The power of God is fundamental to evangelism. It is a truth about God that is displayed in nature that enables us to tell people that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20). It is a truth of God that each person is upheld by God each moment (Heb 1:3) and that it is God who gives them their existence and breath each moment (Acts 17:24-28). It is because of the omnipotence of God that we are able to tell people that there is a final judgment and all will stand before Him (Acts 17:30-31). While those who believe that all of life consists in material things (that there is no spiritual realm) laugh, nevertheless we tell them that God has fixed a day and all will be brought into judgment. The power of God stands against those who think that He cannot raise all from the dead and bring them to judgment on the last day.
In evangelism we deal with people who are dead in sins and trespasses. These people are spiritually dead and no power on earth can raise them from the spiritual dead despite what many tell us about free will. It takes the power of God to raise a person from the spiritual dead and clothe that person with new life. Believers can have confidence in evangelism because God has the power to raise sinners from spiritual death. While the world thinks that the Gospel is a weak message for intellectually shallow people, it is actually the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16). This is why no one should mess with the Gospel message. When we try to change it to make it attractive to the world, we simply have a different message and there is no power to it. No wonder they laugh.
In evangelism the Word of God must be preached rather than resorting to entertainment and programs designed to make people laugh or make a decision for something. We have the Word of God which is to be preached with power: “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock” (Jeremiah 23:29). It is the Word of God that is powerful when preached in truth by the Spirit. It is not all the activities that people do that convince people of Christ; it is the power of God through the preached Word. “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (I Cor 2:4). “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures” (James 1:18). “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (I Peter 1:23).
I have set out several verses to show that the Word of God must be preached in evangelism. Why is that? Clearly, at least from these texts, God’s power operates through the preached Word. This is why in biblical evangelism we are not to resort to many methods, games, and trying to talk people into things. We preach the Word of God and the Gospel that is in that Word. For in it alone there is power to save because it is the power of God. When we step away from the Word, we have stepped away from the channel which God’s power operates to save sinners. It is also the case that it is only when the Word is preached is the cross and Christ preached. Apart from the Word of God neither Christ nor the cross will be preached. “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (I Cor 1:18). “But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Cor 1:24).
Evangelism is an important task of each church. However, the goal of evangelism must not reside in numbers of people making professions and coming to the church building. It must be done to the glory of God and in a way where people are truly converted. This is only done when we go out and rely on the power of God for salvation rather than our wisdom and our methods. The Gospel is never stripped of its power in the ultimate sense, but in a practical sense we have no power in our wisdom and methods if we go out without the primary way being the Word of God preached and Christ and the cross set out. The Word of God is what convicts of sin and opens the hearts of unbelievers because the omnipotence of God is there to do so. When professing believers step away from the Word of God as the primary instrument in evangelism, they have stepped away from the wisdom and power of God and are using their own. The Word of God and the Gospel are the means of the power of God to save sinners. We show that we think they are weak and foolish when we don’t use them as God sets out for us to do.
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