The Promises of Evangelism

ME: I haven’t shared that with my wife yet, but I decided this is definitely necessary to reach more people. How many people do you think you can talk to about Jesus within the next 3 months?

Now, my mama told me years ago never to make a promise that I was not certain I could keep. So I must confess I cannot keep that promise.

Anytime I would seek the promise my mom would always remind me of her stance on promises. “I will not make a promise I am never sure I can keep.” So when she made a promise to me I could 99.9% count in her keeping it.

I remember one time I asked for a special pair of shoes that were popular. She wouldn’t promise to get them, but she worked extra hours and such to make sure she could get them despite not promising to.

Anytime I would seek the promise she would always remind me of her stance on promises. “I will not make a promise I am never sure I can keep.” So when she made a promise to me I could 99.9% count in her keeping it.

WE: Do any of you have similar instances?

How many of you have ever made a promise, yet for some reason were unable to keep it? I am sure you felt horrible about it later didn’t you.

Who has ever received a promise, only to never see it fulfilled? It can be devastating.

GOD: Promises are serious commitments that are too often taken too lightly. People make promises without having the determination to keep them. It only further highlights the fallen nature of man.

That is why promises of God are a matter of fact not a matter of hope to.

Even when my mom would make a promise it would be with the utmost integrity, but there was a small sense in her mind that something might happen that she couldn’t keep it. Thus, she could only hope that she kept it.

With God it is totally different. God is perfect in His nature, therefore when He makes a promise he cannot break it. If he did He would not be God.

assures us of our eternal life which God promised before time began. How can we trusted we are eternally saved? It says in that verse God cannot lie. So, doesn’t it give comfort to know that whatever God the Father, or God the Son promises to His followers is a fact not a hope so. It gives a sense of security in knowing that what God promises he fulfills.

Titus 1:2 CSB

in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

When we go tell others about Jesus, to have those gospel conversations with far from God people.

HE PROMISES HIS POWER, HIS PRESENCE AND HIS PROTECTION

TURN TO – Jesus gives a firm promise to his followers as his last words before ascending into heaven. The promise of power is no different than the power of God Paul assured us was in the Word of the Gospel.

Acts 1:8 CSB

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This word “power” here is a promise of the aid which Jesus was granting them through the Holy Spirit. Dunamus – power; from which we get our English word Dynamite

Here the root Greek word is Dunamai – “to be able.”

Jesus promised us, His disciples would be able to go and be witnesses unto Him. He promised that in spite of the difficult labor, in spite of the long service, the hard afflictions and severe trials we will have the power and strength to go and to tell all people about a Savior to set them free from sin.

“witnesses to Me” – this phrase means we will share with others out of the Personal knowledge we have of Him. This knowledge comes through our relationship with Him.

For the disciples, this promise of the Holy Spirit’s coming was a promise that their relationship was not ending with Jesus’ return to heaven. For us, its a promise of a relationship being possible even though Jesus is in Heaven.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit was a promise of Comfort.

NOW LET’S LOOK AT

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus gives a promise here of continued assurance of His position as God the Son. As part of the Trinity, Jesus holds power as creator and sustainer. Jesus here assures them of something new. He is saying to them that He has the power and authority now as Mediator: To redeem, to gather a church, and to protect and defend it.

The Power he promised them in surely raised their eyebrows because the Power he promised them there is the power He claims here.

Everything Apostle Paul says in that Jesus humbly and willingly gave up, Jesus is saying here He received back.

He had ended sins slavery, he had destroyed death, and he had won back the world through his battle on the cross. Jesus was assuring them though he seemed weak during that time, the resurrection and His soon ascension proves His power.

Now v. 19 because of that power he says Go!! Why? We can go because He can defend us. The world they would soon go into was under His control. The world we go into is still under his control. Even when weak we can go, because He is strong. Whatever obstacles get in the way He has the power to overcome.

v. 20 – “Lo I am with you always.” He promised His presence with them every single day, and to us now. He promised to be there with all knowledge necessary, with all power necessary.

These two verses are a reminder of a promise Jesus made through an earlier conversation He had, when he asked who they said he was regardless of what the world said. Remember Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

THEN JESUS GIVES A PROMISE REGARDING THE CHURCH

Matthew 16:18 NKJV

18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The Greek word translated “church” literally means “those called out”

The Greek word translated “church” literally means “those called out” Here Jesus means the entire body of people that would become His followers through the ministries that begins with the Disciples. We see that throughout Acts when the same word is used to describe the Universal Church. This is what Jesus meant by building His church.

Here Jesus means the entire body of people that would become His followers beginning with the Disciples. We see that throughout Acts when the same word is used to describe the Universal Church. This is what Jesus meant by building His church.

The promise Jesus gives regarding the Church is very important and enormously related to the prior 2 promise

He promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.

Ancient cities were surrounded by walls (Nehemiah, Jerusalem) and the gates were very important. That is what kept people in, how you entered, were courts and decisions of planning were made. The word “gate” is used to mean evil counsels, evil designs and satan’s purposes. Thus, Jesus is promising that no plot, no scheme, no design of the church’s enemy would overtake it. Jesus promises that death can never destroy the Church. All the devil can scheme and all the power he can muster will never defeat the plan of God.

Illustration: As one commentator said, “Against all the power of satan the firmness of the Church will prove invincible, because its foundation is unshakeable.”

Jesus promised that hell’s gates would never be able to hold a captive once Jesus had set them free. The gates of hell can be broken down to free its captives by the power of Jesus and the power of the gospel with Christ’s followers witnessing through the power of the Holy Spirit.

– tells you that Jesus never changes – promises you that Jesus will never leave you or forsake you.

Hebrews 13:8 CSB

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Hebrews 13:8 CSB

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Hebrews 13:5 CSB

5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.

YOU: In Acts Jesus committed to you His power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

In Jesus promises to you that the power you receive from the Holy Spirit is the same power that he has over the world. You can face anything in the world because Jesus has overcome the world. Because His power reached everywhere, you can go anywhere. Because He lives you can face whatever you come up against. He promise to be with you no matter what the day is like because he will be with you every day. He promise to be with you no matter what the circumstance is because he will be with you anywhere. He promises to be with you for as long as you are his, forever.

BUT - these promises are for Us when We are doing this for Him.

In Jesus promised to protect you against anything the devil can throw at you.

No matter how evil of a scheme the devil can devise against you, Jesus has promised that it will not defeat you.

He has assured you whatever you do as a part of God’s plan in this world that goes against the enemy, that He will make you successful over the enemy.

You have the Promise of Jesus’s Power, Promise of Jesus’s Presence, and the Promise of Jesus’s Protection

so that leaves us with one question.

Comes from – same question 2 angels asked Jesus’ followers then.

Acts 1:11 CSB

11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”

“Why do you stand gazing up into heaven?”

WE: v. 7 – Jesus says that it is not for them to know times and seasons. This verse was a rebuke to the disciples for their impatience about Jesus establishing His kingdom on earth.

Today it is a rebuke to us his followers for our impatience for the rapture or 2nd coming. “Come quickly Lord Jesus!” shouts many Christians.

Many sit around discussing times and seasons about the end times. People are telling prophecies, writing books and making movies of the end time events. Yet people are still dying without salvation in Jesus.

What the angels told them, we need to listen to. Jesus is coming back the same way he left. In the clouds. That is all we need to know. What is more important is the number of people who are not ready for the rapture.

Let the reminder given by the angels be the same one we heed. The duty of Jesus’ followers is not contemplation about matters of His return, rather it is action in preparing all that we can to be ready for His return.

If we trust Jesus in His promises, what could we do together as we storm the gates of hell?

I will close with these words from a current atheist.

Penn Jillette is an atheist, but he recorded a video journal a few years ago telling the story about a man who waited to speak to him after one of their shows. Penn said the man was a successful businessman and was "very sane and sincere" and looked him right in his eyes. The man was very complimentary of the show, and then he did a strange thing. He gave Penn a Gideon's New Testament and inside the cover wrote a personal note and left phone numbers and an email if Penn wanted to talk to him about the message of the New Testament. Penn said nobody had ever done that to him before. On the video he says, "If you believe that there's a heaven and a hell; and people could be going to hell; or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward; and atheists who think people shouldn't proselytize...just leave me alone, keep your religion to yourself. How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize them? How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell him or her that? I mean if I believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe it? And that truck was bearing down on you? There's a certain point where I tackle you. And this is MORE important than that."

Invitation: Trust the promises of God this week as you look for and see those people who need you to have a gospel conversation with them.

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