SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/21/2019
8:25 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Evangelists”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
4:11
Message of the verse: “11 And He gave
some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as
evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”
We
have been talking about the Apostles and the Prophets in our past SD’s and
stated that once these men were gone that that was the end, as there would be
no more. God has not stopped leading the
church as there are still more offices seen in this 11th verse of
Ephesians chapter four, and we will be looking at the office of evangelists in
our study today.
John
MacArthur writes “Evangelists” (euangelists)
are men who proclaim good news. The
specific term evangelist is used only
in this text in Ephesians; in Acts 21:8, where Philip is called an ‘evangelist’
(see Acts 8:4-40 for details on one of Philip’s evangelistic efforts); and in 2
Timothy 4:5, where Timothy is told to ‘do the work of an evangelist.’ But these
limited references describe a vial, extensive, and far-reaching ministry,
indicated by the use of the verb evangelizo
(to proclaim the good news) 54 times and the noun euangelion (good news) 76 times.
God was the first evangelist, since He ‘preached the gospel beforehand’
(from proeuangelizomai; Gal. 3:8.) Even the angel evangelized (‘bring…good
news,’ [from euangelizomai]) in
announcing the birth of Christ (Luke 2:10).
Jesus evangelized in ‘preaching the gospel’ (Luke 20:1), as did the
apostles in ‘preaching the word (Acts 8:4).”
Now
that we have all of the words used to describe evangelists we need to now look
further into their function. What are
evangelists to do in our world today?
Well the word of the evangelist is to preach and also to explain the
good news of salvation in Jesus Christ to those who have not yet believed. His job is a proclaimer of the salvation by
grace through faith in the Son of God.
It was in our prayer meeting last evening that our Pastor told us of a
man who is dying of cancer and he had the opportunity to go and talk to him
about Jesus Christ and what He has done for this man. Tomorrow (Friday March 22) he has another
appointment to go and to tell this man the good news that Jesus Christ took his
place on the cross for him, and all he needs to do is to admit that he is a
sinner, and that Christ has paid for all of his sins and then if all of this is
sincere then he will be saved and from what we are told of him he will soon go
to heaven and see his Savior. That is
doing the work of an evangelist.
The
connotation of an evangelist in our society today is a man with ten suits and
ten sermons who runs a road show. This
is not the case as New Testament evangelists were missionaries and church
planters which is much like the apostles, (however without the title and
without the miraculous gifts). They went
where Christ was not named and the led people to faith in the Savior. After that they taught the new believers the
Word and built them up, and moved on to the next territory. This certainly is the job that missionaries
do in our world today.
MacArthur
adds “Timothy illustrates the fact that an evangelist can be identified with
local churches in a prolonged ministry for the purpose of preaching and
expounding the true gospel, in order to counter false teachers and their
damning message and to establish sound doctrine of godliness.”
As
mentioned in the case of our Pastor in talking to this dying man about the good
news these evangelists are uniquely designed and given to the church to reach
the lost with the saving gospel. Our
Pastor is a very emotional man who has to wipe tears from his eyes many times
as he preaches on Sundays, especially if we see someone come forward to receive
the Lord as their Savior. He has a
wonderful heart for the lost and so in my eyes he is not only our preaching
pastor, but also an evangelist, something that all true believers should be
doing, that is sharing their faith with the lost. All churches need evangelist to not only be
active in the church, but also to send them out into different areas of the
world as what we now call missionaries to tell others about Christ and the
salvation he offers.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is my prayer that the Lord will trust me
to tell others about the good news of the gospel, and that He would give me
divine appointments to share Christ with.
I need to be like what Peter talks about “but sanctify Christ as Lord in
your hearts, always being
ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the
hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” (1 Peter 3:15).
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will, in His time
continue to teach me the truths of Romans 12:3.
Today’s quotation: “God’s promises are like stars; the darker
the night the brighter they shine” (David Nocholas).
3/21/2019 9:03 AM
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