Title: The Power of Evangelism
... When he saw Peter and John going into the temple, he begged begging, but Peter looked at him with John and said, "Look at us." He looked to see what they might get from them. But Peter said to him, "Silver and gold I do not have. What I have, I give to you, walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth...
The works of God work in the past and now with power.
It can be seen that it is one of the special graces that God Himself seeks to save sinners by granting spiritual authority through His servants.
In the Bible, there are many instances in the Bible of calling out the most ordinary people and making them believe in the great existence of God by allowing them to exert supernatural powers that are not possible with human abilities. One of them is in today's text.
1. Evangelism is always accompanied by power.
It is recorded today that Peter and John went in to pray and raised a crippled man who was sitting at the beautiful gate of the temple and begging. This was an amazing miracle.
How could such a thing happen? It can be said that it is absolutely unbelievable. That's what people in the world usually think.
However, in the face of the spiritual world, rational human reason tends to crumble like a stubble.
No matter how much worldly knowledge you have, no matter how proud you are of being an intellectual, you cannot exert any power in the face of spiritual authority. On the contrary, I see cases where people who used to be intelligent people fall more easily into the spiritual world.
That is why we often see intelligent people being deceived by the works of false spirits. Not too long ago, I read an article that said that many people have lost money because of falling into false cults. I saw that among those who passed over there were people who claimed to be intellectuals. In this way, the spiritual world is an infinite world.
Therefore, in the Bible, it is said not to believe everything that is spirit.
Spirit (靈) also depends on spirit. The spirit has the Holy Spirit, and the spirit also has an evil spirit.
Evil spirits, like the Holy Spirit, can express fruit and fruit.
That's what the magicians of Egypt did.
Also in the days of the Lord, there were many people who were possessed by demons. These are all things that evil spirits entered and tormented people. So the Lord healed them. Not all miracles and wonders are the work of the Holy Spirit. At first, all false spirits disguise themselves as angels of light to deceive people and lead them to hell. Therefore, it is said that you can know by looking at its fruits.
In other words, you can tell whether it is the Holy Spirit or an evil spirit by looking at the results.
This is still the case these days.
God uses His people to exercise spiritual power when He lifts them up and uses them.
That's what sets them apart from ordinary people.
When Moses was brought up to Mount Sinai, he had to inform the people in advance.
He told them to purify all the people for three days.
And a cloud will cover the mountain, and he warned that no one should come into the mountain. In the midst of this, he called Moses to come up the mountain. 'Why did you do this?' Come to think of it, it was to show Moses that spiritual power was with him so that the people would obey that spiritual authority.
God pours out the Holy Spirit to work miracles on ordinary people.
Look at all the characters in the Bible. On Moses, on Elijah and on Elisha, God poured out the Holy Spirit to exercise the power of His mighty power. With that power, he fought with the false prophet 850:1 and was victorious. He smashed the water in the Jordan with his cloak so that he could walk on it, and he poured flour and oil on the widow of Sarepta, who was dying of food or starvation, so that it did not dry out. .
This is not human power. This is not the strength that athletes get by honing and training themselves. God, it is a supernatural power that allows you to exercise yourself when you need it. In other words, the special grace given to {evangelists} is the work of this miracle.
To the Israelites, {Moses} looked like God. By doing so, he increased the authority of the leader. They made themselves obedient before Him by seeing themselves doing great mighty things. The power of God is manifested in the work of evangelism today. Therefore, we must believe that God Himself is with those who evangelize with His power. There is courage in evangelism. When you go out to earn money, you start to notice people, and it is easy to become humble, but when you do evangelism, you become strangely bold.
Why? Because God is with him in power.
2. Evangelists can raise the sick.
In today's text, we read that Peter and John raised up a crippled man from birth with power. As it turns out, the crippled man asked for money from Peter and John, but all they could give was Jesus.
This is also a matter for evangelists to ponder deeply. An evangelist is not someone who can give money.
Also, evangelism is not something you can do with money. While evangelizing with money, when the money runs out, it ends.
Do you know what the missionaries in India, Pakistan, Cambodia and Nepal are saying now? This means that there is a limit to the work of evangelism with materials. It is like a dead poison, the more you give, the more thirsty you get.
Here we have to find a big lesson.
One of the things the church has to serve is relief work. It is the poor, the sick, and the lost that no one cares for that the church should take the lead in helping. But it is only a means. They say that if anyone asks to believe in Jesus, they accept it well in the first place that missionary work is not possible in India. They say it's good when you take it. But if it falls, the God of Christianity is also one of the gods.
They say that I can't think of anything more than that. I heard the missionaries report that that was the saddest thing. It is not an exaggeration to say that missions that start with money have very few success rates. In that sense, the secret to the success of Korean missions was the policies of self-support, self-government, and self-propaganda. It was one of the reasons why the policy was so successful.
What the disciples had was not the silver coins, but the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth.
Today it is the same. What can we believers give to the world?
Jesus of Nazareth. We must clearly convey the purpose of Jesus' coming to this earth. He did not come into the world to give silver or gold, but to give himself up to Esau.
This is the gospel. The gospel means that Jesus died for my sins and rose again and is still with me through the Holy Spirit. The only property that evangelists can give is to share the good news that comes from Jesus Christ.
Apart from this, it is not possible to make people believe in Jesus by helping a few pieces with silver and gold, and in such a relationship, 100 out of 100 will fail.
There is not a single case where the members of the church received a full amount of grace while transacting money. You just have to give it with a pure heart, and if you attach a condition to it, it will not bear fruit because of that condition.
3. The power of evangelism ultimately brings glory to God.
Imagine if Peter and John gave a few coins as they asked for. That's probably the end of it. However, it is said that the crippled, who had lived without laughter, opened his mouth to praise. The lame stood, walked, or leaped, praising God. What a thrilling look! Many who saw this also gave glory to God. Something I never dared to imagine
Seeing what was given to Ki, the crippled man could not stand still. The saints who believed in Jesus for the first time and experienced the thrill of salvation could not stand still and testify of this to others. There is a saying that evangelism is done by new believers, but not by long-time believers. There are many people who cannot evangelize or give thanks the more they believe in their mother's womb.
Money can give a person temporary joy, but in the end it causes separation, loss of friends, and separation between siblings. However, evangelism makes people find joy. People who have given up on life find a new life and live happily and gratefully than in the past. This is an amazing ability. How can a person who has lost the meaning of life bring joy to others? It cannot be in other things. However, it is possible in the work of evangelizing the gospel. Those who seem to have no joy in the human mind, on the contrary, because of Jesus, they give hope and hope not only to themselves but also to those in other misery. This is truly a bizarre thing.
The power of evangelism is the ability to change people like this. So, it is to make people who have changed so that they can live to glorify God. But money may give you temporary joy.
But the joy is momentary. Because of that, you may actually fall into a deep swamp.
A good example is the case of Johnny Cash in the United States.
Johnny Cash was a popular American Country Folk Singer. He said he set the record for crowd mobilization when he performed in London, England. Fame and fortune seemed to roll into him on its own. Every 500,000 and 1 million copies of his records sold out, he became more and more possessed of the highest wealth and honor as a human being.
However, his life gradually ran towards chaos and misery. He became addicted to drugs and eventually became an addict.
He had an accident while driving on drugs, which broke his nose and broke four teeth. His wealth was unparalleled in the world, but he became a wretched man as a human being.
Through my testimony, I have been able to enjoy a happy life that glorifies God. This is the power of the gospel and the reward of being an evangelist. What do you think is the most precious thing in the world? It's about saving a soul. Even today, people who passed by in almost despair feel the meaning of a new life and give glory to God continues.
Dear saints!
We want all of us to become people of God who can demonstrate the power of evangelism. ♣