Holy spirit and evangelism
Holy spirit and evangelism
To be religious is to do something for God without Christ. To do anything, even if it is scriptural and fundamental, without the presences of Christ, is to be religious. Christ left so that He could send His Holy Spirit that could be with each of us where ever we find ourselves serving Him.
The work of the Holy Spirit is extensive and in fact He knows no boundaries. There is no limit to what He has, currently is, and will do in the near future to establish the will and kingdom of God. But we have put together an introductory summary in the following manner:
The Holy Spirit will prepare you
Acts 1:8
But YOU shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We know that God’s Spirit is at work in us as believers as He:
- Renews us
- Regenerates us
- Trains us,
- Teaches us, and
- Transforms us.
The Holy Spirit will prepare many of those that we will speak to
- A) A thrust
In some instances the Holy Spirit is also already started His work in the heart of someone we are yet to meet and will often go ahead of us and prepare the circumstances for our meeting to share our faith, as was the case when Philip met the Ethiopian eunuch Acts 8:26-40
- B) Conviction and repentance
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. John 16:8, Acts 2:38-41
The Holy Spirit will move through you Acts 3:2-8, Acts 8:4-8
As you stand up to preach on the streets, assuming that you have the anointing of the Spirit upon you at that very moment, then his mind is affected. His mind is enlightened. The Holy Spirit gives you a quickness of thought and brings to his mind insight into a particular passage, or points you to a pertinent scriptural cross-reference which wonderfully sheds light on the passage from which you preach. Let’s say one has planned to preach from Isaiah 53 on the prophecy of our Lord’s atoning death for his people. Let us assume that you will spend some time in studying the passage well. You will have done your exegetical work, consulted the commentaries, forged a logical, cogent outline, thought deeply and practically on how you hope to present powerfully and persuasively the glory of Christ’s death. You find several illustrations that help magnify your points. You have found several scriptural cross-references which bolster your argument. You are now ‘good to go’. As you stands in on a sidewalk in to preach, something remarkable begins to happen. Your mind is very sharp but now you not only is bring forth what you have planned in your sermon preparation, but you go much farther, much deeper. You find insights you did not previously have. You give illustrations ‘on the fly’ you have never before used.
What is going on here?
The Holy Spirit has come upon you and enlightened your mind. John 14:26
Your heart begins to overflow with love for those you are speaking to. This too is the work of the Holy Spirit. Your voice trembles with grief as you explains the horrors of hell for those who reject the overtures of grace. Jesus wept over Jerusalem as he entered the city. Luke 19:41