Reflections: Preaching the Gospel (part 2)

http://reflectionsbymichelleyee.wordpress.com

http://facebook.com/reflectionsbymichelleyee

Previously in my blog, we discussed just briefly about the call to preach the gospel, but today we shall emphasise the more important issue - the reason why we should preach the gospel and I’ll also explain a little more on why there is so much struggles in preaching the gospel.

First and foremost, not only is preaching the gospel a command of the Lord, given to us through the Great Commission, but the preaching of the gospel is about the souls of people. The reason why God had to come down to die for us is because we are in great need of a savoir, we are all sinners condemned to hell and God has to do something to redeem us from that curse. Isaiah 53:6 tells us, “All we like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to its own ways. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him (Jesus Christ)”, Romans 6:23 tells us, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The reason why the gospel is so offensive is because tells people the hard truth that it’s a message of heaven or hell.  Previously, I’ve talked about some hard core evangelist pushing the message forcefully down the throat to tell people straight to the face that either you accept Jesus or you’re going to hell. Initially, I thought they were being unloving and tactless, but as I was listening to my pastor preach this morning (surprised that he was talking about the same topic that I’m sharing) I’ve learnt from my pastor that apart from sharing with them about the love of Jesus, telling and warning people about hell is actually the most loving thing you can do. I like to use the example that my pastor shared with us – It is like when you see an oncoming car going toward your loved ones, the most loving thing to do is to tell him there’s a car coming and push him away from it to prevent him from being killed.

Similarly, the hard truth that the gospel preaches about Jesus being the way, the truth and life and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6) and “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), is a message that most find it hard to swallow because of the nature of pride and sin in men, we refuse to accept that we are sinners and are damn to hell. Previously in my earlier blog, I’ve quoted John 3:18, the fact that we do not believe in the name of the Son already spells condemnation for ourselves. This truth in itself is offensive, but preach it we still must because of the next point I’m going to talk about…

The next point is about the urgency in preaching the gospel, as we are now living in the end times, and signs are showing that Jesus may be coming back any time. From now to the final day that Jesus is coming back, He is giving us opportunity upon opportunity to repent of our sins before it is too late. No one knows when Jesus will come back, but when He finally does, that would be ultimate judgment day and our fate would have been sealed by the decision that we have chosen before either eternal life through Jesus in heaven or eternal damnation and separation from Jesus in hell, and there would be no more chance left to repent. Those names that are not in the book of life will be sent to hell. And Hell as described in the Bible is a place of 1) Eternal fire (Matt 25:41), 2) Eternal punishment (Matt 25:46), 3) Outer darkness (Matt 8:12), 4) Eternal destruction (2 Thess 1:9) and finally 5) Lake of fire (Rev 19:20). We have to make up our minds now to decide that we will boldly share the gospel no matter how daunting the task may seem and that takes me to my final point.

My last point touches on the fear of the preaching of the gospel which I’ve already covered in my previous blog when I talked about persecution. Because the gospel is offensive, it is also confrontational therefore people face the fear of being ridiculed and rejected.  But let me add this, since we know the reality of hell; are we still going to be selfish and not share the gospel with those who are still lost?

Like I’ve also mentioned previously, Jesus has this promise for us “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the words I said to you, “A slave is not greater than his master, if they persecute me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.” – John 15:18-20.

We have been promised persecution as Christians whether a not we chose to share the gospel, therefore sharing the gospel should not be an excuse at all, because sharing the gospel has got no co-relation with persecution. As we have already established that fact that the gospel itself is offensive, so it makes no difference to us whether a not we are going to be ridiculed by preaching it.  Persecution is part and parcel of the Christian living because we chose to follow the ways of Christ which is ultimately very different from the world and we are bound to face a lot of conflicts, and therefore as a result of that, meet with persecution for our faith and our conviction.

The fear of persecution or rejection shouldn’t deter us from sharing the gospel for we must remember what is at stake - the lives and soul of our love ones. The love that we have for them should motivate us and stir us to compassion as we pray and seek the Lord for their salvation.  Realising that the time is near, we must ask the Lord for the courage to reach out to those who are still lost and preach the gospel to them. Remember heaven is real and so is hell. Make up your mind now!

God bless you!

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love;
Princess Michelle –
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

Reflections: Preaching the Gospel

http://reflectionsbymichelleyee.wordpress.com
http://facebook.com/reflectionsbymichelleyee


As Christians, the topic of preaching the gospel has always been a common one in church, according to the Bible, preaching the gospel is a call for all Bible believing folks. The Great Commission which is in Matthew 28:19-20 - “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age” is a very common verse known to all Christians. This verse alone tells us that preaching the gospel is the duty for all Christians not just for the evangelist or missionaries who have been called by God to these specific offices of service.

There are essentially a few ways that the Gospel can be preached. The first way is through evangelising either through a missionary or simply by sharing ones faith with another, another way is through the pulpit ministry (done by our Pastors on our regular church services), sometimes through media and the finally the last one which most Christians are not aware of – preaching the gospel by the testimony of our lives.

There have been varies of reaction to the preaching of the gospel, these different reactions comes from not only the pre-believers but also from within the church among God’s family. There have been cases where pre-believers are being offended by the preaching of the gospel, and there are Christians, who are not willing to preach the gospel because of fear. There are hard core evangelists who push the gospel message with a lot of fire and passion and some pre-believers get offended as a result of it. Sometimes people are offended by the message and a lot of times it is because of the way we do it, although the gospel itself could be offensive.

Different people use different technics and styles to get the gospel across to the pre-believers, some do it gently, some are more forceful and less tactful (and get people offended) but no matter how you do it, the message is the same – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world would be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” - John 3:16-18.

The Gospel has always known to be offensive and defensive, but offensive as it may sound, (“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18), it still has to be preached as it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some Christian are afraid of sharing the gospel for the fear being “rejected”, some lose their friends as a result of preaching the gospel, or sometimes they are just afraid of being laughed at.

However, what we do not realise is this, when people reject the gospel, they are rejecting the God of the gospel and not rejecting the messenger. Jesus has this promise for us however, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the words I said to you, “A slave is not greater than his master, if they persecute me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.“ – John 15:18-20.

We have been promised persecution as Christians whether a not we chose to share the gospel, therefore sharing the gospel should not be an excuse at all, because sharing the gospel has got no co-relation with persecution.  Persecution is part and parcel of the Christian living because we chose to follow the ways of Christ which is ultimately very different from the world and we are bound to face a lot of conflicts, and therefore as a result of that, meet with persecution for our faith and our conviction.  

In fact, a Christian who is not being persecuted is questionable about whether he/she is a true disciple of the Lord. Some are afraid of sharing the gospel because they don’t know how to do it, in fact sharing the gospel is actually just talking to your friend about Jesus and it could be as simple as sharing your testimony how you got to know Him and how knowing Him has helped transformed you.

We forget that when we share the gospel, we are planting seeds of God’s word into their lives, and we learn in the bible that there are different soils (read the parable of the seed in Mark 4: 3 -25) representing the different condition of the person’s heart. Therefore, we must be not be discouraged if our audiences reject the message, the seed planted in their hearts takes time to take root, but we must be faithful to water it with prayer and constant sharing.

Most of us also forget that for many who do not have access to the bible, they will be “reading” our lives to see the testimony that we carry on Christ's behalf. Remember we are to be ambassador of Christ and we are to represent Christ to the world. It is therefore, important to reflect on our actions to see if we have been good testimonies to the unbelieving world.  We would be to them the “living and walking Bible”, and if we are not careful in the way we conduct ourselves, we may be actually turning them away from Christ instead of drawing and leading them towards Him and are doing a disservice to Christ. Therefore, at the end of the day, the way we conduct ourselves among our pre-believing friends and family members is a form of sharing the gospel as well.

To conclude, sharing the gospel is not just for the evangelist or for the missionaries, but for all Christians, and whether a not we are aware, our lives itself is a living testimony to the world and by our conduct we are “preaching” Christ to the un-believing world. It is therefore important to make sure that we portray the right image in order that we bring honour instead of being a disgrace to Him.

God bless you!

Serving with you in His kingdom with love;

Princess Michelle –
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King

There is no one like You God

http://reflectionsbymichelleyee.wordpress.com
http://facebook.com/reflectionsbymichelleyee

There is no one like You God
In heaven above and earth below
You are God and God alone

In all things, big and small
You oh Lord, made them all
There is no one like You God

Merciful in all Your ways
I’ll give You all of my praise
For there is no one like You God

Slow to anger, abounding in love
From the glory of heaven
You chose to come down to this earth

By Your blood, I’ve been redeemed
By Your grace, I’ve been set free
There is no one like You God in all eternity

Great is Your love, great is Your mercy
Great is thy faithfulness unto me
There is indeed no one like You oh God

Written by Michelle Yee

Serving with you in His Kingdom with love:
Princess Michelle -
Beloved Daughter of the Most High King