Daily Devotion
Tell The Gospel Story
By: Marissa Wolf
“Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.”
Psalm 96:3
We are to tell the gospel to all, not just the select few that we desire the most. We are to go into all the world where God calls us to go, even if our flesh desires not to go there. The Bible story of Jonah and Nineveh is a great example of this. This is a great reminder that we aren’t to give into the spirit of fear and to run away when things get hard or when they don’t go our way, or it’s not exactly how we planned on doing something.
We are to not be ashamed of the gospel or sharing it for that matter. If we don’t know how or feel inadequate about sharing it, God will give us the answer on how to word it. (See: Romans 1:16 and Mark 13:11).
When we share the gospel with others, we must be sure to not be led by our flesh and to not add our own man-made ideas and “beliefs” into it. It is also crucial that we don’t take Scripture out of context or twist it to what suits our flesh best. Scripture is to stay as it is written, exactly by the inspiration of God alone. Scripture is to not be bent towards man’s false ideologies.
We must take into account that when we share the gospel, we share it in love, and we are walking in the Spirit when we do so. (See: Ephesians 4:15). We aren’t to attack the person and condemn them to Hell due to our false assumptions or true accusations that have made an appearance to us. This is wrong. We aren’t to attack the person, but to love the person and attack the problem, and hate the sin.
We are to tell them gently. It can be hard to keep sharing the gospel when others are adamant in keeping their sin and are too stubborn to give it up. Don’t let that discourage you from continuing on sharing the gospel. Pray for those who are stuck in their sin and love of it. Pray for a humble heart and willing spirit that they will become ready to receive with meekness the engrafted word. Keep praying and Christ will plant seeds of holiness within them.
Pride and ignorance of God are just two of the sins that will keep a man from knowing God and being stuck in his own ways. Their ears when led by the flesh may not be willing to hear and may not be ready to listen with humility to what a Gospel-sharer has to say.
The gospel isn’t something that can be forced upon someone. There are many out there who claim “They don’t like the narrative of the gospel and having it be forced in their faces and shoved down their throats.” This is a wrong attitude to have and they are walking in the power of darkness that Scripture calls pride. Pride is a sin and an abomination to the Lord that needs to be casted unto Him, repented of and seek forgiveness on. The flesh can give in so easily to become prideful, but as Christians who are walking in the Spirit, we are called to be holy as God is holy not to be prideful as the world is prideful. (See: 1 Peter 1:14-16 and Proverbs 6:16-19). The gospel story in the Bible is not some false man-made narrative, Scripture is indeed true. The Bible is not some fairytale or a fictitious story. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and Jesus is the Truth and we can’t come unto the Father in Heaven unless we come through Jesus. (See: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and John 14:6). Jesus is the only way, there is no other. (See: Acts 4:12).
Through sharing the gospel to others, we are to draw them towards repentance. It is ultimately up to them to die to their flesh, become crucified with Christ, and to be born again. When we share the gospel we must share the gospel story in whole, not only in a select few parts.
Pride also stops us from sharing the gospel along with many other emotions and feelings that creep up within us. When these feelings arise, we must make sure to cast them to the Lord and trust in Him to guide us. (See: 1 Peter 5:7 and Proverbs 3:5-7). Again, we must remember to not be led by our feelings and emotions when sharing the gospel, but to be led by the Spirit. (See: Romans 8:14 and Galatians 5:16-26). We can get so stuck in our own ways and not want to get out of our own comfort zone to greet others with the love of God. Uncomfortability and the unknown that comes with it, many of us aren’t willing to get our feet wet for Christ. We want to keep our feet in the comfort of our own flesh instead of taking a leap of faith in Christ and allowing Him to guide us in the unknown even if it makes us uncomfortable.
It can be so easy to just go along with the flow of the crowd because it’s easier to blend in and conform than it is to stand out and be set apart. (See: Romans 12:1-2). Boldness done for the glory of God in a Christian lifestyle will oftentimes come with its many challenges. The enemy doesn’t like it when we are not ashamed of the gospel and we are willing to be bold for Christ and to share Him with others. The devil will come in many forms and try to stop one from sharing the gospel boldly. (See: John 10:10). These forms brought forth from the devil may not always be obvious either, they could also strike in subtlety. We mustn’t turn our ears to the devil or to give in to believing what the devil has to say, but we must resist the enemy and humbly submit ourselves to the Lord! (See: James 4:7-10).
The worldly crowd is so eager to share stories of their favorite celebrities and all their habits, gossip, rave about great deals they found, everything their pets or children are up too, their favorite sports team and the scores of all the games, recipes, what coffee drink they had this morning, the biggest fish they caught, whatever new to them funny thing they found online, etcetera. While not all of these things are bad to talk about, an important question is are we just as eager if not more to share about Christ and His message to others as we are to share these temporal things? (See: 1 John 2:15-17 and James 4:4). We are almost always willing to discuss these things boldly, yet not many like to approach in conversation when the topic is Christ. We often get afraid and ashamed to talk about the Bible and Christ as we are too often concerned with what others will think of us and what that will do to our reputation.
Many don’t mind talking about Christ if His name is only used as a curse word and done in vain or if God is being mocked or blasphemed. (See: Exodus 20:7 and Galatians 6:7-9). This is a sin and needs to be repented of. The worldly crowd will cheer at this, but if one is sharing the gospel they will say it's being shoved down their throats and cause as much division as they can until they get their way. Yet there are many who don’t want to talk about Christ when it gets Biblical. The world likes to talk about their own version of god that isn’t the one-true God of the Bible, but we aren’t called to share that false god’s message, but to share the one-true God’s gospel message.
We shouldn’t be worried about ruining our reputation and what talking about Christ will do to us. Will we lose friends, our spouse, our jobs, our families, etcetera. if we talk about Christ? Quite possibly, everyone’s outcome of sharing Christ will be different, but the path to eternal life with Christ is indeed narrow and one will lose many things along the way. (See: Matthew 7:13-14). You can’t bring the ways of the world into Heaven with you. (See: 1 Timothy 6:7). It doesn’t work like that, yet we’re still afraid of losing them. Why have we exalted them on a higher pedestal than Christ? We are practicing the darkness of idolatry and that is a sin that needs to be brought to the Lord and repented of. (See: Leviticus 26:1 and Exodus 20:3-5). We must seek forgiveness if one is practicing idolatry. If we’re too concerned with our reputation and the ways of the world while we’re striving to follow Christ, we are trying to serve two masters and we as Christians aren’t called to serve two masters. (See: Matthew 6:24). We must choose this day and every day whom we will serve? Will we daily choose to serve Christ or will we daily choose to serve sin, our flesh, the world, or the devil? (See: Joshua 24:15). That choice is up to you and only one you can make.
Are you willing to get out of your comfort zone and be uncomfortable for Christ? Is there any spirit of fear that you need to let go of when it comes to sharing the gospel to others? Are you willing to walk in boldness for Christ? Do you pray for others that are against receiving the gospel? When it comes to sharing the gospel are you one who idly sits by and conforms to the world and blends in with them refusing to share the gospel or are you one who bounces at the edge of their seat with excitement to boldly share the gospel with everyone they cross paths with? What’s holding you back from sharing the gospel? If there is anything holding you back, will you bring it to the Lord and leave it in His hands? Will you let Him guide you to bring others to Christ?
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Mark 16:15
