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"But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
(2 Timothy 4:5)
When I was 19 years old and a student at the University of Mobile, Alabama, I preached for 9 weeks in the summer of 1985 in the states of Washington and Oregon. It was a thrilling time for me. One night, I was walking in a wheat field in Corvallis, Oregon and truly felt the presence of the Lord. I was wrestling with a call to give my life and ministry to Him as an evangelist. I said yes. I thought that would mean being a full-time itinerant evangelist, but since then, I have learned there are many ways to fulfill that calling. One of them is to teach evangelism, and I had the privilege of doing this in two seminaries. Another way is to do what Paul told Pastor Timothy, "Do the work of an evangelist." I am attempting to do that as the pastor of Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. (I wrote my PhD dissertation on the pastoral evangelism of Charles Grandison Finney.) I am also serving as president of an evangelistic association.
It gives me great joy to be able to do what I will do tonight at the FBC of O'Fallon, Missouri. I will be teaching on evangelism at their banquet. Pray for me to be an encouragement to their pastor, Dr. Brandon Kiesling, and their congregation. They have purchased my book, For the One, and I am so blessed and honored to be able to teach and encourage the saints at this church.
As you perhaps already know, evangelism has fallen on hard times. There is a noted lack of Christians telling non-Christians about Jesus these days. Of course, we know we should be witnesses, ambassadors, fishers of men, but many have chosen not to share because of several excuses. The Apostle Paul gave clear instructions to his son in the faith. These instructions and commandments are just as applicable and viable to us today as they were for Pastor Timothy at Ephesus. Let us all commit to always being watchful and on the alert. Let us endure afflictions. If we do not learn to endure and persevere, then the only time we will share our faith is when all is well in our world. I'm not sure about you, but that is seldom the case when all is going perfectly! Let us do the work of an evangelist. Yes, it is work. It takes spiritual preparation as well as learning how to share our faith. It takes endurance and discipline. And let us all commit to obey the last commandment from Paul in this verse: fulfill our ministry. We fulfill our ministries when we do this noble work of taking the Gospel of Jesus to our neighbors and the nations.
I like the way one pastor described our evangelism; he said we are to live it out and speak it out. We should live lives that honor Jesus and speak the Gospel every opportunity He gives to us. I am praying for each one who reads today's devotion that you will step up and share the good news with someone today! |
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