Preach it until they hear, rejoice when they do

I was chatting with a good friend,who is also a pastor, recently on interacting with those that we minister to after they have been to a conference or heard a podcast and things finally clicked for them. They finally saw the truth of the gospel or how Jesus must be central to all that we are about. But wait, haven't we been preaching that week after week? Haven't we counseled them with the same truth one-on-one? This can be discouraging as a pastor - when those you lead finally "get it" but from somewhere else.

This reality has me thinking. Just yesterday I counseled a young man that we are called to faithfulness wherever we are at all times. That is it. God will use us as he chooses and we are obedient by being faithful. But in function we allow our flesh to desire worship for "opening eyes" to the truth of Jesus. We want to be the voice that propels finally an understanding of the gospel, of Christ's work for us. We don't need to be however and we must be content in this and excited even.

We know our faithfulness is carried out in our lives and in the words that we preach. We preach Jesus. We live in response to and with the hope of Jesus. Some will hear it for the first time from us and we rejoice. Some will hear it for the first time elsewhere and when that happens we rejoice. Our only care is that we are faithful and that Christ is glorified. So all of you that I preach to - please go where you will hear it, hear what I have been telling you all along - no matter where you hear it first or where it first starts to transform your life, I want to rejoice with you and constantly remind you of it as we do life together.

Brothers and sisters, preach until they hear and rejoice when they do, not matter what.