The gracious and merciful heart of God for people and cities full of people is revealed in the book of Jonah. God loves and cares much about people, thus He loves and cares much about cities which are full of people. God shared His heart and mission with Jonah by telling him to go and preach to “Nineveh, that great city” (Jonah 1:2 ESV). The purpose of God in sending Jonah to preach a message warning of judgment was to bring Nineveh to a place of repentance. Jonah would have preferred for a swift and sure judgment upon Nineveh. He knew that God is a “gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster”. So Jonah decided to “flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3 EVS). God’s heart of compassion for all peoples is great, which moves Him to give a great commission to His people. Those who are not connected to the heart of God will not partner in the mission of God. But those who carry the compassionate heart of God will be moved to pray for and proclaim the saving message of Christ to the lost. Christ told His disciples “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38 ESV).Then He sent out His disciples to be the feet to those prayers (Matthew 10). After Christ sent them out, He himself “went on from there to teach and preach in their cities” (Matthew 11:1 ESV).
God is moved with compassion for people, are you? Are you living more like Jonah who was disconnected from the heart and mission of God or like Jesus who did what pleased the Father?
Will you pray for laborers? And will you go to where God sends you to proclaim the gospel?
God is alive and at work in the lives of many people that you and I come across daily and we may not even recognize it. There are many opportunities that God gives us to participate with Him in reaching the lost with gospel. The work of evangelism is all about partnering with God, to speak the good news of what Christ has done for us at the cross and call people to repent and place their trust in Christ. Henry Blackaby said in his book Experiencing God “Find out where God is working and join Him there”. This is what the life of Jesus looked like when He walked the earth as a man. Jesus said that he only did what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19). He was always in step with the will of the Father and the work of the Father. The Father had ordered the steps of Christ while he was on the earth and Jesus followed everyone of them.
This past Spring Break of 2013 a group of students from Valley Creek Church came to Dallas for an inner-city mission trip. I took them out on the streets to do evangelism and invite people to a basketball tournament we were hosting. There were two young ladies who began to feel a bit discouraged after they had knocked on about 7 doors and got no answer. Then they had a divine appointment. The Lord directed them to this woman named Regina who was ready to come to Christ. Regina was weary, distressed and in despair. She had lost her children to CPS due to her drug addiction and had experienced some devastating events. The father of her children had committed suicide right in front of her children. She too had been contemplating suicide. But in her pit of despair God sent two of His daughters to share His love and the hope of the gospel. These two young ladies came and told me about her and I also was able to share the love of Christ and hope of the gospel with Regina. As we spoke words of life and hope over Regina tears were streaming down her cheeks. We prayed for her and we began to sing the song How He Loves Us over her. As we were ministering to Regina I was reminded that Jesus came not only to preach the gospel to the poor but to heal the broken hearted (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18). And this precious woman was brokenhearted and God brought healing and hope to her heart when she seemed to need it the most. That evening Regina showed up for the outreach event we were hosting and she got loved on by all the students from Valley Creek and heard a message about the blessedness of being being forgiven out of Psalm 32.
Two days later on Sunday morning she showed up at City Church and we happened to be doing baptisms that morning. During the service when I asked for those who were getting baptized to come forward she came up to the front of the congregation. Now I took eight people through a baptism class a week prior to that and she was not one of those eight people. Nevertheless I felt great about baptizing her because it was obvious that God had drawn her heart and brought her to a place of dependence upon Christ. Regina had heard the gospel and she responded publicly to declare her faith in Christ. So we baptized her there on the spot. It felt like something out of the book of Acts. Indeed God was at work in the early church as we see displayed in the book of Acts. And He is also at work in our day drawing people to Himself for salvation. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 ESV). 
For many Christians the hardest part of sharing their faith with others is breaking the ice and initiating a conversation. They feel intimidated & awkward going up to a stranger saying “do you know Jesus”. Well, there are many ways to overcome this intimidation & awkwardness of breaking the ice with strangers, in order to share the gospel with them. First of all, you don’t have to start with a statement about God, Jesus, the Bible, Heaven, Hell or sin. Actually a simple greeting, such as saying “hello” works just fine. Or “hello how are you doing today”, “Hi my name is…” or “Howdy”(if your in the south). I have made it a habit to greet strangers everywhere I go. I often make eye contact with strangers, giving a wave and a smile. And I’ve found that it is great way to break the ice and often lead to a conversation.
The Love of Christ is another reason that every Christian should share the gospel with others. The Apostle Paul wrote “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV) 
May we be those who are compelled by the love of Christ to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ. May the love of Christ move us out of apathy concerning the lost and into active evangelism.
Another reason Christians should share the gospel with others is simply that Jesus has commanded us to do it. “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15 ESV) Evangelism isn’t something that God has merely called some Christians to do. Every redeemed saint has the responsibility to share the good news of how they became forgiven, free and brought into right relationship with God. Simple obedience to this clear command must be put to practice by every person calls Jesus their Lord. Our obedience to Christ displays our love for Him and His lordship in our lives. Jesus said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15 ESV). And he said “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. (Luke 6:46-48 ESV).
gospel. …it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.(1 Corinthians 1:21 ESV) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:14-17). It is a glorious privilege and responsibility that we have been given by God to be able to share a message that brings eternal salvation to those who believe and receive it. Let us not neglect faithful stewardship of the gospel message. Beware of getting weighed down and distracted by good activities while forgetting the God-given task of evangelism.
One reason every Christian should evangelize is Jesus did it. He is our example of how each of us ought to live. After Jesus evangelized the woman at the well in John 4, his disciples urged him to eat some food, because they knew he hadn’t eaten anything. But Jesus told his disciples that He had food they didn’t know about. He said “my food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, to finish His work” (John 4:34). Jesus was nourished from doing the will of God and namely the work of evangelism. He found fulfillment, pleasure & satisfaction in doing the will of God just like one does in eating a delicious meal. Christ lived every day of His life pursing the will of the Father and pleasing Him. He knew what He was here for and didn’t waste any time. Before He died Jesus was able to say “I have finished the work you have given me to do” (John 14:4) Consider these passages:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
For The Gospel's Sake 