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Commentary on "Evaluating Witnessing and Evangelism"
Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, June 16, 2012 - Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Key Thought: “It is a mistake to become involved in God’s great task of evangelism without effective evaluation.” Proverbs 25:12 is a key verse and memory text.
OBSERVATIONS
It’s never a mistake to become involved in God’s great task of spreading the gospel. We’re commanded to go in Matthew 28:16-20—it’s called The Great Commission. The important question to ask before we even get to any evaluation is what gospel are we spreading and evangelizing? It’s definitely a mistake to become involved in evangelism when a false gospel is being preached. As we’ll discover in a bit more depth throughout this week’s lesson, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the “gospel” of the Seventh-day Adventist church are not one and the same, and cannot be used to mean the same thing.
Evangelism cannot be reduced to man-made propaganda; God has to be intimately involved, and then it will succeed no matter what “system” is being used. Evangelism is a lifestyle, not a program.
As evidences in Acts 1:8, and in many other places in the Bible, Christ-followers didn’t have a “step-by-step” system—the Holy Spirit was with them. The secret of the evangelistic church was that it had a single passion—Jesus Christ. The same is true today. They offered a gift in Jesus’ name—the gift of eternal life. Isaiah 55:11 says,
“So My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it to do.”
This reminds us, and underscores the fact, that ultimately any success or failure is not dependent on us, but that God is in control and we are simply instruments being used for His glory.
Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised June 1, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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Official Adventist Resources
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