Fishing for Souls: Engaging the Resources

Welcome again to Strengthen Your Walk. I’m Jonathan Scott. We’re continuing this series of evangelism and I want to share with you about how to engage the sources of power for evangelism that I’ve discovered in my ministry of evangelism, the Word of God and also prayer.

As a matter of fact, when Paul was mentoring Timothy in 2 Timothy, he said this to his friend, “You know that from infancy, you have known the sacred scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God, is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Watch Fishing for Souls with Jonathan Scott

There is power in the Word of God. And I came to know that in a very special way when I was a part of an evangelistic campaign in South Korea. I was with a person who knew no English and I knew no Korean. I had a bilingual Korean Bible and a bilingual tract. The way we would do witnessing is I would read the English and the person would read the Korean to whomever we were speaking to.

We were in Suncheon, a village in South Korea, and I was reading my part and he was reading his part. I felt as if I could have done a nursery rhyme and no one would have known the difference, but I continued with the Word of God. And as we were going through the process of this particular tract, all of a sudden, the villager that we were speaking with said something to my translator. The translator looked at me and in the best English he could have used, he said, “He says he’s not a sinner.” I’m like, “Okay, I can’t have an apologetic conversation with this guy who knows no English. I know no Korean.”

All I could do was to point in the scriptures to particular passages that speak to the issue of sin, conviction, and the need for Christ. I couldn’t preach. I couldn’t explain. I just pointed to it. After my translator pointed to about four or five different scriptures I had selected, all of a sudden, the villager said something to my translator and the translator said to me, “He says he believes.” We continued with the presentation and we led him to Christ.

I learned a lesson that day about the power of God’s Word when faithfully communicated, a power that’s able to cut through all of the fluff and get to the issues of the heart and communicate a truth of God. I realized the privilege it was for me to be in that place where I could experience God’s power at work. In Hebrews 4, it says that “the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit of joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

It’s not just words on a page. It’s the actual Word of God that brings truth and light. Let that impact you for the wonder of His word as we use that, not as a weapon, not to pummel people with, but as a resource to connect them to the truth of God and Jesus Christ through the word. And then prayer – the important dynamic of what prayer does. It reminds us that our sufficiency is not in our self, but it’s actually where we exercise our declaration of dependence upon the Holy Spirit to do what only He can through us.

As a matter of fact, it’s connected to the Word. In John 15:7-8, Jesus says, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it’ll be done for you. By this is My Father glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.” Fruit that is a result of answered prayer, fruit that is a result of our life reflecting the characteristics of Jesus Christ, the fruit of the spirit. Fruit that shows up in our impact, the kingdom impact we have on others as the Word we study, meditate on, and apply to our life and prayer, practicing our dependence upon God. So, as we’re being formed by the Word and as we’re being formed as we remain aligned with God through prayer that through our loving obedience and His faithfulness, we can experience making the kind of kingdom impact that is guaranteed for those who are walking in fellowship with Christ.

In our next session, we’re going to take a look at what actually entitles one to consider failure or success in the expedition of evangelism. Join me next time here at Strengthen Your Walk.

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