God the Evangelist
Who is the true evangelist when it comes to saving the souls of men and women? Is it people who visit orphans and give food to the hungry? Is it the preacher who prays with a dying church member?
John 6:44 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
The word draw in this verse is the same word used when Paul and Silas were taken to jail. There are many ways to take the gospel into the world, but the real evangelist is God.
In the Bible when a person is saved or born again the term literally means “born from above.” Does anyone have a choice whether they are born or not? Certainly not.
John 3:3 – “Truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
Similarly, a person who is born of God is done so by the express will of God. After he is born, he is then pursued by what the poet Francis Thompson called the “hound of heaven.” Many who become Christians say they had already been seeking God and finally found Him, but who was seeking whom?
Romans 3:11 – “There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God.”
Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.”
Romans 1:16 – “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
God is the true evangelist – we have no power to save ourselves. This should take the pressure off when sharing the Gospel. God uses us in the process, but it’s not our responsibility to save people, only He can do that.
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