31. Leadership Role: Evangelist, Pt. 2

Philip’s Method: The Samaritans

To see how important baptism is in evangelization, remember Philip—the only person in the Bible called an evangelist—and take note of his technique. In Acts 8 (we’ll read it in a second), you see exactly how he evangelized. How who evangelized? How the only person God directly calls an evangelist in the Scriptures! (This is important).

… when they believed Philip preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike…

… when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For he had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:12, 14-16; NASB).

I love it! It says ‘they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.’ That word simply means that Philip’s evangelization wasn’t complete. It means that his evangelism was almost complete. The Samaritans had been baptized in water, but not yet in the Holy Spirit.

God sent a true messenger to the Samaritans, the ethnically and religiously aberrant neighbors of the Jews. And right after the Samaritans trusted in the Gospel of the Kingdom, Philip made sure that they were baptized. He did his job well.

These days pastors teach that baptism is something to do after evangelism, but Philip considered water baptism the third step in the process of evangelism. And even after baptism, Philip knew that he hadn’t yet fulfilled his full ministry of evangelism. His actual evangelistic goal was for converts to receive the baptism of the Spirit!

So, Philip called the Apostles John and Peter for help. They came and laid hands on the Samaritans and with the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Samaritan people, centuries of ethnic rivalry were overcome. The Jews had become one with the Samaritans! It was an astounding moment in Jewish history. They had become one in spirit because they shared the One Spirit.

For we were all baptized by One Spirit so as to form One Body—whether Jews or Gentiles… (1 Corinthians 12:13)

Philip’s Method: The Ethiopian

When Philip evangelized the Ethiopian eunuch, his message steered his hearer directly to baptism. After getting an earful of the Gospel, the eunuch concluded that he needed baptism for the forgiveness of his sins. Why was the eunuch so eager to be baptized? Because he was evangelized by the man the Scriptures call evangelist. The eunuch heard the true Gospel!

Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘Look, water! What hinders me from being baptized?’ (Acts 8:35-36)

When you preach the Gospel, is this how people respond? Do they request baptism? If they do, then you’re evangelizing rightly. Your job as evangelist is to make it clear that the person is dead in their sins until their sins are washed away in baptism.

You’re supposed to tell them that they must be buried with Christ. Tell them that Jesus died for them, then tell them that they must die with Christ—in baptism (because there is no other way). The passage continues…

Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’

And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’

So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him (Acts 8:35-38).

Just for someone to say that they believe in Jesus is not enough. They must believe with all their heart, and that belief must be tested immediately. The test to see whether a hearer of the Gospel believes with all their heart is their willingness to submerge into the waters of baptism. If they do get baptized, then their profession of faith can be taken as authentic.

The Ethiopian eunuch professed faith in Christ Jesus as Lord, and Philip baptized the eunuch immediately. Philip did not register the eunuch in a “new believers” class, and Philip did not schedule a date for baptism a week or month later.

Philip told the eunuch the truth: that if he was baptized his sins would be forgiven. He let him know that the eunuch would start the Christian life after baptism. He did not allow the eunuch to have any false security that he would be okay prior to his baptism. It would be the very beginning of his commitment to Christ—and that’s clearly what the eunuch believed!

Peter’s Style

As you read the extraordinary example of that first Pentecost, you’ll notice that Peter had the same evangelistic method as Philip. When he evangelized a large multitude on Pentecost, Peter not only preached the message in the power of the Holy Spirit, he told the multitude exactly how to respond to the message.

What did Peter tell them? When they were pierced to the heart and they asked the Apostles ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ he told them exactly what to do. Peter ordered them to be baptized!

When the people heard this [Peter’s preaching], they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’

Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…’

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day (Acts 2:37-39, 41).

Now that’s evangelism! But it’s not only evangelism, it was Peter proving himself to be an evangelist. The proof is in the pudding. Peter was responsible for the conversion of 3,000 souls in one day!

Think about it: It took time to baptize those 3,000 converts. Going into a body of water and dipping someone takes time. But the Apostles finished the job on that very day, according to the testimony of Scriptures. Notice it doesn’t say that by means of a prayer of faith in an instant 3,000 souls were added to the Church. Rather, only after all those people had been baptized did they rejoice in having believed.

God uses means. Faith saves, but faith must be real. We have to see it to believe it’s real, and we see it working through baptism. Baptism is God’s means of salvation. You don’t need to call it a sacrament, but it is. Baptism is a holy rite of passage. It is blessed if someone does it with faith.

To Be Saved

The evangelism Peter led at Pentecost was very similar to the evangelism Paul carried out when, by the remarkable circumstance of an earthquake, he preached to the Philippian jailer and the jailer’s family. After the jailer realized that Paul and Silas were men of great hope and righteousness, filled with forgiveness and truth, he queried:

‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’

So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ Then they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.

Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household (Acts 16:30-34; NKJV).

Wow. What a phenomenal moment! In it we hear the golden question every God-ordained evangelist longs to hear: “What must I do to be saved?” Why does any true evangelist long to hear that question? Because he has the answer!

This is the answer that must be given by a true evangelist today, just as it was the answer the true evangelists of the Bible gave: “You must repent from your sins, believe in the Jesus of the Bible, and be baptized.”

If someone obeys those three commands, their sins will be forgiven and they will be born again. They will be ready to receive the Holy Spirit, who Christ sent. Only with the coming of the Spirit will they be regenerated. Only then will they be born again and made new! Remember: Only after the jailer had been baptized did he dare rejoice in ‘having believed in God.’

As any God-ordained evangelist knows, a man’s baptism is the proof that that man truly believes. It is the test they absolutely must pass. A man’s baptism in water is the moment they die with Christ—the Christ who died for them. And only in baptism will Jesus’ death apply to their souls. It will not apply to their souls prior to their baptism because for Christ’s death to count for you, you must die with Christ.

… don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (Romans 6:3-4).

An evangelist not only knows what it takes to be saved, he leads others on that path—the path of salvation. He expertly guides people towards commitment. What commitment? A covenant with God through Jesus. That’s what he pushes for!

Any man who is an expert at properly drawing people into the New Covenant qualifies as an evangelist. He is one of the four leaders of God's Church.

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