In Matthew 10:6-8, Jesus commanded His followers to go to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and preach, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He added, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” The only thing that’s changed is that now the message is for everybody. Later in Matthew, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
In Mark 16:15-20, He told us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” He noted that our preaching would be confirmed by various signs, such as casting out demons in His name and laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover. We’ve freely received authority in Christ and power through the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel. Supernatural signs confirm the legitimacy of our message. Jesus shed His blood so we could enter His Kingdom. Eventually, He will return to establish the Kingdom in its fullness. Until then, we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. We listen to Him and are always ready to minister.
Listen to the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit will give us opportunities to minister if we make ourselves available. For example, the Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” He led them to the exact spots they were supposed to go to and forbade them from preaching in other locations. Likewise, the Spirit told Philip to approach an Ethiopian eunuch and informed Peter to travel with a group of men that He Himself had sent. The eunuch was saved and so was the entire household of Cornelius. Often, the Holy Spirit gives us insight into someone’s life we couldn’t have possibly known naturally, through words of knowledge, words of wisdom or the discernment of a spirit. He may prompt us to minister healing, deliverance or offer an encouraging word.
For more information, view the following resources: Healing, Deliverance & Miracles
The message
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 defines the gospel as the good news of Christ’s death for our sins, His burial and His Resurrection three days later. Yet, early Christians preached “the good news about the kingdom of God.” Jesus Himself went about “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.” He demonstrated that the Kingdom was being established through supernatural power. In Luke 10:9, He gave us the same model, teaching us to first heal the sick and then tell them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” So, after ministering to someone, a message about the Kingdom should be preached.
“God made a perfect world and has made each one of us. We’re accountable to our Creator for how we live. Unfortunately, the first humans, Adam and Eve, rebelled against Him. Their sin brought suffering and death into the world and all of us are born separated from our Creator. Fortunately, God made a way for us to be reconciled to Him. He sent Jesus on a rescue mission to save humanity. He established the Kingdom of God, demonstrating His authority through signs and wonders. He died for our sins and rose again showing that He conquered sin and death. His shed blood gives us access to the Kingdom. A day is coming when Jesus will destroy evil and restore all things, fully establishing His Kingdom on earth. Until then, we get a glimpse of heaven in our daily lives as we follow Him. Acknowledge that Jesus is Lord of your life and ask Him to save you from your sins through His blood.”
Apologetics
Apologetics, logically defending the Christian faith, isn’t as useful as it was in the past because modern society largely rejects absolute truth. That said, people may bring up evolution, question the legitimacy of the Bible or attack some other aspect of Christianity. It’s a good idea to have some quick responses handy.
Evolution
- There are two kinds of science. Experimental science involves doing experiments in the present and drawing conclusions. Historical science involves piecing together what happened in the past. Since history doesn’t repeat itself, explanations about the past require assumptions. Well, evolution is a theory of history.
- Evolutionists believe nothing created matter. This violates the First Law of Thermodynamics, which states matter and energy can’t be created or destroyed. No one saw this happen and it can’t be recreated in a lab, so evolutionists accept this happened by blind faith.
- Everything that has a beginning has a cause. What caused nothing to create matter despite scientific law? By the way, chance isn’t a good answer because chance can’t cause things to happen. That’s like telling a police officer chance made you run a red light. It’s not a good excuse.
- Evolution also claims non-living chemicals created a living organism, but this violates the Law of Biogenesis, which states that life can only come from life. How did non-living chemicals miraculously turn into a living organism?
- Natural selection does the opposite of what evolution requires. Over time, it gets rid of genetic information, because genes which aren’t passed on are eliminated from a population. Since natural selection reduces genetic information, how could a one-celled organism become more complex?
- Mutations don’t help the case for evolution. They create new, sometimes beneficial traits by corrupting existing genetic information, but they don’t create new information. For instance, a mutation that caused the loss of wings for beetles on a windy island would be helpful. The problem? It’s a loss of genetic information.
- Assuming an asexual organism turned into a human over time, where did sex come from? The asexual organism would’ve had to develop male and female reproductive organs at the same time, because you can’t have one gender without the other.
- Everyone must choose between two miraculous accounts of how we got here, evolution or the biblical account of creation, both of which must be accepted by faith.
The Bible
- The Bible was written over a period of 1,600 years by roughly 40 people from multiple walks of life. Its consistency is unmatched, its ability to predict the future is unparalleled and its power is unrivaled.
- There are over 24,000 New Testament manuscripts. Over 5,000 of them are in the original Greek and some are dated to within 100 years of the originals. When cross-checked, the internal consistency of the manuscripts is over 99% and the minor differences don’t affect any Christian beliefs.
- Early Christians recognized God’s Word. Writings had to come from an apostle of Jesus or a close associate of an apostle. If a writing didn’t line up with the essentials of the Christian message, if it contradicted an accepted book or if it had no connection to an apostle or one of their close associates, it was rejected. No organization or council put the Bible together.
The Old Testament successfully made many predictions about the first coming of Jesus. For example, the Old Testament prophesied that Jesus would be born of a virgin, He would have His hands and feet pierced and He would be resurrected. What are the odds of different writers making several accurate, specific predictions about the future? What are the odds of Jesus fulfilling all of them?