“The evangelist is a person with the distinctive ministry of bearing the message of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. An evangelist’s heart is centered around the burden to see lost people brought into a saving knowledge of Christ.” – Robert Stone in “Gifts from the Ascended Christ”
I. Jesus the Anointed Evangelist (Luke 4:16-21)
SCRIPTURE FOCUS (LUKE 4:16-21) – “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. [17] And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, [18] “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, [19] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” [20] And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. [21] And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
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- Like Jesus, the evangelists “proclaim good news to the poor.”
- Like Jesus, the evangelists “proclaim liberty to the captives.”
- Like Jesus, the evangelists are used by God to open the eyes of the spiritually blind.
- Like Jesus, the evangelists “set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
- Like Jesus, the evangelists declare “the Lord’s favor.”
II. Jesus the Compassionate Evangelist (Luke 14:21-23)
“So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ [22] And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ [23] And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.”
III. Jesus the Missional Evangelist (Luke 19:10)
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
IV. The Church as the Generational Evangelist (Philemon 1:4-6)
“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, [5] because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, [6] and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”
Evangelists:
- Live with a burning desire, intentional commitment, and personal strategy to present the Gospel so that others may hear, believe, and be saved
- Feel compelled to keep the priority of sharing the Gospel active and prioritized within the local church
- Believe emphatically that God can save anybody and thus view people as souls in need of Jesus
- See and feel the heart of God in highly valuing every single human soul, and thus witness proactively
- Equip and train church members to share their faith effectively