The Great Commission: Proclaim The Gospel
After Jesus rose from the dead He spent several weeks with His disciples. Just before He ascended to heaven He gave them what we call the Great Commission. Mark 16:15 records a simple and straightforward version of it.
There are additional aspects of the Great Commission but this is the essence of it. Proclaim the Gospel! This is the most basic thing Jesus has commanded all of us to do.
[Tweet “I was delighted with an unexpected opportunity to proclaim the Gospel on my trip to India.”]
This trip had been planned for some time. From the moment we arrived everything was planned out for 19 days. We officially had four events, two Stand Firm Conferences in India and two in Egypt. I had one other unofficial opportunity to preach in an Indian Church. In many places in India the local authorities object to foreigners preaching so even though I planned for this, it wasn’t on the schedule. I want to tell you about another event that happened that I hadn’t planned!
We arrived in Kerala on October 19th for our first Stand Firm Pastor’s Conference in the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. It was late so Pastor Raja went to the conference center to make sure everything was set up. Caleb and I were still adjusting to the time change and went to bed early.
In the morning at breakfast Pastor Raja told me I was invited to speak that evening at a local businessman’s home. I was surprised and so was Raja. The businessman, Rabi, had heard I was coming for the Stand Firm Conference and invited his neighbors to come to his house that night to hear me speak. He hadn’t asked in advance. He didn’t know me or anything about me. I told Raja this had never happened to me before. He said it was a first for him, too. I’m always grateful for the opportunity to proclaim the Gospel so I agreed. That evening when we got to Rabi’s house we couldn’t believe what we found. There were 200-300 men, women and children crammed into a small covered area behind his house.
Raja told me that the Rabi built the roof and put up the lights just for this meeting! There was a time of worship and then I proclaimed the Gospel! Some of the people were his family and some from his church. Many were neighbors who were Hindus who don’t know the Lord! What a joy it was to proclaim the Gospel like this. I felt like the Apostle Paul on a missionary journey!
Raja is from that area and was my translator. The truth of Jesus’ sinless life, death, burial and resurrection for our sins was clearly proclaimed! Please thank God with me for Rabi who arranged this. Also pray for those who heard the Gospel that they might yet believe in Jesus.
What a wonderful and unexpected opportunity to proclaim the Gospel! Thank you for your prayers for us. This was clearly a “God thing!” It is something I will never forget.
