information Operator Irwin, of the Marconi force at the station here, who was on duty at the time, immediately got the wires hot, knowing the revenue cutter _Acushnet_ to be lying at Wood’s Hole, and within one minute the captain was informed that his calls had been heard and aid was being rushed to him.
The soul attent to hear the world’s signals that call for help should be ready to serve and save the lost and needy.
Neglecting new converts leads to their spiritual ruin despite initial care and effort.
It seems a very strange proceeding when a farmer plows and plants and cares for his crop through the summer and then lets it stand all winter in the fields, to be eaten by mice, pelted by storms, and go to waste; and yet he is quite as wise as the pastor who toils hard to persuade people to give their hearts to God and come into the Church, and then allows the converts to lapse into religious ruin through neglect.--_Western Christian Advocate._
Children’s hymns can open hearts and lead to gospel outreach in new communities.
An African heathen chief from an inland district was passing a mission school in Livingstonia. He heard the children singing their simple parting hymn. He sat down and waited till they came out. Then he asked the teacher “What were these children doing?”
“Singing a hymn,” she replied.
“What is a hymn?” asked the chief; “it has touched my heart. I should like the children of my village taught some hymns.”
There has since been a school established in that chief’s village, and the gospel is reaching the people through the simple messages carried by the children in song and story.
Christian song can sow seeds that lead to repentance and lifelong ministry.
“What shall the harvest be?” the composition of Mrs. Emily Oakey, and as sung by Mr. Sankey, won to Christ and to the gospel ministry the Rev. W. O. Lattimore, long pastor in Evanston, Ill. Young Lattimore joined the army in 1861 a moral youth of eighteen years, but later, a first lieutenant, he fell into drink, becoming a physical wreck. But one day in 1876, in the gallery of Moody’s Tabernacle in Chicago, dazed from drink, the voice of Sankey in this pathetic song aroused in him new emotions, particularly the words:
“Sowing the seed of a lingering pain, Sowing the seed of a maddened brain, Sowing the seed of a tarnished name, Sowing the seed of eternal shame, O, what shall the harvest be?”
The seed was sown--good seed this time; and from the saloon to which he withdrew, he returned to the Tabernacle, found a Savior, rejoined wife and child whom he had long abandoned, and after a successful pastorate of twenty years, died in 1899--a whole harvest to the seed-sowing of Christian song.
True greatness is measured by spiritual service and the value of souls saved.
Jesus asked, “How much is a man better than a sheep?” Here are some estimates:
The deepest needs of the world are spiritual needs. One man invested $100,000 in India. It resulted in the conversion of 50,000 in that district--one soul saved for every two dollars invested. Christ’s standard of greatness was service. On the Kongo a man’s value is estimated in cattle; on the Hudson, in social standing; but by the river of life, by what he is, and the standard is helpfulness.
Repetition of the gospel story brings hope and faith even in dire circumstances.
Do you remember the story of Paul Du Chaillu, the great African traveler, in the heart of the Dark Continent? On one occasion he told the “old, old story” to a poor slave woman; then he went on his way and forgot all about the incident. He came back a few months later to that town and the slave-traders had just made a raid on it. In the fight this woman was injured. She sent for him and he went to see her. As he knelt down beside her, she said, “Tell it again.” “Tell what again?” he said. “Oh, tell me that story again.” Then once more he told her the old, old story of Jesus and His love. As he finished it, she said to him, “Is it true?” “Yes,” he replied, “it is true.” “Do your people believe that?” “Yes, they believe that.” “Oh,” she said, “tell them to send us that story a little faster.”--A. S. WILSON, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
A Chinese evangelist used a clock illustration to teach the soul's value.
A good example of symbolic preaching is afforded in the following descriptions of a sermon by a Chinese evangelist named Li, of Changsha, China, on the value of the soul:
Mr. Li began by describing a clock, without naming it, calling it dead and yet alive. He showed that it has all the parts of a living mechanism, but that this mechanism is dead; without two great essentials. The clock was then shown to the audience and they were led to see that a spring is the source of power, but that power must be applied to the spring before the mechanism does its work. The preacher skilfully illustrated by these facts the importance of the soul, and the relation which it bears on the one hand to man and on the other to God. About twenty minutes were devoted to this illustration, after which the preacher quoted a number of texts from the Scriptures bearing upon the teaching of the value of the soul.--G. E. DAWSON, _Missionary Review of the World_.
God’s Word can soften even the hardest hearts and open doors for the gospel.
The effect which the Word of God sometimes has is illustrated in the following incident related of Robert Moffat, missionary in Africa:
In the large kitchen, where the service was to be held, stood a long table, at the head of which sat the Boer, with his wife and six grown children. A large Bible lay on the table, and underneath it half a dozen dogs. The Boer pointed to the Bible as the signal for Mr. Moffat to begin. But, after vainly waiting for others to come in, he asked how soon the working people were to be called. “Work-people?” impatiently cried the farmer; “you don’t mean the Hottentots--the blacks! You are not waiting for them, surely, or expecting to preach to them; you might as well preach to those dogs under that table!” A second time, and more angrily, he spoke, repeating the offensive comparison.
Young as Mr. Moffat was, he was disconcerted only for a moment. Lifting his heart to God for guidance, the thought came into his mind to take a text suggested by the rude remarks of the Boer. So he opened the Bible to the fifteenth of Matthew and twenty-seventh verse: “Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” Pausing a moment, he slowly repeated these words with his eyes steadily fixt on the face of the Boer; and again pausing, a third time recited the appropriate words. Angrily the Boer cried out, “Well, well, bring them in.” A crowd of blacks then thronged the kitchen, and Moffat preached to them all the blessed Word of God.--PIERSON, “The Miracles of Missions.”
“Acres of Diamonds” illustration - an ancient Persian, Ali Hafed, was wealthy, but a friend told him he would be wealthier if he discovered a diamond mine. Ali sold all he had, searched for diamonds, became broke, committed suicide. Another bought his old farm and discovered diamonds as his camel drank from the garden brook. The magnificent mine of Golconda in India. Accept your lot in life and make the most of it. “Bloom where you are planted.” Don't look for greener pastures.
Sermon style:
Russell Conwell, founder of my seminary, used this story.
An ancient Persian, Ali Hafed, was wealthy, but a friend told him he would be wealthier if he discovered a diamond mine. Ali sold all he had, searched all over the world for diamonds, became broke, and committed suicide.
Another man bought his old farm and discovered diamonds as his camel drank from the garden brook. It became the magnificent mine of Golconda in India.
“Bloom where you are planted.” Don't look for greener pastures.
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Version by Rev. Brett Blair:
Relationship Evangelism
There is an old story told about a man by the name of Ali Facid. He had a small farm and a family. One day, the story goes, a Buddhist priest came by and said to Ali Facid: You know, there are valuable stones called diamonds, and if you get one of these you could be a wealthy man.” Ali Facid went to bed that night, but the words of the old priest haunted him. He was so obsessed that he felt that he must find him one of these diamonds so that he could become a ruler. He sold his farm, put his family out to neighbors and went out to find his acres of diamonds. Months passed. He was broken in body and spirit. His funds were gone. And at the Bay of Barcelona, he threw himself into the water, never to walk this earth again.
Meanwhile, the man who bought his farm bent over one day and picked up a little stone. He laid on the mantle that night not knowing what it was. A few days later the old Buddhist priest came by and saw it and exclaimed: Ali Facid must be back from his search. No, came the response. Then where did that diamond come from? The farmer replied: I was out plowing in the garden and found it there. And friends, did you know that from that very garden, for this is not a legend but a true story, came the jewels and diamonds that today adorn the crown heads of Europe and Russia. In Ali Facid's own back yard there were acres of diamonds and he knew it not.
My friends, I know that [your church's neighborhood] is not like [name two neighborhoods in your area that are experiencing growth] in terms of extensive growth. But friends, I also know that there are acres of diamonds right here in our own back yard. There are people right here in our area that do not have church families, who are not committed to Christ, and who are waiting to be asked. We don't have to look to other areas of the city. All we have to do is pick up the diamonds that are right beneath us.
Sermon Illustrations, 1999 ________________________________________________________________
Version from Fredericksburg collection:
Many people are not content with the work they are doing because the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. They are dissatisfied even when their circumstances are favorable. Instead of doing their duty cheerfully and conscientiously as unto the Lord, they yield to a spirit of covetousness. As a result, they miss God's best for their lives and fail to see the blessings they already have.
An ancient Persian legend tells of a wealthy man by the name of Al Haffed who owned a large farm. One evening a visitor related to him tales of fabulous amounts of diamonds that could be found in other parts of the world, and of the great riches they could bring him. The vision of all this wealth made him feel poor by comparison.
So instead of caring for his own prosperous farm, he sold it and set out to find these treasures. But the search proved to be fruitless. Finally, penniless and in despair, he committed suicide by jumping into the sea. Meanwhile, the man who had purchased his farm noticed one day the glint of an unusual stone in a shallow stream on the property. He reached into the water, and to his amazement he pulled out a huge diamond. Later when working in his garden, he uncovered many more valuable gems. Poor Al Haffed had spent his life traveling to distant lands seeking jewels when the farm he had left behind were all the precious stones his heart could have ever desired.
#128
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Suggestions for reversing membership declines in mainline denominations discussed. Statistics given for decline. Reasons: low white birthrate, older population, no effective urban strategy, shift from lay evangelism to dependence on professional clergy. Solutions: Emphasize hope. Emphasize community. Emphasize ethnics. Emphasize the Holy Spirit.
A fellow in Alaska has been throwing the Word of God into the ocean for a third of a century. Missionary Everett Bachelder, who, with his wife Mina, operates the Nome Gospel Home in the city, has tossed more than 1,000 mayonnaise jars and ketchup bottles into the Bering Sea - crammed with Scripture messages written in 100 languages. Wind and waves have carried the story of God's love to the far corners of the earth, bring responses from as far as 10,000 miles away. Kids from the various area churches help him fold the messages and put them in the jars and bottles.
It has been a rewarding experience. One bottle was taken from the Atlantic Ocean a decade after Bachelder tossed it into the icy Bering waters. A man in Singapore, distraught over a romance gone sour, was about to commit suicide by jumping into the waters from a cliff when he saw a bottle wash up against the rocks below. Deciding to leap when the bottle broke, he watched it hit the rocks again and again without breaking. Curious, he climbed down the cliff, saw the messages, opened the bottle, discovered it related to the Word of God, sought out a missionary in Singapore, and got saved! As Ecclesiastes 11:1 says, "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days."
[see sermon for different layout]
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Tanya is a Christian from central Russia. Her church asked mayor for permission for a public baptismal service. Communist Party officials were invited. The service started at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning and lasted five hours. The mayor had given his consent (this was before the Soviet Union imploded).
Two thousand people gathered along the river with over one thousand being non-Christians. The service had three sermons and two choirs. Many stood for entire five-hour service. Eighty-five new Christians were baptized and three hundred responded to the invitation to accept Christ.
The Slavic Gospel Association distributed Bibles to the new believers. But they weren’t done yet – the meeting continued at 5 p.m. at the church. One thousand came and half were non- Christians. Still more responded at the invitation. The mayor ordered, “Stop! You're going to answer for this!” But the pastor responded with the courage of the Apostle Paul, “They used to send people to Siberia for this. But it's different now.” And he kept preaching and inviting people to accept Christ. Tanya said it was the greatest day for evangelism in the entire history of that city.
Five thousand other churches across Russia are planning similar evangelistic meetings before the end of 1988. Slavic Gospel has permission to send in literature to these churches.
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Lessons the author learned from the evangelist Mordecai Ham. He was rugged, received much hostility, and provoked much of it. Railed against sin. He used a "sledgehammer" to pound church members, retorting that every time he knocked a "halfway Christian" out of the doorway, he got a sinner in. He had candor and flame. He also got out of hand with conspiracy theories, etc. He bore much fruit in his ministry.
Six different ways to give a salvation invitation, from inviting them to meet in a "Quiet Room" to asking them to open their eyes during the call to commitment.
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Louise Adamson works in the slums of Atlanta to bring the gospel to poor
people. When the white congregations died out or moved on, she stayed. She
is eccentric but dedicated.
#1047
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I was a college student and was selling religious books in Dayton, Ohio. I lived in Dayton.
One morning my team leader asked me to work in one of the rougher areas of Dayton. It was an area known for drug traffic, crime, even murder. I suppose I should have had some trepidation, but I was happy to go. Besides, no one else seemed willing to. The people there were neglected. Even most church members wouldn't venture into that neighborhood.
As the day went on, I discovered that the people were wonderful. It seemed that everyone invited me into their home, and many wanted me to pray for them. By afternoon I had sold many books and prayed with lots of families.
About 4:00 I approached a tattered door. I knocked loudly. There was no response. I knocked again. After a few moments I heard a man's voice: “Who is it?” The words were more like a demand than a question.
“Benjamin,” I replied, using my name as if he knew me.
“Who?”
“Benjamin.”
“What do you want?”
I thought, lf l say “I want you to buy a book,” chances are slim to none that the door will open. So I decided to go with some mystery.
“I want to show you something,” I said with conviction.
Suddenly the door flew open. But I was not greeted by a face; I was staring down the barrel of a sawed-off, double-barrel shotgun. I couldn't see the man's face clearly, only the gun, which was aimed directly at my head. I followed the barrel to the trigger. His finger was on it. Amazingly, I wasn't afraid.
“What do you want?” the man asked.
“Sir,” I began, “I'm a Christian, and I want to show you some books about Jesus.”
“Show me one.”
I had not expected that response. I quickly grabbed one from my valise.
“Slowly!” he yelled.
Of course. As I offered him the book he snatched it from my hand. It seemed as if the gun lowered a bit.
“What's this about?”
“It's about how you can become friends with Jesus.” All of us had a memorized speech that we were supposed to say when asking someone to buy a book, but I decided that this wasn't the situation for that.
“How much?” he asked.
“Whatever you want to give, sir.”
Why did I say that? Why didn't I just give him the book as a donation and scram? To my surprise, he fished some money out of his pocket and handed it to me.
“Thank you, sir,” I managed to reply.
He mumbled something and shut the door. I thanked God right there. Not only had He protected me, but this man had received a book that over the years has been instrumental in changing many people's lives. While walking away from the house I prayed that the man would go on to know and love Jesus.
Later, while I was talking to some of the neighbors, they said that without question or exception, the man with the gun was the meanest man in the neighborhood. They informed me that no one dared knock on his door out of fear of being shot. They couldn't believe that I had knocked and lived to tell about it. They couldn't believe that he had bought one of my books - a fact that I am sure helped me sell even more books that afternoon.
I often think about that man and that afternoon in Dayton. I like to think that one day I will see that man in heaven.
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Adventist Review, ISSN 0161-1119, (c) October 2004, http://www.adventistreview.org/; submitted by Mary Thayne
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #529]
Wimber borrows from McGavran on "group conversions." McGavran did not like the "gathered church" concept and saw it as a major defect in modern missions. He focused on "peoples" rather than individuals. This approach was used in the Middle Ages. Four (3?) features:
1. Gathered church ideal, is a reaction to inclusivist state church
practices. (Wrong - reaction to RCC, and goes back to NT.)
2. Group conversions are preferable to individual conversions. Discipling
whole peoples does not involve leading each church member to a
documentable conversion experience. (Very bad doctrine.)
3. The techniques of the Jesuits or Crusaders are most effective.
4. Evangelicals have an "ice-age" view of missions.
Conversion according to McGavran/Wimber:
"All the missionary should require for discipling a people was that they collectively agree to abandon their old religion, to identify with Christ, and to claim the Bible as their authority and the church as their institution."
This view encounters the "Simon Magus" problem. Would he be a Christian by these standards?
[#598 /titles /illust]
Charles M. Alexander was the songleader for R.A. Torrey. He wanted to see the New York City nightlife so he would be a more effective evangelist. He and Sam Hadley, director of a street mission, went to bars, houses of ill-repute, and so on. At 2 a.m. he was sickened and asked to leave. Hadley was also sickened and leaned against a lamppost, while crying, "Oh-h God! Oh-h God! The sin of this city is breaking my heart. Oh-h-h God!" Hadley's heart was filled with compassion for the lost.
Discusses dynamics of small churches and why they often resist growth. The key to reversing this was activity that showed people Jesus was more important than a placid church. One man befriended a prisoner.
The role of evangelism in a small church setting is discussed.
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Roman Catholics are concerned about defections to Fundamentalists. They see fundies as having more effective evangelism. They are now coming up with programs of their own. An article in the New Jersey Catholic News anticipates a rapid decline in their faith due to small numbers of priests and nuns and their worldliness.
How Jesus tells us to witness to others.
1. Most Christians hate witnessing.
2. Jesus sets the example.
3. Jesus orders us to do it.
4. Witness out of love for people.
a. Be natural about it.
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Looks at Genesis and especially Acts, which describes the fourth act (Pentecost) in the 5-part Biblical drama of salvation, to discover what it reveals about the role of women. Both men and women receive the Spirit. Being witnesses of God's salvation to a lost world is more important than gender roles. Not only are men and women both created in God's image, they also share in having dominion over the creation.
In Genesis 1 and 2, Adam and Eve are given dominion and social unity (like unity of Godhead?) In sinning, Eve overstepped the bounds of accountable dominion and Adam overstepped the bounds of human social unity.
Genesis 3:16 is interpreted as referring to women's unreciprocated longing for intimacy with men. Bilezikian writes: "The woman wants a mate and she gets a master; she wants a lover and she gets a lord; she wants a husband and she gets a hierarch." Van Leeuwen says the peculiarly female sin is "to use the preservation of relationships as an excuse not to exercise accountable dominion in the first place."
Jesus' positive view of women strongly contrasts with prevailing view of his day. He balanced male and female images in his parables, insisted on monogamy and eliminated divorce, valued the family of God over human families, and allowed women to be first witnesses of resurrection. Out of 633 verses on women in the gospels, almost none of them is negative in tone. He was preparing men and women for the "Emancipation Proclamation" of Pentecost.
Pippert says that Christians are not perfect and can communicate the gospel effectively through their weaknesses. People need to see that we are real and not phony. We are always growing as Christians.
EXCERPT:
In my new book, HOPE HAS ITS REASONS, I tell the story of a professor at Harvard who said to me, "I admire the fact that you are devout, but in the end it doesn't make any difference whether you believe in God or not, because life is essentially the same. Don't Christians get cancer, get divorced, long for their children to do well? Don't Christians fail, morally?"
I said yes.
"You're proving my point," he responded. "God DOESN'T make a difference."
I told him that one of the difficulties is that Christians have tried to pin the difference in the wrong place. Sometimes we try to make it seem as if we are no longer human when we follow Jesus.
What is the difference that God makes? It begins to show, I told him, in HOW WE HANDLE problems and personal failings - not in freedom from them. I have seen that there is nothing I do that does not contain some corruption, that does not have some self-serving motive. God shows us the problem of human nature and He gives us a diagnosis for the condition: sin.
"If I was that hard on myself," he interrupted, "I'd be depressed! But you seem so joyful."
So then I told him the rest of the story: "That's because I've also been given a solution. It's the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to help me overcome."
"Has the cure worked?" he asked.
"I'm not a finished product, if that's what you mean," I answered. "But I'm learning to live in recovery from sin and I'm growing in amazing grace, and that would make anyone joyful!"
Christian realism begins with the fact that we are not who we were created to be. G. K. Chesterton wrote, "I find it amazing that moderns have rejected the doctrine of original sin when it's the only Christian doctrine that can be empirically verified."[*] There is plenty of evidence to convince us of the reality of the Christian view of human nature, meaning the presence of sin in our lives.
But Christian realism is not only negative - it's extraordinarily POSITIVE. Christian realism requires us to face the mess so that we can experience the mystery and the miracle that Jesus Christ can change human beings. But to experience this miracle, we have to face the mess: the human heart. To be a Christian realist is to know the problem of the human heart and the solution that Jesus offers.
Being "realists" gets more complicated once we start growing as Christians. It's one thing to admit our sin when we first come to Jesus. But to continue acknowledging our sin may get harder, because we have more invested in our respectability. Sometimes, we feel we will lose our testimony by acknowledging a problem almost as if we fear it's a sin to admit we're sinners. So then we make stronger attempts to deny or cover any sin or flaw in our lives "for Jesus' sake."
Denial and cover-up is a problem not just with the Church, but throughout human nature. Why do we deny and cover up? Because it's painful to face the truth about ourselves. We go to elaborate lengths to say, "It's not my fault; I can explain that."
But presenting a perfect exterior is NOT biblical Christianity. Paul said, "I am the chief of sinners." When he struggled with his thorn in the flesh, Jesus told him, "I will not take this away from you because my glory is made manifest in your weakness."
Spiritual growth does not come from insisting that I have no problems. Rather, it means recognizing who it is that God calls me to be, the reality of who I presently am, learning how to overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is a different kind of model from either excusing sin or being falsely spiritual.
DJ: WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS KIND OF REALISM FOR EVANGELISM? HOW CLOSELY SHOULD OUR INSIDES MATCH OUR OUTSIDES BEFORE WE TALK TO ANYONE?
PIPPERT: We will always be in process. Part of the adventure of sharing our faith comes when we allow people to see what God is doing to heal our pain, to make sense out of our brokenness. They need to understand our unanswered questions as well as our victories and successes. Evangelism can't wait until we finally have it all together that won't happen until we are in Heaven.
No matter how jazzy the exterior, when you get beneath the surface, you find that most people have experienced some emptiness, some pain. What they really want to know is, "Does Jesus make a difference? Will He help me in this marriage? Will He help me communicate with this child I find so hard to reach? Does He make a difference in my job, in my relationship with my boss, in my addictions and compulsions?"
If we're able to say, "Yes - this is how Jesus has met me in my brokenness, in my weakness, and enabled me to overcome," we do such a service for the Lord. But if we feel we have to cover our problems and weakness and honest questions, we neutralize the power of the gospel.
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[*] Reinhold Niebuhr stated it this way, while Chesterton once wrote that Original Sin "is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved," by which he meant that the fact of sin is "a fact as practical as potatoes."
A variety of personal stories of how people were led to Christ. One by a neighbor, another by a daughter, by a wife, by a radio preacher.
Jim Young was a successful oil company executive. Wife Alma attended Bible study, got saved. Began studying Bible, going to church. Her life changed. More loving and patient. Peace in difficult situations. Never preached to him.
Jim liked the changes, but didn't understand them. Went to church but didn't like altar call. Finally went to a Bible study and liked the people. Pastor cut it short to watch a ballgame. Pastor asked if he was a Christian. He assumed he was, but hadn't thought much about it. Jim studied Jesus and found the Truth.
"Coming to Christ was a process, directed by the Word of God and the influence of other Christians. Without a word my wife demonstrated Christ's love."
#1196
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Discusses lifestyle evangelism. We must earn the right to speak to people
about spiritual things. We are imperfect vessels but God can still use us.
*1197
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