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To “evangelise” (from Greek euaggelizo),
means to “bring good tidings” or to preach the gospel message. The Greek
word “euaggelion” means “good news” or “good message”.
{Notice that in Greek, “aggelos” means angel (ie
heavenly messenger) or even any other messenger.}
In
the Bible, the Greek “euaggelizo” (ie to evangelise) is translated “bring good tidings” or “preach
the gospel or good news”
The core message of the Gospel of the Kingdom as
taught by Christ is found in Luke 24:47 and in the Apostolic witness in the Acts of the Apostles
“And
said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved
Christ to suffer, and to rise from
the dead the third day: And that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I
send the promise of my Father upon
you: but tarry ye in the city of
“Then
Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost. For the promise is
unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord
our God shall call.” (Act 2:38-39)
“And
the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth
all men every where to repent:
Because he hath appointed a day, in
the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained; whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
him from the dead.” (Act 17:30-31)
Testifying
both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance
toward God, and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ. (Act 20:21)
The
Evangel, Gospel or Good News we preach is simply this:
“The time has come for
the fulfillment of God’s loving promise
to “bless
(i.e. grant SALVATION/Eternal
Life) to all nations” {through
the “Seed” of Abraham (Gal 3:8) and
David Act 13:33-35)}.
This
comes as: remission of sin (or deliverance from darkness and
destruction), bestowal of the Holy
Spirit and reception into God’s
heavenly kingdom.
This
salvation is freely given to anyone
who repents of sin/ignorance and believes in Jesus as the “Christ” {i.e.
the One divinely Anointed to be the Son of God (Lk 1:35; Heb 1:5) Lord and Saviour of all (Isa 49:6), as proved by His life and resurrection from death (Rom 1:4)}.”
Many other things may be said for explanation,
exhortation and testimony to convince our hearers as in Acts 2:40 and 18:28. Yet this core message must
not be lost in the midst of methods, argument and dialogue.
The
preaching of the Gospel of Christ is done with a
combination of God’s Testimony of
Jesus as His Anointed Christ (through His Apostles and Prophets in the Scripture
1John 5:9-12), and the believers’
testimony of personal experience of Jesus as Saviour
and Lord (Acts 8:25; 10:42). Every believer is saved to witness for Christ every time, everywhere (Rev 12:11, 17), while some are in addition separated and sent by the Church to
preach as apostolic missionaries to certain
places at certain times (Acts 13:1-5; Rom 10:15; 2Tim 2:2).
Evangelism
belongs to the proclamatory aspect of the tripartite
New Testament Apostolic Tradition or Paradosis
2Tim 1:13-14; Jude 3, which are:
1.
Kerygma –
the preaching or proclamation of the
facts, promises and invitation of the Gospel of Christ Luke 1:2; Mark 16:15;
2.
Didache –
the teaching (i.e. explanation or interpretation)
of the Person, words and works of Christ 1Cor. 15;
3.
Praxis – the practical application of Christ in our lives imitating the practices and patterns of order, holiness and love,
left by the Apostles Matt 28:20; 2Thes
2:15; 3:6-7.
According
to Gal 3:8, the First Evangelist was God Himself. God first preached the Gospel
to Abraham, as recorded in Gen 22:18.
“that in blessing I
will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of
the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies. And in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Because thou hast
obeyed my voice.” (Gen 22:17-18)
The
next Evangelist was the Angel of the Lord at the birth of Christ.
“And
the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the
city of
(Luk
2:10-11)
Jesus
was the next Evangelist (Bringer of good tidings)
“Now
after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And
saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye,
and believe the gospel.” (Mar 1:14-15)
“And
it came to pass, that
on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the
gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,” (Luk 20:1)
It
is this divine, angelic, messianic and beautiful-footed mission that the Church
has been found worthy to be commissioned to carry out. Both leaders and members
alike
"And
he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.” (Mar
16:15)
“Therefore
they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” (Act 8:4)
The
feet of those who do evangelism is so beautiful before the Lord
“And how shall they preach,
except they be sent? as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Rom 10:15) Also Isa. 52:7.
Thus
the feet of gospel bringers should not be defiled by the soil of the
habitations of the stiff-necked
“But
into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into
the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding
be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” (Luk 10:10-11)
Those who oppose, discourage
or neglect the preaching of the glad tidings of the kingdom, do so to their own
peril, whether they be outside the church or belong to the church!
To escape this peril we must preach the
Gospel irrespective of whatever constraints there may be. This is the wisdom
for the saints.
“For
though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid
upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!” (1Co 9:16)
“Preach
the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all
longsuffering and doctrine.” (2Ti 4:2)
Last
revised: May 2, 2009
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