Why would Paul be ashamed? Why would we be ashamed? Even though the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, 1 Corinthians 1:18 says that, “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”. 1 Corinthians 1:121 goes on to explain about worldly “wisdom”…”the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe”.So we may look foolish to the world, but God uses the Gospel to save anyway. In fact, special revelation found in God’s Word is the only way someone can be saved. No one can be saved by general revelation of God’s creation. No one can be saved by our testimony, for the Gospel is about God and not us. So we preach the Gospel in compassion and love, praying that God will take the seeds of the Gospel and save many.
1 Corinthians 3:6 says that some plant, some water, but only God can make it grow.Jesus explains this in Matthew 13:3-9 ““A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
We throw the seeds of the Gospel out and some will fall upon hearts that have been prepared by God to receive it, and they will grow if it is God’s will. Yes, the message will not be received by many because of rocky ground hearts, heart ground pathway hearts, and even some whose soil of the heart is shallow. Yes, our message could not be received well by the world, and we could be ridiculed, mocked or worse. But those people are not rejecting us, but rejecting Christ. God is glorified when the Gospel is preached, and He will save those who have been foreknew, predestined, and called...to His glory. And God actually uses us in the process!
We call our ministry IANA and partner with many churches, evangelists, and mission organizations.