Evangelism

When Jesus Christ told his disciples to “Go… and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he was giving them what the Duke of Wellington once described as the Church’s “marching orders.” They were to tell others about Him. They were to carry the Gospel everywhere. 

In yesterday’s study we concluded by asking if you keep aloof from unbelievers, or do you take the Gospel to those who need it? Another way of asking the same thing is to ask whether or not you have contact with non-Christians socially. Do you go to their homes, sit in their kitchens, ask hem their interests? 

Yesterday, we listed the second principle, which is that Jesus began his conversation with a question. We pointed out that one consequence of this was that the woman’s interest in talking with Jesus was aroused.

Fourth, stress the Good News. Show that the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers comfort. I am sure you realize that this does not mean we are totally to overlook sin. Jesus did not do that. He brought the woman to the point of recognizing her sin by His reference to the issue of her husbands. Nevertheless, even as He gently uncovered the sin, he offered comfort; for He coupled His inquiry into her marital status with the invitation to come again to Him. 

In England, in the early part of the nineteenth century, there was a woman who had heard the Gospel but had never been able to respond to it personally. She had come from a Christian home. She understood the faith. But, she could not come. She considered herself unworthy. One day she wandered into a very small church and sat down in the back. She was almost in despair and hardly heard the words of the elderly man who was speaking. Suddenly right in the middle of his address, the preacher stopped and, pointing his finger at her, said, “You, Miss, sitting there at the back, you can be saved now. You don’t need to do anything.” His words struck like thunder in her heart. She believed at once, and with her belief there came an unimaginable sense of peace and real joy.