Why Get The Gospel Out?
Hello everybody.
I feel like we should pray first, right?
Dear God, please give us a sweet spirit.
Help us to be plugged in and sensitive to Who you are.
We know this is Your idea.
This is Your gospel.
Help us to be in tune with Your Scripture.
Get the messenger out of the way so people can hear the Bible,
and persuade us all to participate more in what You designed us to do.
Amen.
So what is the solution and what is the problem?
God must be known.
Yes, every eye sees the witness of creation from our vibrant Designer Creator.
“Does not the world already know God?”
In addition to the internal whispering witness we have of the Spirit of God, plus the availability of Scripture, alongside the presence of our inborn conscience, and the unique circumstances of life, all of these encourage humanity to seek after knowing God more fully.
Those who do not yet believe the gospel are exposed to transformed lives in the obvious form of unexplainable testimonies.
“God transformed my friend!”
“Does Not God Have Enough Witnesses?”
In this age of fire hydrant media flowing out of our phone screens daily, believers in Christ are compelled and empowered to share the message of salvation by all means to all precious people.
“Why should I share?”
Well, number one …
Because God has graciously and persistently allowed me to know His gospel …
I must then share that same gospel.
Acts 20 verse 24 says, “and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the grace of God.”
That's good.
Why should you and I participate in getting the gospel to the world?
Love.
“For the love of Christ constraineth us” 2 Corinthians 5:14.
God so loved the world; we should love our world.
Persuasive, simple explanation helps people understand the gospel.
“We persuade men.”
According to 2 Corinthians 5:11, it's possible.
People influence people toward receiving the gospel.
That's God's plan.
Why join this gospel-giving team?
Camaraderie, teamwork.
You get fellow laborers.
“He, [this verse speaks of Titus,] is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you” 2 Corinthians 8:23.
“That we might be fellow helpers to the truth” 3 John 1:8.
Sounds like a joyful place to be.
“That ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” Philippians 2:2.
Get to be on a like-minded team.
Why Give the Gospel?
Gospel starvation is the greatest single challenge facing humanity.
The large majority of our world either 1. does not know the gospel or 2. misunderstands the gospel.
Complete distribution, saturation of the clean gospel to every person in the world is a God-level expedition that can only be completed with divine infusion of the Spirit power, and maximum participation by willing vessels; everybody involved.
2 Corinthians says, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, … for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.”
“But we have this treasure”.
Which treasure?
The treasure of the knowledge of the glory of God delivered in the gospel.
You see that in the verse above.
How do we carry this treasure?
“In earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.”
2 Corinthians 4.
We carry the gospel truth while the world is starving for lack of spiritual nutrition and understanding.
Why proclaim the gospel?
Evil.
Evil is waxing worse and worse.
2 Timothy 3:13 says, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse”
Demonic deception is rising.
“… deceiving and being deceived” in the same verse.
Now, all of us know that it's a good thing to share the truth of the gospel of God, and I'm not trying to ... I just want to encourage, and all of us need a reminder of God's... what God believes, and what He wrote in His Bible. So please don’t be offended. But instead be enthusiastic to participate on some level.
Eternity is everlasting.
11 Thessalonians 1 says, “… them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction FROM the presence of the Lord and FROM the glory of His power.
Ooh.
Daniel 12 speaks of two classes of people, says “some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Hmm.
Why sign up now?
Why join this gospel band?
Currently we have a tiny temporary freedom to share precious gospel truth … while we can.
It says in Acts 9, “And he spake boldly in the name of Jesus Christ and disputed against the Grecians, but they went about to slay him.”
Now there's a little bit of time there he got to speak, and then they shut him down.
This old world is not going to put up with us presenting clear and compelling truth for much longer without a reaction.
“And ye, [Jesus said of His disciples,] ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, and for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.”
God has divine appointments available. :)
Do you remember Peter had an appointment with Cornelius?
Do you remember Philip was suggested and guided by an angel to go meet with the Ethiopian who was hungry and reading his Bible and wanted to understand.
Paul was attentive to hear that midnight cry of the Macedonians who said, “Come on over into Macedonia and help us,” right?
God delights in connecting ready believers with seeking unbelievers.
Ready?
You need not go alone,
“For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” Matthew 10, 20,
“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28.
T.I.N.A., capital T, capital I, capital N, capital A, there is no alternative.
Here it is in Acts.
It said, “By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, neither is there salvation in any other [name]. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”
No other system of belief offers secure salvation.
No other route to God includes a genuine Savior.
No other holy book solves the equation of sin by allowing a pure Savior to take my place and pay what I rightly deserve to God.
Let's quote God in Isaiah 44.
“Is there a God beside me?
Yea, there is no God.
I know not any.”
This is God speaking directly into the microphone through Isaiah 44.
Here he is in 43:11.
“I, even I, am the Lord, and beside Me there is no Savior.”
Why do you talk about other religions?
Well, it'd be fine if there was a Savior, but if your religion is missing a Savior, what kind of a pathway to God is that?
Anyway, sorry.
Why participate in giving this gospel?
Demons delight in twisting and confusing pure truth into partial truths.
Galatians 1:7, “But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
You have a genuine and worthy opponent in this battlefield, which the awareness thereof should stir up the masculine nature of your identity to resist active evil.
Somebody doesn't want you out there witnessing, so you should ask, Why?
Oh, I have an enemy?
This is great.
This is a real game.
We're going to play.
There is no greater joy!
3 John 1:4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children [my spiritual children] walk in truth.”
“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, [What seed is that? It's the seed of the word of the gospel.] shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” His results, his fruit, his rewarding results.
That's Psalm 126.
Why should we go?
Gratitude.
Share a sincere and emotional expression of gratitude directly to the God who saved you by partnering with Him to distribute His main message.
Gospel-giving demonstrates great gratitude.
God feels “thanked” when we carry what we've learned to someone else.
That, 1 Peter 2,:8, “That ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.”
Hey, I was in the dark.
I was in a bad way, and a God helped me understand this Light.
Matthew 10, verse 8, “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
Several people are watching your life pattern and listening to your language.
2 Timothy 3:10, “But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith.”
Somebody's watching your pattern of living, your purpose, your faith.
They fully know.
Next verse, “Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men.”
What are people reading as they're watching you?
Why witness?
Because Jesus Christ, our pattern for living, our perfect example, shared the exclusive pathway to heaven through Himself with others.
Jesus witnessed, therefore, I and we witness.
I love it.
Here it is.
Super simple.
Ready?
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way.” John 14:6.
Next verse.
“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me.” John 4:21.
Why share Christ?
Because hell is hot.
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, [anywhere on that list, every one of us has fear,] shall have their part, [special parking, reserved name,] shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” Revelation 21 8.
None of us wrote the Bible.
God wrote the rules.
I don't like it, but it's true.
Luke 16:24 “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.”
What is the best solution to the greatest problem?
Personal participation.
There are so many opportunities for obedience at our fingertips.
All around us we have a keyboard, a smartphone, microphones, cameras, social platforms abound.
The audience is right there within reach.
How does the Bible say it?
Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto Me”
That's a command.
“Ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in _________ & ___________ & _____________ and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
We're not doing injustice to the Scripture, but it is possible we could fill in those blanks with our local areas of outreach, which today are:
Substack, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook.
You should be witnesses unto Me both in every platform of influence you have.
You have influence.
Question, how far back in your timeline does an investigator need to search in your social media before finding a clear presentation of the Simple Gospel made available to all of your contacts?
Get on up and produce gospel content.
Not participating is sin.
1 Corinthians 15:34, “Awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God [Oh,] I speak this to your shame.”
No other action …
Apart from sharing the good news of salvation carries such lasting rewards and impactful results; your gifted influence and energy could not possibly enjoy a more useful usefulness outside of elevating Christ and introducing lost, blind, condemned-already souls to the everlasting Shepherd, the Light of the world, and our Deliverer.
“Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.”
He was motivated by the joy.
He saw the result, the purpose.
Paul said, “For if I do this thing willingly, …” what's this thing?
Witnessing.
“For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward.”
to look forward to.
“But if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me,” I still have a responsibility, I'm commissioned to distribute the gospel, 1 Corinthians 9:17.
So I have a reward for witnessing, which is much sweeter, when my attitude and my motive is clean.
You have a Bible.
A complete, pure, preserved, particularly sharp sword of the Spirit which has and is the very words of the living God.
While the majority of the 8 billion others on earth currently do not have a Bible.
That's not hyperbole.
Most people either ignore or do not have access to the Bible, even in today's information age.
Here's a quote from Museum of the Bible project called Illuminations, which is trying to bring the light of the Bible to all nations.
It says here,
“There are around 7,000 languages in the world today, but approximately half, or 3,654, have little or no access to the Bible in their native tongue.”
But we have a Bible.
We have multiple Bibles.
Short time!
Why carry forth courageously the knowledge of the glorious gospel?
Time is short, time is shrinking, time is limited.
Soon I meet my Savior face-to-face, and heart-to-heart I hug Him, and His pierced hand will clasp around my hand.
Did I Do 100% of All Christ Expected and Empowered Me Specifically to Accomplish in the Allotted Gifted Time Given to My Care?
“Not one soul with which to greet him must I empty-handed go?
O ye saints, arouse, be earnest,
Up, and work while yet ‘tis day;
E'er the night of death, o’ertake thee,
Strive for souls while still you may.”
Closes out that hymn.
God gave me all the tools.
God gave me everything I need to perform the task of fulfilling the Greatest Commission directly given by the Greatest Captain.
I have a pen.
I have a phone.
I have a platform.
I have the indwelling Holy Ghost.
He's excited to share.
I have the promise of a Divine Helper.
“According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust,” God entrusted me, He committed to me the knowledge and the distribution channels to get the gospel going forward.
It should not stop with me.
That leads me to a quote I heard in college.
If the world, if … I'm going to mess it up royally, but …
If I keep doing what I'm doing, would the world hear the gospel through the multiplication of the gospel flowing through me?
Am I encouraging others to share?
Satan & crew stands directly opposed to your attempts to witness the gospel.
“In whom the god of this world [that’s a small g-god, Satan] hath blinded the minds [pause, repeat: we connect words of truth to people’s minds.] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the Image of God, should shine unto them.”
Another verse that talks about Satan opposing the witness and the sharing of the Gospel.
It says, “Now as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.”
2 Timothy 3:8.
You will have resistance.
Number next,
Bursting!
Because you personally find joy … and peace and purpose! and victory! along this golden pathway of spiritually growing in Christ … it's such a fulfilling experience that our heavenward journey with our dearest Friend by our side … that not sharing the Christian experience seems impossible.
It's impossible to contain once you know Christ, not to tell people He's your Friend and how you got to meet Him.
Acts 4:24, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
We've seen, we've heard, we know, we share.
How can we not?
Number next,
All power is available.
“Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, [what's the ministry?
Delivering the truth of the gospel.]
“We have this ministry.
As we have received mercy, we faint not.”
That means we have the mercy and the power to do the job to fulfill our ministry.
Paul said, “Whereof I am made a minister, to whom God would make known [other people] what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles” It takes a lot of energy, a lot of miles, a lot of time.
I was made a minister to make this mystery known “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory whom we preach warning every man,
and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect” or mature, grown up in Christ Jesus, “whereunto I also labor,” striving according to my working?
No, “striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.”
So we have this energy, this motor, this power.
He said, I labor, “striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.”
It’s a partnership. A team effort. God wants to go!
Same topic: next verse: “And His grace [God’s Divine help] And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.” I did not waste the energy, “But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I” I didn’t do the labor by myself. ‘But the grace of God which was with me.”
So God’s help flowing through this yielded vessel, the greatest missionary, most likely … he just let God's power and grace and mercy flow through him and the result was abundant labor.
He was excessively energetic.
He was exceedingly going and reaching the entire everyone with the gospel.
How do we know we have “all power” to accomplish this mission?
“And when they saw Him, [Imagine you're on the mount of; you're watching Jesus about to go up; to be received.]
“And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him [that’s the right result, right?] They worshipped Him, but some doubled.”
Now this next phrase, if you’re a Christian for any length of time, you know this phrase. But we want to put the preface sentence right there, because they saw Him. This is the Resurrected Christ; He literally has the holes, the nails, the piercing, the side. I mean, He’s back from the dead. He proved that He paid the bill. He’s now the finished Messiah, right?
“And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted.” And here's Jesus' response to their doubt.
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, [so he approached,] and He spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven, [where I'm about to go,] and in earth, [I'm going to put a parenthesis, a little bracket:
Don't doubt?
Why are you doubting?
What's there to doubt?
I just did the impossible.
I just died and rose again.
And that gave Me all the power, all the authority, all the energy necessary for Me to partner with you to get done the thing that I'm going to commission you to do right now.
So some are worshiping and some are doubting.
I think he's speaking to both audiences, but he first addresses the doubters and says,
“I have the power. I will flow through you. I will help you accomplish that which we are going to finish TOGETHER! What are you doubting? Are you doubting Me? Don’t doubt ME! All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in Earth …
Go ye therefore.
[And then He promises he's going to go with them.]
Go ye therefore.
Why?
Because I, Jesus, promise to empower you in the motion of actively going.
As you go, I'll go with you “and teach all nations”
What should we teach them?
The gospel.
and “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.”
Which one did you resonate with the most?
Anything you’d like to add to the list? Feedback welcome!
Why Get The Gospel Out?