I believe any of us who have tried to teach the gospel to people we associate with have struggled with being bold. For some reason we many times let our fears keep us from speaking to our friends about the gospel of Jesus. I would like to talk about some passages that can help us to cast out these fears!

1 John 4:7-5:5 – John teaches us about perfect love for God and for our fellow man. If we truly love God and do what He commands, we have nothing to fear on judgment day.  If we have proper love for God and man, we will have boldness in teaching them about Jesus.

Mark 12:28-34 – First love the Lord with all our heart and then love our neighbor as ourself. If we have proper love for God and our neighbor, it would be natural to share the gospel. Sharing the gospel is the best way to show love to our friends and neighbors!

Matthew 10:28, Hebrews 13:5-6 – Realize man cannot do anything to your soul, no matter what their reaction to the gospel message is.

Acts 4:23-31, 5:27-42 – Pray for boldness and the Lord will provide. We need to have boldness to approach God in prayer (Hebrews 4:16) and boldness in the Day of Judgment (1 John 4:17). But if we do not have boldness in teaching our friends, the scriptures show us that we probably have not been praying like we should and that we may not be confident on the Day of Judgment.

Notice that Paul lived his life speaking and preaching the gospel boldly (Acts 9:27-29, 13:46, 14:3, 19:8, Ephesians 3:8-12, 6:19-20, 1 Thessalonians 2:2). And he was encouraged when his example caused others to be bold (Philippians 1:12-14). We need to remember that speaking boldly is not to hold back about the good news (Acts 8:4). But our boldness always needs to be out of love for the souls of others.

Ephesians 5:8-16 – Part of our job as Christians is to expose unfruitful works of darkness with the light of the gospel. These can be uncomfortable situations, but God expects us to expose darkness with the light of Jesus.

We need to focus on the condition of the souls of others (Acts 2:40-41).

Why not set some goals right now?

• Do not put our light under a basket (Matthew 5:13-15). Middle school, high school, and college will be starting very soon! Determine to stand up for Jesus with your schoolmates. Do not participate in or keep silent about something that is wrong. “Be the influencers and not the influenced!”
• Invite people: Bible study, watch the TV program, check out our website, etc. [Philip (John 1:43-46), Samaritan woman (John 4:29-30)]. WE CAN ALL DO THIS!
• Make sure our friends know what they need to do to be saved from their sins (Matthew 28:18-20). Some way some how, with God’s help, we need to tell people how they can be saved!
• Encourage your brethren to teach the gospel! Visit, send cards, call, eat a meal with, or send an e-mail not just to let each know we care, but also to encourage in the teaching of the gospel. We need to be thankful for one another and at the same time challenge one another (Ephesians 1:16, Colossians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Hebrews 10:25).
• Each day do something for the spiritual growth of others (Philippians 1:21-24, 2:3-4)! Do not focus on your self! If Paul focused on himself, he would not have overcome his fears in teaching the gospel. Satan wants us to focus on ourselves. If we do this we will only focus on the things we fear rather than what God wants of us and what our neighbors need.

Maybe these things will help us overcome our fears in spreading the gospel. Teaching the gospel is a challenge the Lord expects us to meet. It also is to be an important part of our lives (Hebrews 10:24-25). We assemble to stir up good works and spreading the gospel is a great work! We need God’s help and the encouragement from one another to accomplish this goal.

Now we have a chance to encourage any in need of prayers or in need of being baptized into Christ to come forward while we stand and sing.