This principle is beautifully demonstrated in the ministry of Philip the evangelist as recorded in the book of Acts. Philip had preached to receptive crowds in Samaria, but was later directed by an angel to journey to a specific road. There he was led to an incredibly receptive seeker:

But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

He was led as a sheep to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He does not open his mouth. In humiliation His judgment was taken away; who will relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.

The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing (Acts. 8:26-39).

Philip was divinely directed to minister to a man who was so spiritually hungry that he had journeyed from Africa to Jerusalem to worship God and had purchased at least a portion of a copy of the scrolls of Isaiah’s prophecies. As he was reading the 53^rd chapter of Isaiah, the most explicit scripture in the Old Testament that details the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and wondering whom Isaiah was writing about, there was Philip, ready to explain what he was reading! There was a man ripe for conversion! God knew his heart and sent Philip.

But that is not all. God, the great evangelist who is working to bring everyone to repentance, speaks to people through yet another means. Once again, we read the words of Paul:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18, emphasis added).

Notice Paul said God’s wrath is revealed, not is going to be revealed someday. God’s wrath is evident to everyone in the many sorrowful and tragic events, large and small, that plague humanity. If God is all-powerful, able to do anything and prevent anything, then such things, when they strike those who ignore Him, can only be a manifestation of His wrath. Only senseless theologians and foolish philosophers can’t see this. Yet even in His wrath God’s mercy and love are revealed, as the objects of His wrath often receive much less wrath than they deserve, and are thus lovingly warned of the eternal wrath that awaits the unrepentant after death. This is another means that God uses to get the attention of people who need to repent.

How much more rewarding it is to be led by the Spirit to receptive people than to randomly or systematically approach people who are unreceptive because we guiltily think they won’t be evangelized otherwise. Don’t forget—every person you encounter is being relentlessly evangelized by God. We would do better to ask people how their conscience is treating them to determine first if they are receptive to God or not, because everyone is dealing with guilt by some means.

Another example of this same principle is the conversion of the household of Cornelius under the ministry of Peter, who was supernaturally led to preach the gospel to this very receptive group of Gentiles. Cornelius was certainly a man who was listening to his conscience and seeking God, as illustrated by his alms-giving and prayer life (see Acts 10:2). God connected him with Peter, and he listened to Peter’s message with an open heart and was gloriously saved.

How much wiser we would be to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us to those whose hearts are open rather than formulating extensive and time-wasting plans to divide our cities into quadrants and organize witnessing teams to visit every home and apartment. If Peter had been attending a meeting on missionary strategies in Jerusalem or if Philip had continued preaching in Samaria, the household of Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch would have remained unreached.

Evangelists and apostles, of course, will be led to proclaim the gospel before mixed crowds of receptive and unreceptive people. But even they should seek the Lord regarding where He wants them to preach. Again, the record found in the book of Acts is one of Spirit-led and Spirit-anointed people cooperating with the Holy Spirit as He built the kingdom of God. How different were the methods of the early church compared to the modern church. How different are the results! Why not imitate what was so successful?

Finally, God not only attempts to draw people through creation, conscience and calamity, but also through the calling of the gospel. As His servants obey Him and proclaim the good news, the same message of creation, conscience and calamity is reaffirmed once again: Repent!

You can see that what we do in evangelization in comparison to what God does is of no comparison. He is continually evangelizing every person every moment of every day of his or her life, whereas even the greatest human evangelists might speak to a few hundred thousand people over the process of decades. And those evangelists generally preach to any given group of people only once for just a short period of time. In fact, that single opportunity is all such evangelists are really permitted to offer people in light of Jesus’ command to wipe the dust from their feet whenever a city, village or house does not receive them (see Matt. 10:14). All of this is to say that when we compare God’s never ceasing, universal, dramatic, inwardly-convicting evangelism with our very limited evangelism, there is really no comparison.

This perspective helps us to understand better our responsibility in evangelization and in building God’s kingdom. However, before we consider our role more specifically, there is one other important factor that we must not overlook.

As stated previously, repenting and believing are things people do with their hearts. God desires that everyone humble himself, soften his heart, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus. Toward that end, God continually works on people’s hearts in the numerous ways just described.

God also knows of course, the condition of every person’s heart. He knows whose hearts are softening and whose are hardening. He knows who is listening to His never-ceasing messages and who is ignoring them. He knows whose hearts are such that a certain calamity in their life will cause them to open their hearts and repent. He knows whose hearts are so hard that there is no hope of their repentance. (He told Jeremiah three times, for example, not even to pray for Israel because their hearts were beyond repentance; see Jer. 7:16; 11:14; 14:11.)^[1] He knows whose hearts are softening to the point that just a little more conviction by His Spirit will result in their repenting.

Keeping all of this in mind, what can we learn about the churches’ responsibility to proclaim the gospel and build God’s kingdom?

^[1] Beyond this, Scripture teaches that God may even actively further harden the hearts of those who continually harden their hearts against Him (like Pharaoh). It would seem unlikely that there is any hope of such people repenting.

Perhaps there is no better barometer of our relationship with God than our interaction with money. Money—the time and the means we use to acquire it, and what we do with it after we acquire it—reveals much about our spiritual lives. Money, when we possess it and even when we possess none, fuels temptation perhaps like nothing else. Money can easily stand in utter contempt of the two greatest commandments, as it can become a god above the only God, and it can entice us to love ourselves more and our neighbors less. On the other hand, money can be used as a means to prove our love for God and our neighbors.

Jesus once told a parable about a man who allowed money to rule him rather than God:

The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.'” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared? “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God (Luke 12:16-21).

Jesus portrayed this wealthy man as being very foolish. Although blessed with health, productive land and farming skills, he didn’t know God, otherwise he would not have stored up his excess and retired to a life of selfish pleasure and ease. Rather, he would have sought the Lord regarding what he should do with his blessing, knowing that he was but God’s steward. God, of course, would have wanted him to share his abundance and continue working so he could continue to share his abundance. Perhaps the only other acceptable alternative would have been to stop farming and devote himself to some self-supporting ministry, if that is what God called him to do.

The wealthy farmer in Jesus’ parable made a major miscalculation regarding the date of his death. He assumed he had many years remaining, when he was just hours away from eternity. Jesus’ point is unmistakable: We should live each day as if it was our last, always ready to stand before God to give an account.

How different is God’s perspective from man’s! The wealthy man in Jesus’ parable would have been the envy of most everyone who knew him, yet God pitied him. He was rich in the eyes of men, but poor in the sight of God. He could have laid up treasure in heaven where it would have been his forever, but he chose to lay it up on earth where it was of no profit to him the moment he died. And in light of what Jesus taught about greedy people, it seems quite unlikely that Jesus wanted us to think the wealthy man went to heaven when he died.

This parable should help us all to remember that everything we have is a gift from God, and He expects us to be faithful stewards. It has application, not only to those who have material wealth, but to anyone and everyone who is tempted to make material things too important. This Jesus made clear as He continued speaking to His disciples:

For this reason [that means what He was about to say was based on what He just said] I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.

Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Luke 12:22-34).

How Jesus’ words stand in contrast to those of modern “prosperity preachers”! Today we are being told that God wants us to have more, whereas Jesus told His disciples to sell what they already possessed and give it to charity! Again He exposed the foolishness of those who lay up their treasures on earth—where those treasures are destined to perish, and where the hearts of the treasure-owners reside.

Notice that Jesus applied the lesson of the rich fool to those who had so little that they were tempted to be concerned about food and clothing. Being worried about such things betrays that our focus is wrong. If we trust our caring Father as we should, we won’t worry, and that carefree attitude liberates us to focus on building God’s kingdom.

There is something else we can learn from Jesus’ promise in Matthew 6:32-33. We sometimes have difficultly distinguishing our needs from our wants. Jesus, however, defined what our needs are. He said, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”

What are those “things” Jesus was referring to that would be added to those who sought first His kingdom and righteousness? They are food, drink and clothing. No one can debate that, because that is what Jesus said just prior to the promise under consideration (see Matt. 6:25-31). Food, drink and clothing, are our only real material needs. Those are, in fact, the only things that Jesus and His traveling band of disciples possessed.

Paul also evidently agreed with Jesus’ definition of our needs, as he wrote to Timothy:

But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang (1 Tim. 6:6-10, emphasis added).

Paul believed that food and covering were all that we really needed materially, otherwise he would not have said we should be content with just those things. That leads us to a little different perspective regarding his promise to the Philippians that God would supply all their needs! The way some preachers expound on that verse, you would think it said, “My God shall supply all your greeds!” Moreover, if we should be content with just food and covering, how much more should we be content with what we do actually have, which for most of us is much more than just food and covering?

In an earlier chapter about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we considered some words Jesus spoke to His disciples regarding stewardship. He told them not to lay up treasures on the earth, but in heaven. He pointed out, not only the foolishness of those who invest in temporal treasures, but also the darkness that is in their hearts (see Matt. 6:19-24).

Money is the true god of those who lay up earthly treasures, because they serve it and it rules their lives. Jesus declared that it is impossible to serve God and money, clearly indicating that if God is our true Master, then He is also Master of our money. Money, more than anything else, competes with God for the hearts of people. That is no doubt why Jesus taught that we cannot be His disciples unless we give up all our own possessions (see Luke 14:33). Christ’s disciples own nothing. They are simply stewards of that which is God’s, and God likes to do things with His money that reflect His character and furthers His kingdom.

Jesus had much to say about stewardship, but it seems His words are often ignored by those who profess to be His followers. Much more popular is the twisting of Scripture to fabricate the modern “prosperity doctrine” in its many forms, subtle and blatant. The disciple-making minister, however, desires to teach people to obey all of Christ’s commandments. He will thus teach, by his example and by his words, biblical stewardship.

Let us consider what Scripture teaches about stewardship, and at the same time, expose some of the more common examples of false teaching about prosperity. This will by no means be an exhaustive study. I’ve written an entire book on this subject that is available to read in English at our website. It is found at “Jesus on Money.”

Beginning on a positive note, we remember that Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote, “God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). That familiar promise is often quoted and claimed by Christians, but what was its context? As we read contextually, we soon discover the reason Paul was so confident that God would supply all the needs of the Philippian believers:

Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full, and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:14-19, emphasis added).

Paul was certain that Jesus would indeed supply the needs of the Philippians because they had met Jesus’ condition: They were seeking first the kingdom of God, proven by their sacrificial gifts to Paul so he could continue planting churches. Remember that in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you (Matt. 6:32-33).

So we see that Paul’s promise in Philippians 4:19 doesn’t apply to every Christian who quotes and claims it. Rather, it only has application to those who are seeking first God’s kingdom.

Jesus did promise a hundred-fold return to those who make certain sacrifices. Let’s read exactly what He said:

Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).

Notice that this is not a promise to those who give money to preachers, as is often claimed by prosperity preachers. Rather, this is a promise to those who leave their homes, farm and relatives to go preach the gospel far and wide. Jesus promised such people “a hundred times as much now in the present age.”

But was Jesus promising that such people would become literal owners of one hundred houses or farms as some prosperity preachers claim? No, not any more than He was promising that such people would acquire one hundred literal mothers and one hundred literal children. Jesus was only saying that those who leave their homes and families would find that fellow believers would open their homes to them and welcome them as family among their families.

Notice Jesus also promised persecution and eternal life to such people. This reminds us of the context of the entire passage, in which the disciples had watched a rich young ruler who wanted eternal life walk sadly away as Jesus declared, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25).

The disciples were shocked at Jesus’ statement, and wondered then about their own chances of entering God’s kingdom. They reminded Jesus of what they had left behind to follow Him. That is when Jesus spoke His “hundred-fold” promise.

All of this being so, it is incredible that any prosperity preacher would attempt to persuade us that Jesus was promising a literal hundred-fold material return that would soon make us incredibly wealthy in a short time, in light of the fact that, seconds before, Jesus had told a rich man to sell everything and give the proceeds to charity if he wanted eternal life!

There are many other scriptures that prosperity preachers twist besides the ones we’ve considered, but space limits us in this book. Beware!