Why I Still Preach The Gospel
The gospel of Jesus Christ (the story of His life, death and resurrection) is the only hope for the human race. Political leaders cannot save us. Recycling cannot save us. Cutting carbon emissions cannot save us. Even eating healthy and exercising will only prolong the inevitable. One day we will all die, and then the only thing that matters is what we did with the gospel. It is good news. It is the person of Jesus. It is our only hope.
There are lots of reasons why I still preach the gospel. It is true. It works. God called me to do it. I actually believe it. Obedience to Christ. But there is another reason.
I still preach the gospel because I believe in heaven and hell, and I believe that people who willingly reject the gospel spend eternity there, without God, forever. Therefore, I am a slave to the gospel, and by God’s grace I intend to preach it until my dying breath.
But don’t take my word for it. Below is a real life true story emailed to me by a Liberty University student. Not something you just read or hear about. This happened this weekend to a teenager who repented of his sins and trusted Christ this past September while I was preaching at Liberty University. He was tragically killed this weekend, and is now in eternity, forever, with Christ.
“I work with the high school marching band at Liberty Christian Academy. They are a great bunch of kids with an amazing director, Mrs. Deike. A few weeks ago I helped them with auditions for a leadership position in marching band. One of the students who auditioned was named Jamie. Mrs. Deike asked him to share his testimony with us. For a while he discussed how he had doctrine thrown around at him for much of his life, and it really caused him confusion as to what salvation meant. He then went on to tell us that after hearing you speak at LCA last fall, he finally realized what it meant and gave his life to Jesus. That life has been tragically cut short. On Friday night after a dance at the school, he was killed instantly in a car accident. I learned this on Saturday morning when Mrs. Deike called me sobbing. I write this to ask you to pray for us. We are all hurting pretty bad. Jamie was a loved member of the band. But I know after hearing his testimony a few weeks ago that he is now with Jesus. So, I also write to thank you for allowing God to speak through you, so that Jesus could save his soul. That’s the reason Jamie’s in Heaven right now.”
God be praised that this young man proclaimed faith in Christ. This is why I still preach the gospel. May we all be praying for the family that has lost a precious son. And may each of us preach, teach, live, sing, show, and proclaim the gospel daily. I intend to preach it until The Gospel Himself calls me home.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Clayton,
As you cite, one of the main reasons for preaching the Gospel stems from a belief in heaven and hell. Unfortunately, it seems that these “doctrines”–particularly that of a literal hell–seem to be under fire among many christians these days. You know, they will argue that it is not a literal hell, that the eternal fire image/idea is not correct, that the idea is derived from a few obscure verses which really meant something else, that its more like annihilationism, etc…a group of arguments with varying degrees of weight, I admit. Furthermore, they suggest that hell is too often preached as a manipulative idea–a tactic of fear–which creates people who don’t really love God, they just fear hell. I’m sure you are aware of all these discussions. Sometime, if you’d like, I’d love to read a blog expounding on how you feel about these ideas and your Biblical foundation for believing in hell. This could prove both interesting and helpful. Thanks man.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I will most certainly entertain that idea for a future post
clayton