Proclaim Repentance

"Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

and He said to them, ‘thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer

and rise again from the deadthe third day;

and that repentance for forgiveness of sins

should be proclaimed to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem.’"

Luke 24:45-47

As we near our Lord’s ascension He is now sharing most important information with His disciples. The message is as important for us as it was for them. The responsibility and privilege of sharing the message of salvation to others applies to all Christians. It is interesting that Luke shares this charge with us here and begins with the same challenge in the book of acts. Acts 1:8 says "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

Paul says in Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Paul was bold in sharing his faith and we can have that same boldness through the Holy Spirit’s ministry in our lives. We should also be patient, loving and kind as we tell others of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Some say they don’t know how to share the gospel. Try writing out your testimony of how you came to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. You will find four basic elements of sharing your faith. First, we must recognize that we are sinners, separated from a relationship with God (Rom. 3:23). Then we learn that because of our sin we face eternal separation from God (Rom 6:23), but He gave His Son as a free gift to pay the price for our sins that we might have eternal live (Rom. 5:8). Finally there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. We simply must "confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead...for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." (Rom.10:9-10).

Our realization of the eternal hope we have should cause us to have a great desire to share that hope with those whom God places in our path.