The Excellent Evangelist

 By Randy Jones

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) KJV. This passage of scripture along with so many throughout the Old and New Testament give reference to the coming Messiah who would build His ministry through evangelizing across cities and towns, along beaches and in areas others would dare to mention His name or testify of Him. There are many who would say Paul was the greatest evangelist of the New Testament and that he gave more of himself than any other to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to various parts of the unbelieving world. Not to take anything away from Paul for the ministry he created which incorporated several preachers and created many churches across several continents, and due to his unwavering devotion to the gospel of Christ as seen in Romans, and the many accredited epistles to his name including his last from prison shortly before his beheading for spreading the gospel of Christ, Paul was in every aspect a true evangelist for the gospel of Christ.

 Let us for a moment take a walk backwards in biblical history to a point before the crucifixion of Christ and even before the chosen twelve or the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9: 4-13). Let us take a look back at a twelve year old boy that we see in (like 12: 40-50) who while on his way back from the meeting of passover in Jerusalem became separated from His mother and father for three days, and when Mary and Joseph finally found Him, they found the twelve year old Jesus sitting in the temple at Jerusalem among the doctors of the law “both hearing them, and asking them questions.” (Luke 2:46). As any mother and father would be, Mary and Joseph were worried and ask Jesus, (why He stayed and made them worry?). Jesus answered in the only form He could “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). Here we are shown that Jesus even at such an early age was gathering knowledge and testifying of God’s word in order to establish His ministry.

 It was very unusual for adults to see a child so young interested in talking the gospel and better yet answering questions about the laws of the word of God. Jesus made it His mission to show everyone even His disciples that He did not come into this world to minister to the saved and the well or to preach to the rich and famous, His goal was to share with all the unbelievers and the despaired as well as show the rich that without salvation they are merely materialistically well off but spiritually broke and lost. Jesus went many times off the easy path of evangelizing to go out and reach a audience that according to all men would not accept Him, as seen in the case of the Samaritan woman at the well in (John 4). Throughout the ministry of Christ we are shown that to evangelize we must carry the lessons of Jesus such as humility and compassion as well as an unwillingness to bare witness even in the face of adversity standing beside those that are set in judgment as the woman convicted of adultery in (John 8:5-11).

As Christians sometimes we often forget that though our lives are changed by the salvation of Christ and we are born again of the spirit, we must remember that this is not the end of our journey as pertaining to the gospel of Christ. Christ illustrated by His own teachings that we are to go into all the earth and spread the wonderful news of salvation. Just as Paul was converted on the road to Damascus and then had a fire built within his spirit to tell the world of the salvation of Christ, he was following the example set before him by the Savior Himself to witness to all nations and to all people regardless of who or where they are. Our roads will not always be the one’s we think they should be, because lets face it, all of us have a comfort zone that we would rather stay within to minister the gospel but unfortunately this may not be the direction God is wanting us to go. One certain to always keep with us would be that everyday is an opportunity to be a better witness than the day before and every new person in our lives is a definte new opportunity. Over the years man has changed the look and functions of churches and worship, but one thing that has never changed is the Living Word found in (Hebrews 13:8) “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” In keeping with the examples Christ has set before us we can through the power of The Holy Spirit not only spread the gospel of Christ but be able to call the sinner unto repentance.

 Ref: The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible (KJV)