The Master Plan of Evangelism

By Robert E. Coleman

Demonstration:

I have given you an example

Jn 13:15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you…

I.                   He showed them how to live. 

The Disciples learned how to live by observing the life that Jesus led on a daily basis…

He taught them…

How to pray…

Luke 11:1-2 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after  He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples." 2 And He said to them, " When you pray, say:' Father, hallowed be Your name… Your kingdom come…  NASU

How to use the scriptures… Jn 15:7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.

 Jn 10:35  …(Scripture cannot be broken)…

 Mark 14:49… this has happened that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”…

Luke 24:44-45 Now he said to them, “these are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”45 Then HE opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,…

“All together there are at least 66 references to the Old Testament in his dialogues with the disciples in the four Gospels, to say nothing of the more the 90 allusions to it in his speaking with others.”

                  How to win souls… Jn 4:7-43 The woman at the well…

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."  8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."  11 She said to Him, " Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;  14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

15 The woman said to Him, " Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw." 16 He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here."  17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband';  18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."  19 The woman said to Him, " Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 " Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  22 " You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming ( He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, " I who speak to you am He."

27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?" 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, " Rabbi, eat." 32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."  33 So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?" 34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.  35 "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.  36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  37 "For in this case the saying is true, ' One sows and another reaps.'  38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor."

The Samaritans

39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, " He told me all the things that I have done." 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world."

How to use a natural teaching method… not a stuffy classroom…rather real life situations became His illustrations.

II.                Class was always in session.

On the trail and in the home is where the ministry of Christ took place.

Jesus was teaching out of his life, rather than out of a textbook.

He did not just point the way, tell the way, or teach the way…. He showed the way…. He was and Is the way…

III.             Principal Applied.

We must be prepared for people to follow us as we follow Christ.

1Cor 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. NIV

We are the exhibit.

Phil. 2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. NIV

1 Thess. 2:7, 8 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. NIV

2Tim 1:13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.

They will do those things which they see and hear in us. 

Phil. 4:9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. NASU

More is caught than taught…

Summary: We must take this truth to our lives. There can be no shirking or evading of our personal responsibility to show the way to those we are training, and this revelation must include the practical outworking in life of the deeper realities of the Spirit. This is the Master’s method, and nothing else will ever suffice to train others to do his work.

It makes us vulnerable, of course. We are not perfect like our Lord, and those persons to whom we open our lives will come to see our many shortcomings. But let them also see a readiness to confess our sins when we understand the error of our way. Let them hear us apologize to those we have wronged. Our weaknesses need not impair discipleship when shining through them is a transparent sincerity to follow Christ.

Steve Youngblood