Spread the good news | By: J.O. Lawal | Date: April 16, 2023 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 11, No. 50

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to another week of the month of April 2023. My prayer is that God will continually find you useful in spreading the good news of His Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we see in the bible, one of the reasons many were blessed through the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was that those who had blessed by Him kept on spreading the good news to those around them and everywhere they went. For instance, after Jesus had cured a mad man of his madness, He said this to him: “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:19NIV) And did this man go or not? He went. The bible says, “So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” (Mark 5:20NIV)

Now the same thing is expected of us. As the Lord is feeding us with His word, changing our lives and doing all kinds of wonderful things for us in this assembly, we are supposed to be spreading the news of His goodness to us everywhere. Why? It is so that those who hear us may also be inspired to join us in experiencing His goodness.

Do you know that even those whom the Lord ordered not to speak about Him to anyone still spread the news of His goodness everywhere they went? Luke, for example, shares this with us about what happened after Jesus had healed a man that was leprous:

“Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”” (Luke 5:14-16NIV)

Did you see that? Even though the Lord clearly ordered this leprous man not to tell anyone about Him, the man would not keep quiet about the matter. Instead, like others whom He had healed before, this man too went about and spoke freely to others about Him and what He had done for him. And the result was that many more people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

Was it right for that man to disobey the Lord Jesus the way he did? No! In Mark’s account of the same incident, he makes it clear that this man’s disobedience made it impossible for Jesus to enter any place without creating commotion. So, his disobedience caused more organisation problems for the Lord. But this man did not think he was doing anything wrong at the time. He just felt that he would be selfish to keep from others the truth about the man that had healed him and made him whole. (Cf. Mark 1:40-45)

In any case, this man, who was commanded by the Lord not to tell anyone about Him, reasoned that it would be selfish of him not to indeed tell anyone about Him. Would it, then, not be even more selfish of us not to spread the news of His goodness to us, we who have not received from Him any such command? It certainly would be selfish of us.

So, if you have been experiencing the goodness and power of God in your life since you have joined this assembly, it is selfish of you to keep everything to yourself and not to spread the news to others. Of course, if you could prove that you have not been experiencing the goodness and power of God since you joined us, then, we would understand, if you are reluctant to spread the news. That would be because there is no news to spread. But if you can’t prove that (and I am sure you cannot), you need to begin to spread the news of what God is doing for you and to you in our meetings to those around. That way, they too will be able to join us to experience the goodness of God in their lives.

Now I want you to know that God is counting on you to do this. And He will surely reward your faithfulness in leading others to Him to experience salvation, healing, deliverance and transformation. So, take this matter seriously. May your heart be strengthened to act accordingly, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid week.

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