MESSAGE ON EVANGELISM

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (II Corinthians 10:4; p. 1237 Scofield).

One famous commentary wrote, “The phrase is essentially military, used… for the capture and destruction of fortresses” (Ellicott)

“In the original expression…the apostle appears to allude to the beating down of fortresses by means of military engines” (Benson)

(Concerning the human heart) “All those obstacles are strongly fortified. The sins of his heart are fortified by long indulgence and by the hold which they have on his soul. The idolatry of the world was strongly fortified by prejudice, and long establishment, and the protection of laws…and the opinions of the world are entrenched behind false philosophy and the power of subtle argumentation. The whole world is fortified against Christianity” (Albert Barnes’ Notes)

The world, and lost people in particular, are set up like a fort. Every lost person is like that.

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7; p. 1201). Can’t come to God and doesn’t want to. Sin nature.

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:10-11; p. 1194).

“But the natural [lost] man receieveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neit her can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14; p. 1213).

This is total depravity.

As Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, Man is “all wrong” (explain)

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All the more true in our time, as we move into the last days and the final years where Satan takes dominion – and only Jesus shall defeat him.

In revival, God opens hearts. I was completely non-Christian, believed in evolution, Jesus only a man, no life after death. I argued against the true faith. Yet a Christian was nice to me and I started to listen. One day I saw a sign at UCLA “Bible Study 7:30 PM.” Something said to me, “Go to that.” I waited until 7:30 and went. The preacher gave the true Gospel and I was saved in a few weeks. Would that happen today? It’s almost a joke, it’s so unbelievable.

Dr. Hymers has told us about the Jesus Movement (me at the tail) where people would easily come to meetings and trust Jesus, many of them truly so. It’s not that way now.

Now we see that the lost person’s mind is fortified against God. It’s a fort against Jesus.

The young person today thinks church is a bad, dangerous place to go. That’s what they think. “You want me to go to that?”

He doesn’t trust you. He doesn’t trust anyone. Everyone he doesn’t know personally is a bad guy who might hurt him or steal from him.

Another: apathy and lethargy.

He is fortified in many ways. People used to be into sex or drugs. Now they’re into their electronic gadgets. How many of you have seen, or been in, a dinner where everyone was separately stuck into their phone? Five year old children will cry if their phone is taken away. People look at their phones while they’re walking, or working, or in class. (How did anyone get along before these came out? They just lived their lives! As I can do, but many people can’t).

These gadgets have NOT brought people closer together. They have pushed them farther apart. There is little or no human contact. There may be a lot of people on a list, but they are all far away, and they often use an “avatar,” a false name.

People don’t know how to date or marry. (And they don’t have any money anyway). People don’t know how to have a normal conversation. It’s all on a computer or a phone.

Gen Z has been called “the loneliest generation.” That’s who you’re trying to reach.

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How do you reach a person like that? Why will he come to church, if he thinks that’s a bad place?

Our target group is Chinese, ages 18 to 30 – old enough to make up their own minds, young enough that they haven’t settled themselves too much.

I am talking about you bringing a person yourself. You can go to a college or a mall or a park where they play sports, to meet them. The Chinese shopping center is fine, but not the Hawaiian market. We have tried and we have learned.

But how do you get to a person?

One way to get into a fort is to bash it down. Another way is to sneak in the back door. That happens more often than you might think. How many of you have a relationship that began in a way you wouldn’t have planned or expected? Love and even marriages often begin that way. Yes, I know you met in church. But that’s not what happens out there.

Today you may have to melt the walls!

You have to get the lost person to trust you enough to go with you. This means you must make friends in some way. Sometimes this is gradual. Always it must be unthreateining.

If you are over 50, to say nothing of 60 or 70, a college student won’t think of you as a buddy, since you are as old, or older, than his parents. Probably have a younger person with you.

Young people, this will take time. You need to make contact (while he’s staring into his phone). Give him a nice (but not long) conversation at college or a mall or wherever. Build the relationship – maybe electronic at first but including phone calls – until you can have meetings in person and he will agree to come to church. When he sees that it’s not a dangerous nightmare, he may come back – but then there are all the demands on his time, and pressures from family and others, especially to Chinese young people.

Above all, use the weapons that God gave us. Humanly, use kindness, and use your mind. This is your task, not to be handed over (dumped on) someone else.

Prayer

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8; p. 1003)

(Ambrose to Monica about Augustine: the son of so many prayers cannot be lost)

The Word of God (not to be ashamed of)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16; p. 1192 ).

“The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17; p. 1255)

You do have the truth, don’t you? So act in confidence.

Confidence – God calls you to do this work whether the person listens or not

Speaking of Paul: “He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake” (Acts 9:15-16; p. 1161). No, it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8; p. 1252).

Did Paul win all the Gentiles he spoke to? No, just some of them. Others stoned him and finally Paul was put to death. But Paul went because God had sent him.

Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20; p. 1044). To all Christians in all churches.

Love – the greatest power in the universe, the deepest attribute of God

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity”

(I Corinthians 13:13; p. 1224)

Charity is agape, Christian love

“God is love” (I John 4:8; p. 1324)

God can open a heart, especially in answer to prayer

“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” (Acts 16:14; p. 1171). She paid attention when God opened her heart.

Christian love can melt the hard heart. It did mine, and many of you can tell the same story. At Talbot seminary: they taught me to answer questions. Doctrine never saved anyone: prayer and love did.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper's spots
And melt the heart of stone.
“Jesus Paid It All”

May God bless you as you go after the lost!