Messages for
December 2018: Our Month of: The
Ingathering
Message for Sunday 2nd December, 2018
Theme: Understanding Divine Evangelism
Topic: First things first in Divine Evangelism
Introduction: once again, I welcome you
to the Month of December; our month of
The Ingathering. Ingathering insinuates harvesting fruits of seeds that
have been sown for a period of time which are due for harvest. As a matter of
fact, some are overdue for harvest to the point of decadence. We are thankful
that grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ so that we can undo our
mistakes and receive a restoration of all that would have been lost to us
otherwise.
In this great month
therefore, we shall be looking at divine evangelism which simply means
evangelism that is of God. The reason we are taking time to qualify the noun is
because what some may term evangelism may not be so called with God. We are
therefore going to be looking at evangelism from divine perspective. First
things first insinuates the step by step demands of evangelism from God’s
perspective. There is first what to become before what to do and we will find
some of these things in the story of the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ;
some of which are listed here.
Steps to
effective Divine evangelism: When we look at the story of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can easily
receive a template of how evangelism is meant to be. As a matter of fact, He is
referred to in God’s word as the express image of the invisible God and the
first born of every creation in Colossians 1:15-18. We also learn that all
things were created by Him and for Him and that by Him all things consist. He
made all things both visible and invisible including thrones and dominions. All
things were made by Him and for Him. This explains His audacity of telling the
Jews that before Abraham was; “I am”. They considered Him a blasphemer when He
said this because they were withheld from recognizing His true identity because
of the Kind of assignment He was to carry out which is the redemption of the
human race from the dominion of the kingdom of darkness. Looking at His
lifestyle when he walked the sands of time therefore, we learn a lot of lessons
on how to carry our evangelism God’s way. The following are therefore some
steps we could glean from Him:
1. Submission to God: This is the quality of yielding to or accepting a superior force or
the authority or will of another person. It is to be subject to a particular
process, treatment or condition. Jesus lived in total submission to the
Father’s authority. Jesus said He did nothing of his own but allowed the father
to lead Him every step of the way in life. He proved this when He submitted to
John’s Baptism in demonstrating His righteousness. He also allowed the Holy
Spirit to lead Him into a forty day fast and then was tempted by the devil and
overcame the devil. Apostle Paul said of Him that we should let His mind set
become our mind set because even though He was God, He did not wrest positions
with God but made Himself of no reputation and became obedient even to death.
That was submission. See Mt.3:13-17; 4:1-11; Mk.1:35; Jn.5:19-20, 30.
2. Dedication to God: This is the quality of being committed to a task or purpose. The
Lord’s purpose was to save His people from their sins. He was so committed to
the task that during His earthly walk, as soon as His ministry began after he
was baptized by John, He went about doing good and healing all that were
oppressed of the devil. As he concluded the journey of His earthly destiny, He
knew it and prayed to the father that He had finished the work the father sent
Him to do and that was to give eternal life to as many as would receive it. See
Mt.1:21; Jn.17:1-4; Mt.4:12-17, 23-25 and Acts 10:38.
3. Decision to worship only God: Jesus Christ was solely
committed to worshipping only the father. He refused to compromise His stance
and maintained this godly value and remained that way until it necessitated a
gruesome unjust murder on the Cross by His detractors. What the enemy meant for
evil became our redemption story. See Mt.4:10-11; Jn.5:30; Acts 8:32-35 and
Isa.53:7
4. Total surrender to walk in only the ways of God: He fulfilled the
prophecy of Moses that God was going to send His people a prophet like him and
when He comes, they should hear him. Moses was an example of one who totally
surrendered to God to the point God recognized him as the meekest man on earth.
To be meek towards God is to be docile towards Him. You cannot have your own
opinion; you will only represent the opinion of heaven just as the ambassadors
we have been called by God to be. When the time came, God told His closest
aides Peter, James and John to hear Him. Just like Moses He became the meekest
man on earth during His earthly journey because of His total surrender to walk
in the ways of God. See Ps.103:7; Deu.18:15; Mt.17:5; Acts 3:22; 7:37 and
Heb.3:1-6. His total surrender to God is what made the Holy Spirit distinguish
His ministry.
5. Intimacy with the Holy Spirit and His guidance: He was so intimate with
the father that the Father personally mentored Him. Every waking moment of His
time was spent with the father except when He was ministering to the disciples
and multitudes. As a result of this, He was able to say that He only did what
He saw the father doing and that because the father loved Him, the father would
show Him even greater things than He already did that the Jews may marvel. See Jn.5:19-30
and Mk.1:35.
6. Taking steps to save the lost: Jesus went everywhere
preaching and demonstrating the word of God. He also raised disciples and
commissioned them to go and do likewise. See Lk.4:38-44; 10:1-11 and 17-20;
Mk.10:1; 5-15; Mt.28:18-20; Mk.16:15-20 and Acts 1:1, 8.
7. Preaching and teaching the word of God: All that Jesus Christ
taught was the word of God. He never taught the philosophy of men; only the
word of God by the most creative strategies to the point that people wondered
at the gracious words that proceeded from Him. In addition, His words were so
packed full of the wisdom of God that people wondered and said concerning His
ministry that where did He get such wisdom from because they knew Him that He
never got a formal education. Apostle Paul calls it the wisdom from above; the
hidden wisdom of God from the foundation of the world. See Lk.4:16-22;
1Cor.2:1-8; Mt.7:29 and Mk.1:22.
8. Demonstrating the word being preached: The Lord demonstrated
the word preached with signs following. The people thus grew in their faith to
the point that they were using the hem of his garment as point of contact for
their miracles. See Mk.5:1-20; Mt.14:34-36 and Mk.6:53-56.
9. Harvesting at every given opportunity: When the Lord walked the
sands of time, He harvested at every given opportunity. For instance there was
the chance meeting he had with the woman at the well of Samaria in Jn.4 which
gave Him the opportunity to teach of the harvest and true worship of God which
blesses us until today. When He was done with the woman, she became a publisher
of the gospel to the point that the entire City gathered to hear the Lord
preach. She was the trigger of the awakening to God that broke out in Samaria
that day.
10.
Keeping the robe of
humility on: In spite of all the power that the Lord walked in, He kept His
garment of humility on so much so that He never took any step on His own.
Everything He did was in obedience to the Father thereby setting a standard for
us to follow. Jn.5:19, 30 and Philippians 2:5-11
I believe that these above
steps of the Lord Jesus Christ has set forth for us an example to follow in our
walk with Him if we are going to stand in the place He would have us stand in
bringing in the harvest in these end times. 1Pet.2:21-25.
Meanwhile there is someone
reading this blog that cannot begin to take any of these steps because they are
not yet saved and therefore not on the discipleship journey yet. If you are
that person and you desire to start, you can do so right away by saying the
following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again and begin to
prepare to harvest for the Lord along with His reaper angels today:
Heavenly Father,
Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you
raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus
Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of
Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this
father in Jesus’ name! Amen.
Congratulations! For
more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life,
please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org
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