What Is Your Role in Preaching the Gospel?

What role do you play in the preaching of the Gospel? Interesting that we had. How do you deal with bullies? We're going to talk a little bit about that. In context of how do you stand up for the Word of God? Not just standing up for your own personal insults and whatnot, but how do you stand up for the Word of God? Do you play a role in preaching of the Gospel? Now, we do, collectively, as the church. It is our job to preach the Gospel.

We have booklets and magazines. We have a television program. We have bumper stickers now. Right? But what about you, personally? In Matthew 5, verse 14, Jesus Christ said, Matthew 5, 14, You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand.

And it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven. So, what is your personal responsibility to preach the Gospel? There are a lot of Christian denominations out there that take this in so many different directions. Some people will knock on your door. Do you know Jesus? And there's lots of good memes out there of how annoying that is. Just go onto Facebook and you'll see them. Those people get bullied all the time.

Is that what God expects you to do? I love that meme with the chihuahua that's poking his head out the door. It says, if you've ever been... and it names one of the more common denominations that goes around knocking on doors. And it has this chihuahua with his ears back and his eyes wide open like, Why are you at my door? Is that preaching the Gospel? Is that what God wants of you? Or is there something far more important you need to be doing? I don't really have time, but I'll do it anyway. I love it when they come to my door.

I just love that. I never let them in because I don't want to disturb the entire household. Because when they come to my door, we are going to have a conversation. Oh, really? Tell me about that. And then, you know, you can lead by asking questions. And you just ask question after question after question. And pretty soon you've got them where you want them. I literally had a high-ranking 30-year-level minister of a certain denomination take his troops and march off and wipe the dust off of his feet.

So it can be entertaining, but brethren, that is not letting your light shine. That's Christian terrorism, if you ask me. The church has a commission to preach the gospel. And oftentimes we think, however, we go the other extreme. And we think that the church preaching the gospel is a group effort, or some would say a corporate effort, to preach the gospel. And the major way we preach the gospel today is actually through the same way that it was preached in New Testament times.

When they were persecuted in Jerusalem, where did they flee? They fled to Pella. And that's where the church started to just expand. Oh, why are you people here? Oh, we follow Jesus and we got kicked out. Well, tell me about this, Jesus. And followers in churches went up in cities all around because the church got bullied. And they fled Jerusalem, and the church grew from personal example. Oh, through the apostles, you know, we see the Apostle Paul going through the book of Acts.

Oh, I forgot to announce. The Big Sandy Regional Weekend coming up in February. Teens, your Bible Jeopardy is going to be on the book of Acts. So start reading the book of Acts. So we notice the Apostle Paul did a lot of preaching of the gospel. He was the tip of the spear. We have that today. We have our magazines. We have Mr. McNeely and Mr. Myers and Mr. Petty out there on the Beyond Today program. Tip of the spear.

And then they meet you. And you are supposed to be the end result of what we're preaching as a group. You are where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. We just read our Lord Jesus Christ said, you are the light to the world. He didn't just mean you, the church group, although he was talking to everybody on the mountain. That was from the Sermon on the Mount.

Do you take that individually and personally? We are not called right now just for personal salvation. That is not the purpose of this first calling, the first fruits. Personal salvation is not the entire purpose of your calling. You personally have a job to do. In preaching the gospel, do regular church members play a role in preaching the gospel? Actually, it's quite an important one. Do you know that the fruit that a vine produces is not actually consumed by the vine? The grapevine does not eat its own grapes. Who eats the grapes of the grapevine? Somebody else eats them. The fruit that you are supposed to produce in your life, the fruit that the Holy Spirit is producing in you and me, is supposed to be consumed by others.

We are a light of the world. We are supposed to shine and produce fruit. The vine doesn't eat its own grapes. It's for somebody else. In the Scripture, we're not just called disciples. We're also called workers. Let's notice in Matthew 9, verse 35, Matthew 9, verse 35. Jesus traveled through the cities and the villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news, in other words, the gospel of the kingdom. Wherever he went, he healed people and every sort of disease and illness.

In verse 36, he felt great pity for the crowds that came because their problems were so great and they didn't know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd. There is a huge need for the fruit that Jesus Christ is producing in you. There's a huge need for it. You are the work of Jesus Christ. You are what's supposed to help those people that he had great pity on.

And he said to his disciples, verse 37, the harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. You are workers. You're not just here for personal salvation. Neither am I.

So pray that the Lord, who is in charge of the harvest, ask him to send out more workers for the fields. So what I want to do in the next short 20 minutes is go through three points, three points that you and I can use to personally preach the gospel, to personally have a role in preaching the gospel. Try to get through this quickly so that I can get to the story at the end, because you know me in stories. They tend to go along. Key number one, our responsibility in being part of the body of Jesus Christ. Pray for the gospel. Our prayers for the work, for what God is doing on earth, are very important. Pray for the gospel. Do you remember when Joshua crossed the Jordan and he led the Israelites under the direct orders of God to take Jericho? God ordered him to take the Promised Land, and he was to move from city to city to city, and take them one by one in the name of the Lord. He had his orders. He faithfully followed his orders. He completely destroyed Jericho, except for Rahab and her household. But a soldier named Achan stole some fine clothes and some silver and things. And then God said, don't do that. Don't touch anything from Jericho. And Achan did. And so Joshua sent out spies to the next city, the city of Ai. And the report came in that we only need 3,000 men to take that city. God had already given instructions to Joshua to conquer the land. So Joshua didn't pray about it. He just went forward with his previous instructions. No need to pray. God already told me what to do. And that's like us saying, God already told us to preach the Gospel. Let's go preach it. And he didn't pray before actually engaging in battle. And they got whooped. And then they found out what the sin was. And they dealt with the sin. And then they took the city of Ai and all the other cities with no problem. And after that, before every battle, I bet you Joshua prayed. Do we have any sins we need to know about before we go into battle? Can we go into battle? Are we good here? Brethren, we need to pray for the Gospel. Just like Joshua prayed before he went into battle. We know we're supposed to preach the Gospel. Jesus Christ told us to. But do we pray about it? Are we doing what we're supposed to do when we're supposed to do it? Do we have every specific instructions on what to do at every time? No. How do we get those by praying? What if we have a great sin that needs to be removed before we go preach the Gospel? And we go spend a bunch of money on it, but we haven't cleaned house yet. And God lets that Gospel effort go right down the drain. And we might throw our arms up and think, well, it's society. It's this. It's that. God doesn't want us to preach the Gospel anymore. No. He said we're to be preaching the Gospel until he comes. So we need to pray before we actually step out, brethren. What about personally and individually? When we go to work, especially in this time of year. You know, it gets dark quicker now. People get more depressed. The holidays are coming up. Have pity on your fellow workers. I mean, it gets depressing this time of year. The stress level goes through the roof this time of year. Oh, all the family and the gifts they have to buy, and that's not even the half of it. All old family injuries and wounds come up this time of year, because it's a time of year when most people are getting together and having family dinners. And it's not pretty. Do you pray before you go to work? Let me be a light every day? I would. I highly recommend it.

You can do a lot of good, but you can do a lot of damage. Luke 12 and verse 11. Luke 12 and verse 11. What do you say when people come to you in this time of stress and they bully you? And they will.

As Mr. Brooks was talking about in the first sermon, but they bully you over your religion. And if you've been in the church for any length of time, you've had that happen to you. We get bullied from many more sources than just those who do not believe in God. We get also bullied by people who profess that they believe in God, but they don't believe in God the same way we do. And so, in this, especially this stressful time of year, brethren, it's not their fault. Remember the Day of Atonement and the Azazel, the scapegoat where the blame lies. It's not their fault. But they get a little cranky towards us, don't they? Do you pray for their sake that you can be the light to the world? Luke 12 and verse 11. Now, when they bring you to the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not worry about how you should answer. Does this make you uptight? Does this topic make you feel uncomfortable? You know, a lot of us are okay with facing ourselves and needing to overcome and change. But when it comes to being the light to the world, we want to hide that lamp under a basket, don't we? Right? The last thing we want is more stress in our lives. Why don't you keep Christmas? Why don't you do that? You think you need to keep the law? On and on and on it goes. And that's the last thing we want to face, isn't it? But Jesus Christ said, do not worry how you should answer, or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. But what if you're not listening to God? What if you're not listening to His Spirit? What if you're going it alone? Always pray before you give an answer. Always pray before you give an answer. We should pray for our leaders in the church that God will guide him to do his will to accomplish as much in preaching the gospel as he wills it. We should pray for our leaders, our political leaders, that God will open doors that we can preach the gospel. Not just here, but around the world.

But we should also pray that our own personal sins be forgiven. That we not be like Joshua, going into battle, assuming we have our orders, but not listening to all of the orders that God gave, and just being very selective on which ones we follow. Whoop! Hey! God said, preach the gospel. Out we go!

We get nailed.

Where was God? Oh, he was right there the whole time. We were just being very selective on which orders we were listening to, and not listening to all of the orders that God gave. So let's pray. Pray that God will accomplish what he needs you to do. That God will give you the words to say any will. Let's look at the second half of verse 16 in James 5. The second half, I know this is taking a verse out of context, but I think it's appropriate. James 5 verse 16b, the second half of it. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Yeah, but I don't know what to say.

I don't know what to do. God will give you that. And he will make it work like you could have never planned it to work. God will give you what to say. Your job is to pray. Your job is to trust him. His job is to give you the words to say. And he will. He brought you to repentance. He brought you into his church. It was his fault. He's the one who did it. He'll get you through it. God takes responsibility for you. The prayers of a righteous avails much. Don't make the mistake of Joshua. God told him to go conquer the land.

That was true. But that wasn't the only thing God told Joshua. Always pray before you give an answer. Well, hey, Joe, why don't you keep Christmas? Why don't you come into the office party? Do you just give an answer? Well, hey, I'm a Christian. Here's why.

I'm just going to shoot from the hip on this one. No! Say a quick prayer. Our prayers in these matters will accomplish much. All Joshua needed to do was bow his knees before God and ask him, Should I go take the city of Ai? That's all he had to do. And God would have told him, Nope, you've got sin. You need to get it out first.

So, point number one is pray for the gospel. But point number two is don't say too much and don't say too little. Yeah. How do you do that? Don't say too much and don't say too little. The words we say to people have a great impact, as we heard in the first sermon. We've probably all made big mistakes with our words. I know I have. And it takes a lot of wisdom in this area when you're giving an answer on behalf of God.

And how do you know how much to say and how much to not say? There are way too many scriptures to read on this particular point for the allotted time. But our words will have a huge impact. So let's go to 1 Peter 3, verse 15. I think we'll get a pretty good cross-section of what to say and what not to say from Peter.

And David, actually. 1 Peter 3, verse 15. But sanctify the Lord in your hearts. Make sure that when you go out in the morning, before you start your day, that you remember you have a special relationship with God. And God has a very special place in your life. That's what that means.

Sanctify the Lord God in your heart. That is not just a trite saying. That's not just a colloquialism. Those are marching orders. Make sure before you go out, you remember you are special to God and he is special to you. And then, Peter goes on to say, and always be ready to give a defense. Notice this next phrase. It's key. It's critical. To everyone who asks you. Let's read that again. To everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.

In meekness and fear. You don't club them over the head, and you don't run away, but you humbly give an answer to everybody at your office. No. That's not what it says. As soon as they send out the memo for the Christmas party, you get on the loudspeaker and you tell them they're all a bunch of pagans. Okay, that's a bit much, obviously.

We often make two very important mistakes when we speak to people who are not members of the church. First, we say too little. We hide the light under the basket. We don't give an adequate answer to the question. I know I've done this before. It's not that we don't believe. It's like we're afraid that the other person will think bad of us, and the reality is they very well might. And so we don't answer. We don't say enough.

We don't give an answer for the hope that lies within us. And then they don't get to eat the fruit that your life was supposed to produce. You were supposed to be a benefit to them, but you shut up and you said too little. They asked you, and you just said something like, we're non-denominational. And you don't come across like you believe the truth, like you're ashamed of who you are and what you believe. When really, you're just trying to avoid conflict.

But who would believe you? Who would believe you? If you can't answer, well, you can. Refer back to point one. God will give you the words. Just pray about it. Don't say too little. But I suspect the second problem is way more common with us, that we say too much. We tend to give more information than was requested. And this is the part of the Gospel that you and I have a personal responsibility in. Remember Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for needing milk and not solid food, though they were babes in the Word.

And my point is that babes are people that need milk. And when somebody who's not in the church and does not know the truth is asking you a question, they're babes. Don't give them the meat of the Word. Oh, yeah, and that reminds me of the Seventh-day Sabbath, too.

It's not just Christmas, by the way. It's Halloween and Valentine's Day and Easter. Oh, let me tell you about Easter. Do you know it comes from Ishtar from ancient Babylon? Whoa, whoa, whoa! I asked you why you weren't coming to the Christmas party. I didn't want to know about ancient Babylon. Boop! They're tuned out because we say way too much. Sometimes less is more. So pray about it that God will give you the words, but not too many words and not too little. King David had that prayer, Psalm 141, verse 3. Psalm 141, 141, verse 3. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.

Bridal me like a horse, and don't let me have too many words come out of my mouth. And Psalm 19, verse 14. Psalm 19, verse 14. This is how you pray when someone asks you for the hope that lies within you. The first thing you do is you pray to God and you say, Psalm 19, verse 14, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength, my Redeemer. David asked for God's help with his mouth, and so should you and I. You know, it's not your job to convert people. So let me just take that pressure right off your shoulders. It's not your job to convert people. It is your job to be a light to the world, to be an example. When your boss chews you out and you take it well, you do well for God. It's not your job to convert people. It's not my job to convert people. That's God's job.

It is your job and my job to give an answer for the hope that is in you. Not too much, not too little. Ask God to bridle your tongue, but give you the words to say. Don't shy away and say nothing, but don't rush in and try to convert people. If they ask you why you're not going to the Christmas party, tell them you don't keep Christmas. Let them ask you more, and they will quit when they're good and done. They'll stop asking you questions when they've had enough, and that usually happens really quick. Oh, that's interesting. Have a nice day.

You never know what a gentle answer might do for them in the future. We'll get to that in just a minute. You never know how one short little answer and then leave it alone might do a world of good, especially if it's combined with a great example that you live.

So give an answer when you're asked, and remember that the fervent prayers of the righteous avail much. Always, always ask God. So our first two points. Before you give an answer, pray about the gospel. Pray about the word you're going to say. And then, don't say too little, and don't say too much. Answer the question that was asked of you, and if they want more, they'll ask. And then the third, an extremely important and very powerful third key to your personal preaching of the gospel, if you will. Hey, look at that. It's getting brighter outside already. Point three, a good personal example. Your example speaks volumes. Think about a little child.

All right, we've got to wrap this up. Think about a little child when he's watching Mommy and Daddy. Don't cuss, little Tommy. That's a bad word. And then Daddy hits his thumb with a hammer. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. What's Tommy going to follow? Daddy's instructions, his verbal warnings, or Daddy's example? Oh, Daddy's example. Oh, and little Tommy, he's going to take it farther. Right? Because that's human nature. That's the way we work. Your and my example speaks much louder than our words.

How you treat people is just as, and I would say, far more important than our words, although our words are incredibly important. Our example is even more so.

I remember my father one time. We were building bookshelves. He had this library. We have a lot of money, so we built our own bookshelves. He did a great job. So we were putting this entire library full of bookshelves together, and he hit his thumb with a hammer and laid the flesh open. Literally, oh no, does it make you cringe? It makes me cringe to tell it. The hammer laid the flesh of his thumb over. And he said, ow! And that's it! That's all he said! I still remember that vividly to this day. I was like, wow! I was in public school. I knew what you said when you hit your thumb with anything. And it wasn't ow! And that's all he said. And he gave me a huge example. He didn't just say it. He lived it! It was an incredible example. It burned in my mind. So we took him in and sat him down and got him some hot tea, because he went into shock fairly quickly, as he was sitting on the table holding that throbbing thumb. But what an amazing example that was! That's what you can do. A good example. Philippians 1, verse 27. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. Your conduct preaches the gospel. Isn't that amazing? Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel so that whenever I come to see you, I am, I'm sorry, whether I come to see you, I'm absent or I'm absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith in the gospel. Your example equals the gospel. Many people have been called into the truth of God by the personal conduct of one of our brethren. Pay attention to your conduct. Controlling your actions and your reactions are preaching the gospel. Our example is not just used to bring people into the church today. This is how important your example is. You have no idea how much of an impact you're making on people. Not for today, but for the future. Let's go to 1 Peter 2 and pick up again with Peter in preaching the gospel and your personal responsibility to preach the gospel. Peter says a lot about this. He says in 1 Peter 2 and verse 12. 1 Peter 2 and verse 12. Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles that they speak against you as evildoers. Those weird church of God people think they have to keep the law. Grumble, grumble, grumble. Don't keep Christmas. They're not very merry. They speak as though you were evil. Listen to what Peter says. That they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God right now in coming to the church. Is that what he says? No. Glorify God in the day of visitation. When Jesus Christ returns, your example will have a huge impact. Your life is to be the gospel.

Peter is telling us that personal example is part of the future harvest, the big one. And that's the responsibility that you and I have directly on our shoulders. So I want to read you a very interesting story. Now this is a story from mainstream Christianity. It's a valid story nonetheless. It's an article entitled, When Your Friends Can't Stand Your Obsession With Jesus. When your friends can't stand your obsession with Jesus, April 7, 2016, the author is Matt Moore at mormatt.org. Matt is a person, I won't describe too much about him, who lived a very, very sinful life and turned his life around. And this is how he did it. Quote, In early 2000, Jesus decided to annoy the mess out of me by getting his hands on one of my closest friends. One week, she was partying and engaging in all kinds of godless banter with me. And the next, she was shopping for Bibles and acting like Mother Teresa. The change in her behavior left me speechless, a rarity, for some time. But as we ate dinner together one evening, I finally asked her, did you get God happy? That was my snide way of asking her if she had become a Christian. She chuckled and said, if that's the way you want to call it, then yeah, I'm God happy. I was certain she had lost her mind. Now, I'm skipping through this article, it's way too long to read. So, please bear with my taking license here. I didn't understand why she needed religion to attain that happiness. But hey, whatever works. In a few weeks following, I poked fun of her newfound churchliness. But I wasn't abrasive. Not at first, anyway. I had a smidgen of interest in religion. I didn't. I'm sorry. I had not a smidgen of interest in religion. But I wasn't some militant atheist who made it my life's mission to attack the beliefs of others. If you felt like you needed to get a little Jesus on Sunday, more power to you. Just don't make me feel like Adolf Hitler if I don't want to join you. And that is a key statement. Don't make me feel like I'm condemned if I don't join you. And you know what, brethren? We don't have to defend ourselves. We do defend God. And this lady pulled no punches when the time came, as you will see. She gave an answer. She gave the answer she was supposed to give. But she did not think that she was now better than her friend because she accepted Jesus, and he had not. Very important key. Reading on. Besides, I really thought my friend's religiosity would fizzle out. Skipping down, she would balance out in a bit and realize that everything, not everything, had to be about Jesus. But she didn't. She got worse. As time ticked forward, Christianity consumed every aspect of my friend's life. Her faith really began to grind my nerves, and I didn't hide it. I became increasingly hostile to her face. I told inappropriate jokes about Jesus. I criticized her pathetic Christian friends. I made great effort to regularly rub my sinfulness in her face. I constantly tried to tempt her with sin, to go out with me to clubs and get drunk, etc. I was intentionally offensive and abrasive, thinking maybe I could wear her down. Let me step out of the article for a second. Why would he do that? Why do they do that to us? It's not their fault. They are blind, and they do not see that the carnal mind is enmity against God, not subject to His law, and cannot be. Romans 8-7. Jeremiah 17, verse 9. Or is it 9-17? Either way, look it up.

The heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? The human heart sees a light, and like a roach, runs for cover. And that's what he's doing here to his friend. But is her example making an impact? She's living a good life, but she's not judging a sinner. Who's clearly sinning? I'll skip back just a little bit. I was intentionally offensive and abrasive, thinking maybe I could wear her down. I thought if I just pressed hard enough, she would begin to see how ludicrous all of this was, and start acting like a normal human being again. But she didn't. She got worse. And I won't read the rest of the article. It's quite long. But he asked his friend point blank if she thought that he would be condemned for his sinful life. And she lovingly told him that God thought he was a sinner, but that God wanted him to be saved. Made a huge impact on him. She didn't condemn him, but she said God did. But God didn't want to. That she wasn't his judge, but God was his judge. And only God says what's right and wrong. It blew him away. It doesn't blow everybody away. A lot of people have a very stern answer for that, and they just walk the other direction. Hey, it's for another day. Your example will be there for them when Jesus Christ returns.

But this hit this guy, her example hit him right between the eyes. She answered every question he had, but she wasn't judgmental towards him. Even though he was judgmental towards her, she gave a good example, and she gave good answers. And it made a difference. And those are the two things that I was telling you to do in the three points. You pray, you don't say too much, you don't say too little, and you don't forget your actions and your reactions. It's important. A vine bears fruit, but it doesn't eat the fruit it produces. That fruit is for somebody else. You are called in the church now, not just for you, but to help others along the way. Not just today, but in the future. We take on personal responsibility when we become one of the firstfruits. Our conducts, our words become part of the gospel process. It's not just the Beyond Today program. It's you.

Beyond Today is actually in support of you. We will not fulfill that responsibility by ourselves. Only God's direct guidance through His Spirit will we have the wisdom to fulfill that responsibility. So let's pray that God guides us to accomplish His work. As a church, as a whole, pray for the gospel. Pray for your own words and example as well. And let's be mindful of our example, both our actions and our reactions to other people. Be careful with your words. And be willing to give an answer when you are asked. And may God bridle your tongue from answering more than what they asked. Let's have faith in our God that our fervent prayers will accomplish much. And they will. They will. Happy Sabbath.