Evangelism

by Don Smith

Evangelism, as it has been done 1500 years, is mainly based on fear.

• Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or spend eternity in hell.
• Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savoir or spend eternity in hell.
• Repent of your sin or spend eternity in hell.
• Escape hell and gain heaven!

Christian Universalism - ultimate reconciliation - wherein ALL return to God ( because Christ is/made the WAY ) teaches an age-long judgment for the unbeliever; for the purpose of correction - not punishment.

SO - if people are not to be scared into the Kingdom, what then is the basis for evangelism?

• At the creation of man, "God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul".
• When the Spirit was imparted to the body it resulted in the formation of the soul.
• God had imparted His Spirit to the man. It permeated man’s entire being.
• God is LOVE - He does not give a spirit of fear.
• God is LIGHT - in Him is no darkness.

The pattern that God showed Moses for the building of the Tabernacle was the pattern of the CELL of the physical body, which consists of the cytoplasm, the nucleus and the nucleolus.

• Cytoplasm = the outer court of the tabernacle = body, including the five physical senses.
• Nucleus = the Holy Place of the tabernacle = the soul which is made up of mind, will, emotions, and the spirit of man.
• Nucleolus = the Most Holy Place, the dwelling place of God in the tabernacle = the dwelling place of the Spirit in man .

In the beginning of man’s existence, man was guided by the Spirit of God - there was fellowship between God and man.

• God walked with him in the garden

When man began to depend on the reasoning of his mind instead of depending on the Spirit, (which was the result of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), a veil was formed between soul and Spirit effectively sealing off the Spirit.

• This separation of soul and Spirit was the ‘death’ that God had told man he would experience if he ate of the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’.
• God did NOT withdraw His Spirit when He drove the man of the Garden.
• It was sealed off within the man.
• His Spirit is resident in everyone.

   

• Jesus came to reveal God to man.
• Jesus taught the principles of the Kingdom of God.
• Jesus was the sacrifice for the sin of the world.
• The veil in the temple was rent (torn apart) from top to bottom when Jesus was crucified.
• The veil in our temple is rent - torn apart - when we "confess that Jesus is Lord".
• Jesus is the WAY.

When the veil in our temple is opened the soul is awakened to the Presence of the Spirit; is drawn to the Spirit, ("no one comes to the Father except he be drawn").

• This IS the new birth - spiritual rebirth - regeneration!
• Once again there is fellowship between God and man.
• According to God’s purpose/plan for the individual, the soul is drawn deeper and deeper into the Spirit, (from glory to glory), experiencing His Presence.

The result is the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, meekness, goodness, kindness and faith, - manifested in the life of the individual.

• Jesus said "the world would know them by their love for one another".

This is the "life more abundant" that Jesus said He came to bring.

This is the correct basis for evangelism - the offer of the "more abundant life"