Evangelism as a Way of Life - Bob Smeltz - 5/24/26

Thank you for taking the time to listen to the Well Church Saddentons Podcast.

We pray that you enjoy this message.

So first, I just want to talk a little bit, kind of my thoughts on evangelism in its current state.

And I feel like as a church, not necessarily this, but as a whole,

I think we've had a lot of missed opportunities.

And it just got me thinking about those types of opportunities and,

you know, what do you see other churches do?

And especially the things that you see online and stuff like that.

And I feel like we kind of missed it in two areas, with the quantity and the

quality of our evangelism.

And you think about it, right?

When you think about Scriptures, how many times did Jesus sit in a church building

waiting for people to come to Him?

Right? How many times did Jesus say, hey,

we're going to schedule a time where we're going to go out, We're going to meet

the people on the streets And we're going to do some evangelism And we're going

to have a great time You know How many times Did Jesus,

Go and debate Unbelievers,

How many times did Jesus go on the streets And protest sinners My scripture

says that he Died with sinners.

So What I've seen And it's not everybody is not all the time,

is that we've kind of missed it.

Our evangelism doesn't look like Jesus.

So in my last message from last month, I talked about gifts from Jesus,

the prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and prophets. I think I said prophets, but...

I just want to kind of focus mainly on the evangelism this week.

And really, no matter what our gift is, there's one goal with our gifting.

And we find that in 2 Corinthians 5, 16 to 20.

So from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.

Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away Behold, the new has come All this is from God who reconciled

us to himself through Christ And gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

But God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ Not counting men's trespasses

against him And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation,

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ As though God were making his appeal

through us We implore you on behalf of Christ Be reconciled to God.

So in our evangelism The goal is to preach that message of reconciliation That's

saving souls I mean, that's what we kind of call it, right?

Saving souls is reconciling the lost, the broken,

the hurting The sinners back to the heart of God And being ambassadors of Christ

kind of puts a little bit of a burden A good burden, right?

My yoke is easy You know, like right now though We live in this generation filled

with distraction And confusion, entertainment Even entertainment in the church,

Even to a church that you were entertained But you left without the Spirit and

spiritual complacency.

But in the midst of all of that, the mission to the church has never changed.

Remember, we just have to find new ways to do it.

Jesus gave the assignment to go and make disciples.

And in a way, I feel like the heartbeat of the church is evangelism.

So how can you prophesy to someone you never met? How can you lay hands and

heal people that you never met?

It doesn't have to be crowds of people. It could be the person standing in front

of you, someone you're on the phone with.

You don't have to overcomplicate things. The word evangelism comes from the

Greek word evangelizo, which means to proclaim the good news.

And there is no breaking news.

We know that great good news to proclaim.

And in this good news, sinners can be forgiven, hearts can be transformed,

chains can be broken, and eternal life is available through Christ.

And, you know, I think we make it pretty apparent here, but this Great Commission

isn't just for pastors and missionaries or evangelists.

This is really a responsibility for all of us, David.

Acts 1.8 tells us that every Christian is called to be a witness.

It says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and

you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

The fun part about it, I kind of, I think is like not, not everybody has the same personality.

Not everybody has the same platforms.

So we all have the same gospel. I feel like sometimes that some of the churches

these days have lost that evangelistic fire.

You'll become comfortable while the world is still perishing.

The parable of the lost sheep says, See that you do not look down on any of these little ones.

For I tell you that there are angels in heaven.

Always see the face of my father in heaven.

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,

Will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hill and go out to search for the one that is lost?

And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices more over that one sheep Than

over the ninety-nine that did not go astray In the same way,

your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish

Do you think that heaven still rejoices over the one sinner?

So, today I want to talk about three points The biblical mandate for evangelism

The theological foundation of evangelism And an apostolic example The biblical mandate for evangelism.

Evangelism. So we're going to start Matthew 28, 18 and 20.

I have a lot of scriptures, a lot of small ones. You don't have to jump around and get whiplash.

But Matthew 28, 18 to 20 says, Jesus, then Jesus came to them and said,

all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name

of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all

that I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." Jesus begins first

by declaring his authority.

Before he even commands, he establishes his lordship.

Why did he do that? Because evangelism is not based on human preference.

It's based on Christ's authority.

If our boss at work told us to do something, will we do it? Mm-hmm.

Okay. Everybody's following along, right?

Go and make disciples of all nations. Okay, boss.

Why is it any different if Jesus tells us to go and make disciples?

Why don't we? Why aren't we? If he's truly our Lord of our lives,

Why would we not do what he tells us to do You know, our heart needs to be in

a position That we do the things that we do Because Jesus is Lord,

Jesus is Savior Jesus is everything And the scope of his mission is to make disciples.

The gospel is for every tribe, every race Every culture,

every language And every people group on this earth And it's always been part

of God's plan In Genesis 12, 3, it says Simply,

I will bless those who bless you And curse those who curse you And all the families

of the earth Will be blessed through you God promised Abraham that all the nations

Will be blessed through his seed,

Ultimately fulfilled through Jesus And Paul confirms this in Galatians 3,

8 The scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and foretold

the gospel to Abraham, all nations will be blessed through you.

We, nobody, not just us, no one can believe in the gospel unless they hear it.

This next scripture, Romans 10, 14, and 15. This is key.

This is one of the key scriptures. It says, how then can they call on the one

that they have not believed in?

And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone to preach?

And how could they preach unless they are sent?

As is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Gospel.

How are people supposed to have faith in the same God that we believe in,

the same God that we come here every Sunday to worship as a group if they don't hear?

Or if they have a bad experience with it, because we fall short of being Jesus in our evangelism.

God chose that the gospel be proclaimed through his people.

Romans 10, 8 through 10 says, But what does it say? The word is near you.

It is in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith we are proclaiming.

That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess you are saved.

How are people supposed to know that without evangelism?

And Jesus says in Mark 16, 15, And he said to them, Go into all the world and

preach the gospel to every creature. Every creature.

You can preach gospel to the bears. You think they listen?

Maybe it's a snake. Maybe he'd still be alive.

But it's not just locally and not just selectively. Why would we be selected

when we talk to you about Jesus?

But the whole world.

There's a picture in heaven, right? We get Revelation 7, 9.

It says, After this I looked and I saw a multitude too large to count,

from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.

One of the things here is when that time comes, when that gospel mission ends, it ends in worship.

It's a pretty neat picture if you can just imagine. A multitude too large to count.

Evangelism still exists because there are people who still have not worshipped him.

People that still do not know him. So my question is, are we living with that

great commission at the center of our lives?

We make it a point each day. Point number two This is more of a theological foundation,

The reason evangelism matters Is because eternity is real,

Heaven's real, hell's real Salvation is also real The scripture declares that

every human being Is a sinner before the holy God Romans 3.23 For all have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God Every person needs salvation on this.

And salvation is found nowhere else except for in Jesus.

Acts 4.12, salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under

heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

Jesus answers in John 14.6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except for me.

If Jesus is truly the only way, then evangelism is not optional.

People could be saved without Christ. There would be no need for the cross.

Because Christ alone saves, we must proclaim him and proclaim him boldly.

First Timothy 2, 2, 3, and 4. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God,

our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth, of the truth.

In 2 Peter 3, 9, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promises as some understand

slowness, but is patient with you. Thank you.

Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

God's heart is merciful, and he delights in saving sinners.

And for some reason, he's entrusting us to that ministry, a ministry of reconciliation.

We read 2 Corinthians 5, 18 to 20 again.

And all this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave

us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciled the world to himself,

not counting men's trespasses against them.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making his appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

I mean, that's a pretty incredible responsibility to be ambassadors of Christ,

that when we speak the gospel, God makes an appeal through us.

Evangelism is not merely a church activity. It's a participation in the redemption,

the redemptive mission of God.

We get to partner with Him. We get to love like He did, and He does.

We look up to Jesus, and this is who we are supposed to model.

Point number three, some examples.

Jesus didn't simply just command evangelism. The early church really modeled it,

and again in Acts 1.8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes

upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to witness.

When we read these scriptures, the early church exploded through across the

Roman world because ordinary believers were filled with extraordinary boldness.

On Pentecost, Peter stood and preached Christ crucified and risen. And what happened?

Acts 2, 41, those who embraced his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were

added to the believers that day. 3,000.

One person Proclaimed his name boldly And 3,000 were saved One sermon Why?

Because the gospel had power And it still has power today Amen It is Just as

powerful as it was back then.

We read about these disciples, you know, Philip preached to the Ethiopian eunuch

in the wilderness. That's out of nowhere.

You know, maybe the next time we're taking a hike or running to somebody,

hey, we can preach the gospel out in the wilderness.

Paul preached in synagogues, marketplaces, prisons, in people's homes.

And even while in prison, he continued proclaiming Christ.

And in Acts 28, 30 and 31, Paul stayed there two years in his own rented house,

welcoming all those who visit, and boldly and freely he proclaimed the kingdom

of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 9, 16, Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast

because I am compelled to preach.

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. You know, there's such a holy burden

in Paul's heart to do that.

2 Timothy 4, 5, But you, be sober in all things, endure hardships,

do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

We do this by speaking grace and truth.

Colossians 4, 5, 6, Act wisely towards outsiders, redeeming the time.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Your truth without love becomes harsh, and love without truth becomes compromise.

We are called to proclaim truth in love.

Ephesians 4, 15, instead, speak the truth of love.

We will in all things grow up into Christ himself, who is the head.

Like that should be what we desire every morning when we wake up we speak the truth of love,

We grow up into Christ himself.

There's also a warning in Revelations 2, 4 and 5 But I have this against you

He was talking to the church of Ephesus But I have this against you You have

abandoned your first love Therefore keep in mind how far you have fallen Repent

and perform the deeds you did at first,

You know, we can be sound in all kinds of doctrine And filled with the Holy

Spirit but lose passion for saving souls.

In closing, evangelism is biblical. Evangelism is urgent.

Evangelism is eternal. Evangelism should be a way of life. It was a way of life for Jesus.

He woke up and just did it. It was part of his everything.

If he didn't, would we know him? If he sat in a building and waited for people

to come to him, would we have the Gospels the way that we have them now?

There are people out there, our close friends, our family members that are going to hell.

That should be enough. That should be enough just to reach them.

Jesus declared in Matthew 24, 14, And this gospel, the kingdom,

will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations.

And then the end will come.

Some people are afraid of the end.

Maybe that kind of hits a little bit different for some people.

I don't know. But how do we respond to something like that? The first thing

we need to do is we need to examine ourselves.

We need to repent of anything that's indifferent from us looking like Christ.

We need to ask God to restore the burden that Jesus has for saving souls.

And one that I absolutely hate Is no more lukewarmness We need to be on fire I mean on fire Right,

We need to equip ourselves Romans 1 16 I'm not ashamed of the gospel Because

it is the power of God For salvation to everyone Who believes First to the Jew then to the Greek,

Equip yourself Learn the gospels I'm reading them again Read them over and over

and over Know your scriptures Not for debate But how to respond to people How

to love people How to speak to people,

If you're ready to share your testimony, the more stuff you do,

the more testimonies you'll have. That's how it works.

I would just suggest go home and read the Gospels over and over and over to

your heart that starts to weed for those who aren't saved.

And engage this week. Share Christ with one person.

It's not about the 3,000 all the time It's about the one A neighbor We all have

neighbors that aren't saved Some of us have neighbors where we don't even know

Maybe they are, maybe they aren't,

Coworkers Family members, strangers,

And pray boldly Acts 429 And now, Lord, consider their threats And enable your

servants to speak your word with complete boldness.

Matthew 3, 9, 37, 38. I learned this on my mission.

It's the things that I've seen. It says, Then he said to his disciples,

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest.

The harvest is ready. The question is, will we go?

That's one of the things that shocked me on my mission was out of,

it's only got more people during the week, but there's probably about 40-ish

some people by the end of the week, and most of them were retired.

I met Stefan. Stefan was a 71-year-old man from Baton Rouge that comes there

for three months at a time.

Days at the church, works on the houses.

I mean, that's a little bit of a trip to get there as well. You know,

to spend three months at a time there.

There was a guy, Roger, who had beaten cancer.

Wonderful testimony he shared with us. He drives hours and he spends the week there.

Goes home for a weekend, drives all the way back.

I mean, he was retired. and he was a retired contractor. There's just there's

so much to do because you're one week where they have 50.

Next week they have 10. Next week they have 20.

They actually bought a facility. I have so many pictures.

I just didn't want to spend all my time on the pictures. But they actually bought

a facility that's going to be being renovated right now that will house 120 people.

So they're going to be able to double the amount of people that they can have come and serve.

But it's still not enough.

All the destruction that I saw there was a lot of people. A lot of people's

homes, a lot of people's lives uprooted, things lost.

It's funny because I never really pictured myself as an evangelist.

But after this trip, it's really something that touched my heart personally

in a way where it can't be maybe today, maybe tomorrow.

Let someone else do it kind of thing. So if you'd like to stand, I'll pray.

Father, I just ask that you awaken us again. Fill us with compassion for the lost.

Break our fear and just ignite a holy boldness within us, Lord.

Let the gospel flow like a fire through from our lips.

Let it be full of truth and love and power.

Thank you for making us ambassadors of your word.

And of your truth to reconcile those who are dying in this world.

We just want to see as many souls saved as we possibly can were.

Know what they are missing, but that just charge us each and every day just

to, just to make sure that the one in front of us knows who you are.

We ask all these things, Lord, to glorify you and to honor you and to praise

you and to keep your word.

Pray in Jesus name, amen.

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