1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian Spiritual Gifts | Page 7

of these encouraging people, but the challenge remains for us that, even if we do not have
this gift personally, we should all be encouragers ourselves.
In the book of Acts there is a man named Barnabas who used this gift so well that they
actually called him “the son of encouragement”. His ministry was particularly important in
the life of a young man named Mark, who had travelled with the apostle Paul, but had
returned from a mission journey because it had become too difficult for him. Paul,
thereafter, refused to have Mark accompany him on anymore mission trips. This left Mark
discouraged and despondent. Barnabas, however, drew alongside Mark and encouraged
him to continue in his faith journey. He later personally took Mark on his own mission
journey and, by so doing, restored this young man’s morale and passion for the Kingdom of
God.
We continually thank God for those with the gift of encouragement and encourage you to
encourage on.

EVANGELISM
THE divine enablement to effectively communicate the Gospel to unbelievers, so that they
respond in faith to become Christ followers.
Every church has, by God’s appointment, people with this gift of evangelism. These are the
people who are continually on the lookout for those who may not as yet have come to faith
in Christ. They have a burning desire to see men and women come, by way of repentance,
to Christ and are willing to step outside of their comfort zones in order to achieve this.
Those with the gift of evangelism are unashamed to publically proclaim their love for Jesus
and their willingness to share the message of salvation. They welcome any opportunity that
is set before them to do so. They are also willing to bear the ridicule that sometimes comes
with this.
A great example of an evangelist, who had to bear the cost for being one, would be
Stephen. In Acts 7 we see Stephen preaching unapologetically the Gospel of Jesus. The
crowds, however, were offended by him, but this did not deter Stephen. He continued to
preach unashamedly. The crowd then became violent and took him outside of the city to
stone him to death. Despite stones and rocks being flung at him and his body bruising and
crumbling, Stephen continued to preach the gospel. So great was his passion to see the
message of Christ preached and for people to turn to Jesus!