For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
1 Corinthians 9:16

It is entirely possible for us as the church to believe the gospel as an intellectual proposition all while failing to treasure it as a well-spring of spiritual life.

One of the signs that we are hearing and treasuring the gospel for what it is –  the power of God for salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:16) –  is that we feel the absolute necessity of it for our lives and the lives of the lost.

Notice again the sense of urgency with which Paul describes his relationship to the gospel:

For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

What the good news of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection created in Paul the Apostle was not primarily intellectual fascination or emotional enchantment, it was a sense of immense urgency.

If this good news is true, if it is really true that God has become a man to save sinners through his death and resurrection, and that the God-man Jesus is the only way back to the Father – I must believe this good news and I must preach this good news. In fact, woe to me if I do not preach this gospel.

Last week myself, 6 other leaders, and 22 high schoolers traveled to the Boardwalk Chapel in Wildwood, NJ to receive training and gain experience in evangelism.

And even though there were plenty of moments of levity and fun, one of the things that was impressed upon me the most during our time together was the urgency of what we were doing.

As we walked onto the boardwalk to share the gospel with strangers, as we gathered in prayer groups to intercede for the lost, as we shared our stories of gospel conversations (sometimes through tears) – what was abundantly clear to everyone was that this really matters. The stakes are eternal. There is one way to salvation, and it’s through Jesus – and there are many, many people who are going to perish without the assurance of this good news.

It was such an encouragement to my soul to see 14-19 year olds who care so much for eternal things. To see the burden for the lost that a Harvest youth had as he urged them to stop and talk with us. To see the courage of another youth as they defended the exclusivity of Christ to a person twice their age. To see a fervency in prayer from other youth for those that we talked to.

This was an encouragement for my soul because this is exactly the type of gospel-culture that we are praying and working towards as your pastors and leaders.

When we as your pastors pray for our church family, our prayer is not just that we would be a people who believe true things about the gospel, but that we would be a people who treasure the gospel, who feel the necessity of the gospel and a burden for the lost. Our prayer is that we would be a people who can say with Paul: …necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Harvest family, would you join us in praying to this end? Praying that we would indeed be a people who Worship God with Joy, Walk with one another in Love, and Witness to our Neighbors here and around the World.

In the Love of Jesus,
Pastor Daniel