Hold up Pastor! You said you were talking about evangelism, and now you seem to be talking about weird stuff like the presence of God and the Holy Ghost. How are these two connected?
 
Isn’t evangelism simply you motivating us to get out of our recliners and hand out a track or invite someone to church once in a while? Well, let’s learn from the Master.
 
Let’s take a look at the progression in the ministry of Jesus.
 
First off, would you consider Jesus to be someone who talked about the kingdom of God? If so, that would make Him someone who evangelized. He is certainly one who evangelized and an evangelist, the Evangelist.
 
Luke 3:23 (ESV): “Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age…”
 
So, Jesus had a beginning to His ministry on earth. What was that beginning? There was a physical and spiritual dimension to that beginning.
 
Matthew 3:16 (ESV): “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him…”
 
Jesus was baptized in water to begin earthly ministry and this was His choice to do so. That is the physical dimension, He willingly went underwater. And then as He came out of the water the Holy Spirit rested on Him.
 
And then we read for the first time in scripture this description of Jesus…      
 
Luke 4:1–2 (ESV): And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.
 
The phrase “led by the Spirit”, did you see that?
 
From this point forward everywhere Jesus went and everything that Jesus did was Holy Ghost led. That means that even the evangelism was Holy Ghost-led.
 
If led by the Holy Spirit, then He is in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
 
Evangelism is presence-driven, that means that it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that drives evangelism in the person and/or church, this was so for Jesus and it must be so for you and me.
 
When I say presence-driven, that means something different than what we have become accustomed to understanding. We often operate in ministry with the knowledge of the Holy Spirit. We believe He exists and we believe that the Bible speaks of Him. We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and we wonder if we will ever see the power of God manifest in our day and we wonder what it must have been like in the New Testament days to see mighty works of God flowing out upon people.
 
We rest in the knowledge of God content that the knowledge of God is what moves the heart of God to act in mighty ways. The knowledge of God won’t move a single thing! The knowledge of God puts us in the right alignment to experience the presence and power of God. Don’t ever be satisfied with simply the knowledge of God.
 
The disciples had first-hand knowledge of Jesus raised from the dead! Yet, it didn’t move them to the miraculous power of God in faith. Knowledge can’t and won’t produce mighty works!
 
Only the presence of God will do the mighty works of God.
 
Jesus came to earth as a man. As a man, in order for the Father to work through Jesus in power, Jesus had to (like every human being on earth who wants to be used of God) be filled with the Holy Spirit so that the presence of the Holy Spirit could work through Him into others.
 
It could be argued that Jesus knew everything, I mean everything there was to know, past, present and future and yet ministry wouldn’t and couldn’t start until the presence of the Holy Spirit fell upon Jesus at the Jordan river.
 
Knowledge is not presence. Knowledge of the presence isn’t presence.
 
I have knowledge of oxygen and what it will do for me, it is life-giving. I have knowledge of the presence of oxygen all around me, friend. Oxygen is everywhere and accessible and will be very life-giving. Knowledge is not life-giving. I have breathed it in! And now I have breath in my lungs! Right here, right now! Constantly breathing in.
 
Maybe I am accustomed to weakness and bulging eyes, maybe I am accustomed to gasping for air. Maybe breathing deep and being full of energy is scary to me. But no matter what I think, the fact remains that God made me breathe deep and be full of energy. In need the presence of oxygen more than the knowledge of it.
 
Evangelism is born from the presence of God not the knowledge of the presence of God.
 
Is that hard to understand? Well, God goes beyond your understanding, to be filled with His power and His love, you must approach Him by faith. By faith invite the Holy Spirit to fill you. Please don’t assume that means more knowledge. The presence of the Holy Spirit will give you strength and power for life, by God’s design. He will give you boldness to stand up and walk as a child of God, like nothing on earth can do.
 
Right now, not a second later, don’t wait for a second more.
 
Knowledge is so important, presence takes over where knowledge leaves off. Without knowledge, you wouldn’t know that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And without presence, knowledge would leave us empty and rigid.
 
Mighty God, holy God, merciful God, kind and loving God, we approach You this morning with a hunger to be in Your presence. We know You want to be with us more than we want to be with You. We confess we don’t know why You would want to be with us, and we don’t know about our worth and value except what Jesus showed us when He went to the cross for us. We receive You, fill us with Your presence and make us forever aware of Your presence Holy Spirit. Let the love of God and the care of the Father be seen by all who would look into us and see why we are the way we are. Praise You Jesus for making this possible through Your blood being shed on the cross for us.    
 
         
Blessings,
 
Pastor D