As relating to His original audience, this means, \u201cget out of Jerusalem, teach the gospel in outer areas, even to the gentiles\u201d.\u00a0 And they did.\u00a0 Or some did.\u00a0 As it turned out Paul was the primary \u201cevangelist\u201d, and he wasn’t one of the original apostles or even a disciple.\u00a0 He started out as a vehement persecutor of The Way (as the followers of Jesus called themselves).\u00a0 But after he encountered the resurrected Jesus, he became equally as enthusiastic in promoting the gospel of Jesus.\u00a0 It was primarily his travels that brought Christianity throughout the known world of that time.\u00a0 He even traveled to Rome (as a prisoner) and his witnessing to those he encountered there resulted in the Roman empire becoming Christian.<\/p>\n Had they all stayed in Jerusalem, it is quite possible that The Way would have been a short-lived movement easily quashed by the Pharisees.\u00a0 But, that was not the case.<\/p>\n Telling others about Jesus, what He did, who He is, and how that relates to us can result in others seeing a need and accepting Jesus as Lord of their lives.\u00a0 Some do not want to hear it.\u00a0 That’s okay; they’ve made their decision, don’t force the issue.\u00a0 But those who are receptive will become new disciples.<\/p>\n It may not happen all at once.\u00a0 Sometimes it does; some will see the situation, and genuinely accept Jesus.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit is born in them and they begin to walk with God.\u00a0 Others, particularly those who are responding to a fiery sermon on damnation and eternal punishment, may be reacting out of fear and self preservation more than a love of Jesus.\u00a0 But even these can grow into true disciples if they don’t fall away.\u00a0 More on that in a minute.<\/p>\n Among the various Christian denominations, this is one of the most hotly contested points of the Gospel.\u00a0 Is the baptism spoken of here the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or of water?\u00a0 If water, how much water?\u00a0 My own view on this is that it is the Holy Spirit that equates with salvation.\u00a0 Water will not save you.\u00a0 Water is a point of obedience; part of professing Christ before men.\u00a0 If you are more comfortable with being baptized with water by all means, be baptized with water: it will do no harm.\u00a0 But recognize that saying some words and getting wet is not an insurance policy against Hell if you have not truly believed and are not willing to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n \u201c…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;\u201d This is the part that is too often trimmed away by what I call Hit & Run Evangelists.\u00a0 These folks want to engage in a highly mobile style of evangelism, holding short, emotionally charged sessions in each community.\u00a0 Initiates come tearfully down the aisle to be prayed over and profess their faith.\u00a0 The evangelist tally\u2019s up his or her running count and moves on.\u00a0 If there is a solid church in that community where these initiates can learn about the Christian life and offer service to God: this style of evangelism is fine.\u00a0 But where there is none, this is equal to giving birth and leaving the infant along side the road, hoping someone else will come along and care for it.<\/p>\n The Bible tells us that wherever we plant the seed of faith, the enemy comes immediately to steal it away (Matthew 13:19<\/a>).\u00a0 Handing a new disciple a towel and a bible and saying, \u201cGo; live for Jesus\u201d is not likely to get the job done.\u00a0 Left on their own, Satan will draw them away.\u00a0 They may think, \u201cI’ve done the thing<\/em> so now I’m good, I can go on with my life and know I’ll end up in Heaven\u201d.\u00a0 And maybe they will: if their faith is genuine.\u00a0 Only God knows for sure.\u00a0 But without guidance, they will not (usually) learn to live life as a productive, Jesus-following Christian.\u00a0 Few take it upon themselves to, as 2 Timothy 2:15<\/a> says, \u201cStudy to show yourself approved\u201d.<\/p>\n Study of God’s word is important.\u00a0 Through it we come to know God and we learn to be guided by His precepts.\u00a0 Without this we may be wearing the name badge of \u201cChristian\u201d but we think, act, and live just like the rest of the world.<\/p>\n Those who responded out of emotion rather than faith, can grow into salvation by coming to know Jesus through their studies.\u00a0 They may come to a point of public re-dedication or a private submission, but as long as the Holy Spirit indwells them and they truly accept Jesus, they are now among the saved.\u00a0 This won’t happen in the wake of a hit & run evangelism campaign.\u00a0 To grow into a mature Christian (Jesus follower) takes a dedication to learning \u2013 and sharing.\u00a0 Repeating some words and getting wet will not save your soul.\u00a0 Coming to know and love Jesus, and committing to follow Him, will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In this world which is increasingly hostile to Christians, evangelism is a touchy subject. Many churches prefer to take an, “If they’re interested, they’ll come to us” stance in order to avoid creating any sort of enmity. Matthew 28: 19 & 20 says: 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in … Continue reading “Hit-n-Run Evangelism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[78,57],"class_list":["post-10312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matters-of-faith","tag-christian","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10312"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21361,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10312\/revisions\/21361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"evangelism](\"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tent-Revival.jpg\")
<\/a>These are the marching orders Jesus gave His disciples (past and present) before ascending to return to God in Heaven.\u00a0 In this directive are four points we need to understand.<\/p>\nGo<\/h3>\n
Make Disciples<\/h3>\n
Baptize<\/h3>\n
Teach<\/h3>\n