I Am Not Ashamed

Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

If you have a call by God to preach, you can’t be quiet and keep it to yourself. Jeremiah got tired of the ridicule and backlash of being prophetic and said, he wouldn’t prophesy anymore. But when he tried to be quiet he said, “God’s word was like fire shut up in my bones.” Society doesn’t want to hear the truth of god’s word because it always cuts against the grain of what is accepted. When you know the truth, the truth sets you free. Free from what? Free from the need of approval of what other people think about you. When you know something to be true, you can’t be ashamed of it. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, he gave his life for our sins and God raised him from the dead. I’m not ashamed. He came to set the captives free. I’m not ashamed of that. He came for prostitutes, lepers, and sinners. I’m not ashamed of that.

When God sent me 20 years ago to preach his gospel, I remember a key scripture Luke 9:26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when comes in his glory and in the glory of the father and of the Holy angels. We have a tendency to get ashamed of someone when other people don’t accept who they are. We shy away. We distance ourselves.

Preaching is the ability to stand for truth even when your subject matter is unpopular, radical and counter-cultural. But when you are not ashamed in front of men, Jesus is not ashamed in front of the father. He says, “Daddy that’s my servant, he’s telling the truth!”

I am not ashamed of the gospel because:

1. It is the Power of salvation. When you preach Jesus, souls are saved. When I see lives being transformed, and the lost being found, it really doesn’t bother me when people misunderstand my mission and scandalize my name. I am not ashamed.

2. For everyone who believes…there are so many people hurting, blind and lost. When you see that light come on in their eyes, it’s worth it. When Jesus healed the blind man, the religious people tried to get the healed man to say Jesus was a sinner for healing on the Sabbath. The blind man said, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know, but one thing I do know whereas I once was blind now I see.”

3. The Jews first, but also the Greek…the gospel is for the religious, those who think they know and also for the Greek, those who have not come to know but are looking. As long as there are both groups left, I got to keep on preaching. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Dear God, I can’t shut up. I will not shut up. I know too much about him for folks to make me doubt him. Whatever you tell me to say, I will say it. Whatever you tell me to go, I’ll go. Here I am Lord, send me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you. Lord, I pray in Jesus Name!

Amen.