Declaring the Gospel

I'm currently reading What St. Paul Really Said by N.T. Wright, which is great so far. I read this today in his discussion of what the word 'gospel' really means as used by Paul:

When a herald makes a royal proclamation, he says 'Nero (or whoever) has become emperor.' He does not say 'If you would like to have an experience of living under an emperor, you might care to try Nero.' The proclamation is an authoritative summons to obedience - in Paul's case, to what he calls the 'obedience of faith'.(45)

The spiritual and intellectual climate in America can make it easy to preach the gospel like the lame 'invitation' to be ruled by Nero. Paul knew no such gospel proclamation. As Wright points out, Paul viewed himself as Herald of the King, and we should too.