Psalm 96:3a
“Declare his glory among the nations.”

Declare:
(verb) To announce, proclaim, make known.

Why did God save you?
At least one reason God saved you was so that you would tell others about Jesus—so that you would “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9).

Declaring joy in God
This means that as disciples of Christ, we are to be people who look for opportunities to speak of the splendor of God in Jesus to everyone, to share the Gospel with those who are not yet saved, and to serve the missionary task of the Church worldwide.

Isn’t just living a good life before others enough?
For many of us sharing the Gospel is one of the hardest aspects of discipleship. It is one that we know is necessary, but is still one that we would prefer to leave to others. Often we hope that if we can just live out godly lives before others this will somehow be enough for them to come to faith in Christ.

While it’s true that a life which “displays joy in God” gives credibility to our message, the Bible tells us clearly that the Gospel is to be communicated with words. If others are to be saved, then our good works must be accompanied by the good news that through repentance from sin and through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross that we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God.

I thought I was just supposed to love people?
Truly loving others means seeking to do what will make them genuinely happy for the longest possible time—which means making sure they know and understand the Gospel, for it is only through Jesus that true, everlasting joy can be found.

Where are we to do this?
Our declaration of the Gospel is to have both a local and a global component.

Locally, we are to share the Gospel with neighbors, friends, family members, and co-workers who have not yet embraced Jesus as Lord and Savior. Although this form of sharing the Gospel often happens on a personal level, at times our church organizes outreaches into our community that we encourage everyone to take part in.

We are all also called to participate in the task of seeing the Gospel go to every people group on earth. We can do this in many ways: going, praying, sending, mobilizing, welcoming and learning.

What if I feel uncomfortable doing this?
Sometimes we get nervous at the thought of sharing the Gospel with others. However, it should be natural to speak of the things in which we delight. As we go out, we should remember Jesus’ promise to be with us at all times. We’re also likely to find that sharing the Gospel with others not only allows them to find joy in God, but that as we speak of God’s greatness to others, our own joy in Him will increase as well.