Be the One who Wins Soul! (2)

“… The wise person wins souls” (Proverbs 11:30).

While offering the 2006 New Year’s united worship to God, I meditated on four abilities, centered around the second part of Proverbs 11:30, which is the church’s New Year’s motto verse. With a heart earnestly desiring to wake up, I proclaimed these words with a heavy heart. The reason for this was that I wanted to awaken, especially amidst spiritual indifference and spiritual impotence. Feeling my own weakness, I proclaimed God’s Word with a longing heart for these four abilities. The New Year’s united worship was a moment where I, who must first be the one to win souls, felt my own inability. In the midst of this, I proclaimed God’s Word with a heartfelt desire to experience these four abilities by God’s grace. I pray that in 2006, God will have mercy on me and fill me with these four abilities.

The first ability is the power of prayer.

In Acts 1:14-15, the Bible tells us that about 120 disciples “… were with one mind, continually devoting themselves to prayer…” They were holding on to Jesus’ promised words in Acts 1:8, and they prayed earnestly for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. They prayed in this way: first, they prayed with one heart, in unity; second, they prayed with all their hearts, devotedly; and third, they prayed continuously. In an article titled "Evangelize through Prayer" [Gospel News, November 27, 2005], it is mentioned that “prayer is leadership.” The article says: “A person who prays is greater than a nation that does not pray. Therefore, the person who prays becomes a channel of blessing for their organization or nation. Rule and manage your nation, family, society, and workplace through prayer... If the desire to pray arises, think of it as a sign that God will give you His blessing. The people who come to your mind during prayer are opportunities to evangelize” (Internet). The author of the article also says, “A survey was conducted by the Christian website GodPeople.com from October 23 to November 12, asking 1,043 netizens, ‘What has been the best method of evangelism you have tried?’ The result showed that 17% chose ‘sharing the gospel every time I meet someone and praying for them when they are going through tough times’” (Internet).

We must first believe in the power of prayer and experience its ability as we submit ourselves to it. Just like the pattern shown in Acts 16, as they went to pray (v. 13), God led them and through the meetings He allowed, He opened Lydia's heart to receive the gospel (v. 14), and eventually, her entire family believed in Jesus and was baptized (v. 15). I earnestly pray for such amazing works of salvation to happen. Also, just as Apostle Paul and his co-workers went to pray (v. 16), even if they encountered difficulties like the meeting with a demon-possessed slave girl (v. 16) and persecution arose (vv. 19-24), just like Paul prayed in prison (v. 25), I pray that we may experience God’s presence as we pray (v. 26), so that, just like the jailer accepted Jesus (v. 33) and his entire family believed in God (v. 34), there will be an amazing work of salvation through prayer. Just like how the prison doors were opened through a great earthquake (v. 26), I earnestly pray that through God’s presence, the hearts of our evangelistic targets will be opened, and a history of salvation will unfold.

The second ability is the power of the Holy Spirit.

The power of the Holy Spirit refers to the “power” we receive when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, as mentioned in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you...” The "power from on high" (Luke 24:49), that is, the “power,” does not refer to the political power the disciples were interested in, nor to the personal ability to live a godly life mentioned in the Old Testament. It refers to the power that enables the disciples to go to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel (Word Pictures in the N.T. & Nelson Study Bible). Professor Yoo Sang-seop said: “This power is the same Holy Spirit that came upon Jesus after He was baptized while He was praying, enabling Him to begin His gospel ministry with power. In the same way, Jesus is now telling His disciples that the same Holy Spirit will work in them with power” (Yoo Sang-seop). In other words, the “power from on high” and “authority” refer to the ability to carry out the work of the gospel.

If we have already received this power, why are we not preaching the gospel? I believe the reason is that we have not experienced the power from on high. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s power is not filling us. Because we do not yield to that power, we are not obeying God's command to preach the gospel. It is not that we have not received the “power” mentioned in Acts 1:8. According to the Bible, we have already received this “power” as witnesses of Jesus. Therefore, the Apostle Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus, saying: “That according to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16). We should pray that the Lord, as the head of the church, would strengthen our inner being with power through His Spirit, so that we may live boldly proclaiming Jesus Christ who dwells in our hearts by faith. The amazing thing is that when we pray this way, the Lord will give us even more: “To him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). Therefore, in our prayers, we must receive not only the power of prayer but also the full power of the Holy Spirit. When we do this, we will be used as instruments of the Lord to carry out incredible works of salvation, boldly proclaiming the gospel to dying souls and leading them to the Lord.

The third ability is the power of the gospel.

What is the power of the gospel? Paul says in Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...” The power of the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” I wonder how Paul, who won so many souls, was able to have such a passion for evangelism. I saw a statement on an internet website that says: “He tasted the power of the gospel that saved him from sin, the world, and the law.” The article goes on to say: “The first step in evangelism is to know the power of the gospel” (Internet). Indeed, if I have tasted the power of the gospel that saved me, I cannot bear to keep it to myself. One example is the woman at the well in John 4. This woman, who experienced the power of the gospel, is seen in John 4:39 bearing witness to Jesus Christ. As a result, “many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him.” Later, in John 4:42, the people of the town said, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

The power of the gospel that was manifested in the early church occurred when about 120 disciples, holding onto the promise of Acts 1:8, prayed together in one accord (1:14). In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon them. At that time, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, rose up and preached to the crowd about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and 3,000 people believed in Jesus and were baptized (2:41). Here, we see a pattern: prayer → filling with the Holy Spirit → proclamation of the gospel → 3,000 saved. Therefore, we must pray, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and boldly proclaim the gospel. When we do this, the work of salvation will take place.

The fourth and final power is the power of love.

What would happen if God's love were missing in the proclamation of the gospel truth? A truth without love is powerless. If the truth of the gospel is not spread with the love that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it will have no power. As we all know, in the famous chapter on love, 1 Corinthians 13:1 says, "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." Without love, no matter how eloquently one speaks, it is nothing more than "a resounding gong" or "a clanging cymbal."

What is the greatest enemy we face in today’s world? It is “indifference,” as Pastor Ok Han-eum, the senior pastor of the Church of Love in Seoul, said in his book The Evangelist. He stated, “Caught up in cold selfishness, people have no interest in anything outside of themselves, their family, or their loved ones. We can see this generation becoming more and more slaves to the terrifying indifference” (Ok Han-eum). It is like the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37. There are countless spiritually dying souls, like the man who was attacked by robbers, but we, like the priest and the Levite, simply "see and pass by" (Luke 10:31-32). The Lord says in Matthew 9:13, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice," but we lack “concern for our neighbors, a heart of compassion, and sacrificial love” (Ok Han-eum), and instead, we focus on "sacrifice"—that is, on coming before God in worship. When we leave dying souls—our unbelieving family members, children, parents, friends, etc.—and just go out to offer praise and worship to God, we must ask ourselves: Will God accept this worship? Pastor Ok Han-eum said that when we worship alone, we should “feel as though we are committing a great sin, and we should be in pain” over it. He added that, in such a situation, “with a broken heart, we must cry, ‘Lord, save that soul, however you can,’ and only then will God accept our worship with joy” (Ok Han-eum).

We must never be like the lawyer in Luke 10:29, who asked, "Who is my neighbor?" trying to justify himself. We must not rationalize a faith without action. We must act on our love for souls. How many dying souls are there among our families, relatives, friends, and coworkers? We cannot simply look at them and walk by. We must love them faithfully with the love of Christ.

My grandmother used to love the words of Psalm 23. In the first verse, the psalmist says, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." As I meditated on this verse, God gave me this revelation: If I do not take the Lord as my shepherd, if I live as though I were a sheep going my own way, I will feel a complete sense of lack, and only then will I return to the Lord, trusting in Him, and living with Him as my Shepherd. It is like the prodigal son in Luke 15, who, after leaving his father’s house and living a reckless life, realized his complete lack and returned to his father. In this new year of 2006, I want to fully feel my human shortcomings when I serve the church, the body of Christ, without trusting in or depending on the Lord. Therefore, I want to depend on the Lord even more. I long to see His power manifest. I want to taste the power of prayer. I deeply desire to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the power of the gospel, and the power of Christ's love, deeply, widely, and greatly.