Preaching With Purpose: Personal Evangelism

“Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” Acts 8:35

The purpose of preaching is to lead men and woman to Christ! And the way to be most effective at it is to be led by the Spirit! Phillip is a good example of following God to lead people to God.

Phillip went to Samaria to preach the Gospel after an outbreak of persecution in Jerusalem. The evangelistic work that was carried out in Samaria was a success and you would think that Phillip would have settled down and went from evangelist mode to discipleship mode.But God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) The Holy Spirit told Phillip to go down to Gaza and meet a man that God was preparing to hear the message of Christ. When Phillip met the man who had been reading Isaiah 53 and ask if the writer was speaking of himself or another, it says “And Phillip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.”

On the surface it seems that Phillip was leaving a great work for a lesser insignificant work. But what he didn’t understand was that preaching to the Ethiopian Eunuch would be an even bigger event. Instead of just a city coming to Christ, this would be the beginning of a nation coming to Christ. God is the God of small things. But it is those small events that he turns into great accomplishments.

There is a beautiful story about Charles Spurgeon that proves this point. When Spurgeon was just a boy he was leaving to go to church one Sunday morning. As he went out the snow was so deep that he went to a much closer church. The pastor of that church was not able to make the service so an unknown substitute lay preacher had to conduct the service and preach the sermon. The lay preacher stopped in the middle of his sermon and pointed to Charles’s and said “That young man looks miserable: look, look young man, look now!” It was at that moment Spurgeon saw vision and it was on that day that the Prince of Preachers was converted. Spurgeon went on to preach to thousands and lead many to Christ in his ministry.

The point is that the conversion of one can lead to many. There is a great need today for one on one personal evangelism. Preaching to one may not be as glamorous or make many headlines, but to that one person who receives Christ, it makes all the difference. The difference between heaven and hell. And that one can make the difference to thousands. These great movements didn’t begin with preachers, it began with men who were sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

I want to challenge you to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and his voice. God may choose you to lead one person to Christ that could change a community, a country or the world. There is no such thing as an insignificant witness!

Pastor Robby