Proclaim The Gospel (Mark 16:15)

 


Saturday, April 26, 2025


Psalms 137; 138

Exodus 14:15-30

Mark 16:9-20


Proclaim The Gospel (Mark 16:15)


And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”


One of the highlights of my life in ordained ministry so far happened through our welfare ministry. I happened to be sitting with some people who were waiting to be served, and we were speaking about nothing of real consequence; merely talking about the general state of the world and our place in it. By a miraculous movement of the Holy Spirit, one of the people got a curious look on their face and asked, “so what is it that you Christians believe, then?”


Believe it or not, we do get given opportunities to present the gospel to people. Jesus commands us to “go into all the world”, not hide ourselves away in caves, and through this lifestyle, “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”


So the question for us, is, have we prepared a gospel presentation? If you were waiting in line somewhere, and the person next to you started a conversation, and then asked you about Jesus, what would you tell them? You have a single moment in time to tell them the core message of Christ: what do you say? How do you say it?


We do not know the exact circumstance in which this will next happen. We may be under duress, or be speaking to a sympathetic ear; we may have lots of time, or almost none. But the Lord does give us opportunities like these.


Since we cannot, therefore, have an exact script ready to use in all situations, we have to be flexible for the Holy Spirit to speak through us. But we still have to have some idea ourselves of what the gospel is.


So our reflections today should be on this: what is the gospel? What is the core of the message Jesus wants us tell others about him? How often do you think about it?


Lord Jesus, you send us out into all the world to proclaim the good news of what you have done: give us grace from the right hand of God, that we may be ready in all seasons to speak of you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monday, July 25, 2022

  Monday, July 25, 2022 Psalm 62; 63 Hosea 1 Romans 4:1-12 He only is my rock and my salvation: my strong tower, so that I shall not be moved. The prophecies of Hosea are rich with vivid imagery. Look at these names: firstly, “Hosea” means “salvation”. So too do the names Joshua and Jesus. Then Hosea has three children: “God scatters”, “Not pitied”, and “Not my people”. This is because the children are part of the marriage between Hosea and Gomer, which is an image God is showing to the nation. It is to our profit that God has used real-life events to communicate spiritual imagery and divine truths. We find it very easy to understand our relationship with God as being a faithful wife to a loving husband. We can reconcile this message with what Paul has to teach us today in Romans. He makes the very important observation that Abraham was given God's righteousness as a result of his faith before, not after, his circumcision. Again, this is God using real-life events...
Read more

Thursday, March 16, 2023

  Thursday, March 16, 2023 Psalm 38 Genesis 49:1-21 Luke 16:14-31 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet… Imagine the scene: Jacob, now an old man and using his given name Israel, calls forth his twelve sons for a blessing. Something in the air shifts; imperceptible, yet unquestionable. A look comes in to the old mans eyes, and his words are now prophecy: still his own, yet inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. All of Jacob’s life he has been reminded of the promise God gave to him, his father Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham, of a great number of descendants and land for them to live in. Now he speaks not only of the promise given these men, but of the promise given by God to Adam and Eve. The curse upon the serpent, that ancient enemy, is given a flicker of more detail: not only shall his head be crushed, but his reign will one day come to an end. Whenever we read the word “sceptre” in the Bible, remember: ...
Read more

The LORD will make you a house.

  Friday, July 28, 2023 Psalm 71 2 Samuel 7 John 8:1-11 Observance: Samson, bishop (d. 565) The LORD will make you a house. We learn three things from this conversation between David, Nathan and God. First, it is that we do not invite God into our presence. Rather, God comes alongside us, where we are, hiking through the wilderness. God gets down into the dust with us and puts up a tent. There is a reason why John made so much of this tent language in his first chapter: that the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us. Whichever part of the Bible we are reading, we see God coming to the people, rather than the people moving towards God. This is of particular comfort when we feel like we haven’t prayed enough, or regularly. We might have been distracted by the dust on our feet, but God has always been there right beside us. We just have to look up. Second, it is that God’s presence among us is not something to be feared. Have you noticed that,...
Read more