A few days ago I saw a Christian Instagram post in Portuguese saying that we cannot follow our hearts because they are desperately wicked. It quoted Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV): “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” I commented that this verse is true of unbelievers, for for believers God removes that old heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh that is inclined to obey him. God doesn’t “cure” the old, hard heart. He removes it and gives us a new heart!

Ezekiel 33:26-27 (NIV) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

I explained that of course we still have to guard our hearts and test what is in our hearts by God’s word, but if we are in Christ and walking in communion with Him, the inclination of our heart is towards righteousness. One of the ways God will often speak and move through us by the Holy Spirit is by moving our hearts, so we should not think that as Christians every inclination of our heart is towards evil. That mentality hinders many Christians from hearing and obeying God’s voice. When I pray for people, I often say “I feel in my heart that…” And they often confirm that what I said is true.

In the Instagram comments it became clear that the scriptural declaration that God gives us a new heart inclined to follow Him means nothing to some Christians. Many church people think as if they have been forgiven to go to heaven but they will still always be desperately wicked, sinners, not saints. And when you show them verses in scripture about receiving a new heart or being a new creation in Christ, they don’t know what to do with it because it is so contrary to their paradigm.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

As I was thinking about this, I realized that almost every gospel presentation I have heard someone give since I moved to Goias was only about Jesus’ death, not about his resurrection and incarnation. And while it is essential to preach Jesus’ death for our forgiveness and redemption, the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus are just as essential.

Many people talk about the “simple gospel.” And I agree, it is simple. But the local church where I live has largely oversimplified it. They have left out some of the essential points of the gospel.

Jesus’ died for our forgiveness. He resurrected to give us newness of life. He died in weakness. He was resurrected by God’s power. He died to rescue us from the dominion of darkness. He resurrected to bring us into His kingdom. The good news Jesus preached was “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Colossians 1:13 (NIV) For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

Outreach In The Park

The next day we went out to evangelize in the park, and there were a bunch of goth teenagers with black nail polish drinking liquor. I think the other people in my group were afraid, but I went after them and started talking about God’s free gift of salvation. I prayed for some of them.

Seeing these guys broke my heart. They reminded me of the kids at my brother’s high school when I was younger. Drowning themselves in alcohol and orgies yet suicidal, angry, and depressed. Many would cut themselves.

The church here is preaching “Jesus died for your sins. He paid the price.” And that is so important, but it is not the full message. You see, if you only tell that to these kids, they will keep doing the same things and continue to be oppressed and walk in darkness. Jesus said “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The gospel is the good news. The good news is also that there is a new way of living! The gospel is that Jesus rescues us from the dominion of darkness! The gospel is that Jesus rose from the dead to give us new lives and new hearts! The gospel is that Jesus came not only to forgive us from sin, but to rescue us from our sins! To preach Jesus’ resurrection, you must preach the new creation and the new life that is in Him!

Matthew 1:21 (NIV) She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.”

1 Peter 1:18 (NIV)  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors

Preaching Repentance and Jesus’ Resurrection

Jesus’ resurrection is power, authority, a new love, dominion in life, victory. Much of the church doesn’t even believe that. They believe “We’ll always keep sinning, because we’re sinners.” Many church people can’t even imagine that a victorious Christian life is possible by the power of Jesus’ resurrection.

The church often preaches that Jesus died for our forgiveness, but has increasingly failed to preach why every person needs Jesus’ forgiveness. I no longer hear this:

Romans 3:23 (NIV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Proverbs 14:12 (RSV) There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Our message must be “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”What does that mean? The good news (gospel) is that there is a new way of doing things! A new reality! A new order! Why are you so miserable, depressed, afflicted? The orgies, the drunkenness, the greed, the way you were going seemed right but it is leading you to death. Jesus by his death has dealt a death blow to the old, and by his resurrection, Jesus is offering you a new life and a new order.

If we don’t preach that, people will raise their hands to be forgiven and go to heaven someday, but they fail to enter the new order. They stay bound by Satan, afflicted. They don’t know the reality of God’s kingdom, of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. They feel they are just suffering because they are victims.

It’s no good to only preach Jesus’ death in your gospel presentation but fail to preach his resurrection! Yet many only talk about his death! Many people’s “Christianity” virtually ignores Jesus’ resurrection!

1 Corinthians 15:14, 17 (NIV) And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 

The result of only preaching “Jesus died for your sins” without preaching “Jesus resurrected to give you a new life” is that the people are still in their sins! They are still oppressed by the devil! To preach Jesus’ death and forget his resurrection is to preach a form of godliness but deny the power thereof!

What Is The Goal Of The Gospel?

I often feel that the local church here thinks the main goal of evangelism is to get people to raise their hands so they can get into heaven. But Jesus didn’t say “make converts.” He said the Pharisees crossed land and sea to make a single convert who became twice as much a child of hell as they were! Jesus said to make disciples! And although salvation does include being rescued from hell and going to heaven, that’s not the primary goal of salvation. The primary goal of salvation is transformation and entering communion with God, that mankind would once again reflect God’s image and return to knowing him.

John 17:3 (NIV) Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

We Cannot Fully Preach The Gospel Without Power!

Jesus’ commands to heal the sick and cast out demons were part and parcel of his instructions on preaching the gospel. These instructions were to be passed on a future disciples. It is unbiblical to think that we can preach the gospel as Jesus commanded without healing and deliverance. It’s nowhere in scripture!

1 Corinthians 4:20 (NIV) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

Romans 15:19 (NIV) …by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (NIV) My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

The demonstration of power is especially related to preaching Jesus’ incarnation and Jesus’ resurrection. The highly effective international evangelist T.L. Osborn would often preach to people from different religions who didn’t have the cultural background so as to simply respect what the Bible says. So he would tell them “The way you can know that what I’m saying is true and that Jesus has risen from the dead is that if Jesus rose from the dead, he will do today what he did in the time of the gospels.” Then the lame would walk, the blind would see, and the deaf would hear. The people would see that Jesus rose from the dead and many would repent and put their faith in Christ! It is the resurrection of Jesus that brings us into the place of power and authority.

The demonstration of power also accompanies the message of the incarnation, because the incarnation is the declaration that God is with us, his temple is in man, and he gives authority to men. We can see God’s invisible nature in Christ. God seems so far off and mysterious, but when Jesus came as a man, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the mute spoke, and the lame leaped like deer! The gospel is about people meeting Jesus, not just assenting to a doctrine that is presented to them!

People Can Encounter Jesus When They Meet Us!

One of our outreaches in the last month was to a drug and alcohol recovery house about an hour from here. I had been there maybe a year ago. When I walked in the gate, there was a guy on each side. I greeted them and I saw into the body of the guy on the left. His intestines was a mess! I went back and asked “How’s your intestines?” and he confirmed it. He had digestive problems and couldn’t eat certain foods. He felt the Lord touching his body as we prayed, and then I saw into his left shoulder. Actually, I had felt there would be a guy with a problem in the left shoulder before we even went. Now I saw it was him. He confirmed it and lifted his left arm all the way up with no pain!

Later they brought me a guy who was limping. I prayed and the pain was less, but he was about to walk off and I said “Wait!” Let me pray again! He didn’t seem to have strong faith. I had to insist. That’s God’s love and mercy pursuing people. And this time he said he felt no more pain.

I was praying for other people in the back and suddenly I saw they were sharing a testimony in the front of a guy healed of deafness. (Partial deafness) It was the same guy I’d prayed for who was limping! But the great part that was so encouraging to me was that I hadn’t prayed for his ears! The other young missionaries prayed for his hearing and God restored it! In fact, I think it was the first mission of one of the young ladies and she felt heat coming off of her hand towards his ears. I love when it’s not about me, but it’s just about Jesus being among us and moving through his people.

The man said he was now hearing perfectly. Another guy living at the recovery house was confirming everything to me. “We had to shout for him to understand us!” Maybe the reason he was about to walk off before was really because he couldn’t hear what I was saying.

There were many other healing miracles. Several people only asked for prayer for their families, not for themselves. Maybe they felt like they didn’t deserve to receive anything from the Lord. It’s not about what we deserve, but what Jesus deserves! God showed me that they really did have needs, like healing of acid reflux or tooth pain. Again and again, heaven crashing into people’s lives.

As in many places, a lot of people at that recovery house knew the religious talk and could parrot the doctrine they’d heard, but they were not living as if it were true that God is with us, that Jesus rose to give us new life, and that Jesus died so we could approach the Father without shame.

We need a presentation of the gospel that doesn’t just reach people’s minds, but that impacts their hearts! Good doctrine isn’t enough! If we really believe the message, Jesus manifests himself through it! It is not empty words, but the Spirit of Jesus is manifest through the message!