Every day—in fact, every minute of every day—people in cities, towns, villages and remote places around the world are responding to the Gospel. This very instant, countless men and women and teens and children are acting upon a message they received—the message of life and hope in Jesus Christ. But before they could receive Christ they had to know about Him. Someone had to tell them about His extraordinary gift.
Recently while reading the Gospel of John I was once again drawn into the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. She received the Gospel from its very source, yet the Lord still had to guide her to the truth. Right in the midst of their brief conversation Jesus told her, “If you knew the gift of God, you would ask Him…”
People must hear the Gospel. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The reception of this all-important message is the beginning of faith’s journey. It is the first step towards eternal life.
I am convinced that one of the primary causes of the spiritual confusion and moral decay that is so prevalent today is the absence of the simple Gospel message in society. Specifically, the lack of clear declarations about Jesus. Think about it: How many Christians never tell the Good News to another person?
It is true that we cannot forecast how many will respond to the Gospel if the message is presented to them. But this should never deter God’s children from seizing their own opportunities to plant seeds of truth while also creating opportunities for people everywhere to hear about Jesus and His great gift of salvation.
EHC workers take the Gospel message to thousands of homes every day, and they never know exactly what they will encounter as they go. In a recent interview on 100 Huntley Street, EHC’s International President Dick Eastman shared several extraordinary testimonies from EHC workers in the field. He described two young men who were going home to home in a restricted-access nation delivering a Gospel message to each residence. At several homes they were greeted by people who told them, “You were in my dreams last night!” And each person added, “In the dream you came to me with a gift…please give me the gift!”
God prepares the way for His word, but He calls us to proclaim it. We must never lose sight of the fact that there are people everywhere waiting for the Good News, even if they don’t know Who is the object of their search and longing.
Think of the Ethiopian eunuch, a man with considerable responsibilities in the service of the Queen of Ethiopia. We understand from a brief text in Acts that although he knew from reading Isaiah that a Saviour would come, he had no idea who Jesus was. So he asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about…?”
Following His conversation with the Samaritan woman Jesus assured the disciples that there is a ripe harvest in the world. He also pointed out the obvious: In order for a harvest to come there has to be sowing! “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.”
EHC’s harvest reports for last year have been compiled and the figures are astounding! There is a remarkable, sweeping work of God in places where the seeds of the Gospel have been (and are being) sown. In 2009, over 12 million responses were received and followed up with discipleship materials sent to each person!
The Samaritan woman and the Ethiopian eunuch continued day after day with their longings and unanswered questions until someone told them about the gift of God. People today, in Canada and everywhere else on earth, are waiting to hear. Like those dreamers in the story above, they are waiting (perhaps literally) to open the door to receive God’s messengers and to hear His message.
Let’s keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and let’s never forget that if people knew the gift of God, they would ask Him for the living water that satisfies eternally.