Why Do Evangelists Call for Repentance?

Matthew 10: 7 And as ye go, preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (KJV)

The principle of “Evangelism” is to bring our fellow man to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior.  We must not be complacent…the day will come when his mercy will end, so we must not take his mercy for granted, we must share the Gospel while there’s still time!

The Bible teaches that as the church, we are the “body of Christ”. “We are to love the people of the world.  We are here for this very purpose – to go into the nations and proclaim the Gospel to all who will hear.” ***(The Gospel Project, Vol 2, p.96) 

As the “body of Christ” we are blessed…we know Jesus died for us and that when we repent (turn away) from our sins and put our trust in Jesus, that by His intercession, He will save us from God’s wrath.  Here’s the hitch…there are many living on this earth, in this country and even in your town that don’t know Jesus, they don’t realize that they’re dead in their sins, because they don’t recognize what sin is.  They may have heard of Jesus, but they have no idea of the consequences of their thoughts and actions, because they’ve never heard the “Good News”. 

Heavenly Father reveals this “Good News” to us through Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection. Matthew 11:45 (HCSB) “Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.’”

ALL I can say is WOW! Doesn’t reading this scripture make you want to go out and share the Gospel – The GOOD NEWS- with the entire world. Don’t be afraid to share…as Christians we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and encourage us. Are you on fire for Jesus? The more you study your Bible and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you, the more on fire you’ll become! Soon, you will want to share with everyone you meet. In the letter of Paul to the Ephesians he writes that if you allow Him, the Spirit will mold you and form you in order to bear His message without fear. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 (HCSB)

The Old Testament Books and the New Testament Books of the Bible proclaim the Good News! From the very first praise, the entire Bible is about Christ and what He has planned for our Salvation! “In the Beginning”…according to the pictographs… God reveals that the SON of GOD will be DESTROYED with His HANDS on a CROSS.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52: 7 (HCSB)

Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah,” Here is your God!” Isaiah 40:9 (HCSB)

He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed,to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Luke 4: 16-19 (HCSB)

The Apostle Paul taught: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16 (HCSB)

“The Mission” Evangelism is our mission!

As we study the Bible we see that God’s plan for the church (the body of Christ) is much greater than man’s plans.  In the book of Revelations 2, there are 7 angels sent to convey Christ’s letters to 7 churches…when you read these letters to the churches, you realize that they all fall short in one way or another.  As I study the 7 letters, I find myself praying that as the body of Christ, we will heed the messages in these letters and do our best to follow His plans for us and the world. 

***I used excerpts from The Gospel Project (our adult Sunday school guide).

*Most of my Scriptures are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible…for the sake of the person who has trouble understanding the King James Version of the Bible. I have used the KJV all of my life until I was called to Evangelize and then I realized that people who don’t know God have difficulty understanding the KJV vocabulary as easily as the HCSB.