Thursday, January 26, 2012

a helpful plan for BIBLE READING and EVANGELIZING.

So a fellow pastor may ask: "how do I get out on the street and start open-air preaching?"

I would reply by saying that an option would be to take what you read this morning in God's Word and go out and proclaim that text, exposit it, apply it, enlighten it, and show how that text fits into the greater redemptive plan of God.

For instance, this morning if you read Exodus 13-14 you could go on the streets and proclaim the Exodus account and how God demanded the blood of an innocent animal in order to pass over His people. But those who were not covered with blood were destroyed by the angel of death.

Furthermore, if you studied Matthew 26 and examined the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas, the heartfelt prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the evil plotting of the Jews to put Christ on the cross, one could go on the streets and talk about the wretchedness of sinners and the pervasiveness and extremities of our sins. Indeed, Christ died for our sins. One could preach on how Christ prayed to the Father in the Garden because He knew that the infinite wrath of God Almighty was about to be poured out upon Him on Calvary's tree. Preach propitiation! Preach justification! Preach Christ's substitutionary death in the place of god-hating rebels.


Ah, but you say that you're not a preacher. Then I would beseech you to take what you read in the mornings and try to bring those texts or topics up in daily conversation with people (lunch break, coworkers, on the streets, on the subway, etc.).

If we are in God's Word every day and God's Word speaks to our own hearts, we can also try to bring these texts, chapters, themes, and gospel-truths to bear as we interact with others throughout each day.

Try it. Pray about it. See how God begins to open opportunities for you to share the gospel & what you read that morning with folks who desperately need the gospel.