THE MINISTRY OF EVANGELIST (Part II)

By Odon Bulamba (Friday 6th October 2000)

5. WHERE TO GO AND SPEAK?

Let’s look at Phillip

Acts 8: 5 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”

Sometimes the crowd gathers just to hear the message coming from God through a man. The crowd will not come if the evangelist isn’t ready to speak. So evangelists will first of all seek God’s guidance; if God allows them to speak, they can speak, but if God doesn’t, they won’t do it.

You will see that most evangelists have a programme for a whole year: they know that in June they will be in China, or at another date they will be somewhere else, and then they spend 2 days at home and go to the next place. After talking with God, they receive the whole programme from Him and they write it down.

6. THEY MUST PRAY SERIOUSLY

An evangelist must start praying to prepare the crowd for the good news: in a crowd there are all types of men and spirits, including impure spirits, magicians and spirits of darkness.

I (Odon) remember a famous musician, his name was Franco. If you listened to his songs and listened to his lyrics, you will see he was a great poet, and had a wisdom the world could not understand. When he played the guitar in front of a crowd, he would say around midnight: “Be careful because now the spirits are coming, if anyone here did not come with his husband or wife it is not the time to look for a girl/boyfriend, those who have eyes can see now”. The people were listening but could not understand a thing. This is what he meant: there were handsome men and nice girls but these were spirits just wearing bodies.

When evangelists lead crusades, the same thing happens. When evangelists proclaim this and that, everybody will come, including the army of darkness. Satan will come and say: “This man has come to take away the souls that belong to me” and he will ignite a whole strategy: magicians and sorcerers will come to tempt you, including all types of evil spirits. If you are not spiritually ready, you will not speak. I know some servants who took the microphone but no sound came out of their mouth. I told you the other day about a stage that collapsed and everybody was confused. So, you must be seriously prepared with support from prayer groups.


7. THEY PREACH AND PERFORM MIRACLES

The Bible says that when Phillip was preaching, the crowd was paying attention to what he was saying because they were listening as well as watching the miracles coming from Philip’s hand. When an evangelist performs miracles you can be sure the crowd will follow you: anybody who suffers will come to you to be healed. If you are an evangelist and you don’t have this power, don’t go there, don’t start to evangelise without wearing the right clothes or otherwise people will despise what is in you or what you say. So remember to be properly equipped so that you have everything that is necessary for God’s mission.
After Phillip prayed for the sick, the Bible says that the whole crowd was happy. Among them was a man performing miracles, Simon the magician, who saw that Philip’s power was greater than his and who accepted Jesus Christ into his life on that day.

So if evangelists are well prepared, they can also transform people, they can transform those who represent Satan on earth, and those who perform miracles with the power of darkness.

If you are not ready, the spirit dwelling in this person will come on you, live in you and you will lose everything you have, you will be bound by Satan. That’s why you must know how to use the ministry of evangelism.


8. PHILIP RAN AFTER THE CHARIOT TO START TALKING TO THE EUNNUCH

In the same story we read that Philip met the eunuch and baptized him. The Bible says that Philip ran after the chariot, the chariot didn’t stop for the eunuch to invite Philip. In fact, the chariot was passing by and Philip decided to talk to the eunuch. He ran after it until he could actually talk to him. He started with a question: “Do you know what you are reading?”

So evangelists must run after God’s souls that have been captured by Satan and ask them, ‘Do you know what’s happening in your life?’ and they will invite them and share with them. That is what Philip did; he ran after the eunuch, talked to him to the point that the eunuch asked to be baptized.

An evangelist must not walk with pride. He is someone quick and alert to spiritual things because our time on earth is very short. So he must run after the souls to call them back to God. If he doesn’t run, he will not fulfill his mission. An evangelist never hesitates, if someone is ready, the evangelist moves on to baptize them or do other things and then leaves them.

9. PHILIP WAS TAKEN TO THE NEXT SPIRITUAL LEVEL UP

After Philip finished his mission, the Spirit of God took Phillip away and Phillip went on to a spiritual journey. After fulfilling a mission, evangelists are taken to the next level up. The same Philip who talked to the crowds also spoke to an individual. Evangelism is not always about crowds, it can also be just for one person or a door to door mission, through the media etc.

10. CONCLUSION

An evangelist is someone who travels, takes time to speak with God and always performs miracles. He does not stay in a church but runs after the souls that are not in the church to take them back to the church. An evangelist is never afraid to talk about sin. He is the one who warns people about their lives, tells them: “Be careful for time is up. The Son of Man will be back soon, so, you, liars, you, thieves, etc, if you don’t change your ways, when Jesus comes back you will not inherit his Kingdom. So, be ready.” He can preach in a mosque, in a Buddhist temple, in a pub, at the market, everywhere and to everyone, he doesn’t care if people despise him or ridicule him: his only worry is to open his moth and bring the good news.

It is written in Matt:10, those who welcome you, give them peace, and those who don’t just shake the dust off your feet. Don’t waste your time in this city if it doesn’t work, go to another one. This is the life of an evangelist, especially nowadays.