WHY EVANGELIZE PART 4 OF 10

Text- Matthew 28:16-20

Introduction

Tonight I am going to continue with the series of lessons I have been teaching on Sunday night dealing with the topic of evangelism.

This evening our text is found in Matthew 28:16-20 and the title of my lesson is, "Why Evangelize?"

For a Christian to question evangelism is like an American questioning apple pie, baseball and the stars and stripes.

None-the-less the question needs to be asked and answered.

For those Christians who are already involved in evangelism the answer is so that the right thing is done for the right reason.

For those Christians who are not involved in evangelism the answer is so that the right thing will be done.

Within the Bible there are five passages of Scripture that give us the basis of evangelism and answers the question as to why we need to evangelize.

In our text tonight we find what has become known down through the centuries within the Christian community as the Great Commission.

Have you ever wondered why the Great Commission is called "Great?"

One reason is because it includes the entire world.

Earlier in Matthew 10:5-6 Jesus had sent His disciples to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but now He is sending them into the entire world.

Matthew 10:5-6, "These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; [6] but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

I want us to think about the Great Commission tonight and to get your minds working in that direction I am going to write the word "GREAT" on the overhead and ask you to use each letter in this word to describe what comes to your mind when you think about the Great Commission.

a. G- global, God, go, goal, growth, gospel
b. R- responsibility, repentance, reaching out, ready, reproduction
c. E- evangelism, edification, everyone, earth, educate, enthusiasm
d. A- authority, additions, advancement, announcing
e. T- teaching, truth, time, toil, trustworthy, together

As we consider what our text says about the Great Commission I would like us to look at three reasons why we are to evangelize.