One on One- James Raffety
Have you ever shared the Gospel with someone one-on-one? I recently watched a documentary film that reported a statistic saying the 95% of born again, raised in the church Christians have never shared their faith with another person in one-on-one evangelism. This statistic is shocking to me. Where is our passion for the truth of the Gospel? Where is our compassion for the lost soul that is on the road to an eternity to hell if we do not intercede?
In our American church culture, we have reduced evangelism to the role of the “professional” ministers. We have concluded that our job is simply to invite someone to church where the preacher will preach the Gospel and hopefully that person will get saved. This is not the biblical model at all. Paul writes to the church in Ephesus that the preachers, teachers, and evangelists are gifts tot eh church to equip them for the working of the ministry. We are all as individual Christians responsible for the spread of the Gospel; and technology is not the methodological answer. The method for spreading the Gospel is the same today as it has always been, one-on-one personal evangelism.
Consider the church at Thessalonica. Paul writes to them in 1 Thessalonians 1:6-8, “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.”
Did you notice that last part. He says “ your faith in God has gone forth everywhere”. The faith of the Thessalonian church had reached far and wide such that everyone was hearing of the Gospel. The method for accomplishing this was not social media or the internet. It was not online serviced broadcast on YouTube. It was not broadcast media, print, media, or even a telegraph. It was only one-on-one evangelism, each believer, passionate about the truth, telling another about the resurrected Jesus and the promise of redemption through faith in Him.
The Thessalonian church was accomplishing more in a world void of technology than most churches are accomplishing today in a world replete with technological advances. Why? Because technology is no substitute for the passion of the Gospel in the heart of the true believer. Paul praised them for being imitators of him and his companions, as well as of the Lord. That means the Thessalonian church was sharing the Good News of the Gospel as an integral part of their DNA. Is passion for the Gospel a part of your DNA? Share the Gospel with someone in a one-on-one setting, not just today, but every chance you get. Be a soul winning force for the Gospel, passionate for the lost, passionate for the King.
