Good News from Ignorant Men: The Practice of Evangelism
“We were actually the youngest and weakest believers in the study, but we knew the vision for our Bible study was to win UMKC to Christ”
Last year, I remember looking back through past sermons on the church's website for a question I had about the book of Acts. As I was looking for the answer in a sermon by Pastor Brandon, he said something that caught my attention. He said that the way he knows who the leaders in ministry are by how given they are to evangelism.
Evangelism is simply bringing the good news of the gospel to the lost world.
I noted it in my head, but I didn't really see myself as a leader in ministry, so I felt like that would become more significant down the line in my growth.
A few weeks later, I went to a worship night with another guy in my UMKC Bible study. After it was finished we started talking about our evangelism. The conclusion we came to was that we are not evangelizing enough, and that we need to evangelize more. The solution was simple to us. We pulled out our schedules and found two times during the week that we could both go evangelize together on campus. That was our mission field, so that's where we went. We began to do this every week. We were by no means leaders in our Bible study. We were actually the youngest and weakest believers in the study, but we knew the vision for our Bible study was to win UMKC to Christ, so we decided to just roll with that.
“Jesus said to go, so we went”
We failed so much, but we learned so much from it. When we first started, we would just go out there, and we didn't know anything. It's embarrassing how little we knew what we were doing, but we didn't care. We had to be obedient. Jesus said to go, so we went. It's pretty simple.
I wasn't bringing my Bible out there, and I wasn't able to answer most of the questions people asked (I definitely tried, and gave answers that were probably completely wrong). I remember the first time someone actually responded to the gospel in our evangelism. I presented the gospel and asked them if they wanted to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. They said yes, but I wasn't expecting to actually get that far, so I didn't know what to say after that. We had been rejected so much leading up to that point that I was so shocked to have gone that far, and it threw me off. I probably butchered that one, but I trust the Lord used it. I learned that I don't really need to know as much as I thought I did. I mean, who really cares if I go out there and don't know anything? Who cares if I go out there and just make myself look like a fool? Not me.
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
“We were confident and bold because we spent time with Jesus, not because we knew anything”
We were confident and bold because we spent time with Jesus, not because we knew anything. Our sufficiency was of God, not ourselves. When we go out to evangelize, I know that I don't know anything, and I don't try to pretend that I do. All I know is what God's Word promises, and it promises that any time I share His Word, that it is working to accomplish His will in the life of that person.
Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.
We are not incredible evangelists. We are failed stewards of the gospel that wanted to steward it better. I would encourage anyone in a Bible study to go to their leader, figure out what the vision is for your study, grab a brother or sister and make a plan to evangelize in your field.
John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
The fields are white and ready to harvest.
Cheney Perkins is a member of midtown Baptist Temple and is a part of C&YA. He serves on the baptism team and in the Hit the Streets evangelism ministry. He is also a part of a men’s UMKC Bible study.
