Power-filled Evangelism

Frustrated by the fact that the church that I was called to start had only seen sporadic growth and was now even struggling for its very existence, I began to call out to the Lord with more earnest. I felt like Israel in captivity hearing about the mighty works of God and wondering where that God went. I began to compare what I have seen in our churches with what was evident in the book of Acts and the stories of the early church. I noticed a glaring contradiction! When I began to look for this contradiction mentioned in other places in the Bible, such as the epistles, it was there too!

What am I referring to? The fact that in church today when we talk about preaching the gospel we are referring to passing along information, by word, this was not the case in the early church! In the early church there was a promise of power that was meant to accompany the preaching of the Gospel. This power manifested itself in different ways, but if one looks for the activity of God in miraculous signs, in healings, the specific direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit, the involvement of angels, and casting out of demonic spirits, one can see that this was common place for the early church. Power and the Word were inseparable but we will never be powerful unless we become power filled.

Why do we not see the Gospel preached with accompanying manifestations of God’s power in the church today? I believe that the reason is that we have ignored one of the most important works of the Holy Spirit taught by Jesus and His apostles, which is the promise of the Spirit led life.

The church today is being led only by half of what it has been given. We have followed the teachings laid out in God’s Word, the Bible but we have ignored the promised leading of the Holy Spirit. In a manner of speaking, the modern church has become like the disciples in Acts 19 who hadn’t even heard about the Holy Spirit. As Pentecostals, we claim evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives by our fruit and by our speaking in tongues. That is the problem of the modern church; we think we will be heard by our much speaking when what we need to do is to begin listening! I believe that we need to equip our members to discern the voice of God in everyday life and especially in evangelism.

One such example is the following passage:

Acts 8:26-29 NKJV - Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot."

Philip had previously been involved with the great revival that had taken place with the Samaritans. Crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did (notice the word was accompanied with a manifestation of power), they saw demons cast out and people healed as a result people paid attention to the message! The apostles came from Jerusalem to make sure that EVERYONE had received the Holy Spirit. The manifestation of the Spirit’s power was not meant for just a specified few.

In the midst of this revival, began by Philip, an angel speaks to Philip and tells him to leave and go to a specific place, the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza where there is a dessert. The Lord speaking through this angel did not freak Philip out! What Philip does is to respond in obedience and go.

Have you ever experienced anything like this? I have. One morning a few years ago I was praying and I had this odd thought come to me. “Go to George Webb’s.” One thing that I have learned about the Lord’s leading is that it often comes as a thought that you wouldn’t normally think. If anyone knows me, they could tell you that it would NOT be my idea to go to a George Webb’s restaurant! I do not like their food and I don’t like the smoke from the people that sit at the counter.

So I recognized right away that this was not a thought coming from me and I concluded that it must be from the Lord. So I figured what was the harm in continuing my devotion time there and I grabbed my Bible and began to leave. As I reached for my door, another thought came to my mind, “Take some tracts with you, you are going to need them.” So I did.

When I got to the restaurant, I ordered a cup of coffee (because I didn’t want to order any of their food) and sat down in a booth and began to read my Bible. In my peripheral vision, I spotted someone smoking a cigarette staring at me. My immediate reaction was to believe that he was going to mock me because I brought a Bible into the restaurant. Continuing to puff on his cigarette, he got up and began to walk towards the restroom. Then seemingly overcome with curiosity he turned back toward me and exclaimed, “That’s a Bible!”

I responded sarcastically (I am such a sinner), “That is correct genius!” With that he came and sat down across me at my booth! He said, “I have a Bible somewhere.”

I inquired, “So, do you have a church background?”

With that he began to tell me all about his life and the current struggles he was facing. I eventually led him in the sinner’s prayer right there in the restaurant! He was later baptized and went through our church’s discipleship program and is still following the Lord to this day.

It was miraculous, hey? But I didn’t even recognize it at the time. In fact, I had barely been saved myself. The Lord placed this prepared soul right in my lap! Isn’t that what happened in the story about Philip?

So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" 31 And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away, And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth" (Acts 8:30-33).

The guy is reading Isaiah 53, one of the most clear prophesies about Jesus in the Old Testament! This is akin to someone reading John 3:16 and asking you, “Who is this Son the author is talking about that gives everlasting life?” Could we tell someone the gospel at this point? Of course we could!

I believe there is a reason that Jesus commanded His disciples to “wait” for the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:4-5). It is because – although they knew the information about the good news of Jesus they needed to be filled with power that was meant to accompany that message (Acts 1:8).

In John 7:37-39, Jesus speaks in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." In other words, believing the message should be accompanied by a manifestation of the Spirit’s power – life giving water flowing out from within him. The following verse lets us know that specifically He was referring to the Holy Spirit.

Later Paul would confirm this by telling those at Thessalonica, “our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction (1 Thess. 1:5). In fact, those who preached a message without power were even questioned by Paul as to the validity of their calling especially when they attempted to contest his calling as an apostle. Paul said to those at Corinth, “I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Cor 4:19-20 emphasis mine).

As Pentecostals we know this, and as a part of our heritage many even saw what I talking about. We expected that the Lord would work with us and confirm His word by the signs that accompanied it (Mark 16:20). But in recent years we have lost this kind of expectancy. Instead we have replaced the miraculous with our accomplishments, cleverness, and programs. An almost endless stream of “How to” books are being written by those pastors who are describing how they personally achieved success and growth in their church.

But, Paul had a completely different attitude about his success in ministry when he said, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit (Rom 15:18-19). See, he couldn’t take the credit for success – it was the Lord’s leading and the power of the Holy Spirit!

Notice though what Paul lists first: Christ’s leading. I believe the Bible teaches that this “leading” is meant for everyone who is a believer! Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27). Jesus did not say, “Some of my sheep hear my voice,” no, it is part and parcel of becoming a child of God. Paul said, “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Rom 8:14).

The Spirit guides us where to go and where not to go

Acts 16:6-7 gives us an example of Spirit’s guidance in regard to evangelism. “Having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.” We know historically that other apostles eventually went and preached the gospel to these areas, so we can conclude that unlike our previous example in Acts 8 with the Ethiopian eunuch they had not been adequately prepared by the Spirit to receive the gospel. If one thinks about it, the Lord is always working to prepare hearts to repent and receive Him, but is it possible that the Lord actually can lead us to those hearts and souls He has already prepared and who are ready to receive? That is what happened in this instance:

“During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:9-10). There Paul would eventually meet a jailer who would recognize the power of God shaking the prison and then listen to and receive the message about faith in Christ. As a result, not only he, but his complete household would put their faith in Jesus.

The Spirit Guides Us As To What We Say

Over and over I have heard of those who were “caught off guard” not knowing exactly what to say to their unsaved friend who out of the blue asks about salvation. The believer begins to speak what they know and then the Spirit begins to remind them of scripture passages, of specific things to say, sometimes even things that are even a word of knowledge. At the end of the conversation is this wonderful sense that the Lord led the conversation and gave us the words to say.

This really shouldn’t be surprising because the word does say that there are times when we can speak to an unbeliever and actually reveal the secrets of their heart (miraculous) and actually begin to worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!" (c.f. 1 Cor 14:24-25). Or at other instances of having to bear witness to the Lord that we need not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit (Mark 13:11). This tells me that it is not an uncommon thing for the Holy Spirit to speak to us specifically about what to say or what to do.
Consider the well known passage, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). There are some very interesting things about this passage that I want to point out. First of all, Jesus is the person taking the initiative by being at the door, knocking, and calling out, “Here I am.” What I take from this is that Jesus wants to speak to us. That He wants to speak to us like a friend (there is a whole lesson just in that point) because He wants to speak to us over a meal. Secondly, there is a barrier restricting this conversation He wants to have (there is a door between us). This barrier is something that we have been given the control over. We can open the door and expect that when we do He will come in. And lastly, all of this is dependent upon us “hearing His voice.” Because He says, “If anyone.” We can assume that hearing His voice is possible for anyone not just a select few. Because He says, “If anyone hears,” we can assume that not all people are discerning that the voice of the Lord is calling out. Now it is obvious that the Lord is calling out for this church to repent and be hot for the Lord in the context of this passage, but is it possible that the Lord is actually speaking, and calling to us now but we have not discerned his voice?
In upcoming posts I will be discussing this further. I want to help equip God’s people to hear His voice because it seems obvious to me that we should all be able to “hear what the Spirit is saying to the church,” that hearing His voice is the key to the miraculous power meant to accompany the gospel, and that not being led by the Spirit is evidence that there is something deficient in our relationship with the Lord according to the Bible.