Evangelism

6. The Manacles

For Starters

Have you ever wanted to achieve something but failed to do so-e.g.: at work, sport, hobbies, art or music? What prevented you? Share if you are prepared to do so.

What advice would you give to someone who was thinking about setting up his or her own business? What do you think a financial advisor would say?

Facing up to the obstacles.

Christ sends us out into the world to be witnesses for him. What prevents us from doing this? That is what we are to look at now. It almost seems as though we are in chains.

The following passages from 2 Timothy might give us clues. Look them up and write the answer you find in each passage to the question, What prevents us from doing the evangelism we should be doing?

2 Timothy 1:8 ……………………………………….

2 Timothy 2:4 ……………………………………….

2 Timothy 2:14 ……………………………………….

2 Timothy 3:16-17 ……………………………………….

2 Timothy 4:2 ………………………………………..

It’s one thing to know what we should do; it’s another to actually do it. This is true in many areas of life, for example in relation to exercise or diet for the sake of one’s health. And it is certainly true of evangelism.

What inhibits you from talking to other people about Jesus?

In what situations do you find it easiest to talk to others about Jesus?

In some quarters, evangelism has got itself a bad name. Why is this so?

In the light of what you have picked up from the passages in The Second Letter to Timothy and from your own experience, what advice would you give to our congregation about its evangelism.

Jesus never suggested that doing his work was going to be easy.

Have a look at Luke 10:3.

Neither did he suggest that everyone we speak to about him will listen.

Read Mark 4:3-9, 13-20.

However there is one other passage to refer to before we finish: John 4:34-38.

Read and discuss this passage. Jesus could see ‘crops’ ready for harvesting that others could not see. The person who sows is not always the person who reaps, but both play an essential part in the harvest. What does that mean?

Prayer

Confess your failures in witness and pray for God to use you in his evangelistic task.