Basics Series. The Doctrine of Witnessing, part 4.

Evangelism, Part 7:
The Doctrine of Witnessing, Part 4.

The Doctrine of the Gospel

Point 1: What is “the Gospel”?

The Gospel is the “good news” of salvation through Christ, to be received by faith alone, on the basis of His substitutionary death bearing our sins, followed by His burial and resurrection.

Point 2: What the Gospel is not.

If satan is to blind the minds of the unbelieving he must do so by addition, not subtraction.

Nothing can be added to faith or believing as a condition of salvation.  

The Doctrine of Witnessing (Evangelism)

Titus 2:11
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,  

There is the message itself- the Gospel - and there is the presentation of the message, which is evangelism and the doctrine of witnessing.

The next step is to learn and observe how those skilled and gifted in the practice of presenting the Gospel have gone about their work.
 

The gospel is the Good News - the message we are here to announce to people, the prescription, the solution.

Evangelism or witnessing consists of the work of the ambassador leading up to the announcement, the announcement itself, and the work that follows once a person has believed.
 

The work of the evangelist has its own set of principles that come from the Bible.
 

Witnessing

Preparing for Good News

Presenting the Good News

Inviting to believe

Helping the new believer

Protocol for ambassadors

One good way to pick up the essentials of witnessing is to observe great evangelists at work.

What is Evangelism: guest speaker
Steve Cantrell

evangelism = the preaching, proclaiming, or making known by an open declaration - the gospel.
 
 

Key doctrines for witnessing:
What is the Gospel?
What is Grace?
The unique person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Christ’s work on the cross

Redemption
Propitiation
Reconciliation
Justification
The ministry of the Holy Spirit in salvation
The unlimited atonement
Eternal security

 1. Evangelism is the means by which people are saved.

2. We have been given the responsibility to witness by God.

 3. We become genuinely motivated to witness as we understand more and more what God has done for us in His grace.

The Holy Spirit convinces the unbeliever that they need a Savior.

The Holy Spirit makes the gospel message understandable.

The Holy Spirit makes the faith of a spiritually dead person effective for salvation.

Witnessing

Preparing for Good News

Presenting the Good News

Inviting to believe

Helping the new believer

Protocol for ambassadors

Witnessing is part of the believer’s ambassadorship.

An ambassador is a high-ranking minister of state, often a member of royalty or nobility, who is sent to a foreign country to represent his sovereign on official business.
 
 

Phil 3:20
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

We are appointed by our Savior, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, to represent Him on earth while He is seated at the right hand of God the Father.

We receive our instructions in written form - the Scriptures, particularly the New Testament epistles.

Our effectiveness depends on understanding our mission, and that requires proper motivation, preparation, and knowledge.