“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14 NLT)
If the evangelization of the world was up to you, how would you do it? What about reaching those in your country? Your state? Your county? Your city? Your neighborhood? Your family?
Too often we get so overwhelmed by the vastness of world evangelization we lose sight of the plan Jesus put into motion before He left this earth. Remember Matthew 28:18-20? “Jesus came and told His disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”
Couple those verses with Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Jesus anticipated that we would need a plan, a strategy, if we were going to share the Good News with everyone on the planet. What was His plan? Start small, with those in your “Jerusalem,” then reach further and further from home. But in order to do that what MUST we have? The very two things Jesus gave us! Authority and power! Why are those so vital? We have no authority to tell anyone about Jesus unless and until we know Him and receive the authority only He can give us as His followers.
In Mark 6:6a-7 we read: “Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. And He called His twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits.” Why is that important? He was modeling what He was going to ask them to do, then giving them His authority and power to enable them to do it. It’s no different for us today.
God has commissioned and empowered each of us to reach someone for Him. He’s called us to do what only we can do, having been equipped with the tools that only He can give. Sharing your faith isn’t about you, it’s only and always about Him. And He never asks of us what He hasn’t modeled before us.
If we’re God’s child, with every conversation, regardless of who it is, we’re doing one of three things: we’re planting Gospel seeds, watering them, or harvesting the seeds we or someone else have planted. We talk about what we love! It may be sports, cooking, bowling, vacationing, our family, or Jesus, but we can’t help ourselves, we’re going to talk about what means the most to us.
Sharing your faith is going to be hard until you realize it’s only sharing with someone else what is most important in your life. We share about our spouse, kids, grandkids, our pastor, group leader, whoever we love and care about, not because we “have to,” but because we can’t help ourselves, it just comes naturally.
J.C. Ryle wrote: “Happy indeed is that Church whose members not only desire to reach heaven themselves, but desire also to take others with them.” If you’re excited about going to heaven, you’re going to talk about it with others. So, what if you’re not talking about heaven or Jesus or your church with others, besides your saved friends?
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 