Evangelism (2023)

Authority & Power

Why do we need to have the Authority of Jesus Christ to be a witness?

We are represents of Christ. A representative has to be given authority to be another person’s representative.

Jesus represents the Father to us through the Power of the Holy Spirit, therefore as representatives of Jesus, we need the Authority to represent and the power to represent.

For example, I have a document in my hand that makes me the power of attorney for my 92, almost 93 year old father. This POA let’s me represent him as if I was him. It gives me two things. It gives me the authority to be his representative, plus it gives me the power to be his representative.

The same is true when it comes to witnessing. We have to the authority to act in Jesus name, and we have the power to act in Jesus’ name because, we are to represent Him like we were Him. Now, to make sure that we act like Him when we represent Him we must be obedient to Him and we must know Him. We know Him through the communicating with Him which is done through prayer.

In other words, Jesus has given us power of attorney to act in His Name. This power comes from obedience and pray through the Holy Spirit.

In other words, we need the not only the Authority of Jesus Christ, we need the Power of Jesus Christ that came by way of the Holy Spirit.

Why do we need to have the Power of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses?

We can’t do anything on or in our own power. Remember that everything that Jesus did while He was on this earth He did in the power of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to do ministry, how much more do we, as His representatives, need the power of the Holy Spirit?

Thankfully, God provides this power from the Holy Spirit so that we can be affective witness for Jesus Christ. In Acts 1:8-9

Acts 1:8–9 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

What did the believers in the Upper Room have to do to receive this power from on high?

They had to obey. They were told to go to the upper room and wait for the promise and power of the Holy Spirit. Obedience is the activity of faith. When God tells us to do something and take a step toward doing what Christ as commanded or asked us to do, that step, that activity is obedience what was motivated by your faith.

Matthew 21:28–32 ESV

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

If we, as representatives of Jesus Christ, are going to be used of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, to turn this church around and turn this community upside down, we are going to have to be obedient. We are going to have to step out in faith and do what God asks us to do.

But we need more than just obedience, we need to pray.

They had to pray. They could have went to the upper room and not prayed, I suppose, but I also believe that if they had went to the upper room and did not pray, they would have received the power of the Holy Spirit. When they obeyed and prayed the Holy Spirit came with Power from them to be witnesses. The power of the Holy Spirit totally changed their lives. Take a little bit of time in the next few days, and look at the difference in the lives for the apostles before the Holy Spirit comes and after the Holy Spirit gives them power to be witnesses. You will see a total turn-around.

Okay so, we have the authority from Jesus Christ and we have the power of the Holy Spirit but what are we do to with this authority and this power? We are to use the authority and the power of God to make disciples.

Go Make Disciples

We are command here in Matthew 28:19-20 to go and make disciples. The question then becomes where do I need to go to? I mean if I want to be obedient to this verse, I have to GO somewhere, right? Yes and no!

You see this passage would be better if it was written, “As you go, make disciples...” For the Greek is in the passive voice and not the active voice, but it is translated into English in the active voice. Go, with You understood, so You go make disciples…

What is the difference? The active voice with the you understood makes it sounds like we are suppose to drop all that we are doing and go to some far away place with headhunters that just happen to also be cannibal and we are to die for Christ in that God forsake place.

In the other translation, it would be more like…As you go about your daily routine make disciples. In other words, as Christian we should always be looking for the opportunity to make disciples. As you go to Wal-Mart make disciples, as you go to Iowa City make disciples, as you go to…fill in the blank…make disciples. You don’t have to go to some far away land to make disciples. Your mission field is much closer than you realize.

Teaching Them

You all know that we live in an instant generation. You know when the microwave first came out it was like this thing so wonderful. You will be able to cook meals in a fraction of the time that it does the old fashioned way. You what…now I consider the microwave slow. I put popcorn in. Set the timer for the 2 minutes and 10 seconds and it seems like forever until the dumb things goes ding to let you know your popcorn is done. Of course, by then I got tired of waiting and thought I have enough time to get this other thing done then the stupid things speeds up time. You hear every 2 seconds…ding…ding…ding with each ding telling me, “Get over here stupid. Your popcorn is done.” So even the microwave is to slow.

The point is this…evangelism is not a throw it in the microwave and your witnessing will be done in 2 minutes and 10 seconds. A lot of Christians think that evangelism happens in a one-stop process. God brings you and Russ together. God wants you to talk to Russ about Jesus. You think God I don’t know enough about you to talk to Russ, but God insists that you talk to Russ. You feel like all the pressure is now on you to talk to Russ. You might be thinking, “If I do this right, Russ accepts Christ as his Savior and I get a reward. If I don’t do this right, Russ doesn’t accept Christ. Russ goes to hell for all eternity and it is all my fault because I had this one opportunity to get it right and I messed it up. Now Russ is in hell because of me. So what do we do? We say, “I am not going to be a part of sending anybody to hell. I just won’t witness. I won’t tell anyone about Jesus…besides I don’t do it right anyway.

That is the instant idea of evangelism. It’s a one time shot, but this is not Biblical thinking when it comes to evangelism. Because you see evangelism in not an instant process or a one time event, it takes time and usually the person has to hear the gospel several times before they respond to the love of God as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit poured out through you. That is a long way of saying…Evangelism is usually a multiple step process that can take a lot of time.

A new converts are wonderful people to have in the church. They are usually excited about their new faith. The older Christians get excited about their faith again so they begin witnessing again which leads to more new coverts. The next thing you have a new converts class and the church has a momentum that almost can’t be stopped. The church starts a new converts class as a part of this commandment to “teach them all that I have commanded you.”

Besides it is not your job to save anyone. All you need to do is be ready to give them opportunity to hear the gospel. God takes care of all the rest!

So?

So what do we need to do? What is God calling us to do? God, I believe, is calling each and everyone of us to be people that are willing to tell others. We need to ask God to give us divine appointments, divine opportunities to talk to people about Jesus. We need to go out on a limb and share our faith. We need to believe that God can and well send us people to talk to about Jesus. People that we can share are lives with. This week what I would like to you do is come up with a list of people that you believe need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once you get your list put it somewhere to remind you to bring your list next Sunday. As we will be talking about belief next Sunday Morning

Now let’s sing To God Be The Glory Great Things He Hath Done number #98