SHARING THE GOOD NEWS

“Now I want to remind you, my friends, of the Good News which I preached to you, which you received, and on which your faith stands firm. That is the Gospel, the message that I preached to you. You are saved by the Gospel if you hold firmly to it -- unless it was for nothing that you believed. I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures; that He was buried and that He was raised to life three days later, as written in the Scriptures; that He appeared to Peter and then to all twelve apostles. Then He appeared to more than five hundred of His followers at once, most of whom are still alive, although some have died. Then He appeared to James, and afterward to all the apostles. Last of all He appeared also to me…”  (1 Corinthians 15:1-8a GNT)

The word evangelism comes from the Greek word euangelizo, which means “to proclaim or share the good news.” Our modern word gospel comes from the Old English word godspel. In Old English, god with a long “o” meant “good,” and spell meant “word.” So sharing the gospel meant sharing the good word or good news of Christ.

Yet for those who don’t believe in Christ, gospel sharing, or evangelism, often arouses skepticism, resentment, fear, or anger. For many self-proclaimed Christians, these words often induce feelings of fear and guilt… [Many Christians] know they should share their faith, but largely because of the strong emotions associated with it, they usually don’t…

When we are open to go wherever the Holy Spirit leads us, He will use us to share the greatest gift of all – [the Good News of] eternal life through Christ. And when He does, we may never know on this side of eternity how much of a difference we made. But someday – on the other side – we’ll know in full. 

-- Craig Groeschel in “The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn’t Exist”

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