By Clive Lazenby*

DELHI, India — North India is one of the darkest places on the earth. They need to hear the Gospel. As a Christian, I know truth and I am dying to share it. So, when the opportunity came up to go to India, I jumped at it.

We were basically sent out to be creative and just live in India. Build relationships. Encourage believers. Share the Gospel. Just live. Just be. No gimmicks. Basically, just be Christians in India.

Being in India helped me learn more that the Gospel is good. This trip also involved personal work that God wanted to do in my life as well.

I distributed tracts and shared with people I met on the street. I got to share the Gospel and my testimony with two guys, Swaran* and Bandhul.* When I shared that there really is only one way to God, I got to see Swaran’s eyes perk up as he started to soak in the Truth. I got to hear Bandhul pray to God and ask for forgiveness of His sins in his simple, sincere English.

I even got to preach. With only about 20 minutes to prepare, I found out that I would be sharing a short message. This opportunity helped me realize that I’d been studying, reading and growing in my understanding of what the Gospel really is for the past three years.

One author I’ve read says that we need to preach the Gospel to ourselves. And I agree with him. I forget that I walk with power and authority along with Jesus, that I’m a mouthpiece for the Gospel. I need to be reminded — everyday.

The Gospel never gets old. God chose to save us by crushing His Son. He poured out His blood for our sins. And that never gets old. So, I was able to talk about that. And, I walked away from it as a culmination of what God has been teaching me about His Gospel, His plan to save us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

It’s all because of Jesus. In Ephesians 1, it says that in Him we have all this grace. Grace upon grace we have in Him. The phrase, “in Him,” is repeated over and over in that passage. If I’m not meditating on that daily, I forget. I get watered down. I start going through the motions.

I learned to never walk away from the Gospel — to never advance beyond the Gospel and keep it central at all times, in all things, in all ministry. Keep the Gospel center, and preach it every Sunday. Preach it hard. Share it in every conversation.

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Clive Lazenby is a student at Southeastern Louisiana University and a member of Crossroads Church in Hammond, La. He recently spent six weeks in India as an SA101 volunteer. For more information on SA101, visit the website for South Asian peoples, http://southasianpeoples.imb.org/special-interest/sa101/.