Proclaim The Message!

Proclaim The Message! 

2 Timothy 4:2-5 “Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.”

I was surprised when I read these verses this morning. I had just finished writing some declarations from my Encounter School of Ministry class. Last quarter was called Power Evangelization, and it was all about how we can go out and share the Gospel with our spheres of influence. We even had a street ministry practicum where there were at least 30 of us going out 2 by 2 or 3 by 3 onto the streets of the North End in Boston, MA. The declarations that I was writing were all about going out and sharing the Gospel, and then I read these verses, which were given at prayer group by someone who is not in the class with us.  

It’s funny to me how God provides information even if we don’t want to hear it. He tends to tell us something and then reinforces it in many different ways. Even just this first line in the verse is something that He has been telling us in class and in Prayer Group. “Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time be favorable or unfavorable.” This is telling us that it is not ok just to proclaim the message when it is convenient for us. Sometimes, we might hear the Lord telling us or urging us to share the gospel with someone, and yet we don’t want to because we already have plans, we are going to be late for something, or we don’t feel we know what to say. There could be lots of reasons why we tell the Lord, I am sorry; I just can’t do that right now.

However, this verse reminds us that when we hear God prompting us to do something, we need to do it when asked whether it is a good time for us or not. Another verse I always go back to is “God’s ways are not like our ways, and His thoughts are not like our thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8). God knows more than we do. Yes, you might be late to where you are going, but would it be worth it if you were saving this person’s life, or better yet, their soul? God knows what He is doing.

Deacon Joe, the director of the Boston Campus of Encounter, told us a story the other day. He has a friend who was out with his wife this past weekend. They were out of a walk and the Lord told him to go into McDonalds and buy this specific meal for the homeless person they just passed on the street. This man is used to listening to the Lord, so he told his wife what he thought he heard the Lord say, and she told him they better do it if the Lord said it. So they went into McDonald’s and bought the meal they were supposed to buy. As they were walking over to the man, he got excited when he saw the McDonald’s bag. He told them he loved McDonald’s. Then, when the homeless man looked inside, he said that was his favorite meal there! He was surprised that these strangers knew his favorite meal. This gave them the opportunity to tell him about Jesus and show him just how much God loves him. As the couple was walking away, the Lord revealed to this man that he was the 37th person God asked to buy that man a meal. What if he had been too busy to listen?

The verse above goes on to say, “Convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.” This can be hard for us. We can be so passionate about saving our loved ones that we forget to be patient. If you have been praying for your children or other family members for a long time, you might be frustrated with the lack of progress. You might be frustrated that after all this time, you don’t see any changes. In this frustration, you might try to rebuke their ways or what they are doing. God is reminding us in this verse that we must approach everyone with the utmost patience. If we are trying to convince, rebuke, and encourage when we are in a state of frustration or anger, they won’t hear us. If we expect to make a difference, we need to do it with patience.

The verse goes on to say, “ For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.” I would say we are currently in this time. Maybe there have been other times in the past as well. However, this definitely speaks to our current times. People believe what they want to believe right now, whether it makes sense or not. As the verse says, people are looking for teachers who suit their own desires instead of listening to the truth. People are searching for someone to tell them that what they are doing is right, even when they know in their heart it is wrong.

The sad thing is that they are finding what they are looking for. They are finding people to tell them that what they are doing or what they are saying is right, even when it isn’t. There are so many people claiming to teach the truth, and yet it is not the truth of the Bible. It is not the truth from God. It is a man-made truth, and that is dangerous. We are all broken, and so truth based solely on what we think is right and wrong is not true truth. This is one of the reasons God gave us the Bible. The Bible spells out the truth of God, the truth of His promises to us, the truth of who we are to Him and in Him.

The verse ends with, “As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.” God is sending us out to evangelize to those around us. This means He wants us to bring the good news about God to one and all. He wants us to speak truth into people’s lives and to do it with the utmost patience. The Lord wants us to carry out our ministry fully. God has given us each a ministry, and this verse is reminding us to be all in. It says to carry it out fully. Don’t be half in and half out. Don’t do it sometimes and not others. Do it fully.

This verse also reminds us that there will be suffering. When we follow Christ, we will encounter suffering, just as  He did. This is a good reminder because sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking that once we decide we believe in Christ, our life will be easy. Once we decide to make Jesus our Lord and Savior, he will take the reigns, and life will be perfect. This is not the case. Jesus was fully God and fully human and even He didn’t have a perfect life. He faced ridicule, he faced danger, and was eventually crucified. Jesus said that if we want to follow Him, we must take up our cross too. What is that cross for you? What hardship do you have to endure? What hardship did you have to overcome?

Can we still spread the good news of the Gospel even through our hardships? This verse tells us to endure the suffering and do the work to evangelize our circle of influence. Your suffering might be the thing that brings people to you. They might see how you are suffering and yet still serving the Lord and ask how you do it. They might see your suffering and yet also see you are filled with joy, and they might want that same joy. One of the declarations we received about evangelization says, “It is easy to share the gospel with others because they want to know the God that is inside of me.” When you have God inside of you, others will see it, and they will want it. However, they won’t want it if you are impatient, frustrated all the time, grumpy or angry. They will want the God you have inside of you when you are patient, and you show them the love God has for them. Be filled with joy, and others will see it and want what you have.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, help us to be persistent with your message, whether it is a good time for us or not. Help us to say yes to your call each and every time you ask. Help us to have the utmost patience when we are teaching your word. Lord, help us to endure the suffering and not to let is stop us from passing on the truth to others. Help us hear you, Lord. Help us to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that the Spirit comes spilling out of us onto all those we meet. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s mighty name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I hope you are all staying warm as we are getting snow and rain again here in Massachusetts. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in November 2023 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is “My tongues of fire I place on you so I may enflame your heart so that you may share my love with each person that you meet. My children, my spirit is so powerful, so very powerful. Have no fear that all I want you to have I give to my spirit so he can help facilitate everything that I want for you to share. Be open vessels of my love; my children open vessels. Ready to be touched by the spirit. Ready to be guided by my spirit, ready to be innovated in a new way so you can find unique ways to share me with each and every person you meet. All can be my children when my Spirit touches you profoundly.”

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