Welcome to the month of April 2020: Our Month of Evangelism
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Act 2:38
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Mk.16:15-18
Beloved family, I welcome you to the month of April 2020 which God has graciously named for us: Our month of evangelism. After the Lord Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for our redemption on Calvary’s Cross, He died saying “It is finished”. He was laid to rest in the grave; but death was powerless to hold himdown so He arose from the dead on the third day for our redemption. And in our second text above, he appeared to His disciples after he arose from the dead and gave them this final instruction on how they were to run with His vision of colonizing the earth for God. He said to them in Matthew 28:18-19:
“… All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
These words and every word related to this is the foundation of evangelism. The oxford Advanced learners dictionary defines evangelism as the art of persuading people to accept your views and opinions. In our case, it is the art of persuading people to become believers in Jesus Christ to the extent of making them disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ as we are. From our text scriptures, it is evident that on His departure from time into eternity, the desire of the Lord for us is to make us His agents on earth communicating His truth to the entire world beginning from wherever we are unto the ends of the earth. [Acts 1:8]
Thus the vision of the Lord for us is of global spread of the gospel with eternal relevance. In other words, we are expected to spread the good news of our redemption around the world looking upward to God for our rewards. From this, it is clear that our motives for preaching the gospel must sync with God’s in order for us to receive a reward from Him. [Mt.6:1-4 and verse 16]. The list of what we are to do is teach others all He has taught His disciples with the clear desire to make them disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ also (not your own disciple). We are to baptize them in the name of the Godhead; Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In Acts 19:5-6, the bible puts it this way: that when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and when Paul laid his hands on them, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues and prophesied.
In the above text, we are told that when Paul found certain disciples at Ephesus, they were ignorant of the gospel beyond the baptism of John. So he preached Christ to them and they believed and got Baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they received the Holy Spirit impartation through the laying on of the hands of Apostle Paul. He went on and taught the people consistently until the entire Asia Minor heard the gospel in two years. Our business is to persuade people to receive the blessing of God through Jesus Christ but whether or not they receive is up to them. In the Old Testament, God told Moses to tell the Israelites to choose between life and death, blessing and cursing. In other words, what people do with the gospel we preach is up to their decision. See Deu.30:19-20
God anoints us and we preach and teach, people become persuaded and decide to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and we teach them until they grow in the faith to be able to teach other people also and the cycle continues until each of us get to the point of reward when we come face to face with the Lord either at our demise from time or when the Lord returns to the earth eventually.
As we embark on this awesome assignment of evangelism, let us understand that no matter what God has called us to do, at the end of it all, we will account for the souls assigned to us by God to Him. Not all of us are called to carry out the same task in God’s Kingdom but whatever we are called to do, the end is to transform men from inquirers to converts and continue until they become Disciples of Christ Jesus who can also make disciples of others for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus this month, we shall be looking at the theme: Making Disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ as we await His soon return.
You may be reading this blog now and thinking; with the way things are on earth today, you have to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. To you I say congratulations. You can start the journey at once by saying the following prayer aloud in faith and you will become born again. Then get baptized by immersion in water and filled with the Holy Spirit. Then begin to learn the word that would take you into your place in destiny:
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 and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirlwww.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.
