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FORWARD IN
FAITH
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Pastor Gary
Gilpin, Washington
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riveroflifechristiancenterchur
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PREACH JESUS!
During the course of this article I may repeat
these two words a hundred times: Preach Jesus. By the time you
finish reading this , I want these two words
resounding in your heart: Preach Jesus! I want those two words to wake you in
the midnight hour, stir you through the day, pound in your mind like the
heartbeat of your spiritual existence: Preach Jesus!
We need to understand that the role of preaching Jesus is not limited to
pastors, teachers, and evangelists. Every believer has been called to let his
or her light shine. Every believer has been called to be salt. Every believer
has been commissioned to proclaim the Good News, Jesus Saves, Jesus Saves!
The word “preach” has been defined in such narrow terms that we often lose the
true meaning, which is simply, “proclaim.” Proclamation is not limited to the
preacher, all have been called to tell the lost that there is a Savior, and His
name is Jesus.
I want to share with you three thoughts with regard to the command to Preach
Jesus, these are: First, Jesus is the Message; Second,
there is power in the Message; and Third, the Church has been empowered to
Preach the Message.
I.) Jesus Is the Message
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to talk to a stranger about the weather,
about the Braves, about football, or about our children, or where we are from?
Yet when it comes to telling them the simple truth, "Jesus loves
you," our stomach ties up in knots and our tongue gets stuck to the roof
of our mouth. Why is that?
God hasn’t called us to be weathermen and sportscasters,
He has called us and empowered us to be light shining in the darkness.
Somewhere in the course of our conversation we need to seize upon the
opportunity to Preach Jesus!
The devil doesn’t care if you talk about baseball, and he doesn’t care if you
talk about the government. In fact, I don’t think he cares too terribly much if
you talk about church, but when you start talking about the Jesus, about His
love, about His sacrifice, about His saving power, demons tremble. Satan tells
his imps, “Get them to talk about anything under the
sun, but intimidate them, scare them, frighten them into keeping Jesus to
themselves.”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t take my orders from Satan. I’m going to
Preach Jesus!
To the lost, I’ll preach Jesus as the way!
To the lonely, I’ll preach Jesus as the friend that sticks closer
than a brother.
To the child, I’ll preach Jesus as father to the fatherless.
To the sick, I’ll preach Jesus as Great Physician.
To those addicted to drugs or drink, I’ll preach Jesus as the deliverer.
To the brokenhearted, I’ll preach Jesus as the one who came to bind up the
brokenhearted.
To the man on the deathbed, I’ll preach Jesus as the resurrection and the life.
To the sinner, I’ll preach Jesus as the Savior.
To the church, I’ll preach Jesus as Lord and Master.
No matter where I am, or who I’m talking to, I can preach Jesus in a way that
will fill a void and make a broken man whole.
Jesus is the message we have come to proclaim:
Paul said in 1 Cor. 21-24
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe.
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
But we preach Christ crucified,
Unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks
foolishness;
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Then in chapter two of the same epistle, Paul said,
"for I determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified."
In Galatians 6:14 He said,
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ...
Jesus told us that when the Comforter comes, “He will testify of Me.”
Don’t let the devil scare you into silence on the single most important message
you will ever proclaim. When God brings lost souls across your path, square
your shoulders, put your foot on the serpent's head
and Preach Jesus!
Jesus born of a virgin, Jesus conceived by the Holy Spirit
Jesus walking among men.
Jesus making the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.
Jesus making the lame to leap and the dead to live again.
Jesus bearing our sins on an old rugged cross.
Jesus side riven.
Jesus stirring to life early the third day.
Jesus coming out of the tomb victorious over death, hell and
the grave.
Jesus ascending to the Father.
Jesus ever living to making intercession for the saints.
Jesus living in my heart!
Jesus in the morning, Jesus in the noontime, Jesus when the sun goes
down!
Preach Jesus, Preach Jesus Preach Jesus!
I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. He is the message! He is the answer
to earth’s sorrowing cry! Jesus is the hope for the hopeless, help for the
helpless, a healing balm for the wounded, Jesus is my
soon coming King!
II) There is Power In the Message
Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation....” Peter preached in Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other; for
there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.”
There is power in the Gospel of Christ! If it will literally change a life on
the other side of this planet, don’t you know that it will change that life
across the table, across the street, across the aisle at work, or at the altars
of this church?
a) Peter preached Jesus on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 souls
were added to the kingdom.
b) Peter and John preached Jesus to a lame man, and the lame man
was healed.
c) Stephen preached Jesus and he was stoned to death, but before he
died, he said, “I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
d) Paul got saved, and began to preach Jesus.
e) Peter preached Jesus and Tabitha was raised from the dead.
f)Peter preached Jesus and the Holy Ghost fell
upon the household of Cornelius.
g)Paul preached Jesus from city to city, in the
face of rejection and despisal by his own countrymen,
but he preached with power. Souls were saved, churches were planted, sick were
healed, the dead were raised.
The book of Acts teaches us that the Holy Spirit works most powerfully through
churches that are ready to Preach Jesus. The power of the Holy Ghost and the
proclamation of the gospel are inextricably bound. You won’t have the power
long, if you are not willing to Preach Jesus, and you can’t Preach Jesus for
very long until you feel the power of the Spirit stirring in your soul.
There is power in this message. It is a glorious treasure that God has placed
in these earthen vessels. He has made us a royal priesthood, a peculiar people,
holy nation that we should shew forth the praises of
Him who has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.
It wasn’t the message of Darwin that changed my life. It wasn’t the message of
self-help, or the message of democracy that brought peace to this troubled
soul, it was the simple message of the love of God displayed in the sacrificial
death of His only Begotten Son. It was the message of a healing stream that
flowed from Emmanual’s veins, and sinners plunged
beneath the flow, lose all their guilty stain, lose all their guilty stain, and
sinners plunged beneath the flow lose all their guilty stain!
Preach Jesus! There is power in the message! Power to open
prison doors of sin and set the captive free. Power
lift the condemnation. Power to overcome the guilt.
Power to ransom a soul from the slave market of sin, brush him off and make him
a son of God!
III) We Have Been Empowered to Preach the Message
In Luke’s Gospel Jesus said, “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to
all nations...but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power
from on high."
In Acts, Jesus said, “And
ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall
be my witnesses...”
Jesus told the seventy disciples whom He had sent out to the cities of Judea,“Behold I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all
the power of the enemy.”
He said in Mark’s Gospel, “Go into all the cities and preach the gospel unto every
creature....And these sign shall follow them that believe, In my name shall
they cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, deadly serpents won’t
hurt them, poison won’t stop them, they will lay hands on the sick and the sick
will recover.”
He didn’t give the church power simply to shout around the altars. He didn’t
give the church power to speak cars and houses into existence. He didn’t give
the church power to sit around and tell others how much more power we got than
anybody else. He gave the church power to be His witnesses,
He gave the church power to Preach Jesus!
We can shout till we’re blue in the face. We can swing on the chandeliers and
run the backs of the pews, but if the power of the Spirit doesn’t go with us
out of these church doors to where the rubber meets the road and souls are
hanging in the balance, then we don’t have much. But,
OH! when we understand that the Spirit of God is never nearer than when we are
witnessing for Jesus, when we are telling an empty soul where to find
satisfaction, when we understand that at that moment we are vessels through
which the Spirit of God can flow, then it should be our good pleasure to seize
every opportunity to tell somebody what Jesus has done for us. We need to leave
our homes every day with the feeling, "I've got to tell somebody what
Jesus has done for me, or I'm going to burst!"
I want churches to grow, and I believe it can and will, but only if truly
become a priesthood of believers and everyone of us makes up our mind to Preach
Jesus.
Preach Jesus to that neighbor whose husband just left her.
Preach Jesus to that mother whose teenage daughter is pregnant.
Preach Jesus to that man at the job who comes in every night smelling like
beer.
Preach Jesus to those at the job whose foul language offends you.
Don’t be afraid, there is power in the message, and the moment you open your
mouth to speak, the Holy Spirit will be stirring on the inside of you, giving
you the very words to speak, giving you the boldness to speak, giving you the
authority to speak.
JESUS IS THE SWEETEST NAME I KNOW. PREACH JESUS!
