Three Encounters in Evangelism

The message of the gospel is progressing throughout the world but there are still many that have not been exposed to the gospel and have no Christian witness or church in their community.

Currently there are 8 billion people living on the earth.  1 billion are Evangelical Christian, 4 billion have access to the gospel and 3 billion are unreached because there is not a Christian witness or resources available to hear the gospel message.

Coca Cola has a goal of putting a can of coke into the hand of every person on the planet.  Every place I have traveled, coca cola is there.   Our goal as believers should be like that of Coca cola, reaching every person with the gospel message.

There are many challenges today to present the gospel message to people.  When we read the stories in the book of Acts, we can identify the same challenges the early church faced that are similar to the ones we face today.

There are 3 specific encounters that we must be ready to address when we present the gospel.  Paul faced all 3 of these encounters as he traveled on his missionary journeys. 

The first encounter was a truth encounter.  Wherever he went there was almost always opposition to the truth of the message he was preaching to the Jews and the Gentiles.  The Jews refused to accept the fact that Jesus was the Messiah.  When Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch in Pisidia they drew large crowds that wanted to hear the message they were sharing.  However opposition from the Jews came against them. 

Acts 13:44-45 ⁴⁴ On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.

They could not accept the truth of the resurrection of Jesus, a critical part of the gospel message.

When Paul was in Corinth his message was rejected by the Jews who did not believe that Jesus was the Christ.

⁵ When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. ⁶ But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Acts 18:5-6

Paul was very skilled in presenting the truth and he used the scriptures to convince many people that Jesus was the Messiah.

When we are sharing our faith with people that live their lives according to their own beliefs that are not according to the truth of the scriptures it is important that we address four specific areas that are part of their belief system.

Acts 17:

The first area Paul addressed was Origin. “What is your belief in the origin of man and the universe?”

Every religion and philosophy has an answer to this question. The Stoic philosophers believed in many gods but the Epicureans did not believe in any gods.  The Athenians were worshipping an unknown god.  They believed in many gods and erected idols and altars to them.  The scriptures declare that through observing nature we can come to know that there is a God who created everything (Ps 19:1-6).  Creation reveals the majesty of God and as man acknowledging that there is a God who created everything, he can come to know him.

We as Christians believe that God is self existent, he is the First Cause and he is the Creator of the universe.  We believe we are created in the image and likeness of God. Our origin comes from a loving God who created us and breathed his spirit in us.

One of the mission movies I always show is called “Eatou” which means it is true it is right.  The Zook family lived among a native tribe in Papua New Ginea and presented to them the biblical timeline from eternity past to eternity future.  When they were told about the evolutionary beliefs of some that we came from apes, they replied, “That is stupid.”  They were uneducated people but they had enough sense to realize a lie when they heard it.  Yet their own beliefs in their origin were not any better. They believed they came from two birds.

What you believe about your original has a great influence on the value given to life and how you treat other people.  There is little dignity or honor if you believe you came from an ape or a bird or from corn like some of the Mayans believed.

Likewise if matter is eternal then somehow this matter created mankind through evolutionary processes.

Buddhism never claimed that the world, sun, moon, stars, wind, water, days and nights were created by a powerful god or by a Buddha. Buddhists believe that the world was not created once upon a time, but that the world has been created millions of times every second and will continue to do so by itself and will break away by itself. According to Buddhism, world systems always appear and disappear in the universe. We are just part of a process that will continue forever.  Not much hope here or anything that would give man any dignity or worth.

As we come to know our Creator we also understand our true identity, whose we are.

2. The second area that Paul addressed was Purpose. “What is man’s purpose.”

26 and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined {their} appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.’ 29 “Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

Paul addressed the purpose of man was to know God, to have a relationship with him.  In our relationship with God we experience true and meaningful life.  Our purpose is to be like our Father, to have a Father-child relationship where we come to know our Father in all of his attributes. Man was to multiply and fill the earth and carry the image of God wherever he went.

Those who do not know God’s purpose, live their lives for the most part for selfish reasons.  Accumulating wealth, positions of power and control, pursuit of fleshly pleasures or intellectual superiority are the focus of many people’s lives.

There are people who live their lives for noble causes but one has to question the true motivation of their hearts.  They do what they do to receive something.

3. The third area Paul addressed was morality, “What are the morals you live by?”

30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. “

Paul expressed that each person has a moral code written within them.  Everyone know what “ought” to be done.  This moral code or some may call it conscious is part of our nature that comes from being created in the image and likeness of God.  Paul stated that everyone is called to repent, turn away from evil and follow after what is good and right.  One cannot repent unless there is a conviction that they have done something wrong.

As believers we have both the internal code of morality but we also have God’s Word that gives us greater detail on what is right and wrong in the eyes of God.  The laws of many nations are based on the 10 commandments given to the people of Israel along with the other civil laws that were instituted to create a culture that was different than the Egyptian culture.

Because we have this moral code, we are also held accountable if we violate it.  If there are no consequences to the violations they simply become suggestions and not laws to obey.  There will be a day of judgment and every person will give account for their lives to a righteous God.

Each person must acknowledge that they do have a moral conscience and that they will be held responsible for not living in accordance to the truth that they have received.

The moral climate of the world is changing and the behavior of mankind is denigrating to become like it was in the days of Noah when every thought and intention of the heart was toward evil.  What was rejected 20 years ago is now accepted as normal.  Marriage was defined as a covenant between a man and a woman but now it is between any two people who “love each other.”  The sexual identity of children is now at the discretion of the child.  There is great confusion because of this and the results have not been fully understood. The moral conscience of man is being seared so that what once was wrong is now acceptable behavior.   The culture is now making their own moral code and much of it is in opposition to what we know to be in agreement with the word of God.  Absolute truth has been replace by relativity or personal choice.

4. The final area Paul addressed was Destiny, “What will happen to you when you die?”Or “What is your destiny?”

Paul stated that Jesus was resurrected from the dead indicating that physical death is not the end of life on earth.  There will come a time when everyone will be raised from the dead.  This is the hope we have as believers that there is more to life than what we experience on earth.  We were created to be eternal beings and we have a destiny after we physically die.  The resurrection of Jesus is proof that we too will rise one day.  The resurrection of Jesus is the most convincing evidence that we have of his existence and our future.

Those who do not believe in the resurrection are left with options that are not very promising.  Hindus believe in reincarnation.  Life is cyclical and after death you are reincarnated into another life form based on your karma. You may return as an ant, animal or some other life form.  Other people believe that we simply return to the earth as our body decays.  When life on earth is over, it is over.  There is nothing to look forward to after death.   With this belief the door is open to live in whatever manner you chose as this life is all you have.

These four questions (What is your origin? What is your purpose in life? What moral code do you live by? And What is your final destiny?) are important for us as believers to be able to explain and defend as we encounter people who have a different worldview.  Paul was very direct in confronting the philosophers with their false ideas and worship of idols.  He did not have spectacular results and was rejected and scorned by them.  Yet there was fruit from his labor, some people did give their lives to Christ. 

Like Paul we must be witnesses of the truth of our worldview wherever God sends us.  We must know what we believe and be convinced of it so that our witness will be strong, convincing and most of all in agreement with the truth God has revealed to us.  For many people God is still the "unknown god”.  They have not heard or perhaps have heard and have rejected the message.  Our responsibility is to go to them, share with them and trust God to use our witness to open their heart to receive the truth.

 

The second encounter Paul faces with a power encounter.  When he was in Ephesus there were encounters with evil spirits.

¹¹ Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” ¹⁴ Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.
¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”
¹⁶ Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. ¹⁸ And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. ¹⁹ Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. Acts 19:11-20

Power encounters demonstrate that God has the ultimate power over evil spirits.  I have had some personal experience dealing with people that are demon possessed in Mexico, Haiti and India.  After one of the crusade in India people came forward for prayer. One of the believers on our team was praying for a woman for deliverance but nothing was happening.  He called me over and asked if I would pray for the lady.  As I prayed for her she immediately fell to the ground and began to move like a snake with her body.  I rebuked the devil and had the lady stand on her feet.  I told her to renounce the devil’s control over her life but she was unable to speak.  The demon had control of her voice.  I prayed against its control and she was able to speak and renounce the devil’s power. Immediately the demon left her body and she was set free.

Missionaries ministering among tribes in the remote area are often required to confront evil spirits and demonstrate to the people that God is Almighty and has power and authority over the demonic forces.

Story of the missionary to South America power encounter.

 

The final encounter is the encounter of commitment. What has this person committed his or her life to do or be?  Is it a commitment one would be willing to die for or just a passing phase of life?

Is the person is seriously ready to make a complete commitment to become a believer in Christ?  Are they willing to renounce their lives of sin and dedicate themselves to a life of obedience and service to the Lord?  Paul experienced this in Athens.  Some of the people that heard his message became believers while other rejected the message or would hear him again.

 

³² And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” ³³ So Paul departed from among them. ³⁴ However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Acts 17:32-34

A decision must be made regarding the message of the gospel.  To not decide is really a decision of rejection and unwillingness to make a commitment.

Jesus challenged his disciples to be willing to take up the cross and follow him.  This was a commitment unto death.  Our commitment to obedience to the Lord is a testimony to others that can have a tremendous influence in the lives of others.

 

How committed are we to give our lives 100% to the Lord and sharing the gospel with those who are unreached?  What is our level of commitment to Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the 3 billion that have never heard.

 

I want to close the message of a story of a young lady whom God called to be a missionary in Malaysia. David Bowler shared this story that was passed on to me from a friend.

At one of his services he gave and Altar call and a young lady named Marcy, who graduated from Bible College came forward.  She was a very petite lady.  She surrendered her life to God to go to the foreign field. She had a desire to go to Malaysia, to a group of head hunters. No missionaries had gone there for 11 years.  These people were cannibals and had eaten people who tried to reach them.  The oil companies left the area because of their people being attacked and eaten. 

David Bowler, was a special forces Green Beret, highly decorated soldier who could lift 650 lbs.  All he could think of was the conditions were not right for this young girl to go to these people.  Her parents tried to talk her out of it.  David Bowler tried to talk her out of it but she replied to him, “You are the man of God who taught me of the God of the impossible”.  Marcy asked for prayer.  David felt he was putting a death sentence on her by allowing her to go.  He thought she would be eaten. He prayed for her, that God would let her die quickly.  No mission board would send her because it was a suicide mission.  Marcy spent 30 days in preparation hoping and praying that someone would go with her but, no one would go, and she would have to go alone.  The day arrived when Marcy would be taken to the cannibal people.  There were no roads to the people, she would have to enter by helicopter and even this was dangerous.  The cannibals knew how to bring down a helicopter with their spears, so Marcy had to repel 250 feet to get to the ground. They dropped her down and told her they would come back 60 days later.  The pilot said he would be back but she would not.  He asked her if she understood the conditions were not right. Marcy replied that she had asked and she was going.  

When they dropped her down, the pilot began to cry. Their thoughts were to say goodbye because you will never see her again.  For the next 60 days everyone prayed for her protection and prayed God would just take her and not suffer if she was attacked.

60 days later the helicopter returned.  They found Marcy, with 70 people she led to Christ!  She found out that they only ate men!!!  The people had a 200-year Legend that a female god would come to them from the sky.  So when she was lowered by the helicopter they thought God had arrive so they worshipped her. She told them she was not God but would lead them to God.

 

In our witness to the people that do not know the Lord, we must be prepared to deal with the 3 encounters we addressed today: Truth encounter to identify what people believe to be true regarding their origin, purpose, morality and destiny, Power encounter to demonstrate that God is Almighty and more powerful than demonic forces. Commitment encounter to challenge their complete dedication and obedience to follow Jesus.