Every Meeting is a Gospel Meeting

Whenever you hear the term “Gospel Meeting”, what comes to your mind? If you’re like most members of the Lord’s church you’re thinking of six days of preaching God’s word. Some brethren have begun meetings that only last 4 days, some even now do only Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But whether three days of six, most think that a gospel meeting is where we invite an outside preacher from another congregation to preach a series of lessons that will “convince, rebuke and exhort” (2 Timothy 4:2), every member and visitor to be better Christians, or to encourage unbelievers to obey the gospel of Christ.

But I’d like to offer a different perspective on the matter. One that I know will have a positive impact on the church as a whole and maybe more importantly on every child of God. Consider this with me, that every time you meet some person anew, is an opportunity for a “Gospel Meeting” to take place. Think with me of what the term “gospel meeting” actually means. The Greek word for gospel is [εὐαγγελίζω] pronounced (yoo-ang-ghel-id’-zo). It is a compound word thus [εὐ-yoo] means “well, or good” and [ἄγγελος-ang’-el-os] means “a messenger, envoy, one who is sent”, most often used of a divine messenger or otherwise known as an angel of God. Thus a “good news meeting”. Then there are the Old Testament prophets who are sent by God such as Moses of whom God said, “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10), or what of Elijah of which Malachi 4:6 says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Then of John the Baptist the same prophet wrote, “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me” (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10).

What is important in all this is that we Christians understand it didn’t stop with John the Baptist who declared the good news this way, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Not at all, for then came Jesus, “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom…” (Matt. 9:35). Again, it didn’t stop there:   Of Peter and John Luke records, “So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans” (Acts 8:25). When Paul and Barnabas where in Iconium the rulers sought to stone them and they “became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. 7 And they were preaching the gospel there” (Acts 14:6-7). In acts 15 and at verse 7 Peter said, “…that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel…”. Of Timothy, Paul and Silas the Spirit says, “we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:10).

So what you say! That was then, they were special. Well, so are you! If you are a Christian then of you Peter wrote, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God…” (1 Peter 2:9-10). Are you a Christian? Then of you Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matt. 5:14). Not hidden, but a light that everyone can see! We need to be proclaiming the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Jesus commanded, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), and that is what we at Columbus street should all be doing all the time.

Let me ask a question. Could Paul have written the same words to the Columbus Street Church of Christ that he did write to the church in Rome? Of them he said, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Rom. 1:8). Would Paul say of us, and more importantly, would Jesus say of us, “I thank God for all you saints at Columbus Street, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole community”.

So then, let’s put all this together. As Christians, every time we step out into the world we have the responsibility to preach the good news, the gospel of Christ just like all who went before us did. You meet someone standing across the gas pump aisle from you, that should be a “gospel meeting”. That is, you should tell them of your love for Jesus, for His word, and the salvation that is in Christ. There are many ways to strike-up a conversation about your faith, The easiest was is to just ask, do you know about Jesus? If the person you’re talking to says yes, ask them if they would study the bible with you, or come to another bible study. You can always simply invite them to any one of our gospel meetings, which by the way, doesn’t only happen twice a year. We have a gospel meeting twice every Lords day, and once every Wednesday. If you do the math that is (52X3) or 156 gospel meetings every year. That is only our members and guests. What of the number of times you meet someone at the grocery store, Walmart, or your favorite restaurant? Each time you meet a precious new soul, it should become a gospel meeting.

Of Jesus the scripture says, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Jesus went about, so do we, and we are all to imitate Jesus. Consider these scriptures: Paul said, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Hebrews 6:11-12, “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, ¹² that you do not become [a]sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises”. And finally, from John “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 1:11). Are you “he who does good”, or are you “he who does evil”? Remember it is the Father’s will that we must do and obey (Matthew 7:21). Do not be deceived into believing that it will somehow be ok with God if we avoid having a gospel meeting with lost souls we meet.

We are having a week long gospel meeting, will you be there? Will you invite others? Remember, every soul you come into contact with that has not heard the gospel, needs you to have a one-on-one gospel meeting with them so that they will hear the good news about Jesus and so your feet will be called beautiful by your Father above.

In Love

Dave Scarpino