Qualified Person in the Evangelism Movement (Matt. 16:13-20)
The title of today’s Word is, “Qualified Person in the Evangelism Movement.” When we talk about the Word today, it may seem as if there are only a certain qualified number of people who can do the evangelism movement, but rather than thinking of it as the ones whom God has chosen to do the evangelism movement. Whether in the church or outside of the church, there are many people who want to share the gospel, but you might notice that, compared to their passion for evangelism, they might not bear as many fruits. Although those fruits aren’t something we can judge or discern ourselves, but we can determine if evangelism is taking place or not.
But rather than passing over this, there are many church members who are contemplating and worried over this. If this person doesn’t have the qualifications, the content, the motives, and the correct method in order to evangelize, even though they have this immense passion, it won’t take place. So today, let’s talk about who are the qualified people through whom God will do this evangelism movement.
I hope that today we can confirm, through the Word, why evangelism is taking place or not. You must be able to diagnose yourself. Am I the person who is able to share the gospel according to the Word of God? Because there are things like this, we must confirm ourselves through the Bible.
1. Minister – Use
Who are the ministers through whom God does the gospel proclamation through? Even for ministers, God must use them, so who are the ministers whom God uses?
(1) Christ – Correctly
First of all, do you know Who Christ is, correctly? In Matthew 16, before verse 16, when Jesus asks, “Who do people say the son of man is?”, they aren’t able to give the right answer.
(Walk of faith that follows everyone else)
That’s why they say he’s like Jeremiah, one of the prophets, or even John the Baptist, so they just have a walk of faith that just follows everyone else. God cannot use people who have this “following” walk of faith. So, who are the types of people whom God uses? You must experience Christ.
(2) Christ – Experience, Assurance
What does it mean to experience Christ? You need to experience that Christ has solved all of our fundamental problems. You must have assurance in this. If you don’t have this, even though you work diligently, it won’t take place. Even for missionaries, even though they go out into the field, because they don’t have any experience that is from the Bible, from the Word of God, they only relay the things that you heard from other people, it doesn’t really work out. Even if you relay something you heard from someone else, that doesn’t go into the other person properly.
This is called the “middle language,” where they themselves do not have this assurance, but they just relay what they’ve heard. Christ has solved all problems, and those who have experienced this and have assurance in this, this Word becomes theirs.
(3) Power – Living
The power of Christ, He is the Son of the living God. There’s a difference between someone who knows, believes this, and relays it, compared to someone who just knows and relays it. He has finished all problems and is with me and us even now, and you relay this with assurance. If you don’t have this, you can relay it, but it isn’t relayed properly.
John Stott described evangelism as speaking of the glory of Christ that has come upon me. When it comes upon me, that means it has realistically come upon me, and I relay that to others. When you go to church, you listen to a lot of sermons and anyone can relay those words, but it’s important whether or not you’ve experienced the words that are being relayed. Because I’ve experienced and have assurance in Christ, I’m able to relay it with assurance as well.
When God called Moses in Exodus 3, he confirmed and had assurance in the words of Exodus 3:18 because he met God in the midst of fire, and he received the Word, and with this assurance and experience, he relayed it. He received the Word of the covenant of the blood of the lamb, the blood of the Word. Even in Joshua 1, it says, “You must go neither to the left nor to the right; just go forth with the covenant I have given you because you will surely conquer the land of Canaan.”
You need to go out with this assurance. You shouldn’t think, “Will evangelism take place or not?” That’s unbelief towards God, then that unbelief will lead to the answers of unbelief. It doesn’t matter if you have passion or not; it’s more important if you have this experience and assurance within the Word of God. That’s why for evangelists, they’re not just relaying words, but they’re being witnesses.
“Oh, but the pastor told me to say this,” it doesn’t work, then. “The Bible says these kinds of words,” it’s not going to work out. You must be able to experience and have assurance in this. Why is Christ the answer to all problems? If you can’t experience this, then you cannot start. No matter how much you may speak to another person, they won’t have any response. Is it because they don’t know Christ? No, they do know Christ, they know Christ after listening to this a couple times, but they haven’t experienced it. You need to have this assurance. Who knows this? Satan knows. The devil knows whether the person who is relaying the Word has experience and has assurance in this or not. For those who have this, the forces of darkness are bound.
2. Blessing – Three Things
There are three blessings that have been entrusted to those who completely rely on and have assurance in Christ. They have the blessing of being the rock.
(1) Rock – Church (Evangelism)
Those who experience and confess Christ are atop the rock. “Upon this rock I will build my church,” when you build the church it means God will open evangelism. The church is the place where the saved gather together, that means that evangelism is taking place in the field, and that’s how the church is raised up. If the field is not being evangelized to, then how could the church be raised? That’s why the Lord will build his church on this rock. “You are My witnesses until the ends of the earth.” He did not say, “You will be,” but He said, “You are witnesses.”
God said he will use people to do this, and to whom will God attach these precious souls? Will he attach these souls to people who don’t have assurance in salvation, or to those who do have assurance? What is God doing even now? You must know this. You must know what God is doing right now in order to follow within the stream, God is fulfilling His Word even now, His interest is different from yours and He is continuously fulfilling His Word. It’s important for me to be in the Word, and God is continuously working through the Holy Spirit. For those who believe, they will pray. Even now, God is breaking down the three curses and doing evangelism.
God is doing the work of evangelism even now and He entrusts it to those who have this experience and assurance in evangelism. It’s not about going somewhere; it’s about God opening the doors. If you don’t have this but you try to go here or there, it won’t take place because God doesn’t attach people to you, right? Because God will not attach His precious disciples to just anybody. Why would God attach them to someone who doesn’t have the answer? God will attach these people who have this experience and assurance within the gospel so they can evangelize and proclaim it.
This is the main ministry God is doing, and God is doing this work even now. It’s just that my interest is in something else, but God is continuously doing this work. When I have an interest in God’s Work, God will attach people to me. If evangelism isn’t taking place in my life, there are a lot of things to think about. Because you must confirm #1, if you have an interest in evangelism, and #2, if you have this experience and assurance.
In Matthew 24:14, it says, “When the gospel is proclaimed to all nations, then the end will come,” so God’s main forces and interest is in evangelism and missions, and God is doing that work even now, but where am I? I must check this about myself. It’s not about whether I have interest in this or not, it’s within this stream that God is interested in, because when you’re within that, the holy spirit will work. God will move all the environments to meet those kinds of people. That’s why it just takes place.
In Acts 27:24, God says, “You will stand before Caesar.” God’s plan never changes; it just depends on your situation, but God’s plan never changes. Someone looks down upon you? That’s just your individual situation but God’s ultimate plan will never change. Don’t be bound by yourself; go within the plan of God, but all people are bound by themselves, instead of God, me myself is more important, and that’s the incorrect value because the One Who has created and saved me is far more important, and because of Him I am also an important being, and because of this God attaches other people to you.
If I make myself more important than God then why would God attach people to you because you won’t even do his work, and that’s why in the midst of storms and even standing before death, God tells Paul, it’s not a problem, stand before Caesar. If you don’t have happiness in Christ, there are many people who will take care of cats, snakes, etc.. but you must find happiness in Christ. Because you have no happiness in Christ you stake your life on other things. Because you don’t have happiness you have no choice but to travel all the time.
Last week my friend came to America for vacation. He came last year but he also came again this year. He came here to visit Yellowstone National Park. He said he even visited a tree that was even alive when Jesus was alive on this earth,” and he told me, “Next year, I think I’ll just take a year off of business and I’ll come here to learn a new language,” and I was thinking, “Oh, but there’s a different kind of joy in that.” I thought, “Oh, that is very pitiful. If you just travel around a lot, Instead of being moved by a tree, you should be moved by God who’s your creator, and he says he believes in God. But I told him, “you just believe God just exists,” “But have you met God?” and he just turned his face away. People continuously going around, traveling, thinking there’s something within that. They go to Japan,Hawaii and think they are happy.“In Christ,” that is everything, but because they don’t have this answer they are still going around, they are wandering. Everything is within this, but because they don’t want to be at a loss they continuously fight. If you realize that everything is within this and you lose a little bit, doesn’t that mean that you’ve actually lost. But because they don’t have this, they have no choice but to continually fight and have water. Do they not know Christ? They know the differentiation because they’ve heard it for so many years, so why would theThey don’t realize say something is within the sand they don’t experience that.
(2) Gates of Hades
The gates of hades cannot overcome you. The authority of sin, Satan, and curses will never overcome you. This is when the Forces of darkness within your family line will be broken. This is in the Bible it cannot be bound just by saying Jesus Is the Christ the son of the living God. Why isn’t this taking place? It’s because you don’t have realistic faith assurance and experience and that’s why it doesn’t work out.
1) Destruction – … (Genesis 3:1-5)
Only in the Bible does it talk about the strategies of Satan. What is that motive? It’s that you can be like god. When you say this to another person, almost everybody will fall for it, and Satan touches and uses this motive. “You can be like God knowing good and evil ” Satan doesn’t attack anybody but he attacks people with this motive. That’s why in our walk of faith if we have a different kind of motive we have no choice but to be deceived by Satan. Then we have this state of destruction, Genesis 3:16-20 that’s when the earth is cursed. Man sinned but the earth they took upon was cursed as well. Then what is the status of those in destruction? John 8:44 says their father is the devil. This will never change because depending on their status it determines their lives. Because their status is the child of the devil it doesn’t matter if they succeed. There are some people who say, “it’s okay if I’m a child of the devil I can just succeed” that means they are seized. That’s why as a result, things come because of their status.
(4) Destruction
What happens to the existence of those who have received destruction? Ephesians 2:1-3, 6, they are under the rule of the kingdom of the air and they are under the wrath of God. In verse 1 it says they have died to sin. And they are under the ruler of the kingdom of the air and they have no choice but to be under the wreath of God. This is the existence of the non believers. What is the reason Jesus came to this earth?
(5) Walk of faith
The walk of faith of those in destruction, in 1 Corinthians 10:20, it says they worshipped evil spirits. The sacrifices that gentiles do is to the evil spirits. In Matthew 13:44-45, the seven evil spirits come in. What happens to the afterlife of those in destruction? It is that they go to hell in Luke 16:19-31. And what is the reason Jesus came to the earth? In 1 John 3:8, He came to destroy the work of the devil. In Romans 8:2, He came to liberate us from the law of the spirit of sin and death to the law of spirit of life. It is different depending on those who say this with assurance and those who just say it because it is written on the bulletin. Why do we tell you to do things in the field? It’s not just to do anything, but to confirm this.
It’s not so that you just memorize it as a theory because all non-believers can do that too. You have to confirm this if this is real in the field. If you tell this to the little kids at our church, all of them can memorize this, but do they actually know it? No not really you have to confirm it in the field. That’s why you must not just do Bible study. Through the Bible study you must be able to come to an answer to the problems in the field. Receiving this answer means the Word of the Bible becomes our answer to everyday problems. That’s what we are talking about here. The unbelievers are realistically living in this way and we must confirm that with the word of the Bible. That’s why we don’t really like people who can memorize things well. There are a lot of people like that at Harvard. Even if you lecture to them for an hour, they can explain it verbatim very well, people are not indestructible because of this. It is because you haven’t seen this or confirmed this in the field. You don’t understand why Christ is the answer to all of these problems. You heard of this multiple times but when you go out into the field, it doesn’t realistically apply. That is why, you must confirm this word in the field and pray and evangelize.
We explained the reason why Jesus Christ came to this earth. This isn’t something you should think about simply. We aren’t talking about just three things, these are the three problems of all mankind, but you can’t see this. But people are seized by these problems, so it led to all the other people. That’s why Christ has come, and He is the answer to all problems, and we must have assurance and experience this. How is knowing and believing in Christ the answer to all problems? You must know this. If you don’t know this then you will think about other things in vain. All of those other things will be in vain. You meet God through Jesus Christ but if this isn’t everything for you, it becomes hard. You met Jesus Christ, you met God but if that’s not everything there is no other medicine.
He’s the creator God who moves the entire universe and he’s with me even now but if I’m not able to experience and enjoy this then I have no answer in life. Those who have this answer can relay it, for the disciples, they are able to connect with each other spiritually. Those who just know this as a theory, they won’t be able to connect spiritually because disciples for disciples connect in spirit.
It is finished, there are no other words to say. Because this has not been finished, you look towards other things. Then what happens? They will become a playground for the devil. If this has already been finished for you, God will attach people to you in the field. Don’t do it yourself, go together as a team because somebody in the team will have this answer and Hid will attach people to you. Even if you don’t have the answer, someone in the team does so God will attach people to you. So evangelism is a team effort.
If you have a team that completely has the answer, then they are a powerful team. The Triune God is with me, it is finished, you must have this answer when you come to church, then it doesn’t matter whatever takes place for this person, because they relay this answer, then the disciples will understand those words. If you say all these other sorts of words to this disciple, they won’t be able to understand. The correct disciples will understand it spiritually.
(3) Key to heaven (answers to prayer)
God will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Answers to prayer. Christ can open the doors of heaven, you cannot open it if it is not Christ. You have assurance in this. When you pray in the name of Jesus Christ then God will answer. You have this assurance.
(Authority to Judge)
3. Faith
We know about Christ, but why doesn’t it take place? It’s because you don’t have faith. What faith are we talking about?
(1) God’s Absolute Sovereignty
You know so much about God but you don’t believe in His absolute sovereignty. All things are done by God, If you don’t have faith in this, then as you live your life, unbelief will slowly seep in. God is the One Who moves all things, He is with me, all the things that take place are done by God. If you don’t acknowledge this, then you have to assert yourself and your own opinions. You don’t believe in God. You talk about the correct things but you don’t believe in God. If Joseph was like that, then he would have already suffered from mental illnesses. Even though the things I encountered through my brothers were unfair, it was done by God.
My life is within the hands of God. Life or death, all of this is within the hands of God. You must believe this, that is a believer.
1 Chronicles 29:10-14
If you don’t believe in His absolute sovereignty, even though you know Christ, it becomes hard.
(2) The Main Figure of History (Eph. 1:10) – Jesus Christ
The One Who can control and rule over everything in heaven and on earth. He makes everyone one, unifies it. If you don’t know Christ, nothing can take place because Christ is the One Who unifies me with God. Because we can only receive God’s great power through Christ. We can only know about our future through Christ. These are the keys to our walk of faith.
(3) Holy Spirit
He is with me, invisible to the eyes, and He is working upon me right now. You must believe this, but you don’t believe it. That’s why no matter how much you know about Christ, because you don’t believe it, you just relay it and leave, but when those who believe this, relay this to others, the other people come to life. The other people come to life because this person believes that the holy spirit is alive and working now, but people just know this as a theory, then other people who know this as a theory will be attached to this person. “Talk about what you’ve learned,” and they say that very well, but they don’t believe it. What happens if you don’t believe it? Then you believe in your own strength and they aren’t disciples yet.
That’s why in Acts 1:8, when you receive the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be a witness until the ends of the earth. If they don’t believe it, that’s that person’s situation, and its’ part of God’s plan. If they believe in a small matter, small answers arise, if they believe in a big manner, then big answers arise. So there’s no reason for us to use our heads and humanism, there’s no reason for us to research because the hilt sorority is with me, the Holy Spirit is guiding me, I’m not guiding my own life, but god is guiding my life. Because this doesn’t take place, if a person who worries all the time relays the gospel, what will happen? Aren’t they just being a witness that, even if you believe in Christ, you’ll still worry? Even though they don’t say this, this will still be relayed. They believe in Christ but they have a lot of worries about the future. They will ultimately relay to other people that they still worry even though they believe in Christ, do you understand what I’m saying?
(4) The Bible is God’s guarantee
The Bible is God’s Guarantee, 2 Tim 3:14-17.
(5) God’s temple
The people of God are God’s Temple, we confirm it through the bible. Where is your life? It is in the Bible. Where is your life? It is in the Bible. You confirm the Word through the Bible and it’s not anywhere else. What must I do in the future? It is in the bible. Where is my future? It is in the Bible. Only when the Holy Spirit comes upon me, that is when you will be God’s witnesses until the ends of the earth.
When the Holy Spirit is in me, that is when I will never fail. If you don’t receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it won’t take place. Because God is with me, the Holy Spirit is with me and works. I must not be guided by any other spirit, I don’t need to make any other decisions, God is with me and guiding me. Those who know this must relay it, not someone who just knows this with their head, but someone who realistically believes it, then that other person’s spirit will come to life. That is the way to save.
(6) Mission Field
The place where I reside is my mission field, Acts 18:1-4. Where must I evangelize? The place where you reside right now, God has His plan there, and that is His mission field. If you have been entrusted with work in the church, that is also your mission field. If I am placed in a certain field in the world, that’s also my mission field. The place where my feet touch upon, that is where God has His plan. Which church is good for me? It is the church where I am in. Because you don’t have this, you think, “This church is good, that church is good,” and you have no choice but to lose hold of God’s answers. That person will never receive God’s answers.
No matter how small or useless you may think your job is, that is your mission field. No matter how successful of a position you’re in, that is also your missions field, that is the plan of God. This is not something people talk about, but we follow after what God tells us. That’s why, wherever this person goes, even though it is the lowliest of lows, God will work upon it. God will open a path in the desert. How could there be a path in the desert? Will there be water in the desert? No, but God makes water come out. It is because God is with you, but if you don’t have this and you constantly worry about who you will rely on, then you will be enslaved.
God is with me. How classy is that? For the remnants who are receiving training, you must have this. “I will not receive any kind of help, why? Because God is with me,” that is when the forces of darkness are broken down. I am a witness of that. When I was in Korea for 10 years, I was a witness of that. Even though I did have some unbelief, overall, I’m a witness. I do not need anybody’s help because God is with me.
But it seems like these people are full of hot air, but it’s true that God is with them, and He is the One Who is controlling and moving everything in the universe and me, and that’s why I can be a witness. For those who do not believe, they cannot be a witness because even if they face a little bit of difficulty, they go to someone else, asking for help. These people don’t believe in God. it’s not that they don’t believe in God, but they don’t believe God is with them. Whom could Joseph go to? He just believed in God. At that time, Joseph did not have a pastor to ask. David wasn’t in a state where he could go ask a pastor. He had to solve everything at that moment. His food and clothes, this had to be solved in that moment, and he solved it as the LORD being his Shepherd. These are the people God raises.
When people face difficulties, people naturally go to other people, and when you face an unfair decision, you have no choice but to go to other people and talk about it. When you see something incorrect, you talk about it and judge it, but those people will not have these answers. For such people, these words are correct and true, but for God, these are incorrect. For Paul those things are not just, but he believed God allowed it. In that situation, you believe God is working. Even though you feel it’s an unfair situation, you still believe God allowed it, and when this takes place, that’s when the works of saving other people arise.
When God is with you, there’s nothing to be unfair about because God is the judge, and this is the faith we are talking about. Who will ultimately win? Those who believe in this. Those who don’t believe in this but assert themselves will ultimately fail. We’re not saying this or believing in this power because we have nothing to rely on; ti’s because we actually believe in God Who is with me.
(7) Life, Death, Blessings, Curses (Psalm 139:1-6)
The One Who controls our life and death is God, Psalm 139:1-6
(8) Judgment (Heb. 9:27)
For all people, their life has been determined, and after that, they will face judgment, Hebrews 9:27. Everyone will face a physical death. There’s someone’s funeral on Saturday, and all the people here, too, will live to be about 70 more years, then you’ll live around 90. We may not reach 100 years. There is an end to our physical bodies. We conclude that and go on with our lives. We think of today as if we’re going to live eternally with our bodies. When you age, older people feel it in their bodies.
When the Assistant Pastor went to El Salvador, I saw she was taking care of herself by eating the best things, and I saw she was taking care of other people by giving them these best things, because that’s the age when you need to be careful and treat your body well, at my age, you don’t really have to do anything. Sometimes she has these things she wraps around her legs, and I asked her, “What is that?” It means at that age, she feels it, and she still went to Atlanta on a plane and was commissioned as a missionary. Some people may think, “Why would people go to that extent?” But what would God think when He sees that? People may think, “Why would that person do that until their old age?” But what does God think? They say they will do God’s work until the very end because there are so many people who don’t do that, that’s why it seems weird, but there are so many younger people who have been moved by Assistant Pastor Lim, not here, but in other states, there are so many other people in other states I’ve heard, Senior Deaconess tell me, “I really want to be like that Assistant Pastor,” and I thought, “They must really want to be like her,” what are they saying? They are saying they want to be like her devoting themselves to this ministry until the very end. That is being blessed already.
On Monday, we had the evangelism camp here, and I was talking to David Abrams and he said he was very excited. I told him, “You have already been blessed,” because what could he be excited about? He only thought about evangelism but he was so excited for it, he had this hope and expectation, this is the working of the Holy Spirit. This is what God gives and I told him, “I’m sure your cancer cells have already died off. There are people who do useless things to improve their health, but it’s useless. I told you, there’s a hormone, not endorphins but didorphin which are much stronger than endorphins. Even when the endorphin is released into our body we can restore our health. But when do we get didorphin in our body? It is when you are someone like a pastor or a conductor, it’s not that when you’re a pastor you have didorphin, it’s when you have this creative mind and outlet is when didorphin is released into the body.”
What is the standard of how long a person lives? That is determined within that. It’s determined by Christians because first of all, they receive grace, and when they come to church, they have a social life, even just doing this, their life extends. For a lot of older people, they only have older people around them to talk to, and they become more and more lonely, but when they come to church, they can talk to remnants and kids, and God gives His grace so they understand and didorphins are released. Health isn’t anything else. Smiling while watching a drama is useless. It’s already released.
(9) Afterlife (Luke 16:19-31)
We surely have the afterlife, there is a hell, Luke 16:19-31.
(10) Reward
There is certainly a reward for the evangelists, Matthew 10:42. God said He would not let any devotion for the gospel be for a loss. It’s not a matter of what I do. When I believe and enjoy this, just being alive, that in itself is a blessing. Even for these people, if you remain still, God will attach these people to you. Why? God attaches people to those who have this assurance and experience because they must relay it to that other person.
The qualified person of the gospel movement. There are people for whom this takes place, and people for whom it doesn’t. When it doesn’t take place, we have confirmed in the Word why it doesn’t. It doesn’t work out just because you have passion, and it doesn’t matter if you just go out into the missions field. It doesn’t matter if a pastor passionately goes out into the field and evangelizes. Today, we talked about how the Word will work upon those who have this and you must possess it and go into your fields.
You must go out, who is this “you”? It is those who have assurance and have experienced this. He did not say “you” to the 5000 people or the crowd who experienced His miracles. I hope you will experience these kinds of blessings.
Prayer
God, we thank You. Thank You for allowing us to confirm ourselves through the Word to know what it means to be a qualified person of the evangelism movement. With this blessing, may we go out into the field as evangelists who will save the field. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.