The Essence of Evangelism (John 3:16)
There is a covenant only you, evangelists, must know. We are the evangelist who have to know the essence of evangelism, it says “For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son” and the reason for that is we must not perish, but have eternal life. There are many people who came to this organization and were very worried thinking, “We have to do things this way, we have to do things that way” Most of them have left their Darakbang organization, and I’ll be glad they did well after they left, but I don’t think that is the case, and of course their questions were not wrong.
Introduction
1. World Churches Are Closing Their Doors
But there is something that they don’t really know, why are world churches closing their doors. We need to know that. Of course the proper things are proper, but why are world churches closing their doors? Missions organizations don’t have any power whatsoever. There were some churches that appeared to do well, but right now, they’re just fighting with each other. So, as evangelists, you have to understand the reason for this to understand the reason for evangelism.
2. Time Schedule
Absolutely, there’s a time schedule here. What those people were saying is, “We have been led by God until now, and we have to start somewhere, so someone who was very ambitious attached themselves to me.” That’s how you need to start, it’s not that I’m not unaware, but people say, “You really need that kind of person for things to really work out.” So, in Busan and Seoul, there were very ambitious people who held onto me, humanistically speaking, “If I hold onto Rev. Ryu, I’ll make a lot of money off of him.” And I’m not saying it is a bad thing, that’s why when we weren’t doing that, they enabled us to start, but when the time schedule came, God changed that.
Little by little, our team members came to be in charge, and that was the expansion. But at the very beginning when we started, we had to start things that way, and we did have a lot of expansion, and because of your activities, we had a lot of evangelism and activities taking place. But now is the time schedule where we have to really set things right in our organization and legally in order for us to go further. That’s the time schedule. So, evangelism is always something that God does, but there is a time schedule.
3. Main Figure – Triune God
The main figures of evangelism are not us, but we are simply running errands; we are witnesses, and He tells us to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and the triune God is the main figure of the age, and even at the very end, Jesus said, “ But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power, and that is why our many workers must not rashly put judgement on the evangelism movement. Just because it seems right doesn’t mean it is; just because it seems wrong doesn’t mean it is. You are evangelists, so you must save your church and family and wherever you go, there is a time schedule, a time schedule for beginning everything.
So, when we first started to build a school in Vanuatu, I kept telling the workers to hire teachers from there to do it properly. Of course, there were disruptions because of COVID-19, but because we entrusted that to those people it is taking a long time, and when we first began in Deokpyong, we used the people from that neighborhood and we were able to solve all the legal problems as well. And when we first started our school in Hamyong we intentionally used the construction worker. “Use the construction officers in Hamyong,” and that’s what we did, and that’s why it’s a very popular school in Hamyong right now, That is how we started however, there is always a time of expansion and a time of properly reorganizing. The reason why I’m saying this is because when you go out to evangelize in the field it is the same thing if you want to do things for real, and it’s the same thing in the church. However, the true evangelist considers three things to be important.
Main – The Evangelism that God Sees
1. People over Work
2. God over People
3. Evangelism – Love for souls
The evangelist does the evangelism that God sees. It’s people over work. Work is important but people are more important. People are important, but more than the people, God is because it’s God’s work. What’s more important than evangelism is the love for souls. If you don’t have a love for souls, that’s not evangelism. It’s the same thing as a person without any filial piety beating up their parents then going to charity work. Think about it, they are evangelizing without a love for souls, so it’s ridiculous in God’s eyes. This is the essence of evangelism. God is the main figure and we’re just running the errands, so we’re just looking at the time schedule, and if we don’t know this, then we will close our doors, that’s why the world churches are closing their doors. They may have renowned people gathering together, but they’re closing their doors. What’s even more ridiculous is that where there are smart people, the churches close their doors even faster in places like Europe, America, and Japan. There, they might not even reopen because they’ve got too many smart people. We’re not at that level; we go far beyond that; we’re looking at God’s time schedule.
1. People over Work
1) People
God so loved the world, does that mean he loved the worldly things? No, he loves people.
2) Should Not Perish
It means that people are headed towards destruction
3) Eternal Life
He wants them to have eternal life. Some people work so hard and just die; it doesn’t just end there. It’s to have eternal life. So the people who just quickly pass rash judgments are the problem. Think about it, Paul was beaten to death, but was it over for him? After Paul’s death, Rome was evangelized. You can’t pass rash judgment over that. “When you die, that’s it,” that’s what unbelievers say. It doesn’t just end there, but to have eternal life, it’s tremendous words. These are the words Jesus said directly to Nicodemus. This intellectual, Nicodemus, came to consult with Jesus, and he spoke incorrectly, “Teacher.” He couldn’t say “Lord,” but he said, “Teacher” or “Rabbi.” He even had to compliment Him, saying, “You couldn’t do these things unless you came from God,”
But in some way, Jesus’ answer came out of the blue, “Unless someone is born again, they cannot see the Kingdom of God.” This outstanding individual was complimenting him, but he said, “Unless what is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” and Nicodemus was so shocked, “How can someone be born again? How can someone reenter their mother’s womb?” That’s the kind of low class things he was saying. Jesus responded, “Even if someone reentered the second time, that would not be being born again, you can’t see the wind, but you see the leaves shaking and you know that the wind is blowing and it’s the same thing with the Holy Spirit. And then he said these words, in one way “The world is in the midst of darkness” and then He says these things,
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,” A lot of people say “The one and only son, that’s his one son” But the words are right but not entirely true but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and in one sense, once is all it takes. “Should not perish but have eternal life.” For us, it is people over work, and for us, it’s God over people.
2.God over people
1) John 1:11
God came to us as the light.
2) John 1:12
And those who believe, who received his light, he gave the right to become children of God.
3) John 1:14
And the Word is God. And the Word became flesh. The Catholics say that the word is beneath the church. So they’ve got something to that, but it’s not the truth, but the Bible tells us that the Word is God and the Word became flesh, and these are very important words. For us, it’s people over work, and God over people. Why do we evangelize? You can only evangelize if you have the love for souls. Let me say this again.
3. Evangelism – Love for Souls
1) World – Souls
For God so loved the world. It isn’t just the world; it’s talking about the souls of the people of the world.
2) John 13:1-20
Even at the very end, He says in John 13:1-20, what is this passage? It’s where Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, “Do this for one another.”
3) John 21:15-18
He came and sought out Peter who had run away, but did not chastise him and gave him a mission. He asked him a question, “Do you love Me?” Without any doubt, Peter replied that he did love Him, and that wasn’t a lie. And the same way, He says “Feed my lambs.” It’s a love for souls. Evangelists must be the evangelists who know the essence of evangelism.
Conclusion
One last thing you must keep in mind, what is the evangelism that unbelievers see? They see good works, charity, and good deeds, and those aren’t wrong, but we are at a different level from that.
1. Agape Devotion
Evangelists have this kind of devotion. It’s not just about charity work, but we rightfully do this. It’s not about charity or service hours; it’s something we rightfully do, and there’s no reason for us to make a show of it as we do it. Satan looks down on the church, and the way he views evangelism is different. In one way, he utilizes the Nephilim strategy, but we have to use this strategy
2. Spirit of the LORD
What Jesus spoke about, the filling of the Holy Spirit, is the same thing. Right now, how do many young people see evangelism? They see evangelism as success. That’s not it for us, but we have to change our priorities for our next generation.
3. Priority
It’s not just about evangelism, but it’s about changing the priority. The 7 Remnants talked about proclaiming God as the number one priority, and for that they had their occupations. That’s the essence of evangelism that our evangelists must remember. People who continue to evangelize without knowing this essence may receive scars and leave. So, our evangelists throughout the nation and the world, keep in mind the study of evangelism message. If you don’t, keep that in mind, you’ll enter churches that are closing the doors
Remember this, right now, only evangelists are gathered here, and this is a message given to evangelists. If we were to listen to worldly things and follow after the world, why would we go to church? There are a lot of churches out there, churches that do a lot of different things; why would you want to go to a church that just does the Gospel movement? There are many renowned pastors out there, but why are our pastors staking their lives on the church? There’s only one reason: the gospel, because there are so many renowned pastors out there who do things that aren’t the gospel. There is only one reason, the Gospel.
There are so many renowned pastors out there who do things that are not the gospel, why? Because the Bible doesn’t just talk about the gospel; it talks about only the gospel. If you were to ask, “Is there one phrase that says that?” It’s in the Bible, just look at it, in Egypt, nothing else worked; only the gospel. Even in the very end when they were colonized by Rome, there was no other method they could use, but it’s not a matter about how good or bad the pastors are. This is the way I think, “A renowned individual who has so much but has nothing to do with the gospel, then that person has nothing to do with me.” Oftentimes, a lot of smart people say smart things but don’t do anything. Even if you may be a little lacking, you’re actually doing something. No matter how smart they are, they’re not doing anything; God doesn’t need those kinds of people, isn’t that so? That is why the essence of evangelism is people over work, it’s God over people, and love for souls over evangelism.
You must remember this your whole life long. If not, if you think you’ll completely perish, go and confirm this. Let us pray.
Prayer
Father God, we thank You. We give glory to God Who has entrusted this work to the evangelists throughout the world. In one way, we feel very sorry, but we’re also very grateful. May You use these servants and may world evangelization be accomplished. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, Amen.