STUDY01 Four features of world evangelism today

STUDY 2 Consequences of not proclaiming the gospel and the rise of false gospels

STUDY 3 How do we know what is true and what is not true?

STUDY 4 What is evangelism?

STUDY 5 The first wrong definition of evangelism which many Christians have come to believe

STUDY 6 The second wrong definition of evangelism which many Christians have come to believe

STUDY 7 The third wrong definition of evangelism which many Christians have come to believe

STUDY 8 What is the priority of the Christian Church?

STUDY 9 How the enemy hinders gospel proclamation – what the Bible teaches

STUDY 10 What motivates the enemy to oppose the gospel?

STUDY 11 Six reasons why the gospel is so powerful

STUDY 12 What did Jesus really teach about evangelism?

STUDY 13 What is the gospel? Word substitution device

STUDY 14 What is the gospel? Confusing the wide and general gospel with the sharply defined narrow New Testament gospel

STUDY 15 What is the gospel? Replacing the words of the gospel with something else?

STUDY 16 What is the gospel? Watering down the gospel for the sake of unity

STUDY 17 What is the gospel? Seed the thought into our minds that the gospel can’t be defined

STUDY 18 Red Herrings about evangelism and the gospel

STUDY 19 Solutions to the enemy’s devices

So what’s in it? The preface outlines the rationale for the series.  To view this rational, click here.  A suggested timetable is given for each study, with check lists, helpful hints and suggestions, and fantastic ice breaker exercises. To view a PDF file of study one, click here.  Julian Batchelor has made this study just so simple and easy to follow – it’s bullet proof!

He also gives his answers to all the questions in the EVANGELISM DISCIPLESHIP STUDY GUIDE.  Furthermore, this resource has been designed to be easily transferable from one leaders to another.

There are five appendices:

1. What’s involved in the course, and what the investment?
2. Why this course won’t work without prayer
3. Sharing supper duties around the group
4. Six way this course can be run in your church
5. What happens at the end of the DVD course
6. An invitation to invest in the evangelisation of the world

What’s the investment? $35

Anyway, we went on talking and moved out to the car park.  He told me how he was cleaning up the reefs in Hawaii and getting great pleasure from this.  As he talked he threw in the odd swear word, some more colourful than ‘Bull Sh$#!’ .  I got the sense that he was definitely not a Christian.  He wasn’t going to church but said he had his own ‘private Christian faith’ and he liked to worship in creation.  We talked a little about that and I asked him who he was worshipping – was it the creation or the creator who made the creation? He answer was a bit fuzzy which confirmed my thoughts that he was not a saved person. At the same time, I didn’t want to bore in and create an argument or a bad situation but I did gently challenge him.  He goes to the gym regularly so I didn’t need to fire all my bullets in one meeting.  If this was a person I would never see again, I may have been more probing with my questions to challenge him about his beliefs.   When one is out evangelising, one needs to take all these things into account, and be thinking on the spot.  

Here is the coolest thing. At the end I gave him a follow up booklet called ‘How to be sure of going to heaven at death’ which you can see on our web site at www.esisite.com .  I urge you ALWAYS give one of these away when you finish giving the gospel with someone. At the back of each book I have a sticker which gives: my name, the church I belong to, the churches web address, the web site www.biblein11.com so they can see the gospel presentation again, and then these words ‘Where you spend eternity is a choice, not a chance’.  This gives people the chance to ‘check us out’ to see we are ‘safe’ but also leaves them with a challenge.

This booklet is pregnant with scripture (Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God – Romans 10:17).  It also ‘fleshed out’ the gospel presentation he saw on the iPhone and makes a case for believing.    The seed of the gospel has been planted with love and grace. This is the main thing.  The Holy Spirit now promises to go to work to grow that seed (Mark 4:26-29).  I will see him again at the gym and ask him why he said ‘Bull Sh#$!.  By the way, the song he asked me to listen to was lovely! He was a gynecologist.  Another great day at the gym!  P.S It pays to look fit obviously.  It became a topic of conversation and he attributed some of my fitness to my Christianity.  If we are not fit, what does this say to others about our faith? I leave you to ponder that question.

By the way, my prayer life has really improved over the last few months and this has made an enormous difference to my evangelism.   There is a direct correlation between ‘power’ in evangelism and time spent in prayer. 

As I approached,  and was four or five metres away, she looked up and our eyes met.  This is perfect.  It’s not good to walk up to people and startle them.  ‘Hi, how are you?’ I said smiling.  I kept walking and sat down on the other side of the table from her. ‘I just saw you sitting there and you looked liked you were up for something interesting ‘ (said in a light and breezy way).  Smiling she said ‘Oh, what’s that?’  I said ‘Well, I am a pastor and I have on my iphone a video which tells you how you can be sure of going to heaven when you die.’  Before I could say anything more, she pushed the paper to one side and said ‘I am up for that!’ and away we went.   She placed the ear phones into her ears, put her head down, and went for it!  I sat opposite and watched the screen.  This helps the person stay focussed.  What struck me immediately was how intently she was watching!  I even left to table to get my camera from my car and she didn’t move an eye lid when I went away and when I came back! Quite remarkable.  

When she  was finished, she pulled the ear phones off and said ‘Oh my goodness, my heart is beating fast!’  This was the work of the Holy Spirit.  See John 16:8.   I knew instantly this was someone whose heart was well ‘ploughed’ by someone’s prayers or someone’s good works or witness or a combination of all three!  It turned out her partner was a Christian and she was not.  After some discussion, I went over the presentation verbally.  First, I asked her where she would go if she died tonight.  ‘Hell’ she said.  Second, I went through the Law with her to get her to confess with her own lips that she was a thieving, lying murderer.  This is very important, but make sure this bit is done gently and lovingly, and you confess your are the same!

Then I explained how God kept a record of all our lives, both the good and the bad we have done.  Third, I went on to explain how when we are forgiven, He throws the record of all we have done wrong into the sea.  He then takes a copy of His perfect record and puts it inside the cover of the book of our life.  It’s then stored in heaven and not touched between the point of forgiveness and death.  I talked about the miracle of this fact and she agreed. 

At the end, I simply said ‘Now, is there any reason why you shouldn’t turn and surrender right now?’  She said ‘No’.  I then said ‘Would you like to do that right now?’  And she said ‘Oh my goodness, my heart is racing again…..yes!’  It was a truly beautiful moment!!!  After we had been through a simple prayer, which I asked her to repeat after me from her heart, I gave her a follow up booklet which has a genuineness test in it.  This test just asks people to check and see whether what they did was sincere and genuine from their point of view.  This guards agains ‘easy believism.’ 

Imagine what her partner is going to say when she gets home!! She has become a Christian at work!!! All his prayers for her would  have been answered at last.  And how good is that?   The lessons here? 1) go over and over THE GOSPEL presentation which you can view at www.esisite.com/gospel so that you can summarise what is said in your own words, and explain how salvation works. The basic facts to remember are:  We have broken God’s laws.  Right from birth He keeps a record of our lives.  As we get older we have a whole library written against us.  When we die we can’t possibly enter heaven just as we are because we are imperfect and God and heaven are perfect.  Something has to happen. We must be forgiven.  When we are forgiven, God exchanges the record of our lives for the record of His perfect life. This new book of our life is stored in heaven and waits for us there until death. At judgement,  God gets that book and welcomes us into heaven, purely on the basis of Jesus’ perfect record inside. Jesus is the hero.  Wow! What a love story!

You just need to be able to tell the story simply and succinctly, so the person listening understands and feels loved. It’s the most incredible thing in the world to be able to work with God in this way.  You should try it! Until next time…

I got it. ‘Hi, how are you I said’ as I approached and we got eye contact.  ‘Do you remember me? I saw you a few months back  about getting a Christian video on my iphone  – do you remember?’  He said he did.  ‘Well, I did get the video to play on my iphone – do you want to see it? It tells you how you can be sure of going to heaven at death!’ (enthusiastically).  ‘How long does it take?’ he asked and I said eleven minutes. He looked at this watch and said ‘Look, I would like to but I have to balance the til and stuff before 5:30 closing. Do you have a web address?’ I said ‘Sure’ and wrote it out for him. As I was doing this this young lady popped up seemingly out of nowhere and said ‘I heard that – I’d like to see it!’  She’d been putting stuff away below the counter which is why I couldn’t see her. I didn’t ask any questions but simply said ‘Sure’. She put the headphones in her ears and pushed the ‘play’ icon on the iphone. She was riveted. The other guy stood right next to us, seemingly oblivious to what was happening right beside him. Let’s call the lady Mary. Mary was riveted all the way though. I thought ‘thank you Lord, something good is happening here. I can feel it and see it!’  At the end, I said ‘what did you think?’  She said it was great. Then I said ‘Mary, why were you so keen to see the presentation?’ She replied ‘I became a Christian when I was at high school and I used to go to church. I haven’t been for three years.’  ‘So,’ I said ‘ if you died tonight, where would you go?’ She said ‘hell’  Apparently, she’d never heard the gospel before.  I prayed with her there and then and the Holy Spirit gave me a prophecy for her about being a lamb he’d been searching for.   

I always feel a righteous anger coming on when I hear this kind of thing – people who become Christians without hearing the gospel.  How is this possible? The short answer is, it’s not. Without hearing the gospel, in what are they believing? Who are we believing in? How will weknow the cost? The conditions? I am telling you, it’s a croc! A person can no more be Christian without hearing the gospel than a plane can take off without wings! Yes, some have been saved in unusual ways, like seeing a vision of Jesus at the end of their beds in the middle of the night, but this is not normative. It’s a special work of Grace.  Those who work with teenagers in High Schools and youth groups – for heaven’s sake, proclaim the gospel.  Fun and games and entertainment have their place, but make them peripheral. Make Jesus and His mission central.  Make study and reading the word of God your food, not McDonald’s, jelly fights and ice cream.  And if they find that boring, ask them to come back when they are ready. Jesus never pandered to the crowd, and nor did Paul.  Raise the bar! Above all else, preach the gospel, and don’t tell anyone they are ‘saved’ unless they have heard and understood it.  Now back to Mary.  She told me the reason she doesn’t go to church now is that she knows absolutely no Christians!  I asked her where she lived, and she said ‘Brown’s Bay’ which is a suburb of Auckland. Amazing thing is, I know another lady who goes to our church, who is a really cool person and only a little older than Mary. Marywillingly gave me her cell number so now I can connect her with my friend!  You know, when I left that shop, I was literally floating. I was so elated I went into Star Bucks and had a coffee and read the paper to celebrate.  What are the lessons? 1. A man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps (Proverbs 16:9).  I thought the man in Vodaphone was ‘the one’ but it turned out to be someone else. 2. God did cover me with His grace. Don’t think you can’t do evangelism because you have had a bad start to the day. It’s a lie from the enemy 3.  Don’t tell anyone they are a Christian until they have heard the gospel. If you do, you’ll just be creating backsliders. 4. I gave the web address to the other man in Vodaphone. Always look for how you can maximise the situation for the Great Commission.  5. Be prepared for anything.   She was a surprise pop us, like a jack in a box! 6.  If you take the phone number of someone the opposite sex, tell them you are getting it to connect them with another lady in the church.  I could have just given her my phone number but I have found it it better to get there’s so you can be sure of connecting again.  We don’t want to lose any fish through the mesh of the net 7. God’s sovereignty is amazing. I believe He will guide people who are keen to share the gospel to people who need / want to hear it – try it! Having said that, sometimes he will allow you to connect with some hard old rocks, to test you and work on your character! We learn to take the good and the bad and to keep going forwards either way.

1. What did you think?
2. If you died tonight, where would you go? (heaven or hell)
3. What were the two things we need to do to be forgiven? (turn and surrender)
4. Is there any reason why you shouldn’t turn and surrender right now?
5. Would you like to surrender right now? (If they say ‘yes’ lead them to Christ. If they say ‘no’ ask them gently why that might be)

Well, this young lady said she would go to heaven. I asked her why this would be so. She said she’d been baptised 5 years ago. I said ‘OK, which church do you go to?’ She said ‘I don’t any more’.  I said ‘Why was that?’ She said ‘I got involved with the wrong crowd  – a boyfriend to start with and then all his non Christian friends’.  We are talking very softly and gently now. I said ‘That’s so sad. You know the Bible says ‘What does it profit a lady if she gains the whole world and loses her soul’.  At this point I noticed her eyes beginning to well up with tears, but she did not cry. I said ‘why don’t you come back?’ She said ‘I should. I need to.’  I offered to pray with her and she accepted. So we prayed. Turns out her parents go to North Shore New Life Centre in Auckland. Imagine what her parents would think of what just happened! Any loving, caring parent would have been praying for their daughter like crazy, praying for God to intervene. And he did – through me.  Guys, prayer is not enough. If we pray for the lost to be saved and don’t go  to them with the gospel we are hypocrites.  Surely we must be worse than hyprocrites. Think about it. If a building was on fire next door and people were inside screeming for help to get out, and we had ladders and fire exstinguishers but all we did was pray for God to help them without actually doing something ourselves, a court of law would probably implicate us in their death.  At best we’d be judged cold, callous, and  heartless brutes.  Now, please take action. Get hold of my DVD’s and start training! At the final judgement, you won’t be judged for how many souls you saved, but rather by how much action you took to play your part, which is to go to them with the gospel (either through tracts for verbalising the gospel – see my book page 14). The other question I had was this – why are we teaching in our churches that Baptism equals salvation? I think anytime someone is baptised we ought to make it clear Baptism is only an outward sign of an inward change, and if the inward change doesn’t result in a changed life, then Baptism is just a bath! (Matthew 7:16).

This is where this A5 size booklet kicks in!

It is a truly effective discipleship tool to help create stronger more effective disciples.

What’s the investment? $10 each.  The cost goes down depending on the number ordered.  Please click here for the price breaks.