All the gospels place great emphasis on the word of God. Then in Acts it speaks of the word of God spreading (eg Acts 6:7; 12:24). Now look in particular at Mark’s gospel. Mark is the gospel that spends least time on Jesus’ actual teaching, in many ways it is the action gospel, yet see what it says. In Mark 1:38:
Let us go to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came.
Then in Mark 2:2
And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And He was preaching the word to them.
Jesus saw preaching the kingdom as central to His ministry. He did heal many people and cast out many demons, and continued to do so. But preaching was central. One danger today is that we let social action take over. This absolutely does not mean that we should not get involved in social action. We should and we must. But, just as Jesus continued to heal, He ensured that the main thing remained the main thing. So should we.
We should remember that God created the whole universe by His word (God said ... and there was ...). So if we imagine that the kingdom is going to grow without the preaching of the word of God we are fools. It is only God who can change a man’s heart, and He has chosen to use preaching as a key part of that.
It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe (1 Cor 1:21).
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