Four Enemies of Divine Evangelism

Messages for December 2018: Our Month of: The Ingathering

Message for Sunday 30^th December, 2018

Theme: Understanding Divine Evangelism

Topic: Four Enemies of Divine Evangelism

Introduction: last week we looked at some steps we can take to effectively win the lost to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we shall be concluding this series by looking at four enemies of divine evangelism. If not for these enemies hindering the work of God, by now, the Lord would have since returned for His Church and we would perhaps have been experiencing the millennial reign of The Lord Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, we shall list the five enemies below and show us how to overcome them and not allow them to hinder us from doing the work of evangelism anymore.

Four enemies of Evangelism: The following are five enemies of Divine evangelism we shall be looking at to be instructed on what they are and how to overcome all of them:

1.     Satan: He is also known as the devil, the ancient serpent, the hinderer and deceiver etc. His ministry is to steal, kill and destroy as Jesus Christ pointed out in Jn.10:10. He does this with the intent of hindering people from doing the work of God especially evangelism so that he can get more people to go to hell with him. [Mt.25:41] but if he is stopped, more people can be saved and turned to God and salvation from sin and eventually perdition.

How he works:

§  He deceives people about everything with the intent of causing them to disobey the word of God so that he can steal from them and possibly, kill them and eventually destroy them. See Gal.3:1 and Jn.10:10.

§  He works as the prince of the power of the air. This is the evil spirit responsible for the disobedient because it is the same spirit that reigns over the disobedient. So any time you are in disobedience, do not think you know what you are doing; you are under Satan’s influence. See Eph.2:2  

§  He blinds the minds of men so that they would not receive the gospel when they hear it as mind blindness will hide the light of the gospel to them. 2Cor.4:3-4

§  He slanders God and God’s genuine agents so that people would not agree to go to them or listen to them and become saved. Gen.3:1-7; Jer.9:4; Ps.101:5; Rm.3:8; 1Tim.3:11

§  He operates through false prophets with the intent to deceive and steal from men and because they are already deceived, they will see good as evil and evil as good. These kinds of people are not attracted to the true gospel, they become the products of those who deceive them and their minds remain twisted until they are prayed for to be set free from deception. Isa.5:20; 2Pet.2:15; Jude 1:11 and Rev.2:14, 20.

§  He provides men with the fake substitute of religion so that he can divert them from serving God. Jesus Christ did not come to start another religion; he came to give eternal life. Eternal life is a relationship while religion is a deception from the pit of hell. The end result of the first religion was death. The founder murdered the person who was right with God. Gen.4:1-12; Rm.1:18-32 and Jn.17:1-3.

The solution to Satan’s deceit is the revelation of the word of God and prayer. We have to pay attention to God’s word through reading and meditating on the bible. Then we take time to build up our most holy faith by praying in tongues because the victory that overcomes the enemy is faith. It takes faith to do the word and it is only the doer of the word that is blessed. We cannot obey God to engage in divine evangelism without faith. See Jn.1:4-5; 8:31-32; Jude 1:20; 1Jn.5:4; Mt.7:24-27 and Jas.1:22-25.

2.     The flesh: This is human nature and it is essentially selfish and loaded with deceitful lusts. This is the arena where Satan operates. The prophet Isaiah had a revelation from God that Satan already covenanted the flesh with death and hell so that man must end there as long as the flesh leads him. On the other hand, he deceives men to covenant with death and hell so that they would be protected. This kind of protection is fake and because he did not know how God was going to redeem man. So Jesus came and took the place of man and went to hell and having died, He also suffered in man’s place and obtained eternal redemption for man. See Isa.28:14-18; 1Cor.2:6-8; Heb.2:14-15 and Heb.9:11-12.

The flesh is the agent of corruption and it corrupts man through lust of the flesh, the eyes and the pride of life [1Jn.2:15-17 and Eph.4:20-24]. But the Lord through the Cross has brought us newness of life in righteousness and true holiness. We can therefore embark on divine evangelism when we walk in newness of life. Rm.6:3-7.

Lust of the flesh: The lust of the flesh is the selfishness of man that makes him want to have the preeminence all the time. However, the word of God tells us to prefer one another in love. So we can overcome this by walking in love and escape corruption thereby. When we overcome this, we can grow spiritually to become partakers of Divine nature. Then we can see when the Father is embarking on evangelism and join Him. See Gal.5:16-26; Jn.5:19-20 and 2Pet.1:3-4

Lust of the eyes: This is getting carried away by what you see; for men it could be a woman they find attractive and for women, it could be vain items like clothes and shoes they like or bigger things like someone else’ house or car. Whatever you develop a craving for that caught your attention by sight is a lust of the eyes especially if it is something beyond your ability to purchase. This is the reason for jealousy that could eventually degenerate to envy and in extreme cases; murder. A person like this cannot receive any teaching from the Spirit. Therefore they cannot be used for divine evangelism. See 1Jn.2:15-17 and 1Cor.2:13-14.

Pride of life: The pride of life is the over bloated self-image that makes a person want to always put themselves ahead of others. People like these are usually too over bearing for a team and seem to rob others off on the wrong side all the time. People who keep walking this way would not be able to operate in divine evangelism because God will resist them and they would not have the power to carry our this great commission. Jas.4:6-7 and 1Pet.5:5-6.

3.     Fear of man: Another enemy of divine evangelism is the fear of man; this is the reason why many religious folks are not saved because they are afraid of the reaction of people whose opinion matters to them. Truth is that it is better to fear God and embark on the great commission than to fear man and not make the effort. The fear of man brings a snare. It is better to fear God and be safe than to fear man and become trapped. See Prov.29:25; Acts 4:17-20

4.     Lack of Power: The Apostles were commanded by the Lord not to depart from Jerusalem to preach until they had been endued with power from heaven. They obeyed and when the power came, the former chicken hearted Peter preached in one day and 3,000 people were converted to Christ at once. People would tend to believe you more when they see signs and wonders. This is in the package of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. See Lk.24:49; Acts 2:1-4 and verses 39-41; 1Cor.12:7 and Jn.4:48.

On this note, we shall round off this message here today and we trust God you have been empowered to go and win the lost to the Lord. Meanwhile, someone may be reading this blog that is not yet saved so you cannot help anyone yet. But you say I desire to be part of this, then you have to get saved first and you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and the Holy Spirit will take you up from there and save you:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.