Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
Both night and day for over three years, the disciples were taught and trained by the Lord. The teaching and exercise He took them through were to prepare them for the work He would fully commit into their hands. In their presence He taught and preached to the people, cast out demons, healed the sick, delivered the oppressed, etc.
The whole world had been under the sway of the wicked one before the Lord came to the earth. Everywhere seemed to be under the influence of the devil and his kingdom was covering the whole earth. But the Lord came introducing a new and a superior kingdom and was urging everyone to come into it. He demonstrated the authority and power of his kingdom over the enemy’s by setting the captives free and preaching to them the things concerning the kingdom. Because of the great need to establish God’s kingdom and deliver the people from the oppressor, Jesus was so engrossed that He hardly had time for Himself.
In Mark 3:20-21, the Bible says;
“And He (Jesus) came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, ‘He has lost His senses.’”
Just before this time, Jesus, having been preaching, withdrew Himself with His disciples from the people to the sea. But when the multitudes saw it, they followed Him. People from different cities came to Him, and securing a small ship, Jesus stayed inside it to preach lest the people throng Him. He was healing the people while they were also trying to touch Him that they might be healed of their plagues. Eventually, He departed from them. Straightaway went He to the mountain. And according to the record of Luke, “He spent the whole night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12). When the day came, He called unto Him His disciples and ordained from them the twelve that they should be with Him for the purpose of preaching. Then came the multitudes again to Him just as He was about to eat. And not being able to eat, He went out to preach to them. At the sight of this, His friends went out to pull Him in. They knew He had not had any sleep all through the night and He was therefore fatigued that morning. Yet, He was not considering it detrimental to His health but went out to preach nonetheless. He was doing nothing else, except preaching the gospel.
It is obvious that Jesus was living only for the gospel. Whatever He did and wherever He went was for the purpose of preaching. Having spent the whole of thirty years preparing for this work, at the appointed time He showed up and spent His remaining years living it out.
By the time He was leaving the earth, He committed the same work into the hands of His disciples. He instructed them to continue what they had always seen Him do. He even expected them to do greater works! The Lord did not give His disciples any tangible inheritance. Even their hope of the restoration of their land was dashed. The Lord actually gave them nothing but the promise of the Father, which was the Holy Ghost. He then told them that the main reason for the fulfillment of this promise in their lives was to make them preach the gospel. And in Acts 1:8 He said to the disciples;
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be MY WITNESSES both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Emphasis added).
The Lord did not just say that they shall witness but that they shall be His witnesses having become partakers of the power of God. That is, their entire life will be His witness. So when they were summoned and strictly charged not to preach and teach in the Name of Jesus by the council, Peter and John replied, “for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). They could not but speak to the people about Jesus. The threats and persecutions of the elders could not stop them. And after Stephen was apprehended and stoned to death we read about the rest in Acts 11:19;
“So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, SPEAKING THE WORD to no one except to Jews alone.” (Emphasis added).
While they were trying to escape for their lives, they were still found preaching the gospel which was the reason for their displacement in the first place.
But such is not the case presently. The work of evangelism has almost been totally forgotten. Even in the areas where there is no persecution, believers find it difficult, or rather, unnecessary to preach. It has now been abandoned for a few people to do. This aberration is becoming the norm because of the change in emphasis. Believers now need to be dragged for them to involve themselves in evangelism. Evangelism is part of the primary work of the believers, and immediately they receive Jesus Christ, they should be introduced to it. It should be practised always, for in doing so your interest in it can grow.
The act of evangelizing will be totally lost if not practised. This actually is the reason for the present condition of believers. The way to restore this act is simply to begin with a soul, and from there you will spontaneously receive the hunger and passion for many souls and also be able to encourage other believers to be partakers of it.
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