Preach The Word! Part Two

By Matt Tyler

I have a heart for people. But more than that, I have a heart for people to repent and trust in the God who gave them life. I don't want to see people go to Hell. I have been given so much and I just want to give back a portion of what Jesus has given me. The most loving thing I can do for someone is to proclaim the Message to them. Because of their sin, they are going to face something terrible: Judgment Day. And so am I.

I want to be able to tell God, who mercifully and graciously saved a wretched and disgusting sinner like me, that I followed his command to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-2). I want to tell Him that I preached to all the World that those who believe will be saved but those that do not will be condemned (Mark 16:15-16). I want to tell God that I preached the Gospel that he commanded us to preach (Luke 24:45-47). At the same time, I don't want to be responsible for someone not hearing the Gospel. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel

A person will have to face God whether I talk to him or not. His sins would send him to Hell whether I talked to Him or not. But I love people and I want to do everything I can to tell them about Jesus. The most loving thing I can do for them is to tell them that they have sinned against a Holy God and deserve to go to Hell, like me, but the good news is that God provided a way for them to be saved in His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is illustrated in this point: If someone was about to fall off of a cliff why in the world would I go up to them and say, "Hey! Here is some money for food tonight. Okay continue on your way?" I would not do that! I would run up to that person and say, "Hey you are about to fall of this cliff. Don't go that way!!" And, you know, in the process I just might take them out to dinner. Is that something I have to do to tell them not to fall off the cliff? No. I can tell them to turn around regardless of whether I feed them or not.

What are you going to do? Christian, when are you going to be concerned for the lost? When are you going to stand up and proclaim the Gospel?

It breaks my heart if you disagree with me because I really want to stand next to you and proclaim, with you, that the Gospel is the power of God to save people. And I know that God wants us to be proclaiming His Word. I know this because it's in the Bible.

Preach the Gospel. Period.

Live it out, but for crying out loud, preach it out.

On a positive note, there are those who are doing this. Everyday people are realizing the need to get out and preach the Gospel to people. I have heard of people who have been saved within the last month because someone cared enough about them to be one of those "crazy" Christians who go door to door. I've heard of people within the last month who have come to know Christ because they were handed a track. I've heard of people who were saved thirty years after hearing a street preacher. They were saved as a direct result of not being able to get that street preacher out of their head. People are Biblically living out their faith and proclaiming the Word of God. God is doing incredible things. In countries across the World Christians are being killed because they went out onto the streets and told people that Jesus was the only way. And people came to know Christ because of it. God is working. He will win- He has won. Will you be in on it? Will you be an agent for Him to accomplish this?

I pray that you will.

[For Your Consideration]

Act 2:14-41

1 Corinthians 1:17-29

1 Corinthians 2:1-13

And a word from the Prince of Preachers:

"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for."
--Charles Spurgeon

Preach the Word! Part One

By Matt Tyler

Stick with me. I know this is another long post. In fact, it's even long after I broke it up into two parts. Bear with me. Shorter blog posts are coming.

I have a burden. This burden is for the lost. This burden is great because Jesus lives in me and He has a burden for the lost. I've always had a deep desire to proclaim the Gospel to people. However, within the last year, God has used some people to teach me that I have not loved nor been burdened enough for the Lost like God has been.

Charles Spurgeon said this: ""Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself, be sure of that."

There is a popular quote attributed to Francis of Assisi that goes like this, "Preach the Gospel and when necessary used words." I want to say two things about this quote.

Fact #1: Francis of Assisi NEVER said this quote. I do not know how it was falsely attributed to him, but he did not say it. In fact, Francis of Assisi was a street preacher (yes, he was one of those crazy, but completely Biblical, guys who went out on the streets and preached the Truth).

However fact #1 is not as close to the importance level as fact #2: This quote is a threat to evangelism and the Gospel. This is the truth I want to focus on and explain.

Interestingly, I do not know one single person who has come to know Jesus just because someone was "nice" to them. This I largely because there are many people who are 'nice.' In fact, atheists can be nice. Jews can be nice. Buddhists can be nice. Yet all of them lack a very important thing: They have not repented of their sins and put their trust in Jesus. Please do not misunderstand me. We MUST have Biblical Character in our daily lives. We must walk in obedience to God and much of that obedience is giving to others, talking politely to others, being self-controlled, and humble. But many people forget about the verses in the Bible that say things such as this:

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." 2 Timothy 4:2.

Or even more relevant: "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?" Romans 10:14.

Many people forget that Jesus preached the Word with words. Jesus spoke the Truth. Do you really think that people wanted to stone and eventually crucify Jesus because he fed 5000 people and healed the lame? Absolutely not. They wanted to stone Him because He told them something extremely offensive. He told them that that they had sinned against a Holy God and were on their way to spend an eternity in Hell unless they believed on Him. Instead of skipping through the Gospels and reading only the parts about giving to the poor, eating dinner with sinners, and healing people, I challenge you to go read the whole Gospel. This includes the parts where Jesus' street preaching is so hardcore that people want to stone him. Go read in Acts where Peter stood up in the middle of the city and proclaimed the Gospel to people (three thousand people repented). Go read Paul's letters where he exhorts people to preach the Gospel.

Those most opposed to preaching the Gospel with words comes from the post-modern generation that we live in. They proclaim that words are meaningless. They claim that witnessing to people is "forcing Jesus on others" or "irrelevant" or "ineffective." The problem with this stance (besides the fact that it is completely contrary to the Bible) is that it is contradictory to what they are indeed saying. How can you proclaim that words are meaningless? Am I to believe that statement is meaningless? These people proclaim the problems of indoctrinating people. What they fail to realize is that they are indoctrinating people with that kind of rubbish. Do you, sir or madam, not realize that God communicated to us in words? Do you not realize that this is exactly what the Bible is? God's WORD. Do you not realize that Moses, who wrote Genesis, and John, who wrote Revelation, communicated their messages by PREACHING (out loud).

I've alluded to the fact that I completely agree that we must live clean lives and let our actions back up what we are saying. Preaching the Gospel is not an alternative to living a clean life, sharing lives with others, pouring into their life, giving and meeting their needs. Rather, they go hand in hand. You cannot effective preach the Gospel without living it out and you cannot effectively live it out without preaching the gospel! Now, allow me to be honest with you? Those of you who speak only of, "letting your actions speak" or relational evangelism, can I just be honest with you? You are the ones who are watching your R-rated movies, you are the ones who are into pornography, you are the ones who are using disgusting and dirty languages. I am not judging you, I am doing the Biblical practice of showing you that you are being hypocritical. In other words, you can go around proclaiming all you want to that your actions should be the things that leads people to Christ, but realize you, even you, are not buying into what you are saying. Your actions prove that.

Okay, I know that was a hard paragraph to read. Realize that I myself have struggled with some of those things in the past and there are some things that I still work on every day. I am not perfect. But I am trying. By the grace of God and with the help of the Holy Spirit I will overcome sin. Go read the book of 1 John, 1 Peter, and Jude; it will completely blow your mind when it comes to holiness.
Please don't just take my word for all of this though. The only way people can be changed is through the reading and hearing of God's Word. Look at just SOME of the MANY passages in the Bible that speak on this subject:

Psalm 40:9

Matthew 4:17

1 Peter 1:25

1 Corinthians 1:23

2 Corinthians 4:5

Read those passages and check back tomorrow for my conclusion.

A Message of Truth…From an Atheist

The first half of this note comes from The Charles Darwin Bible which is a Bible that is used to answer the most common questions evolutionists have about Christianity. It can be found at www.wayofthemaster.com

Penn Jillette, the taller, louder half of the magic/comedy act "Penn and Teller," is a well-known atheist. He is so committed to atheism that he claims, "I cross the word 'God' off every dollar bill I touch."
However, late in 2008, Penn said that after one of his shows, a business approached him and gave him a Gideon New Testament. Pen noted, "It was really wonderful. I believe he new that I was an atheist, but he was not defensive, and he looked me right in the eyes...and then gave me this Bible. I've always said that I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there's a Heaven and Hell, and people could be going to Hell, or not getting eternal life, or whatever, and you think that, 'Well, it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward'... how much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe it, and that it was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you- and this is more important than that... He cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a Bible."

This is an incredible statement, especially when considering that it was an outspoken atheist who said it. In addition, it should convict us and spur us into action. If an unregenerate man can put the equation together shouldn't believers be able to see the simplicity? I would think so. However, this is so often not the case. How unfortunate!

I remember hearing this statement from Penn Jillette for the first time. I shared the quote with a fellow believer soon after hearing it. He didn't put the equation together. In more or less words he stated that I shouldn't be getting advice from an atheist.

Interesting point. To some it may seem like wise advice. So who is right?

I didn't continue on with the conversation to much after that but I had a particular question in mind: Can God use an atheist or a non-believer to communicate truth and messages to His people? The answer to that question is a resounding, YES! Let's look at the Bible for our authority.

What about Nebuchadnezzar? What about Balaam? He was a wicked man who blessed Israel! God used him! There are several occurrences within the Bible (which should be our main source) and history that speaks to the fact that God can use atheists and other non-believers to communicate Truth, especially when we live in a society where many people claiming to be Christians can't even stand up and communicate Truth (another topic for another day)!

Even when it comes to the government, whether Christian or not, God uses them for His pleasure. "The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes." Proverbs 21:1

So, we can conclude that God can communicate His Truth through the unbeliever, if He wishes.

So, what can we learn from Jillette's statement? He quotes someone saying that they won't share because it may be socially awkward. I would add to that statement. Many times people use excuses such as, "It's not "relevant,'" "You can't force people," " I don't want to push people into/away from Christianity," "It's not my spiritual gift," "I'm not brave enough," "I don't have all the answers," "I'd rather be their friend first," "I'm more of a friendship evangelism kind of person," or whatever.

I have just one comment to such statements: it was Paul who said, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel."


I challenge you to share the Gospel with someone before the week is through. And don't stop there. Share it with two people the next week!

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This post was originially posted on Facebook on Friday May 1st, 2009