Dcn Abraham Demeh
Theme of the year: New Heights (Lev
26:13, Phil 3:13,14)
Theme of the Month: Family Life and
Kingdom Expansion (Joshua 24:16)
Topic: Overcoming Obstacles to
Evangelism (Part 2)
Evangelism is a means of reducing
hell bound souls and making them heaven bound saints. The devil wants every
soul to end up in his kingdom and that is why he is doing everything possible
to hinder the spread and acceptance of the gospel. Last week we considered that
lack of gospel knowledge and apathy to gospel are obstacles to evangelism.
Another major obstacle to spread of
the gospel is fear. What will others think of me? What if they don’t like me or
my family? Some are paralyzed by the thought of being disliked, marginalized,
laughed at, or openly mocked. We are afraid we will lose business or lose
opportunity to get promotion. What if talking about Christ makes seeing my
neighbours awkward? Whatever reason you may want to give, fear must be overcome
to effectively share the gospel. II Timothy 1:7 says “For God hath not given us
the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. Fear must
be overcome by the help of the Holy Spirit.
The fourth obstacle is Lack of
compassion. Many of us lack compassion for the lost. We have long forgotten
what it was like to live without hope of eternity with Christ. We rarely
consider that those who do not obey Christ are doomed for eternal destruction.
“Such people will pay the penalty and suffer the punishment of everlasting ruin
(destruction and perdition) and eternal exclusion and banishment from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9
Amp). We just don’t care that much. We might say we care, but we rarely cry out
to God for the salvation of our lost neighbours, coworkers, and classmates.
Compassion for the lost will take us out of our comfort zones to reach out to
lost souls.
With the help of the Holy Spirit and
with determination in our hearts, we must overcome all forms of obstacles to
sharing of the gospel. We must believe in the sufficiency of the gospel and
share it boldly with simplicity. God’s word does the work of conversion through
the power of his Holy Spirit. If we are confident in the ability of the gospel
to transform lives, we can boldly and indiscriminately proclaim this good news
with sacrificial love to the lost in the hope that some will be saved. God
bless you as your share the gospel.
Comments
Post a Comment