27/11/2010 - THE RIGHT WAY TO PREACH THE GOSPEL

• 
• 
• 
• 

But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. (I Corinthians 1:23)

In the days of the apostle Paul, just like today, there were many people who used to come up with spiritual fabrications. Each was concerned with their own success, preaching what they saw fit. The human mind is the same and even in the present day we see people creating the most absurd precepts, stating that these are the teachings that God gave them to convey. We should not deceive ourselves because we know how the work that the Lord has called us to accomplish must be done.

It is wise, on the part of all God’s children, to flee religious deception. The devil, knowing that he cannot hinder the furtherance of the Almighty’s work and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church of Jesus, leads people, even the well-intentioned ones, into creating misguided doctrines and traveling around the world in order to propagate its teachings. However, what message has Jesus commanded us to transmit? That He was crucified and died for our sins – this includes the cure of diseases and the solutions to all problems. We must preach the message of Christ crucified so that we can lead people to partake the Kingdom of God, which came to be when Jesus overcame the forces of darkness through His death on the cross.

People need to know the power of the right message because there is no other way of having faith in God. However, it is written that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). In other words: you can only act in the lives of sufferers if they understand why He operates. By preaching a different message, we will lead God\’s people through ways that will never please the Lord.

Religious people are offended by the simplicity of the Gospel. For centuries, the evil one has managed to make preachers change the teaching of the Scriptures for something complicated that has never helped and will never help anyone. Only the Gospel, through the power of the Holy Spirit, will set the captives free. The Most High works only where there is faith, which comes by hearing the Word and not by heeding the fanciful and sophisticated stuff that someone or a group fabricates (Romans 10:17, Ephesians 4:13-14).

The wise men think it is foolishness when we say that the Lord intervenes in our lives and works miracles. However, this is what the Word of God declares because that’s how He acted in the past. Jesus promised that whoever believed in Him would also do the works He did (John 14:12). So, we need not be afraid to say that God was in Christ, and that because we are in Him, He is in us (II Corinthians 5:19-20). After all, the Gospel is the power of God (Romans 1:16).

In Christ with love,

R. R. Soares