Do Not Be Ashamed Of The Gospel

2 Timothy 1: 7 – 12, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. NKJV

The Holy Spirit has been dealing with my heart about the bondage that Christians are living in pertaining to fear. We must understand and realize that Satan is the author of fear, and he uses it to hold Christians (and all people) in bondage. The Lord has also revealed some powerful truths that will help His people overcome the spirit of bondage to fear that so we can step out in faith and please Him. One of these truths is found in today’s scripture.

Paul is encouraging Timothy, a young minister, to exercise his faith instead of allowing the spirit of fear to cause him to be ashamed of preaching the gospel. Paul reminds Timothy of the faith that was in his grandmother as well as in the heart of his mother, and he was certain that it was in Timothy. Paul was striving to divert young Timothy’s focus off the negative works of Satan; therefore, he asked him to remember the legacy of faith that resided in his family’s rich history. As Christians, we, too, must take our focus off of the “what if’s” of this world and the rejection of people toward our message of Christ, and, instead, concentrate on our faith walk.

Satan loves to get our attention off of Christ being in us and working through us, so that he can draw our attention to ourselves. When we look at ourselves instead of Christ, it will cause us to fall prey to either intimidation or self-exaltation. Being the elder minister, Paul understood this. He went on to tell Timothy that, although he had suffered much as a minister, he wasn’t ashamed to preach the gospel of Christ, whether it was in a church or in prison. Not only did Paul use the strong examples of Timothy’s family to direct his attention, he also used his own personal testimony of suffering to show Timothy that he needed to trust God with the circumstances and just preach the Word of God.

The Apostle John tells us in his epistle that it is our faith in Christ that gives us the victory over this world. Therefore, as believers in Christ, if we’re struggling with being ashamed of the gospel of Christ and sharing our faith with others, then we must make an important decision. We must choose to obey God’s will and to suffer for Christ’s sake so that the power of Christ will rest upon us. We’ve been called out of darkness to be salt and light to this world. As such, we are commanded to go into the entire world and declare the Good News of the kingdom.

It’s time for us as Christians to begin to set our heart’s attention on Christ and on fulfilling the Father’s will, instead of allowing fear to intimidate us so that we don’t speak God’s truth in love to this world. Will you join with me in prayer and ask God to grant to the body of Christ the courage that we need to proclaim His truth to this generation? In addition, pray that the Lord would give us a heart that is committed more to Christ than to ourselves or self-preservation. It’s time for us to reach the world for Christ.

In His Service,
Pastor Asa Dockery