Teaching with Boldness and Strength

Arnold Schwarzenegger won the Mr. Universe title in 1969 and 1970 for his huge muscles. His strength will go down in history, and people will remember him for years to come. If there was a Mr. Universe award for speaking, then members of the church should take first place. Just like Arnold's physical strength, we need to be spiritually strong when we teach the Gospel to other people.

When we teach, we should do so with as much strength and boldness as we can. Peter and John are great examples of boldness. They had been put in prison for preaching the Gospel to the people in Jerusalem. As they stood in front of the rulers of the city, both Peter and John spoke so bravely that the rulers wondered how they did it (Acts 4:13). Peter and John barely had any education, and yet they could impress some of the most educated people in the city, because they had been so dedicated to the Gospel! We as Christians should try to live up to the example of Peter and John.

Strength, though, is not enough. We need to be kind to peoplewhen we teach them the Gospel. Jesus was a great example when it came to having compassion for others. In Mark 6:34, when Jesus' apostles had returned to tell Him of their work in other cities, huge crowds of people followed Him. While He was sailing away from the shore, He noticed that people from several cities were gathered around the water. The same verse says that He "was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things." Why does the Bible tell us that He had sympathy for these people? Because God wants us to be concerned for people who are lost!

Being bold and having sympathy at the same time can be difficult, but we have to remember what God wants from us. We have to keep all of God's commandments in mind, and follow every one of them. In this case, we should follow Paul's words when he told Timothy, "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching" (2 Timothy 4:2).

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