Ever since I was saved, I have always wanted to do something that pleases the Lord. Growing up, I went to a public school and was bullied for sharing my faith with others. As I got older, I would start sitting down with homeless people over a meal and talk with them about Jesus. At my first job, I became known as Pastor Jacob because I was always talking about God with my coworkers and made it known that I was going to go to school to become a missionary. Throughout my life, personal evangelism has been a part of who I am, but until I started school, it was only a small part of me.
As I look back on my life, something I have realized about personal evangelism is that it is not just about sharing your faith every now and then. It is not about going through the motions of being a Christian. It is a mindset. A state of being. It is who you are as a follower of Jesus Christ. When I started going to school, I put effort into thinking, “how can I reach this person standing in front of me?. How can I reach my family? How can I reach my friends.? How can I reach everyone around me with the Gospel of Jesus?” From that point on, personal evangelism is always on my mind wherever I go. Every place, every situation, every moment with someone is an opportunity to share Jesus with someone.
You may be thinking, “that is because you are training to be a missionary. Of course you would be like that.” You would be right, a missionary absolutely should have this mindset. However, there is a dangerous mindset that personal evangelism is something that only falls on the Pastor, or the Evangelist, or the Missionary. That is not the case, however. In the book of Acts, the Apostles got the movement started, but who spread the Gospel to all of Asia and turned the known world upside down? It was the normal, everyday people like you and me who heard about Jesus, had their lives changed, and decided to risk their lives to share that life-changing news with everyone else.
It is this attitude that is at the heart of the matter. It goes back to having that mindset of sharing Jesus with everyone you see. If Jesus has truly changed your life, why wouldn’t you want to share that with people. What is in your heart is on your mind. What is on your mind comes out of your mouth. What comes out of your mouth translates into action. If Jesus is truly in your heart, it should show itself through the action of spreading of good news of Jesus Christ where ever you are. I would like to end by sharing the last command of Jesus. He commanded those who follow Him to share the Gospel and disciple those who believe to be obedient to the commands of Jesus Christ. The following passage says that personal evangelism is not just something we do because we want to, it is also the last command of King Jesus. If we want to be obedient to our Lord, personal evangelism must become something every single follower of Jesus takes seriously.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.