EVANGELISM-LIFESTYLE
The Greek
word translated "example" is tupos, which
means model, image, or pattern…When you set an example,
you are giving people a pattern to follow.
Someone once said, "Your life speaks so loud I can't hear what you
say." Your lifestyle is your most
powerful message.
The Master's Plan for the Church, Moody,
1991, p. 159.
One thing I
have observed in all my years of ministry is that the most effective and
important aspects of evangelism usually take place on an individual, personal
level. Most people do not come to Christ as an immediate response to a sermon
they hear in a crowded setting. They come to Christ because of the influence of
an individual.
John
MacArthur
Twelve Ordinary Men, © John
MacArthur, 2002, p. 68.
I am
convinced, by the way, that friendships provide the most fertile soil for
evangelism. When the reality of Christ is introduced into a relationship of
love and trust that has already been established, the effect is powerful. And
it seems that invariably, when someone becomes a true follower of Christ, that
person’s first impulse is to want to find a friend and introduce that friend to
Christ.
John
MacArthur
Twelve Ordinary Men, © John
MacArthur, 2002, p. 123.
The communion
of the gospel is by seeing as well as by hearing. This double strand runs all through the
Bible: image and word, vision and voice, opening the eyes of the blind and
unstopping the ears of the deaf. Just as
Jesus is the Word of God and the Image of God. The Word become visible, the Image audible...
We are familiar enough with the verbal element of evangelism. Where is the visual?
Douglas Webster
What [others]
most need is to see in you a reflection of what God is like and of the
transforming power of the Gospel. Your
life can create hunger and thirst for God in others’ lives and can be a
powerful instrument in the hand of the Holy Spirit to draw their hearts to
Christ.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Holiness, The Heart God Purifies, Moody,
p. 62.
(Nature
teaches us that every believer should be a soul-winner.) It is an essential part of the new
nature. We see it in every child who
loves to tell of his happiness and to bring others to share his joys.
Andrew Murray
Many believers
are "rabbit hole" Christians. In the morning
they pop out of their safe Christian homes, hold their breath at work, scurry
home to their families and then off to their Bible studies, and finally end the
day praying for the unbelievers they safely avoided all day.
Jan Johnson
Moody Monthly, Nov. 1987.
God forbid
that I should travel with anybody a quarter of an hour without speaking of
Christ to them.
George Whitefield
Christian History, Issue 38.
The great
principle of ‘incarnational mission’ (teaches us
that)…the ministry of Jesus was one of involvement, not detachment; and
therefore we must face the fact that we cannot minister to a lost world if we
are not in it.
Alistair Begg
Preaching for God’s Glory, Crossway,
1999, p. 30.
Our witness –
good or bad – is the overflow of our lives.
Alistair Begg
Made For His Pleasure, Moody Press, 1996, p. 171.
The
motto of every missionary, whether preacher, printer, or schoolmaster, ought to
be "Devoted for life."
Adoniram Judson
We
have not made enough of the fact that evangelism has a great deal to do with
what you expect God to do. If you raise your antennae as the day begins and ask
God to make you an instrument for divine encounters during the day, it will
happen – almost every time. Christians living in anticipation of being used by
God are like cats on the lookout for mice. They never lose their focus. They
seem to sleep with their eyes and ears alert. When you stay ready, you are
actually living by the faith you claim to exercise!
Jim Elliff
A More Spontaneous and Genuine Evangelism, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
If you can do
nothing but live a true Christian life – patient, gentle, kindly, pure – in
your home, in society, at your daily duty – you will perform a service of great
value, and leave many blessings in the world. Such a life is a little gospel,
telling in sermons without words – the wonderful story of the cross of Christ.
J.R.
Miller
In Green Pastures.
How few know how to deal with an ignorant, worldly man,
for his conversion! To get within him and win upon him; to suit our speech to
his condition and temper; to choose the meetest
subjects, and follow them with a holy mixture of seriousness, and terror, and
love, and meekness, and evangelical allurements – oh! who
is fit for such a thing?
Richard Baxter
The Reformed Pastor, Chapter 3, Section 2.
It is of no
use for any of you to try to be soul-winners if you are not bearing fruit in
your own lives. How can you serve the Lord with your lips if you do not serve
Him with your lives? How can you preach His gospel with your tongues, when with
hands, feet, and heart you are preaching the devil’s gospel, and setting up an
antichrist by your practical unholiness?
C.H Spurgeon
Every
Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.
C.H. Spurgeon
Joy is the winsome magnet that draws people in because it is the
one thing they do not have.
Author Unknown