Portable Bible School Evangelism Lesson Six

Evangelism Lesson Six Who to Evangelize? “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). FOCUS: Explain who is to be evangelized and provide statistics on the unreached. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God is patient with us (believers); not willing that any (of the unbelievers) should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God wants all men to be saved. He wants no one to perish. Mark Conner in Transforming Your Church suggests four areas of outreach. 1. Inside the church. Many people visit our church meetings. How these people are treated will have a big impact on whether or not they become converted. 2. Friends. Each Christian has a network of friends and contacts that do not yet know the Lord. The longer we are Christians the more we isolate ourselves from friendships outside of the church. You can reach certain people others cannot reach. Nine out of ten people come to Christ as a direct result of relationships. Studies show that many people leaving the church do so because they cannot find a friend in the congregation. 3. Community. The great commission is to “go.” We must go to our community. It is our harvest field right at our doorsteps. 4. World. We are to go into the entire world and preach the gospel to every creature. This includes people often forgotten or overlooked—the poor, crippled, lame, and blind (Luke 14:12-14). Add to this list drunkards, prostitutes, drug users, AIDS patients, and derelicts. They will come with their problems, but Jesus is the answer. His desire is that His house will be full (Luke 14:23). Jack Cunningham in Advanced Church Planting says, “In the last fifteen years one billion people have entered eternity. Half of them (500 million) never heard the name of Jesus spoken one time in their lifetime. Every day 139,560 people die; 339,500 are born. The earth’s population is increasing by 200,000 every day. When you go to church next Sunday, there will be over one million more people in the world than last Sunday.” Statistics show (October 1999) the world population has passed the six billion mark. Every twelve years one billion more people are added. G. Randy Adams in World Missions (Ministerial Development Series) said if all the unsaved people in the world were to line up single file at your front door, the line would reach around the world thirty times. This line would grow by thirty-two kilometers each day. If you were to drive a car at eighty kilometers per hour for ten hours a day, it would take you four years and forty days to get to the end of this line of lost souls. And by then it would have increased in length by 48,279 kilometers. But, if there were only one Christian on the face of the earth, and he determined to reach one other person within a year, and then they determined to reach one other person each for the following year, and this process continued, in thirty-three years there would be more than four billion believers. In thirty-four years there would be 8,589,934,592 Christians. Wycliffe Bible Translators report that over 440 million people still do not have the Bible in their language. The U. S. Center for World Missions estimates that there are 8,000 people groups that do not have access to a church or the opportunity to hear the gospel. Why Are So Many Still Unreached? Robertson McQuilkin in The Great Commission: A Biblical Basis for World Evangelism relates a story that took place while he was teaching a large group of students. He had just explained how half of the world’s population has not heard the good news and cannot hear because there is no witnessing church among them. “How come?” a voice rang from the back of the auditorium. “How come, what?” McQuilkin asked. “With so many lost people, how come so few are going?” “That is a good question,” McQuilkin responded. “In fact, I know someone who asks that question every day.” “Who’s that?” asked the student from the back of the auditorium. The teacher lifted his eyes gesturing upward. A silence settled over the classroom. McQuilkin provides five answers to the question, “How come?” 1. Heart Trouble. We do not care about the lost. We are preoccupied with our own interests and needs. 2. Eye Trouble. We do not have a vision. We do not see the people from God’s perspective. 3. Head Trouble. We think there must be another way. 4. Knee Trouble. We treat praying as a nonessential in life. Studies show that many spend as little as four minutes a day in prayer. 5. Ear Trouble. Someone is not listening to the call. God is calling, but people are not listening. “And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14, NLT) Who Needs to Be Reached? There are so many unreached people in the world. Who is to be evangelized? The easiest response to the question is “everybody.” We will look at more specific groups of those that should be evangelized in a future lesson. Let us look at who should be evangelized in a general sense. 1. Sinners— transgressor, natural man, unrighteous man, heathen (Psalms 2:8), unbeliever. A sinner is:  Someone that does the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19).  Dead in trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1).  Walks according to the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2).  A person living in spiritual darkness (Ephesians 5:8).  A person that is condemned (John 3:18).  A servant of sin (Romans 6:15-18).  Born in sin (Psalms 51:4-5).  Someone who has not obeyed the gospel (James 1:22; 4:17). More Facts on Sin  All have sinned (Romans 3:23).  There is none righteous (Romans 3:10).  The payment of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  One man brought sin (Romans 5:19).  Sin is transgression (1 John 3:4).  All unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17). Jack W. Hayford in Spreading the Good News to Everyone says that world evangelism will take place when we see all people as God sees them—as sinners (Romans 3:10; 3:23; 6:23).  Unbelievers. There are three types of unbelievers in this world: those that willfully reject truth; those that put off accepting truth, the neglectors; and those that have never heard. All three groups will be lost and condemned because they have not believed. (See John 3:14-18; Romans 10:13-15.)  The lost (Luke 19:10). Read the “Lost Chapter”—Luke 15. The lost sheep knew that he was lost but didn’t know his way back home. The lost coin was lost but didn’t even know that it was lost. The prodigal son knew he was lost and knew his way back home. Bill Hybels in Becoming a Contagious Christian suggests that Jesus told these three stories in rapid succession to make an impression on His listeners. This is the only time that Jesus told three parables in a row. He wanted to make sure that everyone understood what and who really matters to God. In each story great value was attached to what was missing. The lost sheep mattered to the shepherd. The lost coin was of great value to the woman. The wayward son mattered to the father. All heaven rejoices when the lost are found. The lost matter to God! 2. God-fearers:  Do not have a full knowledge of the truth. Speak the truth in love to them (Ephesians 4:15).  We need to identify where they are in their spiritual walk and then show them the way of God more perfectly.  Provide further truth for serious seekers: Cornelius (Acts 10); Apollos (Acts 18); Lydia (Acts 16); disciples at Ephesus (Acts 19); Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8). In each case, the preacher started where they were spiritually and progressed from there. 3. Backsliders (Galatians 6:1).  Prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The lost are waiting. “But how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14, NLT). WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? 1. What are four areas of outreach mentioned in this lesson? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the population of the world? _________________________________ 3. How many people still do not have the Bible in their language? _________________________________ 4. How many people are added to the world’s population every twelve years? _________________________________ 5. According to McQuilken, what are some of the reasons people do not respond to the need to reach the unreached? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. What is a sinner? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. What is sin? __________________________________________________________________ 8. Which chapter of the Book of Luke is referred to as the “Lost Chapter”? _________________________________ 9. What are the three types of unbelievers mentioned in this lesson? __________________________________________________________________ 10. Give two examples from Acts of people who were seeking for and received further truth. __________________________________________________________________