"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes"
Romans 1:16

Out of all of the mighty things that God could do; out of all his powerful works (such as creating the entire universe with his very word); out of all of the things he, being God, could do that we cannot even begin to imagine being done or fathom happening to show his power, he shows it by killing his own Son. This is a very striking thing. The book of Romans lays out the Gospel better than any other book in the Bible by telling us how we are all sinners in every regard ("all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23), but then going on to explain that Christ has taken our place ("God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8), that he was our substitute, that his death guarantees us new life if we trust in his finished work of removing God's wrath from us ("Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood" Romans 3:25), and that, as Christ rose to new life, we also may live a new life in this risen Christ ("just as Christ was raised from the dead...we too might walk in newness of life" Romans 6:4), free from the bondage and power of sin ("and having been set free from sin, have become slaves to righteousness" Romans 6:18).

God shows his power through the Gospel. But, more specifically, he shows his power to save. This carries extra weight. It's not just a general power that he shows through the Gospel. It takes a fool to not see the power of God when they see a sunset, or feel the ocean breeze, or see a starry night, or watch a butterfly hatch from a cocoon, or experience any other miracle of nature. It is a very specific power. It is the "power of God for salvation." If you are a believer in Christ and have been born again, it was by God's power, not your own. If you are not yet a believer, you have no hope apart from the power of God; there is no "getting right" and then coming to Christ. Everything we do, before Christ gives us new life through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, is sin. Whether it's robbing a bank, or it is building a hospital for children, or laying your life down for the oppressed in Uganda---it is all sin. Why? Because it simply is an action that is not united to God.

It alone is in God's power to turn every action of ours into a Christ-exalting thing. It is only within the grasp of God Almighty to raise a sinner who is "dead in trespasses" (Ephesians 2:1) and make them "alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5a). It is solely "by grace" that "you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:5b), This is why we should have no shame of the Gospel. It is a marvelous work that God has wrought in us who believe, and it is a Christ glorifying thing that God is capable of doing in those around us who have yet been raised from their spiritual death. May God spark within us a new joy, a new excitement, a new desire, a new passion, and a new boldness to speak the words of truth, to speak the words of life, to speak the Gospel, and to speak "Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23). To this end I pray for you and all the saints, and I ask you do the same. Amen.

Grace and peace to you.