5 Principles of Personal Evangelism

Jake Davidson

John • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

John 4:1–43

Evangelism

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Jesus demonstrates how to effectively communicate the gospel

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INTRODUCTION

My name is Jake Davidson. I am the pastor of New Beginnings Baptist Church. I want to begin by thanking you for your generous support of this ministry and our vision to make disciples.

When I began to sense God’s call upon my heart to plant this church, I had no idea what I was doing. And your pastor was the first one who reached out and said hey we want to help. And God has used Bro Darrell and this church greatly to meet so many needs.

Paul said to the Corinthians, “We are God’s fellow workers” and “it is God that gives the increase”. So we ask that you rejoice with us this morning as we celebrate two lives that God has redeemed and called into a relationship with Him.

~PRAYER~

UPDATE: For the past year we have been meeting in a small building at my house. This year one of our goals was to move into a public location closer to our mission field of Oak Grove. And just this past month, God has answered those prayers and opened a door to building about 5 minutes from where we are witnessing. So we are very excited about this move and excited to be out of my house!

WHAT I’D LIKE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT TODAY IS EVANGELISM. One reason is because this is such a big part of our church. Both of these baptisms this morning were the result of evangelism.

1/3 of what we do together as a church plant is evangelism. Without it we would shrivel up and die.

Here are some things I discovered about church planting: you have a very limited amount workers, you also have very few leaders, you also have very limited finances, and you also have no building.

And so what do you do?! From my personal experience, God does not just send people through the doors of our church; especially if the church is at your house! What God expects us to do is to take the Gospel message out into the world and win people to the faith.

And here is the danger both to our church and to this church: Evangelism becomes neglected and even ignored once the ministry becomes healthy and the seats of the church are filled.

But, this work of evangelism is a lifetime calling. It is not just for the purpose of getting people into our churches, but for the purpose of getting people into the Kingdom of God and that work is NEVER FINISHED!

I want to give you 5 principles this morning of personal evangelism. My prayer is that you will be encouraged and motivated to join in this great work.

John 4:1–6 NASB95

Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

1) Personal Evangelism is a Lifestyle

Explanation: I want you to notice what Jesus is doing in these verses. He is going about his everyday business. He has left Judea and is headed into Galilee. He is going to Galilee because there is an Official’s son that needs to be healed. John will call this healing the second sign.

The point is: Jesus is a man on a mission because His hour is coming and He must be about His Father’s business.

But in the midst of all of this, he purposely places himself in the path of someone who needs the Gospel message.

Notice the Scripture tells us it is the 6th hour Which is about 12:00 (lunch time). And Jesus knows that this is the perfect opportunity to have a gospel conversation with someone in great need.

Bridge: Often, when we think about evangelism we think of a kind of ministry that we participate in where people hear the good news. We think about our upcoming Easter service where our churches will have more visitors than any other time. We think about going door-to-door and taking to Gospel from house to house.

But for Jesus evangelism never stopped! It was a part of His life and everywhere that Jesus walked His eyes open to harvest around Him. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost!” And listen believers, that mission that Jesus began has been given to us.

Application: Is evangelism a way of life for you? What if you decided that every Sunday you would eat at a different restaurant, so that you could encounter a new waitress who needs to hear about Jesus? What if we timed our daily duties so that we could purposely cross paths with people who need the the Gospel. What if we waited for the ONE cashier at Kroger instead of rushing through the self-checkout for an opportunity to share our faith.

What would this world look like if we walked through it like Jesus did always keeping our minds on the harvest that lays before us.

Jesus told the disciples in v 35, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”.

Personal evangelism is a lifestyle that sees every person that we encounter as a potential lost person just waiting to hear the good news.

2) Everyone is worthy to hear the Gospel Message

John 4:7–10 NASB95

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

Explanation: Notice that Scripture goes out of its way to make it known that Jesus is speaking with a Samaritan woman. John even goes so far to plainly tell us that “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans”, so we do not miss this point!

Why is there strife between Jews and Samaritans? Because the Samaritans were considered compromisers with pagan religion. They wouldn’t come down to the Jewish temple to offer sacrifices. They are descendants of Jews BUT intermarried with Gentiles. And for a Jewish man to talk to a Samaritan woman was unheard of and welcomed ridicule.

The point is: Samaritans were considered LESS than the Jewish people. They were not worthy of he Jewish religion Because they had compromised many years ago.

Bridge: Has anyone ever made a judgment about someone based upon what they saw on the outside? Maybe it was the color of someone’s skin, maybe it was someone living in deep sin, maybe it is someone that lives a totally different lifestyle than us.

What we see on the outside cannot determine what is in someone’s heart. And Jesus is not just the Savior of one kind of people, he is the Savior of the world. And there is NO ONE who God cannot save.

Jesus took the gospel to the Jews, he took it to the Gentiles, He took it to the Samaritans, He took it to both men and women, and even offered it to His enemies who were desperately wanting to kill Him.

If Jesus offered the Gospel to every kind of people regardless of what that culture thought about them, how much more should we? How much more should we be people who do not make judgements based on the outside, but know that every single person is made in the image of God and worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Illustration:

I was a fireman before God called me to become a pastor. But while I was a fireman I was a Christian. And God gave me many opportunities to share my faith both at the fire station, and in the back of an ambulance.

There was a man who trained me while I was going through paramedic school. He was a good guy, but he was a pretty immoral man in my eyes, used vulgar language, said things about his wife that made me pretty uncomfortable. And I came to the conclusion that he would never want anything to do with Christ.

We both ended up leaving the Fire Dept and didn’t see each other for a couple years. I happened to run into him sometime later and you’ll never guess what he told me: HE GOT SAVED. And when I heard that I thought to myself what a lesson to be learned here.

What a fool I was to think that the gospel cannot penetrate any heart! What a thing to think that there is someone that God cannot save!

Everyone is worthy of the Gospel, and we must see everyone as a potential believer.

3) Effective Evangelism gets Personal

John 4:15–18 NASB95

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”

Explanation: I want you to notice this woman’s response to Jesus. She responds with some sarcasm. “Sir, if you really have this magical water then give me some so I do not have to come back to this well everyday!” But Jesus sees right through this and gets the heart of the matter. He makes it personal!

Look how Jesus responds, “Go, call your husband and come here.” Jesus transitions this conversation about living water to why this woman so desperately needs this living water. the gospel and applies it directly to her life.

What I love so much about this is He does not beat around the bush, but gets right down to the point that the biggest need in this woman’s life is her sin problem! She is not even aware of this greater need until Jesus reveals it her.

Bridge: There is something that every person in the world has in common with the Samaritan woman. That is the desperate need of a drink from the cleansing water of Jesus Christ. It does not matter how moral, how religious, how well put together on the outside someone may seem, they all need what only Jesus can give.

When we share the gospel, we want to shine the penetrating light of Jesus Christ into the darkness of people’s lives. This is exactly what Jesus was doing, he was shining the light into the darkness of this woman’s soul.

What Jesus says to this woman, is the same thing you and I must be willing to say to others: “What are you going to do about your sin?” People may want marital help, people may want help from depression, people may want financial freedom, people want to be freed from addiction, BUT all of this flows from sin and man’s greatest need is be forgiven! And this is the message we must proclaim from the housetops!

Illustration: I had a chance to talk to a man the other day about the Lord. We were out knocking on doors, and he answered and I handed him our card and told him who I was. He said, “Oh I’m going to be moving soon, so I can’t come to your church”. I said sir, I’m not here to get you to come to our church. I’m here to talk you about Jesus Christ.

And I told that man how Jesus died for his sins personally.

And I told him how he had freed me from my sins and given me a true purpose in this life.

And I told him that if he would believe and put his faith in Christ that God would save him, and give him a greater purpose than he had ever known!

And when I got done, that man said, “Where is this church at?”

People need to hear how the Gospel will affect them personally! Why do they need to be saved? They need to be saved from their sins! They need to be saved to made right with God! They need to be saved because without that living water they will never quench that thirst.

4) All you need to share your faith is a real, personal, life changing encounter with Jesus Christ

John 4:19–26 NASB95

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Explanation: I want you to notice all the things this woman does not have:

She does not have a pure Jewish bloodline (She is a Samaritan)

She does not have her personal life in order (She is living with a man who is not her husband and has 5 husbands!)

She does not have good theology (Jesus said, “You worship what you do not know”)

She does not even fully understand “the gift of God” Jesus was offering her.

BUT NOTICE WHAT HAPPENS!

John 4:28-30 “So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” They went out of the city, and were coming to Him”.....(v 39) “From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified”

Explanation: Everything that woman needed, she got, when she met Jesus. She left His presence fully equipped to do the work of an evangelist.

Application: Do you know what we often do in the church today? We underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit of God. We think that the pastors and leaders of the church are the only ones qualified to have a good gospel conversation.

We think we must have at least two years in Sunday school and have been to three evangelism conferences , read the Bible twice through, and had 40 hours of on the field training before we are qualified to share our faith.

When a person comes to faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit of God gives them everything that they need to be a witness.

You are just as qualified to share your faith the day you get saved as you are 20 years in. If your life has been radically transformed by the Savior of the world then you have EVERYTHING you need to win souls.

Heb 13:20-21 “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will”

And do you know what the will of God is for you? It is to go and be a witness in Hopkinsville, in Pembroke, into Oak Grove, in Christian County, in Kentucky, and to their remotest parts of the earth and be a witness of Christ.

And you are fully equipped by God Himself!

5) The most satisfying thing you can do with your faith is share it

John 4:31–35 NASB95

Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.

Explanation: Here come the disciples, clueless as to what all had just happened With this Samaritan woman. Her eyes were opened to see Christ, her life was changed, and now she was out doing what the disciples should have been doing. They missed the entire thing because instead of living the life of an evangelist, they were focused on what they were having for lunch.

They offer Jesus food and He says no thats OK…..I’m completely satisfied. And they miss the spiritual meaning here and begin to wonder who brought Jesus food.

So He makes it clear that to satisfy the Spirit is to satisfy the flesh.

What satisfied Jesus was not another meal, but the wonderful fulfillment that comes from seeing people come to faith in Jesus.

Application: What will satisfy your spirit more than anything is not a t-bone steak, but planting gospel seeds. What jesus said to us all is to be a fisher of men, to “Go, and make disciples”, and this will do tremendous things for our souls as well as for the souls of those whom we are talking to.

There is something that happens down deep in the soul of a man when God allows him to be a part of another’s spiritual birth.

CONCLUSION

The only thing more satisfying in this life than sharing your faith, is drinking from that well yourself. See the offer to that Samaritan woman is the same offer that Jesus is making to us this morning: it is to come and drink of the living water of Jesus Christ. It is to come and have your thirst satisfied for eternity! It is to come And have your sins washed away and have new life in Jesus Christ. It is to come and take of the free gift of God that is offered to anyone who wants it.