Preach Jesus and Him Crucified Pt One
“Are you preaching the Gospel to enough people?”
Shortly after I got saved, I heard an amazing fact in church. The preacher said “95% of all Christians surveyed have never lead another person to Christ.”
This surprised me because I had already won several people to Christ within my first six months of Christianity. I got saved in jail, read the Bible. Which taught me to preach Jesus and Him crucified. When I got out, I obeyed. I preached to my friends, to my relatives, to people I worked with, I even preached to strangers I met on the street. As a result, people got saved. It’s really that easy! I had never gone to any Bible school (at the time) or took any evangelism classes; I just preached what Paul preached, Jesus and Him crucified!
The world is wicked, especially right here at home in the U.S.A. I look around and see crime everywhere even in small towns, gangs are popping up. Abortion is killing more and more kids everyday, the murder rate rises every year. I could go on forever. Many people in the church try to contribute this to the fact that prayer and the Bible was taken out of our schools, or to all the sex and violence on television. Now, I believe that all of these things have a lot to do with it. In fact, I could name about ten more. Things like Christians not participating in politics, and picking righteous leaders that will set a godly example to the youth of our country. But these are all minor, the major reason America is continually growing in wickedness, is because 95% of Christians are not preaching Jesus, and Him Crucified.
That is the reason 95% aren’t leading people to Jesus, because those same people aren’t preaching Jesus!
If you’ve been saved for years and you haven’t won anyone to Christ, you aint’ preaching Christ! You may tell me that you do witness from time to time to some of your friends or to your relatives. But that’s just it. God didn’t command you to preach from time to time, and to a few select people (friends and family.) God said to go into all the world. In other words preach in mass, don’t pick one person and spend the next three years witnessing! You’re wasting your time.
Mark 16:15-16, 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Notice that, that last part didn’t say “but he that believeth not, preach to him again.” You see the fact is, God didn’t tell us to win anyone. He simply said to preach the Gospel. Most people that you preach to won’t believe. But that’s okay!
Ezekiel 3:18-19, 18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Like I said, the sad thing is, not everyone you preach to will believe the Gospel. I think that is one of the main areas stopping Christians from winning as many people to the Gospel as they can. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying you should give up on anyone. I’m just saying you must recognized that there comes a time when you have done all that you can for someone. It’s time to move on to more fertile ground. And who knows? Maybe for that person, you planted the seed and someone else will water. You simply won’t reach that person by continuing to “bug” him or her with the same Gospel he or she has already heard and rejected. But that doesn’t mean you can’t pray for him or her, or be there for him or her when they come to you with questions. And it doesn’t mean they won’t get saved. By knowing when to back off you not only give that person time to meditate on what you’ve planted, but best of all you give yourself time to preach the gospel to someone who might actually receive it from you!
I guarantee you, that if you preach the simple Gospel of Jesus and Him crucified, to a different person every week. Someone you’ve never witnessed to before. (That means sooner or later you’re gonna have to start witnessing to strangers.) Within six months you will have won at least one if not more (probably much more) to Christ.
But you’ve got to preach the Gospel, and you’ve got to preach it in mass!
“What’s in it for you?”
You might be asking “What’s in it for me?” Well I’m glad you asked. But before I answer that I’ve got to say this. Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and to preach the Gospel.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
This is a command not a suggestion. Not only that, but what I said about the countries’ growing wickedness, obligates you to preach the gospel. Unfortunately, if you’re anything like me (and I’m sure you are) command and obligation is powerless. The most they can do is get you started. Perhaps even motivate you to make a resolution, or even an oath. Then shortly after that, Romans 7:19 comes to pass and your back to where you started. "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." So then the command and the obligation is not enough. There has to be something in it for you!
Before I continue, I have to address all the Christians reading this that are probably saying that the mere privilege of serving Jesus is enough. If that’s the case, then why do soldiers (Christians are soldiers) who claim to love their country and go off to war for it, still expect a pay check? I mean the government pays all of there living expenses. What do they need money for? Are they lying about loving their country? If they really love there country so much, shouldn’t the mere privilege of serving that country be enough? Of course they’re not lying, they do love their country but that doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve their just wages.
Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Not only is it okay to expect reward for your service, God even commands that all who seek him do just that!
Hebrews 11:6b for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
One more thing to anyone who might have thought something like that. It’s that type of religious attitude that is keeping Christian soldiers out of this war to win the lost!
Time now to move on to the “what’s in it for me” question. The answer is plenty! The obvious first of all, is the treasures you will be storing up in heaven and the blessing of meeting those people again in eternity. But there is even more reward than that. It’s fun! Watching the joy of God come into someone’s life for the first time. I can’t even begin to describe the feeling you get seeing the look on someone’s face as they realize that they are forgiven! That there is a God, and that, that God loves them! I’ve actually seen grown men break out in tears over this realization. Then there is the effect it will have on your own walk. New converts hold you accountable. The fact that someone is watching your walk inspires you. Makes you want to try harder, to persevere in holiness, to be more like Christ. Finally, it grows your faith. Seeing God’s ability to save the lost. To come into the life of nonbelievers and make them into saints over and over again will amaze you. Right in front of your eyes God can turn a crack addict into a counselor, and a gang member into a preacher!
Witnessing this power builds your faith stronger each time. Not only the fact that God can do all of this, but the fact that you were his instrument to bring it about! That God can work through you! Let me ask you something. How many times can God save a sinner by your preaching, before you get it into your spirit that God can heal the sick through you?
Through You! By your Faith!
“What is the Gospel?”
That sounds like a silly question to be answering in a hub written to Christians, who have obviously been saved through the preaching of the Gospel. But it’s not. In my experience I’ve seen Christians preaching everything but the Gospel to sinners. That’s because they have a good enough understanding of the Gospel to be saved themselves, but they don’t understand enough about it to preach it to someone else. Either that or they just forgot what it was that brought them to Christ.
Before I get into what the Gospel is, I’d like to address some things that are not the Gospel.
1. Apologetics. Defending the faith with evidence and facts. Are not the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5, 4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking apologetics. They not only strengthen the Christians faith, and his ability to give an answer for what he believes in, as commanded that he be able to do in 1st Peter 3:15, but they can also be instrumental in someone’s conversion. As they were in my own. But although they can be used with the Gospel to back up the Gospel, they themselves are not the Gospel.
Some people might have gotten mad at me for saying apologetics are not the Gospel,
but a lot more people are gonna get mad at me for the next one.
2. Your love. Is not the Gospel.
Proverbs 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
I’ve heard many Christians say to wicked people that although they don’t condone what they’re doing, they still love them. Those Christians sometimes will go out of there way to prove to that person that despite the wicked things they do, they still love them. They actually think that this is going to cause someone to stop whatever wicked thing it is that they don’t condone. Well sometimes they’re right. If that person agrees with them that what they are doing is wrong. I mean that person really believes it, in his or her heart. Not just saying they believes it’s wrong to get the Christian off of their back. That person can be persuaded to repent of that sin because of the love shown him. But most of the time sinners don’t agree. For every Christian telling them that they’re in sin, they’ve got fifty other sinners telling them that what they do is perfectly normal and no bodies business! I’ve known people who literally break almost every commandment every day and still think they’re going to heaven because they’re good deeds outweigh they’re bad deeds. The only way anyone could believe that, is if they’ve convinced themselves that the wicked things they do are either not that bad or not bad at all!
Here’s where your problem comes in then. If you say to that person that you love them, but not what they do, and that person doesn’t think there is anything wrong with what they do. It won’t mean anything to them. Let me prove it to you. Take something that you like to do. Something that is not wicked, and be honest. Will the love method stop you from doing that thing. For example I like to swim. If you told me that although you don’t condone my swimming because you think it is evil, but you still love me. That wouldn’t stop me from swimming. Of course I would never invite you to go swimming with me, and I would never swim around you. But I wouldn’t stop swimming. I’d think you were a little strange, but I would not repent from my supposedly evil swimming ways.
Why should I stop swimming? Why is it wicked? What are the consequences? What will I gain from quitting? Tell me that. Obviously I won’t have to quit to gain your love you’ve convinced me that you will love me no matter what.
Again, like apologetics, love can be instrumental along with the gospel in fact is a BIG part of it, but it is not the gospel by itself.
3. Theology. Is not the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 8 We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
Predestination verses freewill, pre, mid or post rapture, Trinitarian or oneness, Etc. etc. etc. This stuff is more effective at dividing Christians than it is at converting new ones. They are all interesting and even necessary, especially if you plan on going into the ministry. But they are not the Gospel. I actually knew someone once that was more likely to talk to a sinner about predestination than the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
I could go on forever with the things Christians preach to non believers that are not the Gospel. I believe that most of these things can be preached with it, and may even be instrumental in helping a lost soul to understand the Gospel. The problem comes when you try to preach them instead of the Gospel. This only causes confusion.
So then, what is the Gospel?
In my next hub which will be part two of this one, I will explain the Gospel in great detail. Some of the details you may have never heard before. I used to preach a message all over the United States called “You’ve Got to Believe This Gospel.” In that message I explained what I will be explain in part two of this hub. Everywhere I preached it I would have seminary graduates, bible school graduates, and even preachers come up to me afterward and tell me that they had never heard the Gospel explained so clearly. Some of the things I will explain are why everyone needs to be saved. Why everyone deserves to go to Hell. Why there must be a Hell in order for there to be a Heaven. Why God ordered no justice for the murder of Able and how that ties into the gospel. And finally how the resurrection of Jesus Christ can make you righteous. You don’t want to miss part two of this hub. God Bless.
