If you have been called to be a "preacher" or part of a church that employs a gospel preacher who obediently sets forth God's words of reconciliation week by week, then you, the preacher, and all members of the unique Body of Christ must realize that our Gospel preaching was intended for a public audience. 

Audiences that live or work where we live. A preacher is sent by the Lord of the Harvest - the Jewish Yahshua from Galilee - to preach the glad tidings of His Gospel. All this work is intended for one purpose --- to save sinners from their sins and bring them back to the Father through the One and Only work of redemption found exclusively in the shed blood of Yahshua.

 

Our Messiah, Greek named Jesus, superimposed His authority to His disciples and released them to proclaim to cities and regions, rulers and magistrates, His message of eternal salvation from the heartache and penalties of our sins, and to warn of coming judgment for those men and women and children who refuse His grace-filled invitation.  

 

They were commanded, yes my friends, commanded, and because He commanded them to preach His message, His virtue was imparted to them. This Divine impartation enabled rag-tag band of preachers to speak publicly as this Yahshua resurrection movement was launched from the shores of Galilee and Jerusalem to utmost parts of the earth. 


The Gospel is to be heralded! Like Paul Revere warned of the coming English invasion, so we, in like fashion, warn all men everywhere to repent and turn their hearts back to God.

 

"And as you go, preach, saying,


'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'


Mt. 10:7


The word “preach” is used 34 times in the New Testament and another 16 times in the Old Testament, in every instance, the word speaks to the work of “heralding” out a public declaration to turn back to the Creator and Ruler of the Universe... we make these declarations with no apologies!


The Greek word – kēryssō – used for herald means either one of the definitions listed at this link.


Click on link below to go to the word study on the word "preach" or to herald in the New Testament.


Link to study the definition of "preach" in the word of God


These definitions came directly from the BLB website, so I encourage you to do a serious word study on the word “preach” from this site, it should inspire us to do more then we are currently doing to promote the Kingdom of God.


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Now lets take a journey together:


Pretend your an angel with one assignment to proclaim the birth of Jesus to the earth realm. You know this day is approaching and you can't wait for the opportunity to sing like you do in heaven all the time.


You are living in the bliss of heaven for the sole purpose of making this announcement. For a few thousand years you have practiced the harmony and notes to make sure its perfect. 


Then one day you are called and commissioned to enter the earth realm to sing your majestic announcement song. As you penetrate Bethlehem's night air you happened to find a handful of lowly shepherds as your audience. Besides the sheep they tend you might feel like your announcement is being wasted on these guys.  


 

Did this humble setting alter the level of excitement in the singing and heralding of these angels? 
 


No way.


This baby just born is the Savior of the world nonetheless. This baby is the Creator of the Universe. This baby is the One who must come to save Israel and all those who believe on the God of Israel.


This baby is King of kings and Lord of lords. And He just entered the world in a place where oxen and donkeys eat and sleep.


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Was there any sense of shame in the broadcast of these angelic singers?


Of course not, they knew the Creator, they continually lived before His Throne, they didn't need any evidence of the reality of the existence of [Yĕhowshuwa] or Jesus, as we call Him, they had witnessed His glory ever since they were created. He was born to save sinners from their sins.


In fact these angelic singers were created by the Word of His mouth.


I can only imagine that they must have been biting at the bit for long time for this opportunity. These angelic singers were made exclusively for this moment in time space history. Amazing.   


I'm sure they couldn't wait. Nor did they take in account the nature of their audience.



I use this analogy of the angels of heaven to make this point. These God-created angels were commissioned to "herald" His Birth to the world. His birth represented salvation and deliverance from judgment. We are not called to figure out who we tell, but rather, we are called to broadcast the message of life to everything that draws breadth under heaven.


Can you see from the definition of what it means to “preach” that we are called to be indiscriminate "heralds" of His salvation? 


We perform this function with the title given us from our Lord, we are called "ambassadors" and "ministers" of His edict of reconciliation of God to mankind. This we do as we faithfully compel men to come to Christ through the proclamation of the His message. In so doing, we speak peace to all men.


How have we been called to perform this work?


By the same call that the angels experienced when they were created from the beginning of creation, to simply be and do, we were called to perform this great work of heralding when we were translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His amazing love.


Look at those lowly shepherds, what were they supposed to do with what they heard and saw?  They did what came natural. They simply proclaimed what they heard with their ears and saw with their eyes in the heavenlies.  


All of us who have come in contact with the One and only Messiah, must come to the same awe inspiring sense and knowledge as the angels of heaven. We must see into eternity the magnitude of what we have been called to do. Commissioned to be "heralds" of His Salvation.


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Hopefully I have carried your judgment thus far and now with this understanding hopefully working it's way down to the depths of our heart, we have to be honest with ourselves and with our churches here in a very secularized nation - America.


We have to ask the question of ourselves first, as preachers of the Gospel, why are we not openly and honestly declaring the work of Yahshua our Messiah to our community -- with an all out offensive, especially in light of the fact that a real day of judgment awaits us all?


To qualify this point, I'm not saying all we do is herald the Gospel message all the time, certainly we speak to our neighbors about the issues of life, but certainly, this precious message has to be one of the highest priorities in the use of our time. 


 

Our country has become a post christian nation. Relativism, dualism, and a fake spirituality have overtaken our fellow citizens. Most do not even understand the work of redemption or the simple fact that Yahshua is the only Way of salvation. That His blood alone atones for our very real sins. How could this confusion enter the minds of our fellow citizens?



The message has be lost because the truth is not preached in the public sector. And if we are not going public with His message, we are tacitly revealing two things about our heart attitude:


1. We are ashamed to be one of His public heralds.

2. We don't really believe He is the Messiah, the only solution to the problem of sin and death.


And on a much more personal level, we are missing the only and true method God has deemed His message to be presented to a lost and dying world. Public preaching has power endued from on High.


If preach the message of life in this fashion... we might just get better results.  


The message is not on trial when we preach, we are on trial. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit we simply do what Our Lord promised to bless and to conquer the world. If we walk like our apostolic forefathers walked this modern world with high speed communication and means of travel should have already heard the claims of our Lord.


Jesus promised that we will experience all the success that He has predetermined for His message to achieve when we do what He said.


"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw


all peoples to Myself." 


Jn. 12:32


If we don't do this work of preaching in the prescribed manner shown to us, clearly stated by Our Lord Himself, we are lost and we cheat ourselves out of the blessings He has promised to us, and we cheat the hearer of a tremendous blessing to hear the message the way it was designed to be presented and to feel its power when presented in correctly.


Jesus performed public preaching at the very outset of His Public ministry,



“From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 


"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."


 

Mt. 4:17


So when [Yĕhowshuwa] Our Messiah, The Christ of God, was born to Mary and Joseph, the word of God tells us that He was always about the business of His Father. A bond-slave to the will of His Father who sent Him to save us. Why aren't we?


Just ponder these words of scripture, place yourselves in the office of an angel again, just for a minute.


Read with me Luke's account of the birth of Our Messiah:


In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 


9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 


10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 


11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 


12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 

 

13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,


14 "Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."


15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us." 


Lk. 2:8-15


Coincidentally, in this season of celebration, we are reminded yet again,  that we are to announce to the world that the Christ is the Son of God. 


Openly and without shame and reservation! 


He is either the Son of God or he was a mere pretender. 


Because the public announcement was so powerful and bold we must take the time to consider the implications of His arrival to the earth.


And all of us are forced to deal with these 2 questions: 



1. Why did He come to earth if He truly was God?


2. What is the problem with us and our world that He must come or we are doomed?



In the Matthew account of His birth we read:


18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit

 

19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.


20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit

 

21 She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus (Yĕhowshuwa – means Jehovah is Salvation), for He will save His people from their sins." 

 

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 

 

23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," 


which translated means, "GOD WITH US." 

 

24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 

 

25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.


Mt. 1:18-25


As you meditate on these words don't feel the weight of the proposition?


Why then, my dear fellow soldiers of the cross, are we so wrapped up in the political and economical problems of our day? These things the Lord will rectify for all those who simply perform His will.


Don't you think there were economical concerns for Peter, James, and John when left all to follow Jesus?


Why do we in turn reveal our unbelief when we don't believe He is our “Salvation”.


"You shall call His name Jesus [Yĕhowshuwa], for He shall save His People from their sins"


Mt. 1:21


For us, the people of God, He is the answer to all our problems. Make no mistake, He can fix our economy and He will protect and establish a nation whose --- God is the Lord. 


So then why don't we go public with this revelation?


I have some insight here, I was, for years, struggling with this question as it related to my call to preach the gospel. Pretty much I was one of the stubborn ones who was running from my call. 


I was afraid to sell out!


I knew instinctively that if I was to be called a preacher of the Gospel, then I would have to go public. 


The scriptures just are too clear on this point, we can't wiggle away from it's implications for those called to preach the Word of God to needy sinners. 


We are called to go public with this incredible salvation message, not because of our worthiness to be heard as preachers, but because the message we preach in so angelic and life changing that it's powerful life-changing words must be pressed into every sector of society.


And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 

 

2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

 

3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 

 

4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power

 

5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 


I Cor. 2:1-5


A brief study of Church history reveals countless numbers of public heralds of the gospel who were persecuted and martyred just because they went “public” with the message of salvation. 


But these heralds were very successful:


From Stephen to Peter to Paul to Polycarp and to Ignatius and beyond. The list could go on and on to our present day, that preachers and men of God who are counted worthy to suffer for His name --- go public --- with the Gospel according to Jesus Christ! 


Jesus died a public death for our salvation, so we, die to self, when we go public with His message.


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Let's be honest, we are afraid of the consequences of a public ministry, aren't we?


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In 2006, I was sitting in our brand new cafe, excited beyond measure about the opportunity God had given me to present a place where people could come to feel God's love and hopefully find Him to be their personal Savior all in the context of good coffee, and great fellowship.


I was reading Ps. 24:1 which says, 


THE earth is the LORD's, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.


As I read I looked out of our front window to the street and it just hit me so hard, I said to myself, “If the earth belongs to God, and all the people, then when I go public all I am doing is representing truth to the world around me.”


At this point the idea of a downtown preaching and worship event came into place, we called it, “taking back the streets for Jesus” It went over really well. 


In this experience, I realized a Divine encounter and call that has ruined me forever.


I spent a lot of time in prayer leading up to this event. 


I walked and prayed and cried out to God to deliver the town from the spell of witchcraft which I had just been told by an anonymous person was deeply entrenched in this cute, but demonically dangerous, small southern town.


I won't go into the details but suffice it to say, God showed me before the event and during the event, that what He was doing was very epic and powerful for the town. 


What God was going to would change the landscape of the town forever. 


As I watched the 4th worship band perform their last song, I knew God was gonna do something in somebody to proclaim His power. 


After all, it was raining all over the area, but not on our concert, it was a Divine miracle, there had to be reason this event was taking place without being rained out. 


And it had to be bigger then just listening to worship music in downtown Pilot Mountain, NC.


As I knelt down just before the band finished its last song I knew I was being summoned to do something, I just didn't know what?


Lifting up from my knees, I jumped on the frontside of the flatbed trailer that held the performers and their equipment, without hesitation, after they finished singing, I jumped up to hug the guys and to share in the moment with them.


At this point I felt a tremendous surge of the presence of God, after I finished hugging all the musicians, I grabbed the microphone and just started bellowing out words & declarations in rapid fire fashion. 


For 15 minutes I entreated those in attendance to come to Christ, to experience the Love of God, and that He is coming back to Judge the world, and no matter what, all your sins can find forgiven by His blood shed for us.


My wife, who was inside our cafe serving customers, said the texture and color of the outside light streaming in through our cafe window changed as when she looked outside. This weather change happened during my 15 minute launch into work of public preaching.


I will never be able to forget this day. 


Now what do I do with this experience?


I couldn't tell you all I said, but it was powerful, because God was saying it through me, I was not thinking about what to say, I was just declaring the coming of the Lamb of God who could take away the sins of the people I was looking at.


What has changed from that day til now? 


I preached several more messages after that time. But I long to get back to the public proclamation of the Gospel. That's why my wife and I and our 7 kids are looking for the next city to do this kind of simple work.


When I submitted to God's call and obeyed Him I walked in the ancient paths that our forefathers walked. The results after this encounter with the presence of God were nothing short of amazing.


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From John the Baptist to those excited apostles in Jerusalem who went major public after the Pentecostal winds had permanently changed their disposition about preaching the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. 


They became bold in their manner, they were unashamed to preach to scholarly and philosophical Greeks and the hardened religiously proud Jews... what changed? 


They were overwhelmed by the Goodness of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are promised the same power today.


Are you getting what I am so pathetically trying to say?



Church of Jesus Christ:


We must go back to public ministry to keep our lamps lit in our churches here in America. 


We see a new thing coming to the church in America.


We must not leave all of our passionate devotion Christ in the assembly of the already saved.  


We must take it to the streets!


Why have we fallen prey to the sin of indolence and the fear of man? 


Because we are disobedient, like Nicodemus before he was born again, we are afraid of what our friends, coworkers, and neighbors might think of us. 


We lack the fire of God because we have grieved the Holy Spirit by not going and doing the Great Commission, that's why we are suffering in the American church.


If we did our job, our nation would prosper, wouldn't it?



For some of us it is because:


We happen to be an upper management worker in a large corporation, we run the risk of not getting a promotion if we push Jesus to the front of our door and take Him with us everywhere we travel we go with our business. 


Fear of the lack of gain stops us in our tracks, this is idolatry!


We are teacher in a public high school, we know we run the risk of being fired if we talk openly about Jesus in our classrooms or pray with a kid who desperately needs it.


We are a police officer or military officer and know that we may not get that next promotion if we push Jesus too hard at the work place or share His Love with a needy person only we can assist because of our position in society or in the military. 


Oftentimes, in our community we run the risk that our neighbors might label us a Jesus freak, and then comes the associated fear that we will lose credibility with our neighbors who live with us in our little propped up world of supposed happiness.  


Our neighbors might believe that we are excessive and too religious.


We are falling prey to the trap of the Devil and we are ashamed of the precious name of Jesus. What did Jesus tell us before He left this planet,


“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." 


Mark 8:38


If your convicted about what I am sharing today, then you, like me, have been pressed to do more then just the Sunday church experience. 


Times are tough in America, and this reality represents a great opportunity to speak of God's kingdom to those needy and broken people the Lord brings our way in our everyday life in this crazy world. 


I don't know how the Lord is going to move you into a public place of ministry but this I do know, “if you bow the knee to Him, He will get there” 


What I found out in my process of learning how to submit more and more to the Lord's will, especially on this matter, it gets easier the more you do it. 


Your faith will increase.


Your love for Jesus will intensify. 


Because you are unabashedly proclaiming His virtue to a cynical and unbelieving world. We think we know what people are thinking but they are just as confused as we are, they need to be what we were saved to be... proclaimers of the Kingdom of God


Let's prepare dear church of God for His arrival to earth, let's get ready for our wedding day and put on our best white garments. These garmets are the righteous acts of the saints. 


These “love” acts to the Savior as we preach Him to our very confused and dying world are the only solution to what is coming next to our world... which soon will fall under the spell of the AntiChrist system.


Shalom,


Jonathan