{"id":11420,"date":"2026-10-24T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=11420"},"modified":"2026-10-12T16:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T22:06:27","slug":"words-are-necessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/?p=11420","title":{"rendered":"Words Are Necessary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My friend DuAnne Seeley just posted a blog<\/a> entitled:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE GOSPEL IS WORDS \u2013 Why our lives matter \u2013 and why we must speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She opens:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I visited a church where the pastor spoke about how we are ambassadors for Christ. He said something simple that stayed with me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe gospel is words.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved that because we so often hear Christians say, \u201cMy life is how I share Christ.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understand what they mean. Our lives should reflect Jesus. Our kindness, integrity, generosity, and willingness to forgive should give people a glimpse of His character. How we live matters.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But can someone understand the gospel simply by watching us?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watching our lives will not tell them that Jesus died for their sins, rose from the dead, and offers forgiveness and eternal life to those who trust Him.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That message requires words.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Good Life Cannot Explain the Cross.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The blog<\/a> is worth the read in its entirety. It reminds me of this couplet:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.<\/em> \u2013 incorrectly attributed to Francis of Assisi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be necessary.<\/em> \u2013 Leroy Eims, The Navigators<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Re Francis of Assisi, there is no evidence that St Francis ever said, “Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.” In fact:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Francis was an active and vocal preacher who delivered passionate verbal sermons to crowds, merchants, and passersby on a daily basis. He viewed spoken words and Christian action as a necessary “both\/and” combination rather than an either\/or choice.<\/em> – FOCUS.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DuAnne lives it out. She recently wrote to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my [discipleship group] ladies prayed to receive Christ last week. Torrey just turned 70! Did not even own a Bible. She is in my 2:7 group<\/a>, and I shared the plan of salvation with her after everyone left. The next day she texted that she had never felt such peace and joy in her life.<\/em>

The Apostle Paul did too:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (Colossians 1.28, ESV)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend DuAnne Seeley just posted a blog entitled: THE GOSPEL IS WORDS \u2013 Why our lives matter \u2013 and why we must speak. She opens: I visited a church where the pastor spoke about how we are ambassadors for Christ. He said something simple that stayed with me. \u201cThe gospel is words.\u201d I loved … Continue reading Words Are Necessary<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8X9bo-2Yc","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11421,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11420\/revisions\/11421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drbobewell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}