THE fact that as believers we have been commanded to go and preach the word doesn’t mean it’s going be easy. Evangelism is war. By PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI
Once you embark on it, you have set yourself up for a fight against the wicked forces of evil in high places that would have all people go to eternal destruction.
Sometimes the people that are going to fight your efforts and your faith are those very close to you (Matthew 10:34-37). This is a hard saying. But it demonstrates that soul-winning is a matter of life and death. How, then, do you negotiate your way in this jungle? You need the Holy Spirit.
Following the death and resurrection of Jesus, His disciples were so eager to go out and start preaching about what they had heard and seen in fulfilment of a prophecy uttered by David in Psalm 67:2 (TLB), “Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and eternal plan for all mankind.”
Jesus, however, cautioned them not to rush because he knew that if they embarked on an evangelism campaign without being empowered by the Holy Spirit, their zeal would soon dissipate and they would not do much and wouldn’t even be able to stand the persecution that was most definitely going to come (Luke 24:49).
Following his resurrection, Jesus continued with the same discourse just before his ascension to heaven. Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
And on the very day that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, the Bible says in Acts 2:41, “those who accepted and welcomed his message were baptised, and there added that day about 3 000 souls.”
For a long time, we have associated receiving the infilling of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues and, perhaps, feeling goose bumps on our skin. But there is much more to the Holy Spirit. His key roles include empowering the believer to be a witness for Christ (John 16:13-14).
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We learn from the scriptures that soul-winning for the early church was not always smooth sailing because evangelism attracted brutal persecution of believers who were preaching the gospel as commanded by Christ.
But when you go back through the pages of the Bible, you will realise they had been forewarned about this. Luke 12:11-12, “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be anxious [beforehand] how you shall reply in defence or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour and moment what [you] ought to say.”
You need to have the attitude exhibited by those three Hebrew boys Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:16-18 as they were willing to be thrown into the pit of fire, confident that their God would save them and even if He didn’t, they would still not worship an idol.
Does your conviction about Christ and what he died for compel you to say, “If I preach Christ and I’m persecuted, he will save me. But even if He doesn’t come through for me, I will still do it.”
Think about this. The gospel was never cheap. It will always demand blood. How deep is your conviction? How far are you prepared to go? How much of yourself will you commit to the Great Commission regardless of the cost?
If you live in a country where preaching the gospel is not an issue, consider this a privilege. Are you going to remain silent? Even as there is no threat upon your life, will you remain silent still?
The Holy Spirit is the spirit of boldness, He is the spirit of comfort, given to encourage God’s people in a world full of trouble and in the face of persecution.
Imagine that in Acts 5, after the apostles had been arrested and miraculously taken out of prison by an angel, the Bible says in Acts 5:29, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
l Phillip Chidavaenzi is the author of The Gospel of Grace: From the Old to the New Testament (2016) and Walking in the Spirit (2017). He can be contacted on [email protected]
