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Show and Tell Evangelism
by John Duncan
“And they were
astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. And in the
synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and
cried out with a loud voice …and
Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And
when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and
hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves,
saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he
commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out…And he arose out of
the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's
mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.
And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and
immediately she arose and ministered unto them.” (Luke 4:32-39)
Jesus’ Model of Evangelism
According to the above passage, Jesus went everywhere preaching
repentance and declaring the Kingdom of Heaven. He then proceeded to
cast out a devil from a man and to heal Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.
Wow – Jesus really meant it when He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom
come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” If it is not in
Heaven, it should not be on the earth. There are no sins in Heaven, no
demons, and no sicknesses. So as we declare the Kingdom, we must do
as Jesus did: DEMONSTRATE that this Gospel is true. This is truly
preaching under the power and anointing of God.
Now let us observe how the DEMONSTRATION of the power of God is
directly linked with the PROCLAMATION of the Gospel to the lost:
Matthew 10:7-8 “And as ye go,
preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have
received, freely give.”
Jesus sends out His disciples to do evangelism in Israel. He
instructs them to TELL them a message (the Kingdom of Heaven is at
hand) and to SHOW them this message is true by the supernatural power
of God (heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out
devils).
Luke 10:8 “And into whatsoever city
ye enter… heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The
kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”
In this account Jesus tells His disciples to SHOW them (heal the sick)
and then TELL them about the Kingdom of God. The order is not
important – whether to “show and tell” or “tell and show.” Either
way, we are commanded to do both. Notice the word “whatsoever” city ye
enter. This means that everywhere we go, our mandate is to preach the
Gospel and to heal the sick.
Why would God Heal Unbelievers?
Shouldn’t the priority be to get their souls saved first, then heal
their physical bodies? The answer is obvious. God heals non-believers
to show them that He is real, to validate the preaching of the word,
to show them that He does care, and to get their attention. Did Jesus only heal
believers in the Bible? No. But many became followers as a result of
His supernatural ministry. Besides, it's just commanded in the Bible.
A great man of God has said that if the Holy Ghost was taken out of
our churches most congregations would continue operating normally, not
ever noticing a difference. But I want to take it a step further: if
the Holy Ghost was taken out of our evangelistic outreaches, would we
notice the difference? Unfortunately I believe that most would not.
Evangelism has become mechanical with set answers to questions, and
where correct doctrine or methodology is believed to solely be able to
bring a soul to Christ. Sadly, evangelism can be done without God. I am reminded of a 90 year old woman whom we met on the streets while
street witnessing in 2009. While talking to her we found out that she
was nearly blind on both eyes, had problems walking with leg pains,
feet pains, and back pains. Besides all that, she was not a
Christian. After a short talk witnessing to her, we
felt led to assure her that Jesus would heal her body as a sign for her to know
that He is real. We proceeded to pray for her. The
woman instantly received healing for both eyes, all the pain was gone
from her body, and not only that… she was now ready to forsake sin and
become a Christian! In another instance recently, a woman came forth asking for healing at
a church service. She had a problem with the rotator cuff on her
shoulder and could not rotate her arm at all. She also had much pain
in her back and could hardly bend. After a short prayer in front of a
good size audience, this woman started rotating her shoulder and
flexing her back. After preaching an evangelistic message that night,
I gave an altar call and the first one in line for salvation was this
woman. But she was not the only one coming forth… several others
followed her to give their hearts to Jesus Christ, including some in
the pastor’s family for whom they had prayed for a long time and had
about lost all hope.
Paul Preached With Power
Paul says that "our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.” (1 Thess. 1:5).
It is important to study to show yourself approved. We must be sound
in doctrine and sharp in apologetics, ready to answer the inquiring
minds (1 Peter 3:15). It is also important to preach
repentance in a world that has forsaken the message of holiness in
exchange for the comfort of having the itching ears of the religious
crowd scratched. But this is not enough! In a society where there are
many “gods” it is imperative to be able to demonstrate that this God
that we preach, the God of the Bible, is alive, well, and living in
us! This is part of the Great Commission that we are to
obey: “and he said
unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature… and these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name
shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They
shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall
not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover… And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord
working with them, and confirming the word with signs
following.” (Mark 16:15-19)
Paul said, “My
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
(1 Cor. 2:4-5). There
will always be arguments, apologetics, and intellectual reasons to
follow Jesus Christ. However, a great man said that
“whatever the heart embraces, the mind justifies.” While intellectual
discussions have their place, a sinner may be so bent in rejecting
Jesus Christ that whatever argument is brought before him, he will
intellectually reject it by justifying his own thoughts. But a man
with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.
Show this skeptic that Jesus is real by bringing healing to his body
and then tell him about Jesus. The skeptic may still reject the
truth, but he will not be able to deny the tangible healing brought to
his body.
Recently I was ministering in Brazil. My wife had her own line of sick
folks to pray for and my interpreter, unknown to me, was not a
believer. As a matter of fact, he was New Age. But I had to rely on
him to interpret every word I was speaking to those in the long prayer
line. Person after person was instantly healed – backaches, acid
reflux, problems with hands, shoulders, legs, digestive system,
migraine headaches, high blood pressure, two deaf people were healed,
and the like. My interpreter’s job put him in a position to witness
and communicate with each person for me, verifying the miracles. At
the end of the service there were over 150 salvations and about 50
filled with the Holy Spirit. On the way back to the
hotel after the service, the interpreter testified that he had not
only been saved that night, but also filled with the Spirit. We know
for a fact that an intellectual argument with this New Age man would
have taken us nowhere. Jannes and Jambres may have opposed Moses, but
Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. We must have the true “rod” to
swallow up their false rods or our words are of none effect.
When It is Not Enough to Mock
1 Kings 18:17 “And it came to pass at
noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a
god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey,
or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.”
In the above verse we see Elijah confronting a generation much like
ours, in spiritual decline and lukewarm. Elijah mocked the 850 false
prophets for their foolishness. But it is not enough to mock – in
a few moments, it is Elijah who will be put on the spotlight and if
Elijah does not produce the fire of God, it is his head that will
be on the chopping block.
It is not enough to mock, to criticize, or to point fingers at the
deceived and preach against their lack.
If we are not producing the true fire, why should the world listen to
our warnings against the false fire? Even if we are right, why should
we be qualified to point out the false if we are not producing the
true?
One day a lady criticized D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in
attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody's reply was "I agree with
you. I don't like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?"
The lady replied, "I don't do it." Moody answered "I like my way of
doing it better than your way of not doing it."
1 Kings 18:39-40 “And when all the people saw it, they fell on
their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD,
he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of
Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah
brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.”
If we want to advance the Kingdom of God in our generation, we must
SHOW and TELL the truth to this world. Let the fire of God fall and
consume the sacrifice. Let the people see and let them fall on their
faces as in the days of Elijah declaring that the LORD, He is God!
New Testament Evangelism
“For the kingdom of
God is not in word, but in power.” (1
Cor. 4:20)
Jesus taught us to
pray, “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.”
There is no sin in Heaven, so we must preach a message of repentance
and faith. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).
Likewise, there is no sickness or demons in Heaven. Why should
we not expect to cast out devils and heal the sick as the Gospel is
preached? The faith that transforms sinful men into holy men is the
same faith that will also heal bodies and deliver the demonized. Why
only preach half of the Gospel? Why only deliver men of their sins but
leave them sick in their bodies?
Listen to what Paul said:
“Through mighty signs and
wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem,
and round about unto Illyricum, I have FULLY preached
the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19).
Sadly for many years we preached a half-Gospel. Back
then we knew that Jesus had told us to preach the Word with power but
just did not see it in ourselves to do this.
It was during a battle with cancer in 2004 that we experienced a major
paradigm shift in our thinking and experience with God. Things that
seemed so important to us before no longer mattered and we just went
back to the basics in the Bible. During this time we threw off all the
weight that was holding us back, including certain associations and
traditions of men. We sought the Lord in prayer, Bible study, and
hungered for Jesus as never before. This process of going deeper with
the Lord may have started a few years ago but it still continues to
this day.
Soon we were ready to return to the evangelistic field, trying a few
new and different things. This time however, there was something
different. We were hungry and ready to preach the FULL Gospel of
Christ. Since then there has not been all the arguing that we had
grown so accustomed to. We regularly see healings in our meetings,
both in the church and on the streets among the lost. Broken bones
have been instantaneously mended, growths, goiters and cancerous
tumors have dissolved, blind eyes and deaf ears have been opened, the
lame have walked, and even metal pins have disappeared. A young lady
with scoliosis and a bent back straightened out in a moment,
completely baffling her doctors. A young girl born with crooked legs
stood up for the first time as her legs straightened up by the power
of God. Jesus is AWESOME!
Remember that Acts 1:8 says
“ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth.”
This is New Testament Christianity.
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