What Are You NOT Ashamed Of?

I want to start with this thought, "What are you NOT Ashamed Of?" and these questions: "What comes up in your conversations without being drug out." "What is in your thoughts all the time?" "What don't you mind sharing with the world?"


Two Sundays ago I substituted for a regular teacher in Bible Study and instead of the obscure passage that is fun to pass on to the Sub, I was pleased with parts of Romans Chapters 1, 9 & 10. Specifically, Romans 1:14-16, "
 ¹⁴ I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. ¹⁵ That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
 ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
I noticed that verse 16 is often spoken alone, but it is actually finishing Paul's thought of his obligation to preach to everyone. He was not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the Power of God. Because of the Power of God that met him on the road to Damascus, he was changed. It is the same Power that works in you and me. So, i come back to the original question. Are you ashamed, or unashamed? Do you talk of the Life Changing Power in your life? If not, pray about this; find a way to share more often.

We get caught up in what people are going to think of us and it's not even us we are sharing - it is the Gospel & it's the Power of God who will change them, not me! Verse 14 states the fact that we are all under obligation to Jesus Saving Grace, it was given without a charge, but we are still obligated to Him who died. It is the Atoning Grace of His Death & Resurrection that gains us admission into the presence of God. Without that death - the Holy Righteous, Perfect, Sinless Death - it wouldn't matter what we did on earth, we would still suffer the penalty of hell, which by the way, is a real place, (if you'd like more information on that subject, i recently read a book called 23 Minutes in Hell. The author believes he was taken there by God to experience part of the terror so that he could warn others of hell's reality, something all believers should be doing out of love.) My fear in being unashamed is that we many times promote things other than the Savior and His Life Giving Grace - like Sports, Hobbies, Personal Accomplishments or even Time Wasters - and we pass over opportunities to Share The Gospel.

The other day i pulled up at a stoplight and noticed a largemouth bass wiggling on the trailer hitch of the truck in front of me. When the brake was applied, the fish wiggled its tail like it was hooked or swimming. When the truck was moving - the fish stopped "swimming." There was no doubt that this man loved to fish. I noticed the hitch fish first, but then i saw the numerous stickers, slogans and other logos about fishing.

Anyone who knows me, knows I like to fish - but I don't promote my fishing to that level. But that man's unashamed attitude about his hobby got me thinking. That guy wasn't ashamed of his fishing in the least, he made sure that everyone he was near knew about his love for fishing. In the same way are we unashamed of the Gospel Good News & Christ Jesus to the point that we don't mind what others think in light of Christ Jesus thinks of us?

A few final questions will keep us comfortably uncomfortable in the presence of Holy God.

Will we piously change the places that we shop because they don't use Christmas in their advertising or will we Engage with culture, and go into those shops with the intent of  USING THE TERM CHRISTMAS & being an Aroma of Christ among those that are being saved and those that are perishing? 2 CORINTHIANS 2:15 says, "¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." Smell good to Him this week.

Will we complain about the ways that our Church is not pleasing us or will we be used by the God that seeks the lost and sick, which will benefit the whole Body of Christ. LUKE 5:30-31 shows us that the Pharisees complained to Jesus' disciples of similar displeasures, " ³⁰Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Comfort is not always a good thing.

Will we refuse to change upon meeting the Savior on the Road of Life or will we continue on the path we have chosen for ourselves - many times to our own zealous destruction?  ACTS 26: 14-16, "as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. [a goad is a sharp pointed guide to keep a labor animal in check, or pointed in a direction, brackets mine]
 ¹⁵ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
   “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ¹⁶ ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me."

** All of us that know Christ are now His servants and witnesses of what He has done. We have a mission and to testify of what we have seen and will see of Christ. Merry Christmas, Engage someone with the SOMEONE you are not ashamed of and then Trust the Power of God to accomplish the task.