Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Many who claim to be preachers of Christ Jesus, in the past and the present times, are not evangelists. They teach more on worldview, philosophy, or religion. Most of them are revivalist, trying to make a particular religion more popular and more influential. Some, even though they claim themselves as pastors (or shepherds) and ministers (or servants) of Jesus Christ, they still revive practices or traditions in the Old Testament.
What we really need today ( if we mean Salvation), are preachers and ministers who are Evangelists. Evangelist is the role fulfilled when the Gospel or the Good News of The Kingdom Of GOD in The New Covenant is preached. Our English word “evangelist” comes from the Greek word euangelion—this word is translated in our English Bible as, “gospel,” or “good news”.
We need evangelists in a strict/strictest sense of Salvation, because in verse 16 of Romans 1, it is clearly stated that “the gospel of Christ, is the power of God to save for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
After resurrection, Christ Jesus left these clear instructions in Matthew 28:18-20,“18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”
Christ Jesus is crystal clear in His final commissioning of His apostles and disciples. In verse 20, they are tasked to teach and observe all things He taught and commanded them to do. His teachings and commandment can all be found in the four Gospels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Although evangelists should not sound out the Old Testament to expose the Gospel clearly, servants for Christ should know and have to always highlight the Gospel. Hebrews 8:13 says, “In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
Prior to this, St. Paul said in Hebrews 8:7-12, “7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
GOD, The Word, who became Flesh Jesus, (John 1:1,14) taught His disciples in the New Testament without reading scrolls. He just opened His mouth and taught them. Example is “The Beatitudes” (Matthew 5: 1-11). For most of His Teachings, Jesus was not relying on the Old Testament, except for the prophecies written about Him, The Messiah and when He was tempted by the devil.
Let’s review the beautiful explanation of St Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:1-7 about The Light of Christ’s Gospel: It says, “4 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
Jesus Christ's main concern is to save us all from judgment and punishment through His words, the words that come from the Father. John 12:47-50 says, “ 47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
Jesus Christ's words have power. The words that He has spoken are full of Spirit and they are life (John 6:63). His words spoken to us can also clean and purify us (John 15:3). His words are living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).
No wonder why St. Paul strictly charged Timothy to preach the Word of Jesus. He said, in 2 Timothy 4:1-5, “ I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
So, the only way to save souls is to stick to the Gospel of Christ, our GOD’s given power to save ourselves and others as well. Glory to GOD The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, AMEN
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