1. “You shall be My witnesses...unto the uttermost part of the earth”; “You are witnesses of these things” (Acts 1:8; Luke 24:48).
According to the Bible, there are five expressions related to preaching the gospel. The first is witnessing. The Lord commanded His disciples to preach the gospel. On the one hand, He commanded them to preach the gospel to all creation, and on the other, He commanded them to be His witnesses to the uttermost part of the earth. Bearing the testimony of the Lord involves preaching the gospel. The best way to preach the gospel is to testify how the Lord saved us and how we experienced the Lord’s salvation through His death and resurrection on our behalf. This is very effective.
2. “Go to your house, to your own people, and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19).
The Lord spoke this word to a man who was set free from being possessed by demons. The Lord wanted him to witness to his own people and report to them the great things He had done for him and how He had mercy on him. Once we are saved, we should report the salvation that we received to our relatives and friends and should witness to them. This is a preaching of the gospel, and it can bring our relatives and friends to salvation.
3. “The woman left her waterpot and went away into the city, and said to the people, Come, see a man who told me all that I have done. Is this not the Christ?...Many of the Samaritans from that city believed into Him because of the word of the woman who testified” (John 4:28-29, 39).
The Lord met a Samaritan woman by a well in Sychar. When she realized that the Lord was the Christ, she left her waterpot and went into the city where she lived and testified of the Lord. As a result, many believed in the Lord Jesus because of her testimony. A new believer should witness for the Lord because the witnessing of a newly saved one can easily move people to believe into Him. Therefore, newly saved brothers and sisters should visit their gospel friends. They can witness in a fresh way to the salvation that they received. This can move people to repent and believe in the Lord and help them to know the Lord’s salvation.
1. “Andrew...first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah...He led him to Jesus...Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus...Come and see” (John 1:40-42, 45-46).
The second expression for preaching the gospel is leading people to the Lord. When Andrew met the Lord, he went to his brother Simon and led him to meet the Lord. After Philip met the Lord, he went to Nathanael (probably a neighbor, relative, or close friend) and brought him to see the Lord. These instances show that once a person knows the Lord, he should lead others to the Lord, particularly his relatives and friends. Just as Andrew brought his brother to the Lord and Philip brought his neighbor, relative, or friend to the Lord, we should lead our relatives and friends to the Lord.
In leading people to the Lord, we should pay attention to two matters. First, we must have a burden in order to know whom we should lead to the Lord. Andrew had a burden for his brother, and Philip also had a burden. We should not go to people in a loose way. We must have a definite goal so that we can lead people to the Lord one by one. Second, we must lead people to the Lord so that they can see the Lord directly for themselves. Philip, however, did not introduce the Lord so clearly when he said that the Lord was a Nazarene. This made it more difficult for Nathanael to believe, because he responded, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” (v. 46). Philip wisely did not try to explain. He simply said, “Come and see.” If Philip had said anything more than this, he could have made more mistakes that would have confused Nathanael and caused him to doubt. Then it would have been difficult for Nathanael to believe in Jesus. However, as soon as Philip brought Nathanael to see the Lord directly, Nathanael was able to know the Lord. Often our exhortations for people to believe in the Lord are not very clear or correct. New believers especially have this problem. Therefore, we must be careful not to explain too much, because this can confuse people. We need to learn to bring people to see Jesus. We need to say, “Come and see.” We need to bring them to the Lord to see Him directly. Once people see the Lord, many questions dissipate. People have questions because they have not seen the Lord. Therefore, we should not attempt to answer all their questions. We should simply bring them before the Lord and let the Lord Himself answer their questions. Once a person sees the Lord, all his questions are answered.