Notas de la Clase IFM: Evangelismo y Evangelios Sinópticos
God bless everyone, and welcome to IFM. The class focuses on the study of scripture from now until August. The main book is "Power Evangelism" by Reinhart Bonnke, along with "He Became Man" and Synoptic Gospels by Paul Hoff. These books explore evangelism and the life of Jesus, respectively. Through these books, we will discover how to be a true preacher.
Power Evangelism
Evangelism is not just a church program, but a divine mandate to evangelize. Reinhart Bonnke, born in Germany in 1940 and passed away in 2019, had a vision of Africa covered in the blood of Jesus, feeling the call to heal the continent.
Revival: It is not just emotionalism, but the movement of the Holy Spirit working miracles and wonders in a city.
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, justice, and judgment (John 16:8).
Two triggers of revival:
Prayer: Key to establishing the kingdom of God.
Preaching the gospel: The gospel must be preached to have power over sin.
Bonnke took a risk when he rented a stadium with 10,000 seats, even though his church only had 40 members. This act of faith demonstrated his passion for lost souls.
If we don't have a passion for the lost, we become a social club with good people and good practices but without facing the community.
Initial Impact and Challenges
During Bonnke's first evangelistic campaign in Africa, a stadium for 10,000 people saw an awakening of God in the hearts of the people. Despite the poverty, many people in Africa have deities, but many do not know God. The preaching of the gospel must be accompanied by power, signs, miracles, and wonders. That is the power of the gospel.
Matthew 9:37-38:
We need to cry out for our city, our neighbors, and our family, understanding the power of prayer and intercession. Prayer always bears fruit.
Preaching and Revival
The gospel is not good if it is not heard.
One of the greatest callings of every believer is to preach the gospel.
A spiritual rising in prayer is required to take ownership of the scriptures, not to condemn, but to bring good news.
The gospel is not only good news, but it is news that must be preached. Paul says in Romans 10, "How will they hear if no one preaches to them?"
Revival is a deliberate and sovereign action of God that occurs when heaven invades the earth with power through willing hearts moved by the Spirit of God. We must be moved in love, compassion, and mercy. Typical places are the best places to preach the gospel.
The gospel was designed to be proclaimed, not just believed. If it is not preached, its transforming power is not activated.
Romans 10:17:
Preaching is the method chosen by God to save. We do not preach as an option but as a mandate.
Matthew 28:19: Go, and preach the gospel to every creature.
The fire of the gospel only burns when it is proclaimed, becoming contagious when it is heard.
The beautiful part of this gospel is forgiveness; immense peace in receiving Christ and having sins forgiven.
Through preaching, they repent of sin.
The task is to remember and share who told you about Christ and how you came to Him.
Revival and Evangelism
A revival is a spiritual foundation that surpasses human structures, breaking everything that hinders its passage. Evangelists are sought, brave messengers who carry the word with urgency, with fervent desire. No titles are needed, but available hearts.
Evangelism is the expression of God's heart through living words that enter through the ear, pass through the mind, break human reasoning, and penetrate the heart bringing hope. Evangelism is not a program, it is Christ's plan to redeem man in action.
The greatest privilege in this life is to preach Christ. It is the only thing we will take with us when we return to eternity. We will be rewarded for the work we do while we live.
2 Corinthians 5:10:
We must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Hell is real, it is immense and tragic, which demands urgency in preaching the gospel as the only hope to escape that condemnation.
Christ came to seek and save what was lost.
The Redemptive Fire
When a fire is caused, it is a crime; but when it is God who lights a spiritual fire, it is not destructive, it is redemptive. God's fire redeems, purifies, washes, and confronts man with his sin, to the point that he renounces it. This consumes, transforms, purifies, and commissions the believer to go and preach the gospel.
God seeks believers who burn in the holy fire of God.
We need to light the world by being consumed ourselves.
It is necessary to light the flame to share it with others. It consists of carrying that fire so that others burn, that presence that infects.
The heavenly fire is the signature of Jesus' ministry. Christ was full of the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit of God in our lives to evangelize, not a program. Where there is fire of the Spirit, there is evidence of his presence.
Power and Movement
The power of the Holy Spirit is not for a show, but for a movement. It is not a guarantee of a true conversion that a person speaks in tongues. That power should serve to pray for the sick and cast out demons.
The task of the believer filled with the Holy Spirit is to lift up the people who are in their work, in their neighborhood, and to everyone who is willing to accept the gospel.
The game should drive the church towards the mission we have to preach this gospel. The church needs a vertical Gospel straight to the heart. We have to pray for our pastors, because many pastors in the same church have killed their dreams and desires.
I tell people, if your problem is the job, change it. Ignite me with your fire. And my job right now does not allow me, Lord, give me another job.
Christ is interested in you asking Him first for the fire of His presence to be a tremendous evangelist, and if your problem is the job, the economic circumstances, I said, Lord, take care of my job and my economy so that I can truly enchant myself.
We believe in the promise of Joel 2:28:
Synoptic Gospels and Preparation for the Gospel
We now move to the study of Paul Hoff's “Synoptic Gospels” and “He Became Man.” The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) offer a synopsis, a single point of view of the same events, seen from different perspectives. They narrate the same thing, according to each writer's point of view. Mark, Matthew, and Luke show us his humanity. John focuses more on biology
The fourth gospel presents features that are unique to it and that clearly distinguish it from the other three.
The purpose of the writer of this study is to interpretively present the different aspects of the life, ministry, and teachings of Christ as a teacher.
They present the story of Jesus from the point of view of popular witnesses and do not reflect on the meaning of the words and deeds of Christ, the Word made flesh
Intertestamental Period and Historical Context
The intertestamental period, a silence of 400 years between the Old and New Testaments, from Malachi until the appearance of John the Baptist prophetically until he is born. During this period, God prepared the political and religious environment for the establishment of the kingdom of God. This implies that God ruled certain rulers, they had to be moved, and certain wars had to be dealt with.
Alexander the Great and Rome had to liberate Israel from the political flow it had.
Alexander the Great had an open government that gave the Jews the opportunity to worship their own God. On the other hand, the Romans did not allow worship except to the Greek gods. God had to overthrow an empire to allow the Jews to have synagogues
The book of Luke, in chapter 4 verses 18 and 19, says \text{\<<>>}
When Alexander the Great had the dream of uniting everyone in humanity by imposing Greek culture, the Jews had to be monotheistic, which caused a constant conflict between the two.
The history of the conquest of Palestine from the conquest of Alexander to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD a constant conflict between the pressure of Hellenism and the fidelity of the Jews. The Syrians unleashed the worst persecution against all the Jews.
Antiochus Epiphanes unleashed a bloody persecution against the Jews
Daniel prophesied that the abomination of desolation was the order to end Judaism and implant the cult of Zeus. This meant sacrificing a pig in place of a lamb. That is why in many cultures certain types of animals are offered as offerings.
Religious and Social Panorama
In the religious cultural society of Israel there were Sadducees and Pharisees, among others. John Hyrcanus, son of Simon Maccabeus, began to adapt to Greek customs, which produced a break between the Hasidim and apostles, and the Hasmonean family.
At that time is when the rupture of all conservatives with the Jas Mones family occurred. From then on, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to light.
Those who opposed Jesus in his ministry were the Pharisees, who were extremely religious
In the year 63 B.C., the Roman general Pompey seized the country and deposed the governor. The reason why God moves the pieces in the times to accommodate the propitious moment for him to be born. There are Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes
The Pharisees
Their name comes from the Hebrew Perusin which means separated. They based their doctrine on all the books of the Old Testament. They believe in good spirits and bad spirits, the immortality of the soul and the resurrection
The Sadducees
They took their name from Zadok, high priest of the time of Solomon. They were less numerous, but there was political power under the government of the dynasty of the Herods. They only accepted books of Moses and rejected oral law, since they were rational, they denied the doctrines of the immortality of the soul, of the resurrection, and the existence of angels and demons. There was no resurrection, that's where the story ended.
The Essenes
Although the doctrine did not differ much from the Pharisees, the way of life was different. There are isolated communities and they practiced monasticism, ascetic life, and scriptural study., The children of darkness.
The Zealots
They constituted a political group rather than a religious fence. Simon, one of the disciples, belonged to this party.
Preparing the World for the Gospel
In Galatians 4 it says \text{\<<>>}
Galatians 4 Says When the fullness of time came, God sent his son born of woman and born under the law.
This tells us that Jesus submitted under all the principles of the law of Moses in chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Matthew he presents all the commandments that he later commands to follow.
Christ establishes more than 100 commandments within the text. Christ makes it more difficult in what is the fulfillment of the law within these commandments.
Rome fostered the best possible uniformity of customs and laws in each region. In addition to granting Roman citizenship. This concept prepared men to receive the message of a universal redemption.
The universal language of them was Greek, which gave everyone room so that the gospels would be spread in this way, so to speak.
The Romans were tolerant of religions. While the Greek philosophers negatively prepared the people, the Jews of the Dispersion prepared them positively
All the cities of the Roman Empire had Jews with their synagogues, who sowed the doctrine.
It has been rightly said that the majority of Christians in the early church were drawn from the working class of the cities. For behold, my brothers, your vocation, that you are not many wise according to the flesh, nor many powerful, nor many nobles, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Task
1) Book of Synoptic Gospels
Read Chapters 1 and