9am LIVE | Centre Street Church

bye bye bye bye bye [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] well good morning we all want to welcome you to our 9 a.m service this morning our worship team is gonna go get ready to lead us in worship but we wanted to thank you for joining us here at our central campus but you may not know that we are one church in many many locations we have a campus in airdrie in bridgeland in bears paw and in south calgary we join together each weekend to worship our god as many many churches in many many locations today pastor henry is going to come and start our series in romans and we are so excited to hear what the lord has revealed to him and talk about the good news that we have found in our relationship with jesus so we're going to take the next few seconds just to open our hands to god to ask him to reveal to us what it is we need to hear from him this morning and so let's just enter into a time of reflection a time of worship and a time of thanksgiving for the salvation that he has given to each one of us let's reflect together well good morning and welcome to our service of worship today we greet you in the name of the living lord jesus christ whom we worship and serve and we're excited to be able to start a new sermon series in the book of romans this amazing book which outlines the plan of salvation the gospel of god for all of us and we are sinners in need of a savior and so thanks be to god that we have jesus christ who laid down his life for us to take our sins and we're going to begin um our time of worship using psalm 19 as our call to worship and sort of the framework for the first part of a worship it's an amazing psalm that focuses on who god is the glory of god but then it reminds us that god has given us his law and his statutes for us to meditate so that we can become his followers with full hearts so um i'm going to invite you to stand with us and i'm going to read and you're welcome to read with me psalm 19 verses 1 to 6. the heavens declare the glory of god the skies proclaim the work of his hands day after day they pour forth speech night after night they reveal knowledge they have no speech they have no words no sound is heard from them yet their voice goes out into all the earth their words to the ends of the world in the heavens god has pitched to sent a tent for the sun it is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber like a champion rejoicing to run his course it rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other nothing is deprived of its war will you pray with me please o creator god you are wrapped in light as a garment clothed with honor and majesty and as we come to worship you today may you receive the glory and honor that you are due and enlighten us with true faith and humble obedience to serve and honor you through jesus christ our lord who lives and reigns with you and the holy spirit one god now and forever amen [Music] [Music] this is my father's word [Music] this is my father's word i rest me in the farther rocks and trees wrong this is my father's world the words [Music] this is my father's world why should my heart be sad the lord is [Music] [Music] this is [Music] [Music] this is [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus who died shall be satisfied and this is my father's world the battle is [Music] jesus who died shall be satisfied and earth [Music] amen amen [Music] our god and firm foundation are rocking the only solid ground [Music] our god and firm foundation our rock the only solid ground the nations rise and fall kingdoms were strong now shaken we trust forever in your name the name of jesus we trust the name of jesus you are the only king forever almighty god will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty god will lift you higher you are the only thing forever forever you are victorious amen [Music] we bring our expectations our hope is anchored in your name the name of jesus oh we trust the name of jesus [Music] forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty god will lift you higher you are the only thing forever forevermore you are victorious [Music] [Music] your the name of jesus from age to which you reign forevermore you are victorious [Music] you are the only king forever forevermore [Music] [Music] amen praise the lord we continue reading on psalm 19 the law of the lord is perfect refreshing soul the statues of the lord are trustworthy making wise the simple the precepts of the lord are right giving joy to the heart the commands of the lord are radiant giving light to the eyes the fear of the lord is pure enduring forever the decrees of the lord are firm and all of them are righteous they are more precious than gold than much pure gold they are sweeter than honey than honey from the honeycomb by them your servant is warned in keeping them there is great reward may these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight lord my rock and my redeemer amen [Music] let's trade us together [Music] o lord of my heart [Music] [Music] waking [Music] thy presence my life [Music] i me [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] with [Music] is [Music] praise [Music] [Applause] my [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] may [Music] my foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] still be my vision [Music] lord in your mercy hear our prayer we continue in god's word from the book of colossians chapter 1 this is one of these amazing creedal passages from the bible where we proclaim what we believe together and this is what we know about the lord jesus christ our savior let these words engage you today in a profound way and i just pray that it will move you to deeper worship as a result of hearing them again together in this place colossians 1 13 to 20. for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins the son is the image of the invisible god the firstborn over all creation for in him all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him and for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together and he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy for god was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross this is the word of the lord thanks be to god in the darkness we were waiting without hope without light till from heaven you came there was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets to a virgin came the word from a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt praise the father praise the son praise the spirit free god of glory magazine praise forever to the kings to reveal the kingdom come and to reconcile the lost to redeem the whole creation did it not despise the cross for even in your suffering you saw through the other side knowing this was our salvation jesus for our savior [Music] [Music] see [Music] and the morning held its breath till that stone was moved for good for the lamb had conquered death and the dead [Music] of christ was born then the spirit lit the flame now this gospels through the world shall not knew not faith by his blood for the love of jesus christ who has resurrected me say praise my father [Music] [Music] praise the spirit one god of glory [Music] praise for to the king of kings who prays for him to the king of kings father we do give you our praise and our glory that you are due you are worthy god of creation and god you loved us so much that you gave your son jesus christ for us to lay down his life to defeat death and the grave was resurrected and now reigns with you in the holy spirit together we celebrate you may you be honored as we hear what you have to say to us today transform our hearts to be more like you we humbly ask in your name amen thanks everyone you may be seated amen and friends that's why we've gathered isn't it to to exalt god to praise him and to lift up the name of jesus he truly is the king of kings and that's why it's so wonderful so amazing to be able to gather together uh to worship god to praise him and the power of jesus resurrection and what it means in our lives and it's great to have you here uh gathered in person and for those of you online we're we welcome you as well we're so glad you've come and it's great to be able to worship together and lawrence it's great to be able to share some of the great things that are happening in our church right yeah absolutely wes and if you're new here this morning i would love to meet you in the atrium you know after and um also um if uh if you're online um someone can connect with you on the chat line that's right yeah just type new into or yeah new into the chat line there and that's really what we want to do it's great to gather for worship to be together but what we really truly desire is to to connect with you to help you grow in your faith and find ways to serve god as you serve others and one great way to do that is definitely a new here and lawrence will be back there but also the connect area is out in the atrium and out there you'll meet some of our ministry leaders some of our volunteers they'd love to chat with you find out a little bit more about how they can help you connect and uh this this is the fall we're starting into the fall it feels like that a little bit today but uh as we launch into the fall there's lots of wonderful opportunities right lauren oh absolutely you know when i um tried to live the lone ranger christian life and you know i never you know i never grew in the lord until i actually got together with other christians so i you know so i encour you know so i encourage you um to do life with others yeah absolutely and we've got lots of opportunities for that at center street if you've if you're new to kind of connecting with others in community or if you'd like to we have one uh eight week experience of community we call taste and see and it's a great opportunity to connect with others to experience over that short span of time what community is all about and what it means to be part of a spiritual family and you can find out more about that at the connect area out there as well we also have groups for women and singles and our special needs groups and we have men's groups that are starting up this fall as well we have conquer we have 33 the series rules of engagement and men's fraternity and and there's lots of opportunities to connect we don't want you to try as lauren said to do this as a lone ranger christian and i know there's lots of opportunities for people that are a little bit younger than me right lawrence yeah absolutely wes you know um youth is kicking off um this friday uh so make sure you come this friday it you know there's bouncy houses and you know and things like that and um also uh you know young adults meets every uh tuesday night at bridge you know bridgeland um and also um i would love that um you guys would come come to the now service which um is actually tonight um where there's food trucks and um and uh also there's uh there's a night of worship so make sure you come tonight yeah it's a pretty exciting time right i mean there's uh i think that i see the tank is over here so there's gonna be some you know baptisms there's gonna be some baptisms happening and there's going to be worship and all kinds of great stuff that's happening so you'll want to be here tonight for sure um you know as a church we uh we hold dearly to the value of going to god in prayer and we've set aside we believe in prayer at all times praying continuously but the third thursday of every month is a day of prayer that we set aside and it's coming up this thursday the 16th and so we invite you to check out our website there's an opportunity to sign up for uh one hour's time of prayer throughout the day online there's a prayer some prayer points that are there as well then that evening thursday evening there will be a time of corporate prayer here in person and then online as well you can join in at seven o'clock following that at eight o'clock there's a time of healing prayer and if you or someone in your in your life is need of healing that's a great time to come um because we're a church that believes god is still in the business of bringing healing to people's lives and we um we also want to let you know about an opportunity to pray a young boy in our church was injured in a very serious accident several months back chanson schmidt and we're going to engage with his family in 72 hours of prayer for his complete restoration and healing god's the only one who can do that in his life and so we believe that as we go to god in prayer that we'll see him work miraculously first thessalonians 5 tells us to rejoice always and pray continually and so that's what we want to do with chances family the prayer chapel will be open during that time if you'd like to come as individuals or as groups or as families and pray for chance and over that 72 hours i know the family would appreciate it god would be honored and we pray that we'll see a miraculous work in little chances life amen so let's pray for pastor henry as he comes and brings a word to us this you know this morning father i just pray lord that you would just um speak to us this morning through pastor henry and open up our you know our hearts to to receive you know to receive the word we pray this in jesus name amen amen well we welcome all of you who are joining us online and also those who are meeting together here at central campus and those of you who are meeting together also in one of our other campuses in erdry bridgeland south calgary and bear spa this is a very special weekend for our church as our bearpaw bears paw campus is having its first service in their new facility such good news now you might be saying to yourself you know i didn't know this was happening well we've intentionally been low key uh about this opening sunday because we want our bears paw congregation to have the opportunity to have a few weeks to become uh familiar with the building also to resolve issues and problems before inviting the broader broader northwest calgary region to join them for worship in october if you're new here you may be wondering what this is all about well we're a multi-site church which means we are one church that meets for worship in a number of locations in calgary and airdrie in 2008 after praying about how we could reach more people and more communities we felt led of god to start additional campuses in various regions in our city and beyond our multi-site vision is about belonging to a community group that's on mission and also a campus that's close to where you live to worship and to be equipped a local church facility provides a visual sign to that community in the surrounding communities that we are there as christians and we're engaged in the community we're available to anyone seeking meaning help or belonging because local campuses are closer to where we live we're able to build relationships with those from our campus who live closer to us and to do life with one another they can serve as a tool for us to invite our neighbors and our family and friends to gather for worship and to pray to hear the teaching of god's word and to celebrate what god is doing among us and spur each other on to be on mission for christ our campus facilities also provide space for us to be established in the faith and to be equipped to use our talents our ministry gifts to become all that christ created us to be well in addition to our central campus here in greenview over the last 10 years or so we have established campuses in airdrie bridgeland south calgary and bear spa which was the first campus we launched here from central campus now if you're attending one of our other campuses and you're thinking of making our bears paw campus your home please do so with the full intention of jumping in with both feet by getting connected with others in a community group and getting involved in our mission of reaching that part of the city for christ i know covet complicates all this but please don't let that detour you from doing all you can to join us in accomplishing god's redemptive purposes in the world now if you'd like to tour through our bears paw facility on september 20th and 21 you're welcome to drop in anytime between 6 p.m and 9. and as you do we ask that you would pray as you walk through those rooms and so forth that god would use that space to reach and disciple many people in jesus name now this new facility is a reality not only because of the grace of god in response to our many prayers but it is also a reality because of the generosity of all of us from all of our campuses even as all of us have given toward the improvements that we've made at our air dry bridge land and south calgary campuses and continue to give to our central campus addition the construction of which is well underway we are so incredibly grateful for your faithful generosity your prayers and and actually for seeing beyond the pandemic focusing instead on the future generations who will benefit from these additional spaces that we are building even as we are benefiting right now from the faith of those who have gone before us for your information we are still receiving quotes from trades for our central campus facilities um here at central and once we do we plan to provide you with additional information on where we're at in relation to our finances with build what we can tell you is for reasons that we're going to explain explain at that time our costs have increased and so we ask for your continued prayers and your financial support not only for our mission and ministry budget but also for our build initiative would you just stand and join me in prayer heavenly father we give you all the glory for your faithfulness and the great things you have done we pray now for your ongoing blessing and favor on our church on all of our campuses and our bear spa campus on this their opening weekend we know buildings are only tools but lord we ask that you will use these spaces to be a visual beacon of hope to those who live in the communities around it those who drive by it we pray all those who gather for worship in this new facility will earnestly pursue to love you with all of their heart to pursue to love one another and to pursue to love those in their neighborhood their workplaces and schools and those who come into our new bears paw facility and through it all lord we ask may many people be introduced to the jesus that we know and love and now lord focus our minds soften our hearts as we study your word together in jesus name i pray amen you may be seated two years ago i began a series in romans and i just barely got into it when i was diagnosed with cancer and i wasn't able to carry on well starting this weekend i'm going to take another attempt to preach through the book of romans and i ask that you would pray with me that this time i'm going to make it all the way through i thought about i thought about picking up where i left off but because it's been over two years and romans is such an important book and we've had new people join our fellowship i've decided to start at the beginning again my decision is also based on the fact that so much has changed in our lives and also in our circumstances the last couple of years in large part due to kovid and i sense the lord has some new things to say to us in these early chapters for such a time as this as you're going to notice when i come to the application of the passage we're looking at today and i encourage you to stay with me to the end and just so you know we will be continuing the fruit of the spirit series this fall on the weeks that were not in the roman series now two years ago when i started the roman series i'd lost a lot of weight and many of you were concerned for me and my health well over the last four weeks as i've made my way around to um our campuses uh meeting people and uh sharing with you praying together many of you commented that i looked so healthy and some of you were honest enough to say what you really meant by that that i'd gained some weight that's yeah that was wonderful well someone explained the problem to me uh this way which we can all understand i'm sure they said brain cells die skin cells die even hair cells die but fat cells must have put their faith in jesus because they seem to live forever well now you know seriously thank you for your ongoing prayers for me and gwen and my health i recently heard from my doctor and all my tests indicate that i'm doing well for which i am so incredibly grateful thank you and i say it often i just love being your senior pastor and it's such an honor to serve alongside our staff and alongside you and what i believe is the greatest cause ever given to man okay so please open your bibles or your bible app to romans chapter one romans deals with all kinds of subjects that are relevant to where we're at today but the overarching theme of this great book is the gospel of jesus christ and its implications for our lives which we're going to see today in our scripture lesson verses 1 to 17 and so if you're able i'm going to invite you to stand and join me as we read a portion of these verses together paul a servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of god the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures regarding his son who as to his earthly life was a descendant of david and who this through the spirit of holiness was appointed the son of god in power by his resurrection from the dead jesus christ our lord to all in rome who are loved by god and called to be his holy people grace and peace to you from god our father and from the lord jesus christ verse 14 i am obligated both to greeks and non-greeks both to the wise and the foolish that is why i am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in rome for i am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of god that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the jew then to the gentile for in the gospel the righteousness of god is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written the righteous will live by faith may the lord add his blessing and also his understanding to the reading of his word you may be seated so obviously the author of romans is the apostle paul now paul's first vocation was that of a pharisee a member of the strictest jewish sect of religious leaders paul was a passionate man and when he became aware of christ's followers we're teaching that jesus was the messiah he became upset and he set out to destroy what he considered to be the christian cult by the way his name at the time wasn't paul but saul in acts 7 and 8 we read saul arranged for and actually watched the stoning of stephen one of the first christian martyrs paul led a brutal rampage against christians in jerusalem causing them to escape and run to other communities to save themselves and in acts chapter 26 we read that he even hunted down christians in other cities determined to wipe them out and so you might say he was the most unlikely person ever to become a christian so let me ask you ever looked at someone and think to yourself that person will never become a christian she'll never change he'll never change his heart is hard as a rock it may be your spouse maybe a child maybe a parent maybe a sibling a friend a boss or co-worker have you been praying for them i mean have you been earnestly and persistently praying for them years ago i prayed regularly for a couple of family members who were far from god and i'll confess after a decade of doing so i've pretty much given up that they would ever change and my prayers for them began to wane and if i'm honest i remember the time when i just sort of stopped praying for them but then within six months they both became christ followers and through it all christ reminded me that our prayer really matters that nothing is impossible with god and his grace is available to everyone no one's beyond his grace so keep praying or trust and trusting god to do the seemingly impossible in his time in his way in the life of those that he's brought into your life while the seemingly impossible happened to saul he had an encounter with the risen christ in acts chapter 9 we read that saul was on his way to damascus to hunt down more christians there and christ confronted him on the way and that encounter with jesus would forever change the trajectory of saul's life this persecutor of christians became a major leader in the early christian church and god changed his name to paul now paul starts out in verse 1 with a longer than usual introduction of himself he wrote many books in the new testament and this was probably his longest introduction and that is likely because he's never been to rome and given his past brutal behavior toward christians he undoubtedly was concerned that he might have a credibility problem with the believers at rome and it was important to him that their misgivings about his character and his motives would cause them to not read the most important letter he had written under the inspiration of god this letter of romans to the romans and so when paul introduces himself here he's saying i'm no longer the saul that you heard about i'm no longer saul the persecutor of christians the abuser the legalist the arrogant one no he says in verse one i'm paul a servant of jesus christ called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of god now he's a great theologian he's the master of the old testament scriptures he's highly educated a gifted leader with a brilliant mind and yet he refers to himself here as a servant of christ you see when he met christ his identity was utterly transformed by jesus so much so that he now saw himself both as a love child of god but also as a servant or a slave of christ you know church this is the kind of heart change and the kind of life change that can happen when we entrust our lives to jesus christ we are no longer the same the old is gone the new has come we have a new king in whom we trust and whom we follow with full devotion and then he adds i'm called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of god paul wants that uh wants the christians at rome to know that he is not a self-appointed apostle no he was called by jesus himself to be an apostle to set apart means separated to be moved away from everything else paul was set apart sent specifically to share the gospel with those who hadn't heard it was the one overriding focus of his life think about an athlete who's preparing for the olympics he or she simplifies and removes everything in their life which will hinder or distract them from accomplishing their goal well in the same way paul is called to order his life in such a way that he is free to focus on one main thing spreading the good news to jesus and this is very instructive for us today even though we have different jobs and we have different work as christ followers we all have the same vocation or calling and that is to be christ's representatives wherever it is we find ourselves whether i'm a pastor a plumber a carpenter teacher or physician the central focus in my life needs to be my vocation god's calling in my life to invite him to be part of my day each and every day and as his representative to consciously and intentionally do what he calls me to do now after introducing himself paul goes on to give the readers die just version of the gospel in one very long sentence first of all he says the gospel was promised beforehand through the prophets in the holy scriptures that's referring to the old testament prophets and the old testament scriptures paul says the good news of the gospel isn't limited to jesus and the new testament no it's woven throughout the old testament as well look down to verse 17. paul writes for in the gospel the righteousness of god is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from the first to the last he's saying the gospel of grace by faith is taught not only in the new testament but was also taught in the old testament for example it is estimated that the old testament contains at least 332 prophecies or predictions of the messiah many of which were fulfilled in christ when he came as paul indicates here hundreds of years before christ came to our planet prophets predicted that jesus would be born a virgin from the family line of king david they prophesied that he would be born in bethlehem and even that he would die on a cross outside of the city of jerusalem a form of execution that was invented by the romans and didn't even exist as a form of execution when that prophecy was made hundreds of years before so first the gospel of grace by faith is taught all through the scriptures secondly verse 3 paul says the gospel is about jesus christ it's all about him who was fully human born into a human family when he was here on this planet but in verse 4 he adds that jesus was also and is also fully god which was proven by his resurrection from the dead paul's life the disciples lives were radically changed because they personally met the resurrected christ after he was crucified and buried and that changed everything they lived passionately and sacrificially for christ from that point on they never wavered in their faith even when they faced death itself and torture this was one of the greatest evidences that christ did in fact rise from the grave and is the lord and god that he claimed to be paul writes this gospel of grace by faith is not only taught through the scriptures and centered on the god man jesus christ but thirdly it is the gospel of grace in verse 5 we read through him and for his name's sake we receive grace grace is unmerited favor or giving someone what they need rather than what they deserve and this gospel of grace says paul is for everyone regardless of one's race or standing in society in fact if you look down to verse 16 when paul says the gospel is first for the jew and then the gentile he's not giving preference to the jewish people no he's simply pointing out the way things happened yes the gospel was first introduced to the jews but it's for everyone well following a rather lengthy introduction of himself and then giving uh the essence of the gospel in verse 7 to 13 paul greets the believers in rome encouraging them and reminding them of his prayers for them these verses really communicate his pastor's heart he longs to be with them but he knows that the truth that he's sharing with them in this letter matters the most for it is the truth that gives them life and sets them free which brings us to the last three verses we're looking at today verses 14 to 17 where paul talks about his motivation and his passion to share the gospel he says my first motivation to share the gospel is i'm obligated to do so look at verse 14 he writes i'm obligated both to greeks and non-greeks both to the wise and the foolish to preach the gospel another word for obligated is indebted let's say for example that you have an incurable illness and someone discovers the cure and gives it to you and as a result you're cured if that person asked you to share it with others in need of it you would not only be indebted or obligated to that person for saving your life but you would also owe it to those who are in need of it in the same way paul is essentially saying here in light of the saving grace that christ extended to me the gospel he called me to share even if there are times i don't feel like it or times i feel intimidated or lacked the courage or boldness i am indebted to christ to fulfill my calling and to preach the life-changing gospel to all who will listen you know the bible teaches that we are to glorify god in all that we say and do well here's the thing nothing glorifies god more than when we love him with all of our heart and join him in finding his spiritually lost children serving them and showing them the way home by sharing the life-changing gospel of jesus christ with them now let me be clear when paul talks about preaching the gospel he's talking about more than what i'm doing up here right now when we put our trust in the spirit to lead us and to empower us he will guide us in what to say and to do in the life of someone that he's working in someone that's in our sphere of influence sometimes he will prompt you to just listen to be kind to them to serve that person in some way other times to share a bit of the story your story with that person and the difference that jesus has made in your life other times to share a book or a link to a sermon to address the a question or a problem that they're having and still at other times to invite them to church or another event where they will hear the good news of the kingdom and then at the right time of course to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have by opening the scriptures and sharing with them the way of salvation there are many ways that we can preach and share the gospel and work together as the body of christ to bring all people his lost children back to himself the important thing is is that next to our love and pursuit of god it needs to be the main thing we give our lives to because whether people realize it or not whether people believe it or not they need the lord this is what paul is saying here to us we owe it first to christ but also to those who haven't heard now notice in verse 15 paul quickly adds he actually is delighted to preach the gospel while he's indebted to christ he isn't motivated by a sense of duty or obligation he's passionate about this it's completely transformed his own life and his perspective in life he longs for everyone to experience the life-transforming power of god's grace in verse 16 he says not only am i eager to share the gospel but i am not ashamed to share the gospel you know down through history the gospel of jesus christ has rarely been popular with contemporary culture brian clark observes that the church has always been tempted to alter to edit to adjust the gospel to make it more socially acceptable people seem to be okay if you bring up god if you talk about the love of god but many people including some christians and some churches have little tolerance these days for teaching from the scriptures that touches on the topics on topics like sin the wrath of god the judgment of god sexual purity or that jesus is the only way and so the temptation is not to talk about these anymore anymore and even in some churches to dismiss the biblical narrative in favor of our cultural narrative which they believe is more progressive acceptable and politically correct but unfortunately is often far from the truth of scripture which raises the question are you ashamed of the gospel do you find yourself growing uneasy almost embarrassed when some of these topics come up in a conversation or from the pulpit like all human beings we want to be loved and accepted don't we nobody wants to be laughed at rejected and shunned you can be sure paul didn't enjoy being rejected and laughed at either i'm sure he didn't take great delight being beaten five times stoned twice and thrown in prison for preaching the gospel but he did please notice when it came to civil disobedience where paul drew the line it was when he was told he couldn't preach the gospel and i believe that is where we should draw the line paul writes i'm not ashamed of the gospel because there is a reason he's not ashamed of the gospel there's a reason he says i'm prepared to take a hit for sharing the gospel because it is the power of god that brings salvation to everyone who believes you know i once heard an atheist agnostic i'm not totally sure what he is i just know he doesn't believe in god penn gillette say something like this i don't believe in jesus and his claims to be the only way to god but if i did i wouldn't hesitate telling other people about him if you believe there's a heaven and a hell and people could end up there he says and you think well it's not worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward how much do you have to hate someone to not tell them this truth how much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that he says if i believe that a truck is coming at you and you don't believe it there's a certain point where i'm going to tackle you and get you out of the way and eternal life is more important than that to sit there he says and say nothing would not only be hypocritical but heartless now those are pretty convicting words coming from someone who doesn't even believe in god or in jesus christ but he's right and that is the point that paul is making here he says i'm not ashamed of the gospel because i not only believe jesus is our lord and savior but that the gospel is true i'm not ashamed because it has the power to completely transform a person's life the way that my life was radically changed he says now the word power in the original language here is the same greek word from which we get the word dynamite it's explosive power so let me talk about this explosive power about what salvation is what the good news of the gospel accomplishes in a person's life salvation is to be forgiven but it is more than that as wonderful as that is it is more than to be freed from all the weight of sin and regret and shame of one's past as life-changing as that is salvation is also more than the assurance of being with jesus in heaven when we die the peace that comes from that the word salvation means wholeness fullness satisfaction and peace it's the the peace the shalom of god that comes when a relationship is reconciled and is restored it's the fullness and satisfaction that comes when the deepest longing of my soul has been met now here's the thing deep within the soul of every person on this planet who doesn't know christ there is a god-given longing for true salvation something anything that will quiet the confusion the turmoil the emptiness and meaninglessness and dissatisfaction within people try to fill it with success in money and possessions fame in a relationship or faithful obedience to the rules and the rituals of a certain religion or philosophy many attempt to medicate the raging storm within with destructive addictions and some of these man-made schemes that we have today in our world may succeed in making people feel better about themselves they may succeed in bringing focus to their lives for a time but they have no power to remove the guilt the regrets the uncertainty in life and ultimately these people if they are honest will end up where they started unfulfilled confused about the meaning of life and the next dissatisfied and empty within and some of these people sit next to you at work at school some of them live next to you or are part of your family and what paul is saying here is the reason i'm not ashamed of the gospel the reason i'm willing to be rejected shunned and told where to go and how to get there is because i'm absolutely convinced that the only hope for this inner storm and turmoil and uncertainty is the life-changing power the explosive power of the gospel of jesus christ that's why the bible and the scriptures cannot be watered down compromised or explained away because it is what gives people not only eternal life but a truly full free and satisfying life here on earth god in christ invades our life and does a miracle within our heart that no person can ever do only god through jesus christ has the power to transform a person from the inside out [Applause] now at this point i would love to give a closing illustration and bring this sermon to a close especially given the time but as i prepared this message this week i felt led of god to apply this message to our present day reality as christians which is going to require that you need to hear me a little longer today but when i'm done i hope and pray that you'll understand why taking this extra time is important this past year the people of our province have been divided over how our health officials and governing authorities have handled and are handling the covet pandemic some people believe our health officials and governing authorities are doing their best to protect our health and the effects of covid by calling on us to follow certain protocols which they believe will help and the pandemic and keep us safe other people believe that our health officials and governing authorities are using kovid which they believe is little more than a bad flu to control us and to take away our freedoms and that their protocols are not only ineffective and unnecessary but in some cases dangerous to our health and well-being now let me be clear people's health and safety from covid and other health related dangers is important and so are our religious and personal freedoms all the people who have died from covet is absolutely tragic the reason i bring this up is not to comment on the controversy that has we've been seeing but to talk about the passion people on both sides of this controversy have displayed people including some christians have written letters and emails have passionately and often persistently challenge people in their families and friendships and churches and community groups at work online even through protests all an attempt to get their point of view across now most if not all of these people have done so because they really believe their point of view is the truth and others are being deceived either by mainstream media or on the flip side through social media which of course brings me to what i've warned us about before we are flirting with anarchy as a nation because no one knows who to trust and to believe anymore but here's the point i want to make to those of us who call ourselves christ followers the bible repeatedly tells us that this life is fleeting that it is but a heartbeat compared to the next life which is eternal which we define as forever and ever and ever second corinthians 4 18 says so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal while both the earthly realm and the eternal realm are real and important to god this verse tells us that we are to focus primarily on the eternal realm the spirit realm that doesn't mean we have a fatalistic mindset about life here on earth it doesn't mean we we don't try to make our world a better place it doesn't mean we don't exercise our rights and freedoms to communicate our concerns convictions and points of view what it means is that these temporary earthly matters as important as they are must not sidetrack us or distract us from the eternal things of god like the spiritual life and the eternal souls of people around us and the main thing that jesus has called us to which we've been talking about which is to make disciples to introduce people to jesus who you will recall declared that he is the truth and the way to eternal life it also means as we deal with earthly concerns whatever they are including issues around covid we must not become they they must not become so huge in our lives so important that we tarnish our testimony that we allow the issues to divide us as christians or distract us from staying focused on the main thing christ has called us to as i said earlier as christians we have to keep the main thing the main thing and not let anything prevent us from living out the gospel or the life and way of jesus each and every day our religious freedoms are important and we need to do what we can within the law and with the spirit of jesus christ to preserve them but our personal and religious freedoms as important as they are will not save people who need the lord no only jesus is the answer to what's fundamentally wrong in our world now for the record i do not believe what we are experiencing at this time is persecution just talk to some of our christian brothers and sisters in the middle east and they'll tell you what it means to be persecuted but when i look at the growing tidal wave of opposition that is mounting against christians in particular evangelical christians bible-believing christians on many fronts i am not naive enough to think that persecution isn't coming and that the day may come when we do lose our religious freedom and may suffer greatly for our faith but here's the thing we are fooling ourselves if we think that we can stop it now i know that sounds fatalistic and i'm not suggesting that we shouldn't do what we can to slow it down but i believe short of a miraculous intervention of god short of a spiritual revival that that changes the hearts of millions of people across this nation we will not be able to stop it erwin lutzer pastor emeritus of moody bible church is a canadian by birth but in his most recent book we will not be silenced he's speaking to his adopted nation or country the united states and he says the purpose of this book is not to inspire us to take america back he writes we have neither the will or the clout to reverse the laws that restrict religious freedom in a number of areas and what we believe and cherish as christians he says we have crossed too many fault lines and too many barriers have proven to be too weak to withstand the media-driven cultural streams that have flooded our nation what he's saying is is the majority of americans and even a greater majority of people in canada if you think about it the majority of the people in this country he's saying have a different world view than we do and therefore will not only oppose us but we'll lobby and vote for things that are contrary to everything we believe and cherish lutzer goes on to write i write not so much to reclaim the culture as to reclaim the church he goes on to challenge his readers to courageously stand against the pressures of our culture in a godly and a life-giving way cultural pressures that tempt us as christians and as churches to compromise the truth of god's word and to silence our witness he challenges us to not be silent but not in the way that many of us might think when he says we must not be silent he is not saying to use the same ruthless tactics often used by those who oppose us and what we stand for is christians such as name calling shaming and stereotyping rather he means and i quote we must interact with groups and individuals giving a reason for the hope that is within us and doing it with gentleness and respect church the only way we can change our culture and our world is by first changing hearts through the power of jesus christ one life at a time by lovingly and courageously proclaiming the truth of the gospel in the same way that jesus and the early church did in their day and within two to three centuries they impacted the entire known world change the heart you change the person change the person you begin to change the family change the family you begin to change the community change the community you begin to change the nation it begins by each of us focusing on those who are in our sphere of influence and being an influence for jesus as you know john macarthur pastor john mcarthur and grace community church defied what they believed were unusually strict pandemic limits on in-person worship services and they did so on the basis of religious freedom but six months later on january 24th macarthur said this about religious freedom in a sermon i do not believe as a christian that i can support strongly freedom of religion because that would be to violate the first commandment which says have no other gods before me you say well doesn't the church need freedom of religion to move forward no he writes in no way does any political law aid or hinder the church of jesus christ we are a separate kingdom now i don't know what macarthur's intentions or motives were for saying this however from all i know about him and his theological convictions i do believe that macarthur wasn't saying that religious freedom isn't important i believe he was warning his church and christians everywhere that we not make our personal and religious freedoms an idol that we not put more of our trust in religious freedom than in jesus christ and the truth of the gospel in another sermon he said to say i support religious freedom is to say i support idolatry no i support the truth i think he's reminding us that even if we lose our religious freedom as the church has in various nations down through history the church and the gospel will prevail providing that we as christ followers continue to keep christ and his life-changing good news uppermost in our lives and as paul says here that we are not ashamed of the gospel and that is fundamentally the question that paul leaves us with here how passionate are we about the gospel earthly concerns like covid the fear of getting coveted are loved ones getting coveted maybe even dying from covet the divisive issues surrounding covid masks vaccines conspiracy theories have consumed many of our thoughts and our conversations the last 18 months and have added to our fears and i don't want to minimize this in any way but how much have we thought and prayed about the eternal spiritual state of our neighbor co-worker fellow student family member who does not know the lord if they die of covet that is tragic but it is even more tragic if they die not knowing christ personally many christians i'm sure have passionately and boldly communicated their convictions around covid and challenged family friends and others they care about to give serious thought to what they believe to be true and again i don't want to minimize the importance of this but when was the last time we shared with someone with the same kind of passion and boldness our conviction as christians that jesus is the truth the hope of the world and the only way to eternal life you know people have challenged more than once have challenged me more than once to courageously take a stand on this controversy that i described earlier surrounding covet and to invite other pastors to join me in taking a stand and time and time again i have gone to the scriptures and to the lord in prayer and i said lord what are you saying to me what is it that you want me to do about this and time and time again the holy spirit has directed me to the way of christ and the way of the early church that we read about in the gospels and in the book of acts when jesus walked the face of this earth israel was under the totalitarian rule of rome there was little or no freedom there was a lot of persecution going on and what did jesus do his disciples and followers they wanted him to rise up and bring down rome i mean given his power they were convinced that he could lead them to victory and yet jesus said very little about rome what he did say in john 18 36 is my kingdom is not of this world jesus came to start a revolution that would change the world by first changing people's hearts and people as they began to embrace him as their living lord and savior and king they were changed from the inside out through the power of the spirit and they in partnership with the lord began to change the world one life at a time through the power of the spirit and the gospel and church if you want to know where i stand this is where i stand i joined paul in saying come what may and trust me i have no doubt persecution and perilous times are coming our way but come what may i am not ashamed of the gospel and i will continue to share the truth of the scriptures the life-changing gospel of jesus christ with boldness and make it a high priority in my life because i believe to the core of my being that it is the power of god that brings true life-changing salvation to everyone who believes and i pray that even while we do what we can within the legal avenues available to us to to preserve our freedom and to keep us safe from harm not only from pandemics but so many other dangers that are out there that are and and and those who are opposing the christian message that our greatest priority in life will be to love our god with all of our heart to love one another and to love those who need the lord by serving them and sharing them the good news of jesus may it be so to the glory of god and for the sake of those who need the jesus that we know and love will you join me in saying amen let's stand together [Applause] before we respond to god's word through a closing song what is god saying to you and what are you going to do about it those of you are christ followers is there anyone far from god in your sphere of influence that you're praying for that you're cultivating a relationship with have you ever thought about watching the film series the chosen with them and then talking with them about their impressions and their questions about jesus have you ever thought about inviting them to join you to take the alpha course which we're going to be offering in a few weeks however god leads you to introduce them to jesus i challenge you to say yes to step out and do what he's calling you to do to care for them to share with them to invite to build a friendship with them one day you'll be so glad you did if you know about jesus but you don't know jesus if you haven't yet embraced and experienced his life-changing forgiveness and grace if you're unsure where you will be moments after you die there are prayer partners and pastors who are making their way up here right now who would love to help you understand more fully what it means to put your total trust in christ to pray with you as we sing together just make your way up here and pray with one of these prayer partners let's join together in song [Music] [Music] like me [Music] [Music] i [Music] and grace [Music] firm my chains are gone i've been set free my god my savior [Music] his mercy raised amazing grace the lord has promised good to me his word my whole secures he will my shield and force me as long as life and yours my chains are gone i've been set free my god my savior has ransomed me his mercy raised unending love amazing grace my taints are gone i've been set free my god my savior has ransomed me and like his mercy reigns unending love [Music] amazing grace [Music] [Music] shall soon dissolve [Music] to shine but god who called me [Music] will be forever [Music] again want to encourage you not to leave here without making peace with god without just coming to him asking for his forgiveness perhaps for an attitude of spirit that you've had that hasn't been christ-like that you need to repent of whatever it is there are people up here love to pray with you encourage you the altar is available for you just to kneel and to spend some time with the lord after the benediction just make your way up here and begin a life-changing journey with jesus christ and now may the lord bless you and keep you may the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his precious peace in the name of god the father the son and the holy spirit amen god be with you well i don't know about you but i so appreciated pastor henry's reminder not to be sidetracked by these earthly things even in the midst of a pandemic we want to be keeping our eyes focused and our hearts focused on god if you have accepted christ for the first time or want to reach out in the chat there are people there who would love to take you on this journey of salvation just reach out type in the chat if you're watching video on demand contact the church sometime this week we would love to walk with you through this and maybe your heart has been stirred you've accepted jesus a long time ago and you've been stirred to preach the good news to share the good news that we have in jesus but you're not quite sure how well we again would love to walk with you we've got some resources that we'd love to give to you so just reach out to the church sometime this week and we'd love to help you out and equip you that way and it's important that we don't go at it alone like pastors wes and lawrence reminded us we need community and september's a great time to start that community so reach out to the church find a group find people who are like you who want to grow in their faith and grow in their relationships and we'd love to connect you with some people like that now behind me you can see that there are lots of places available in our service for you if you want to come and join us in person we would love to have you join us if you want a little extra space just talk to one of our ushers and they will do their best to make sure that you can have a little extra space around you but we would love to worship with you in person when you are comfortable and ready and for now we will see you next week thank you so much for joining with us we have loved worshiping with you see you next week [Music] [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 105min 34sec (6334 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021