38 Principle 34 - The Body of Christ An Army of Evangelists

Principle 34. The Body of Christ, an Army of Evangelists. According to the Chinese rural underground church witnessing, evangelizing and making new disciples is the number one task of the church. Their cry to go and make new disciples is backed up with their very lives. In many cases, if they speak to the wrong person about Jesus, they face prison, torture, and even death. The task of sharing the gospel is for every Christian, even if they give their life as a martyr. Chinese Christians teach us that when their seed, their life, has gone into the ground and died, it will multiply and produce much more fruit. With their blood, new growth is coming. The seed, their body that died, now produces 100-fold, 1000-fold, or even more. When we consider that the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents, we know that God's heart is touched and he rejoices also. Modern Christians say, no, the number one task is to worship and love God. The answer, then show how much you love and worship him by doing. Witness and give joy to the Father. There are many excuses. I don't have the gift to witness. Witnessing is for the pastor and missionaries. I don't want to upset people. I want to respect other religions. I don't know the Bible enough. What will the people think of me? And I am not an extremist. All are lies from Satan, the world, and our own sinful flesh. We don't trust God that he will help us and empower us. Please read the promise in Acts 1, verse 8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. If you feel you cannot speak out, would you be willing to give out a tract? Imagine gatherings of believers meeting regularly that are equipped with tract booklets so that during the week they can hand them out as the Spirit of God leads them. These tracts can be of great help for seekers to find the truth. You can add your contact information to the tract for them to contact you. As you invite them to your fellowship, they will learn of Christ and become a disciple through the witness in your fellowship and the work of the Holy Spirit. We believe there is a need for a radical movement of believers who are fully engaged in evangelism during their work week, no matter what vocation or work they're in. Imagine an army of believers who are constantly engaging in gospel witness to the lost world around them. The evangelization and discipleship of the world is not an option, but it is a command from the Lord Jesus Christ. Men are ignorant of the gospel message. They do not know the scripture nor Christ. We must proclaim to them the gospel and the messages of scripture through our lives and through our mouths so the Holy Spirit can bring men and women to repentance. A time is coming when we will not be able to do the work of spreading the gospel to our neighbor as easily. We must be active now. Only those believers who are awake to God will have this burden. Many do not have any tears for lost souls around them because they have grieved the Holy Spirit in their lives. When our Christianity has little self-denial, we will be led by the lusts of the flesh and not share the spiritual burdens from the Lord. One reason for the exceptional growth of the church in China is this one fact. All believers in the house church movement are considered evangelists. How then can they call on the one they have not believed in and how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. May God raise up an army of the bearers of this good news today. We want to encourage gatherings of believers to have printed tracts available for the Lord's people as you assemble so they can distribute them in your local area. In scriptures, we see Antioch as a larger gathering of believers where many prophets and teachers were. Also, this place was a missions sending base where the Apostle Paul and others were sent out and came back to rest to be edified and encouraged. In the same way, we can look and see each home gathering as a missions sending base to send the gospel out to the entire neighborhood and local area. May the Lord grant a broken heart for the lost and a passion to reach out with the gospel of our Lord. May we realize that every Christian is a missionary. The church has never expanded without sacrifice. To have a harvest means hard work to sow, plow, and reap. We must be willing to be a follower of the Lord and deny our selfish ways in this matter so that the gospel can go forward. Therefore, we will be able to say as in the days of the apostles, the word of God continued to spread and flourish.