ASK THE EVANGELIST!!

What is the function of an Evangelist, and how did you get to be one??

The position of evangelist, started out in the beginning of the church, and was designated as an office, by the apostle Paul, who was speaking at the direction of Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. [Eph 4:10] He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things.)

[Eph 4:11] And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

[Eph 4:12] For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

[Eph 4:13] Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

[Eph 4:14] That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

[Eph 4:15] But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

[Ac 21:8] And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. Here we see that a man named Philip was an evangelist, who was one of the first to be appointed by the apostles, to minister in the church. Even though he was appointed to a lesser position in the church, he became an evangelist, by his diligence to that position, and learning about Christ, from the apostles.

[2Ti 4:1] I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

[2Ti 4:2] Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

[2Ti 4:3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

[2Ti 4:4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

[2Ti 4:5] But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

The work of an evangelist, is to be, what I would call, and this is strictly my opinion, 'God's Troubleshooter.' A troubleshooter, is a person that sees a problem, then finds the cause of that problem, and then takes steps to get rid of it. In the local church, many times, problems arise, and the pastor, and deacons of that church, can't seem to get through to the members, that they need to get back to being on fire about Jesus and what He has done for them. That is when an outside minister[evangelist], with no connection to the local body, is asked to come in and get the people worked up, so they can get back to the way they were. Well, in order to do this, the evangelist, must begin to seek from God, what the problem is, and address it. Usually, this type of preacher, is called in to conduct what you know as a 'revival'

In a revival, the evangelist, under the anointing of God, sets about to do
several things.

First, he needs to get the people to understand that they are in, what is known as a backslidden state, and that they don't even realize it Many times, during our walk with Christ, we tend to slack off from what we used to be, and do. We used to be excited about our new life. We wanted to be at church, before the doors even opened. David said, [Ps 122:1] I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Now we find all sorts of reasons, not to be there on time, or even not to go at all. Of course, to us, the reasons don't seem to be anything all that bad. We worked late Saturday night, or in to Sunday morning, and we are just 'beat.' Or we have that "pain', that just seems to rise up, every time we are supposed to be at Church. Or some other legitimate excuse. Then there is the fact, that you couldn't stop talking about 'Jesus.' It was Jesus in the morning, Jesus in the evening, and Jesus when the sun goes down. [ Ps 34:1] I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. You could talk about Him for hours, and it only seemed like a few minutes. Now, you don't seem to have time to do it, or it is a strain, on you. And you really don't want anybody coming up talking about Him to you.

The point is, it happens to all of us, including me. Well, the evangelist, has to get us to realize that we are not as enthusiastic as we once were.

That brings on the second step, the call to repentance. After realizing that we have backslidden, we need to do a '180'. We need to get back in the relationship that we had with Him, at the beginning. Many times I use the scenario, that other preachers and people have used, in their marriages. The way you pursued your spouse before you married them, is the way you need to continue doing, to keep the 'fires' burning. Remember, Jesus didn't leave you, He is still pursuing you, but you have left Him.

The third step, is restoration, or revival. That is when you get 'on fire again, and realize all that God has for you and now, you are charged up to the max, and may even be more in love with Him, than you were at first. You are ready to confront the devil, and the world, to tear down the strongholds of the enemy, like never before.

When this happens, the evangelists' job is complete.
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In this whole process, the evangelist will reprove and rebuke the people. This is something that he can do better than the pastor of the local church, because, as one of my brothers, Evang. R.W. Schambach says, 'I can hit you, and run.' That means, I could make some of you a little angry, but I don't have to stay around and take the 'heat' from you. If your pastor did the same thing to you, that the evangelist does, you would have a tendency to think about finding another church, where they don't preach so 'hard.' Another thing that happens, is that if the pastor, knows anything about your personal life, or situation, and he got up and preached 'hell fire and brimstone about anything that resembles it, you would have a tendency to think he was putting your business in the street..

The pastor is aware of that, so he may, unconsciously, avoid preaching along those lines, and thereby, be a party, in your backsliding.
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There was a situation that occurred some years back, while I was ministering to a group of people, concerning faith. During this message, I mentioned how that people have more faith in security bars around their houses, to protect themselves, than they do in God to protect them. One brother, smiled, and looked at me a little funny. It puzzled me at first, but I let it pass. Well, a few weeks later, the brother asked me to drop him off, at his house. Now, I had never been to his house before, and didn't know anything about it. However, when we got there, I saw why the brother looked at me the way he did, during the message. It was because he had bars around his house. I remembered it well. Now, picture the same message, coming from me, had I known about his house, before preaching this message. He, who is a very loving brother in the Lord, may have taken it as an attack on himself. But, because it happened the other way, there was no problem.

If a pastor, has the inside scoop on all of his members' lives, and such, through counseling, or having been asked to pray for them for certain situations, or having been over to their houses for dinner, then it becomes hard for them to preach on those subjects, to the congregation, because they will think he is attacking them.

This is why we have evangelists.

Some times, the pastor of one church, will
be invited to another church, to hold a revival, or preach. In that instance, he is the functioning as an evangelist.

To become an evangelist, you need to have a calling on your life, by God. You need a strong desire to preach the word, as the scripture says it should be preached. You will realize that calling, when God, opens up the doors for you to go different places to preach. In the mean time, witnessing, or passing out tracts, like I do, that contain messages that God has given me to write, is also a form of evangelism. It is all a matter of desire, and moving in the will of God.

The evangelist, must do what pastors may find difficult to do, and that is, shake people up. Since he has no close friendship with them, his message, might provoke anger, but it won't be directed at the pastor.

In some instances, the message might well be directed at the pastor.

Whatever the case, it must be spoken in love. The message might seem harsh, and sometimes seem like it will bring division in the Church, but is all for the perfecting of the same. If the Church is full of people that are playing church, then the message will convict them to a point, where they will either get serious about it, or leave. There is no room for those that are comfortable in their 'sin.' When the Church is infected with these types of people, they will bring it down. This is why I use the term, 'troubleshooter.' That is what it takes to get the Church in the position it needs to be in, when Christ comes back for us. [Eph 5:26-27] That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

So, I hope I have explained it enough, for you to get the idea of what an evangelists' job is.


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JUNE1999


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