"And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!'"
(Romans 10:15)
Who doesn't love to hear good news? I enjoy both receiving good news and sharing it. Unfortunately, many in our country focus on the negative and seek to divide rather than bring healing at a time when we need it the most. But as followers of Jesus, wow, do we have good news to share, or what?! We have the best news ever: God loves the world and gave His Son as a sacrifice for our sins so we could be forgiven and live eternally with Him. Now can somebody say "Amen" to that?!
The phrase "preach the Gospel" is one word in Greek: euanggelizo. The prefix eu means "good", and angellos means "message", the same word from which we get the English word "angel". Interestingly, the same Greek word is used later in the verse and translated "bring glad tidings". The Gospel is the best news, and this great news is not meant to be kept to ourselves but to be shared every opportunity we get.
The title of today's devotional is from a book authored by Leighton Ford entitled, Good News Is for Sharing. It was the textbook for my evangelism class taught by Dr. Roy Fish while I was a student at Southwestern Seminary. Leighton Ford was the brother-in-law of Billy Graham and an excellent writer. We named our third child after him and spelled his name the same way.
How do we share the good news and with whom should we share it? The obvious answer is, we must share it with everyone, but the "how" requires a little more explanation. The two primary ways we proclaim the good news of Jesus is by the words we speak and the good deeds we perform in His name. We are to share and preach Christ, and we are to engage in good deeds, meet people's needs, and show them, not just tell them, about the love of God.
Pastor Gabe Kolstad does a good job explaining how we must do both, especially in a culture that is becoming increasingly dismissive of the Gospel of Jesus. He serves as the pastor of Westside Community Church in Portland, Oregon, and he writes:
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