I’m a musician. Since the first time I picked up an instrument in elementary school, I’ve played every instrument I could find. For a while, I thought that music was all I was ever meant to do, but God had other plans. He gave me something to say.

I came to a spiritual realization over the course of several years as I was confronted with the gospel and I had to decide what it meant to me. I’d been a Christian for a while, but it wasn’t until several years after my profession of faith that I grasped the missional aspect of the Gospel.

The word “gospel” literally means “good news”, and that’s exactly what it is. Isaiah prophesied about it when he said: “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them” (Isaiah 9:2). Jesus fulfilled this prophecy when He said: "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). That’s the good news! Though we walked in darkness, we can see a great light, and it’s the light of the world - the Messiah - Jesus Christ.

For about 400 years prior, God had been silent. He had spoken through the prophets, but eventually, there were no more prophets and God’s people were left to wander through life without guidance. Imagine the discouragement they must have felt in the midst of this darkness. Their own Yahweh, the God who brought them out of bondage in Egypt and led them to the Promised Land, was silent. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and David are gone. Years of wars between the divided kingdom, Israel and Judah, had made God’s chosen people into what we might call a lost cause. Out of the darkness of this deafening silence came a cry, not a battle cry from a warrior king, but a baby’s cry from a stable in Bethlehem. “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn”. God had spoken.

One of the most important lessons to learn from studying scripture is that whenever God spoke to someone, He always demanded a response. God never speaks without a purpose. When God speaks to us, He always demands a response in obedience, such as when Isaiah saw God in the temple and “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (Isaiah 6:8). Isaiah experienced the Lord, but it didn’t end there. Experience with God demands obedience to God. Isaiah was sent on a mission, and so are you and I. When Jesus was born, God spoke for the first time in 400 years, and the foundation was laid for movement that would change the world when John the Baptist cried out “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Even today we can still behold Him, the Lamb of God, Whose blood covers every sin that separates us from Him. Have you experienced grace? Has the blood of Jesus covered your sins? It covered mine, and since I began to understand what that meant, I haven’t been able to keep it silent. God gave me something to say.

Just before He ascended into Heaven, Jesus spoke to His disciples and gave them the Great Commission by saying:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20).

With that command, the mission was set in motion, and because the disciples were obedient, the Gospel spread through the centuries to reach you and me. The question then becomes, what are we going to do about it? The only obedient response is to take the Gospel out into the world as the disciples did. They knew firsthand the miracles of Jesus, the message of Jesus, and the mission of Jesus and so do we. We have experienced all of these things, therefore, there is no excuse. Take your platform, whatever it may be, and use it to advance the Gospel into the hands of those who need it. Stand firm on the truth, clinging to God’s Word and the Spirit promised to you, holding on with unshakable confidence in the God you serve, and you need not worry about the rest. God will give you something to say.