By M. U. Adikwu
Introduction
Evangelism is the first and most important duty of every Christian. This is the singular act that made Jesus to come into the world. In Luke 19:10, the Bible says, “The Son of man came to seek and to save those that are lost.” If Jesus can abandon His place in heaven to come to the earth to seek and save us that are lost, then evangelization must be too important to be toyed with. Everyone talks about how Jesus came to suffer and die for us. Great as that was, look at the issue of becoming a person. Today our children are dying in their thousands just trying to escape the conditions in Africa. Think more about heaven and you will note that coming to the earth from heaven is too great to be toyed with. The places our children are running to are on earth. The differences between there and what happens at home may not even be too different. As for heaven, the difference cannot be measured or even mentioned, between there and the earth.
The first time I got to Europe, I had the problem of what to eat. I was not used to the white man’s food. I was almost dying until a friend took me to a Turkish restaurant. Yet, the white men claim they are superior to us blacks. Think of what Jesus came to face on the earth eating the food of men! That the Master agreed to come to the earth is too marvelous to think about. The sacrifice was too high!
God Gives a sword Every child of God is given a sword to slay souls for the kingdom. When a soul is hardened, the heavenly sword can bring him down to his knees. No man can be too strong for the heavenly sword. Let’s take a look at 1 Kings 19:15-17. “The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.”
That is how the word of God works. The word of God is called the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). Remember that Jehu and Hazael used physical swords to cleanse Israel and bring revival but the sword of Elisha was more than all these combined. As far as Elisha was alive, no man could defeat the nation of Israel. It came to a point that the King of Syria wondered if all that was being discussed in his palace were not being leaked to the king of Israel. He was quickly informed that everything he did was being
prophetically known by Elisha, the man of God (2 Kings 6:1-22). Tools for Evangelism.
What Do You Use for Evangelization? Many Christians think they have nothing to use. After all, they are not endued with power from above like one man of God or the other. That was the thinking of the widow that came to Elisha.
“The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.” Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.” (2 Kings 4:1-7.)
For many of us, we do not know that the little anointing we have can become an ocean to drown souls for the LORD, if put into use. It is a small candle that burns a whole forest. Every child of God is imbued with power from on high but must be stirred through use. St. Paul will admonish Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in him through the laying on of my hands (2 Timothy 1:6.) As far as you keep using your
anointing for heavenly purposes, you will keep seeing results. A second lesson can be drawn from this verse: “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars.”
Our lives speak volumes. There are people who claim they are Christians yet their neighbours see them as demons. You cannot preach to your people in your work place if your life is contrary to what you profess. You could have imagined what would have happened to this woman if she had a bad character. The neighbours would simply have said, “You too. We think you do not need anything from any person.” There are some people whom working with in the same office is as good as working in hell. Jesus told His disciples to preach the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). Your Jerusalem could be your work place.
It takes a man to do a man’s job during the war with the Midianites Gideon had captured two kings, Zeba and Zalmuna. He ordered his son Jether to slay them. The Bible recorded that the lad could not kill them. Zeba and Zalmuna told Gideon, “Come,
do it yourself. ‘As is the man, so is his strength” (Judges 8:21.). Yes, a boy should not kill men. Many of us watch people from outside come to preach to people in our offices and we are not ashamed. Are you a teacher? God has put you there to preach to other teachers. Are you a politician?
God has put you among politicians to preach to them. Are a shoe mender? God has put you among other shoe menders for you to preach to them. Are you a tailor? God has put you among tailors to preach to other tailors. The list can continue. It takes a man to do a man’s job. Jesus said, “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13.). Occupy in every occupation you find yourself. Use your God given positions to carve a niche for the Master. In some churches, it is young people that go for evangelism. How many young people who are pupils can preach to their teachers and win any respect? How many followers of presidents of various nations can preach to their presidents? It will take a mighty man of God to preach to presidents but instead of preaching, they only praise them whether they are doing spiritually well or not just for the immediate gain. You shall be my witness another name for evangelism is witness. Jesus said, “You shall be my witness.”
In other words Jesus was simply saying, “You shall evangelize for me” (Acts 1:8.). Albeit, the more important word here is witness. Jesus was simply saying, “Go and tell others what you have seen me do and tell.” Look at my last rendition of the word, witness. What you have “seen me do and tell.” The correct witness is simply someone who has seen Jesus doing something or even heard Him saying something. You cannot witness for Jesus when you have never seen Him or heard Him. You cannot be a witness to what you have not experienced. Before you witness for Christ please experience Him. It is either you have seen Him or heard Him.
If not, you are only a story teller. Such stories do not carry the impact it is supposed to have. For many pastors who just tell stories, God is not in it. In fact, even if you have heard God, try to make it your life experience before you make it your preaching. In other words, you have to live out before it becomes a preaching job. In 1 Samuel 3:1, 7, the Bible says, The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
There are too many pastors today who do not know the LORD yet they claim they are God’s messengers. That should not be your portion if you want to be an effective evangelist in your workplace. When God is sending you into ministry or to be a witness for Him, it does not mean He has told you what you should tell the people. God can tell you a story of a thing that may not even make any meaning to you. The important thing is that He has spoken to you. Deep calls to Deep (Psalm 42:7). When God speaks
to you and you hear Him clearly, it only shows that you have the Spirit of God. That is the only way you can hear Him.
When God spoke to Samuel, He was simply telling him the story about the house of Eli. That, however, marked the beginning of the ministry of Samuel. Samuel became very powerful that even at the point of death he challenged the children of Israel if there was any that could accuse him of any wrongdoing. When God speaks to a man it makes his words to have extra power. In the book of Jonah, God sent him to go and warn the people of Nineveh. At first he refused to go until God forced him to go after being swallowed by a whale. Look at Jonah 3: 3-5: “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
The people of Nineveh believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” Note that Nineveh was three days journey if one had to trek through. Jonah only journeyed for one day and then released his message. What took the message throughout Nineveh? God Himself. The King was so touched by the message of Jonah that even animals were forced to join in the fasting (Jonah 3:7).
“Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink”.
That is how God gives power to the words of those close to Him. If you want to be effective in the workplace, you have to be very close to God.
Your neighbours may be having challenges in the office, be it sickness, monetary challenges, family problems, etc, and God can reveal it to you without the person telling you. With that, witnessing becomes easy. If you are not close to God, that cannot happen.
May God help us to be close to Him. Amen.
Adikwu writes from Abuja and can be reached through +2348034378988; email adikwum@yahoo.com