Do you really know the Good News?

I'll never forget the time when I was at an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) meeting two years ago. Sitting in a room of college kids like myself, serving as FCA leaders on our campus, were posed with this question: How many of you have shared the Gospel with someone?

My heart stopped. Then it sank.

One or two hands were raised out of about 20, and I was one of the many sitting there bewildered with myself.

So here I am, all this time pursuing Christ and gaining knowledge about what the Bible says and learning about discernment and all those things, yet I had never told anyone the story of the Gospel.

As I began to condemn myself and feel disappointed, I started wondering if I could even share the Gospel from beginning to end accurately, while making it sound as interesting and miraculous as it really is.

Long story short, thanks to some awesome people, I learned how to share the Gospel. The following summer when I traveled to Europe, I found myself using the same techniques they taught me as I evangelized on the streets of Oxford, England.

So what's my point?

Hebrews 5: 12 says, "You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food."

Generally (and I say generally), when I think of American Christians, that is what I think of. The Hebrews. Especially living in a small Texas town, or in the "Bible belt" of Texas where I go to school, mostly everyone claims to be a Christian. The question is: How many of those Christians can tell the story of the Gospel from beginning to end? And more than that: How many can share the Gospel as their life story, attaching personal emotion and making it relatable? 

Anybody can read about a story and re-tell it, but that is not the Christian's purpose. We should be teaching and discipling those who do not know the story. We should be sharing the Gospel because they are in the story.

What's happened to the urgency of "making disciples of all nations"? What would Paul say about the American Christians? I understand not everyone is gifted with public speaking, but you don't have to be: The Gospel is not limited to human ability. Anybody and everybody can tell the story of the Gospel with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Are we able to share the Gospel accurately, from beginning to end, starting with creation? Are we prepared to do so if someone asks to "explain this 'Jesus' a little more to me"? Words are necessary, contrary to what that famous quote says, when sharing the Gospel.

Romans 10:14-15 says, "But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them."

If there's nothing you have read so far that has stuck, hear this: If you are a Christian, you have a duty and are commanded to share the Gospel.

Do you know it?