PREACHING THE GOSPEL
There are many places in the Bible that command us to
preach Gods Word. All believers are
called to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15 KJV What does it mean
to you to preach Gods Word? The most
obvious preaching, of course, is the Sunday morning pulpit preacher, but I
don’t believe that God wants us all to be pulpit preachers. So what does He want us to do? There are many types of preaching and many
ways to spread the gospel. God has put
it on my heart to share a few of these ways with you so you can be obedient to
His command and be a preacher. A lot of
people say things like: “I’m not good with words” or “I don’t know how to bring
it up”. God has made each one of us a
unique individual and since He created you, He knows exactly what your
strengths and weaknesses are. He
wouldn’t call you to do anything He hasn’t designed you to do. So maybe you can’t get up in front of a crowd
or group of people and speak, that’s O.K.; there are many other ways to tell
the world about Jesus.
The first and most important way to preach about the
love of Jesus is your actions and words in your daily lives. How you talk, how you react to the world and
situations around you, your expressions, and your attitude are all ways that
people can see and subliminally hear the words of Jesus. If you are always grumbling, feeling
self-pity, mad at the world or someone in it, full of turmoil, nervous,
depressed, cussing, and gossiping then people around you are probably not going
to see you as a Christian and they sure aren’t going to see Jesus living in
you. The Bible says in Colossians 3:7-9
“You used to do them when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger,
rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have
stripped off your old evil nature and all its wickedness.” NLT So how
do we do this? In the book of James it
tells us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Before you speak or react to a situation,
take just a second and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, if you feel it in
your spirit it is God guiding your direction.
This is not an overnight thing; it takes time to form this new habit
inside of us, especially those of us who lived by gut reactions to every
situation. If you have a lot of stress
or nervousness in your life, if you feel depressed or feel like everything and
everybody is against you, ask Jesus to give you peace. One of His titles is the Prince of
Peace. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says,
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and
gentle, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.” NLT
So many times when a person is always happy, calm, generous, caring, and
supporting the people around them say, I wished I had what they have. This is truly preaching the gospel of
Jesus.
Someone said to me once, “ preach
the gospel, and if necessary, use words.”
Another way to preach the word of God is to pass on
what you have heard or read. Tell other
Christians in your workplace about the sermon you heard at church, you would be
surprised on how many questions that will bring from the non-Christians that
are listening to your conversation. Take
a good book that speaks of Gods mercy and grace to a
non-Christian friend and tell them that you just read this book and you think
they would like it. I once read a book
that was written by an author who had lived an ungodly life, ended up in prison,
came to know Jesus while he was locked up, and is now a world-wide known
traveling evangelist. The book had a lot
of action and adventure speaking of his past dealings, living in the fast
lane. When I finished it I took it to a
non-Christian friend and told them what it was about. They read it and came back to me with several
comments and questions. This opened the
door for me to tell him about Jesus and a few weeks later he prayed the sinners prayer with me.
Teach your children about Jesus and raise them up to be
Christians. Get them involved in youth
groups, vacation Bible school, and youth Bible studies. Invite the neighborhood children to come with
them; this will open many doors for the parents who have questions. The number of parents who come to know Christ
through their own children would surprise you.
I heard a story of a doctor who came to know Christ through a little
girl he did surgery on. As
the story goes, the little girl needed a major heart surgery and the doctor was
explaining to the girl that when he cut her open he was going to find a rupture
on her heart. She said when he cut her
open he would find Jesus there. After
many attempts to explain to the girl how serious this surgery was, the girl
each time being very persistent that the only thing he would find is Jesus, the
doctor (being frustrated) told her she would probably not make it through the
surgery. When the doctor did the
surgery, he found nothing wrong with her heart.
She had a complete healing!! In
the recovery room the little girl woke up and asked the doctor what he found,
the doctor responded, he found Jesus.
Use the technology of the times. Create your own web site with testimonies of
believers who have been healed, people who have been relieved of alcoholism,
drug addiction, and anything else that edifies God and His Son, Jesus
Christ. Include your favorite Bible
verse, Christian songs, upcoming events that you are aware of such as revivals,
Christian concerts, and Bible studies.
Hand out pamphlets to invite people to go to your web site. Tell your friends about it. It only costs about 100 dollars a year to
host a web site. A
very low cost to glorify God.
Create or purchase Bible tracks and hand them out to
everyone you meet or leave them lay on your break room table at work, in the
grocery store, or where ever you get the opportunity. These have proven to be very effective.
These are just a few of the ways you can preach the
gospel of Jesus without standing behind the pulpit. Remember the fruit you bear, you may never see
grow, so don’t get discouraged. In
Isaiah 55:10-11 God says, “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and
stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread
for the hungry. It is the same with my
word. I send it out, and it always
produces fruit. It will accomplish all I
want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” NLT