The Power of Christ and Evangelism
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace Churches with our executive director. Mark, before we started recording the podcast, you were talking about how you've been reflecting recently on Luke chapter nine, and it has been stirring your heart and your mind to think about the area of evangelism and you wanted to talk to us about evangelism. So go ahead and do that.
Mark Prater:
Yeah, thank you, Ben. I have been studying Luke nine and the first 17 verses in particular, but the chapter starts in verse one with Jesus giving his power and authority to the apostles, to the 12. And then it says in verse six, he sends them to preach the gospel and to heal. And so that's the first missionary journey that's recorded there in the gospel of Luke where the 12 are sent. And that's exactly what they do. They heal, they pray for healing and they share the gospel. And so the kingdom of God has come in the person of Christ and the good news of the gospel is going forward. And that is not just an historic event, that's an event for us as well because we have Christ's power. In fact, he said as much right before his ascension in Acts 1:8 where he says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
And of course he's pointing to Pentecost when the spirit falls or fills those in the upper room. And what happens right away is Peter goes out and preaches the gospel and it's recorded that 3000 people came to Christ on that day, a wonderful demonstration of the power of God through the work of the Spirit in our lives. And that's what we have. We have the power of the Spirit. We can pray for people to be healed and we can share the gospel as led by and empowered by the Holy Spirit. And so it's just a good reminder for all of us that we are on a mission, always on a mission and to kind of keep our eyes open for opportunities and pray for opportunities to reach the lost and share the gospel with those who don't know Christ.
Benjamin Kreps:
Amen. It would be a tragedy for those of us who have come to trust and follow Christ and now having been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit for this task to neglect this wonderful privilege of sharing the gospel. And in fact, there are many people doing just that in Sovereign Grace. And you have a couple of stories about some Sovereign Grace folks who are engaged in outreach and evangelism and want to encourage us to follow their example.
Mark Prater:
Yeah. The first story is a text I got in the last week from Philip Estrada. Philip planted and is the senior pastor of Mission City Fellowship in San Antonio, Texas. And Philip does a great job of reaching out to the lost with the gospel. And he actually sent me a picture of a wedding he was doing in San Antonio, I think last weekend. And he said it was 107 degrees, but I made it through an outdoor wedding that was really hot. But the reason, one of the reasons he sent me the picture is because he was saying that man there in the black jacket, he has been coming to our church, we've been reaching out to him, he's a Muslim, and we've been having conversations about Jesus. And he said, now he just had a recent conversation with him where he's saying, I'm struggling with Jesus, coming to Jesus, because of my family. He said, you have to understand people like me, we get killed for trusting in Christ. And so Philip is continuing to just love this man and share the gospel with this man. But it's a wonderful illustration, not only of why we plant churches, we plant churches to reach Muslims like that man, but it's a wonderful illustration of Philip, one of our pastors, just continuing to reach out with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The other story is from my church, Covenant Fellowship Church. It's about Sheila George who is in her mid seventies, and she is on fire for Christ. She and her husband Tom are just wonderful believers, been in the church for a number of years, but she and Tom open their home up to unbelievers regularly. They excel at hospitality and they had a person, new neighbor, move in next door a couple of summers ago, and her name is Helen.
And they invited her over for dinner and for lunch and for tea, and they got to know her. And then just last Christmas, her son came running over. Helen's son came running over to Sheila's house and said, my mom was up in the attic and she fell through the ceiling. And she's on the floor and she's injured. Can you come help? And so of course they called an ambulance, but Sheila went there, held Helen and prayed for her. Now, Helen's not a Christian, and Helen said to her after she prayed, I felt comforted and I felt peace after you prayed for me. And so they continued their conversation about the Lord. Sheila invited Helen to our Bridge course and through our Bridge course, Helen was born again and she is now a faithful Christian because of a mid 70-year-old woman's heart for Christ and her heart for reaching the lost with the gospel. It's just a wonderful illustration.
We all have these opportunities to invite people into our homes and get to know them and befriend them and share Jesus with them. So just a couple of stories to encourage us and maybe deepen our faith for all of us, members and pastors of Sovereign Grace churches to do the same.
Benjamin Kreps:
Wonderful, thanks for sharing those stories. Grateful for Philip's example. To the pastors who are checking out the podcast, it takes intentionality and thoughtfulness. So often pastors can be consumed with the many responsibilities within the church. And so Philip reminds us, his example reminds us, as pastors, to think how we can be engaged in reaching the lost. And I just love Sheila's example because we can all invite our neighbors over. That is a low hanging fruit, and through that simple act of hospitality and faithful sharing of Christ, people are going to come to know Jesus. So thanks for sharing those stories and encouraging us in this important area of evangelism and outreach. And thank you all for checking out the podcast. We'll see you here next week. Lord willing. Bye for now.