While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. Matthew 9:32

Years ago, it was not uncommon to have your milk delivered to your home. Doctors made house calls. And when you made a call to a company to discuss a problem, you actually spoke to a human being. Those days of personal serivce are gone, and if we are not careful, we will follow the same trend in how we share the gospel.

So often we are encouraged to bring people to church. Yet, we see no examples of where Jesus brought people into the synagogue to get them saved or healed. The miracles happened more often in the marketplace because that was where Jesus could be found. Jesus had less response and found more resistance in the synagogue than in the marketplace. He took the gospel to and modeled the gospel in the marketplace. That is where the power of God was manifested. This is not to say we should not bring people to church, only that our priority should be to bring the Church into the marketplace, not bring the marketplace into the church.

Paul understood this when he said,

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power (1 Corinthians 2:4).

Paul understood that it wasn't words that impacted people; it was the power of God manifested through him.

When is the last time someone saw something happen through your life that could not be explained other than God working in your life? When you begin to see this happen, you will be modeling ministry as Jesus modeled it. You will be bringing the Church to the people, not the people to the church. Pray that God makes you a vessel of His power, not simply a vessel of words.