Your heart and Divine Evangelism

Messages for December 2018: Our Month of: The Ingathering

Message for Sunday 9^th and Wed. 12^th December, 2018

Theme: Understanding Divine Evangelism

Topic: Your heart and Divine Evangelism

Introduction: Last week in looking at first things first in Divine Evangelism, we established that the Lord was not a regular evangelist; there was something about the way He evangelized that makes us call His method the ultimate in Divine Evangelism.

This is why we took time to look at the ways of the Lord as it related to evangelism. We saw ten lifestyles of the Lord that made His evangelism so fruitful that it is still speaking today. There are several promises in scripture that makes engaging in evangelism very attractive to any wise believer. However, what I have in mind is whether where it would matter most; At the Judgement seat of Christ our work of evangelism would stand the fiery test. See 1Cor.3:12-15; 2Cor.5:9-11 and Rm.14:10-11.

Your heart and Divine Evangelism: Heart here has to do with the real motive of your heart for embarking on any kind of evangelism in the body of Christ whether you are called into the office of the evangelist or you are just engaging in it as a Church member to see more people repent and get into discipleship. There are so many benefits listed in the word of God for doing God’s work which includes evangelism. At the judgment seat of Christ, He would test our motives, methods and materials for whatever service we render in His body to determine their acceptability. In Heb.12:28, we are told to ensure we render acceptable stewardship because we belong to a Kingdom that can not be moved.

Why are you embarking on soul winning? The answer to this question would reveal the real motive behind our actions in serving in the kingdom especially in the area of soul winning. In the gospels, Peter told Jesus that they had followed him and what would they gain for doing so? This very question reveals to us that they actually followed the Lord without considering the implications for doing so. They simply responded to his command to them to follow Him. See Mt.4:18-22; Mt.8:18-22 and Mt.19:16-26; Mt.19:27-30.

Some business but not evil motives for soul winning: While we are in service in God’s Kingdom, let us bear in mind that God is our heavenly father and not just our business colleague. For this reason, we have to look beyond our personal gains for embarking on evangelism to what the father has in mind and how He would really take pleasure in what we do without considering our personal interest first. As we saw above, the first apostles except Judas Iscariot did not really consider any personal interest for following the Lord. They simply obeyed the command of the Lord to follow Him and found themselves where they were. Eventually, the heart of Judas Iscariot disqualified him for reward because his interest was money and not really to help to build God’s Kingdom. Below are some hidden motives in the hearts of men for enlisting in the Kingdom which if not checked can result in them not really attaining to their maximum potential in Kingdom service:

1.     Desire for money: Over the years, there has been a lot of revelation knowledge unfolded by God to His lovers some of whom He has set in leadership over his flocks in various congregations. Through the light God has given to them, they have become very wealthy financially and in many other areas of life. This makes them attractive to everyone who is drawn to the anointing of God upon their lives and want to become like them. Sadly, many of these admirers come in with different baggage; many of them are not saved or at best are baby Christians without the adequate training in discipleship that would have put them on the right track for the work of God to flourish in their hands. These are those who just join Churches to enable them promote their business interest. At the end of the day, if they do not repent and have their lives transformed, they become stumbling blocks in the household of faith and cause the name of the Lord to be blasphemed. This cost Balaam his ministry because he bowed to money and therefore disobeyed God to not attempt to go and work for Balak. Num.22-23. See the examples of Judas Iscariot – a stumbling block because of money in the Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Korah, Dathan and Abiram who withstood Moses for their interest in power sharing and lost their eternal destinies together with that of their families thereby. Jude 1:11; Num16:1-35; Mt.10:4 and Mt.26:14-16.

2.     Desire for recognition and fame: This was the challenge of Eve in Genesis 3 when the serpent deceived her into desiring to be wise like God when she was already like Him. This is the root of covetousness. We are taught in the bible to not love the world nor the things that are in the world because if any man loves the world, the love of the father is not in him because the world and its lusts will pass away but the word of God will abide forever. See 1Jn.2:15-17

3.     Desire for divine protection: The bulk of us came to the Lord because we were running away from the enemies of our destinies. This desire to stay protected has made many to form faithfulness to God out of fear of the enemy. God wants more than this from us. He wants us to cultivate a love relationship with him where we can develop our intimacy with Him to the point of serving His interest for the right reasons which only He can make to happen for us. We see this example in the story of John Mark that caused the separation of Barnabas and Paul. He later improved and was instrumental in writing the book of the gospel according to Mark. See Acts 15:36-41 and 2Tim.4:11.

4.     Desire to be like others who have made a mark in the ministry for personal interest: Sadly when Jesus Christ said the things that are highly esteemed among men are abomination to God, it appears so many people ignore that portion of scripture when they are reading their bibles. So over the years many have tended to place more and more value on what people hold in high esteem which are abominable to God. I believe this also has to do with walking in the flesh instead of walking in the spirit. Fleshly living will make people desire human acceptance for instance, over and above what God accepts. This is why many occasions, human definition of a successful person would be fame and fortune whereas God’s definition is faithfulness in the pursuit of divine purpose. A look at the Master’s reward at the end of the race in Matthew and Luke’s account of the gospel reveals to us that Jesus said: “well done good and faithful servant” that was the commendation of the Lord for those who did both great and small things in the Kingdom provided they did what they were told to do. In addition, in the story of the employer who went out employing people until evening, he paid them all the same amount of money; the displeasure of some of the earlier employees notwithstanding. If you desire to be like anyone instead of Christ, the word of God says such a person is bereft of wisdom. See Lk.16:15; Mt.25:14-30; Lk.19:12-26; 2Cor.10:12 and Mt.20:1-16.

5.     Desire to escape the responsibility of providing for themselves through due diligence: We are taught in Prov.13:11 that wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished but anyone who gathers by labour shall increase. See also Prov.10:4 and 22:29. There is no human who was born with clothes on; everyone enters this world naked. People become rich or poor based on what they do with their time. Anyone who spends his life trying to accomplish anything by merely dreaming without work or relevant labour in their assignment, would be diminished whereas anyone who gathers by labour shall increase. Many desire to avoid this work responsibilities and end up becoming fraudsters resulting in blaspheming the name of the Lord.

Five noble reasons for embarking on Divine Evangelism:

1.     God commands us to do it and I want to obey what He says even though I do not know why: The true test of a loving obedience to God is the ability to do whatever God says without question even when you do not know why you should. Although knowing why will enhance your faith for obedience. At this point, you will act with intentionality and that intention is what we are examining here. If that is the only reason why you are obeying, then your motive could be called to question by God. It is most noble when we do something because God says so whether we like to or not. See Jn.2:5; Mt.7:21-27 and Jas.1:22-25.

2.     To be part of God’s workforce in gratitude for the salvation of my soul: Most of the time people have this cheap attitude of entitlement which is why in these last days men have proven more and more to be ingrates. We learn from Apostle Paul that men shall be unthankful. When we fail to win the lost to the Lord, it is one big way of showing ingratitude. This is because if we are grateful to be saved, then we would wish others were saved also knowing the kindness and severity of the Lord. The journey of every unsaved soul who fail to repent before their demise will terminate in an eternity in the lake of fire. I believe that is enough to motivate us to want to win the lost beyond what God would do for us for teaming up with Him in His heart beat which is evangelism. Ps.92:1-2; Lk.10:21-22; Lk.15:8-10.  

3.     To fulfil my destiny in Christ Jesus as a labourer in God’s Kingdom: The Journey through life that would eventually end in heaven or hell as the case may be is called destiny. This journey is one that is determined by the choices we make. Whether our destinies are fulfilled or not has a lot to do with the choices we make especially when it concerns our values. No one who gets born again is immediately taken from the earth because God wants to use them to bring others to Him. God’s process of using them to bring others to Him is called the pursuit of destiny. Every time you follow God’s way for the fulfilment of your destiny, you are working with the right motive. This is the kind of service in evangelism for instance that God considers to be divine evangelism because the motive is the ultimate. Jn.6:26-29; Mk.8:34-38; Mk.10:28-31 and Mt.19:27-30.

4.     I want God to use me to give people the option of Salvation: Assuming your neighbour’s house is on fire and they are all asleep inside and you are in a place where you can see the incident, you will do everything in your power to rescue them so as to prevent their threatened disaster. In the same way, you want every sinner you know saved and God can use you to save as many as He wants to use you to save. To this end, you can begin by enlisting in God’s army through intercession. All this requires is your commitment and time and it is the foundation for effective soul winning. You have no right to speak to someone about Christ without first speaking to God about them. We are told in 1Tim.2:1-2 to pray for all men and kings. Why? That they might be saved and we will all live a peaceable life in all godliness. See the example of Abraham’s attempt to save Sodom and Gomorrah in Gen.18:17-33

5.     I want to be used by God to raise others to do the work of God also: This is a wonderful ideal if it is what God wants for you and you are willing to pay the price of genuine love to do so. If we pay the price of walking in love, then we can be entrusted with this great ideal of raising men for God to be able to use. Let me not discourage you; walking in love is a process you will always be growing in because you cannot control the behaviour of others; you are only responsible for how you respond to their attitudes to you. Many desire this because it would bring them to limelight; by the time they realize its demands, they may want to reconsider. May the Lord Engrace us to fulfil our individual purpose in Christ. In God’s Kingdom, leadership is actually service meaning you go into it for the contribution you are willing to make for the general good rather than what you want to get with your influence. See Lk.22:24-30; Eph.2:10 and Heb.10:6-10.

Meanwhile there is someone reading this blog that cannot begin to talk of their destiny’s journey yet because they have not made any decision in relation to what Jesus did for us at Calvary. If you are that person and you want to make that choice for Christ, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be welcome into God’s family:

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/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.