We’re All Called

Who is called to preach the gospel? It isn’t just pastors, teachers, evangelists, and missionaries. It’s any person, anywhere, who names the name of Christ.

Jesus Himself gave us His marching orders when He said, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19–20 NLT).

Jesus called us to share the gospel. And He called us to share it everywhere.

In another variation of what we call the Great Commission, Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mark 16:15 NLT). We can localize this by saying, “Go into all your world and preach the gospel. Go to all your family, to your workplace, and to your neighborhood. Go into your sphere of influence.”

But why are we to do this?

It’s because God’s primary way of reaching people is through people. The Bible tells us that “since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21 NLT).

God has chosen to communicate His gospel primarily through us as we share it verbally. However, there is a place for living the gospel. That, in effect, earns us the right to share it. But we shouldn’t merely rely on our example.

We need to look for opportunities to specifically articulate the gospel message to someone else. As the Scriptures say, “And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14 NLT). We should be doing this because we care—because we have a burden for people who don’t know the Lord.