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God is calling us to share good news
Cynthia Bryant
Cynthia Bryant is an ordained evangelist who heads up Destiny in Focus Ministries and serves the Hinesville area with evangelism outreach ministry. - photo by Photo provided.

After these things, the Lord appointed 70 others also, and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to go. Then he said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” — Luke 10:1-2

God has given all believers the mandate of going outside of the church, away from their comfort zones, to share the Gospel with nonbelievers — to evangelize.

Evangelism is sharing the “good news,” which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel must be more than a testimony of natural things that he has done for us and provided for us. It must include the spiritual, life-changing, free gift of grace that is obtained through faith. We all are sinners, saved by grace only through Jesus Christ, and that God the Father sent his only begotten Son to be the “instead of” for our sins.

Finally, it must be understood that only through saving faith in Jesus Christ do we have access to eternal life in heaven and liberty, peace and freedom in the present life. This is the message that God has given us to take and the gift we must offer to nonbelievers as soul-winners and laborers for Christ.

We have so many churches in Hinesville and the surrounding areas that are doing great works for the kingdom such as providing food, clothing, book bags, water, furniture and the like. However, our work should not end there. Jesus left us with the Great Commission, a mandate to go and take the Gospel. We should be sharing the Gospel when visiting the jails, nursing homes and hospitals, as well as on our jobs, in parking lots, laundry facilities and door to door.

Other religions require their members to spend many hours in their local mission field, and they zealously do so, carrying the wrong message with the right idea. Evangelism is more than missions. It’s more than passing on information. It’s not being self-righteous, arrogant or superior. Lastly, it’s not a choice. (See Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:44-49 and Acts 1:8.)

According to Ephesians 4:1, pastors and leaders have been assigned to equip the saints for the work of ministry as well as edifying the believers. It is our responsibility as leaders to ensure that each congregation is equipped to take the Gospel outside the church. All believers should have a clear understanding that they are held accountable for this charge, and that it is not solely set aside for a select few members in the church or the pastor. Believers must know with assurance in what they believe, what salvation entails, and they must be certain that they are saved and not trying to work their way into heaven. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Leaders of this great Gospel, it is high time that we adhere to the clarion call through purposeful, deliberate and premeditated evangelism carried out by trained laypeople who can make a difference. When laypeople evangelize with intentional and relational evangelism, it puts the will of God in action. It increases souls coming to Christ, grows church membership, helps members to grow spiritually into reproducing disciples and results in less crime and safer neighborhoods and schools. As we as a body of believers increase in the area of evangelism, we will see a greater move of Christ.

Destiny in Focus is an outreach ministry whose sole purpose is to come along beside pastors and leaders to assist in training their congregations to share the Gospel — intentionally, with positive results — through the Holy Spirit. We use the Hand Presentation provided through Evangelism International as our tool of choice. We encourage pastors, leaders and believers who desire to be more effective in sharing this great Gospel to meet us at 7 p.m. Friday at The Ridgeway Smith Center, 408 Rebecca St. Training will continue at 9 a.m. Saturday. Come and receive from God on the assignment of sharing the Gospel and the call to do so.

Be blessed, my fellow laborers of the Gospel.

To reach Bryant, call 912-980-1686 or mail to P.O. Box 2479, Hinesville, GA 31310.

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