Ready To Give An Answer
Randall Caselman
2/11/98
Ready To Give An Answer
Evangelism is the essence of Christianity. God is evangelistic. Two thirds of God is go.
God so loved the world that He sent His only Begotten Son. Who being in the very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be held on to. God only had one Son and He was evangelistic. And God asks us to be like Him. We must be like God,
ready to send, like Jesus,
ready to go. The Holy Spirit is evangelistic. Evangelism, saving lost souls, is the whole purpose of God’s Word, to bring us back to God. The work of the Holy Spirit has one focus...
Reveal Christ to save the lost.
Writing to Christian people, Peter says,
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have... Do this with gentleness and respect. Evangelism is nothing more than being both ready and willing to give an answer for our hope, faith and practice. How can we become more evangelistic?
With the proper attitude and approach. We must not have an arrogant or argumentive spirit. Sometimes right answers may have wrong results, because of a poor attitude on our part. Peter’s advice is to
be gentle, be respectful.
Our personal life should be a proper example. Peter is saying we must practice what we preach. We must live out what we believe within. Grandma was right when she said,
our actions speak louder than words. Some people can’t hear what we are saying for what we are. Like Paul, we must let others
see Jesus in us.
Let’s look at evangelism acrosticly. Being
ready to give an answer for our hope means.
R—Resist the temptation to be argumentive or debate issues.
Now, I am not saying we a cannot point out error with the truth. I am saying, we must resist the trade off between winning an argument and losing a soul over a point of difference that may not be important at the time. You see, it is possible to win an argument, while leaving the soul devastated.
E—Exemplify Christ like behavior at all times.
Souls are best won by kindness, goodness and gentleness. Jesus was honest with people, but He was never mean spirited and ugly with them.
A—Always be in an attitude of prayer.
Have we asked for God’s help? Have we begged God’s divine intervention? Have we asked Him to give us the wisdom to know what to say and when to say it, and His intervention in opening their heart to His truth.
D—Depend on the Word of God. We must never rely upon tricks, intimidation, manipulation or any invention of well-meaning men to win souls. Our teaching efforts must result in genuine conversion. People must not be converted, to a cause, to a church, to a creed, but to Jesus.
Y—Yield to the Spirit. Genuine New Testament conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Our responsibility is to teach, preach and practice the Word, to give an answer of the hope that lies within us. It is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to
convince and
convict of sin. God is the one responsible for the increase. Allow God, through the Word, to work on the hearts of men...
He does that so well.
Jesus' agenda must become our agenda. He came to do the will of the father, He came to seek and save the lost, to call sinners to repentance. God's will is that all men everywhere come to Jesus. This is our mission and commission.
Evangelism is the essence of our faith.
—Randall Caselman
