THE EVANGELIST (2)
[p. 365] THE EVANGELIST (2)
An evangelist, having received his gift from the Lord for the benefit of the church, sets to work and searches everywhere for the lost pieces (lost souls), sweeps the house diligently until he finds them according as the Lord directs him. You do not appear to seize the nature and scope of the Holy Spirit’s action here for Christ. You seem, if I do not misunderstand you, to hold that if the saints do not co-operate with you, and invite sinners to come and hear you, you have no option but to use means of some kind to secure an audience. The evangelist, in my mind, in the first instance works alone, has an isolated service, going out to highways and hedges. This is the evangelist proper; and if he be led by the Spirit, he finds the eunuch or the Lydia; he is ever at the disposal of the Spirit of God; and the less he uses or obtains help from terrestrial things, or things of the world, the better and greater his work. A new thing has come in on the earth - a light from God. The Holy Spirit only can open eyes to receive or to see that light. If you would have that light received without mixture or leaven of the human element, keep as clear as possible of every thing of man. The Spirit uses your voice and real earnestness. Anything ‘got up’ is an offence to Him. Satan wanted to get a share in the work at Philippi. It is often from the way the gospel is preached that so much sorrow and difficulty is entailed on souls before they are able to leave the cradle. You must work like the wise woman (Proverbs 31), and if you do, your works will prove you in the gate.
I have said so much for the evangelist proper; but I believe in a day like this, the gospel should be preached in our rooms as a continual thing, where the children and domestics may hear the gospel, where the inquiring soul may learn the truth. At —— three or four hundred attend on Sunday evenings without any kind of placards;
[p. 366] very many not in fellowship, really anxious souls wanting to know the way of the Lord more perfectly. It has gone abroad that the needy soul would get help there. This I appreciate much, and this is the character our rooms ought to bear.