The Power of the Message

I have had the great privilege of hearing some wonderful preaching and singing recently.  Both the preaching and the singing were inspired messages from God about His great love, redeeming power and coming judgment.

Even though one was spoken and one was sung, they were both forms of the gospel message presented in such a way that all who heard it were blessed and challenged.  The message was consistent even though the delivery and the messengers were very different.  And that brings us to an important point about the gospel:  no matter who we are, where we come from or what our talents might be, we are all called to share the gospel.

The gospel message is the good news, the very best news that there has ever been.  It simply says that God loved us so much that he sent His only Son to die for us, taking the penalty for sin in our place and providing a way in which we might have eternal life.

This world is a fallen one and we are fallen creatures.  We inherited a sinful nature from the very first humans and have been making wrong choices ever since.  But God was not content to allow His most beloved creation to die in their sins and has provided a way for us to be redeemed.  By admitting that we are sinners and confessing our faith in Jesus Christ and asking Him to be our Lord forevermore we can be freed from the power of sin and the certainty of eternal damnation.

And make no mistake, without Jesus, we are eternally lost.  The penalty for our sin and rebellion against God is eternal separation in a place that God designed for the devil and his followers.  Hell was not created for man, but man may choose hell by the way in which he lives his life.  This is the truth that we must never forget.  Although we are now living in a period of grace in which all who call on the name of the Lord may be saved, judgment day is coming.  And on that day we will all be called to give an account of how we lived our lives and what we did with God’s son; whether we accepted Him or rejected Him.

The power of the message has not diminished although it is thousands of years old.  The power of the message is as fresh and real today as it was on that morning that God rolled the stone away from the tomb and Jesus walked out, alive and reborn.  The power of the message continues because it is God’s message to His creation and because He still desires all people to come to repentance.

Commit to being a messenger for the One who still has the power to save men’s souls.  Share the gospel with those you know, both in what you say and in what you do.