Reading different theological perspectives. Historical readings express their authors' perspectives, including Arminian and Reformed or Calvinist traditions. Inclusion does not make an author's position settled CTS doctrine. Read with Scripture and the assigned material. A supported answer from another evangelical perspective should be assessed on its reasoning, not penalized simply for differing from the author. If an automated score rejects such an answer, ask CTS for review.

Master’s Assigned Readings (all five)

M.Div. and Th.M. students read all five assigned selections and take their separate exam after activation. The test page states the current rule; valid earlier completions remain valid.

Optional Honors (choose three)

Honors is optional on every track. Certificate and Associate students may read three honors selections without a required-reading exam. Honors does not replace either master’s exam.

The Master's textbook test: read Taylor, The Ministry of the Word (assigned excerpts), then take its test: twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once. Correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. It is separate from the reading test on the five digests below: passing one does not pass the other. On the M.Div. and Th.M. tracks both tests are being introduced; each test's page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take them, and a pass is kept in your record.

The Master's reading test: separate from the honors invitation below. Honors asks you to read any three of these digests; the Master's test covers all five. It has twenty fill-in-the-blank questions, four from each reading, drawn from forty; eighteen right passes. Each answer is marked right or wrong at once; correct answers and explanations are available after the attempt passes. You may try again after a short wait. The test is being introduced: its page says whether it is in force yet. Until then any student may take it, and a pass is kept in your record.

Honors option: Complete any three of the five readings below. These readings supplement the course and do not replace its units or examinations.

On this site: Each of the five readings is a Chapala Theological Seminary digest, written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French here on the site — every one opens directly from this page, with nothing to download. The digests are CTS-authored teaching that rests on the great public-domain classics of evangelistic preaching (Charles H. Spurgeon, Richard Baxter, Joseph Alleine, John Bunyan, George Whitefield, D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, Horatius Bonar, John Wesley, and Robert Murray M’Cheyne); those classic works are freely available online for any who wish to read them in full.

Selected: 0 of 3

Reading 1 · The Preacher's Heart

The Heart of the Evangelist

A CTS digest

The messenger before the message: a heart of love for souls moved by Christ’s compassion; earnestness born of love, never manipulation; the preacher’s own holiness as grace-empowered grateful pursuit, not crushing self-scrutiny; a life of prayer; seriousness about eternity held together with gospel gladness; dependence on the Spirit rather than self; and the blessedness of winning souls — the heart of the evangelist being the heart of Christ, who came to seek and save the lost.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

The Heart of the Evangelist

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the character and spirit of the one who preaches the gospel

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain works on evangelistic preaching (Horatius Bonar's Words to Winners of Souls, Charles H. Spurgeon's The Soul Winner, and others), and in Scripture.

Evangelistic Preaching
The Preacher's Heart
Love and Holiness
Anchored in classics

A word before you read. Evangelistic preaching is not first a matter of method, but of the heart behind it. Before God uses a message, He shapes a messenger. This reading considers the character and spirit of the evangelist — a heart of love for people, a life of holiness and prayer, and a humble dependence on God — for it is out of such a heart that the gospel is most powerfully proclaimed.

1.More Than a Sermon

It is tempting to think of evangelistic preaching mainly as a skill to be learned — a matter of good structure, vivid words, and a persuasive delivery. These things have their place, and we will consider them. But every great evangelist and every wise teacher of evangelism has understood that the deepest secret of gospel preaching lies not in technique but in the heart of the one who preaches. Before the message comes the messenger; behind the sermon stands the soul of the preacher. A man may have every gift of speech and yet, if his heart is wrong, his preaching will be hollow; while another, of far plainer gifts, may be mightily used of God because his heart is right. This is why we begin our study of evangelistic preaching not with methods but with the heart of the evangelist. The character and spirit of the preacher matter supremely, for the gospel is not merely spoken through the lips but shines through the whole person. What the preacher is will always speak louder, in the end, than what the preacher says. So we ask first: what manner of heart does God delight to use in the winning of souls? The classic writers on this subject answer with one voice, and their answer begins with love.

2.A Heart of Love for Souls

The first and deepest mark of the true evangelist is love — a genuine, tender love for people, and a longing for their salvation. The evangelist is not one who preaches out of a desire to condemn, or to display his own gifts, or to win an argument, but one whose heart is moved with compassion for men and women who are lost and in need. We see this love supremely in our Lord Himself, of whom it is written that "when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd." That same compassion must fill the heart of everyone who would preach the gospel. The great soul-winners have always been men of deep feeling for the lost; they have wept over sinners, longed for their conversion, and counted no labor too great if souls might be saved. The apostle Paul could say that his heart's desire and prayer to God for his people was for their salvation, and that he could wish himself accursed for their sake. This love is the true spring of all evangelistic earnestness. Without it, our preaching becomes harsh, cold, or self-serving; with it, even our stammering words are warmed by a fire that draws people toward Christ.

3.Earnestness Born of Love

Out of this love flows the earnestness that has always marked evangelistic preaching. The evangelist speaks as one who means it, who is in earnest about the matter, because souls and eternity are truly at stake. Yet we must understand rightly what this earnestness is, and what it is not. True earnestness is not the same as loud noise, forced emotion, or dramatic performance; it is not a manner put on to stir a crowd. Rather, it is the natural overflow of a heart that genuinely cares — that cares about the people listening and about the eternal realities of which it speaks. A physician who must tell a patient of a grave illness speaks with earnestness, not to make a scene, but because he cares and the matter is serious. So it is with the evangelist. Because he loves people and knows that the gospel is a matter of life and death, he cannot speak of it lightly or carelessly. This earnestness gives weight and reality to the preaching; hearers sense that the preacher himself believes what he says and means it for them. But let it always be an earnestness born of love, never of mere intensity for its own sake, and never a pressure that manipulates. The truest earnestness is simply love that has become serious.

4.The Preacher's Own Holiness

The classic writers on evangelism, and Horatius Bonar among them, lay great stress on another matter: the personal holiness of the preacher. The one who calls others to Christ must himself be walking with Christ; the one who urges others to holiness must himself be pursuing it. There is a power in a holy life that adds weight to every word, and a contradiction in an unholy one that empties the message of its force. If a preacher's life plainly denies what his lips proclaim, his hearers will believe his life rather than his words. And so the evangelist must give earnest heed to his own walk with God, that he may be a clean instrument in the Master's hand. We must be careful here to understand this rightly, and not to fall into a crushing or morbid self-scrutiny. The holiness in view is not a flawless perfection achieved by our own striving, nor a reason for despairing self-contempt when we fall short. It is, rather, the grateful and growing pursuit of Christlikeness by the grace and power of the Spirit, springing from a heart that loves the Lord. When we fail, we turn afresh to Christ and His grace; and growth, though often slow, is real. A humble, growing holiness, resting on grace, is what adorns the gospel we preach.

5.A Life of Prayer

Closely joined to holiness is prayer, for the evangelist must be, above all, a person of prayer. The classic writers return to this again and again: that the secret power of fruitful preaching is found not chiefly in the study or the pulpit but in the closet, upon the knees. The evangelist prays for those he longs to reach, naming them before God and pleading for their souls; he prays for power upon his preaching, knowing that without it his words are empty; and he prays because he depends utterly upon God for any lasting fruit. Much preaching is barren for want of prayer, and much has been mighty because it was bathed in it. Prayer is the acknowledgment, made real and practical, that we cannot do this work ourselves, that God alone can open hearts, and that we must therefore seek Him earnestly before we ever open our mouths to others. The preacher who has first spoken with God about people will speak far more powerfully to people about God. And prayer keeps the evangelist humble and dependent, casting him back upon the Lord rather than upon his own gifts. Before the sermon, the supplication; behind the public word, the private wrestling. This is the way of every true winner of souls.

6.Seriousness About Eternal Realities

The evangelist works with matters of eternal weight, and this gives to his labor a deep seriousness. He is dealing not with trifles but with the everlasting good of souls, with the realities of sin and salvation, of God and eternity. Bonar and the others urge upon us this seriousness, this awareness that the work we do truly matters, and matters forever. Such seriousness guards the evangelist from treating his calling lightly, from a flippant or careless spirit, from playing at what is in truth a solemn and glorious work. And yet this seriousness must never become a heavy gloom or a spirit of fear, as though we preached only to frighten. For the realities we deal with are not only solemn but glorious; alongside the seriousness of sin stands the greater wonder of grace, and the good news we bring is, at its heart, good news. The true evangelist holds these together: he is serious because eternity is real and souls are precious, and he is joyful because the gospel is a message of hope and rescue and love. His seriousness is the seriousness of a man carrying good news to those in danger — weighty because the danger is real, but bright with the hope of the deliverance he proclaims. Gravity and gladness meet in the heart of the true evangelist.

7.Dependence on the Spirit, Not Self

All that we have said points to one great attitude that must fill the evangelist's heart: humble dependence upon God, and not upon himself. The preacher may have gifts of intellect, eloquence, or persuasion, and these are not to be despised; but he must never lean upon them, as though souls could be converted by human cleverness or force of personality. The new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit, which no eloquence of ours can accomplish and no dullness of ours can prevent, where God is pleased to work. The apostle Paul, who could surely have dazzled his hearers, deliberately renounced mere persuasive words of human wisdom, that the faith of his hearers might rest "not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." This dependence is a great liberty to the preacher. It frees him from pride, for he knows that any fruit is God's doing and not his own; and it frees him from despair, for he knows that God can work through even his weakness. His task is simply to be faithful — to love, to pray, to live rightly, and to preach the gospel clearly — and to leave the results in the hands of the God who alone gives the increase. Resting on the Spirit, the weakest preacher may be mighty; trusting in himself, the ablest will fail.

8.The Blessedness of Winning Souls

Let us close by lifting our eyes to the joy of this calling. Of all the works that a person may be given to do, there is scarcely any greater or more blessed than to be used of God in the winning of a soul to Christ. "He who wins souls is wise," says the Scripture, and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine, we are told, like the stars forever. To have a share in the rescue of a person from death, in the turning of a wanderer home to God, in the eternal joy of one who through our witness comes to know the Savior — this is a privilege beyond price, and a joy that will last into eternity. Spurgeon and the other great soul-winners knew this gladness, and it drew them on through every labor. And this heart for winning souls is not for preachers only, but for every believer; the love, the earnestness, the prayer, and the dependence on God of which we have spoken belong to all who love the Lord and long to see others saved. For in the end, the heart of the evangelist is nothing other than the heart of Christ Himself, who "came to seek and to save that which was lost." To share that heart, and to be used in that work, is among the highest of all callings, and among the deepest of all joys.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Is your desire to reach others rooted in genuine love for them, and in the compassion of Christ for the lost? Do you give heed to your own walk with God and your life of prayer, depending on His Spirit rather than your own gifts? And do you share something of the heart of Christ, who came to seek and to save the lost?

Select

Reading 2 · The Gospel of Grace

The Message We Proclaim

A CTS digest

The content of evangelistic preaching: the need of the human heart shown lovingly and hopefully (conviction as the doorway to grace, not despair); the love of God reaching down; Christ crucified as the very center; the risen, living Lord; salvation as a free gift of grace, not works; received by the empty hand of faith; and the gospel preached plainly, so ordinary people can understand and receive it. Grace first, Christ at the center.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

The Message We Proclaim

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the gospel of grace at the heart of all evangelistic preaching

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain works on the gospel message (George Whitefield's sermon The Method of Grace, D. L. Moody's The Way to God, and others), and in Scripture.

Evangelistic Preaching
The Gospel of Grace
Christ Crucified and Risen
Anchored in classics

A word before you read. Evangelistic preaching is not vague religious talk, but the proclamation of a definite message: the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ. This reading sets out that message — our need, God's love, Christ crucified and risen, salvation as a free gift received by faith — the good news that the evangelist is given to preach, that sinners might hear, believe, and be saved.

1.What Do We Preach?

Having considered the heart of the evangelist, we come now to a question just as vital: what is it that he preaches? For all the love and earnestness in the world will do little good if the message itself is wrong or unclear. Evangelistic preaching is not simply religious talk in general, nor good moral advice, nor stirring words to make people feel uplifted. It is the proclamation of a definite message, given to us by God, which alone has power to save: the gospel, the good news of what God has done for sinners in Jesus Christ. This is a message with real content, which can be stated and must be understood, and the evangelist must know it clearly, for he cannot preach well what he has not grasped himself. The word "gospel" means "good news," and that is exactly what it is — not first a demand or a threat, but news, an announcement of something God has done. In this reading we shall set out the heart of that message, following the great evangelists who preached it. And though they differed among themselves on certain matters, on this good news they were wonderfully agreed, and preached it with one voice: the gospel of the grace of God.

2.The Need of the Human Heart

The gospel is good news, but to feel it as good news we must first understand the need it answers, and so evangelistic preaching rightly begins by helping people see their true condition. The Scriptures teach plainly that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" — that we are sinners, out of fellowship with our Maker, and unable to put ourselves right by our own effort. A person who feels no need of a Savior will never seek one; it is those who know they are sick who seek the physician. And so the faithful evangelist must lovingly bring his hearers to see their sin and their need of grace. But here we must take great care as to the spirit of it. This showing of sin is never meant to crush people into hopeless despair, nor to leave them in morbid gloom about themselves; it is meant, rather, to prepare the heart for grace, as the honest diagnosis of an illness prepares the patient to receive the cure. Whitefield, in his sermon on the method of grace, showed how God graciously awakens the soul to its need in order to lead it to Christ. The conviction of sin, rightly preached, is not the end but the doorway; it does its work only when it drives us, not to despair, but to the Savior who waits with open arms.

3.The Love of God

If the gospel begins by showing our need, it goes on at once to the most wonderful truth of all: the love of God toward sinners. For the good news does not begin with us struggling to climb up to a reluctant God; it begins with God, in love, reaching down to us. "God so loved the world," said our Lord, "that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Here is the very heart of the gospel: that God loved us first, and gave His Son for us. The God whom the evangelist proclaims is not one who is eager to condemn, hunting for reasons to cast us off, but one whose heart longs to save, who takes no pleasure in the death of the sinner but rather that he turn and live. The apostle marvels that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." This is a love beyond our imagining — that God should love not the good and deserving, but sinners, enemies, the undeserving; that His love should move Him to give His own Son for our rescue. This love, freely proclaimed, is what draws hearts to God. The gospel is, before all else, the good news of a God who loves.

4.Christ Crucified for Sinners

At the very center of the gospel stands the cross of Jesus Christ, and to this the evangelist must always come. God's love for sinners was not mere sentiment; it acted, and it acted at the cross, where the Son of God gave Himself for us. There, Jesus, who knew no sin, bore our sins in His own body, taking upon Himself the judgment we deserved, dying in our place, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. This is why the apostle Paul, summing up his whole message, said simply, "we preach Christ crucified," and declared that he was resolved to know nothing among his hearers "except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." The cross is the heart of evangelistic preaching, not one theme among many but the very center. For it is at the cross that our deepest problem is dealt with: our sin, which separated us from God, was laid upon Christ and borne away. To preach the gospel is, above all, to hold up the crucified Savior before the eyes of sinners, and to declare that there, in His death, is the ground of their forgiveness and peace with God. The message is not chiefly what we must do, but what Christ has already done, once for all, upon the cross.

5.Christ Risen and Living

But the gospel does not end at the cross, for Christ did not remain in the tomb. On the third day He rose again, truly and bodily, alive forevermore. The message we preach includes, as an essential part, that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures... and that He rose again the third day." The resurrection is the great seal upon all that the cross accomplished, God's own declaration that the sacrifice was accepted and the victory won. And it means that the Savior we proclaim is not merely a great figure of the past, whose death we remember, but a living Lord, alive now and able to save all who come to Him. The evangelist does not offer people the memory of a dead teacher, but introduces them to a living Christ, who conquered death and lives to give life. Because He rose, His death is proved to be the mighty and sufficient thing we declare it to be; and because He lives, He can receive, forgive, and save every sinner who turns to Him even now. This living Christ is at the heart of our good news: a Savior who died for us, and who rose again, and who is alive to meet all who seek Him.

6.Salvation as a Free Gift

We come now to the word that shines at the center of the whole message: grace. The gospel is the good news that salvation is a free gift of God, not something we earn or deserve or achieve. This is what sets the gospel apart from every mere religion of human effort, and it is the very thing that makes it good news. The evangelist does not stand before sinners and tell them to make themselves good enough for God, to climb by their own striving to a standard they can never reach; he announces, rather, what God has freely done for them in Christ. "By grace you have been saved through faith," says the apostle, "and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." And again, "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." A gift is not earned but received; and salvation is just such a gift, purchased by Christ and offered freely to all. This is the wonder that the evangelist proclaims: that we do not, and cannot, save ourselves, but that God, in His grace, has done it all in His Son, and offers it to us without money and without price. Grace, from first to last, is the heart of the good news.

7.Received by Faith

If salvation is a free gift, then it remains only to ask how this gift is received; and the gospel answers, clearly and simply, that it is received by faith. To be saved, we are called to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ — to trust Him, to rest upon Him, to receive Him as our Savior. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved," said the apostles to the anxious jailer; and "to as many as received Him, He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." Now we must understand rightly what this faith is. Faith is not itself a work by which we earn salvation, as though believing were one more achievement to add to our own merit; rather, faith is the empty hand that simply receives the gift God freely holds out. It is the opposite of trusting in ourselves; it is casting ourselves wholly upon Christ, giving up all reliance on our own goodness and resting entirely on what He has done. This is the appointed way by which the grace of God is received: not by working, but by trusting; not by earning, but by believing. And so the evangelist calls his hearers, plainly and lovingly, to stop trying to save themselves and simply to trust the Savior who has done it all.

8.The Gospel Preached Plainly

One thing remains to be said about this glorious message: it must be preached plainly. The gospel is good news for ordinary people, for the simple and unlearned as much as for the wise, and it must therefore be proclaimed in a way that ordinary people can understand. D. L. Moody was greatly used of God in part because he preached the gospel with such simplicity and clarity, in plain words that common folk could grasp and act upon. This is a lesson for every evangelist. Our task is not to impress people with our learning or our eloquence, nor to wrap the message in such complexity that they cannot lay hold of it, but to make the good news clear, so that a hearer may understand his need, see the love of God, behold the crucified and risen Christ, and know that salvation is a free gift to be received by faith. The plainer we make it, the better, for the message is for everyone. And what a message it is that we are given to carry: that God loves sinners, that Christ died and rose for them, and that whoever will may freely receive eternal life in Him. This is the gospel of grace, and to proclaim it, clearly and lovingly, is the great work of evangelistic preaching.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Are you clear in your own mind on the heart of the gospel — our need, God's love, Christ crucified and risen, and salvation as a free gift received by faith? Do you preach and share it as good news, keeping Christ and His grace at the center? And do you make the message plain, so that ordinary people can understand and receive it?

Select

Reading 3 · The Free Invitation

The Freeness of the Invitation

A CTS digest

The wideness and sincerity of Christ’s welcome: His own promise never to cast out the one who comes; the invitation offered freely to all, with none excluded; grace reaching the very worst sinner; “come as you are,” sweeping away the false barrier of self-reform; coming defined simply as the faith that trusts Christ; and full assurance resting on His promise rather than our worthiness. The warmest word the evangelist can hold out.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

The Freeness of the Invitation

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — the wideness and sincerity of Christ's welcome to sinners

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain work on Christ's invitation (John Bunyan's Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, an exposition of John 6:37), and in Scripture.

Evangelistic Preaching
The Free Invitation
Come and Welcome
Anchored in classics

A word before you read. The gospel is not only a message to believe but an invitation to accept — Christ Himself, with open arms, saying "Come." This reading dwells on the wideness and sincerity of that invitation: that it is offered freely to all, that none who come will be cast out, and that no sinner is too far gone to be welcome. It is among the most reassuring truths the evangelist can hold out.

1.The Great Invitation

We have seen that the gospel is good news to be believed; but it is more than that. It is also an invitation to be accepted, for at the heart of the gospel is a Person who invites us to come to Him. "Come to Me," said the Lord Jesus, "all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The gospel is not merely a set of truths to be considered from a distance; it is the open, warmhearted invitation of a Savior who calls sinners to Himself. And so evangelistic preaching is, in large part, the holding out of this invitation — urging men and women to come to Christ. This is one of the most beautiful aspects of the evangelist's work, and one of the most joyful: to stand before people and say, on behalf of the Lord, "Come." In this reading we shall dwell on the wonderful freeness of that invitation — how wide it is, how sincere, and how sure — for the more we grasp its freeness, the more gladly we will hold it out to others, and the more boldly the anxious sinner may accept it. No one taught this freeness more warmly than John Bunyan, whose meditation on the words of Christ has comforted countless souls.

2."Him That Cometh I Will In No Wise Cast Out"

Bunyan built his whole tender meditation upon a single saying of the Lord Jesus: "the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." Let us weigh those words, for they are among the most reassuring in all the Bible. Here is the Lord's own promise, from His own lips, concerning what He will do with anyone who comes to Him: He will by no means cast them out. He does not say He will receive some and reject others; He does not lay down conditions of worthiness that must first be met; He gives a plain and absolute promise that the one who comes will never be turned away. And notice the strength of the words — "by no means," or as the older English has it, "in no wise" cast out. It is a doubled, emphatic denial, as if the Lord would shut out every fear and every doubt: not for any reason, not in any circumstance, not ever, will He cast out the soul that comes to Him. Whatever else the sinner may fear, he need never fear this — that having come to Christ, he might be rejected. The door does not shut in the face of the one who comes; it opens wide, and the Savior receives him. This is the rock on which the anxious soul may rest.

3.The Invitation Is to All

We must see, next, how wide this invitation is, for it is offered freely and sincerely to all. The gospel call is not a narrow thing, whispered to a favored few; it goes out to every sinner who hears it, without exception. "Whoever desires," says the Scripture, "let him take the water of life freely." "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." The invitation is as wide as the word "whoever," and it excludes no one who is willing to come. When the evangelist holds out Christ, he holds Him out to all his hearers alike, assuring every one of them that the invitation is meant for them. No one listening need think, "This is for others, but surely not for me"; the call is genuine and free to every soul. This is the glory of the gospel offer: that God, in His great love, sincerely invites all who hear to come to His Son and be saved, and that the arms of Christ are open to receive any and every one who will come. The evangelist need never wonder whether he may freely offer Christ to the person before him; he may, for the invitation itself is free and full, held out to all.

4.None Too Bad to Come

There is a fear that keeps many a soul from coming to Christ, and it is this: the fear that one is too great a sinner to be welcome. But the freeness of the invitation sweeps this fear away, for no sinner is too bad, too vile, or too far gone to be received. The gospel does not invite only the respectable and the moral; it invites sinners, and the worse a person knows himself to be, the more he is exactly the kind of person Christ came to save. The apostle Paul called himself the chief of sinners, and yet found mercy, that he might be a pattern to all who would afterward believe. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" — not the good, but sinners. However dark a person's past, however deep his guilt, however far he has wandered, the invitation reaches him still, and the blood of Christ can make the scarlet sinner white as snow. This is unspeakably good news for the one weighed down by his sins, who imagines himself beyond hope. No one is beyond the welcome of Christ who is willing to come. The evangelist must press this home to the despairing: that the very greatness of their sin is no barrier at all, for it is just such sinners that the Savior delights to receive.

5.Come As You Are

Closely joined to this is another liberating truth, which removes the false barriers that people so often set up. Many suppose that they must first make themselves better before they may come to Christ — that they must reform their lives, conquer their sins, or reach some standard of goodness, and only then approach Him. But this is to misunderstand the gospel entirely. The invitation is not "make yourself clean, and then come"; it is "come, and I will make you clean." We do not come to Christ because we have already put ourselves right; we come to Him in order to be put right, bringing nothing but our need. To wait until we are good enough is to wait forever, and it is to reverse the whole order of grace. The sick do not heal themselves before going to the physician; they go to him because they are sick. So the sinner is to come to Christ just as he is, with all his sin and need, and to trust the Savior to do for him what he could never do for himself. "Come as you are" is the very heart of the gospel invitation. Every excuse — too sinful, too weak, not yet ready — is answered by the simple, gracious word: come now, come as you are.

6.What It Means to Come

But what is this "coming" to Christ of which we speak? For a person cannot walk to Him with their feet, as the crowds once did in Galilee. Bunyan and the Scriptures make it plain: to come to Christ is to believe on Him, to trust Him, to turn to Him with the heart and rest upon Him for salvation. Coming and believing are, in the gospel, the same thing viewed from two sides; the one who comes is the one who trusts. It is not a great and difficult work, a long journey to be accomplished by our own strength; it is the simple turning of a needy soul away from itself and toward the Savior, casting itself upon Him. When a drowning man grasps the hand held out to him, he has "come" to his rescuer; and when a sinner, giving up all hope in himself, lays hold of Christ by faith, he has come to the Savior. This is what the evangelist calls people to do: not to perform some hard task, but simply to come — to turn from trusting in themselves and to trust wholly in Christ. And this coming, however feeble and trembling, is always met by the sure promise: the one who comes will in no way be cast out.

7.The Assurance of the Welcome

Because the invitation rests upon the promise of Christ, the one who comes may be fully assured of his welcome. This is a matter of great comfort, and the evangelist must make it clear. The sinner's assurance does not rest upon his own worthiness, nor upon the strength of his feelings, nor upon any goodness he can find in himself; it rests upon the faithful word of the Lord Jesus, who has promised never to cast out the one who comes. And the Lord cannot lie; His promise cannot fail. Therefore the soul that has come to Christ, trusting Him, may know that it is received — not because it feels received, but because Christ has said so. When doubts arise, as they will, the answer is not to look inward for evidence of our worthiness, but to look outward to the sure promise of the Savior: "I will by no means cast out." Here is a firm ground on which the trembling soul may stand, a rock that will not move. The evangelist, then, does not leave people in uncertainty, but points them to the promise of Christ, that those who come may rest in the certainty of His welcome, assured by His own faithful word that they are truly and forever received.

8.Holding Out the Invitation

All of this shapes the great and joyful task of the evangelist: to hold out this free and gracious invitation, warmly and sincerely, to everyone. We are to urge sinners to come to Christ; to assure them, on His authority, of their welcome; to sweep away every excuse that keeps them back; and to press upon them the open arms of the Savior who says "Come." We do this not grudgingly or narrowly, but freely and lovingly, as those who ourselves have been welcomed by grace and long for others to know the same welcome. What a message we carry: that the door is open, that the invitation is for all, that none who come will be cast out, and that no sinner is too far gone to be received. And behind the invitation stands the Savior Himself, with arms open wide, waiting to receive all who will come to Him. Evangelistic preaching is, in the end, simply the passing on of that gracious invitation — standing between Christ and sinners and saying, on His behalf and with all our heart, "Come and welcome to Jesus Christ." May we hold it out freely, and may many come.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Do you grasp how free, how wide, and how sure Christ's invitation is — that none who come will be cast out, and none are too sinful to be welcome? Have you yourself come to Him, just as you are, resting on His promise rather than your own worthiness? And do you hold out this gracious invitation to others, freely and warmly, on the Savior's behalf?

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Reading 4 · The Appeal to Respond

The Urgent Appeal to Respond

A CTS digest

Preaching that seeks a response, not merely information: the call to repent and believe; the direct, personal appeal to each conscience; the note of urgency understood rightly (the urgency of a rescuer who loves, not a desire to frighten); the searching call to genuine conversion, always pointing to Christ rather than fostering morbid self-doubt; the real danger set against the greater hope; the appeal earnest but never manipulative; and Baxter’s tender pleading of love.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

The Urgent Appeal to Respond

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — calling the hearer, in love, to turn to Christ and be saved

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain works on evangelistic appeal (Richard Baxter's A Call to the Unconverted, Joseph Alleine's An Alarm to the Unconverted, and others), and in Scripture.

Evangelistic Preaching
The Appeal to Respond
Urgency and Hope
Anchored in classics

A word before you read. Evangelistic preaching does not merely explain the gospel; it lovingly presses the hearer to respond. This reading considers that appeal — the call to repent and believe, its note of urgency, and its earnest pleading. Throughout, the aim is not to frighten but to bring people to the open arms of Christ, and every warning is set in the service of the invitation.

1.More Than Information

We have set out the gospel message and the freeness of Christ's invitation; but evangelistic preaching does not stop at explaining these things. It presses on to seek a response. For it is not enough that people should merely understand the good news, as one might understand a fact of history; they must receive it, act upon it, come to Christ. A message may be perfectly clear and yet leave the hearer unmoved, if it aims only at the understanding and never presses the will. And so the evangelist does more than inform; he appeals. He urges, he pleads, he calls the hearer to do something with what he has heard — to turn, to trust, to come. This is what distinguishes evangelistic preaching from a mere lecture on religion: it aims not only to enlighten the mind but to move the will and win the heart. The great evangelists were never content to lay the truth before people and leave it there; they pressed it home, and called for a decision. To preach the gospel faithfully is, therefore, to bring people to the point of response, and lovingly to urge them to take it. The message demands an answer, and the evangelist asks for it.

2.The Call to Repent and Believe

What, then, is the response for which the evangelist appeals? The Scriptures name it plainly: repentance and faith. Our Lord began His preaching with the words, "Repent, and believe the gospel," and the apostles testified everywhere of "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." These two belong together as the two sides of one turning. Repentance is the turning away from sin and from our old rebellion, a change of mind and heart that forsakes what is wrong and returns to God. Faith is the turning toward Christ, trusting Him and receiving Him as Savior. Together they describe the great turn of the soul: away from sin and self, and toward God in Christ. This is what the evangelist calls people to do — not merely to admire the gospel, nor to add a little religion to their lives, but to repent and believe: to turn from their sins and to cast themselves upon Christ for salvation. It is a real and definite response, involving the whole person, the mind that is persuaded, the heart that is moved, and the will that decides. And the evangelist, having preached Christ, summons his hearers to make just this response, to turn and to trust, and so to be saved.

3.Appealing to the Will

The appeal of evangelistic preaching is direct and personal; it addresses the hearer as "you." The great writers of appeal, such as Baxter and Alleine, did not speak only in general terms about sinners far away, but pressed the matter home to each soul before them, as though to say, "This means you; this is your need, and this is your Savior." Preaching that only speaks in the abstract, about people in general, allows every hearer to suppose that it is meant for someone else. But the faithful evangelist brings the truth to bear upon the individual conscience, lovingly urging each person to decide. He speaks to the will, not merely to inform it but to move it, calling upon the hearer to turn, to come, to believe — now, and for himself. This is not to browbeat or to bully, but to care enough to make the matter personal and pressing. A physician who saw a patient in danger would not speak vaguely of illness in the world; he would turn to the patient and say, "You must act, and act now." So the evangelist, out of love, presses the gospel home to each heart, and calls upon the person before him to respond to the Savior who calls.

4.The Note of Urgency

There is, in true evangelistic appeal, a note of urgency, a pressing for a response now rather than at some vague later time. "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts," says the Scripture; "now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." The evangelist urges people not to put off the matter, not to delay a decision that ought to be made at once, for delay is itself dangerous, and no one is promised tomorrow. Yet we must understand rightly where this urgency comes from, for it is easily misread. It does not spring from a desire to frighten people, nor is it a pressure meant to panic them into a hasty and unreal decision. It springs, rather, from love, and from the simple fact that the offer of salvation is real, and present, and free. When a house is on fire, the one who loves those inside calls to them urgently, not to torment them, but because the way out is open and there is no time to lose. So the evangelist's urgency is the urgency of a rescuer who sees both the danger and the open door, and who loves the people too much to speak of their salvation as though it did not matter or could wait forever. It is love grown urgent, calling people to a rescue that is ready now.

5.A Searching Call to Reality

The writers of appeal, and Alleine especially, press one further matter with great earnestness: that the conversion to which we call people must be real, and not a mere outward or nominal profession. There is a danger of a false peace — of a person supposing himself to be a Christian because of some outward form, some past decision, or some general religiousness, while the heart has never truly turned to Christ. Out of love, the evangelist gently presses his hearers to make sure their faith is real, resting truly on Christ and not on an empty profession. Yet here we must be very careful of the spirit in which this is done, for it can easily be misused. This searching call is not meant to torment the true believer with endless, anxious self-doubt, nor to drive anyone into morbid introspection or despair about whether they have "really" believed. Its aim is altogether hopeful: to lead the one who has only a nominal religion into a real and living faith in Christ. And its remedy is never to gaze inward in anxiety, but to look afresh to Christ Himself and to rest upon Him. The one whose trust is truly in the Savior may be assured; and the one who has only been going through the motions is lovingly invited to come to Christ in earnest, and find the reality he has been missing.

6.The Danger and the Hope

We must be honest that there is a real seriousness in this matter, for to remain outside of Christ is no small thing. There is no other Savior, and the soul that will not come to Him remains in its sin and without hope of salvation; eternity is real, and the choice before each hearer truly matters. The faithful evangelist does not hide this or pretend it away. And yet — and this is essential — the danger is never left standing alone, as though our message were mainly one of threat. It is always set against the far greater hope: that the remedy is freely available now, that the door stands open, that Christ waits with outstretched arms to receive all who will come. Even the warning, then, is spoken in the service of the invitation. We do not press the danger in order to leave people in terror, but in order to turn them toward the Savior; the warning is like the hand that turns a person's face toward the open door of rescue. The weight of the matter is real, but it drives us not to despair but to Christ. And so the evangelist holds the two together, the seriousness and the hope, always letting the hope have the final word, and always pointing the anxious soul to the open arms of the Savior.

7.Earnest, Not Manipulative

A word must be said here about the manner of the appeal, for earnestness can be counterfeited, and we must guard against a false way of pressing for decisions. The appeal of the evangelist is to be earnest, direct, and loving; but it must never become manipulative or coercive. We are to plead honestly with the mind and the heart, setting the truth before people and lovingly urging them to respond; we are not to work people up by manufactured emotion, nor to pressure them into a hasty decision that has no reality behind it, nor to use tricks that bypass the understanding and prey upon the feelings. Such methods may produce the appearance of response, but not the reality, and they dishonor the gospel. For in the end, it is not our pressure that converts anyone, but the Holy Spirit, who alone can move the heart and give the new birth. Our task is to plead earnestly and honestly, to hold out Christ, to call for a real turning to Him, and then to leave the deep work to God. This frees us from the temptation to manufacture results, and keeps our appeal both earnest and honest — full of love and urgency, yet always truthful, always respecting the person, and always depending on God to do what we cannot.

8.Pleading with Love

At its very heart, the evangelistic appeal is the pleading of love. Richard Baxter's call to the unconverted is remembered above all for its tenderness — the pleading of a man who longed, with all his heart, for the salvation of those he addressed. This is the true spirit of the appeal: not a demand hurled down from on high, nor a cold ultimatum, but the earnest, loving entreaty of one who cares deeply for the hearer's soul. The apostle Paul captured it perfectly when he wrote, "we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." To "implore," to "beseech," to plead — this is the language of the evangelist's appeal, the language of love longing for another's good. And so evangelistic preaching comes at last to this: lovingly calling each hearer to turn to Christ now and be saved, pressing the matter home with both earnestness and tenderness, that none who hear might remain outside the open door. When a soul responds, and turns, and trusts, there is joy in heaven and joy on earth; and it is for this that the evangelist labors and pleads. With the love of Christ in our hearts, we say to all who will hear: turn to the Savior, and be reconciled to God.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Do you press the gospel home to a response — lovingly calling people to repent and believe, and not merely leaving them informed? Is your sense of urgency the urgency of a rescuer who loves, rather than a desire to frighten? And do you appeal earnestly yet honestly, pleading with love and depending on the Spirit, always pointing the anxious soul to the open arms of Christ?

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Reading 5 · The Power of God

Preaching in the Power of God

A CTS digest

The capstone: souls are saved not by our power but by God’s; conversion as the work of the Spirit (we plant and water, God gives the increase); preaching that depends on God rather than gifts; the power of prayer; taking the gospel to the people where they are (Wesley’s field preaching, bold yet pastoral); boldness and compassion joined; the whole course drawn together; and the great end — the glory of God in the salvation of sinners, and the joy in heaven over one who repents.

CTS DIGESTRead the full digest — opens right here

The Chapala Theological Seminary digest — an original summary written by CTS, available in English, Spanish and French, readable offline. This is the CTS digest, not the full original source text.

Preaching in the Power of God

A Chapala Theological Seminary reading — depending on the Spirit, reaching the lost, and the whole work drawn together

A CTS-authored survey, anchored in the classic public-domain witnesses to evangelistic preaching (John Wesley's Journal, R. A. Torrey's How to Bring Men to Christ, and others), and in Scripture.

Evangelistic Preaching
The Power of God
Prayer and Boldness
Capstone

A word before you read. This closing reading rests on the truth that undergirds everything else: that souls are saved not by our power but by God's. It considers the work of the Spirit, the power of prayer, and the boldness to reach people where they are — and then draws the whole course together, that we may preach Christ in humble dependence on the God who alone can save.

1.Not by Might

As we come to the end of our study, we must rest everything upon a truth that lies beneath all the rest, without which nothing else will avail. It is this: that the salvation of a soul is not accomplished by our power, but by the power of God. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts." We may have the most loving heart, the clearest message, the freest invitation, and the most earnest appeal; but none of these, nor all of them together, can of themselves convert a single soul. The turning of a sinner from darkness to light, the giving of new life to one dead in sin, is a work that lies wholly beyond human ability — a work that God alone can do. This is why the evangelist must, above all else, preach in humble dependence upon the power of God, and not upon his own gifts or efforts. Everything we have considered — the heart, the message, the invitation, the appeal — must be carried and empowered by God, or it remains lifeless. And so we close by turning our eyes away from ourselves and toward the God whose power alone gives the increase, and asking how we may preach in that power.

2.The Work of the Holy Spirit

The conversion of a sinner is, in particular, the work of the Holy Spirit. It is He who convinces of sin, who opens blind eyes to see the glory of Christ, who softens the hard heart, and who gives the new birth without which no one can enter the kingdom of God. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit," said our Lord, and He compared the Spirit's work to the wind, which blows where it wills. No eloquence of ours can raise a dead soul to life, and no dullness of ours can prevent the Spirit where He is pleased to work. The apostle Paul understood this well: "I planted," he said, "Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase." This is at once a humbling and a liberating truth. It humbles us, for it strips away all boasting and reminds us that we are only servants, unable to do the decisive work ourselves. And it frees us, for it means the outcome does not finally rest upon our shoulders; we may labor faithfully and leave the results to God, confident that He is able to work through even our weakness, and that the increase is His to give.

3.Preaching That Depends on God

What does it mean, in practice, to preach in the power of God? It means, first, that the evangelist does not lean upon his own gifts, cleverness, or powers of persuasion, as though souls could be argued or charmed into the kingdom. These may have their place as servants of the message, but they are not the power that saves, and to trust in them is to preach in vain. The apostle Paul, who was no mean speaker, deliberately set aside all reliance upon "persuasive words of human wisdom," choosing rather that his preaching should be "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." There is a great difference between preaching in one's own strength and preaching in dependence upon God. The one may be polished and impressive, yet barren; the other may be simple and weak in appearance, yet mighty, because God is in it. The evangelist is to be like an empty vessel, seeking to be filled with the power of God, offering his words, however plain, to be used by the Spirit. He preaches his best, and then looks wholly to God to make it live.

4.The Power of Prayer

If the power belongs to God, then prayer is the appointed way by which that power is sought and received; and so the evangelist must be, above all, a person of prayer. We have touched on this before, for it runs through the whole matter, but here we see its deepest reason: prayer is how we lay hold of the power without which we can do nothing. The evangelist prays before he preaches, asking God to clothe his words with power; he leans on God as he speaks; and he prays afterward that the seed sown may take root. The great seasons of evangelistic blessing in the history of the church have again and again been born in prayer, and much preaching has been powerless simply because it was prayerless. The closet is the secret of the pulpit; what is won upon the knees in private is what gives power to the word in public. It is not that our prayers move God as though against His will, but that God is pleased to work in answer to the prayers of His people, and to pour out His power where it is earnestly sought. And so the praying preacher, however weak in himself, becomes a channel of the power of God. Before we speak to people for God, we must speak much to God for people.

5.Taking the Gospel to the People

The power of God at work in evangelistic preaching has often given men a holy boldness to carry the gospel beyond the usual places, out to the people wherever they are. The journals of John Wesley record a striking example of this. In his day, great multitudes of common people never entered a church and would never have heard the gospel had they been left to do so on their own. And so Wesley, along with George Whitefield, took the bold step of preaching in the open air — in fields, in marketplaces, wherever people would gather — carrying the good news out to thousands who would otherwise never have heard it. It was, for many at the time, a startling thing to preach outside the walls of a church; but the results were remarkable, and multitudes were reached. Here is a lesson for every generation of evangelists: that when the lost will not come to where the gospel is preached, we must be willing to take the gospel to where the lost are. The willingness to reach people where they are, in whatever setting and by whatever fitting means, is part of the boldness that the power of God gives. Yet, as Wesley's own careful labors show, this boldness was joined to discipline and pastoral care, not marked by recklessness — a bold reaching out that was also orderly and loving.

6.Boldness and Compassion Together

This reaching out to people calls for a particular spirit, in which boldness and compassion are joined. The boldness to cross barriers of comfort and custom, to go to people who may not welcome us, to speak of Christ where it is not easy or expected — this is needed, and the power of God supplies it. But it must never be a brash, intrusive, or self-assertive spirit, forcing itself upon people without regard for them. It must be a loving boldness, a courage that springs from compassion, willing to endure difficulty and to cross barriers precisely because we care for the souls of those we go to reach. The boldness and the compassion belong together: boldness without love becomes harsh and off-putting, while love without boldness never stirs itself to go. But love that has become bold will cross any barrier to bring the gospel to those who need it, as Christ Himself crossed the infinite distance from heaven to earth to come to us. The evangelist, then, goes out to people not to impose upon them but to serve them, not with arrogance but with the humble courage of one who loves. This is the spirit in which the gospel is carried to the lost, wherever they are found.

7.Drawing the Threads Together

Now we may gather up the whole of what we have learned about evangelistic preaching, for its several parts belong together as one. We began with the heart of the evangelist — a heart of love for souls, marked by holiness, earnestness, and prayer. We considered the message we proclaim — the gospel of grace, Christ crucified and risen for sinners, salvation as a free gift received by faith. We dwelt on the freeness of the invitation — the wide and sincere welcome of Christ, whose open arms receive all who come. We saw the urgent appeal — the loving call to each hearer to repent and believe, now. And we have ended with the power of God — the dependence on the Spirit, the place of prayer, the bold reaching out to the lost. These are not separate topics but the parts of one whole. Faithful evangelistic preaching is the right heart, holding out the right message, freely offering Christ to all, earnestly calling for a response, and depending wholly on the power of God for the result. Take away any one of these, and the work is crippled; hold them together, and, by God's grace, souls are saved. This is the great and glorious labor to which the evangelist is called.

8.For the Glory of God and the Joy of Souls

We close by lifting our eyes to the great end of it all. Why do we preach the gospel, labor, plead, and pray? For two joined purposes: the glory of God, and the salvation of souls. We long that God may be glorified in the rescue of the lost, that His grace and mercy may be magnified in the saving of sinners who could never have saved themselves. And we long that men and women, dead in sin and lost without Christ, may be brought to know Him and to enter the joy of His salvation. These two are one, for God is most glorified in the saving of sinners, and sinners find their highest joy in coming to know Him. And there is joy in this work beyond measure: our Lord Himself has told us that there is joy in heaven, joy among the angels of God, over one sinner who repents. To share in that joy, to be used of God in bringing even one soul to Christ, is among the highest privileges given to any believer. So let us go on: preaching Christ, holding out His grace, inviting all to come, calling earnestly for a response, and depending on the power of God for the increase. May the Lord make us faithful evangelists, and use us, to the glory of His name and the everlasting joy of those He saves.

9.Taking It to Heart

For reflection. Do you preach and witness in humble dependence on the power of God and the work of His Spirit, rather than on your own gifts? Is your life marked by the prayer through which that power is sought, and by a loving boldness to reach people where they are? And is your great aim the glory of God in the salvation of souls, in which both He is honored and they find joy?

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Further Study: Ten Public-Domain Works

These ten works are for further study, for the student who wants to go on reading. They are not part of the honors reading above: that stays as it is — the five CTS digests, any three read in full and recorded on your honor. All ten are in the public domain; each link opens the work online, and most can also be found in the Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg. Most are in English: the Chrome browser can translate a page (right-click, “Translate to…”; on a phone, the browser menu).

Soul Winning · The Evangelist's Heart

1. The Soul Winner

C. H. Spurgeon · 1895

Spurgeon's classic on winning souls lays bare the heart of the evangelist — the longing, the labor, and the utter dependence on God that must lie behind all gospel preaching. It is the ideal anchor for this whole course, opening the marks of a soul-winning ministry and the true aim of the pulpit: not to be admired, but to see the lost brought home to Christ, one by one, to the glory of God.

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A Call to the Unconverted · Turn and Live

2. A Call to the Unconverted

Richard Baxter · 1658

Baxter's earnest little book is one of the most famous evangelistic appeals ever written — a tender, urgent pleading with the lost to turn from death and live, grounded on God's own word, “Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?” It is a model for the course's unit on the appeal, showing the preacher how to reason, warn, and beseech, and how to make the offer of life so plain and pressing that the hearer must answer.

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An Alarm to the Unconverted · Awakening the Lost

3. An Alarm to the Unconverted

Joseph Alleine · 1671

Alleine's Alarm has awakened sinners for over three centuries — a searching, faithful call that will not let the careless soul rest in its sin, but presses the danger and the remedy home with love and power. It is a companion to the course's units on the heart of evangelistic preaching and the appeal, teaching the preacher to sound the alarm honestly, and to keep pointing past the danger to the open door of mercy in Christ.

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Come and Welcome · The Free Invitation

4. Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ

John Bunyan · 1678

Bunyan opens the Lord's own promise, “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” into a full and moving invitation to every sinner who fears he may be turned away. It is the gospel's free welcome set before the timid and the guilty, and it is the perfect companion to the course's appeal — teaching the preacher to hold the door wide open, and to assure the worst of sinners that Christ receives all who come, and casts out none.

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The Great Awakening · Whitefield

5. Select Sermons

George Whitefield

Whitefield was the great evangelist of the eighteenth-century Awakening, who preached the new birth to vast crowds on both sides of the Atlantic with a power that shook a continent. His sermons model the course's study of the great evangelistic preachers — the plain, passionate proclamation of the gospel, the direct appeal to the conscience, and the free offer of Christ to every hearer, whatever their state.

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The Evangelist · Moody and the Appeal

6. The Way to God

D. L. Moody

Moody, the great American evangelist, preached the love of God and the way of salvation in plain, warm, homely language that reached the common people by the thousands. His sermons model the course's study of the evangelists and the art of the appeal, showing how the simplest gospel, told with love and pressed with earnestness, can do more than all the eloquence in the world to bring a soul to Christ.

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Bringing Men to Christ · The Practical Method

7. How to Bring Men to Christ

R. A. Torrey · 1893

Torrey wrote this practical handbook to equip ordinary Christians and preachers to lead people to a real decision for Christ — how to meet objections, how to use Scripture, and how to press for a verdict wisely and lovingly. It speaks to the course's units on the appeal and on meeting today's challenges, and reminds the preacher that evangelistic preaching aims not merely to inform but to bring the hearer, then and there, to close with Christ.

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Words to Winners of Souls · The Minister's Errand

8. Words to Winners of Souls

Horatius Bonar · 1860

Bonar's brief and stirring book turns the searchlight on the preacher himself, asking whether his own heart burns for the souls he addresses, and calling ministers to the self-examination, prayer, and holiness without which evangelistic preaching is only noise. It goes to the heart of the course's opening units, teaching that the first work of the would-be soul-winner is done in his own soul, on his knees, before ever he opens his mouth.

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The Field Preacher · The Gospel to the Masses

9. The Journal of John Wesley (selections)

John Wesley · 1739 onward

Wesley's Journal is the record of a lifetime of evangelistic preaching in the open air, as he carried the gospel to the mines, the fields, and the marketplaces of England, and saw thousands turned to God. It is a living model for the course's study of the great evangelists, showing the zeal, the method, and the free-grace gospel of a man who believed Christ died for all and pleaded with all to be saved.

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The Tender Evangelist · A Life That Pleads

10. Memoir and Remains (Sermons)

Robert Murray M'Cheyne · 1844

Robert Murray M'Cheyne, who died at twenty-nine, preached the gospel with such tenderness and holiness that his short ministry has stirred souls ever since. His sermons and life together model the heart of evangelistic preaching — a warm, weeping earnestness for the lost, joined to a plain offer of Christ — and show the preacher that the power of the appeal is not in vehemence alone but in a life that clearly loves God and loves the sinner.

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Honor attestation: By selecting three readings above, you affirm that you have read those three digests in full. The digests are CTS-authored summaries that may include brief excerpts or adaptations of public-domain works.