Ministry of the Evangelist, Pastor & Teacher | Lecture 6 : BC-206-MEP&T-20260824

All right, welcome back everyone. Uh, sorry for the bit of a delay. Okay, so point number two, develop the supernatural. So we all must oops, sorry, we all must develop the supernatural. Okay. Third one, develop the ability to present the gospel to varied audiences. Now this is very important. Your audience can change. [clears throat] Example, if you are in a village and you're preaching, how will I preach? What should I teach? What what is what is a simple message that you can bring across? If you're in a town, what kind of message can you bring across to the people there? If you're in a city, what kind of message you need to bring? You're presenting the gospel, but the audience is different. How you present the same gospel is different. Now, if I go to a village and start sharing apologetics, okay, everyone, we're going to learn apologetics. They won't even know what is happening. Or if I go to a village and say we're doing end times study, what they'll say? They will all fall asleep, it's of no use. But I must be able to present the gospel to them in their context. So if if if they are in a village context, I will try to bring up examples of the seed. And Jesus did it so beautifully, right? farming or you look at vegetation, look at nature and you bring out how God created it. Present the gospel through these means simple truths. Then you go to a town where it's a little bit more advanced, right? People are working. There's, you know, maybe certain things that are there that are uh, you know, that are happening there. So you see, okay, how do I present the gospel here? the people are, you know, little more advanced in their thinking. They're more wellversed with what's happening maybe digitally. They are wellversed, right? Um they're using social media. They know how to use YouTube. Okay. How can I bring in certain bring in the gospel to this kind of people then you come into a city. in the city. Okay, we know that everyone, you know, busy lives, work hard, go home, no time or, you know, too much pressure, peer pressure, work pressure. Um, how do I present the gospel in these places? Even as you get opportunities always you know try to find out what that place is about what is the culture about that place and how you can you know bring in the gospel effectively. So for example if you're going to Vanasi and you maybe somebody's called you just an example right you're doing a conference or a one day meeting in Vanasi now don't go there and you know with a blank mind and say I'll go and preach the gospel gospel will do the work God's power will do the work all that we know but I should be prepared no okay where am I going what is famous in Vanasi okay this one Okay, we see that the this these are the you know the the things that are happening in Vanasi the bondages that are there the culture this is what it is. So how do I present the gospel? You know they they they believe in life after death but they believe in moa and all these things. How do I present the gospel to them? Right? Then you can also look at you know uh I remember we were going to many years ago we were going to Jaipur in Rajasthan and so I just started reading about Rajasthan and why it's called the pink city and uh um just reading about the culture beautiful culture with culture Rajasthan they have so much of their own authenticity and I learned about a few sweets that they make and how the process of making those sweets is so difficult. Right. It involves you know very meticulous um you know time so much so that it takes about 3 to four months just to make a little bit of those Rajasthani sweets right so I was reading about them and I remember in Rajasthan we were uh there and I brought this example out everyone was so happy I said see when you make your sweet what all you do you don't just do it right you don't wake up one morning and say I'm going to make sweet no you plan ahead you have to buy the the things the ingredients you have to you know soak them these are the ingredients and you should know how to make the and they all understood right because I was what I did was I put myself into their world yeah yeah that's true then I said same thing with God has a plan for you God has not just created you his word says even before day came to you Psalms 139 he knows all the days of your life So just like how you prepare your sweets with so much of carefulness, meticulously and you know making sure that all the ingredients are done so well. The same way God is interested in your life. He's interested in what you want to do. He's journeying with you every season. He opens doors. He closes doors. He he he he gives you the wisdom to take the right step. This is what God does. He has a plan for you. How you plan to make something, God has a plan for your life. present the gospel, right? It's about how you're able to do it, right? And we develop that ability. It doesn't happen immediately. Takes time, but you have some homework to do, right? And we see this also in Acts where Paul brilliant. We we talked about it in lifestyle evangelism. Remember Paul, okay, that is lifestyle evangelism is gone. It's over. Acts, Paul goes to Aans. Acts 16, sorry, Acts 17, right? While Paul was in an um he was greatly distressed, so he reasoned with the Jews. And when you go on reading here, um he says that your own poets say that we are his offspring. That means what? Paul has done some research. He's learned about the place. He he looked around full of idols. Then he started his conversation there by saying, "I saw one idol which says to an unknown god, now I know you people are very religious. I know that you are looking for God, but you're looking in the wrong place. Let me tell you who that unknown god is." And he brings out the gospel. Powerful, right? The same way we must develop the ability to uh present the gospel to varied audiences. So you can ask, "How do I do that? Prepare sermons. Prepare your own sermons. Right? Write them down. Preach your own sermons. How many of you preach your own sermons at home in the rooms alone in front of the mirror? Yes. Good. Now what you also do is you present it in different scenarios. you look at one in a village setting, town setting or city or now you know nowadays even villagers know how to use zoom and things are changing. So you can just learn to present the gospel in different ways, right? Uh but practice it. Write your sermons, file them up. Don't write after preaching crush and throw it away. No, file it. Right? Keep it with you. And then when you go to third year, you're preparing sermons. Open the sermon here and see the difference. Wow, this is my, you know, sermon I prepared when I was in second year. In one year I see quite a bit of improvement. My sermons have improved. Right? These are things we have to do as Bible students. Right? The reason I'm saying this, I did these things. I prepared sermons and and I look back and I say, "Wow, you know, I remember my first sermon I wrote was change. Change." What God is the God of change. He changed water into wine. He changed uh uh you know, the dead man, death to life. And so God can change your life. That's all the sermon was 15 minutes, right? Couple of verses. But there then I went to second year and I noticed hey the sermon has improved so much and third year and over the years you look at and you come and you see and you're making progress, right? So develop the ability, practice it, teach it, read, learn to give good examples. Jesus was an excellent aator, right? He look at the sermon on the mount. Beautiful. He gave examples when he preached. He taught with authority. He thought with clarity, right? Do you think Jesus studied about the swer? Of course. Yeah. He would have studied, right? It's not like I'm Jesus. I know everything. He would have studied. Oh, when you saw the seed, these are things that happened and this is what happens. But he was able to use all of that and portray that was the power in his teaching, right? He used what was around to present the gospel. Somebody came and asked Jesus, "Good master, what must I do to have eternal life?" He says, "Why do you call me good?" Follows that up with the Samaritan. Good Samaritan story, right? You look at that. So powerful. Why are you calling me good? Only God is good. Yeah, I know God is good. Are you calling me God? No. Okay. He gives them story. The good Samaritan. He was so powerful in the way he was able to present the gospel. How is it the work of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit will give us the wisdom to speak the right things, to say the right things, but we need to be able to prepare ourselves. Think of it this way. There's a tank and this tank has like maybe you know one 100 GB of information. Okay. Now the Holy Spirit will take from that tank or I wouldn't say tank let's say a pen drive you have 100 GB of information. The Holy Spirit will take from that 100 GB and remind you most often he does that. It's there in your pen drive. know last time you saw it he'll remind you and he'll bring out that verse he give you the wisdom okay how do I share the what word I should share at this moment right so the more you fill in at the right time the holy spirit will remind you how to use it but you got to fill it in right then maintain a passion for souls very important in ministry Paul writes towards the end of his life uh towards the end of his ministry he says I have done what God has called me to do right he had a passion for souls you and I if we are in ministry a passion for should not be more for ministry but it should be for people for souls right souls to come into God's kingdom that's what the passion should be right now initially when we start off something we're excited excited right and we want to do it well we but over time that excitement may die off ensure that you you need to tell yourself I shouldn't let this excitement die off said maintain a passion how do I maintain a passion what do you think you can you must do to maintain a passion for anything not only souls but say you're passionate about something what do you do to maintain a passion for it if you're passionate about cycle cycling. What do you do? [snorts] Every day you'll be cycling. But sorry, >> keep the fire. >> Keep the fire burning. Yeah. Yeah. That desire is burning. What else? But for somebody else, why are you going cycling? It's so tiring. It starts raining and you your legs will start paining. You're sweating. Why are you going? Hey, it's not a it's a passion for you. No. No. I love cycling. Let it rain, let it snow, I will still cycle. Right. Legs will pain. Yeah. But I enjoy cycling. When you're passionate about something, it's not going to become a burden for you. When you're passionate about souls, people are not a burden. You look at people, you'll feel, I need to minister. I need to share the gospel with I want them to know. Right? Even us as leaders when we look at people we're very passionate about people. It's not about you know yes preaching teaching all of that but you've noticed right we give everyone opportunities so that you grow in the things of God. We give you opportunities to do the declaration to serve in the church so that you learn and you grow. Right? So the same way you must maintain that passion. Passion for people, passion for souls, passion for the word, passion for God himself. You know, don't try to go out and do ministry without having a passion for the one who's called you to that ministry. You must have a passion. When you wake up in the morning, you know, you should your heart should be rejoicing that you can pray. you can go get into his presence. You know sometimes I feel I wish I can pray more but I can't. Why? I have to get the kids ready. Kids have to get ready get them you know pack their tiffens pack their make breakfast pack their lunch boxes. Mornings is chaos, right? They we get them ready, everything, leave home on time so that they reach school on time. And sometimes by the time it's 8:00, you're tired, right? But these things will be there. This is a part of life. But they don't become an excuse to what God wants to do in our life. We must maintain a passion for God. find ways, you know, stir up your heart, stir up your spirit, spend those times in prayer, reading the word, right? Learn how to equip the saints for similar ministry. When when you are doing ministry, there will come a time you'll have to teach others. Teach others to do the same kind of ministry. When ministering to a local church, just few things as an evangelist, number one, submit to the leadership of the local church. Now if they for example if somebody calls you to come and preach in church submit to the leadership of the local pastor if the local if the pastor says can you finish the sermon in 30 minutes take 30 minutes don't say I am the prophet I am the evangelist I'll do what I want no say the holy spirit came pastor I forgot about time No, don't give those excuses. Submit to the leadership. They said 30 minutes or another 30 minutes. Something we can do is if you feel the Lord is really ministering to you, you can ask the pastor. I feel that this is something can we take can I take some additional time? If it's from God, the pastor will say yes. So something that I personally do even now we did it last week. So we have ministry time towards the end. Our church services from 8:30 to 10:30. Okay. I expect people to come early to church but it's also my responsibility to finish early because they also have to go back home prepare for their other things that they have. So sometimes it becomes 10:30 10:35 and we are still doing ministry time. So I pause and I say church is it okay if I can take 10 minutes? Right? But if not, if you really have something to do, I'll just say a prayer and you you can carry on. But we'll be here just to, you know, just to be obedient to the Holy Spirit. Most often they'll say, "Pastor, please go ahead." Why? Because I have to respect their time. Now, they are coming on time to church. So, I also should be respectful for their time. Right? The same way when somebody invites you to their church, it is their church. Don't go there and be insensitive. That's comes to the next point. Be sensitive to the local church order. Don't say you know what worship should not be 30 minutes. It should be 1 hour worship. No that you do when you start your church. They are doing it in a certain way. It's their church. Be sensitive to their what they are doing. Be sensitive. Right? If they are you know if there's a church where boys and girls are sit sitting separately male and female don't go there and start preaching and say what is this division in the church that's foolishness right we should not do no god has made everyone equally we can sit how it's all waste of time be sensitive to the local church right sometimes people you know while taking communion they take off their shoes and take communion no you don't need to take off the shoes who told you to take off. Be sensitive to the church. You've been invited there to preach. Be sensitive. Now, we've been invited for many conferences and meetings and church events, right? And when we go there, we always check with the pastor. What we do is we sit with them. We we'll share the agenda with them. Pastor, this is what we'll do. You lead the worship. Your team will lead the worship. Session one, we'll do like this. We'll close. session two we'll have then we'll have a lunch break lunch break we'll then we'll come back we'll do this practical session or one more teaching session practical session a little ministry time for maybe 20 15 20 to 30 minutes pray for people and we'll close is it okay is this something is there some change you want to do in this sometimes they'll say no no uh you know we should change this right so for example I remember we used to do short-term Bible college in North India and we used to have 1 hour break. After 1 hour break the students will come and everyone will fall asleep very tired. So suddenly we like as staff we realize morning session they're fully fresh afternoon they're fully sleepy nothing is going into their head but we are teaching and teaching and teaching and we spoke to the organizers we said why is it like this suddenly why so the so they said north in north India they have the habit of sleeping in the afternoon I don't know that but if I could be wrong so they said they need that nap they need a nap you know like that power nap 30 minutes of nap they need then they'll be fresh said okay give them one and a half hours so we gave them one and a half hours and we saw the change they came back they were fully fresh we stopped at 5:00 no no no continue we went on till 8:00 8:00 they had dinner went and slept so we had just that small 1 and a half hour lunch break made such a big difference that we went on till 8:00 talk they said no we are bored now we don't want to go back to the room you teach we will listen so that's why I don't know if it's here it's one and a half hours the break but wherever we go lunch break is one and a half hours especially if it's north India they'll go sleep [laughter] it's just being sensitive it's to what kind of people and the point is to be more effective Ive that's why Paul writes know to the Jew be a Jew to a gentile to a Roman be a Roman don't try to add your stuff wherever you go be sensitive to the place that you are in here in APG sometimes half an hour break is enough they'll eat and come right but there it's different right so be sensitive to the order the local church the pastor the local order within the church what's happening in that place, the region, and eventually as a evangelist, you need to be connected to a local church, right? Uh being connected, being plugged into a local church, very important, right? So these are some of the practical keys of doing the ministry of the evangelist. Now, any questions, any thoughts? I'll just touch upon a few aspects of chapter 4. Renate has a question. Are there similarities between evangelism and Christianization? In history, Christianity often spread through colonial colonial power and cultural pressure and causing indigenous peoples to lose their traditions. So, are there similarities between evangelism and Christianization? Okay. Um, now let me bring this up. I hope I'm able to answer this the right way. Okay, let me give you an example. Christians, the difference is we never forced people to become believers. When you look at it in church history, there was never a force. We never manipulated people. You have to become Christian, right? For example, during the early church um early during the persecution, the Roman persecution, people were Christians and they knew that they could be persecuted and even killed for their faith. Yet, they stayed Christians, right? So, it was not forced upon them. However, if you look at Islam and you look at the jihadis, right? What is jihadis? They they came into territory and they started colonializing. That means they started measuring people. You have to believe in Islam or we're going to kill you. Right? So that's why if you go into Africa, certain parts of Africa are full of Afric of Muslims. Why? Because jihadis came from south. They got into Africa and you know many people accepted Islam there. But if you look at North Africa, not many Muslims because they didn't enter, they didn't penetrate there. Okay? So evangelism and Christianization is the same thing because we don't force our ideologies on people. They evangelized, people became Christians and they were called Christians. Right? But if you look at it in another way, if you look at Islam and other religions, they forced people. Did they evangelize? If you look at the word, yeah, they did evangelize. They evangelized, but they forced it upon people. They manipulated people, right? And they Yeah, that's something that they did. So to answer your question, Renee, there is similarities, right? Evangelism and Christianization. People evangelized so that they may become believers. Unfortunately or you know they became believers and unfortunately that they had you know fortunately they had to get plugged into a church but once they were in the church because of the you know especially when you look at the early church and the cultures and the things that were happening in the early church were not very strong. What happened was um Christianization it became more of a form of religion. Right? uh but I'm not saying everywhere but most places you know it just became a form of religion until you know in the early church Martin Luther came made changes so if you look at it now normally what we do is we share the gospel with somebody they become a believer first thing we do is connect them to a church right now it doesn't mean that this person is Christianized because he's entered a church no it only simply means that he needs the church is the local body where God, the Lord Jesus has uh initiated and he has formed it. And it is in the local body that we are able to function, we're able to learn, there's community, there's fellowship, there's development and it is out of this local body that God fulfills our purpose for our lives. So um in history, Christianity often spread through colonial power and cultural pressure. Uh I that's the thing uh Rene was if you look at church history there was no pressure on people you have to become a Christian only then no on the other hand it was easier not to be a Christian if you look at the early church and in church history it was easier not to be a Christian right look at even for example latest of our in 2008 in our own nation where we went through the intense persecution. It was easy not to be a Christian in Gujarat and even now our current situation it's easy right not to be a Christian. So if you look at it the pressure is more being a Christian than being an unbeliever. So I hope that answers your question Rene. If if there's a follow-up question I'm I'm willing to answer that as well. Yes Rohit Rohit has a question. I just want to know. >> Yeah. Yeah, here's the thing. I I started off by saying the gospel is the same. The gospel is not change, but the way we present it is changes. But Rohit, that's really good because imagine you're going to a hospital and somebody is terminally ill. Everyone know what's terminal, right? That means there's no cure for their sickness, right? terminal illness. How do you present the gospel to them? Right? You can't go there and say, you know, God will heal you right now in Jesus name. Yes, you can do that. But you need to be able to be very sensitive to what the person is going through. You need to empathize with them. You need to understand whether they're believers or unbelievers, right? You need to be able to empathize with them. What are they going through? when Rohit mentioned you know with with the things that are happening maybe there's persecution and also people in hospitals how do I present the gospel so a good good way is to firstly first thing to know in your heart to settle it in your heart that God is a good God and God is a loving God right and God is a powerful God he's able to do anything now that's settled in your heart out of that will flow different ways to minister the gospel. Now for example I have gone and prayed for people who are terminally ill is one of the most difficult things to do. The doctors say no hope but you as a pastor or a leader you're going and praying for them. And sometimes we feel like what to pray doctors anyways have said nothing nothing can be done. Doctors are given 3 months time. What can you pray? And we can so easily be discouraged. So during those times first we need to importantly check your own heart right we need to be strong right say okay even though the doctors have said this I believe that God is a god of miracles he can change any situation. So you're going in with that confidence, right? And then when you're presenting the gospel, you know, you you present it with confidence in faith, right? Uh because it's it's very difficult, right? Because the mind is saying the enemy is putting thoughts in your mind and you know that this is something that is you need God's hand in this place. During these seasons, just trust the word. just present the gospel in a very sensitive way. Say, "Hey, you know, something that I've done to people who are terminally ill is I've just gone and I've I've shared with them. I said, see, God loves you, right? God loves you. Just because the sickness is there doesn't mean God is upset with you or God is angry with you or you've done something wrong in your life." No, God loves you. Right? And God is a God who has taken up his sins on the cross. Your sins, my sins on the cross. And the Bible says that by his stripes we are healed. So you're just presenting you're first you're building faith in their hearts. You're saying see this is what the Bible says. I know the doctors you're empathizing also. I know you're in pain. I know you're suffering. I know you're going through difficulty. I know that the doctors have given you, you know, uh a bad report. But here's what the Bible says. You first build faith in their heart. Right? Now, if it's an unbeliever, it's even more difficult. Uh but here's the thing. I learned this. Always go with a heart of love, whether they are believers or unbelievers. Because if you're going to an unbeliever and you're presenting the gospel, don't go with an attitude that you are you and I are better than them. It won't help. Right? We go in an attitude that God do a supernatural work that their lives may be touched and transformed. That's the attitude we must go in. Right? So presenting it to these kind of situations in our context is hard but the gospel doesn't change. Right? Uh remember to be sensitive, empathize with them. Uh don't very important don't make false promises. And I've heard of you know I remember this one time this happened in 2012 or 2011 it's a real story and it happened this one time I was in another state somewhere in North India and uh this family invited me to pray for their son who was going through cancer 13 or 14 year old son and uh and so I went they were unbelievers right they were not of of faith. So I went and uh I was speaking to the mother speaking to the mother and he said you can go and pray for the boy. They opened the door. We went in there was smell of death in that room right just you could smell death went in and I'm so discouraged right but then after praying and just encouraging them this mother said you look at that jar there was a jar there and inside that there was some slimy substance yeah I saw that all this is happening in Hindi Right. So the mother saying that is the cancer the healing preacher took out from his body. Some preacher they have called healing preacher. The healing preacher has taken out the cancer and put it in that jar. So I looked at them and I said who is this healing preacher? Said no they he came he took it out. My heart broke. The mother is saying asking me will he live even though the cancer is out why is he dying false promises made right and I'm sure he would have I feel he would have died in a couple of days right I see the cancers in that healing preacher this happened and my heart really broke I said false promises we make do all these things in the name of God. And so be very careful with all these things. I know that we won't do this, right? Uh but be very careful. Don't give false promises, right? Just tell them to trust in God. Trust in his word and you know, be faithful. Be be there to support them. Be there to encourage them. Right? It it's it's hard to you know have one way to do it but it doesn't mean the gospel has lost its power right so you just stand on the word share the word trust God to make you know to make a change in their lives any other questions it's good good that we have these questions okay I think we'll stop here next class we'll do we'll begin with chapter for um and please remember like I mentioned right I want you all those online as well right uh have a structured study of the word of God right you must be able to uh you know look into commentaries go to Google you know we uh look into some good commentaries read try to get context uh but a good leader is a good reader Right? All of you are leaders and I want I really encourage you all to start reading. Right? You can start off very simply by just you know reading context reading historical context or even know some any any episode or any book that you have. Okay. Joy is asking any commentaries. U you can look up David Guzik which is really good. Um David Gizk has a commentary called the blue letter Bible. Um he's got the [clears throat] commentary of the entire Bible. David Giz very sound uh teaching and he brings in a lot of historical and you know cultural and um different contexts when he writes. So it's powerful. Now something that really struck me was when Jesus said you are the salt of the earth. And I was reading this commentary. U salt was very expensive during those times, right? It would come in from Asia into um you know, Israel. So salt was very expensive, right? So people would exchange salt for money. It was that expensive, right? Hey, I don't have money, but I have salt. Can you take this salt? It was so valuable that they would take it. And Jesus was saying, "You're the salt of the earth. Right? And he's saying that means you're you're valuable. Not only are you changing the taste and the flavor of the people that you are around, but you're valuable. So these are small things, nuggets of information that really the Bible is a book which we keep learning. Yes or no? Right? Keep learning. Keep so many things that we can learn. So be a student of the word. Okay? All right. We'll stop here. We'll pick up again from next class um from chapter 4 and then we'll get into the ministry of the teacher. Right. All right. Thank you everyone. Have a great week ahead. I'll see you on our other course. Yeah.