How do you become qualified to spread the Gospel?

by | Hope Series

 

Spreading the Gospel

What does spreading the Gospel look like?

Do I really have too?

Isn’t that what the preachers are supposed to do?

I can’t spread the Gospel, I’m not qualified

 

I remember when I was growing up in church, I thought I had to be a Bible expert to spread the Gospel. At that time, members from my church were encouraged to go together once a week and knock on doors and share Jesus with strangers. That thought terrified me as a young person. One, I had become extremely shy after my dad abandoned me, and two, I thought I had to be a Bible expert to share Jesus. The thought never occurred to me back then to allow Jesus to speak through me. I thought, if someone asks me a question, what will I say? I didn’t know the Bible, so I didn’t feel qualified to talk about Jesus.

Then there were the missionaries who were going around the world to third world countries. When the youth leaders talked about mission trips, I always said, “I’m not a mission trip person.” The thought of the whole process terrified me. I believed, if I can’t talk about Jesus at home knocking on doors, why would I travel around the world and fail there too?

What I learned much later in life is that I had allowed the idea of spreading the Gospel to frighten me and keep me from trying to understand the process and ask God to prepare me for whatever He needed me to do. Sharing the Gospel was never clearly explained to me but in all fairness I wouldn’t allow anyone to tell me about it due to my fears. Sadly, I had a distorted version of the truth.

 

What does Jesus tell us to do?

If you grew up like me, thinking you had to be an expert on the Bible and have all the answers, hear me when I tell you, that is not the correct definition of spreading the Gospel. About 95% of Believers in Jesus feel or have felt like I did at some point in their early walk with Jesus. It’s okay, God is with us. He knows who we are, where we were raised, and how. He is waiting for each of us to choose to turn to Him and let Him teach us what we need to know. He says in 1 John 2:27, that the Holy Spirit is our teacher. God says in Jeremiah 33:3, that He is happy to teach us all we don’t know, if we ask. He is not going to force it on us. We must turn to Him and ask Him to teach us, and actually take the time to study His Word everyday and spend time with Him. He will prepare you to spread the Gospel. It’s easier than you think. Be the vessel and let Him lead you and speak through you.

Observe Moses as He tells God He isn’t qualified to serve Him,

“And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.” Exodus 4:10-12,15

Then Jesus explains the same thing many years later,

“But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.” Mark 13:11

No one had taught me early on, that the Holy Spirit speaks through us. If we are obedient and do what He tells us to do, be the vessel for Him; He will do the talking. When I learned that many years later in life, I was so excited to know that the pressure was off of me to have all the answers. Even though, I was still nervous, having never shared the Gospel but wanting to serve God how He needed me too. When you study His Word for yourself, you find that He has scripture for everything to encourage, teach, and prepare us.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. His Word goes on to comfort us not to worry” Philippians 4:6-7

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34

“Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27

We allow the enemy to scare us believers into thinking we can’t share the Gospel. If we study His Word, the Holy Bible, we learn quickly that we don’t have to fear, nor do we need to have all the answers. He is with us. (Matthew 28:20)

 

Turn to Him and He will turn to you.

Now that we have learned He will equip us, the pressure is off. The lies from the enemy can’t affect us anymore. All we have to do is be a willing vessel for Him to use. Let’s look at just one tiny example of how that works to give you a visual to help you understand.

Exodus 3:1-5

1   Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

2   And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush:

🔥and he looked,

and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3   And Moses said,

*❤️I will now turn aside, and see this great sight,

why the bush is not burnt.

4   And

***❤️when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see,

***❤️God called unto him out of the midst of the bush,

and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5   And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

DID YOU SEE THAT?!? God set a sign for Moses to see. Moses had a choice to stop, turn, and walk towards God, or, shrug it off, stay focused on his pain, and keep walking. When God saw Moses stop and turn towards Him, then, God called out to Him.

Would you believe that God loves you as much as He loves Moses? It’s true! God places signs every day for you to have an opportunity to stop and turn to Him. When you stay focused on your problems you can’t see them. Look up! Look for the signs, God is planting them right in front of you. Today could be the day to see God and turn to Him; receive His love and peace.

 

God sees and hears you

Once you turn to God, allow Him to deliver you from your bondage that has held you back from trusting Him with your whole heart. God’s timing is perfect; every time, all the time. He’s never late, never early. He will deliver you out of your “Egypt” of bondage at the perfect time; His time. Once you trust Him wholeheartedly, He will be able to heal you and use you. For the Israelites, He had everything planned out from the beginning of time. God tells Abraham in a dream. He knew the exact moment He would send Moses and deliver the Israelites out of bondage. God has already planned the moment He will deliver you out of yours.

God sees you, He hears you, He knows your pain. Trust that He is working His plan that you cannot see.

Exodus 3:6-9

6   Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

7   And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

8   And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9   Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

Have you had a rough life? Can you relate to Moses? Here he is thinking he is forgotten out in the middle of the wilderness. He is probably thinking why did God save me from being murdered as a baby, then leave me out in the wilderness “forever” (forty years)? Maybe thinking that God is upset with him for killing that Egyptian soldier and hadn’t forgiven him for it. Most likely Moses hadn’t forgiven himself either. Also, there were the Israelites that were in bondage for four hundred years and they felt abandoned by God as well.

Then, at the perfect time, God exposes the lie. God had not abandoned them, they had abandoned Him. He never left them. Even though we turn from Him, He gives us His undeserved grace and mercy. He gives us another chance. He loves us. (Matthew 28:20, John 3:16)

 

Ok, but I’m still not qualified to help God

If God calls you to do something, He believes that you are ready, and equipped. He has brought you to this moment in time to serve Him in this “scary” moment. What is scary to you, is exciting to God because He is about to use you. He will be with you, He will go before you, you have nothing to fear; He is near.

God sees your circumstances and sufferings. Then one day He calls you up and says, help me deliver my people. And you say…?

Let’s see if you give God the same response Moses did.

Exodus 3:9-14

9   Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

10   Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

11   And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

12   And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

13   And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14   And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Do you argue with God and tell Him you are not ready? Do you allow fear to rise up within you? If so, scroll back up to the verses where God comforts us, is with us, and we have no need to fear anything. Trust Him, be a vessel, and He will do the rest. He doesn’t call people who are qualified. He calls people who love Him and are willing to trust Him and serve Him however, whenever, whatever.

If you love Jesus wholeheartedly, you are qualified. Question is: are you willing?

 

How do I know I’m ready?

As long as you love Jesus and are willing to be used by Him, you are ready. All the things that happened in your life, the pain, the wilderness moments, and the pruning and refining moments in the fire have prepared you.

Have you ever heard the story in the book of Daniel about the three Jewish boys who, while in captivity in Babylon, were thrown in the fiery furnace by the King because they would not worship him? They told the king that whether they perished in the fire or not, their God would save them one way or another. They were bound from head to toe and thrown in the fiery pit. The king told the guards to make it seven times hotter than normal. The fire was so hot that the guards who threw them in were burned alive.

When the king and other guards looked into the fire, they saw four unbound men walking around unscathed. The king instructs for them to stop the fire and pull them out. The three boys were not burned at all nor did they smell like smoke.

That is what Jesus does for us. He allows us to be put in the fire of affliction to burn off the impurities of our sins that bind us. He prunes and refines us, and in faith we trust Him in the process. Then we walk out of the fire, not burnt or smelling of smoke, ready to follow Jesus to the next step in His plan for us.

 

Does this get me to Jesus

As long as what you are going through gets you closer to Jesus, so be it, fires, wilderness moments, loss, etc. If something doesn’t get you to Jesus, step away from it and move on. There is no more time to waste listening to or doing things that don’t lead you to Jesus.

As a believer in Jesus, and the God of Heaven and earth, scripture tells us that there will be many times when we think we can’t go on serving the Lord because it’s to hard. Maybe “hard” looks like getting pushback from others that you are trying to help, or you are being judged and criticized, or your social media account where you share the Gospel is getting pounded by haters or possibly the account gets shutdown or suspended, or maybe your life is threatened if you share the Gospel. God warns us that this will happen and not to fear because He is with us.

Observe a piece of story of Elijah the prophet in the First Testament. God had called him to warn the people. God had worked so many miracles through Elijah overtime. Then one day he finds himself being chased and his life threatened by the evil Jezebel. He runs to the wilderness, collapses under a broom tree, and cries out for God to take his life. He is complaining that it’s to hard and Jezebel has already murdered the other prophets. God says, meet me on the mountain. (1 Kings 19) Fascinating story that I encourage you to read. God will meet you there and teach you things in that story.

Elijah wanted to quit and asked God to take His life because it had gotten to hard and scary. He had absolutely no idea what God had in store for Him. He couldn’t see the plan that God was working behind the scenes. God was not done with Elijah yet. God does not get disappointed or upset with us when we fall. He wants us to allow Him to pick us up, dust us off, and encourage us to continue for Him.

Elijah had no clue the amazing plans God had in store for Him.

God encouraged him and told him to continue. He had to fulfill his calling, and then God had a huge surprise for Him. At the appointed time, God raptured Elijah right in front of Elisha, his protege’! What a way to go out! He didn’t have to experience death. But wait, there’s more!

Then, God allows him to come back in Matthew when he appeared with Moses before Jesus when He was praying in the garden before He was arrested. What Elijah did for God got him to Jesus. If what we are doing gets us to Jesus, then it’s all worth it!

Elijah got to Jesus. He prayed that he would die, but never saw death. Trust God’s plan. James, in the Bible, says that Elijah was just a man; he was human like us. If God can use him, he can use us too, if we allow Him too.

Where are you right now in your relationship with Jesus? Are you willing serving Jesus, being a vessel and allowing God to show His love through you as you spread the Gospel? Or, are you in the wilderness under the broom tree begging God to end your life because it’s to hard and scary?

Can you relate to Elijah? Don’t despair. God has a plan for you, just like He did for Elijah.  Not the same plan, but a great plan that was designed just for you. God knows where you are. You are not alone. Take comfort in knowing that everyone reaches a point where they cry out to God. It’s called humbling ourselves before God. It’s always easier if you humble yourself, than wait for God to humble you. Speaking from experience here. But either way, He loves you and meets you there on your knees. No matter where you are, drop to your knees and repent and ask for help. He is waiting for you. Let Him heal your heart and then ask Him what you can do for Him.

God will put a fire in you to finish your battle.

 

Time for inventory of your life

Asks yourself these questions about everyone and everything in your life, fill in the blank and answer the question:

How does ________ get me to Jesus?

If so, then, how so?

If not, I have no time for that.

Don’t let _______ steal your joy and kill your hope of the soon return of Jesus.

According to scripture: EVERYONE must be willing to give up everything for Jesus!

  • Family
  • Friends
  • Things
  • Success
  • Idols
  • EVERYTHING

“And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Mark 10:21

“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

“So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:23

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21

God does not make everyone sell all they have and give up all their family and things? What He does is bring you to a point of testing to see if you are “willing” to give up everything. If He finds you are truly willing to give it all up for Him, He oftentimes does not require you too. Some things He takes out of your life because they are toxic or not good for you. Other things He will allow you to keep as long as they don’t become an idol, more important to you than God is in your life. He knows your heart. You can’t trick Him, or negotiate with Him. He will not be mocked.

What must I do to spread the Gospel?

  • Keep it simple.
  • Turn back to Jesus.
  • Repent.
  • Trust Him.
  • Study His Word cover to cover.
  • Ask Him to show you (Jeremiah 33:3, 1John 2:27)
  • Block out the world.
  • Be willing to give up everything for Him.
  • Only listen to what He says to you.
  • Be prepared to be persecuted for following Jesus.
  • Know that He is always with you. (Matthew 28:20)
  • Keep your eyes focused on Jesus.

Fun fact: Do you know why you can’t find all your answers in one passage of scripture? God sprinkles them all over the Bible. It’s like a treasure hunt. If you study from cover to cover, Genesis to Revelation, you will find all the treasures God has hidden for you. It’s like a puzzle, put them all together and you find truth.

 

First step!

Before you embark on your path to spreading the Gospel, let’s make sure your heart is right with Jesus. Just to be safe, let’s complete these steps. Your eternity depends on it. Get right with Jesus today and stand on His promises to get you through these next steps for you.

Don’t complicate the process for salvation. Keep it simple.

Do the ABC’s and repent today.

  • A: Admit that you are a sinner. (Romans 3:23, Isaiah 64:6, Ephesians 2:8-9)
  • B: Believe in your heart that Jesus is the son of God and that He died for your sins and rose from the dead for you. (John 3:16-18, 1Corinthians 15:1-4)
  • C: Call on Jesus and repent of your sins and turn back to Him and ask Jesus to show you the way. (Romans 10:9-13, John 14:6)

 

May God bless you and keep you.

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