I am Not Ashamed of the Gospel

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.” 

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:8-12,16-17 ESV)

How many Christians do you know today whose faith is being proclaimed in all the world? It shouldn’t just be famous preachers and teachers of the Scriptures. And their faith may not all be biblical faith, either. Many of them are teaching lies. Yet, with the invention of the internet, which has its evils, for sure, there is good, too. For many of us are now able to share the truth of the gospel with people all over the world via the internet and on Christian discussion sites, and blogs, and social media, and YouTube, and the like. 

I know for certain that these devotions, plus the songs, poems, Christian memes, and video talks the Lord has given me to share, are going out to people across the world and are being viewed by people in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. And this has absolutely nothing to do with me! All I do is just obey the Lord and I write down and/or record what he is teaching me through his word each day, and I put these on the internet, and then he takes them where he wants them to go. So God gets all the glory!!

But we should all be people of God who are sharing our faith in Jesus Christ and the truth of the gospel with the people of the world. And right now the internet is open for that, at least here in America, but it won’t be forever. So we should all take advantage of this opportunity while we still have it, and we should be spreading the “Good News” of the gospel with the nations and with the ungodly of this world and with worldly “Christians,” too. For not everyone who professes faith in Jesus truly knows the Lord.

But this isn’t just about words, is it? For it isn’t about just speaking it, but it is about living it. For when their faith was being proclaimed in all the world it wasn’t lip service only, but it was their walks of faith and obedience to the Lord that was being proclaimed by how they lived. And it should be the same with us. For our testimony has to do with walking the Christian walk and not just talking it. It doesn’t mean we are absolutely perfect in every way, but that we are walking in holiness and in obedience to God and not in sin.

Now, this isn’t all just about spreading the message of the gospel of our salvation, either. But we are all charged of God with the responsibility of the nurturing, encouragement, strengthening, exhortation, urging, and prodding of the body of Christ toward holy living and walks of obedience to God, and with warning them against false teachings and false teachers and against falling back into sin and of the consequences of living in habitual and deliberate sin, too. And so we all grow to maturity in Jesus Christ our Lord.

[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]  

For if we truly believe in Jesus Christ with God-ordained, and God-gifted, and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, and thus we have left our lives of sin behind us to now follow our Lord in obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives, then we should want to share the truth of the gospel with others for their salvation from bondage to sin, so that they can also know God and walk with him in obedience to his commands, so that they can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life in him, too.

But we need to make certain that it is the truth that we are sharing with others and not the lies that are so predominant in today’s modern market-driven “churches” (businesses of man). For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience, we have eternal life in him.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70 

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