SPREADING THE WORD

There is a sure-fire way of spreading the word about Jesus and it was Jesus who told us how. In Matthew 16:13-20 Jesus is asking his disciples who are people saying the Son of Man is. The disciples said some say you are John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Jesus then asked Peter what he thought and he said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus seemed very pleased with this answer and told his disciples, “That they should tell no one that he was the Christ.” (v. 20) And that is the secret of spreading the word.

If we say to someone, “Promise you won’t tell anyone…” Everyone will know. It is the greatest and fastest way to spread information. “Promise you won’t tell?” “Can you keep this a secret?”

Jesus used this strategy several times. When the leper was cleansed in Matthew 8, Jesus said, “Don’t tell anyone.” Everyone found out. After The Transfiguration and coming down from the mountain, Jesus said, “Don’t tell anyone about this until I have risen from the dead.” (Matthew 17) Yeah, right.

I am thinking that the way to spread the Gospel message is tell a few and then tell them not to tell anyone else… promise?

“Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.” Jesus