Share the Gospel!

In a nutshell, the gospel is the good news of salvation through Jesus, the Christ, or Messiah. It is a gospel of grace, which is the unmerited, undeserved, and unearned favor of God and His Blessing (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15; Matthew 24:14). He commissioned us to go and make disciples of every nation (Matthew 28:18-20). He said that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore we are to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field (Matthew 9:37-38).

Another word for sharing the gospel is evangelism, which means proclaiming the evangel or good news. Paul told Timothy to do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5). Our desire to evangelize comes from our love for God and to glorify Him and do His will. It is sharing who He is and what He has done. His compassion for the lost has affected our hearts. We shouldn’t want to see people without Christ go to hell (John 3:36; Matthew 25:46). We should want them to be able to live the abundant life Jesus came to give them here on the earth as well as spend eternity with Him in heaven (John 10:10; 3:16)! That is the heart of Father God. He isn’t willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Sharing the gospel is the responsibility of every believer (Matthew 28:19-20). The baptism with the Holy Spirit gives us the power to be witnesses (Acts 1:8). Sharing the gospel is not just for the pastors and evangelists, etc. (Ephesians 4:11-12). In the New Testament, after Jesus shared who He was with the woman at the well in Samaria, she went into her town and told them to come, see and hear Jesus. Many believed because of the word of the woman who testified. Others believed that He was the Christ, the Savior of the world, after hearing His Words (John 4:5-42). When Jesus cast the demons out of the man from the Gadarenes, Jesus told him to stay there and share what Jesus had done for him (Mark 5:1-20).

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who brings glad tidings of good things!” Romans 10:14-15 (NKJV)

Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. 2 Timothy 4:2 – 4 (NKJV)

We have been discussing revival, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and a great harvest of souls to come into the kingdom in recent weeks. We must seek to live in revival and share revival with others. Revival begins with our repentance first!

Today we are going to look at sharing the gospel with others so they can receive eternal life through Jesus Christ. There is no better time than to proclaim the good news of the gospel than during a crisis in which we see our world is experiencing. These circumstances can open the door for us to have a spiritual conversation with others.

Would you be able to share Christ with someone else? Colossians 4:6 says to let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Would you know what to share? The Word of God instructs us as the Holy Spirit brings us the revelation of the truth (2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 4:12; John 14:26; 16:13; Romans 8:26).

“Now, therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” Exodus 4:12 (NKJV)

“I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know.” Psalms 40:9 (NKJV)

What is the gospel message? We must declare the bad news first before we can get to the good news because not everyone will believe they are a sinner. Romans 3:10 says no one is righteous. We have all broken God’s laws (James 2:10). We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

God’s punishment for our sin is spiritual and eternal death or separation from God (Genesis 2:15-17). Jesus is God the Son, who became a man like us to die for our sins (John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:9; Ephesians 3:19; Isaiah 9:6). He was sinless, lived a perfect life, and paid the penalty for us through His death on the cross (Isaiah 53:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).

We need a Savior. God loves us and sent His Son Jesus to shed His blood and die for our sins to reconcile us to God and make peace through the blood of His cross (John 3:16-17; Romans 5:8; Colossians 1:19-20).

The resurrection of Jesus is essential to the gospel because it proves that He overcame sin and death (Romans 1:1-4). We have a living Savior who was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 10:12; 12:2).

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3 – 4 (NKJV)

We receive the life of Christ when we repent for our sins and ask Jesus to come into our heart and be our Lord and Savior (Acts 3:19; 1 John 1:9). The Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell inside and makes us a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Romans 8:11; Acts 2:38; John 14:17). We have now become born again and the children of God (John 3:1-21; 1:9-13).

That if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9 – 10 (NKJV)

No one can come to Jesus except the Father draws him through the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit (John 6:44; 14:6; 16:8). It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance (Romans 2:4). Our job is to share the good news as the Holy Spirit leads us. God does the saving! We may plant or water the seed of the Word, but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-8).

The Holy Spirit knows who is ready to hear what you have to say. Ask Him to direct you to a person, and what to say, and He will tell you. It may start with sharing your testimony about the love and goodness of God in your life. Or how He has given you peace and hope.

Many people have a fear of sharing the gospel because of a fear of man. We may be fearful that people won’t like us; we will be rejected, scorned, or persecuted for the gospel’s and righteousness’ sake. Jesus said that we would suffer persecution for righteousness sake and for living a godly life (2 Timothy 3:12; Matthew 5:10-12). But they hated Him and persecuted Him first (John 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Psalm 103:14). We are to bless those who curse us (Romans 12:14) and to rejoice because Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33).

We are to have a fear of the Lord upon our lives, not the fear of man (Matthew 10:26-28). Jesus always says not to be afraid. He is with us and will never leave or forsake us. When the believers in the early church were told not to preach and share the gospel of Jesus with threats against their life, they went into a prayer meeting and prayed for boldness to share the gospel. The Holy Spirit came and shook the whole place and filled them with His power and anointing (Acts 4:29-31).

God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). We are not to be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 4:20). Also, Jesus says whoever denies Him, He will deny before the Father in heaven (Matthew 10:33).

Not everyone is going to listen or accept the Word (Mark 4:14-20). Some hear the word but it is immediately taken away by Satan. Some receive the word, but they have no root in themselves and so only endure for a time because of tribulation or persecution that arises for the word’s sake. Others allow the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires of other things to enter in and choke the word so that it becomes unfruitful. The Word needs to go into good soil where it will bear fruit. Prayer helps to prepare the hearts and minds and opens the eyes of the people we go to with the gospel of salvation.

Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers, but we can pray for them (2 Corinthians 4:4). We have the authority to bind and rebuke this blindness and darkness so that they can see the glorious light of the gospel (Luke 10:19; Matthew 18:18). Pray for your family, neighbors, and friends. Jesus is coming back soon, and we don’t know what tomorrow holds.

Believers all over the world are called to the marketplace and out into the streets. Not just because of their vocation, but God is using them to introduce His presence and power into every part of society and wherever we have influence. We are to function as Ekklesias the way Jesus described them, where two or three people are taking the Kingdom of God everywhere, they set foot! The Ekklesia is the Greek word for church in the New Testament. It represents the body of Christ worldwide with the Lord as the head. Don’t forsake the gathering together as the Lord leads you (Hebrews 10:24-25). Home churches were where the early church began (Acts 2:44-47)!

Ask the Lord to give you a heart for the lost to be saved and follow His leading. God will confirm His Word with signs and wonders (Mark 16:20). Let’s believe and contend for a great awakening with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a great harvest of souls for the kingdom of God!