And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Christ sent the twelve as His representatives and first evangelists on their first missionary tour, commanding them to go two and two and preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Their message was the same as John the Baptist's and His own, calling people to repent and believe the gospel and presenting Him as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Preaching was joined with healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils and comforting the sorrowful, giving freely what they had freely received by power God gave them. That first proclamation was directed to the lost sheep of the house of Israel alone, not to Gentile or Samaritan cities, as a temporary restriction while as beginners they learned God's plan for all peoples. Proclaiming the nearness of heaven's kingdom remains the message to be preached today throughout the world before the end comes, carried forward urgently in Christ's practical way of uniting gospel preaching with ministry to the sick.
First Sending of Disciples
Christ gave this word to the twelve on their first missionary tour and journey as His representatives and first evangelists, sending them out to preach as they went that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The same charge was afterward extended to the seventy. They went two and two on their first trial of labor without His personal presence, after training by His teaching and example, to gain needed experience in laboring apart from Him. They had learned from Him how to present truth and preach the gospel, and His ministry among the sick showed the methods to follow under His leadership.
Those sent to preach never go to warfare on their own charges. Christ's Spirit prepared the way before the disciples. With such a message to give and such blessings to impart in deeds of mercy and love, healing the sick and relieving suffering, they were to expect a welcome in people's homes.
The charge given as they went was renewed in His closing earthly commission with signs following believers. The mission of God's servants today has the same vital importance, and accepting or rejecting the message brings the results He warned of. They were to give freely what they had freely received.
The setting was a world in spiritual and moral ruin where faith in God and His word had nearly vanished. Among the Jews tradition and human speculation had displaced God's word, and selfish ambition, ostentation, and greed had turned people from compassion. Satanic agencies brought misery and degradation to humanity.
Proclamation Ordered
As they went from place to place they were to preach, saying that the kingdom of heaven was at hand or had come near, giving a definite, positive announcement of the nearness of God's kingdom. This going-preaching was ordained as the gospel of His kingdom, the same line of work as giving Bible readings and Bible instruction. It belonged to the directions given when the twelve were called together and sent forth, joined with healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils, and other acts of mercy and ministry, giving freely what had been freely received. At that stage the proclamation was first directed to the lost sheep of Israel before going to Gentiles and Samaritans, and it set the pattern for spiritual work continued afterward. Their message was the same as John the Baptist's message and Jesus' own message. With it they also called people to repent and believe the gospel, presenting Christ as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, an invitation first given to Israel and, upon rejection, offered to the Gentiles.
Their work was not to settle temporal affairs but to lead people to be reconciled to God. Its first business was to teach the truth and awaken interest in Christ the crucified Saviour and His willingness to forgive sins, with healing accompanying as a demonstration of the Spirit while the message itself remained central. Those who believe present truth are to do the same work of binding up the brokenhearted and repairing the waste places. The gospel of Christ's grace is the remedy for sin and for social evils rooted in selfishness, because Christ gives the selfish heart a new heart of love. They were not to argue with people about whether Jesus was the Messiah but to act in His name, showing mercy through works like His. That mission required judgment about where to give time and teaching.
The twelve proclaimed everywhere that the kingdom was near, yet they joined that proclamation to Jesus' promises about the kingdom and the prophets' words about the Messiah's glory and took it to mean an imminent earthly establishment. Because of that expectation, His warnings of betrayal, suffering, and death seemed vague to them.
Healing Joined With Preaching
The command to announce that heaven's kingdom was at hand was given together with the command to heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead and cast out devils. Preaching the nearness of the kingdom therefore belonged inseparably to healing and other acts of mercy and blessing, including comforting the sorrowful and freeing people from evil spirits and affliction. What had been freely received was to be freely given.
God Himself supplied power for these works, so that teaching and healing are not to be separated in His work. Physical healing was part of the gospel work itself, not something apart from it, and preaching and medical ministry are not separate lines. The commission to proclaim the kingdom thus presents Christ as the great Healer and depends on divine power to make the gospel effective.
Care for bodily health and needs came first in order to prepare minds to receive truth. In the mission of the seventy, healing was placed first so people would be more ready for the truths preached. Healing accompanied the message as a demonstration of the Spirit, yet the message itself remained central, teaching truth and awakening interest in the crucified Saviour and His willingness to forgive sins. As the twelve fulfilled this preaching commission on their first missionary tour, joined with the works of healing and deliverance commanded alongside it, their message became the power of God unto salvation. That united preaching and healing carried heaven's blessing and brought many to know the Messiah as a means of salvation.
The same practical mission to bring help to people provides the lesson for workers carrying the gospel to neglected places, that they are to go and labor under the Holy Spirit's guidance. It is abundant, sacred work provided for every soul, to be done in the Spirit of Christ and in faith, relying on Jesus as Healer while doing one's part.
First to Israel Alone
The proclamation that the kingdom of heaven was near was first directed to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to the Jewish nation, and the disciples were not to go into Gentile or Samaritan cities. This preaching as they went was joined to acts of mercy and blessings carried to the people, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils, relieving suffering, and giving freely what they had freely received. Christ's Spirit prepared the way before them, and with such a message to give and such blessings to impart they were to expect a welcome in people's homes.
The restriction was temporary, for at this stage of their mission they were still beginners on their first trial of labor without His personal presence, learning more of God's plan for all peoples. As beginners they were not to go in the way of caviling religionists who would draw them into controversy. Jewish prejudice against the Gentiles was so strong that going then to the Gentiles would have greatly hindered their work. Beginning elsewhere would have closed the doors of entrance to the Jews.
The time had come for the light of truth to be carried first to the Jewish nation and then to the whole world, as the first offer of salvation. The Jewish nation was given the first opportunity to receive Christ as Saviour and the honor of first hearing the message of salvation from His lips. As Shepherd He came to seek and to save lost sheep from the bypaths and highways of sin and error and bring them back to His fold. If the Jews refused, the disciples were to go into new territory, and afterward they were commissioned to go into all the world and teach all nations.
The invitation first given to Israel was carried by the twelve and later by the seventy, who also called people to repent and believe the gospel. They rejected the gospel when it was later offered to them in the power of the Holy Spirit, so the gospel was then offered to the Gentiles.
Same Message Today
The announcement that heaven's kingdom is near remains the message to be preached today, carried forward in Christ's practical way of working and under the Holy Spirit's influence. It is to be given as a definite, positive proclamation, the same definite message given to the first messengers. Those who know present truth and believe it are to labor actively for Christ, testifying for Him in words, plans and actions. That preaching stands joined with healing the sick and with medical missionary work done as Christ did on earth, because God still reaches hearts in the same way to prepare them for the day of His power, and eyes need to be opened to discern and understand His methods.
The gospel is to be preached throughout the world before the end comes. Alongside the nearness of the kingdom goes the invitation to come because all things are ready, and the announcement that the Lord of glory will soon come. Those who receive and believe in Christ share responsibility for enlarging His church and for presenting Him as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, and this work hastens His coming.
The work is abundant and sacred and provided for every soul, to be done in the Spirit of Christ and in faith, relying on Jesus as Healer while doing one's part. It is urgent: the message is to be carried promptly while doors remain open and while people are still open to hear it, speaking the truth to those met by the way. Disciples are appointed to go out as evangelists in small groups, into cities and neglected places, joining preaching with compassionate ministry to the sick and practical teaching about health. Their mission enters a harvest already ready to be gathered, reaping where others have labored and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sowers and reapers share joy together. The start is to be made humbly rather than waiting for support to be offered.
This preaching belongs to sharing the gospel and gathering laborers for a plentiful harvest. As Bible instruction it requires judgment about where to give time and teaching. It is a model of humble labor to reach people with the words of eternal life, done by converted workers who present truth tenderly so that hearts are won.
Medical Missionary Pattern
The command to go and preach that heaven's kingdom is near set the pattern for medical missionary work connected with the third angel's message, a sanctifying and unifying work carried on under Christ's commission. It continues the healing ministry He began in person as He went through cities and towns and villages healing the sick. Institutions for caring for the sick carry that work forward by giving treatment and by teaching healthful living, self-denial, and self-restraint. The preaching was joined to deeds of mercy and love and blessings carried to the people, healing the sick and relieving suffering, and with such a message to give and such blessings to impart a welcome in homes was to be expected.
To preach that the kingdom is at hand is to proclaim glad tidings of healing through Christ. Sanitariums are the right hand of the gospel, opening ways to reach all classes of people. In them suffering men and women are placed under the care of God-fearing physicians and nurses and treated without drugs, and the sick are taught to commit their cases to the great Physician who cooperates with earnest efforts to regain health. In this way healing of soul is brought together with healing of body.
Physical healing is of heavenly origin, a heavenly-born science bound up with the gospel commission. The commission to proclaim the nearness of heaven's kingdom therefore applies to believers today as a call to minister both to sin-sick souls and to those needing physical healing. Those who carry forward this medical missionary service are doing the work commanded and fulfilling the Saviour's commission and bearing His burdens. This pleases Christ when believers lay aside self-assumed dignity, learn from Him to bear His yoke, and cooperate in the work.
The work joins gospel preaching with ministering to the sick and teaching people how to regain health and prevent disease. Evangelists are to go from place to place comforting and blessing people, visiting the sick, praying with them, and when needed treating them with remedies found in nature and provided in nature rather than with medicines or poisonous drugs. Skill in treating the sick without drugs gives Christ right of way through workers who heal and preach together, and gives precious opportunities to remove prejudice rooted in ignorance through the work of physician and nurse and through religious influence. For this reason sanitariums and schools are to be carried on in educational lines and blend in perfect harmony, with students trained to treat the sick so that medical knowledge combined with school education makes a perfect whole, which in the heavenly courts is termed the higher education. Those doing this medical missionary work serve alongside gospel ministers, and as they dedicate themselves, labor diligently, and study, Christ gives them skill and understanding to relieve the sick and suffering.
Personal House-to-House Work
The first missionary tour is the pattern for carrying the gospel into people's homes with a simple, loving presentation of Bible truth. That house-to-house work reaches neighbors and friends who have not yet received full evidence, gathers family circles for instruction, and brings the saving message to those in the highways and hedges. It is done by taking up different lines of missionary work and sowing beside all waters, including successive efforts by traveling preachers holding large meetings from town to town. Songs of praise to God and humble, heartfelt prayer reach hearts in the home, while God and the divine Worker send conviction and Christ's presence gives His messengers faith, hope, and courage.
Kindness to the poor, the sick, and the bereaved, shown in love and sympathy, obtains influence so that divine truth finds access to hearts. This union of practical kindness with presentation of truth from house to house is the highest missionary work that can be done, and no opportunity for such service should pass unimproved. Canvassers carry the same charge into large cities, going from house to house with books containing present truth. As they go they speak of Christ's love and their own personal experience in His service, find souls hungry for the bread of life, speak words in season to them, and reach people including unbelievers who would not be reached by pulpit preaching.
Even those who are not ministers and cannot preach can minister in this way, asking those they meet if they love the Lord Jesus, acting as evangelists and as God's helping hand. Young men and young women are called by the Master to take up this work because there is a famine in the land for the pure gospel. Young workers at first go out with an experienced man or woman to learn how to labor, accept offered food or lodging, and use the opening for conversation, explaining the Scriptures, singing Bible songs, and praying with the family.
The first missionary tour is the pattern for carrying the gospel into people's homes with a simple, loving presentation of Bible truth. That house-to-house work reaches neighbors and friends who have not yet received full evidence, gathers family circles for instruction, and brings the saving message to those in the highways and hedges. It is done by taking up different lines of missionary work and sowing beside all waters, including successive efforts by traveling preachers holding large meetings from town to town. Songs of praise to God and humble, heartfelt prayer reach hearts in the home, while God and the divine Worker send conviction and Christ's presence gives His messengers faith, hope, and courage.
Kindness to the poor, the sick, and the bereaved, shown in love and sympathy, obtains influence so that divine truth finds access to hearts. This union of practical kindness with presentation of truth from house to house is the highest missionary work that can be done, and no opportunity for such service should pass unimproved. Canvassers carry the same charge into large cities, going from house to house with books containing present truth. As they go they speak of Christ's love and their own personal experience in His service, find souls hungry for the bread of life, speak words in season to them, and reach people including unbelievers who would not be reached by pulpit preaching.
Even those who are not ministers and cannot preach can minister in this way, asking those they meet if they love the Lord Jesus, acting as evangelists and as God's helping hand. Young men and young women are called by the Master to take up this work because there is a famine in the land for the pure gospel. Young workers at first go out with an experienced man or woman to learn how to labor, accept offered food or lodging, and use the opening for conversation, explaining the Scriptures, singing Bible songs, and praying with the family.
Christ sent the twelve as His representatives and first evangelists on their first missionary tour, commanding them to go two and two and preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Their message was the same as John the Baptist's and His own, calling people to repent and believe the gospel and presenting Him as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Preaching was joined with healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils and comforting the sorrowful, giving freely what they had freely received by power God gave them. That first proclamation was directed to the lost sheep of the house of Israel alone, not to Gentile or Samaritan cities, as a temporary restriction while as beginners they learned God's plan for all peoples. Proclaiming the nearness of heaven's kingdom remains the message to be preached today throughout the world before the end comes, carried forward urgently in Christ's practical way of uniting gospel preaching with ministry to the sick.
First Sending of Disciples
Christ gave this word to the twelve on their first missionary tour and journey as His representatives and first evangelists, sending them out to preach as they went that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The same charge was afterward extended to the seventy. They went two and two on their first trial of labor without His personal presence, after training by His teaching and example, to gain needed experience in laboring apart from Him. They had learned from Him how to present truth and preach the gospel, and His ministry among the sick showed the methods to follow under His leadership.
Those sent to preach never go to warfare on their own charges. Christ's Spirit prepared the way before the disciples. With such a message to give and such blessings to impart in deeds of mercy and love, healing the sick and relieving suffering, they were to expect a welcome in people's homes.
The charge given as they went was renewed in His closing earthly commission with signs following believers. The mission of God's servants today has the same vital importance, and accepting or rejecting the message brings the results He warned of. They were to give freely what they had freely received.
The setting was a world in spiritual and moral ruin where faith in God and His word had nearly vanished. Among the Jews tradition and human speculation had displaced God's word, and selfish ambition, ostentation, and greed had turned people from compassion. Satanic agencies brought misery and degradation to humanity.
Proclamation Ordered
As they went from place to place they were to preach, saying that the kingdom of heaven was at hand or had come near, giving a definite, positive announcement of the nearness of God's kingdom. This going-preaching was ordained as the gospel of His kingdom, the same line of work as giving Bible readings and Bible instruction. It belonged to the directions given when the twelve were called together and sent forth, joined with healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils, and other acts of mercy and ministry, giving freely what had been freely received. At that stage the proclamation was first directed to the lost sheep of Israel before going to Gentiles and Samaritans, and it set the pattern for spiritual work continued afterward. Their message was the same as John the Baptist's message and Jesus' own message. With it they also called people to repent and believe the gospel, presenting Christ as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, an invitation first given to Israel and, upon rejection, offered to the Gentiles.
Their work was not to settle temporal affairs but to lead people to be reconciled to God. Its first business was to teach the truth and awaken interest in Christ the crucified Saviour and His willingness to forgive sins, with healing accompanying as a demonstration of the Spirit while the message itself remained central. Those who believe present truth are to do the same work of binding up the brokenhearted and repairing the waste places. The gospel of Christ's grace is the remedy for sin and for social evils rooted in selfishness, because Christ gives the selfish heart a new heart of love. They were not to argue with people about whether Jesus was the Messiah but to act in His name, showing mercy through works like His. That mission required judgment about where to give time and teaching.
The twelve proclaimed everywhere that the kingdom was near, yet they joined that proclamation to Jesus' promises about the kingdom and the prophets' words about the Messiah's glory and took it to mean an imminent earthly establishment. Because of that expectation, His warnings of betrayal, suffering, and death seemed vague to them.
Healing Joined With Preaching
The command to announce that heaven's kingdom was at hand was given together with the command to heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead and cast out devils. Preaching the nearness of the kingdom therefore belonged inseparably to healing and other acts of mercy and blessing, including comforting the sorrowful and freeing people from evil spirits and affliction. What had been freely received was to be freely given.
God Himself supplied power for these works, so that teaching and healing are not to be separated in His work. Physical healing was part of the gospel work itself, not something apart from it, and preaching and medical ministry are not separate lines. The commission to proclaim the kingdom thus presents Christ as the great Healer and depends on divine power to make the gospel effective.
Care for bodily health and needs came first in order to prepare minds to receive truth. In the mission of the seventy, healing was placed first so people would be more ready for the truths preached. Healing accompanied the message as a demonstration of the Spirit, yet the message itself remained central, teaching truth and awakening interest in the crucified Saviour and His willingness to forgive sins. As the twelve fulfilled this preaching commission on their first missionary tour, joined with the works of healing and deliverance commanded alongside it, their message became the power of God unto salvation. That united preaching and healing carried heaven's blessing and brought many to know the Messiah as a means of salvation.
The same practical mission to bring help to people provides the lesson for workers carrying the gospel to neglected places, that they are to go and labor under the Holy Spirit's guidance. It is abundant, sacred work provided for every soul, to be done in the Spirit of Christ and in faith, relying on Jesus as Healer while doing one's part.
First to Israel Alone
The proclamation that the kingdom of heaven was near was first directed to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to the Jewish nation, and the disciples were not to go into Gentile or Samaritan cities. This preaching as they went was joined to acts of mercy and blessings carried to the people, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, casting out devils, relieving suffering, and giving freely what they had freely received. Christ's Spirit prepared the way before them, and with such a message to give and such blessings to impart they were to expect a welcome in people's homes.
The restriction was temporary, for at this stage of their mission they were still beginners on their first trial of labor without His personal presence, learning more of God's plan for all peoples. As beginners they were not to go in the way of caviling religionists who would draw them into controversy. Jewish prejudice against the Gentiles was so strong that going then to the Gentiles would have greatly hindered their work. Beginning elsewhere would have closed the doors of entrance to the Jews.
The time had come for the light of truth to be carried first to the Jewish nation and then to the whole world, as the first offer of salvation. The Jewish nation was given the first opportunity to receive Christ as Saviour and the honor of first hearing the message of salvation from His lips. As Shepherd He came to seek and to save lost sheep from the bypaths and highways of sin and error and bring them back to His fold. If the Jews refused, the disciples were to go into new territory, and afterward they were commissioned to go into all the world and teach all nations.
The invitation first given to Israel was carried by the twelve and later by the seventy, who also called people to repent and believe the gospel. They rejected the gospel when it was later offered to them in the power of the Holy Spirit, so the gospel was then offered to the Gentiles.
Same Message Today
The announcement that heaven's kingdom is near remains the message to be preached today, carried forward in Christ's practical way of working and under the Holy Spirit's influence. It is to be given as a definite, positive proclamation, the same definite message given to the first messengers. Those who know present truth and believe it are to labor actively for Christ, testifying for Him in words, plans and actions. That preaching stands joined with healing the sick and with medical missionary work done as Christ did on earth, because God still reaches hearts in the same way to prepare them for the day of His power, and eyes need to be opened to discern and understand His methods.
The gospel is to be preached throughout the world before the end comes. Alongside the nearness of the kingdom goes the invitation to come because all things are ready, and the announcement that the Lord of glory will soon come. Those who receive and believe in Christ share responsibility for enlarging His church and for presenting Him as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, and this work hastens His coming.
The work is abundant and sacred and provided for every soul, to be done in the Spirit of Christ and in faith, relying on Jesus as Healer while doing one's part. It is urgent: the message is to be carried promptly while doors remain open and while people are still open to hear it, speaking the truth to those met by the way. Disciples are appointed to go out as evangelists in small groups, into cities and neglected places, joining preaching with compassionate ministry to the sick and practical teaching about health. Their mission enters a harvest already ready to be gathered, reaping where others have labored and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sowers and reapers share joy together. The start is to be made humbly rather than waiting for support to be offered.
This preaching belongs to sharing the gospel and gathering laborers for a plentiful harvest. As Bible instruction it requires judgment about where to give time and teaching. It is a model of humble labor to reach people with the words of eternal life, done by converted workers who present truth tenderly so that hearts are won.
Medical Missionary Pattern
The command to go and preach that heaven's kingdom is near set the pattern for medical missionary work connected with the third angel's message, a sanctifying and unifying work carried on under Christ's commission. It continues the healing ministry He began in person as He went through cities and towns and villages healing the sick. Institutions for caring for the sick carry that work forward by giving treatment and by teaching healthful living, self-denial, and self-restraint. The preaching was joined to deeds of mercy and love and blessings carried to the people, healing the sick and relieving suffering, and with such a message to give and such blessings to impart a welcome in homes was to be expected.
To preach that the kingdom is at hand is to proclaim glad tidings of healing through Christ. Sanitariums are the right hand of the gospel, opening ways to reach all classes of people. In them suffering men and women are placed under the care of God-fearing physicians and nurses and treated without drugs, and the sick are taught to commit their cases to the great Physician who cooperates with earnest efforts to regain health. In this way healing of soul is brought together with healing of body.
Physical healing is of heavenly origin, a heavenly-born science bound up with the gospel commission. The commission to proclaim the nearness of heaven's kingdom therefore applies to believers today as a call to minister both to sin-sick souls and to those needing physical healing. Those who carry forward this medical missionary service are doing the work commanded and fulfilling the Saviour's commission and bearing His burdens. This pleases Christ when believers lay aside self-assumed dignity, learn from Him to bear His yoke, and cooperate in the work.
The work joins gospel preaching with ministering to the sick and teaching people how to regain health and prevent disease. Evangelists are to go from place to place comforting and blessing people, visiting the sick, praying with them, and when needed treating them with remedies found in nature and provided in nature rather than with medicines or poisonous drugs. Skill in treating the sick without drugs gives Christ right of way through workers who heal and preach together, and gives precious opportunities to remove prejudice rooted in ignorance through the work of physician and nurse and through religious influence. For this reason sanitariums and schools are to be carried on in educational lines and blend in perfect harmony, with students trained to treat the sick so that medical knowledge combined with school education makes a perfect whole, which in the heavenly courts is termed the higher education. Those doing this medical missionary work serve alongside gospel ministers, and as they dedicate themselves, labor diligently, and study, Christ gives them skill and understanding to relieve the sick and suffering.
Personal House-to-House Work
The first missionary tour is the pattern for carrying the gospel into people's homes with a simple, loving presentation of Bible truth. That house-to-house work reaches neighbors and friends who have not yet received full evidence, gathers family circles for instruction, and brings the saving message to those in the highways and hedges. It is done by taking up different lines of missionary work and sowing beside all waters, including successive efforts by traveling preachers holding large meetings from town to town. Songs of praise to God and humble, heartfelt prayer reach hearts in the home, while God and the divine Worker send conviction and Christ's presence gives His messengers faith, hope, and courage.
Kindness to the poor, the sick, and the bereaved, shown in love and sympathy, obtains influence so that divine truth finds access to hearts. This union of practical kindness with presentation of truth from house to house is the highest missionary work that can be done, and no opportunity for such service should pass unimproved. Canvassers carry the same charge into large cities, going from house to house with books containing present truth. As they go they speak of Christ's love and their own personal experience in His service, find souls hungry for the bread of life, speak words in season to them, and reach people including unbelievers who would not be reached by pulpit preaching.
Even those who are not ministers and cannot preach can minister in this way, asking those they meet if they love the Lord Jesus, acting as evangelists and as God's helping hand. Young men and young women are called by the Master to take up this work because there is a famine in the land for the pure gospel. Young workers at first go out with an experienced man or woman to learn how to labor, accept offered food or lodging, and use the opening for conversation, explaining the Scriptures, singing Bible songs, and praying with the family.
The first missionary tour is the pattern for carrying the gospel into people's homes with a simple, loving presentation of Bible truth. That house-to-house work reaches neighbors and friends who have not yet received full evidence, gathers family circles for instruction, and brings the saving message to those in the highways and hedges. It is done by taking up different lines of missionary work and sowing beside all waters, including successive efforts by traveling preachers holding large meetings from town to town. Songs of praise to God and humble, heartfelt prayer reach hearts in the home, while God and the divine Worker send conviction and Christ's presence gives His messengers faith, hope, and courage.
Kindness to the poor, the sick, and the bereaved, shown in love and sympathy, obtains influence so that divine truth finds access to hearts. This union of practical kindness with presentation of truth from house to house is the highest missionary work that can be done, and no opportunity for such service should pass unimproved. Canvassers carry the same charge into large cities, going from house to house with books containing present truth. As they go they speak of Christ's love and their own personal experience in His service, find souls hungry for the bread of life, speak words in season to them, and reach people including unbelievers who would not be reached by pulpit preaching.
Even those who are not ministers and cannot preach can minister in this way, asking those they meet if they love the Lord Jesus, acting as evangelists and as God's helping hand. Young men and young women are called by the Master to take up this work because there is a famine in the land for the pure gospel. Young workers at first go out with an experienced man or woman to learn how to labor, accept offered food or lodging, and use the opening for conversation, explaining the Scriptures, singing Bible songs, and praying with the family.