Reviving Evangelism

Welcome to Insights. I'm Pastor John and

today we're going to talk about reviving

evangelism within your heart.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just

thank you for this opportunity to look

at your word. We ask you, Lord, right

now to help us to focus on what your

word says, to focus on the power and

need for evangelism in today's church.

We're careful to give you all the glory

and all the praise in Jesus name. Amen.

So, we're going to take a look. First,

let's Our basic text is 2 Timothy 1:6

to8. And

I really, really wanted to help you

understand this that

evangelism

is the heartb blood of the church.

Without evangelism, the church doesn't

grow. And there's a difference between

an evangelist

and evangelism.

Even though an an evangelist pursues

evangelism

and that's their distinct ministry, um

Philippians uh 4:11 says that he gave

these five specific ministry gifts to

the church uh apostles, prophets,

evangelists, pastors, and teachers. and

their job is to bring believers to full

maturity in Christ. So what I want to

talk about today and what we've been

focused on last week as well is the need

for evangelism in the church. So this is

what Paul said to Timothy. This is

second Timothy chapter 1 6 7 and 8. It

says, "Wherefore I put thee in

remembrance that thou stir up the gift

of God which is in thee by the putting

on of my hands. For God hath not given

us the spirit of fear,

but of power and of love and and of a

sound mind. Be not thou therefore

ashamed of the testimony of our Lord."

And evangelism

is the act of reaching people with the

gospel of Jesus Christ and bringing

people to repentance and to accepting

Jesus as Lord and Savior. That's that is

the sole focus of evangelism.

And evangelism has to start in you has

to start in your heart. Uh in old days

in the church they talk used to talk

about revival has broke out. Revival has

broke out. And what that means is that

that spirit of evangelism

has been rekindled.

And so let's talk about that. Let's talk

about what that means. Every fire if not

fed will fade. A campfire once burning

bright can be can die overnight if left

unattended. If you've ever been camping

before or you've ever had a been around

a campfire or or had a a fire built in

your, you know, in your backyard, as

long as you're putting fresh fuel on

that fire, fresh wood on that fire, you

have a bright burning flame. But when

you stop feeding the fire, the flame

dies down.

We are like that fire. If we don't water

or feed the spirit of evangelism, the

spirit of revival within ourselves, it

never wells up for us to do what God has

called us to do. And uh I want you to

think about this.

In Acts 18, Jesus tells his disciples to

go to Jerusalem and tarry a few days

where they'll be imbued with imbued with

power from on high by the Holy Spirit,

the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And it

would give them boldness to be witnesses

and that's what the Holy Spirit's for.

It empowers you to witness

to Judea, to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,

and the uttermost part of the earth. So,

as they begin their journey as the

church in Acts chapter 2:4 and Peter

preaches his first sermon, 3,000 people

are added to the church that day. A few

days later, Peter preaches again and

5,000 men, not counting the women and

children, are added to the church. And

this spirit of evangelism is on fire.

The church in Jerusalem begins to grow.

And it's growing by leaps and bounds.

It's growing like crazy.

And

something amazing happens that we don't

normally take a look at in depth is the

fact that at that point the church was

totally and completely in Jerusalem.

And that's not what Jesus told them to

do. He told them to wait in Jerusalem

until they were imbued with power from

on high. And then they were supposed to

take the gospel

and take it from Jerusalem to the ends

of the earth.

And they're focused on Jerusalem.

They're building the church, but they're

not doing evangelism. They're not going

out and sharing the word outside of

Jerusalem. And then something takes

place, and it's in Acts chapter 7, the

stoning of Stephen.

And after Stephen is stoned for his

testimony

and he speaks what he speaks, he says,

"I see Jesus standing at the right hand

of the father."

And the apostle Paul, he's known as Saul

of Tarsus at this time, is standing

there holding the blade clothes of the

people that that stoned Steven.

And the persecution of the church begins

in just violently

and it causes the church in Jerusalem to

scatter

and the disciples flee.

We get into Acts chapter 8

and Philillip on his way to Samaria,

he's fled Jerusalem. He runs into

an a an Ethiopian unic who is studying

the word trying to understand who God

is. And

Philillip gets

into the chariot with him and explains

to him the very verse he's reading.

And what takes place is the beginning of

the church spreading. He he explains the

verse to the unit. The unit receives

Jesus and they stop when they find water

and Philip baptizes him. He receives the

Holy Spirit and then the power of the

Holy Spirit takes Philillip to Samaria

and he begins to preach the word of God

in Samaria.

Peter flees and he sees the vision of

the sheep coming down from heaven. At

the same time, this persecution is huge

and Paul gets letters of authority from

the Sanhedrin, which is the ruling court

of the Jews, to take every Christian he

can find and put them in chains and

bring them back to Jerusalem.

persecution.

It drives the the church forward.

You stop and think about it. The

assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Look what happened. 100,000 people show

up for his memorial service.

Yesterday,

I was watching the news and I watched

the presentation of the Presidential

Medal of Freedom to his his widow

um as a proclamation of what Charlie had

done. But look what's going on with

Turning Point.

In less than a month, they went they

they have a

over 130,000 people have approached

Turning Point to add chapters. They've

added over 2,000 chapters already to

their to their mission. And Charlie

Kirk's way of reaching young people was

is evangelism

because his first and foremost thing was

to share the gospel of Jesus Christ

um

with young people and to get them to

convert.

So

we have to develop this passion in our

souls and that evangelistic fire once it

begins to burn

will set you on fire. But the cares of

this world can cause you to get

distracted.

And Paul had noticed in Timothy and I'm

sure Timothy had written him a letter

trying to figure out what to do. And

Paul's Paul urges Timothy to stir up the

gift of God that's within him.

And it's the flame of evangelism. If

it's weakened in your heart, you can

rekindle it. And we're going to take a

look at how to keep it alive until the

whole world knows Jesus. So Paul wrote

this letter to Timothy from prison while

he was waiting to be executed.

Timothy was young. He was timid and he

was facing pressures from false teachers

and persecution and fear began to

suppress his boldness. And and a lot of

times what we run into is we're afraid

to get out and be bold

because we're afraid of what might

happen to us. And Paul is telling

Timothy, don't worry about what might

happen to you. Jesus said persecution

would come, but get that flame rekindled

within you and go out and tell people

the truth and the power of Jesus.

He tells him to to stir up the gift of

God. And that phrase stir up in Greek is

an means to rekindle.

And it's like blowing on the dying

embers of a of a fire until they

reignite and the flames begin to blaze

again. And Paul reminded Timothy that

the Holy Spirit within him was not a

spirit of fear, but it's a spirit of

power and love and of a sound mind. And

you have to keep this in mind. Fear

quenches the fame flame and faith feeds

it.

So just as Timothy was called to keep

his spiritual fire burning, all of us,

every believer has to guard and nurture

the flame of evangelism through prayer,

obedience, and the power of the Holy

Ghost. And it's something that you

absolutely need. You have to have that

fire burning. So we're going to look at

at some different aspects of that. Uh

remembering who that the fire's source,

remembering to reject the fire's

enemies. And that's doubt and fear.

Rekindle the fire through discipline.

Uh

developing a strong prayer life and then

learning how to release that fire

to so that it because fire spreads

and all it takes is a little spark to

get that fire going in someone else. And

that's the truth of evangelism is you're

actually

causing someone else to catch fire for

Christ. So the the source of the

evangelistic fire, it's not personality

or emotion. It's the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:4, it says, "And they were all

filled with the Holy Ghost and began to

speak with other tongues as the spirit

gave them utterance." The early

believers, they didn't have any

buildings. There wasn't a building. They

had no microphones, no media. But they

had fire

and that fire began when the spirit

descended on the day of Pentecost.

Gos the gospel spread like wildfire

because it burned first in the heart of

the saints.

And because of that fire that was

burning in them, the fire spread.

Moses is calling it the burning bush.

God God's flame ignited his mission.

When the bush burned without being

consumed, Moses learned the divine fire

doesn't destroy. It it empowers.

Now, when we watched the fires down the

palisades and things were being

destroyed, there's fear with that kind

of fire. But when you have the fire of

the Holy Spirit burning within you,

there's no fear there. It comes with

boldness. When you felt that presence of

God pushing you so hard and that flame

burning, you can't stop yourself from

speaking. You have to tell somebody

about that fire that's been rekindled in

you. And what God is asking you to do is

to share that fire. Get it burning in

somebody else.

Never forget your zeal for souls. It's

not self-generated. It's not your

something that you do. It's something

the Holy Spirit does within you.

And it flows from the fact that you have

developed intimacy with God.

And that it's built on the altar of

prayer. And if you don't attend to that

fire, if you don't earnestly pray for

God to keep the fire kindled within you

and a roaring raging flame, it'll fade.

And to maintain that evangelistic

passion, you need to reach the lost for

Christ. You have to stay close to the

person that that actually ignited the

fire and that's Jesus Christ.

Paul warned Timothy not to fear. This is

point number two. Reject the fire enemy

enemies. Paul warned Timothy not to

fear. Fear is one of the main enemies of

evangelism.

There's only faith and fear have one

thing in common. You can't see them. You

can see the results of them, but you

cannot see them.

And Hebrews 11 1 says that

faith uh is the substance of things

hoped for and the evidence of things not

seen. If you have faith, you can you can

ignite that fire. If you have fear, you

can calm that fire.

Second Timothy 1:7 says, "For God has

not given us the spirit of fear, but of

power and of love and of a sound mind."

Fear tells you they won't listen. Fear

says you're not ready. Fear tells you to

stay quiet when heaven is urging you to

speak. Other enemies of the fire include

complacency. In other words, oh, I'm

comfortable. I don't need to do

anything.

criticism,

pointing out people's faults and and

picking on people that are trying to get

the the power of evangelism falling in

their lives. And then of course sin

and they're like wet blankets smothering

the flame.

Peter,

he he dealt with this on the night of

Christ's trial before his crucifixion.

One of the people recognized him as a

Galilean and Peter filled with fear

rather than filled with faith faith

denied Christ.

Yet after Pentecost, after he was filled

with the Holy Spirit, he preached boldly

before thousands of people.

And you need to apply some things. You

need to ask questions of yourself.

Identify what quenches your passion.

fear, dizziness, comfort,

and lay it at the cross. God's fire

cannot dwell where fear reigns.

The fire of evangelism thrives only in

hearts ruled by faith.

The third point is to rekindle the fire

through discipline. Paul said to stir up

the gift. That means it's intentional.

If you've ever had a campfire burned

down and it's all the way down to just

embers, to get that fire going, you have

to do a couple of things. Before you add

any more fuel to the fire, you have to

stir it to get oxygen flowing into that

wood. And then when you lay the new wood

on there, this dry wood, it catches fire

and the flames begin to to leap up. So

your your spirit man is the same way. If

you don't feed him regularly, just like

you got to feed that campfire,

he loses strength. He loses uh his power

and he becomes complacent.

Good morning, Jesse. Uh the verb implies

action that you must fan the flame

intentionally.

Romans 12:11 says, "Not sorrowful in b

in business, fervent in spirit, serving

the Lord." Fire needs fuel. Spirituality

that fuel is prayer, scripture,

fellowship, and service. You can't keep

the fire if you never feed it.

Elijah built rebuilt the altar before

calling down fire. Have you ever read

that story? light on Mount Carmel before

they started their deal, he re they

rebuild the altar

and then after the altar is prepared and

he's got the sacrifice on there and

everything is ready. What does he do? He

c he prays and fire falls from heaven

and consumes the sacrifice consumes the

other sacrifice and all the water that

was in the trench around it.

The fire didn't fall until the altar was

restored. That altar that you need to

restore is your prayer life. Your time,

the amount of time you spend with God

directly reflects the amount of fire you

have burning in your soul. So, rebuild

your altar of prayer. Make daily time

for God's presence. You can't know what

God wants you to do unless you spend

time with him. Discipline yourself to

evangelize even when you don't feel like

it. Obedience keeps the flame alive.

And

passion without discipline fades. And

discipline keeps passion burning.

And then the last thing or the last

point I want to bring up is that you

have to release that fire into the

world.

You're God's mouthpiece. A fire that

stays in one place soon dies from lack

of air.

Like a believer who never shares the

gospel will suffocate spiritually. You

have to tell people what Jesus has done.

I've told said this many times. Your

greatest tool for evangelism, for

witnessing is the testimony that you're

living. How people see Jesus in you.

Jesus uh Jeremiah 29 says, "His word was

in my heart as a burning fire shut up in

my bones and I was weary with forbearing

and I could not stay." Jeremiah tried to

stay silent but could not.

When the fire burns within, it must come

out. You ever seen a a building catch on

fire, the fires start in the middle, but

pretty soon the flames grow and grow and

then you'll see the flames, any opening

where there's air coming in. The flames

will begin to burst out and eventually

consumes the whole building. The early

church, listen to this, the early church

went everywhere preaching the word. It

doesn't just say the apostles. It

doesn't just say disciples. It says the

church went everywhere preaching the

word. They didn't wait for microphones

or pulpits. Every street became a

platform.

So what do you need to do? You need to

let your fire spread. Speak at work.

Pray in public. Share hope online. Every

believer is a torch in God's hands. He's

looking to have people who will are

willing to stand up

and speak for him. And the more you do

that, the fire grows stronger the more

it is shared.

So Paul told Timothy to stir up the

gift. That call echoes to every believer

today. The world is darker than ever.

Just look around you. Look at what's

going on in this world.

But one burning heart can light a

thousand more.

You are that flame. Don't hide your

fire. Feed it. Don't fear the flame. Fan

it. Don't keep it to yourself. Spread

it. Let's pray that the Holy Ghost

rekindles passion to win souls until

Jesus returns. So I want to encourage

you that no matter how timid you may be,

you know, no matter how ineffectual you

feel you are, if you will just begin to

tell people, God will give you the

words. He will empower your testimony.

He'll empower your words and you'll say

the right things to the people that they

need to hear to change their lives which

is the purpose of evangelism is changed

lives. The word of God does two things.

It convicts and then it converts. It

convicts people of their sin. It

convicts them of what they're doing in

their lives. And then

when the conviction comes and repentance

comes because of the conviction, it

converts you and gives you power over

the things that drew you into sin.

Without conviction and without

conversion, the word of God is not doing

the job it's supposed to do in your

life. And it has to begin with you. You

have to allow God's word to change you.

So let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank thee

for the fire the of thy spirit. Forgive

us for letting the flame grow dim.

Breathe upon us again, Lord. Stir up the

gift within us. Cast out fear and fill

us with holy boldness. Let our hearts

burn. Let our lips speak and our hands

serve. Use us to ignite revival in this

generation in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Don't fear the flame. Panic. Go and do

what you need to do to share the gospel

of Jesus Christ with every person you

meet. Don't be afraid of what God can do

through you. Be what be encouraged of

what God wants to do in you. We'll see

you guys next week. You have a great

week.