Romans 10:14,15 “But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!”
The gospel or the “good news” is the most important tool that God has given us to help propagate His kingdom and to show His love to others. The gospel is simple yet it can be complicated if not done correctly. Many times as believers we may be confused on how to share the gospel or we may have been sharing the gospel but not seeing any results. It may be that we just need to have some things in place to see the changes we are looking for.
The first thing we need to do before setting out to evangelize is to pray and seek God for His leading. We cannot approach those we need to evangelize to merely by our personal assessment of them but we must let God lead us on how to approach them or if we should even approach them. There are some people God may need others to approach because we may not be prepared to approach them. It is important to realize that it is God that draws others to Him and He will prepare the heart of those we approach so they can receive the gospel.
The second thing we should have in place before going out is to make sure we study the Word of God and allow God to give us understanding on whatever we study. It is okay sometimes to share what we have heard others preach but we must also make sure we study the bible for ourselves. It is not good enough to only repeat what we have heard others preach but we should also be prepared if we are approached with questions and we can only be prepared when we take time to study the word.
The third thing is to let the love of God overtake us. What this means in essence is that the love of God compels us to have the type of compassion for others that makes us able to approach them and share the gospel to them regardless of how we feel. The truth is that sometimes we may be apprehensive to share the gospel to others for one reason or the other. We may feel inadequate in ourselves, we may feel intimidated, the environment may not be the most conducive but if we allow the love of God to overtake us we will put ourselves through the inconvenience we feel because we love those who are not saved and we don’t want to see them perish.
The fourth thing we need to do is to approach with knowledge and understanding. We may have all the zeal in the world but if we don’t approach with understanding we may end up not being effective. For instance many believers approach unbelievers with a judgmental mindset. We quickly forget that at one point we also didn’t fear God and so when we approach people that don’t immediately reverence God we may have the tendency to get angry at them and relegate them as a lost cause. Another mistake we may make as believers is confusing arguments with evangelizing. Many of us start trying to argue the word of God and get distracted from sharing the simplicity of the gospel which is that Jesus died for a sinful world, He rose again and He is the living hope and Savior for anyone who believes.
The final thing is that we should not be discouraged even when we may have allowed ourselves to get carried away and maybe argued or didn’t have answers to some questions. We must always remember that we are just instruments in God’s hands and it is about God and not about us. All we need to do is go back to Him and ask where we got it wrong and what we need to do towards the next time. It is also true that evangelism gets more comfortable with time. I want to avoid using the word “easier” because God may send some people who are easy to evangelize to and He may send others that will require us doing much more and taking more time in prayer, fasting and studying the word. The bottom line is that with time we get comfortable as we learn to hear God’s direction and as we continue to study the bible.
Let us not forget that we are all called to spread the gospel to those we come in contact with not only by our words but also by our actions.
Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.”
2 Corinthians 5:14,15 “For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised”
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love”
Galatians 6:9 “So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up”
Temitope Talabi is a founding member of The Trent Voices currently reside in Austin, TX. She graduated with a PharmD from Texas Southern University in Houston, TX. She works as a community pharmacist and spends her spare time writing to build and encourage others through the word of God. Temitope is also currently working on a series of self-help books created to empower people to take charge of their health and wellness, the first of which is scheduled to be released early next year.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
