What Can You Do?

 

By Brian Mitchell         Long ago, Isaiah said “Here am I, send me” (Is.6:8). Unfortunately, many today say, “there are the preachers and the elders and the missionaries; send them.” In today’s lesson we are going to begin to get more personal in our discussion of personal evangelism. In today’s lesson we shall consider 2 points. We will answer the question “What can I do?”, and we will discuss three common mistakes made by those who desire to influence others for good.     What can you do in personal evangelism? It is a much debated mystery as to why more members of the blood bought body of Christ are not personally involved in His call for global and local evangelism. Is it because: we lack the desire or motivation to lead lost souls to Christ, we lack the training or know how to lead souls to Christ or perhaps we are just fearful that we will be rejected or that we won’t know what to say or how to answer objections. Personally, I believe that it is all 3 and that the first 2 factors are influenced greatly by the third factor.     Regardless, it is my belief that the majority of God’s people have convinced themselves that there just is not very much they can do when it comes to the subject of evangelism. I am here today to challenge that conception by showing you what you can do in evangelism and by helping you avoid some of the common mistakes associated with evangelistic endeavors. The simple fact is that there are a number of things related to evangelism, some of which can be done by all. And I am challenging us all to begin doing the things we can all do right now, today, and to begin making preparations to do the things we are not yet ready to do.     In the remainder of this article we will focus on one thing we can all do, we can all pray about evangelism. The greatest mistake that we make in the area of evangelism is failing to pray about evangelism. If we neglect to pray for or evangelistic efforts, we run the very high risk of rendering our work a complete failure. Before Jesus selected His Apostles he prayed about it—Lk.6:12-13. Before the early church sent Paul, Barnabas, and their companions out on their missionary trip, they fasted and prayed about it—Acts 13:1-3.     It may be that we have so few opportunities to teach others because we spend so little time in prayer about it—Col.4:2-4. Are you praying for the evangelistic efforts of the congregation? It is something that every member of this congregation can do right now without any need for further training. If we would spend as much time praying about evangelism as we spend in evangelism, I believe great things would result.     Unfortunately, many of us are spending as much time praying about evangelism as we are spending in doing evangelism—the problem is that we are not doing much of either. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails [or accomplishes] much” (Jm.5:16). If we truly believe this then let us begin to fervently pray for opportunities to reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

- Brian Mitchell serves as a minister with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. He may be contacted through the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net