I am not ashamed of the Gospel

Shalom dear friends,

In Romans 1:16, the Bible says:

Why do we need to preach the gospel to the world? Because it is the power of God to salvation. We don’t want to withhold the answer from people when it comes to how to be set free from sin, how to receive eternal life and avoid hell, and how to have abundant life in Messiah Jesus. 

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah. For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faih to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’ ”.

Do we love our neighbours enough to share with them the news that Jesus died for their sins? For me, it is crucial to share the gospel of the Messiah with every person, including the Jewish people. Let me show you what the Bible says about sharing the gospel with the world and with the Jewish people.

What is the most important commandment that our Messiah left with us? It is to love one another. Love is whamotivated God to send His only Son, our Messiah, to us to die for our sins.

In conclusion, let me bring you back to Daniel 12, verse 3, which says:

My friend, God has given us such a great opportunity to proclaim Jesus the Messiah to the Jewish people through television. Years ago, this was not possible, but today it is. Let us not fail in this calling, and let us continue to proclaim without fear and intimidation that Jesus, Yeshua, is the Jewish Messiah, and that savation comes only through Him.

The Bible calls everyone who preaches the gospel of the Messiah wise for turning people to the righteousness of God through Jesus the Messiah.

“those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”

My wife and I are convinced that now, more than ever, is the time to preach the gospel to the Jewish people. Jesus is coming soon, and so is the anti-Christ, and therefore, we need to scream from the house tops, through the airwaves on television and radio, through the malls and markets, and everywhere, so that people can hear “get saved, get saved!”

We live in a lukewarm society. We don’t want to offend anybody, and therefore, we’ve learned to respect the ways of this world more than we respect God’s word. God has given the media into our hands – not so that we can look popular and compete with the world – God forbid! No, God has given us this tool, along with today’s modern technology, so that we can preach the good news of Jesus the Messiah to the Jewish people first, and then to the rest of the world.

Do you know that people were burned at the stake, eaten by lions, drowned, brutally killed, and beheaded for preaching the gospel? They laid down their lives, but they never held themselves back from sharing the truth with the world.

Let me also share with you what Jesus thinks about those who are ashamed to speak of His name to the nations and to the Jewish people. He said plainly, if you are ashamed of Me before man, I will be ashamed of you before the Father. Fear is the great motivating factor that Satan uses to keep us from doing God’s will.

Just imagine, at the judgment seat of the Messiah Yeshua, seeing everyone who did not receive Him as their personal Saviour and Lord being sent to eternal condemnation. When they look into your eyes, knowing the truth face to face, they will ask you why you never shared this truth with them, and now they are going to eternal condemnation.

People are intimidated and hesitant to bring the good news of the Messiah to the Jewish people today. They are afraid to offend them because they want to keep good relations. But how much good do we do to anyone by giving them food that goes in and goes out, while leaving them without the choice of receiving eternal life and forgiveness of their sins?

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He said: “Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to every man”. Did He exclude the Jewish people? I think not. He has commanded us to go and preach the gospel to every man. It is very good to help the nation of Israel with finances, food, and clothing. We are to do that as well. But in doing this, do we fulfill the commandment of our Messiah Jesus, which is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to them?

My friend, let me share this with you: if the love and boldness of the precious couple that led my wife and I to the Lord almost 25 years ago had not reached us, we would not be where we are today. Our life would most likely have been destroyed by now, and we would probably not be together. But this couple were not afraid or ashamed to reach out to the Jewish community to find us and witness about the power of God, which set us free through our Messiah Yeshua. It is because of the obedience of these people that we are in the ministry today, proclaiming the gospel of the Messiah to the Jewish people first, and then to the world.

There is a new idea among some believers upon this Earth today. They believe that we do not need to preach the gospel to the Jewish people, because they are God’s chosen people, and somehow, even in the life to come, God will help them to accept their Messiah.

I wonder, are we fulfilling our ministry? Do we tell people that Jesus is the only way? That it is only through His blood that they can be free? That He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the Father but through Him? Do you proclaim to the Jewish people that He is their Messiah and no one else? Let me address this point now.

God also said that he has called us to the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation means bringing people back together with God through the atoning blood of Jesus the Messiah, and all of us who believe in Jesus and are set free by His blood are those who God has called to this ministry.

How many people in this world know what is waiting for them? There will be judgment. Some will receive eternal life. Some will receive eternal punishment. It is in the Bible. It is so clear.

In Daniel 12, verse 2, the Bible warns us that “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt”.

By: Messianic Rabbi Gennady Livshits