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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for January 14, 2011
“What is an Evangelist?”
Hello, I’m
Here’s a big Christian word for you: evangelist.
How many times do you think that word shows up in the Bible?
Three times.
The word “evangelist” has shown up more in the New York Times already this year than it does the entire Bible.
The word shows up 12,000,000 times in Google, and 3 times in the Bible.
Now here’s something interesting. Of those 12 million hits on the internet, almost one million of them refer to Billy Graham. A quarter million refer to Pat Robertson.
But for some reason, when I type the word “evangelist” into Google, and Google completes the phrase for me, it doesn’t give me Billy or Pat. For some reason it lists four evangelists I’ve never heard of, and who don’t have many hits on the internet. I don’t know what Google is basing it on, but anyway, when I type “evangelist,” it completes the phrase with four names, Nathan Morris, Tom Hayes, Sandra Riley and Amy Holmes.
My guess is that when people search for Billy or Pat, they don’t tack on the title “evangelist,” but they do when searching for those four people.
The first time the word evangelist shows up in the Bible is in Acts 21:8. It says, “…the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto
That is the only time in the Bible that someone is tagged with the title “evangelist.”
By the way, Philip the evangelist is not the same as Philip the apostle, who was one of Jesus’ 12 disciples. This second Philip, the evangelist, doesn’t show up in the Bible until the book of Acts. At that time seven Spirit-filled men were chosen for a certain task, including Stephen who was later stoned to death, and Philip. That’s why, in Acts 21:8, it says, “…Philip the evangelist…one of the seven…”
Now what does this word “evangelist” mean, anyway? Actually, it’s quite simple. The dictionary defines it as “a bringer of good news.” So anyone who brings good news is technically an evangelist, but in Christianity we think of it as people who bring the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.
That’s certainly what Philip the evangelist did. Acts chapter eight is all about him. Verse one says that “a great persecution broke out against the church at
Verse four says, “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.” So basically they were all evangelists, but the focus of the chapter is on Philip. He preached and performed miracles in a city in
Then an angel of the Lord told him to go down the road to
Twenty years later he was still in
So anyway, that’s Philip, the only man in the Bible with the actual title of evangelist.
The second of three times the word evangelist shows up in the Bible is Ephesians 4:11 where it says that God gave “some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…”
This indicates that God calls some people to the specific position of evangelist. Now when we think of this position, we probably think of guys who go around holding evangelistic meetings, sharing the gospel with lost people – the unsaved, non-Christians – and calling them to Christ. Billy Graham comes to mind.
But look at the context of that verse. It names those five positions, then says that God calls people to those positions…why? “For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come to the unity of the faith…”
In that context, the evangelist isn’t bringing good news to the lost. He’s bringing good news to the saved! Those five positions are to be equipping the saints for ministry and edifying the body of Christ.
I’m not diminishing the importance of sharing the gospel with the lost. I’m just noting the context of that verse where God’s specific calling is for evangelists to minister to people already in the church. Just something to think about.
And the third and final time the word evangelist appears in Scripture is Second Timothy 4:5 where Paul told Timothy to “…do the work of an evangelist…”
I don’t know precisely what that meant to Timothy, if it meant organizing evangelistic crusades, or witnessing in his neighborhood, or if it meant sharing good news with the body of Christ; perhaps all of the above.
Now there are variations of the root Greek word for evangelist in the Bible which cover phrases like “preach the Gospel,” so we have certainly not plumbed the depths of the subject; but as for the word evangelist, that’s it – three times.
But I love the meaning, and I want to be that kind of person, don’t you?
I want to be an evangelist…“a bringer of good news.”
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision App
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