The following message on preaching the evangelistic message is a chapter from Tom Shanklin’s book, “You Can Touch the World.” This book has been enthusiastically received by ministers and believers around the world. You can learn more about You Can Touch the World here.

By Tom Shanklin

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18, KJV.

In spite of what we have said about sharing one-on-one and lifestyle evangelism, the public proclamation of the Gospel is still a much needed part of the work of evangelism in the earth today. God is emphasizing that every believer is a minister and a witness for Christ, but we still need anointed men and women of God who will stand up and lift their voices to boldly proclaim the glorious Gospel of Christ to the masses of people.

This particular chapter is primarily written to those who publicly proclaim the Gospel, but there are principles here to help any believer with their presentation of the Gospel. Also, it is important for every believer to learn about the ministry of evangelistic proclamation in order to pray and cooperate with the Gospel ministers who are laboring in our midst and on the evangelistic field.

A true evangelistic message expresses the heart of God toward the person who is lost and without hope in this world. It presents the message of the Gospel in the simplest form, so that men and women, boys and girls can respond and give their lives to Jesus Christ.

If someone preaches with a great deal of fire and enthusiasm and is able to stir up a crowd, many will say he or she is evangelistic. But true evangelistic ministry is more about substance than style. Even though a minister’s presentation may be rousing and stirring, if he does not clearly present the Gospel message in such a way as it can be understood, received, and acted upon, it is not truly evangelistic.

Many of the fiery messages we hear from gifted ministers are exhortations to the believers, rather than evangelistic messages to reach the lost. Many of the examples that we have of preaching ministry today from the most popular ministers (through their CDs, DVDs, and television programs) are not geared to the lost. These messages are exhortations or teachings for the believers. Therefore, young ministers and those who have a desire to preach evangelistically have little to follow in the way of examples of evangelistic preaching.

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If the evangelistic message was proclaimed more clearly from our pulpits, then the members of our congregations would be much more adept at sharing the Gospel with their family and friends. But because the focus is often on everything but the Gospel, many church members are functionally illiterate concerning sharing the Gospel message.

Every Gospel minister, whether he or she is an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher, should know how to preach evangelistically. Every minister should be following Paul’s instruction to “do the work of an evangelist.” If there was more training in Bible schools concerning the art and science of preaching the evangelistic message and how to cooperate with the anointing for such a ministry, we would see many more conversions in our churches and in our communities.

Preaching is different from teaching. Preaching is lifting up your voice and proclaiming the Good News. Anointed preaching hits a register on the spirit of man, because it is God’s message of deliverance spoken through a vessel that is yielded to Him for that purpose. Teaching is explaining. That’s important too, even in the evangelistic message. But preaching accomplishes something on a different realm. It breaks spiritual strongholds. It unlocks the emotions. It brings a conviction. It causes the hearers to rejoice in a God Who saves. We need that kind of preaching today!

I believe that many ministers live and die without ever having learned to preach evangelistically. Some have bought the lie that because they are a pastor or a prophet or a teacher, it is not their job to reach the lost. As a result, many people will spend eternity in hell.

One can not learn everything about preaching evangelistically in a classroom. The greatest training that one can receive is actually getting out there and preaching to the lost. I believe it is difficult for someone to learn how to preach evangelistically by only preaching inside the church house. There are exceptions to this, but normally the local church ministry is orientated toward the believer. The needs of the people in the congregation tend to pull the preacher into subjects such as Christian growth, renewing the mind, family, prayer, and so on. Therefore, the orientation of the minister is inappropriate for developing a proper mind for evangelistic preaching. His thought pattern. as he prepares to preach, is more orientated to building up the people who are already saved.

To develop a proper mind for evangelistic preaching, every minister should look for opportunities to minister to the lost, such as open air services, overseas missions, ministering in jails, prisons, detention centers, nursing homes, and other places where there is a multitude of people who are away from God and need to hear the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, he or she will begin to learn what it takes to bring a message to someone who does not know Christ.

There are certain basic things that a person must understand to be saved. Sometimes, in our preaching or witnessing, we are talking “Christianeze.” We are speaking in a way that the insider (the believer) understands, but the unconverted soul doesn’t have a clue. Very often we take for granted that people understand the terms and phrases which we use. Expressions such as “getting saved,” “receiving Jesus,” “sin,” and “redemption” have little or no relevance in the mind of the unlearned hearers, unless they are explained.

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We must go back to Christianity 101 and explain the essential elements of the Gospel in a way that they can understand. For example, we may say that Jesus is the Savior, but this statement has very little relevance unless the person understands what they are being saved from. Therefore they must understand something about judgment, which means they must understand something about sin, which means they must understand something about the Fall, the Creation, and the one true and living God.

When a person makes a decision on insufficient information, it may not produce a true conversion. He may be coming forward or praying a prayer as a result of the charisma of the speaker, an emotional pull, or peer pressure from the group. But, if he understands the Gospel, he can exercise faith in the Savior and make Jesus his Lord, which is what is necessary to obtain salvation.

Ingredients for the Gospel Message

Let’s take a look at some of the basic elements of the evangelistic message.

God made everything good. There is only one God, who made the sky and stars and sun and the earth and everything that is in it. He made the trees and the grass and the animals and He made you. When He made everything else, He saw that it was good. But when He made people, He saw that it was very good. He did not make man to live a miserable life. He did not create us to be ridden with sin, disease, poverty, crime, and social problems. He created us in His own image, with purpose, with dominion, and with dignity.

Man fell into sin and death. In many cultures around the world, and even in the western society in which we live in today, there is very little consciousness of what sin is, and little fear of God and of His judgment. Therefore, in order to preach evangelistically, we must lay the ground work for an understanding of the Fall of man. Through Adam, sin and death were passed on to the human race, along with the resulting curses and eternal judgment. As these things are preached, the Holy Spirit can then use them to bring conviction to the heart of the hearer and a revelation of the need in their life for change.

Jesus Christ came to save you. It should seem obvious to us, but sometimes we try to get people to respond to the Gospel without first presenting God’s answer to man’s dilemma, Christ and Him crucified. Once Billy Graham had preached his heart out trying to win the lost, but his message fell flat and produced little results. Later, a business man pointed out to him that he had failed to present the cross of Jesus Christ as the answer. Once we have presented the problem (man’s dilemma and the impending judgment), then we must present the people with the only way out, Jesus Christ.

We can do this by sharing a brief overview of the life of Christ—His virgin birth, His sinless life, His teaching, His miracles, His death at Calvary as a substitution for our sins, and His resurrection. Of course this makes for wonderful preaching, which has the power to inspire the believers that are in attendance as well as to capture the heart of the unbeliever. This is the opportunity to present the love and mercy and goodness of God, Who sent His son to die for our sins. This also begins to really release the power of the Holy Spirit to draw the people to Jesus.

You must receive Christ. When you present Jesus as Savior, it is good to point out that He is the Savior of the whole world. No one is left out of the mercy-plan of God. But then we must declare the absolute necessity of personally receiving the gift of eternal life. The message must become personal to that individual.

It is good to press home the point that God is looking for a response now, that He is the one who has sent you as His ambassador with His message of love, and that He is wants to know their response. Scriptures such as John 1:12 can be used effectively, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” John 1:12, KJV.

Tell them about the supernatural element of the salvation experience—about the power of God to change a heart and that they can receive a new birth and a new life in Christ. They should be made to understand that God will forgive all their sins and give them a gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ and will give them a desire and the ability to live for Him.

Then they should be clearly instructed on how to make this decision. Two things are essential at that point. They must repent and believe the Gospel. “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mark 1:14, 15, KJV.

Repent. The word repentance is another term that must be clearly understood. They must understand that they are making a life-altering decision to turn away from sin and to follow Jesus as Lord. It means to change your mind and change your ways. Illustrations or personal testimony can be used to drive home this point. If the people have been idol worshippers, tell them that when they receive Jesus they should throw all the idols out of their lives and homes. It must also be emphasized that this is a change of heart, that they are not saved by their works. However, they must have a change of direction from sin to God.

Believe the Gospel. This is a wonderful opportunity to reinforce the power of the Gospel through faith in the cross. By believing in what God has done for them in Christ, they receive the benefit of the Gospel, eternal life.

Helpful Hints for Preaching

God can use whatever knowledge you have to reach people for Christ, but a strong biblical foundation is a great help to the evangelistic preacher. It is helpful to have a grasp of the story of the Bible and have a clear comprehension of the redemption that is in Christ. These things must be real and personal in the heart of the preacher. Also, it is helpful to have God’s Word embedded in your heart through meditation, so that you can draw out scriptures at will from within your heart to use during your message. You can use key scriptures, such as those in Romans (chapters 1-5) concerning salvation, and the Gospel of John (especially chapters 1, 3 & 14), and the first three chapters of the book of Genesis. Also, key predictive scriptures from Isaiah and other prophets concerning Christ are helpful, such as Isaiah 53. Although you are preaching the simple basics of the faith, it is important for the evangelistic preacher to have a strong doctrinal foundation and a good grasp of the Word of God to build his message upon.

Once you establish these foundations firmly in your mind and heart, along with having appropriate scriptures in your heart as arrows ready to fly, you can flow with the direction of the Holy Spirit and find great freedom in your preaching. The Holy Spirit can then emphasize certain truths or elements of the message as needed for the particular audience.

Before you preach to an audience that does not know you, tell them something about yourself. Speak warmly and sincerely, so that they can relate to you as a person. If they first open their heart to the messenger, it will help them to receive the message.

Speak directly from your heart as a compassionate friend to your hearers. Find a scripture text to use as a basis for your message. Read that in the beginning and then preach from your heart. A 20-minute message from your heart is better than an hour of stiff, uninspired reading of notes from a page. Start where you are and rise up in the glory of God. Then call the people to repentance at the foot of the cross.

I once heard the story that taught me a lot about the kind of attitude it takes to be an effective Gospel preacher. Someone had told Billy Graham about a young man who had been doing research and studying the subject of evangelism at Wheaton College. Mr. Graham then asked, “Do you think he would be willing to sit down and talk with me to help me improve my Gospel presentation?” Here was the man that many say is the greatest evangelist in the world, and he was looking for help with his Gospel presentation. What about the rest of us?

We need to continually sharpen our arrows and develop the skills necessary to be effective soul winners. We are carrying the only message that can save men’s eternal souls. May God help us to be effective in bringing forth that message to a spiritually destitute world.

Help me Father, to hide the Word of Your salvation in my heart, that I might give a clear presentation of the Gospel to those who need it. Help me to proclaim Your Gospel clearly and fearlessly, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Ministry of the Evangelist Audio with Czech Translation