Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 4:35,36; Rom. 1:1-16; Psalms 87:3-6
The Lord Jesus Christ before He ascended into heaven, commissioned the Church to evangelize the whole world. He promised us His presence in the work. He was with the early Church in their effort to carry out the command. He has been faithful in the fulfillment of this promise and He will continue to be faithful to those who would determine to carry the gospel message along with them anywhere and everywhere they go. The need for us to work is very great because:
• The field is ripe for harvest; and to avoid waste, harvesting of soul has to be done now.
• The Rewarder of the faithful servants would soon appear to reward His diligent servants, and
• The night of our live, and we must spend it in God’s service.
1. METHOD OF WINNING LOST WOMEN: PSALM 68:11
Mainly women can successfully do evangelizing sinful and lost women in our society. This is because there is always an air of suspicion whenever a man is seen talking with or visiting a woman. That is why the restriction put on women not to preach by some religious sects is not scriptural. If women were not to preach, then millions of women in the world would not be saved. Therefore, the women who have tasted of the saving grace of our Lord have the great responsibility to reach the lost women for God. And we must not fail Him. The following methods may be used in winning lost women. They are all based on ‘Operation win the one next to you in your profession/trade’ – Acts 19:24-28; Mark 2:14-16. Demetrius used it negative when he rallied round all the workmen of like occupation to oppose Paul and the gospel. We should too, by the power and grace of God in our lives be bold to gather women of like occupation with us to hear the gospel. We also see the call Levi, a publican. It was easy for his colleagues in business to enter into his house to hear Jesus (Mark 2:14-16; Luke 5:27-30).
Options available in this method could be used to reach both the educated and the illiterates in our community. But we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to select the right method for the right person, and at the right time. For instance:
• Weeping with those who weep, and rejoicing with those who rejoice.
• Person to person method / House to house evangelism.
• Lunch / Break period fellowship.
• Women Mirror Readers Club
• Literature distribution
• Monthly women fellowship
• Home Caring Fellowship
• Woman in-door crusade
• Special outreach for professional (IFL type).
• Transit evangelism in buses, train, aircraft and taxi
• Visiting old peoples home with gospel materials
• Free medical care for rural women and their children with the primary goal of spreading the gospel.
2. MEANS OF DISCIPLING SAVED WOMEN: GAL. 4:11-19; COR. 3:6-9
Soul winning does not end in bringing the person to decision. For the soul winner to fully obey the Great Commission, she has to disciple the convert through effective follow-up (Matt. 29:19-20). The purpose of follow-up is:
• That Christ might be formed in the new convert (Gal. 4:19)
• That she may walk worthy of God who has called her unto His kingdom and glory (I Thessalonians 2:12)
• That she might come unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13)
• To make them disciples, followers of God as dear children (Ephesians 5:1)
By what means then can discipling the converts be effectively done?
1. Through travailing prayer (Galatians 4:19).
2. By winsome but not compromising conduct (II Corinthians 4:1,2,5; I Thessalonians 2:10).
3. By direct teaching (Mat. 28:19,20). The mother soul winner like a natural mother is to feed the convert with God’s word, protect her from false doctrine and provide a good spiritual fellowship for the convert by directing her to where to fellowship. Teach her how to pray as Jesus taught His disciples. Teach her how to read her Bible and train her on how to witness to sinners by taking her out once I a while on evangelism (Titus 2:7,8). They are not saved so they may keep out of hell or gain heaven. They are saved to serve.
4. We should be available to counsel her when she is persecuted and confused. This should be done wisely by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
5. We should deal with her patiently and tenderly like a nursing mother does her baby.
The evangelism that stops at conversion is lopsided, wasteful and incomplete. It should go on to teach, train and develop the young convert for service and become a member of the local church.
3. MERITS OF WINNING AND DISCIPLING LOST WOMEN: DAN. 12:3, MATT. 225:23; JOHN 12:26; I COR. 9:25; II TIM. 4:5-8.
There are benefits in obeying the Great Commssion. God has not called us to serve Him in vain. He will surely reward us if we do it faithfully, diligently, joyfully and sacrificially. The benefits include:
• The soul winner has the joy of fulfilled life (Psalms 126:5,6; John 4:36)
• There will be joy in heaven over a soul added to the Book of Life (Luke 15:1-7)
• The Church would grow numerically (Acts 2:41-47)
• The soul winner grows spiritually (II Timothy 2:15)
• It helps us to desire transparent holy life in order to give credibility to our witness (Titus 2:7,8; I Corinthians 9:27)
• It would be an open door for evangelisation of the converts whole family (Acts 16:14,15)
• Faithful servants would be where Jesus is, and the Father will honour them (John 12:26; Revelation 22:14)
• Converted women could exercise godly influence upon their children, thereby reducing the rate of crime in our society (II Timothy 1:5)I
• She could become a supporter of gospel work in her community – like Pricilla supported Paul (Acts 18:2,3,24-26).
Obedience brings a blessing. There is peace and serenity in the heart of faithful stewards. She is not afraid of her Lord’s imminent coming. We should not allow the lures of these last days to distract us from doing the Master’s will, and become guilty of other men’s blood. The Lord says, “Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me, to give every man according to his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12),
-
No comments:
Post a Comment