Selected Scriptures
Ps Paul Cheng
“…One’s responsibility in evangelism is to share the gospel, not to convert…”
~5 min read
Dear Bethelites,
Soul winning or evangelism cannot be fulfilled apart from the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is fully God and fully engaged in the works of God. With regard to evangelism, the Holy Spirit is at work in both the life of the witness and the recipient of the gospel (lost person).
I. The Holy Spirit in Evangelism
The Holy Spirit works in the life of the witness by empowering, illumining, preserving and guiding the soul winner.
He precedes the witness — Evangelism does not start and stop with the “clever words” of the witness. It is the Holy Spirit who opens the heart of the listener. Lydia was a woman the Holy Spirit was drawing to Himself, And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul (Acts.16:14).
He leads and enables the witness — Have you ever been surprised how you are able to find the right words to say, as you tried to communicate the gospel? It is through the work of the Holy Spirit! In the Gospel of Luke, we find Jesus instructing the disciples, When they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say (Luke 12:11-12). In Acts 8, Philip had the opportunity to share the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch but it was the Holy Spirit who let him to the eunuch. He was in the right place at the right time.
He empowers the witness — The Holy Spirit empowers the witness with authority and wisdom as the gospel is shared. The witness has no ability of his own to win souls. He must present himself as a clean vessel that the Holy Spirit may work at both his life and the witness as well (cf. Acts 1:8, 1 Thess.1:5).
The Holy Spirit works in the life of the lost person by drawing him/her to God, reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8). There are three aspects of His saving work.
He produces conviction — Conviction is an awareness of guilt for one’s own sins and only the Holy Spirit can produce such an awareness. The witness is used as an instrument to proclaim the truth but the Spirit must apply it to the unbelieving hearts to produce conviction without which the unbelieving lost person would continue to deny his/her sinfulness and the need for a Saviour.
He produces repentance — Repentance is a desire to turn from our sins. God grants repentance (2 Tim.2:25) and men are incapable to repent on their own. They love darkness more than light (John 3:19). Acts 11:18 says, When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
He regenerates hearts — Paul says, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour (Titus 3:5-6, cf. John 3:3-8)
II. Hindrances to Evangelism
A story was told of a father who lived in the fields, came home one night and his little boy ran through the long grass to meet him. Suddenly, the boy disappeared. Running through the grass to the place where his boy vanished, the father heard a gurgling cry. His son had fallen into an old well. The father stretched into the well, just in time to save his drowning boy. When the boy recovered from his fright, he cried out, “O daddy, why didn’t you hurry? Why did you take such a long time to come?” Later on the father said, “That question made a missionary out of me. I think of all the lost souls who must have been crying out for salvation in the regions and beyond.”
We know that evangelism is vital as commanded in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17) and How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10:15). But are we really actively involved in the work of evangelism? What are some of the hindrances to evangelism?
- Focusing on the wrong values — People tend to esteem material things as more valuable than God (Matt.6:33, Phil.2:21). Their minds are always focused on the things of this world rather than the things of God and that has deterred them from getting around to spiritual matters such as winning people to Christ (James 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:4).
- The fear of failure and rejection — People may be afraid that the lost person would not come to know Jesus despite their utmost effort. One’s responsibility in evangelism is to share the gospel, not to convert someone to be a Christian which is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our failure is not when the lost person rejects the gospel but rather when we fail to be His witnesses as we have been commanded.
- The lack of Bible knowledge — Another reason why people do not want to evangelise is because they feel inadequate. The true Christian will desire the sincere milk of the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2) and he will be committed to learn the basic fundamental doctrines of the Bible which will then enable him to share the gospel.
- The lack of passion — A person may evangelise out of pure obedience to God but after a while that obedience may turn cold. To sustain a consistent life of evangelism, there must a passion. People can easily see through our lack of passion and instead being ministered, they could be stumbled. It is sad that some people just have no burden for lost souls and they do not really care that others are going to hell (Luke 12:16-21). Let us learn from the Lord Jesus Christ who was always compassionate to the lost (cf. Luke 19:41-44).
- Laziness — Some people would spend their time chatting with their friends, shopping, lazing around the house and watching T.V. rather than being involved in soul-winning (Proverbs 22:13, 26:13).
- The love of the world — Demas forsook Jesus Christ for the things of the world. For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica..... (2 Timothy 4:10).
- The love of money — Some people would look at everything only in terms of dollars and cents. They would rather spend their time earning money than being engaged in the work of evangelism. In reality, these people live a wasted life, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36).
With love in Christ,
Pastor Paul
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