Why should we preach the gospel? And how to preach?

Why should we preach the gospel? And how to preach?

(www.faithscope.com)

Why should we preach the gospel?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in God! 

We are well aware of the fact that we dwell in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have acquired an eternal life in Him. We are all leading a beautiful life due to the favor that the Lord God rendered in our day to day life. Now we have a staunch faith in Jesus Christ that the second death can’t harm us in any way. (Rev 2:11). We who share this promise must share this with others, shouldn’t we? But due to the fear and hesitation, we are behaving as selfish creatures! We alone are savoring the pleasures of living in God.

The gentiles would blame us for this crime during the final judgment, and we are unable to recognize this fact. They would convict us for the following:

“Oh, Lord Jesus Christ! These had known you and had savored a lot, but they had never told us about you! Due to that reason, please bestow us the Heavenly kingdom to us that they deserve.” Then the Queen of the Kingdom of Sheba also would blame us! (Mat 12:42) 

On what grounds would the Queen of the kingdom of Sheba accuse us about this?

The reason is, she had visited the King Solomon as she had heard great facts about his wisdom. How did she know about the King Solomon? Someone would have told her, wouldn't they? Would she be quiet and excuse us if we do not preach about the Lord Jesus Christ who is a lot greater than the king Solomon even after we had known him quite well? Won’t she accuse us and indict us of supporting the gentiles? (Mat 12:42)

So, we must preach to all those in our neighborhood known to us. The extreme greatness that those would preach the Gospel would acquire is, it is explained in Romans 10:15, Nahum 1:15 that their feet were looking beautiful on the mountains, so, it must be our aspiration to share the Gospel of God with all!

How to preach the Gospel?

First of all, we must offer prayers for those to whom we are going to preach Gospel. We must observe one fact that the one who would bring change in them is our God alone. Our duty is just to preach the Gospel with complete love, which is all.

However, so many people think that following the religion which their ancestors had followed is just sufficient. It is quite difficult to preach them the new religion we are following. But of course we who had learnt about the living God, how can we leave our relations and friends, the near and the dear for the death? In the same way, they are all well aware of the fact that we are the believers of the Lord Christ; some people would hesitate to question us and enquire why we are following the Lord Christ thinking that we might feel bad. Time is passing while we keep silent. Instead of preaching such people, it is quite easy to preach those who would raise a voice and question us why we are following the Lord Christ. 

In the present day situations, it is not sufficient just if we hand over the Bible into their hands and feel that our task is just finished. We need to explain them in simple way to introduce Jesus. Keeping that in mind I wrote couple of small stories. Please kindly read these and suggest me if I should make any changes in this. (Email: faithscope@thamu.com,). In the same way, please distribute these stories to your friends and relatives. Later find out their opinions on this to open up conversations about Jesus.

 

 

Story of two friends

There were two best friends named Edward and Jerry living in a small town.

One day, Edward came across a sage who was exhausted due to his tiresome journey; Edward took pity on that saint and took him home, fed him and did services. The saint admired Edward, his wife and his children for the services they had rendered and had preached him one axiom, a doctrine that was quite exquisite. He had told him that whoever had followed that doctrine would certainly acquire the place in Heaven, in the same way; he also told him that they would live peacefully there upon. Not just that, he had also told him that to whomever Edward would teach this doctrine, all those would have the access to the Heaven.

                Edward decided that he should not only follow it but also preach such great doctrine to his best friend Jerry. But he knew that Jerry was content to follow the doctrine of his ancestors. Because Edward knew this, he hesitated to share the new doctrine that he was following. But Jerry was his best friend; he had an ambition that Jerry also would come along with him to the Heaven. Even Jerry also had known that Edward has been following a new doctrine. Jerry hesitated to ask Edward about the new doctrine he was following because he feared that Edward would feel bad. And so, he never enquired about it. While they both kept silent, time was passing.

                Both Edward and Jerry died and their spirits stood in front of God for judgment. God called Edward, “You are treacherous friend because you didn't even try to reveal to your best friend that would lead him to the Heaven, an access to the Heaven, at least once. You should have told him about the doctrine you have been following. So, as you are a treacherous friend, you just deserve the Hell.”

                In the same way, God told to Jerry, “You have complete knowledge that Edward had been following one new doctrine! But you had never questioned him about it or enquired to find if it was good or bad. He is your best friend and you never wished to find whether he had chosen the right doctrine or not and you never felt that you should correct him if he were wrong. So, even you are a treacherous friend. So you too deserve Hell!” Saying so, God had sent both of them into the Hell. Both these friends, scolding each other, have been suffering in Hell ever since then!

-----------------End of Story of two friends -----------------

                Dear friend, is it possible that a silence has spread over the two of us, just like between the two friends in the story? You are not asking me about my faith, and I have not had the courage to tell you. If I don't share my faith, my God will not be pleased with me. My dear friend, do you like anything as such to happen to me? If not, you listen to what I say about the doctrine that I have been following at least once, and relieve me from my responsibility. I would never urge you to follow my doctrine because, that is related to you and God. In the same way, you preach me about the doctrine you have been following. In this way, let both of us relieve ourselves from our collateral responsibilities.

                We should spend hundreds of hours sharing our life stories. I won’t ask that of you. But I would like to briefly share my faith with you, if you would be kind enough to read on… 

 

Story of a Prince

                Once upon a time, there was a king who had a son who was the apple of his eye. The king also loved his citizens. The king and the prince looked after the people as their own children.

                As there were no sins, in his kingdom, there was peace and harmony in the kingdom. But eventually, sin entered into the kingdom due to sly plotting by enemy kingdoms. The people had got habituated to do sins. There were theft, fornication, murders and violence etc. The king had understood that the peace and harmony had diminished. So he had decided to imprison all those who had committed sins and decided to punish them. At the time of the implementation of the punishments, the sinners used to beg for pardon.

                The king used to take pity at their piteous situation. He used to show pity on them, instead of punishing or imprisoning, he used to warn them and commanding them not to repeat the sins; he used to pardon them and release them. Though there was no change in the situation, they never stopped committing crimes. The citizens used to commit sins and used to ask the king for forgiveness, this had become their habit. In such critical and complex situation, the king had decided that he shouldn't bestow them forgiveness freely and there should be some penalty they have to bear as a sort of punishment and for this a penance and atonement is introduced. 

Even these punishments couldn't bring any sort of change in the situation and the citizens didn't stop committing sins. For that reason, the king gave them further severe punishments. One of the punishments is that the sinner must offer one of his animals which are the source of his livelihood. Due to this reason, some people were scared and had stopped committing sins. The reason was, wasn't it difficult for them to part from the animals which were the source of their livelihood and which they had brought up with extreme love and care, wasn't it? 

But most of them continued committing their sins. Don't the rich have numerous animals? It had become quite common thing to sacrifice those animals. It had become a natural part of their life.

In this bad situation, the king sent his ministers to the people to preach to them to not commit sin. Some people had changed after they had heard their words. But some people had no change in their behavior used to attack the ministers and murder them. The king was outrageous at this. With that rage, he could have killed them but by seeing some people, who had changed, he showed mercy upon them due to the love he had for them, he had pardoned them. He had sentenced only those who had committed terrible and dreadful crimes alone to death. The king was not willing to punish his citizens. He desired that they would change. 

Because of his love for his citizens, the King sent his beloved son to them. The Prince had given up his authority and had lived among the citizens just like as if he was a part of them. As one among them he had been living without committing sins and had been teaching those good practices.

When they met the prince, most of the people repented from their ways. Some people had even transformed into his helpers with his preaching. The Prince had been touring in the kingdom along with them, he used to teach good path and the love his father had for the citizens. The main points of his preaching were:

* You must love your God with your whole heart, mind, and spirit.

* You must love your neighbor as yourself. You must forgive each other instead of seeking revenge.

If you all follow these willfully and wholeheartedly, you would never commit any sin. One whoever is, by loving God willfully and considering his neighbors as himself, won't he look after his own mother and father well? Does he steal? Do such people adulterate or fornicate? Does he murder any one? Can they speak false witnesses?

Now let us consider one parable, the Prince had given here.

 "A slave owed a lot of money to a master and he was brought to the master. As he did not have anything to repay his loan, the master had ordered him to sell his wife, his children and his entire property and repay his loan. So, that slave lay prostrate before him and appealed to give him some more time and told him that he would repay the whole sum. When he had appealed the master so, he took pity on the slave and had forgiven him and had acquitted him, and also had written down the loan. But that slave, as soon as he went out, he held the throat of another slave who was in debt to him some small amount. For that the other slave lay prostrate before him and had requested him to give him some more period of time and had appealed him that he would repay soon entirely, but that slave didn't agree and he had him imprisoned until his loan is repaid.

 By seeing this, his co-slaves grieved to great extent, they all immediately approached their master and informed him about this in detail. The master immediately summoned him calling him, "You the wicked! You had appealed to me and I had taken pity on you and had forgiven you and had got your entire loan written off.  Exactly, as I had forgiven you, you too could have forgiven your co-slave, couldn't you? Thus saying, he had got him thrown into prison.”

Among yourselves too, if each and every one wouldn't forgive your brother whole heartedly, my father also would repay the same to you too, thus the Prince had given parable.  

With his preaching’s he informed them that love of his father is great, and the father would forgive them all if they had acquired the repentance and change of heart.

He told them another story about his father’s love.

"There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.' So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"

In the same way when a sinner acquires the change of heart and repentance, the father also would be happy. By giving such numerous parables, he had appealed them to have repentance.

But, some people who couldn't stand his preaching had subjected him to extreme acrimonious and cruel death. The King's heart trembled with sorrow when he saw his son in his death bed. The king, with sorrow and anger, decided to terminate all those sinners who were responsible for this situation of his son. His anger had shattered and trembled the whole earth.

But, the Prince who was in the death bed appealed to his father, "Father, they are ignorant of what they are doing, please forgive them. These words melted the hearts of those who heard them. One among the conspirators responsible for the death of his son had started crying in this way, "Oh Lord! Though I had committed such a horrible embezzlement to you, are you forgiving me? You have taken the punishment that I deserved! "You have taken the punishment that I deserved! This extreme love overwhelms me, and in gratitude I repent from my sins." In this way numerous sinners had got relieved from the sins due to the sacrifice of life of the Prince.

………………………………………..

Here the very important fact is that this is not a fiction! This is a real story! That king is none other than the Lord of the Lords, the creator God. We are all his beloved children. Any father wouldn't be happy, he would be sorrowful if his son falls into false path, in the same way the Lord of the Lords is sorrowful for his children who got deviated from the righteous path. The reason being Lord God had created man by keeping his Spirit in us. How he had expressed his love towards is:

* Alas, I had protected you just as how a hen protects its chicks under its wings! Though, you had forgotten.

*Would any father tell his children to eat a stone when they are hungry and asks for food? You those who are in sins also would love your children so much, do you know how much love I have for you?

The relationship between God and us human beings is just like the relationship between the father and his children.

Then, we have learnt that the king is the creator God, haven't we? Then who is his son? Now let us learn about him.

The word of the God is the Son of God. This God’s word created the universe. The God's word alone, as the Son of God, as an ordinary man took his birth in this world for our sake had sacrificed his life. So, the Prince mentioned is none other than the Son of God! In the sense, he is God himself! From here, let us consider the king mentioned in the story as the God himself and the Prince is the Son of God. Now, let us get into this real story.

The Son of God, in the form of a human being, he was tortured cruelly and remorselessly and was in his death bed. His mother who had borne him for nine months in her womb and had brought him up was weeping by seeing him dying. We can't even imagine how a mother would feel when her son is being tormented and killed in her presence, in front of her eyes. Heart would have agitated in turmoil; it felt as much sorrow as a huge spear is pierced into her heart. The Son of God had suffered the torment of death for a few hours and finally he had died. After his death, that poor mother had performed the last rites of the funeral with her own hands. This has put an end to the incarnation of the Son of God. "Isn't it quite common doubt to ask, "What God had been doing while such horror was going on?”  The reason is that, all this has happened according to his manifesto itself. He is not only saying that he has as much of love as he could sacrifice his life, but also did it and proved it.

As a human being, he had fulfilled the divine manifesto, and as triumphant he acquired resurrection and had reached his father in glory. God had given the entire authority to his son; he also told him that his son alone would give judgment. This is a delightful fact to the entire human race because as the Son of God had lived as a human being, he understands very well all the woes and troubles in living as a human being. Since, he is the judge, it is better for us to follow all that he had preached on this earth. Here in one parable he had given in this way.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

So it is far better for all of us to help fellow human being, anyone who is in need.

We have learnt that this universe is created by the word of God. When he had created this world, there wasn’t sin at all. Hitherto how did the sin enter into this world? Hitherto, what is sin at all?

God did not create human beings as robots. He had given human being the stamina to think for himself and take decisions but he had not given him the wisdom to distinguish between the Good and the Evil. Due to that reason, in the first human beings, there wasn’t sin at all as they did not know what is good and what is evil, and they were as innocent as infants. As there wasn’t any sin, they did not have even death. Henceforth, due to the instigation of a putrefied angel of God, acquired the power of distinguishing the Good and the Evil though the God reluctant to offer, as human had urged, God had sealed the inscriptions in our hearts which enabled us to distinguish the Good and the Evil. Due to these inscriptions, each and every man can distinguish what is good and what is bad if he thinks just a little. It is a quite well known fact that man is a fickle minded creature. If one does a deed with full consciousness that what he is doing is a wrong is sin. It is a true fact that there is no one who had not committed a sin. Due to that alone, man is bestowed with death. All of us are sinners. We all had committed small or big sins in our lives. All of us would die one day. And all of us would be made to stand in front of God for judgment. So before our death itself, we all must cleanse our sins. Because, the Son of God is busy in the task of creating new earth for us. Those who are in sins are deprived of entry into this new world. Then how can we get relieved of our sins? It is possible only through the Son of God alone. The reason is, he had taken the death sentence which we all deserved and also had appealed the Father God to forgive us for his sake. Due to this reason, it is just sufficient if we all acquire repentance, and accept the alms of forgiving that he offers. He would cleanse and wash off all our sins with the blood he had spilt on his death bed. He would emend us to make us eligible for acceptance of his Father, the God. However sinner is a person, he could acquire forgiving.

This is a free call of the Son of God to each and every human being in the world. There isn't any segregation in the name of color, caste, creed, religion, nationality the rich and the poor.

The Son of God is calling the human race in this way. “My dear children who had been shouldering the burden of sins with great endeavor, come to me and I will give you rest”.

So, all those who approach the Son of God listening to his call, would acquire forgiving of sins. The defilers named the sins would be cleansed off and their Spirit would acquire their earlier beauty.

Henceforth, the only thing we too have to do is "Just as God had forgiven us, we too must forgive each other freely without conditions. 

It is said by people that a man would consume even phenyl when it is offered free of cost, isn't it? In such cases, we who are getting forgiveness of our sins free of cost must have anxiety in approaching him. This we need to consider seriously. Because, we don't know ourselves when our death would overtake us. We need to get forgiving for our sins before our death. The reason is the Son of God had fulfilled the oblation named the “Salvation to the world” on this earth itself when he was on his death bed, when he was born as a human being. So, we too must acquire this forgiveness of sins on this earth itself. 

If the sins of all are forgiven freely, what would be the difference between the Good and the Bad? Are all equal in the new creation? Isn't there any benefit in leading a good and pious life now? This question would surely torment us. So, let us learn a few more facts.

Is there anywhere anyone who had not committed a single sin at all? There wouldn't be even one who had not committed a single sin, speaking at least a lie; there wouldn't be anyone who had not committed a single sin. In the sense, each and every one requires forgiveness for sins. The Son of God would bestow this forgiving of sins to each and every one, those who would approach him. In the same way, each and every one would have performed a single virtuous deed at least. These virtuous deeds would be transformed into their golden crowns and they would be so glorified that their Spirit would be eligible to carry them even after their death. According to their virtuous deeds they had performed in the new creation God would bestow the gifts and remunerations that they deserve.

All this is fine but if we want to ask for forgiving of sins, where will be this Son of God? To which temple must we go to find him? Which mountain should we mount? Whom should we enquire? How should we find out? 

When the God had created us, he had established an abode for himself in our hearts. Our body alone is the God's temple. Due to our sins, we had distanced our God farther. The Son of God is eagerly waiting for us to open the doors of our hearts! He is the truth. He would surely show the path to those who are searching for the truth. He would recognize us himself. The words he spoke are like this, "You ask! It is bestowed to you. You search and it is found by you. You knock and the door would be opened for you. Each and every one who would ask would acquire, everyone who searches for truth would find, everyone who would knock would be opened the door and allowed entrance. So, all that we have to do is just prepare ourselves to search for the truth with courage. If you all put this small effort to find out truth as the below mentioned without fear, it is sufficient. "Oh Lord God who had created the entire universe, please let me know the truth. I am destined to know the true God. Please show me the path and please walk me to your presence. I offer and sacrifice my heart to you. Please make your abode yourself in me."

The God almighty will show you the way.

Thanks for your valuable time. Please do not hesitate to discuss with me.

Your friend forever,

Ending Words

               
We do not feel rested when we are traveling, even when we are visiting great places. We feel rested only when we return home. It is true that, the kind of rest you get upon reaching home is not comparable to anything. Similarly, our soul came from God and it will get complete rest only when our soul goes back to him. Because of that reason, even when we have everything in this world we still feel some kind of emptiness and anguish to get something more and never satisfied. Also, we forgot our way to the God Almighty because of our sins and we got trapped by the corrupted angels and became vagabonds. So voice of God became flesh in this world as "Son of God" and said “I am the way, truth and life, whoever follows me I will lead them to the Father”.

Wish you all the best in your truth finding journey... Your friend forever...