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Thomas Weakley and His wife Laurie have been on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for 27 years. He has been the director of the ministry at WKU since 1985. The Weakley’s have been members of LHBC for over 20 years serving in numerous capacities. Besides his responsibilities with Campus Crusade, he currently teaches an ABF class and is an adjunct professor at WKU and the Southern Baptist Theological seminary.
As I was listening to Jason’s sermon this morning on the Church at Ephesus, I wondered how Ephesus’s loss of first love impacted its evangelistic zeal. (By the way if you missed the message I would really encourage you to get a copy. It was excellent.) Did the church at Ephesus stay evangelistic with the gospel or did its evangelistic focus change to something else? I believe that every church and every person is evangelistic about something. Churches can be evangelistic about their new program, or their new facility or maybe a new ABF class or possibly even a new staff member. But is the church evangelistic about the Gospel, “for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes” Don’t misunderstand me, programs, facilities, ABFs and staff members are all great. But they are not the Gospel. They may help lead one to hear about the gospel but in themselves they are not.
Individuals can be evangelistic about a lot of things as well. Some may be evangelistic about a new diet program, others about a new parenting approach or the new top selling book or maybe even a basketball or football team (sorry Titan fans). The things may not be bad but they simply are not the Gospel. Nearly twenty years ago I went to my first NASCAR race at the Daytona International Speedway. Yes, I am a gear head NASCAR fan. In the stands all around me were fans of specific drivers. And yes they were very evangelistic! For nearly four hours I sat next to a man I did not know but you would have thought we were best friends because we supported the same driver. For the entire race we talked about the driver, the pit stops, etc, etc, etc. But strangely I never talked with him about the Gospel. Yes, it is very loud at a NASCAR race but the point still exists. I could have said, you know that Bobby Labonte, he is a Christian or that Kyle Petty he is a believer in Jesus Christ. But in reality I missed my chance!
Even though I have had the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with thousands of people, I still need to keep my focus on the Gospel, the Good news of Jesus Christ. If not I can become evangelistic about many other things. One of the things that have been extremely helpful and has enabled me to be more evangelistic is a definition of successful witnessing. When I was a sophomore in college at WKU, I heard Dr. Bill Bright give this definition: “Successful witnessing is taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God!” For thirty years, this has been so freeing for me. I used to believe that I had to know every thing about the Gospel and talk a person into salvation, but I do not. I simply need to be available to be used by the Lord. I do need to open my mouth and initiate but success is in God’s hands not mine.
Many of you have seen and even used different tools evangelistically. The one I have used the most is called the Four Spiritual laws or Knowing God Personally. The church office has a number of different tools you can use but the most important tool is your own life. As you live life among coworkers, fellow students, other parents etc, be available to the Lord. An invitation to church, an offer to pray, an encouraging word will do more than you can imagine. You may not be able to share the entire gospel with some one the first time but that is fine. Over time God will continue to open doors for you if you are looking for opportunities to be evangelistic about the Gospel of Christ. “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16
By the way, what are you evangelistic about?
3 comments:
Thomas,
You are exactly right. We are all evangelistic about something. I am fine to talk football all day long and promote my team. There is nothing more fulfilling and enjoyable to talk about than Jesus. He is the ultimate hero. He is the ultimate friend. He is God.
Hi Thomas. Good blog. I also like what you said about all being evangelistic about something.
Those secular interests we like so much can be put to a lot of good use. They're excellent conversation starters that can transition into other topics we like to do. For instance, I like to begin with a secular conversation that follows at some point with, "Well I also enjoy going to x, y, and LHBC." Then I get to inquire about where/if they go anywhere. Church conversations can transition more easily into Chirst conservations.
Sports, family, work, etc offer us some leverage to begin hot topic conversations. Secular interests are the main interests of the lost. They're going to need to identify with us first (through the secular). Afterwards we can tenderly transition to the Gospel.
Thomas,
I appreciate your comments and the directive that you quoted from Bill Bright. If I understand correctly what Bill Bright was saying when he sayed "...share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.....", it was to evangelize the gospel and convey it in love for Christ toward the lost.
For me, to try and capture the message last Sunday with two verses was with emphasis on Rev. 2:4-5 as follows,
4'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
5'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent.
Without going into too much detail, I must be willing to confess that I have in the past spoken to a particular person on occassions about Christ with an attitude of judgement rather than remembering that first, Christ loved me while yet and enemy of God and that He died for all.
The power that Bill Bright is directing us towards is what the Bible teaches that to love the lost can only come from Christ's love for us through His Spirit.
I must be cautous to only evangelize the Gospel of Christ and convey His love! Not the attitude that I am empowered with any authority to judge the lost even though I hate what God hates. God warned the members at Ephesus who were practicing judgement and discipline more than honoring Christ with their hearts.
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